Chapter 20
20
Every knight's necessity.
The reason a knight is called a knight.
It's the horse.
A horse is what a knight needs to be a knight.
The teaching direction and method were completely different for warhorses used in battle and ceremonial horses used in ceremonies.
A knight should have at least those two, but both were very expensive.
It was a price that nobles could only afford.
But the Jet-Black Knights didn't travel by horse often, so they had simply forgotten about it.
Unicorns live in the Violet Forest.
The hooves of these jet-black horses with horns on their heads were so hard that they didn't need horseshoes and shone like obsidian. The muscles all over their bodies were like steel, so they could run as lightly as deer and were as strong as panthers.
In addition, scales grew from the neck to the back instead of a mane, shimmering with a steel-like light.
'The heroine finds these, in droves.'
A large herd of Unicorns running like goats through the rough terrain deep in the Violet Forest.
She found about 30 or 40 of them in the forest, enough to form a knight order.
'Kuh, good.'
I have to find these before recruiting the knights.
'I wonder if they're growing wheat?'
She had all sorts of useful plants in her garden, and wheat was one of them. In the Violet Forest, there was no land to farm and no time to engage in agriculture, so she only grew it for seed storage.
The wheat found in the Violet Forest was a little shorter than regular wheat, but the yield was much higher than regular wheat.
Even if the arable land was small, it would be possible to rotate regular wheat with the wheat found in the Violet Forest.
'But why is the diet like this?'
Only potatoes are served.
I can't let our Young Master eat only potatoes!
Nina knew that Adrian had a very sensitive palate, as he looked. He was just eating it while enduring it.
'There might be more than what the heroine found. Let's find it.'
She was going to rummage through the Violet Forest and squeeze out everything she could.
'Come to think of it, there's also a mine.'
I have to earn money diligently.
What can I do next if I don't have money?
'And people too.'
The names of people who were now buried in obscurity but would become famous in the future flashed through her mind.
'Let's try to recruit as many as possible.'
Roughly speaking, it seemed that neither the Imperial Family nor the Temple would take the Duke Louvaine's side.
If so, she had to be strong enough to stand firm even without them.
'Those Cultist bastards.'
Nina smiled, grinding her teeth.
For her, this situation wasn't so bad.
'Actually, I didn't expect to have a bad relationship with the Temple. They were originally on good terms.'
In the original story, several priests sacrificed themselves to put up a Barrier in the rift and comfort the Young Master, so Duke Louvaine was friendly to the Temple.
'So you get backstabbed at the end and collapse.'
Considering that the final boss is hiding in the Temple, it was better to have a bad relationship early on.
'The Imperial Family. Well, the Imperial Family will get closer on their own if the Duke's power grows stronger.'
Nina thought so and recalled Louis, Jin, and Kirill in turn. Still, it's a relief that she managed to salvage such reliable colleagues.
Nina yawned slightly and closed her eyes. She would just sort out her thoughts a little and go out in a bit.
She definitely thought so, but she fell asleep as soon as she closed her eyes.
\ \ *
When she woke up, she was in the Young Master's bed. The seat next to her was empty.
Nina felt embarrassed for oversleeping and got out of bed to return to her own bedroom.
After eating potato pancakes and potato soup for breakfast, Nina toured the castle.
She had only been to the main castle once when she was first appointed to the Jet-Black Knights.
The castle, thickly built of black stone, resembled a defensive fortress.
A drawbridge to raise the castle gate and even a moat.
There were less than twenty servants walking around inside.
"Besides, they're all maids or servants. Don't you hire aides?"
Nina asked, thinking that Louis holding a quill looked like a painting. Louis looked up from the documents and replied.
"Because there is no one who meets the Duke's expectations."
"Oh..."
Nina said with a sigh.
"He doesn't keep anyone by his side. But apart from that, you'll need people."
"I think so too. It's been about two years since we got rid of the stagnant water. It's time to fill it with fresh water."
Nina's golden eyes sparkled at Louis's words.
"Vice-Commander, no, Lord Louis, do you have any candidates in mind?"
The title of Chief was not easy to say. Besides, Vice-Commander still felt like 'Lord Louis'!
Louis gently glossed over Nina's title without pointing it out.
"Yes, I do."
"Tell me, Lord Louis."
Nina pulled over a stool and sat down, and Louis chuckled and put down his pen.
"The Imperial Academy is thriving. Not only the Empire but also the kingdoms are lining up to enter the Academy."
"Ah, I've heard of it. 14 towers, 22 bridges, a river of wisdom, right?"
Louis nodded at Nina's words.
"It's also called the City of Towers or the City of Waterways. The problem is the letter of recommendation."
"Why is the letter of recommendation a problem?"
"In the Empire, it is impossible for someone without a letter of recommendation to get a job. But there are people at the Academy who are not given letters of recommendation. People without titles, nobles with weak families, or foreigners."
"Then what happens?"
"It's almost impossible to get a job anywhere. Or they get illegal jobs or jobs with very low pay."
"Lord Louis is aiming for those people?"
"That's right. It's a matter of prestige for the Duke's family to accept someone without a letter of recommendation, but..."
"Our Young Master doesn't care about that."
"The only problem is how to trust the skills of someone without a letter of recommendation."
"Lord Louis, do you have a candidate?"
"Yes, but."
Louis stopped talking and looked at Nina. She understood Louis's mind and smiled.
"I'll check it out. I'll tell the Young Master."
"Thank you."
Louis replied, picked up his pen, and added.
"Now that Lady Nina has returned, it feels like things are finally getting back on track."
Nina smiled at him at those words and said cheerfully, "I'm everyone's Nina." Louis laughed.
He, who was laughing out loud, thought that he was laughing without worry for the first time in a long time.
Heading to the kitchen, she used her silver tongue to win over the chef who was working and took over the stove.
The chef watched with interest as she made a potato omelet.
Nina moved the hot omelet to a plate and prepared cold tea with her Spirit's power, then headed to Adrian.
Adrian had barely eaten breakfast, so this omelet was his brunch.
When she suddenly put the tray in front of him while he was working in the study, Adrian chuckled.
It had been a long time since she had made a dish. Normally, he wouldn't pay attention and would eat the cold food appropriately, but today he properly held a fork and knife.
The still-hot omelet was simply delicious.
Potatoes, onions, eggs, olive oil.
The combination of simple ingredients was crude but honest. After emptying the plate cleanly and slowly drinking the cold tea, Adrian asked.
"So?"
"I talked to Lord Louis..."
Before Nina could finish speaking, Adrian nodded.
"You can do whatever Nina wants to do."
"How did you know what I was going to say?"
"I said I trust you."
Adrian studied Nina's expression and added.
"You talked to Louis, right? It must be about aides. Whether you call people and talk to them or whatever, you can do whatever is convenient."
"You knew all along but didn't do it?"
"Because there was no need."
He had quickly and ruthlessly suppressed the internal strife purely to protect Jin and Louis.
Someday, if he met Nina again, Nina would be curious about their well-being.
In fact, if Adrian had been alone, he would have killed everyone in that conference room.
'There's no point in such assumptions.'
He thought so as he looked at Nina in front of him. It was hard to even imagine her, with her long silver hair parted in pigtails, not appearing in his life.
Nina shook her head.
"I knew it. But I want to feed my Young Master delicious things and dress him in good clothes. So I have to work hard now."
Adrian nodded as he looked at her, placing both hands on her waist.
He agreed.
"So do as you please."
