Betrayal Knight's Joyful Faith

Chapter 123

Although he was in despair, Llewellyn eventually realized that his choice was not wrong.“Oh… Ohh…! Woooooo!”

Count Stadler smiled awkwardly as he looked at Llewellyn, whose eyes sparkled like a child’s. Arendt, who was standing next to him, just looked up at the dragon with his usual indifferent eyes.

“Hey, Lord Arendt. What is this…”

“I brought him here because Prince Llewellyn was very interested in it.”

“Yes…”

Count Stadler looked at Llewellyn, who was running around, with concern. He seemed to be worried that he might fall down.

The previous evening, after having been tormented by Arendt, Llewellyn returned to the palace in a tattered state and received an unexpected gift.

Since there wouldn’t be many opportunities to observe it closely once the banquet started, Arendt suggested that they go see the dragon bones while there were no people around.

Arendt, who was staring blankly at the prince with his arms crossed, asked oddly.

“So, does it look fake?”

“No, no! Absolutely not!”

Llewellyn came running, grabbed Arendt’s shoulder, and started shaking him roughly.

“Where did you find it? How did the ghoul move? Where? What happened? You were there with him!”

“Crazy.”

Arendt slapped his hand away and stepped back in disgust.

But Llewellyn paid no attention at all.

“This is truly a great find. A dragon in such perfect condition. Look at that neck bone. It has scars from a battle long ago!”

“You noticed, Your Highness?”

At that moment, Count Stadler, who had been quiet, suddenly came to life.

Llewellyn nodded vigorously.

“Yes! I did! Only a dragon can leave teeth marks on dragon bones! Hey, what happened?”

“Your Highness, you have good taste!”

The two people who instantly hit it off started spitting at each other and chatting about how beautiful the dragon’s bones were.

This was one of the reasons why Arendt had brought Llewellyn into the hall where the Count was.

Since they would be working together later, it was a good idea for Count Stadler and Llewellyn to get to know each other beforehand. He also expected that since they were two people with similar craziness, they would definitely be able to communicate well.

“Stop talking nonsense and finish the story we were talking about earlier.”

Arendt lightened the mood with a clap.

Llewellyn, who had suddenly come to his senses, looked back at him.

“Oh, right. Cooperation. That’s what we talked about. Now that I’ve confirmed that the dragon is real, I don’t intend to spit it out anymore. But…”

“But?”

“Even though I look like this, I am still the prince of the Everan Kingdom. I have no intention of inheriting the throne, but I still don’t want to turn my back on my family. That’s why I can’t say that I can give you exclusive information.”

“I don’t want that either, but I need to have some priority. I’ll be the one giving the leads.”

Leads.

At those words, Llewellyn raised his eyebrows slightly.

“Yes, that’s what I’m curious about. Who are you to be able to give me a lead? No matter how eccentric your personality is, you’re still just an apprentice knight after all.”

Of course, he now knew that that was not all, but he had to ask anyway, because it might be detrimental to the kingdom.

“Your Highness, do you happen to know the Neumann Group?”

Llewellyn tilted his head at the sudden question.

“I know it. It’s a rapidly growing merchant group within the Empire. It even recently started trading with our kingdom.”

“Then, are you aware of the information business that Neumann recently started?”

“I heard about that too. They said they’re going to create a branch within the kingdom.”

Neumann had been growing his influence aggressively recently. Even the indomitable East Merchant was starting to falter in the face of his momentum.

“I have a pretty big stake in that information business.”

“Huh?”

“You can check it out at the banquet. The boss will probably be there in person. To cut to the chase, all the information that the Neumann Group obtains can reach my ears.”

Llewellyn’s mouth widened at the sudden revelation.

“Do you still think I can’t give you some leads?”

“…No, wait a minute. What are you?”

“I will select the information from the information network above that might be helpful and give it to the prince. You are capable of verifying it. I understand that the prince also has dogs.”

“…”

This time, Llewellyn truly thought he went crazy.

The ‘dogs’ Arendt was talking about were the Explorers’ Association secretly run by Llewellyn.

The prince, who had been opening and closing his mouth a few times, shouted,

“You, you really? How did you know? No one would know that the Union Leader is me?”

“How could there be an eternal secret? How naive of you.”

“Hah…”

He couldn’t help but sigh at the attitude of the guy who spoke dryly and turned a deaf ear.

Although he was able to explore various places and provide diplomatic assistance with the support of his country, the freedom he could enjoy as a prince was limited.

So Prince Llewellyn formed the Adventurers’ Guild to create a force that he could personally control.

Very secretly.

If the royal family found out, they’ll grab him by the scruff of the neck.

But, a mere apprentice knight from another country, not even the highest authority in the empire…

Arendt, who had been watching the foreign prince floundering in shock, shrugged his shoulders.

“Don’t worry, I’m the only one who knows that.”

“What? Did you find that out through Neumann’s informants?”

“No. Anyway, that’s not the important thing.”

Arendt couldn’t say he read it in a novel where Llewellyn had a supporting role.

“I think it’s a pretty good link. I don’t think it’ll be a loss for the prince either.”

“…”

“I will decide how to use the information you have provided, Your Highness, but it will not harm your kingdom. Of course, I will keep the alliance a secret as well.”

In any case, if the fight against the evil cult grows, they will have to join forces with the Everan Kingdom. Arendt’s work was only to bring that time forward a little.

Llewellyn looked at Arendt quietly, his eyes slightly more sunken in than before.

