svetikya #244 - Marriage Request
#244 - Marriage Request
“Why did it turn out like this… …”
Otto awkwardly tugged at the clean and tidy knight's uniform he was wearing, as if he wasn't used to it at all. Even though the kingdom's knight uniform style was very handsome, the frown and downward curve of his lips made him look like a loser.
“From now on, we're colleagues, Otto.”
“Yes! I'm truly honored and terrified!”
Otto constantly bowed to Reinhard, even though the other party was very kind, the identities of nobleman and Sword Saint still made him feel inferior.
“There's no need to be so polite…”
The Sword Saint looked regretful and disappointed. He really wanted to get along with Otto, but the other party was still so respectful and restrained.
Otto's eyebrows and mouth drooped, as if he was about to cry.
“Can I really be a good knight?”
“Since Lord Zun Zun chose you, I believe you can handle it.”
“Although it was forced.”
“…Yes, haha.”
Reinhard smiled and patted his shoulder.
When Zun Zun said he wanted Otto to be a knight, Reinhard thought it was a last resort, just like Felt being willful.
However, after spending some time together, he discovered that Otto seemed to have enormous potential, and the blessings on him were also extraordinary.
No wonder he was chosen.
Otto didn't know the Sword Saint's evaluation of him. He was still bewildered and incredulous about suddenly becoming a knight.
He only wanted to seek help to sell off his stockpiled oil at a low price, but never expected—
Otto recalled what happened the day before yesterday.
“I'll buy your oil at ten times the price, but there's a condition. Otto, you have to become my knight.”
“…No, no, no, I can't do it! I can't be a knight! I can't do it at all!”
Faced with the sudden invitation, he naturally refused decisively.
However, Zun Zun sighed slightly and said regretfully, “Is that so? That's a pity… In that case, I can't buy your oil, Otto.”
“Eh?”
“You see, although my identity is unusual, I'm currently just staying at Reinhard's house. If I were to spend a lot of money to buy useless oil for no reason, even I would be questioned. Right, Reinhard?”
“…Lord Zun Zun is right.”
Otto looked at Reinhard, who was slowly nodding, in disbelief, not noticing Zun Zun secretly covering for him and the Sword Saint nodding helplessly. He was completely immersed in the pain of possibly going bankrupt.
“Then, then just fifty percent… No, thirty percent…!”
“Don't you understand the situation, Otto? It's not about how much money there is, but about my actions of buying things.”
“Ugh!”
He was completely speechless.
As a merchant, he naturally understood what Zun Zun wanted to express. Otto often encountered situations where nobles had money but couldn't spend it, mostly when nobles wanted to buy beautiful slaves but were stopped by their wives at home.
“But if Otto becomes my knight, it's a different story.”
Under his bewildered gaze, Zun Zun smiled and said, “You are my knight. If anything happens to you, I will also be implicated, so from the standpoint that I have to help you, I will pay any amount of money. Do you understand now?”
“That, that… If it's a chief merchant or an ordinary servant…”
“No, ordinary subordinates are not worth spending a lot of money on.”
Zun Zun flatly rejected.
Although the kingdom has always restricted and discouraged it, ordinary servants are truly dispensable tools, just like Natsuki Subaru. Roswaal is fully qualified to dispose of him at will. Therefore, most nobles would not spend a lot of money for ordinary servants.
“So, will you rise to prominence and become a knight, or will you go bankrupt and become someone else's slave? Otto, a smart person like you should be able to make the right choice.”
So, with a one-stop service of announcement, registration, and recording, Otto successfully became Zun Zun's knight and was published on the notice.
Any fool would know how to choose in this situation, but why is Otto still so depressed and uneasy?
The reason is—
“That lord is actually the sixth royal candidate! I didn't even know about that!”
“I remember the kingdom issued an announcement.”
“That, how should I say it… Because I couldn't sell the oil, I didn't have the mind to pay attention to other things, so…”
“Is that so? It's true that it's difficult to pay attention to other things in that situation.”
Reinhard comforted Otto instead.
Otto was slightly moved. He thought that the Sword Saint would be as arrogant, conceited, and condescending as other nobles.
The kingdom has good reputation for Reinhard's integrity, honesty, and kindness, but Otto was born with a dislike for nobles, plus the nobles in his hometown also had similar rumors, but in reality, they were that kind of virtue. So he was also very wary of Reinhard and the others.
However, after spending some time together, Otto saw the true goodness and beauty in the nobles for the first time, a good quality that is almost impossible to exist.
“What's wrong, Otto? Why are you looking at me like that?”
“…Nothing.”
So dazzling!
The Sword Saint is too dazzling, he is truly a perfect person!
