Special Chapter - Under The Oak Tree [English]

Gabel POV - Part 1

Gabel, who was sitting in the knights' conference room organizing letters from the informants, ruffled his hair roughly with one hand. As Uslin Rikkaido led some of the knights and left for Livadon, naturally their work was distributed among the remaining knights.

Gabel was in great trouble for taking over Elliot Karon's work without much thought. It was amazing that while he was in charge of all these chores, he had never complained with a word.

He was in charge of deciphering and organizing crude cryptographic documents flying from all over the country and managing weapons warehouses while he was keeping track of the knights performances.

Gabel let out a groan, looking down at the roughly scribbled codes. Although he had learned military cipher and math while serving as Lord Triden's servant, he was not a very sincere student. (side note: Lord Triden was the leader of the Remdragon knights before Riftan took over and he was also the one who tought Riftan almost everything).

Gabel, who was trying to decipher the letter from the north, eventually muttered a curse and threw away the quill pen. I've been looking only at the parchment all day long, and it's been killing me. If I had known this would happen, I would have joined the expedition at all costs

'I'm a knight, not a scholar.'

He grumbled, got up from his seat and opened the window. The weather had become noticeably warmer. Perhaps Livadon is hotter than here. When the faces of his colleagues, who were marching under the scorching sun in heavy armor, came to mind, the swelling discontent subsided and anxiety replaced the position.

It's not that I don't trust my colleague's skills, but it's a war where the head flies away with a moment's misjudgment.

He witnessed countless brothers who shared life and death falling over the mud. Furthermore, according to a letter from intelligence sources, the war was unlikely to end very simply. Perhaps we will send additional reinforcements from Whedon.

With a serious look on his face, he turned his eyes to the far north. At that moment, I heard a knock on the door. Gabel shouted over his shoulder.

"Come in."

"Excuse me."

The door opened and Kyle Hager, one of the knights under Hebaron, came inside. As soon as Gabel saw his sullen face, he noticed what had happened and sighed deeply.

"And Lord Nirta disappeared again?"

"I can't find him after the morning training."

Kyle drooped his shoulders and lamented.

"Today's the day of firearm training. There's 300 guards waiting in the training field right now, and I can't find anyone to oversee the training..."

"Is there anyone who can replace him?"

"Sir Calypse has gone out of the castle for construction, and the rest of the senior knights have gone on wall patrol. Can't Sir Laxion do it for him?" (side note: Laxion is the last name of Gabel)

Gabel looked down at the pile of parchment on the desk. Although he was a little tired, he could not throw away his job. He shook his head with a limp.

"I have an important report to post to the leader by this evening. Just ask Briman for now. It'll be on the watchtower."

"Sir Jacques Briman?"

Kyle asked back with a little confusion whether he could entrusted the supervision of strategy training to a knight who had just been appointed.

"He doesn't have any experience in commanding yet. Will it be okay?"

"It would be nice to get experience on this. Just tell Briman it's my command for now."

"...okay."

He turned around, nodding his head reluctantly. He felt sorry for his drooping shoulders, so Gabel added.

"I'm going to the Great Hall later. If I find him in the hall, I'll tell him to go to the training ground right away."

"Please do that."

Kyle grabbed the door knob and turned around and said in a pleading tone.

"With Sir Rikkaido out of his seat, he can't keep doing this."

When the knight left, Gabel sat at his desk again and began to organize the information. All the news were disturbing. He clicked his tongue, took out a new parchment, wrote a report, and got up.

As I walked out of the conference room, I could see Jacques babbling on the platform, giving difficult to understand instructions to the guards.

He clicked his tongue and walked straight towards the Great Hall. As I climbed the stairs across the wide garden at once, I could see the servants busily carrying the luggage into the hall.

Gabel, who was about to pass them casually, stopped at his seat when he found Maximilian standing at the entrance of the kitchen and recording something. A smile came around my mouth before I even realized it.

She was counting the stack of liquor bottles on one side with serious eyes, and seeing that she was unwittingly tearing out her hair, something seemed to be out of line.

Gabel swallowed a laugh. She often tortured her own hair like that, but every time she looked in the mirror, she didn't know why her hair was tangled. After lightly clearing his throat, he greeted her in a cheerful tone.

"Hello, lady. Isn't the weather nice today?"

"Oh, hello, Sir Laxion...."

She shrugged in surprise, and soon smiled shyly. Gabel spoke in a friendly manner, carefully sweeping her blue silk dress down with his eyes.

"You're dressed very nicely. Aren't you going to the infirmary today?"

"T, the groceries... It's the day they come in. I need to make sure the goods are in the right.."

She shook the books with one hand and suddenly looked worried.

"Did anyone... get hurt? Which person needs to be treated...."

"No. I was just asking out of curiosity. You've been in the infirmary for the last few days."

A thin smile passed by her lips.

"I've had a lot of work to do in the infirmary. I don't know how Ruth used to... d, do it on his own. If, if you make medicine, every day... it's like the day goes by."

Gabel, who read from her face a feeling of pride, smiled. It reminded me of the scene when she was taking the position of a therapist by confronting the leader. The sight of the world's Riftan Calypse limping in front of this feeble-looking aristocratic lady was unforgettable.

He tried to keep a gentle face, swallowing a faint laugh.

"Maybe we're putting too much pressure on you."

"I'm... glad to be of help."

She blushed and said awkwardly. The figure was so cute that Gabel almost patted her head. Gabel folded his arms to hide his flinching fingers.

I felt strange. I never thought I'd feel this familiar to the daughter of Croix. He took a step back, feeling a little complicated.

"Thank you for saying that. So, I'm going to...."

"Madame, I've checked the warehouse, but I'm still short of a liquor bottle."

Just as he was about to leave after saying hello, a servant ran over and shouted. Her attention flew straight towards it. After she asked the servant some questions, she gave a stern look at the man who appeared to be a merchant.

"Oh, again... I think the wrong thing came in. I, I'm four bottles short."

"Well, it can't be. I checked several times when loading the luggage. Maybe someone stole it in the middle of the...."

The merchant, who was refuting with a fiery face, hurriedly shut his mouth when he was looked at by the servants. Then he spoke in a more polite tone.

"When the butler checked, the numbers were right. It must be somewhere in this castle."

"Fi, first the numbers... it could be a wrong count. I've already checked the warehouse five times. Suddenly... the liquor can't have evaporated. T, there is no way."

She had a good argument. There was a distinct sense of dismay on the merchant's face. Gabel, who stood there awkwardly and watched their scuffle, slipped away, judging that it was none of his business to intervene. Then, the thought that suddenly came to his mind hardened his back. He glanced doubtfully at the stack of liquor bottles. Can a sparrow leave a mill and just pass by?

He looked up at the ceiling and soon broke in between Mrs. Calypse and the merchant with a sickening sound.

"Did Sir Nirta stop by the Great Hall this afternoon?"

She opened her eyes wide and looked at him, then turned to the servants. One of the servants, who exchanged glances, opened his mouth carefully.

"He stopped by at the hall at lunchtime. He had a simple meal in the kitchen and then he went upstairs..."

"When did the food get into the hall?"

"About lunchtime...."

The servant mumbled the end of his words as he noticing what he was suspicious of. Gabel sighed and asked the maids.

"Where did he go?"

"He has entered the largest guest's room on the second floor."

==============================================