Virgin Knight Who Is the Frontier Lord in the Gender Switched World - Chapter 236

With golden hair and delicate silk clothing, a slender girl—that’s the image of the emperor I hold in my mind.

“We’ll be in your care for a while,” said the emperor.

“It is an honor to accompany you, Your Majesty!” Valiere replied with enthusiasm.

Emperor Maxine greeted Lady Valiere and entered the room. Valiere, in a somewhat exaggerated manner, responded with a crisp salute. It seemed she genuinely wanted to accompany him. As she sat on the long chair, her slender frame swayed playfully.

It was difficult to bring up such a serious matter to an emperor who seemed so cheerful.

“Your Majesty, I believe it is dangerous for you to accompany Lady Valiere, as her life is currently being targeted.”

To be honest, I didn’t have any particular loyalty to the emperor. After all, the Polydoro family had a master-servant contract with Queen Liesenlotte of the Electorate of Anhalt, and as a knight, I had sworn loyalty to Lady Valiere. Being a subordinate of a subordinate is not the same as being a direct subordinate.

Still, an emperor is an emperor.

As a knight of the Holy Gusten Empire, I should at least offer my advice.

Or so I thought.

“My, how kind of you, Lord Polydoro. This isn’t the image I had of the ‘Knight of Wrath.’”

Emperor Maxine smiled thinly, his gaunt cheeks narrowing. Even though he was the emperor and over fourteen, he didn’t have the face of a boy overflowing with wealth and honor. I couldn’t help but think he should eat more.

“I’ll give you a piece of advice, Lord Polydoro. It’s likely that it’s not Lady Valiere who’s being targeted, but rather you.”

“Me?”

“You’re said to have defeated ninety-nine knights of Virendorf in single combat, aren’t you? It’s possible that the people of Virendorf have accepted this and acknowledged you as a hero for killing Lady Reckenber. However…”

After a brief pause, the emperor chuckled again.

“The Landsknecht are a different story. I’ve received reports that they are targeting your life out of hatred for what you did to Lady Reckenber.”

“You have spies within the Landsknecht?”

“Not quite. It’s more that, as their nominal employer, I have subordinates who inform me.”

That made sense.

I fell silent and adopted a posture of listening.

“Those targeting you are former double-pay soldiers and some of the non-commissioned officers who are still clinging to Lady Reckenber. Ordinarily, I wouldn’t even bother mentioning such small fry to someone of your reputation, but…”

The emperor casually asked Lady Valiere if there was any wine, spreading his hands elegantly. On his right hand, he raised all his fingers; on his left, only his thumb and index finger.

A total of seven fingers.

“There’s one person you should be cautious of. Her name is Baumann, the Sevenfold Cutter.”

“The Sevenfold Cutter?”

When I heard that name, the first thing that came to mind was the story of the pretender to the throne, a former emperor whose name I didn’t even remember, who had been hunted down by the Landsknecht. His body had been cut into seven parts, and each section had been fought over by the double-pay soldiers before being delivered to Lady Reckenber.

“Did Baumann carve up that pretender?”

“It’s natural to think so, but no. Baumann once cut down seven knights. She stormed into an enemy encampment, which was heavily fortified, and with a single swing of her Zweihänder, she cleaved through their armor and bodies.”

While that might be possible for both Lady Reckenber and myself, it would be impossible for anyone without our level of skill.

“That’s the story behind the name ‘Baumann, the Sevenfold Cutter.’ She will undoubtedly come for you, Lord Polydoro.”

“…”

I see. She would indeed be a formidable foe.

While I had confidence in my ability to win any duel, it might be a different story if it wasn’t one-on-one.

As the emperor enjoyed the wine brought by his servant, he continued speaking.

“Her hair is the same golden color as mine. She’s 2.2 meters tall, weighs 140 kilograms, and wields a Zweihänder. Though she has only achieved individual martial feats, Lady Reckenber recognized her as a soldier who could do the work of a hundred men. I tried to knight her and have her swear fealty to me, but she refused.”

“Why is that?”

