The knights did not care about the fallen Juan.
Not a single person approached Juan and asked if he was all right.
They were too busy caring only about the future that would come for them.
Someone’s face was severely distorted, while someone else’s face was relatively calm.
Each of them was weighing the gravity of the sins they had committed.
“Y-Young Master. Are you all right?”
Martin, freed from the other knights’ restraint, hurriedly ran over and examined Lawrence’s wound.
“I’m fine. It’s only a shallow cut on the skin.”
Riiiip!
Martin quickly tore his own upper garment and pressed it against Lawrence’s wound to stop the bleeding.
“Thank you.”
Lawrence pressed the wound himself and looked at Juan, who was sitting with his head lowered.
The emotion in Lawrence’s eyes as he looked at him was contempt.
A man who had threatened not only his father, but the lives of countless people of the territory.
All for power.
Only for his own dream, he had betrayed Lawrence’s father and the people of the territory.
“Martin.”
Lawrence called Martin in a voice filled with dignity.
“Yes. Young Master.”
At Lawrence’s appearance, different from usual, Martin answered in a voice stiff with discipline.
“Throw that piece of trash into prison. His crimes are attempting to murder his lord, turning his back on a knight’s duty, and placing the people of the territory in danger. Confiscate all his property, and put his entire family to work as slaves of the territory.”
At Lawrence’s frost-sharp voice, Juan, who had been lowering his head, suddenly raised it.
“Just kill me instead. Kill me, and please, spare my family…….”
He pleaded and cried out.
Juan’s desperation reached Lawrence, but even so, Lawrence did not bat an eye.
“You are shameless to the very end. How many crimes have you committed, yet such words still come out of your mouth? Can you not hear the resentment of the soldiers who died because of you? In my heart, I do not want to spare a single one of your family, including you, but because the law of the territory exists, I am forced to spare them. Live the rest of your life in regret and guilt!”
With those words, Juan’s head dropped helplessly.
If he said even one more word here, even his family’s lives could be placed in danger.
He had dreamed of becoming a noble, and in truth, he had nearly grasped it.
Juan had thought his luck was extremely good.
He had been born with talent superior to others and had even become the youngest knight in the village’s history.
In line with that, he had set a grand dream.
And as befitting a lucky person, whenever his dream broke, a new opportunity appeared.
It had seemed as though the heavens were opening a path for him.
He had thought the same today.
Lawrence, whom he had considered insignificant and not even worth caring about, had appeared and opened a new path for him.
A flower-strewn path that would allow him to completely ruin the count, at that.
Juan had been so delighted he could barely hold back his laughter.
Because killing Lawrence was easier than crushing a frog underfoot.
But…….
He had lost to that green brat…….
Accepting the result was far too difficult.
It was painful enough to tear his chest apart.
He wanted to die like this instead.
But if he made an extreme choice, he did not know what would happen to the safety of his remaining family.
Judging from Lawrence’s anger, he seemed more than capable of making Juan’s family pay for the punishment of his crimes.
Regret surged over him like a storm.
Looking back now, his talent had been nothing special.
He had only thought himself remarkable.
He should have been satisfied with becoming the Knight Commander.
Was that position alone not one everyone else envied?
As the price of excessive greed and running wild for several years, he had blown away not only his own freedom, but his family’s future as well.
How great would his family’s despair and resentment be…….
He felt pain as though his heart were being torn out.
Juan wished this moment were a dream, but the pain of the wound in his lower abdomen was far too vivid.
Lawrence opened his mouth while glaring at the knights, who were silent in a daze.
“And!!”
At that one word from him, the knights were startled and all looked only at Lawrence’s mouth.
Since Juan’s punishment had ended, they thought it was now their turn.
The atmosphere settled coldly, but everyone did not seem greatly worried.
Since they all knew the territory’s circumstances, they thought no severe punishment would be given.
If even they were punished, there would be no one to take responsibility for the most important matter, the territory’s safety.
On top of that, they also had a baseless belief that since Juan was gone, the role of the Knight Order would inevitably become even more important.
But breaking everyone’s expectations, Lawrence’s words were merciless.
“Trash like you are no longer needed. You enjoy only rights without fulfilling your duties. Leave the Romanov family at once.”
At Lawrence’s words, like a bolt from a clear sky, the knights were startled back to their senses.
They were being expelled from the count’s house?
Then they would have no choice but to live as Free Knights.
A Free Knight without a lord was a knight in name, but no different from a mercenary.
There was also the method of joining another noble family as a knight, but there was no place that would welcome knights who had been driven out.
Moreover, all of them were only Aura Users, the lowest stage of knights.
Depending on skill, knights were divided into Aura User, Sword Expert, Sword Master, and Grand Sword Master.
Among the knights, only Juan was an Upper Aura User, while most of the remaining knights were merely Lower or Intermediate Aura Users.
With this level of skill, they had been able to act as knights only in the House of Count Romanov, at the farthest frontier of the Kingdom of Lumiere. If they went to another noble family, they would not even be able to present a calling card.
A great deal of money was required to maintain a single knight.
Warhorses, armor, weapons, and the hiring of squires all required large expenses.
The Romanov family had accepted them because it was very much a case of swallowing mustard through tears.
Because they needed knights in order to fight monsters.
But no skilled knight would stay in a place like this, filled only with despair and no hope.
That was why the family had accepted them despite knowing they lacked skill.
Yet far from being grateful, they had failed to know their place, acted pompously as though they were great knights, and even behaved however they pleased.
At that moment, someone spoke to Lawrence.
“Young Master does not have the authority to drive us out.”
