37 – Rotate Ethlon Plains (End)

Read more novels at noblemtl.com

Maybe I felt relieved because I thought it was over now, and I heard small sounds that I hadn’t heard before in the morning.

The chirping of sparrows and orioles in the morning, the sound of the wind beating against the tent in my barracks…

It felt so comfortable and sweet that I felt relaxed for the first time in a while.

So, to enjoy the leisure time, I closed my eyes again and listened to the sounds of nature around me again.

And after a very short time, I felt someone gently tickling my face.

When I opened my eyes, there was a thread next to my bed… no, Ella was lying on my bed in a maid’s uniform, touching my face with her hand.

Ella looked so lovely as she cut her left arm beside me, putting on a really happy face and carefully tickling my cheek with her right hand.

At the same time, I vividly remembered what I had done after drinking alcohol yesterday.

At least, seeing him smile while touching my face kindly like that, it doesn’t seem like he dislikes what he did with me…

After committing such a thing with a child who I thought of as my biological sister until yesterday…

It’s so awkward, I don’t know what to say…

I opened my eyes and stammered with the feeling that it would work out somehow.

“Ella, did you sleep well?”

When Ella heard that, she was startled and removed her right hand from touching my face and said,

“Lord, Master? Oh, didn’t you sleep?”

“I woke up in the middle.”

When Ella heard my words, her face turned red like a ripe apple.

It was funny, so I playfully asked Ella to tease her a bit more.

“Then why were you touching my face? He touched his master’s face as if he were handling treasure…?”

“That, that’s… Master…”

Ella hesitated for a moment, turned her face from side to side, then spoke in a quiet whisper.

“When my mom and dad were alive… I remembered when my mom said that I was happiest when I gently touched the face of my beloved dad who was sleeping next to me…

After knowing that Ella loved me so much, two conflicting feelings ran through my head.

One, the relief that I didn’t force Ella to take on her, which I didn’t like.

Another feeling is the endless shame of having received a love confession that was so direct…

As if Ella had already committed it, there was nothing she could do about it, and she continued speaking with a determined expression on her face.

“Even when Bayleaf held out Ella as a pacifier, and was forced to become her master’s… He said that if Ella didn’t want it, she wouldn’t have to. And he personally punished Bayleaf for harassing me and Zach, and even saved the villagers of Windheim who were suffering from Bayleaf like Ella..”

Ella accepted this, but the only thing I did for Ella here was to reject her when the son of Bayleef Mars offered her as a plaything.

Punishing Bayleaf directly was a desperate attempt not to go to the academy, and improving the lives of the villagers of Windheim… was to strengthen the power to become independent from the Count.

“And in the meantime, you took care of Ella. Even when she went to the Countess of Nantes, she thought of Ella and bought expensive snacks only eaten by nobles, and she always ate with her in Windheim, fearing that Ella would feel lonely. After you created the sugar, you remembered that Ella likes sweets, and you baked them…”

And as if Ella had made up her mind soon, she held her breath for a moment, looked straight at me, and said,

“Such a master seems kind and nice to Ella, like the prince in the story the village priest told her when she was young.”

I never thought that the things I had done, which I thought were insignificant, would come as such meaningful events, memories, and happiness to Ella, who saw them from the side.

It looked like that from Ella’s point of view, but I just did my job and in the meantime, I just took care of Ella, who always helped me, as much as I could.

However, why did I not know that the ‘difference between Ella’s and my status and circumstances’ was the cause of Ella’s feeling this way?

I tried to suppress that feeling, smiled bitterly, and gently stroked the hair of Ella next to me.

“yes.”

After a short, long conversation, Ella came behind me and quietly put on my armor.

After putting on my armor, I was about to tell Ella that it was okay to step back now, when Ella whispered quietly in my ear.

“Master, are you worried now? In fact, Lord Balt… he said that if he sees his master going to war and struggling, it would be helpful to comfort him with his body…”

“Thank you, Ella. Thanks to you, I feel much more at ease.”

Having said that, I left my barracks.

In addition, to Valt, who instilled this knowledge into Ella and provided the factor for me to commit a crime while drinking, I would like to express my achievements and a little resentment…

It’s rich, but I have to leave a lot of manor to manage.

**

And I and the soldiers immediately withdrew from the battlefield and returned to Baron Creutel.

When I came, I had to ride a horse to show my dignity as a lord on the battlefield, but the war was already over and I won an overwhelming victory…

I didn’t have to go through such hardships, so I rode back in the carriage with Ella.

This is absolutely not what I chose to go back to comfortably.

Still, in order to boost the morale of the soldiers, it was necessary to proceed with non-work activities as quickly as possible, and it was because they could not bear to do ‘paperwork’ while on a horse.

Thanks to this, it was possible to effectively use the time spent returning from the army for about 7 days, classifying all of the ‘soldiers and officers who should be punished’ and ‘persons who should be rewarded or promoted’ and set appropriate awards.

Anyway, in the Middle Ages, it is entirely my authority to reward and punish ‘the troops under my command’, so if you do this, you can ‘do business as soon as you return from the battlefield’.

