Youngest 270
by Cristae270
“Oh my, oh my… Goodness, whoa! Coming in so suddenly like this—oho! This is just too entertaining. So?”
Allen, his expression shifting in a flash, threw his arm around Khalid’s shoulders and pressed him roughly.
“What does leaving for the front have to do with a confession?”
“Ha. Get lost, you smell like a Mister.”
“I’m not a Mister!”
Allen exploded, and Khalid regarded him impassively.
Just then, Khalid’s eyes fell on the mercenary corps insignia protruding from Allen’s pocket.
Khalid kicked sharply at the back of Allen’s knee. Allen, forced to kneel right in front of him, howled in outrage.
“Gah! What the hell are you kicking me for?!”
“More to the point, you ought to be grateful you handed the mercenary corps over to someone younger than you.”
“What!”
“If I’d seen that contract now, I might’ve killed you on the spot.”
Most of those bastards from the mercenary corps who tormented me would be long dead anyway.
Allen had managed to keep his activities within the (admittedly cunning and precarious) bounds of legality when he ran the mercenary corps out of the backstreets.
But if the group that exploited me had been shown to still exist, I’d have wiped them out without a second thought.
Clomp, clomp.
Watching Khalid’s broad back recede, Allen spat on the ground.
“Damn, that bastard’s temper… Does he have to get ruder with every passing year?”
Allen yanked at his hair in frustration.
“Shouldn’t someone be saving our princess? That lunatic! Hey! What does confessing have to do with deploying, anyway?!”
Of course, there came no reply.
And the next day.
Khalid set out for the front, without a trace of hesitation.
Meanwhile, unaware of his true thoughts, Rubian was now carefully selecting a room from which escape would be absolutely impossible.
At nearly the same time.
The emperor was ruminating on his meeting with Khalid.
“Hm.”
A pleased smile played about his lips.
“How delightfully bold.”
Yesterday afternoon.
Khalid Riorc had suddenly appeared in the capital via portal.
He immediately requested an audience with the emperor.
Normally, he would have waited days for such a privilege, but on this rare occasion, the emperor granted it at once.
“I will take care of all the dark beasts and magical beasts in the East myself.”
Yes, I thought he’d say something like that.
“You will?”
“Ten days… No, a week is all I need.”
The emperor gazed in silence at Khalid, who radiated a languid, predatory air.
The first time they met, he’d thought Leviathan must have raised something precisely like this.
He’d been mistaken.
Here stood a beast even more dangerous and difficult to tame than Duke Zevert himself.
“Hm. A subjugation planned for a year—resolved in a week? Is that even—”
He stole a glance at Khalid’s flawless face.
“Well, there’s no need to question it.”
Now that Khalid’s identity as a mage was known, there was no need to hide his magic.
On top of that, the emperor was well aware of how Khalid had combined magic and swordsmanship on the battlefield of the Mage Kingdom.
“But what is your reason for volunteering, Baron?”
“Because that’s what it will take…”
A clear spark flickered through those calm, grey-blue eyes.
“…to earn a promotion, Your Majesty.”
Ah.
A promotion.
‘As expected.’
The emperor stroked his chin and smiled.
“When the western subjugation ended, I asked if there was anything you wanted, did I not?”
“…”
“You wouldn’t give me the time of day then, said you needed nothing. Why the sudden need for a title?”
“That’s because…”
Khalid tilted his jaw slightly.
“A title is the only thing I don’t have.”
The emperor propped his chin in his hand, forcing himself not to smile.
Khalid stared seriously at the floor, as if talking to himself.
“If I am to confess to her, I need a rank worthy of her. Ruby is the cherished daughter of a ducal house. I must be her equal, so she won’t have to feel ashamed.”
Ah. Young love…
Too amusing.
‘Though, if I think of my Licht, it does trouble me…’
The emperor sat up and donned a deliberately grave air.
“Ahem, very well, Baron.”
“…”
“If you settle the East in a week, I’ll grant you the rank of Count.”
In truth, after his achievements in Arcadia, even claiming a title outright wouldn’t have been odd.
‘Well, he’s not shrewd enough for that just yet.’
At any rate, the emperor had been racking his brains for ways to entice the best of the North to the Eastern front.
So he seized Khalid’s offer in a heartbeat.
A countship, why not?
But, exactly four days later—
A victory report arrived from the Eastern front.
A resounding triumph that echoed through the Empire, accompanied by Sir Khalid’s impertinent letter.
< Grant me a marquisate.
That much is only right. >
With a battle expected to last a year settled in just four days, the ripple effect was enormous: fewer lost men and materials, the swift restoration of civilian life, and so forth. His demands were not unreasonable.
