As soon as I got home after the victory ceremony, Lily came to tell me that my mother wanted to see me. Ugggh, there was still one more thing left to do.
“It’s Welner.” (Welner)
“Come in.” (Mom)
When it came to public affairs, we usually talked about it in the parlor. I wondered what was going on for the mother to call me in private.
“First, thank you for your hard work yesterday. I have also heard about your war success. I am honestly pleased.” (Mom)
“Thank you.” (Welner)
It was true that I went to bed as soon as I got back yesterday, and it was early this morning, so I didn’t have a chance to talk to her properly. It was nice to get a compliment, but that didn’t seem to be the end of it.
“But this is just where I have to ask you: Do you consider yourself a knight?” (Mom)
“What?” (Welner)
No, I didn’t intend to be a knight in the first place. But that did not seem to be what she meant. Her next words hit a bit of a sore spot.“As a knight, you need only to look at the people you serve, the people you protect, and the enemy in front of you. But if you lead a troop, you are obliged to inform those who went to the battlefield under your direction and who went through the line of death with you about your location and plans. Do not act alone.” (Mom)
(T/N: She is concerned about Welner not telling his troops about what he was planning to do and also about Welner fighting Mubrial alone at the end. Not only that, Welner also fell unconscious just as the battle ended and was later found in a pile of Bicorn corpses in injured state.)
“Yes.” (Welner)
“I understand that you were fatigued. I know you were injured. However, after arriving at the mansion after getting medical treatment, you should have told someone to inform Max or Frenssen that you were safe, no matter how tired you were.” (Mom)
(T/N: When Welner was later found in a pile of Bicorn corpses after battle, he was directly taken for medical treatment. He woke up after some time and went straight to Marquis Nolpoth’s main camp to report. Then, he came straight home. Later he fainted almost immediately on Lily.)
Ugh. Come to think of it, I had never notified them that I was safe or anything. Indeed, if it were me, I would have been concerned too if someone had been injured or something. It was not a matter of just saying, “Someone will take care of it for me”.
Mom continued, “Max and the rest of Zeavert Knights would probably have spent the whole night worrying about what had happened to you.”
“I was not considerate enough. I will be careful in the future.” (Welner)
“Yes, be careful from now on. But…” (Mom)
I froze for a moment. I never thought I would be hugged by my mother at my age.
She continued with a slight tremble in her voice, “As a mother, I’m glad you’re safe… well done… for coming back safely.”
“…Thank you.” (Welner)
A little while later, she asked me to go get Lily and let her go… she must have something to tell Lily.
But, thinking about it, I didn’t remember hearing my mother’s voice sound like that since my brother’s death. It was a wake-up call for me.
***
The next day at the royal palace, I assisted my father in his office. Normally, I would not be so busy, but this was one of the most considerable wars since the Demon Outbreak incident. The place was literally jammed with people dealing with the nobles who had made achievements and those who had died and punishing those who had cooperated with the doomsday ideology group.
It might be closer to saying that they were in a state of frenzy.
There were too many things that had to be done at once, such as making arrangements and confirming matters with multiple noble families.
For example, if a noble A and a noble B were needed to be rewarded at the same time, their rewards would be affected by matters such as their relationship with each other.
If they had close relationships like blood ties, either they would be placed in separate and distant regions, or one of them would be given a position while the other would be given money. This was to maintain the balance.
The same would apply to the noble families which were going to be punished. Punishment of a noble family that would normally be destroyed may be lightened to maintain the balance among noble families or because of intervention of other great noble families.
In such cases, there could naturally be a change of leadership as a punishment.
In addition, the most urgent matter currently was to handle the succession of noble families whose noble heads died in battle. As long as there was no particular problem, it would be fine if a legitimate son succeeded, but if there were problems, arrangements and preparations must be made to avoid a succession problem.
The same could be applied to knighthoods. If a knight was only a Knight for one generation (the position was not inheritable), there would normally be no troublesome matters to deal with regarding inheritance and such. Of course, their family would be given proper compensation.
However, if a knight died saving a noble family, that family may ask for something to be given to the knight, as they could not afford to ignore the work the knight did. In this case, a better compensation would be provided.
No matter what, we would first need to identify the knights’ family members. Consideration for the bereaved families of those who have died in battle was related to the view of “war spirit and loyalty” to the people around them, so it was a topic that could not be taken lightly.
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