The Knight Commander of the Second Male Lead [Novel] Chapter 18

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 18

Chapter Title: Lost Lands and New Captain

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The Emperor dragged his feet on recognizing the succession, and the close relatives came charging in with spears and swords at the ready.

The vassals joined the fray as well.

Lui still felt queasy whenever he thought back to that time.

Adrian had quelled the chaos decisively.

The opponents' desperate struggles and petty schemes all felt like nothing more than simple games playing out on Adrian's chessboard.

It was chilling enough to make onlookers shiver.

When he massacred the people in the valley with poison gas, even the battle-hardened Ebony Knight Order members retched.

Fortunately, the plague had run its course by then, so the territory's residents didn't hold a bad opinion of the new Duke.

"You really went through hell."

Suddenly, tumbling into the Sun spirit's lap didn't feel like such a big deal.

'No wonder the whole territory felt poor. Our ducal family is broke.'

"At least we're all still alive. If we were dead, we couldn't even complain like this."

Kiril said, exhaling pipe smoke. If not for the wide-open terrace doors, the room would have been thick with fumes.

Jin grumbled.

"The imperial family's stalling on the succession approval was the most infuriating part."

Looking back now, it seemed like they wanted to wipe out the Rubaenu Ducal Family entirely.

Or maybe slap a dog collar on them.

If Adrian hadn't been not just superior, but extraordinarily so, that's probably what would have happened.

"Hold on, is the lost land our fault?"

Nina shot to her feet.

"Wait, lost land? How does land just disappear?"

Did a flood change the terrain or something in the meantime?

Jin looked awkward.

"It seems the previous Duke lent out some land."

"Huh?"

What was that supposed to mean?

Seeing Nina's expression, Lui explained.

"You know about the exchange meets, right?"

"Yeah, the ones where they fight over that well all the time. It keeps getting destroyed, doesn't it?"

Nina snorted, and Lui nodded.

"It's an extension of that. So, the winner of the exchange meet gets the land usage rights."

Nina's jaw dropped.

"So you're saying they've been wagering usage rights on those exchange meets that always end in a draw, and we lost them?"

"Yes. Of course, we held rematches every time there was an exchange meet, but..."

Lui gave a strange smile. Nina pressed a hand to her forehead.

"We lost."

"That's right."

"Why wager land at all? How much did we bet?"

"One-third of the ducal territory."

At Adrian's answer, Nina felt a chill.

In the Ebensel Empire, titles were tied to fiefdoms. Sure, now that conquest wars had halted and inter-territory conflicts were rare, there were nobles without land, but it was different for traditional great nobles.

Was a Duke with reduced land still a Duke?

Lui pointed out another issue.

"That's not the problem."

"If this isn't the problem, then what is?"

"If they hold that land for ten years, ownership transfers to them."

"What?!"

"That's in the contract clauses."

"Ten years? Wait, how long do we have left for ten years? How long have we been doing this idiotic thing?"

"It'll be eight years this year."

Nina stared blankly before letting out a sigh of relief.

"Well, that's a relief. It hasn't been ten years yet. We can just win it back."

Jin couldn't help chuckling at how breezily Nina said it.

"You make it sound so easy."

"Just win. Easy."

Nina said, plopping back down. She muttered in a tone fully relaxed.

"Why wager land in the first place?"

"We owed a debt to House Raba. They agreed to forgive part of it if we won."

At Lui's words, Nina thought blankly.

'Ah, right. Inheriting the estate means inheriting the debts too.'

So they were already poor, and now saddled with debt on top?

"Anyway, everyone's just barking from all sides and not helping at all. We look like total villains."

As Jin grumbled, Kiril shrugged.

"From their perspective, we're the villains. A bastard who rolled in with his gang massacred the ducal family and snatched the title."

Nina narrowed her eyes.

"They died from the plague."

"To undermine His Grace's succession rights, the Duchess's faction spread those rumors."

At Lui's words, Nina scowled with a "How annoying," before adding, "Makes sense."

"Fine by me. Villains it is. We're not cut out to be protagonists anyway."

"Hey, why can't we be protagonists? We can do it."

Lui nodded at Jin's words. Kiril raised her glass with a "To our villain protagonists," and everyone toasted.

Tipsy, Nina collapsed onto Adrian's thigh like she was falling asleep. Her silver hair spilled out, pooling on the floor.

"Already lying down? You've only had one glass of wine."

Jin scolded, and Nina protested.

"Drunk is drunk."

Adrian carefully gathered her hair and laid it over the sofa.

"Ah, feels good."

Nina settled in comfortably, as if it were a real pillow.

She spoke in a leisurely tone.

"Young Master, remember that grand dream of my vegetable garden I mentioned before?"

"Of course."

"Let's start that garden again. It's not too late now."

At Nina's words, Kiril suddenly burst out laughing loudly.

"Vegetable garden dreams or whatever, we'll talk tomorrow."

"Huh? What? Are you already growing stuff? What is it? Is the garden well-preserved?"

Hope suddenly sprouted within her.

Bombarded by Nina's questions, Kiril grinned around her pipe.

"Tomorrow."

"Got it."

She didn't have the energy for more today anyway.

"Then no problem. Oh, wait. We need to build up our knight order. They say making a lot of money attracts bad guys... And we have to get that land back too..."

Her alcohol-slurred voice trailed off smaller and smaller until Nina let out a big yawn.

"Then we should appoint Nina as the new knight order captain."

Adrian said matter-of-factly.

"Oh, really? Sure. Huh?"

Nina blinked.

"Me?!"

The drunken haze vanished in an instant. Nina bolted upright. Adrian leaned back just in time to avoid her head smacking his chin.

"Me? Captain?"

"Yeah. I can't hold the position forever."

"But there's the vice-captain, right?"

Lui smiled brightly.

"I think I'm better suited for administrative work. Happy to hand it over."

"What about Jin?!"

"You can handle the headaches. If you insist, I'll be vice-captain."

Jin boasted, chin raised as if it was no big deal.

"No way."

"There's no one else I can entrust it to. Plus, you said you learned swordsmanship from the Sun spirit. If you've got the skills, we should use them. Besides, we can't leave the knight captain position vacant for long."

She was perfect for it.

Nina was the most suitable.

Having made that judgment, Adrian patted her head.

"You'll do great, Nina."

"Uwaaa..."

She slumped forward.

"Fine. For now."

Nina shook her head vigorously.

"Then, a toast to our new knight captain."

Lui raised his glass, and Nina stealthily reached for hers.