‘A week, huh. He must have planned this all along.’
Ah, youth’s audacity.
‘Admirable, I suppose, and yet…’
Why does it rub me the wrong way?
The emperor crumpled the letter with a gentle, smiling face.
‘Now, when is he returning?’
Damn it, I should have crumpled this after reading it.
With a sigh, he painstakingly straightened the wrinkled paper.
“Hm…”
Hm?
Crunch, crunch.
I crumpled the news sheet as ferociously as I could.
In bold type, it boasted of Khalid Zevert’s triumphant return from a great victory in the West.
“Oh my, did you see this news? They say he turned the tide in just four days!”
“A hero who’s strong and handsome—ah, it’s dizzying!”
“He’s coming back tomorrow, isn’t he? We must go to the triumph parade!”
“Ah, if only he would invite me to dance at the banquet~”
The young ladies were beside themselves as they read, sighing in delight.
Blinded by a surge of jealousy, I crushed the sheet into a ball and stuffed it deep in my pocket.
Out of sight, out of mind.
‘Ha, once he’s back, he’s going nowhere. Confinement, it is.’
But… is this really how you’re supposed to do a one-sided love?
“Well, at least he’s coming home safe.”
I let out a short sigh, checked my plain, commoner’s attire, and started off again.
‘Mm, the capital really is busy.’
The day after Khalid left for the front, in a fit of pique, I came with my family to the capital.
After a few days, I was relieved to find that I wasn’t unwell.
My core had grown sturdy, but it was also thanks to the magic watch Khalid had charged for me before he left.
“Is this the right place?”
I tilted my head outside the noisy restaurant.
Today, for a change of pace, I had plans to meet with Sortie and Princess Cévelena for a day of fun.
Cévelena had been traveling between the Empire and Casalia to manage the issue of the King of Casalia, but now that it was nearly sorted, she’d decided to return for good tomorrow.
‘The King of Casalia agreed, under pressure from the Round Table, to abdicate swiftly because of his collusion with the Mage Kingdom.’
And for some reason, I suspected Cévelena might be angling for that throne herself.
‘Anyway, today’s for fun! It’s our last chance!’
Though Titi and Cévelena had no prior connection, they’d grown close after a tea party I hosted in the North.
Ding-ling—
“Welcome!”
As I entered, I thought of the knights who must be discreetly guarding me nearby.
It had been so long since I’d spent time with girls my age—I was ecstatic. We ordered delicious food, chatted about everything under the sun, and laughed together endlessly.
“But, I have something on my mind.”
Gently sipping my fruit juice after dessert, I opened up.
“Ooh, ooh. Serious talk time.”
The two piled more food onto the table, saying worries are easier to solve on a full stomach.
Unable to hold back any longer, I slumped forward onto the tabletop.
“I never knew unrequited love could be so hard!”
“Pfffft!”
Cévelena spit out her beer.
“One-sided love? Wait… don’t tell me… you mean Sir Khalid?”
“H-how did you know?”
“My word. You two still aren’t dating? Why? Honestly, why? What’s the big holdup— Oh, this is delicious.”
Titi stabbed vigorously at the beef stew, chewing thoughtfully. Cévelena, flushed from drink, tapped my arm.
“My lady, my lady. Are you sure this is really one-sided? When I visited the North, the way Sir Khalid looked at you was something else. He hardly spared a glance for anyone else, but he was so gentle with you…”
A long sigh escaped my lips.
“That’s just because he thinks of me as his ‘master.’”
“…?”
“I happened to save his life once. So he’s been following me around out of gratitude…”
Ugh, the pain of hitting myself with cold hard facts.
My heart aches, prickling and sore.
Faced with my grim self-assessment, Cévelena fell silent, until Titi spoke up.
“Why entertain such pointless delusions… Wait. If not that, what do you two talk about when you meet?”
“When we meet?”
Well…
I ticked the items off on my fingers.
“Hold hands, stroke cheeks, sometimes hug, and, uh… sometimes even kiss…”
“…”
“Oh. He tells me I’m pretty now, too. He doesn’t try to take it back or anything. That’s some small consolation, I suppose…”
“What is this? Are you trying to rub it in?”
Titi, who’d mentioned recently things weren’t great with her boyfriend Jerdin, scowled at me.
“No! It’s all because of my magic, anyway!”
Without realizing, my voice climbed higher. I quickly leaned in and whispered,
“And now, he even flees to the battlefield to avoid it…”
That was when it happened.
A table way off in the distance rattled abruptly.