Chapter 353 - Vice Captain Kiel

7 days before Halt and the others took their C-rank adventurer’s advancement exam —

Kiel, the deputy commander of the order of the royal knights, had been summoned to the headquarters of the knights.

“Kiel, Vice Captain of the 20th Division, reporting.”

“Yeah, come in.”

When Kiel entered a room at the headquarters of the chivalric order, he found a muscular man with a large scar on his face waiting for him. That man was no other than the Knight Commander, the top brass of the Royal Order of Knights to which Kiel and Gad belong, and was said to be the strongest knight in the country.

“Then please excuse me.”

“Sorry for calling you out. Actually, I wanted to call that captain of yours, but….”

Commander Gad would ignore the summons from the headquarters of the knights. He didn’t attend the commander assembly meetings either, so Kiel had to attend in his stead every single time.

“No, I’m already used to it. That being said, our division hasn’t done anything recently?”

Whenever Kiel was summoned to the headquarters, it was because somebody from the 20th division caused a ruckus.

Kiel was thus worried that one of the members in his unit did something behind his back.

Their 20th division might be better at combat than any other unit, but they also caused the most problems. Among them, Kiel was considered to be relatively decent.

Even so, he would also push Gad to do the troublesome work within the unit, and he would also abuse his power as a member of the order to play with women. He might seem decent when viewed in the light of the other members, but as a person, he was also scum.

“I summoned you here this time not because of your captain and your unit's misbehavior, but about the fact that you have been assigned to supervise the examination of adventurers who will be promoted to C level. I’m informing you about that.”

Kiel was relieved when he heard the words of the knight commander.

“Is that so, I understand…. However, may I know why the knight commander himself is informing me about such a trivial matter?”

The knight commander could’ve sent a messenger to relay the information that they would be assigned to oversee the advancement examination. There was no need for him to personally summon Kiel, unless there was a reason.

“Mm. The people taking the exam this time are quite special.”

“Special, may I know what you mean by that?”

“I don’t know the particulars myself, but they’re important people for the kingdom, apparently.”

“... Then, should we adjust the exam to ensure that they would all pass? Knight Commander, I’m sure, you’re also aware of this, but my captain isn’t someone who agrees with that sort of thing.”

Previously, a nobleman’s son had to let him pass the advancement exam. Gad didn’t like his attitude so he beat that son up during the exam.

It was only right and proper for someone who is part of the royal chivalric to refuse bribes, but… He went overboard dealing against a noble, so it turned into a huge problem.

Gad didn’t care who the other party was, he would only do what he wanted. Even if the examinee was someone important to the kingdom, he would never be considerate towards that person. Kiel wouldn’t be able to do anything if Gad didn’t like somebody.

“Nah, that’s not what I meant. It’s fine even if he went all out, apparently. The order was for me to assign a powerful guy as the proctor. Since Gad is the most powerful captain among the free ones, I decided to assign it to him.”

Kiel had some misgivings when he heard what the knight commander said.

Gad was scum, but he’s strong.

He could even go toe to toe with the knight commander himself.

He’s not only strong, he’s also brutal, so he would never go easy on someone that ticked him off. He would corner his opponent until the latter could no longer escape, then he would take his sweet time tormenting them.

That’s how Gad was, so it came as a surprise that the knight commander said to let him go all out.

“...I understand. I will relay the matter of being the proctor of the advancement exam to captain.”

Kiel noticed something was off and there was something going on behind the scenes, but he couldn’t pinpoint what it was.

And so, he started preparing to investigate the circumstances after he left the headquarters of the royal knights.

—***—

That night, Kiel went to Ifrus Academy of Magic.

The examinees were students in this academy, apparently.

By the way, he didn’t get permission to enter the academy.

He had infiltrated the place using a special skill to trick Sage Luarno’s surveillance spell.

Kiel was part of the royal knights, but he was also connected to the underground people. He used that connection to obtain information regarding the examinees.

“Halt Ernol. Third son of Count Silveray, the younger brother of Commander of Imperial Guards… So, that’s how it is.”

Kiel muttered while observing Halt’s mansion from afar.

He felt the aura of powerful people from Halt’s mansion. He’s the younger brother of that Cain after all, so he easily accepted that. At the same, he wanted to check the reason why overseeing the advancement exam fell onto the lap of the 20th division.

“Captain probably became the sacrificial pawn this time around.”

Gad is strong, but he never listens. Such a troublesome guy, so it’s only natural that the Order would plan to cut him off.

However, Kiel fully understood just how powerful Gad was.

He was even proud of his captain’s strength.

“Aren’t they looking down on Captain’s strength a little too much?”

Just like Gad, Cain was also one of the Power Four of Glendale. Even if Halt was his brother, it was unlikely that the latter would be as strong as his older brother.

“... Well, they did say he can go all out, so let’s make the bigwigs of this country regret that, shall we? Besides —”

Kiel saw Luna hanging laundry on the line in the backyard of Halt’s mansion.

“We’re lucky this time huh. Alright, I have to make sure Captain really goes all out this time.”

If all goes well for Gad, he would also be able to bask in that ‘glory’. He burned the image of Luna in his mind before leaving the place.