I asked the question, though I had already guessed the reason.

“She said she would only serve Lady Reckenber. It was Lady Reckenber who tapped her shoulder with a sword. I had no choice but to give up. However, she never became a knight of Virendorf.”

“Why is that…?”

I wondered why Lady Reckenber never accepted her as a knight.

I couldn’t figure it out, but the emperor, perhaps sensing my confusion, moistened his lips with wine and spoke.

“I don’t know the reason. Some of my subordinates speculated that it might have been a move for the future.”

“For the future?”

“To use her as an assassin to kill me, of course. To keep her in the imperial city as a Landsknecht, so she could be used to assassinate the emperor.”

Hmm.

There was some logic to that.

“I know for a fact that Lady Reckenber had no interest in becoming emperor. When the Landsknecht surrounded the imperial city, she ceded the throne to me, saying it would be pointless to claim it herself. However, that doesn’t mean she wasn’t laying the groundwork for the Virendorf royal family to seize the throne later on, does it?”

Indirectly.

Without saying outright, Isn’t Queen Katarina of Virendorf currently aiming to usurp the throne?, the emperor smiled and glanced at Lady Valiere.

Lady Valiere looked flustered and turned to me, as if pleading for a distraction.

It’s true.

There’s no point in trying to hide something so obvious, but I gave a vague response anyway.

“Perhaps there was an issue with her qualifications? Maybe her background wasn’t suitable for a knight?”

“A knight who can’t read or write isn’t exactly rare. Whether they come from a peasant background or a remote mountain village, it’s not a problem. That’s not the way things are done in Virendorf. All that matters is that you have the strength to silence everyone else, and Baumann had that strength.”

That’s true.

Even I realized my words were weak.

“She stayed in the imperial city the entire time. Even Duke Temeraire, who loves collecting superhumans, approached her, but she refused. Of course, I offered her a stipend as well, but I wonder if that was enough to satisfy her.”

The position of a knight has a strange allure.

It’s something my mother Marianne taught me. In parades, in jousts, and especially on the battlefield, soldiers always look up to knights.

There’s an undeniable attraction that can’t be shaken off.

When you consider that, it’s possible that Baumann was unofficially set to become Lady Reckenber’s vassal knight, waiting in the imperial city until the opportunity for a coup arose.

If that’s the case…

“Am I hated?”

“You’re definitely hated.”

I had no right to complain about that.

And not just from Baumann—the same likely goes for the Landsknecht.

“…Faust, don’t act alone.”

“I’ll keep that in mind. However, if Baumann challenges me to a duel, that’s a different story. Even Lady Reckenber accepted my challenge to a duel in a situation where she had a clear advantage.”

I can’t run away.

That is the one thing I cannot do as a knight.

It’s not exactly a geas, but I’ve made it a personal vow.

“…Do as you please. If possible, I’d like to witness your duel with Baumann.”

“You won’t stop me as my employer?”

“If I wanted to, I could easily break both the master-servant and employment contracts, and the Landsknecht wouldn’t see it as a betrayal. They have no concept of honor. They curse, steal, plunder, and deceive. They call themselves brave soldiers precisely because no one acknowledges them as such. Since no one else does, they insist on it themselves.”

A servant refilled the emperor’s wineglass.

“The Landsknecht now, though…they’re not like they were when Lady Reckenber led them. Back then, they had the determination to give their lives, and nothing could stop them. When we defeated Cardinal Mainz, for example, in Valiere’s infamous ‘Aftermath’, everyone had turned into berserkers. Now, they are trying to regain the pride they once lost. They’re willing to throw away their bodies, their skin, their entire being for it.”

The emperor sipped his wine and, with a slightly drunken breath, continued.

“The Landsknecht are weak now. But the ones standing in your way, Faust von Polydoro, are as strong as they were when Lady Reckenber led them. Be very careful.”

With that, he fell silent.

Lady Valiere, without saying anything, took a small sip from the wineglass that had been poured for her.

Now, what I had to think about was this:

Just who is this Baumann?

For now, that was all that occupied my thoughts.