As he said, it wasn’t bad… no, in a way, it was a perfect match.

If the information that Neumann got was verified by Llewellyn’s Union and Count Stadler, who was present here, dug into it, the results would surely be good.

The only problem was that… the link between them was a mere apprentice knight.

“It’s a good idea, just as you said. I have no reason to refuse, but there’s one thing that bothers me.”

“What is it?”

“If everything you said was true.”

There Llewellyn paused for a moment.

“You’re such a big shot.”

Even Arthur, who was clearly his senior, and Count Stadler, who seemed to be a promising researcher who could be in charge of dragon research, were overly obedient.

“No one stopped you from growing this far? Didn’t you have to die several times already?”

When a person of little consequence gains too much power, it is clearly poisonous.

Besides, based on the personality of the guy he’d seen so far, it doesn’t seem like he’d make any enemies, but rather increase his allies.

“Why does everyone just let this happen?”

“…Not everyone will leave him alone like that, Your Highness. It’s just that no one can touch him.”

Count Stadler, who had been quiet, began to speak quietly.

“Besides, turning your back on Lord Arendt would mean turning your back on His Highness the Crown Prince, the sole heir to the Empire.”

Llewellyn looked at Arendt, slightly dazed.

Looking into those golden eyes, which were as still as a calm lake, he felt an eerie feeling.

‘This…’

It was a much bigger guy than he thought.

The corners of his lips, which had been frozen, rose into a smile.

And after a while, Llewellyn burst into laughter.

“Poohahaha! Alright, that’s so good. You are someone I should be begging on my knees to work with.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun. Give it a try. And you missed one thing.”

Arendt added arrogantly, crossing his arms.

“It’s true that I’m talented, but other people are just plain incompetent.”

It was extremely presumptuous and arrogant of him to say such things in front of the prince of a country.

There was probably only one person in this world to whom such words fit so well: Arendt von Eckhart.

Llewellyn’s laughter grew louder.

Arendt left him alone, looking annoyed, as he laughed for a long time, holding his stomach and rolling on the floor.

Count Stadler just smiled awkwardly.

After a long time, the real Llewellyn finally wiped away the tears hanging from his eyes and slapped Arendt on the back. Google seaʀᴄh novelhall.com

“Hey, you’re really great. Don’t you want to be my friend?”

“Yes?”

It was Count Stadler who responded to those words. It was a huge deal to become friends with a foreign prince.

But Arendt flatly refused.

“Please don’t close the distance. I don’t like it.”

Since the Crown Prince was already at his fingertips, there was nothing particularly new about it.

There weren’t many guests who barged into Cantares’ office without notice.

Not only were there not many people bold enough to interfere with the Crown Prince’s private time, but even when they did, it was always stopped by Jereon.

But there was one man in the Empire who had no reverence for the royal family, and who even Jereon could not stop.

‘I think we can call this a natural disaster.’

That damn apprentice knight.

The fact that he barged in was a problem, but what followed was even more impressive.

The prince’s sneaking out at night and causing trouble was now nothing more than a minor incident.

Looking back and forth between the brightly smiling Llewellyn and Arendt standing next to him, Cantares could not help but feel an indescribable emotion.

“Please take good care of me, Your Highness!”

Especially, looking at the prince whose expression was so much brighter than when he first came to greet him, he couldn’t help but feel more and more uneasy.

The Crown Prince asked, pressing his temples to relieve his migraine.

“Prince. Have you ever been threatened, extorted, or anything like that by that bastard?”

“I got beat up! Haha! I was so robbed I can’t even be angry.”

In response to the bright answer, Cantares ended up touching his forehead.

“Sir Arthur, you were with him. Didn’t you stop him?”

“He was holding his forehead with an expression similar to Your Highness.”

Thanks to that brazen answer, Cantares felt like a thousand fires were burning in his chest. Even the pitying gaze of Jereon from behind him was now making him sick.

He thought that it was better not to know, but that bastard has always done things and reported them without fail.

The reason was…

“You want me to clean up after you when something happens, right?”

“Correct.”

The way he was smiling so slyly was so annoying that he wanted to punch him in the face.

But it was definitely a good story.

That made him even more upset.

If it was a completely absurd claim, there would have been some way to find fault with it.

“First of all, Your Highness, let me draw the line in advance. This is a deal between Explorer Llewellyn and Apprentice Knight Sir Arendt, and I do not care how the results of the investigation I pass on to Sir Arendt are used.”

Llewellyn quickly stepped in and lightened the mood.

“However, Your Highness the Crown Prince is the successor to the Caerleon Empire, so I am sure you have something to gain. Therefore, as the prince of the Everan Kingdom, I would like to ask you for a favor.”

“Speak.”

“I hope His Highness the Crown Prince remembers the Kingdom of Everan. I know that His Majesty the Emperor of the Empire still lives on. However, His Highness the Crown Prince and I must continue the next generation, and we must prepare for that in advance.”

The prince smiled pleasantly as he spoke fluently.

“The Empire and the Kingdom already have a good relationship, but I hope that when the time comes, you will think about the Kingdom of Everan once more.”

As he continued to speak without hiding his purpose, Cantares felt a pure passion without any selfish intentions.

Cantares, who was looking at him with strange eyes, also had no choice but to smile when he saw him.

“…I heard that you personally opened a trade route with other races. You are indeed a person worthy of such a task. Good. I will do so.”

Llewellyn firmly grabbed Cantares’ outstretched hand.