And rather than giving awards to soldiers and officers by conducting a non-commissioning ceremony a few days after returning from the battlefield, doing it right away is the best way to boost morale and loyalty.

Why, just like getting your salary and bonus quickly is the best thing.

Thanks to such efforts, on the day of my return, I ordered the soldiers and knights to rest for a day, and on the same day that the ordered rest was completed, I was able to proceed with the non-gong ceremony.

**

A polished wooden floor, a red carpet from the gate to Baron Creutel’s seat, and an audience room with portraits of Baron Creutel hanging on both sides of the wall.

Read more novels at noblemtl.com

Most of the people here were knights or nobles such as second lieutenants, lieutenants, and captains, and to the soldiers, ‘platoon commanders’ with ‘documents written under my authority’ were going to announce it…

Among them, only one of the soldiers, the one I called on purpose, was standing in the far corner of the place, expressing with his whole body that he was burdened.

So, on my way in for the nongong peddling, I patted the soldier on the shoulder.

Then the soldier put on an expression of regret, then looked at me and knelt on both knees and bowed his head.

I tried to stand up that soldier… no, the soldier ‘Mark’, who played the biggest role in the infantry battle, said.

“Mark… Private Mark belonging to Lieutenant Frost’s platoon. straighten your shoulders Without you, many more soldiers would have died in the war.”

Hearing those words, Mark listened to me and stood upright with a perfectly straight angle.

After seeing that, I smiled and sat down in my chair at the end of the audience room to begin the lecture.

And when I raised my hand, all the nobles and officers who had been standing there before got down on one knee and saluted me.

Then the proclamator I appointed opened the scroll and began to read it.

“I will start the non-gongsang award. First of all, please return 50 gold coins, 4 surrounding villages of Blueport, and the former territory to Sir Jack Frost, who achieved the greatest achievement in this battle. Lord Balt, who commanded the infantry, 40 gold coins and 2 villages around the Blue Fort, Lord Helmut 50 mars in the same area, Lord Minderheim who defeated and captured two knights 100 gold coins and 20 gold coins, Sir Oril 10 gold coins Berry 10mas…”

After such a long time of the knights’ non-work, the proclamation officer unfolded a scroll of poor quality paper this time and made a declaration.

“Captain Weiss is appointed as a knight according to his achievements and his achievements in attacking the enemy base despite being wounded. Awarding lieutenant Schwartz with a promotion to captain and 4 gold coins…”

The Proclamation Officer must have been exhausted from reading for a long time, so he took a glass of water from a waiter next to him, drank it, and continued reading again.

“… Ensign Frost leads a platoon and, according to His Excellency’s special order, orders 20 gold coins and a promotion to lieutenant according to his achievements in laying the foundation for victory in a battle between infantry. In addition, Private Mark is awarded a promotion to sergeant and 5 gold coins for his life-and-death attack to break through the infantry square. With the above, I finish my nongongsang.”

Having said that, the proclamator slightly bowed his head toward the knights in front of him, then, seeing me, knelt down on one knee and bowed his head in homage.

At the end of the performance, everyone tried to hold back their laughter despite the solemn atmosphere, as if they were very satisfied with the reward beyond their imagination.

Balt and Helmut, in particular, were pinching their thighs that weren’t covered with armor to stop laughing.

Well, those guys probably want to go back to their families and vassals as soon as possible and show off their achievements.

So I raised my hand and said, I want to meet their expectations as much as possible.

“I sincerely thank you for your performance this time! I reciprocated with all my heart, even if it was a little short of that achievement, but if you think it is not enough, please tell me again! If there are no such complaints, all disband!”

As soon as they heard my words, the knights and officers left the throne room as fast as they could, as long as they didn’t do anything frivolous and excited.

However, Mark was still on his knees, unable to leave his seat.

So I tapped Mark on the shoulder and said as if passing by.

“Without your exploits, I would have lost many more brave soldiers like you. So, to express my gratitude, I called because you wanted to let the soldiers know that I was rewarding your valor and dedication. Go ahead, if you want to see your family, go immediately to the platoon commander and go on vacation as I gave permission.”

Hearing those words, Mark seemed to be thrilled, and he suddenly cried and couldn’t answer anything.

Apparently, as an aristocrat on a different level than a ‘commoner’, taking care of me like that must have meant a lot to me…

I can’t contain the emotion…

So, without placating Mark, I quietly slipped out of the throne room so he could meditate on his happiness.

**

And not long after that, an envoy from the Duke of Maxburg came to visit.

He handed me the compensation I requested, 5,000 gold coins, and furthermore, the blue port, the port of the idiot barons, and the documents with the ‘Duke’s seal’ stamped on the transfer of ownership of the salt mines to me.

I was grateful for that, so I tried to hold a banquet in the sense of hospitality, but the lion looked back at me with an annoyed expression and left immediately.

So at that time when I was in a great mood because the banquet fee was fixed, the envoy of the Count of Schwain came to me and said,

“Your Excellency, Baron Creutel, was very angry with you for daring to negotiate a peace agreement without the approval of your lord, the Count. However, in view of his achievements so far, he said that he would forgive sins by offering 3,000 gold coins out of the compensation he received, so you can hand them to me now.”

It’s over the line…