Roxi was wearing a very flustered expression.
Right now, this was a place that could only be accessed by members of the Knight Order.
Her expression seemed to ask why I was here.
“I’m officially here, so you don’t have to worry too much.”
“Really?”
I had to get straight to the point; it wasn’t something Roxi could decide by herself.
First, I wanted to confirm if she was still considering joining us.
“How has everything been lately? Is it going well?”
“Just, okay. I’m doing background checks for the Information Department.”
“Why?”
“Our captain wants to establish connections with the Information Department.”
Python was a captain of the Knight Order with considerable recognition among the general populace.
I was extremely curious about why he wanted to build connections with the Information Department.
I cautiously asked Roxi about what kind of person Python was.
“He graduated from the military academy with excellent grades. He was even a candidate for the knight commander position.”
“That must have been disappointing.”
The current knight commander was Carlos Reada, Aila’s older sister.
Having been outperformed by a much younger knight, his pride must have been severely hurt.
“Although he didn’t show it outwardly, he seemed quite depressed for a while.”
“Is a knight commander elected for life?”
“Yes, but there are a few exceptional cases.”
There were three significant reasons for a knight commander who guards the imperial court to be replaced.
First, when the guarding royal family member is murdered.
Second, if they commit corruption or rebellion that causes significant harm to the empire.
The last reason is when the knight commanders mutually agree that the current commander is unfit for the position.
“Does the third case happen often?”
“Yes. It has happened a few times.”
It seemed that internal politics allowed for forced resignations as well.
This meant that the knight commander had to earn considerable trust from the other commanders within.
“What’s the current commander like?”
“I don’t know for sure, but it seems he’s quite trusted. Especially by the 2nd Knight Division…”
Suddenly, Roxi hastily interrupted her own story.
She must have just recalled the reason I was currently here.
“Well, anyway. Besides that, the 1st and 7th divisions are aligned with the current commander.”
As soon as the word ‘faction’ came out of Roxi’s mouth, I didn’t miss that opportunity.
“The others are factions opposing the current commander, then?”
“Ah, that…”
Stumped for words, Roxi slowly walked toward the window.
“Hah…”
After letting out a long sigh, she opened her mouth while looking outside.
“It’s a faction created by our captain. It seems he was quite disappointed not to be elected as commander.”
Python appeared to be considering proposing a replacement for the knight commander.
“How many people need to be on board to propose a replacement?”
“There are a total of seven, so five.”
It seemed that even with a majority, one more person had to agree to the proposal to have any power.
“So, you’re currently trying to recruit the 7th division’s commander?”
“What about the 1st division?”
“They will never agree to it.”
The commander of the 1st Knight Division was a certain supporter of the current commander.
That’s why Python chose to approach the commander of the 7th division.
“So, how’s the recruitment going?”
“Up to that point, I don’t know, and even if I did, I couldn’t answer.”
What was certain was that I would find out when I attended the knight commander meeting tomorrow.
“So, about Roxi joining us, what needs to happen?”
“Pardon?”
“You said before that you wanted to join if you could, didn’t you?”
“Well, even if I want to go, I can’t just go.”
It is said that if a needed person is in another unit, they can be sent over willingly.
On the other hand, changing the affiliation of knights is quite complicated.
Unlike regular soldiers, they often select individuals that the respective knight order needs.
I had previously heard from Roxi that Python was keeping her because he needed her information-gathering skills.
No matter what happens, Python wouldn’t send Roxi to another knight order.
“We also need someone to gather information.”
“If you’re thinking of negotiating with that argument, then stop. The 2nd Knight Division already has connections with the Information Department.”
I couldn’t assert that Aila didn’t use those connections.
The person who directly benefited from those connections was none other than me.
If Solche hadn’t requested support from Aila when leaving Latnia’s territory, I would have had a much more difficult journey.
Of course, I did receive a fee during that process.
In any case, the 2nd Knight Division couldn’t claim to have no connections to the Information Department.
That meant I couldn’t bring Roxi over under the pretext of needing information.
“Well then, there’s no other way. How about occasionally sharing information with us?”
“If you did something like that, you’d be chased… huh? I’ll do it.”
For a moment, I thought the same thing as Roxi.
However, if that happened, I would face criticism from various fronts, but I didn’t mind.
After all, I was only a temporary position.
After reaching an agreement with Roxi, I learned a few more things.
That evening, I arrived in front of a certain door, appearing as an adult.
After knocking and waiting, I heard a voice from inside saying I could come in.
As I opened the door and entered, a middle-aged demon was sitting in a chair reading a book.
With his white hair neatly tied back, even his horns looked quite well-groomed.
His bright yellow eyes glanced at me before returning to his book.
“Who is it? I haven’t seen you before.”
“I am Ririan, the temporary commander of the 2nd division.”