O’Neill, the Vice Commander, stepped forward and shouted as if he felt wronged.
At that voice, Lawrence’s gaze slowly turned.
His eyes were filled with disgust.
“Well. I knew you had no conscience, but you do not even know shame.”
At Lawrence’s intense gaze, O’Neill flinched.
However, as if he would not back down like this, he gritted his teeth.
He knew better than anyone that if he was pushed back here, his life would be thrown into the gutter.
“I did make a mistake, but it is not enough to be driven out like this. And in the first place, if our wages had not been delayed, I would not have neglected my work.”
Cunningly, he shifted all responsibility onto the count’s house for not being able to pay wages.
Moreover, he dressed his wrongdoing up as a mistake.
Even more absurd was that the knights’ momentum rose as if agreeing with his opinion.
Before anyone realized it, the eyes of the knights glaring at Lawrence had become unusual.
But as if such things did not matter at all, Lawrence shot O’Neill a cold gaze and murmured lowly.
“Hmm, a mistake and neglect…… But do you know this? I have not seen you even once.”
O’Neill could not understand Lawrence’s words.
He had not seen him even once?
He glared at Lawrence with a gaze that asked what he was talking about.
“For these past few months, I have fought monsters at the Barrier Wall together with the soldiers every single day. Where were you then?”
At Lawrence’s words, O’Neill’s eyes rounded in surprise.
However, soon he narrowed his eyes and glared at Lawrence as if he could not believe it.
If the count’s only son had fought at the Barrier Wall, there was no way rumors would not have spread.
Especially in such a small neighborhood.
Then suddenly, one possibility occurred to him.
If it were someone else, perhaps not, but if it were Lawrence, it might have been possible.
Because almost no one knew the face of Lawrence, who had lain in bed.
Even O’Neill himself had first seen Lawrence only once, that day when Lawrence came to the training ground.
Furthermore, Lawrence’s appearance then and Lawrence’s appearance now were very different.
In the current Lawrence, none of the sickly appearance he had seen back then could be found at all.
If he had seen Lawrence somewhere else, there was a high possibility he would have passed by without recognizing him.
Even so, Lawrence’s words were hard to believe.
‘He really fought? No. That makes no sense. The heir of the count’s house fought together with the soldiers? Every day, at that? Absolutely not!’
But because there was no proof that it was certainly false, he could not push as hard as he had a moment ago.
If, by any chance, what Lawrence said was true….
“Just because you did not see me, Young Master, does not mean I did not work.”
In truth, he had not gone out even once at night, but he had gone out a few times during the day.
No matter how recklessly he behaved, he could not cut off his visits altogether.
Because the soldiers were watching, he had to go out a few times even if it was bothersome.
But he himself knew best that this was a poor excuse.
To say he had not completely failed to work.
If he said this somewhere else, he would have nothing to say even if his head flew off.
At that moment, an unexpected change occurred.
“Young Master. I was wrong.”
One of the knights knelt and begged for forgiveness.
And beginning with that knight, about half of the knights knelt as well.
“I-I was wrong too.”
“Please forgive me just once.”
“It was not that I did not want to work. Commander Juan and his gang blocked me from going, so I had no choice.”
At the rapidly changing atmosphere, O’Neill and Juan’s gang grew restless.
“Since you did not do your work properly in the first place, there should be no need to pay your overdue wages. So leave the Romanov Territory.”
Lawrence cut them off coldly.
At these words, O’Neill could not hold back and let his emotions burst out as they were.
He frowned in displeasure and even revealed his momentum as he threatened Lawrence.
Even after seeing Juan fall with his own eyes, he still had not come to his senses.
No, rather, he thought he had come to his senses and was responding well.
Because the long-standing contempt toward the count’s house that had accumulated without him realizing it was strongly affecting his perception.
How insignificant he had considered the count’s house in ordinary times was deeply engraved into his foundation.
That was why the habitual behavior he had shown until now was being expressed exactly as it was.
O’Neill did not notice at all just how much his current behavior was stoking Lawrence’s anger.
“Young Master should stay out of this. We will receive punishment for the mistake we committed from the count.”
This meant, You too should stop exceeding your authority and get lost.
Then, as if agreeing with O’Neill’s words, Juan’s gang shouted in unison.
“That is correct! We did not swear loyalty to the Young Master. Therefore, you do not have the right to tell us to leave.”
“That is right. The Young Master has no such authority.”
“It is only because we are here that the monster invasion can be blocked.”
Although the atmosphere was not good because Juan had been defeated, Juan’s gang did not think at all that they would be driven out.
If all these people left at once, a hole would inevitably open in the defense against monsters.
Therefore, they thought the count would have no choice but to continue enduring it, just as he had endured until now.
After injuring his mana circuit, he had been no different from an old man in a back room.
So at most, he would only give them disciplinary punishment.
At that moment, the training ground door opened forcefully, and Jason appeared.
Seeing O’Neill arguing with Lawrence, Martin had judged that Jason absolutely had to know about this incident.
And so he had run straight to the count’s office and explained the current situation.
At Jason’s appearance, Juan’s gang let out sighs of relief.
Because they thought that now that Jason had appeared, Lawrence could no longer do anything to them.
Since the mouth of the most troublesome person had been sealed, the matter would be wrapped up smoothly.
The first among them to move was Juan.
The only one who could do something about the punishment handed down to him was Jason.
If it was Jason, who cared for his subordinates and had deep affection, Juan expected that at least the punishment handed down to his family would be withdrawn.
Enduring the pain, Juan crawled in front of Jason and bowed his head.
As Jason watched that sight expressionlessly, a change appeared on his face.