Chapter 68 – Camilton (3)

The events that occurred in just a single day were enough to excite Lucas Camilton, who was always calm.

A situation simply unbelievable.

However, it was a clear reality, and thanks to that, Lucas Camilton was able to meet Viscount Redwood with his shoulders squared with pride.

“If you want to know just how great my brat of a son is……”

Boasting led to more boasting.

It was possible because Viscount Redwood also happened to cherish Henry, and the relationship between Lucas and Viscount Redwood was that close.

“Haha, yes. I too thought it would turn out like this someday. That fellow Henry is no ordinary kid, is he?”

“Exactly!”

“Viscount Camilton will also be leaving this place before long. Since Henry has achieved such a great thing, surely the Viscount will also……”

“A territory will be given. But it is not mine.”

“You could think of it that way.”

“It is not just a thought. It will truly be so.”

Viscount Redwood tilted his head in curiosity. It was because he understood what Lucas was saying.

“Would it not be too early to inherit the title?”

“The name Camilton is precious to me. Because I remember the glory that was associated with that name. Also, I feel a heavy responsibility for the fact that the name almost died out at my generation.”

The family name being discontinued was equivalent to meaning that their past would disappear.

Because from then on, the achievements accumulated by the name Camilton would end up as nothing more than a couple of lines of explanation in history books at best.

If only a bit more time had passed, that would have been the case, but thanks to Henry, Camilton obtained a new opportunity.

“Viscount Camilton.”

“I am Camilton, and yes. That name is precious to me. But it probably was not so for Henry. Because what the brat saw under the name Camilton…… was not very grand.”

Not the family of brave knights, Camilton, but the ruined noble Camilton was all Henry saw.

No proper territory, no butler to attend to them. Taxes? They could not even expect them.

Only the money paid by the country, if only formally, and the minimum treatment received because he was still a noble.

The Camilton in Henry’s memory was no different from the image of a peasant plowing fields and rejoicing in simple harvests.

But the moment Lucas’s voice subsided with such thoughts, Viscount Redwood shook his head and spoke firmly.

“I do not think so.”

“……Pardon?”

“If the name Camilton meant only that much to Henry, would he have been able to endure such painful times?”

“Well, because of the thought of not wishing to disappoint his incompetent father……”

“It is a whopping three years. To us, three years might not be very long. Has not Viscount Camilton also lived through a similar time as me?”

“……That is true.”

The age of both men had long passed forty.

“In a life of forty years, three years can be said to be not very long, but to young Henry, three years must have been a truly long time. Also.”

“…….”

“If we had been placed in that situation, we could have accepted it as it was and endured. Because we have already experienced it. We have come to know that it is not such a big deal.”

“……It would not have been so for Henry.”

Toward Lucas Camilton, who looked almost on the verge of tears, Viscount Redwood only nodded slowly.

“It must have been truly painful. Yet Henry endured. Do you think that was really solely for the sake of Viscount Camilton? Would a young child have endured the pain for just one such reason?”

“There is no way that would be possible.”

Lucas Camilton let out a deep sigh.

How could he not know?

That Viscount Redwood knew meant Lucas had also felt it early on.

However, he had to act as if he did not know.

Even though he clearly knew, he could not bring himself to speak it aloud.

The name Camilton was the biggest reason that had kept Lucas holding on until now, and shamefully, he had dumped all of that burden onto his son Henry.

“Do you think you saddled him with a burden?”

“It was terrible. It was not something a father should do.”

“The Henry I know would not have felt it as a burden. Of course, Viscount Camilton knows him better than I do, but is it not that sometimes, precisely because we are close, misunderstandings also occur?”

“He is a kid who revealed his skills as soon as he arrived. Just how heavy must the burden have been……”

“Do you really think so? Viscount Camilton is not one to think that way.”

Viscount Redwood smiled warmly.

Lucas Camilton could not answer.

Because, in fact, he knew.

Although he claimed to have burdened Henry, Henry did not regard Lucas’s expectation as a burden.

“……I am so sorry to Henry.”

“Refining that the feelings of the person themselves are what is important, is it not?”

“The sight of myself feeling relieved at that fact…… is actually more shameful than anything. To the point where I cannot even raise my head properly in front of Henry.”

“To Henry, Camilton is an honorable name. That explains everything. The fact that the young child endured the difficult environment, and also proudly showed his skills to Viscount Camilton.”

Viscount Redwood spoke in that manner.

That to Henry too, Camilton was an honorable name.

That because of that he endured, because of that he held it with pride, and in the end, Henry was able to develop skills like his current ones, was it not?

Lucas Camilton could not deny it.

“I am truly envious. Henry inherited the blood of a knight exactly as it is. He is a kid who knows what honor is.”

“Yes, to a degree that cannot be compared to me.”

“Is he not himself the proof that Camilton is a prestigious family?”

This time Lucas also could not deny it.

The honor of the name Camilton had only bypassed Lucas alone.

“I have become even more certain. I must hand it down as quickly as possible. That way, His Majesty the King can also award Henry with peace of mind.”

“Perhaps you should consider that issue a bit more……”

“No. It is a name too generous for me. Honor has carried on to Henry, and I have fulfilled my role simply by the fact that I waited until this moment.”

Lucas spoke calmly. The revealed emotion was rather close to joy. Because before he knew it, when he came to his senses, Henry had grown up so well.

“It seems there is no reason to stop you any further.”

