At the Northern Fort

He panted, out of breath even as he continued to scream at the five pale-faced people.

"Did you do it on purpose!? You let someone instigate you and caused this incident in order to frame me!? Just who in the hell is backing you! How much did you get!? How much did they pay you to betray me!"

"No……! It's a misunderstanding! We were just thinking of Captain Sarrell……"

"If you're thinking of me, then don't do stupid things like this! To think that you guys, who I trusted, would betray me! With this, I'll be sneered at as [the Delamon Ducal Family's luggage] again!"

"My deepest apologies, but we truly did not try to betray Captain Sarrelll……!"

Winst-san and the other four kneeled on the ground, the colour draining from their faces as they denied betraying Captain Sarrell-san.

They probably just wanted him to believe them in that at the very least.

However, in Captain Sarrell-san's rage, he had no ears to listen to them.

He doubted their feelings of not wanting someone whom they loved and respected to be suspicious of them, and seeing the five of them continue to be harshly criticised, I started to feel a bit of pity for them.

What they did was wrong, and I couldn't forgive them for looking down on Branch Captain-san and turning their swords against everyone during the attack. However, I did think that they were a bit pitiful for being suspected by Captain Sarrell-san of betraying him.

And Captain Sarrell-san, who was in a position where he had to doubt his subordinates' intentions, was also pitiful.

Even though I, who had just met them, could see the bond between the two parties.

I howled, "Kyan kyan!" at a level that wouldn't lose to the angry Captain Sarrell-san's yells in volume, and spoke after having caught his attention, his shoulders heaving up and down as he panted.

"Captain Sarrell-san, why won't you beweeb them? Although their meth-ods were wong, they truly wanted to be helpful to you. These five people love Captain Sarrell-san."

At the very least, I felt that I didn't want him to doubt their love for him.

And then, Branch Captain-san also followed up after me.

"Like what Mil said, I believe these five took action purely out of their adoration for you. Until going to the Northern Fort, it was hard for me to stop doubting others. Like you, I've been exposed to aristocratic society, where everything depends on your own interests, from a young age. However, not everyone moves based on calculations for their own self-interest. —those who truly adore you will not be enticed by money or authority."

After being admonished, Captain Sarrell-san pursed his lips.

And then, looking down at Winst-san and the other four people, he spoke calmly.

"I see……that's true. These five aren't the sort to be drawn in by money……"

There, swallowing back his agitation and confusion, he quietly urged them on.

"Please explain from the very top. What in the world have you guys done?"

Winst-san began to explain while still kneeling stiffly.

"……I had a thought when you gave us the order to go meet Commander Gauss and Branch Captain Cromwell. If Branch Captain Cromwell weren't around, then Captain Sarrell would be able to become the [Northern Fort's Branch Captain] as he desired, and would be able to gain connections with the snow spirit. On top of that, I thought that Commander Gauss, whom Captain Sarrell often clashes with, was a hindrance to Captain Sarrell. So I thought of making some sort of trap for those two people……"

"While I do have my clashes with Sarrell, that's just because the both of us are thinking of the country and the Knight's Order."

Commander-san muttered downheartedly. Winst-san then glanced at Commander-san with an apologetic gaze, and then turned his eyes downward as he continued.

"At first, I thought of pretending to be bandits and stealing their luggage. If people with the positions of commander and branch captain were to be robbed to the point where they didn't have a single change of clothes or coin between them, then they'd become a laughingstock amongst the Knight's Order……"

"That's unfortunate. I've already had the experience of getting drunk in town a few years back and getting all my money stolen by a woman who drank with me. I already am a laughingstock."

For some reason, Commander-san interrupted rather proudly but-

"My subordinate is speaking, so please be quiet for a while."

-he was glared at by Captain Sarrell-san and pouted in response. Not cute at all. They probably had exchanges like these often in their meetings, I figured.

Amidst this strange atmosphere, Winst-san continued awkwardly.

"So, we disguised ourselves in those black clothes and waited for Commander and his group at the entrance of the town of Gouda. However, before we found Commander and his group, we caught sight of the two child spirits. We saw them hide in a ditch and transform into their humanoid appearances, so we knew that they weren't just animals. On top of that, we noticed Commander and his group trailing them from behind, so we were able to guess that they were the white one was the rumoured snow spirit child, while the red one was the fire spirit child. That was when we changed our plans and decided to kidnap the child spirits. If the child spirits were kidnapped, then Branch Captain Cromwell would definitely lose the trust of the spirits and have to leave the Northern Fort after all."