“Ah, I’ve heard. Nice to meet you. I’m Alex.”
His voice answered very casually.
My first greeting was equally stiff.
Since some rumors about me had already spread within the Knight Order, he quickly recognized me even with such a brief introduction.
“Right, what brings you here?”
“I heard you are the most senior member of the Knight Order.”
“That’s correct.”
“I was hoping to be assigned to the battlefield together, if possible.”
Alex briefly lifted his gaze from the book to look at me.
“I’ll listen, but don’t expect too much.”
After that very awkward and stiff conversation, I left Alex’s room.
According to Roxi, Alex, the commander of the 5th Knight Division, wasn’t fully aligned with Python’s faction.
He had held the commander position for a long time and had even turned down being proposed for commander himself.
Although he was conveniently aligned with Python’s faction, he might very well reject any proposal for replacing the commander.
I heard from Roxi that Python was worried about this.
Now my objective had become clearer.
To eliminate the faction created by Python and maintain the position of the current commander.
This was likely what Aila had intended to do.
Upon returning to my room, I rested on the bed to prepare for tomorrow’s meeting.
I reviewed the prepared documents and looked over the topics for tomorrow’s meeting.
Most of them were related to the war, concerning the distribution and deployment of troops.
No matter how I looked at it, there didn’t seem to be any room for discussion about replacing the current commander during the meeting.
Since we were at war, Python would never bring up such a dangerous statement.
Among the contents of the documents, there was something troubling mentioned.
It was a brief analysis of the southern region.
The southern cities, including Philon, were wrapped once by castle walls and again by the surrounding mountains.
Thanks to the natural fortress created by nature, external invasions were quite difficult.
Moreover, many elves often established their bases in the southern mountains.
To attack the southern cities, one would have to either cross the mountains or use the roads.
Crossing the mountains would bring an attack from the elves, while using the roads would expose their position and make it easier to defend against.
It was a region very difficult to invade in many ways.
As I read through the documents, I thought the undead army must have had quite a tough time.
Until I read the damage reports on the next page.
When morning came, my body was entrusted to Iwaf.
“Temporarily, but for now, you’re our captain. You have to look presentable.”
“What? Can’t I just do it roughly?”
“I’ll do it roughly.”
Iwaf neatly combed my disheveled hair and tied it back.
“While the outside is armor, the inside is like this.”
He had even prepared a change of clothes, though I didn’t know where he got them.
It didn’t look overly groomed, just a moderate and presentable clean-up was completed.
I heard the meeting room was located on the 7th floor of the castle.
I was supposed to go with my aide, and during my time here, my aide was Iwaf.
“Let’s go.”
With a folder of documents in hand, I began walking up to the 7th floor.
The castle built in Philon had a total of ten floors.
Since it was built a long time ago, there were naturally no elevators.
It was said that aside from the royalty, no one could enter the top floor.
Few people would consider climbing to the tenth floor of such a castle.
When I arrived at the 7th floor, a knight stood guard in front of a large door.
“This is the meeting room.”
The knight, who was likely a newcomer, greeted us with a very stiff posture.
The room called the meeting room wasn’t very large.
A large round table was placed in the middle, and next to it was a room for aides waiting.
I wondered if I was the first one to arrive as no one else had come in yet.
Sitting down anywhere, I waited as familiar and unfamiliar faces began to enter the room.
In the meeting room, I was distinctly the center of attention.
To my left was Alex, who I had briefly greeted the previous evening.
In the center, slightly to the right of where I was looking, Python was seated.
The people I had seen at the entrance to the castle yesterday naturally gathered around Python.
“Well, it seems everyone is here, so let’s get started.”
The ambiguous figure sitting to my right, whose gender I was unsure of, began to lead the meeting.
“Before that, there’s someone I need to introduce.”
With everyone’s gaze on me, I naturally corrected my posture and made my introduction.
“By the order of the Demon King, I am Ririan, the temporary commander of the 2nd Knight Division.”
Python and his faction looked at me with rather surprised expressions.
I began to understand the reason Aila suggested mentioning the name of the Demon King when attending the meeting.
“Well then, first let’s discuss troop allocation…”
Each knight division was assigned around a hundred soldiers.
With a total of seven knight divisions, over seven hundred soldiers seemed insufficient.
However, no one voiced complaints about the numbers being low.
This question was resolved a little later.
In the middle of the round table, an operational map was spread out, which showed a significant amount of troops.
Large units were deployed periodically within the mountains.
The knight divisions’ mission was to confront enemies that would be challenging for each battalion.
It seemed like the seven knight divisions, comprised solely of knights, were operating separately from the military’s operations.
“The deployment will be as follows.”
The person who had been leading the meeting just moments ago was deliberately dividing the knight divisions by faction.
Although it was quite blatant, the atmosphere was one of tacit agreement among everyone.
Next, discussions began regarding combat damages.