“Yes, being able to step down from the position joyfully is indeed a truly grateful thing. Besides, it is about time to hand it over.”

“Ah, those words mean.”

Redwood nodded as if he understood.

What Lucas expressed as ‘handing over’ now was not the title of viscount.

No matter how ruined a noble is, they have a hidden card.

Fortunately, Lucas Camilton was on the side of having stronger patience than others, and thanks to that, he protected a few more things.

“It must become entirely Henry’s now. I am already pleased just thinking about how I can let him know that the honor he has protected carries on from the distant past.”

Lucas took a sip of wine in good spirits.

Though his son departed in just a single day saying he had a mission, he promised to stop by again as soon as he finished the task.

Precisely that day.

Lucas planned to show the roots of the Camilton family to Henry.

“Ah, and.”

Lucas adjusted his posture then.

It was time to change the topic of conversation.

“Henry made a request to me. He said it is a matter related to his friend.”

***

The outskirts of the Redwood Viscounty.

On the road leading to the Levi Earldom, Henry was broadcasting.

“My father was always that kind of person.”

Henry spoke of Lucas Camilton in that way.

The process of explaining what kind of person he was was unnecessary.

He had already spoken of it several times from long ago. What kind of figure Viscount Camilton was, and that because of that, he was a person Henry himself could respect.

And now.

The viewers also faced Lucas.

They were not in the same place.

They had only experienced him indirectly through the broadcast screen, but that alone was enough to know for sure what kind of person Lucas was.

[But can they even help?? That seems like a stretch]

[He’ll probably get instantly killed before even reaching there]

[Does Redwood say he will help too?]

Also, the viewers did not have much interest in Henry’s father.

In fact, to them, what kind of human Lucas Camilton was was far less important than what Henry would do now.

“There is a friend who needs help. It is not a problem that I can resolve alone. That is why I plan to make preparations in advance……”

Henry revealed the facts regarding Austin without hiding anything.

It was a matter involving Duke Roderick’s house.

It was also an extremely sensitive issue that should not be exposed to the outside.

No matter how much Henry was backed by the viewers, there were things he could do alone and things he could not.

“In truth, neither my father nor Viscount Redwood will be able to give direct help. I must prepare the basic stage myself. I cannot make unreasonable requests of them.”

There was only one method he could choose to extract Austin. Especially, he had to handle the matter so that House Roderick would not find out.

“I will involve the royal family. Precisely, the Royal Knights.”

[Are you going to accuse them? lol]

[Will that even work? They don’t seem that righteous anyway]

[Worried that sparks might fly over here for no reason ㅠ]

The viewers had a generally skeptical reaction.

In their thoughts, it was natural.

Duke Roderick’s house was one of the top noble families within the kingdom, and Austin was even direct blood.

Considering the family’s stature, even if a problem arose, there was a high possibility they would cover it up.

To put it bluntly, was it not a world where a person who was the dean of the Knight Academy traded in human business?

“Every knight professes justice, but I also know that in reality, not everyone is righteous. However, because of that, they must at least pretend to be righteous.”

They do not go around looking for injustice. That much is permitted.

But if they face injustice right in front of their eyes and turn away?

A knight’s honor falls to the floor.

“Drawing out such a situation is up to my hands. The royal family respects House Roderick, and it is a rule not to intervene in the family’s affairs. As long as it is not exposed externally.”

The position of a high-ranking noble held that kind of power.

They had the ability to hide it, and even if they were caught by an ordinary opponent, it was enough to just press them down.

“So I will expose it. While sitting down a very troublesome opponent alongside them.”

[But will they come just because you tell them to??]

[No matter if you are a knight, it’s a bit lol;;]

[What does that mean? Self-display? lol]

[It might be possible if you show your current skills. Honestly, there is seriously a possibility.]

“They are not figures who would come just because they are told to. Is it not also my capability to create a situation that makes them come? Henry Camilton, who does what he says—I will show you directly with results rather than a hundred words.”

Speaking, Henry added.

“After finishing the given mission first.”

***

Count Levi received the butler’s report with gloomy eyes.

“We sent territorial soldiers to the place identified as the base, but they had already vacated it.”

“That was yesterday’s matter.”

“Yes.”

“And today we were plundered again.”

“Yes.”

“What are the territory residents blabbering about?”

“’The grain storehouse was looted, and the cow that was quietly eating fodder vanished into thin air. Those bandit bastards plunder everything except what isn’t there to plunder.’”

“The evaluation of the territorial soldiers is……”

“’Thieves who only waste food. They only know how to act big, no different from pigs holding swords.’”

“Quite blunt.”

Count Levi let out a deep sigh.

It was a bandit group of a mere hundred people.

It was certainly not a small number, but it was to the degree that they could suppress them in less than an hour if they clashed with the territorial soldiers.

‘If only they would fight at all.’

But the bandits had no intention whatsoever of fighting the territorial soldiers.

If they pursued them, they fled, and in the meantime, a separate unit targeting gaps plundered the storehouse.

He could not even blame the incompetence of the territorial soldiers, because listening to the commander’s report, Count Levi himself could not help but admire and slap his knee.

“There was also an evaluation of you, Lord.”

“That is enough. First of all……”

Knock, knock.

Just then, a knock was heard.

At Count Levi’s chin gesture, the butler went out and then returned.

“What is it?”

“They say a guest has arrived.”

BJ Swordmaster