"I see. So you truly were working for my sake."

Captain Sarrell nodded once and then-

"……as expected of my subordinates. That was a good plan. However, you failed at the last step. If you're planning a crime, you have to carefully lay down the groundwork and be thorough enough to ensure that you absolutely will not be discovered as the culprit."

"Yes, our deepest apologies."

Winst-san and his group bowed their heads, causing Commander-san to murmur, "Just what exactly are you apologising about……".

"Sarrell, what kind of teachings are you imparting?! Don't tell me that you've been committing those kinds of 'crimes' behind my back?!"

"Well, who knows?"

Commander-san wasn't asking that in earnest, so Captain Sarrell-san also responded in a joking manner.

"Stand. Let us return to headquarters. We'll have to decide on your punishment. I also have to take responsibility as your commanding officer."

After Captain Sarrell-san said that to Winst-san and the other four, the five of them once again lowered their heads and said, "Our deepest apologies", causing Captain Sarrell-san to laugh as though a weight had come off his shoulders.

"It's fine. I was distrustful and thought you guys had betrayed me after all. And as strange as it is, right now I feel rather good. Perhaps it's because now I know that I'm adored by all of you enough for you guys to take such silly actions for my sake…….fufufu, did you know? My elder brother isn't really liked by the employees in the mansion, nor the citizens of his fief. Father is the same in that respect. Fufufufu……that means I have something that those two don't."

Seeing Captain Sarrell-san smirk as he continued to chuckle, Winst-san and the other four exchanged looks. After that, their expressions relaxed slightly.

Around the time when we were all leaving the building, the One-Eyed Knight and Kix arrived, bringing along the five hoodlum-like men with their wrists tied through the narrow alleyway.

Flying near them was a pea-green ball of light – Hyllis' fairy.

Branch Captain-san approached the One-Eyed Knight while still carrying me and informed him that Captain Sarrell was not the ringleader in brief.

Kix was surprised and said, "Really?" while making a slightly guilty expression.

I also felt the same, having doubted Captain Sarrell-san myself. I had arbitrarily passed him off as a bad guy after all.

I should lick his face as an apology later.

"Captain Sarrell's escorting these five back to headquarters*."

"Then, he can take these five too……"

Kix looked back at the five hoodlum-looking men as Captain Sarrell-san also looked over while bringing Winst-san and the other four along behind him.

Kix's face stiffened slightly in apparent nervousness.

While it seems that they hadn't been heavily involved with each other, to a rookie like Kix, Captain Sarrell-san was a scary superior who was strict in a different way compared to the One-Eyed Knight.

Kix hurriedly brushed the dust off of his uniform and stared firmly at the ground to voice meeting Captain Sarrell-san's eyes. Somehow it's kinda funny.

On the other hand, Captain Sarrell-san continued forward without recognising Kix—or so I had thought, before he stopped briefly next to Kix.

Then, he said this.

"Kix, is it? Seems like you're doing well at the Northern Fort…….this time we've troubled you. Grail too."

Captain Sarrell-san turned to look at Kix and the One-Eyed Knight in turns, briefly acknowledging them before walking off. Winst-san and the other four also followed after him.

"Captain Sarrell actually remembered me……I honestly thought that he hadn't even remembered my name……"

"Me too……"

Kix and the One-Eyed Knight had dumbfounded faces as they saw off Captain Sarrell-san.

The two of them seemed to be surprised that Captain Sarrell-san had remembered their names.

Though Captain Sarrell-san certainly did favour Winst-san and the other four amongst all of his subordinates, that didn't mean that he completely disregarded the rest of his subordinates.

He was power hungry, and it was hard to say whether he had a good personality or not. Captain Sarrell-san did act in ways that made him easy to misunderstand, but he probably wasn't actually a hopelessly evil person either.

"……Hyllis? Is something wrong?"

She was sitting on Branch Captain-san's shoulder and staring fixedly at Captain Sarrell-san's back, so I grew a bit curious and asked.

But Hyllis simply shrugged rather dexterously for being in her bird form and answered thusly.

"No, it's nothing."

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