Standing with the shining Reinhard, Otto only felt ashamed of himself, and he cared about himself so much that he couldn't even feel jealous.
“You two seem to be very close.”
“Lord Zun Zun?”
The two were slightly stunned to see the person coming.
Reinhard put his hand on his chest and bowed, Otto also immediately bowed in a decent manner after a brief daze. Although he was not clear about etiquette, he was very sensitive to these things, indicating that he was a careful observer.
“There's no need to be so polite.”
Zun Zun waved his hand and looked at his knight, teasing: “It is said that clothes make the man, Otto, you look quite handsome in the knight's uniform. It's just that your face is too unlucky, like a loser. Not good, seeing your face, I seem to think of a certain loser who doesn't grow up no matter what he experiences, and I get angry all of a sudden.”
“It's too much to get angry just by looking at someone's face!”
Otto shouted aggrievedly.
He didn't want to wear this knight's uniform that made him feel awkward, but Reinhard said that wearing a uniform was a must after joining the Knights, so he couldn't do anything about it. But he heard that when he returned to the garrison, he wouldn't have to be so restrained.
“By the way, what were you guys talking about just now?”
“Talking about how I accidentally sold myself.”
Otto, with a resentful look, said so melancholy. In his opinion, agreeing to become Zun Zun's knight was selling himself.
Although the title of knight sounds good, no matter how you look at it, there is no difference from buying and selling slaves, even if Zun Zun keeps saying that he has great potential, Otto himself is very unconfident.
Maybe he's just a dispensable vase.
Wait, wait…
I heard that many nobles have that kind of hobby, could it be that buying himself back is for doing this and that?
If I remember correctly, Lord Zun Zun should be a boy, although he looks very handsome and easily causes misunderstandings, he is undoubtedly a boy.
If he wants me to serve him at night, should I obey or not?
“Otto, I feel offended.”
“No!”
Otto answered loudly, but his hands were holding his thin shoulders, like a little white flower about to be defiled by an evil nobleman.
Zun Zun was too lazy to pay attention to him.
He turned to look at the Sword Saint beside him.
“Reinhard, what did that old man say?”
“To actually call the Sage Council representative, the current most powerful person in the kingdom, Macrotoff, an old man, you are really too much.”
“Nonsense, doesn't Priscilla say that too?”
“That lord is another matter.”
Reinhard shook his head helplessly and said under Zun Zun's urging: “That lord has quite a bit of criticism about you making a merchant a knight. Lord Macrotoff clearly recommended so many excellent knights to you, but you rejected them all…”
“I said that those people in the Royal Knights were all ugly and deformed.”
Zun Zun curled his lips.
It was predictable that the Sage Council Elder would have opinions on his decision. After all, except for Natsuki Subaru, who calls himself a knight but is not recognized, the other four knights have great backgrounds, even Al is a powerful sword slave. Regardless of emotional intelligence or IQ, combat power can be guaranteed.
This is also the reason why the elder urged Zun Zun to choose a guard, after all, they can protect the safety of the royal candidates.
Looking at Otto…
A merchant, without any combat power, even cowering and timid, in contrast, he is not even as good as Natsuki Subaru, who dares to throw a tantrum in the palace hall.
This evaluation made Otto lower his head.
Reinhard didn't say anything hurtful, and didn't even have any actions in that regard, but that doesn't mean that others didn't react to this. At least that old man had a look of disappointment when he saw him.
“What are you talking about, Reinhard?”
Zun Zun tiptoed and put his arm around Otto's shoulder, smiling with his mouth wide open: “Even if it doesn't seem obvious now, Otto has extraordinary potential, and I believe he will shine one day.”
“Lord Zun Zun…”
Otto was so moved that he was about to cry.
“Sorry for disturbing at this touching moment.” Fram walked briskly to the group, took out a letter and said: “Lord Zun Zun, there is an invitation for you.”
“Invitation?”
The content of this invitation is still unknown, but from the coat of arms on the wax seal, you can see the winged lion pattern, and the sender is Crusch.
Open the letter.
After reading it carefully, Zun Zun couldn't help but laugh.
“Lord Zun Zun?”
“Reinhard, I never thought that I would become a popular item one day, no, the reason I find it funny is that I didn't expect that royal candidate Crusch, the hot favorite, couldn't sit still.”
With Zun Zun's consent, Reinhard finished reading the letter, and his expression became a little strange.
“Lord Zun Zun, could this be…”
“Ah, it's a matchmaking letter.”
Accurately speaking, it is a marriage proposal.
And the object of marriage is naturally Crusch herself. The Duchess revealed in the letter the information that she wanted to marry Zun Zun.