The man, who claims to be a liaison of the Silver Wing Knights, handed over a total of five sealed letters and left.

　Four of them are addressed to me and the remaining one is a letter to Garnett.

　The fact that more of them were given to me than to Garnett was a bit surprising, but I was immediately convinced when I saw the emblem on the envelope.

　--The Knights of the Dragon King. The Golden Fang Knights. The Silver Wing Knights. And the Royal Palace.

　This was the full course of people involved in the example (...) matter (...).
　Naturally, it was easy to imagine that the contents of the letter would be in line with that.

　Because of my unexpected success in the Demon King's War, the two knightly orders of Silverwing and Golden Fang decided to have me knighted to join their ranks.

　His Majesty, concerned about the growing conflict between the two gangs, proposed to have the Knights of the Dragon King call me into their Kingsguard, but the Knights of the Dragon King were reluctant to do so, citing their own traditions.

　And now I have to wait for the Dragon King's Knights to decide on a course of action and choose which of the three knights to choose, or turn my back on all of them - this is the situation I'm in.

''I can't help but be curious about what's inside, but you can't open this place!
I know.

　I suppressed my inclination to deviate and went into the house and sat down on the couch to work on the sealing wax.

　I didn't go back to my room because I didn't want to waste that time either.
　Realistically speaking, it was only a few seconds. I was in such a hurry to check the sealed letter now that I couldn't even endure that.




　The first letter - the Dragon King Knights.

　The contents, as expected, are the conditions of acceptance for joining the Order of the Dragon King if I am knighted.

　The condition offered by the Dragon King's Knights is to marry Beatrix Leila Hyndman, who has already been sent here.

　It is not acceptable to join the clan in any other way, or to join without joining the clan.

　In addition, if the marriage to Layla is unsuccessful because no other potential fiancée can be found, then no entry will be permitted.

　This is the only condition on which the three factions, the Traditionalists, the Reformers and the Neutrals, can compromise, they said.

''It's going to be like this after all. In the first place, the Dragon King Knights don't actively want me. They just came up with the idea of imposing it on a higher-ranked Order to prevent the conflict between the Silver Wings and the Golden Fang.''

　Therefore, the Dragon King's Knights will only offer terms that they can accept, and they won't come to us to negotiate.

　If it's on the condition that you marry Leila, I can't possibly accept it.
　It's not that I dislike her, but I know that it can't end happily for both of us.

　I'm sorry to His Majesty, who wants to avoid confrontation between the knights, but I'll have no choice but to reject this idea.




　The second one - the Golden Fang Knights.

　This one, in contrast to the Dragon King's Knights, has a list of high treatment for receiving a knighthood as a Knight of the Golden Fang.

　However, it seems that my hopes of living a life as before will not be realized.

　The Golden Fang Knights is one of the knights who are responsible for the war.
　Naturally, they expected me to play an active role in the war as well, and were required to make full use of my evolved 【Restoration】 skills on the battlefield.

　Perhaps this is a line that they absolutely cannot concede.

　If they couldn't make him contribute to the war, they must think that there was no point in welcoming him to the Order.

'' (If I were to side with the Golden Fang ...... I'm sure my relationship with the Silver Wings would change. It won't be the same as before with Garnett or ......)

　There is a deep-rooted rivalry between the Silver Wings and the Golden Fang that is beyond my understanding.

　They were properly cooperating with each other in the battle against the Demon King's army, but it shouldn't be so easy in the future.




　The third one - the Silverwing Knights.

　Although they can't reach the level of the Golden Fang, they have been offered treatment that can be said to be generous enough.

　Furthermore, under the guise of 'maintaining the security of Green Hollow Town and monitoring the 'Demon King's Castle Realm'', it was clearly stated that they could continue living the same life as before.

　The conditional aspect is perfect. The Silver Wings were also the closest of the three knights, and it seemed that they had no choice. But--.

(......?)　(There's another letter in the envelope: ......)

　It was not a piece of paper adorned with formal decorations, but a mere sheet of white paper with only a single line of text and a signature without a title.

　--The patriarch of the House of Argentia, Rembrandt Argentia, will never recognize the marriage of his daughter to a knight under his command--.

　The last signature on the page is Carmine Argentia.
　It's the name of the current leader of the Silverwing Knights and Garnett's older brother from a different mother.

　Then Rembrandt Argentia is probably Carmine's father, the former head of the Silver Wing Knights .......

''(What do you want me to do by telling me these things?)''

　No, ...... I know. It's obvious.
　I didn't know what Carmine wanted to tell me the moment I saw this single, unseen letter tucked away in a letter.

"(...... the rest of the letter, what's the word from the palace?)

　I forcefully switched my thoughts and put my hand on the last envelope.




　The fourth one - the royal palace.

　What was written in it was another option that was different from choosing one of the knights.

''(I heard a new knight order is being established!)'

　It's a statement that I didn't expect. They are going to establish a new order of knights and make me the first knight, rather than accepting the order and belonging to an existing order.

　The details will be worked out after the decision is made, but there is a possibility that I will be installed as the leader of the order.

(Maybe it's an honor, but it's too much of a burden for me to carry at any cost. ......)

　Fortunately, it's only a new idea, and there's no compulsion to do so.

　However, this sentence gives a strong impression that I'm likely to recommend the procedure as soon as I agree to it.




"(There are four ...... options, or five, including refusing them all. All of them have problems that can't be ignored, and there's a risk of not choosing ...... what to do).

　He put each of the four letters back in its envelope and turned his attention to Garnett, who was supposed to be reading a letter addressed to him in the same living room.

　At that moment, Garnett - her mouth twisted bitterly in a face that was stifling her indignation - was tearing the letters into two and four folds and tearing them to pieces.

'Oh, hey. Isn't that an important letter?
'What?　It's okay, it's okay. We're having a family meeting about a stupid agenda and I just want you to come.

　Garnett easily returned to his normal demeanor, tossed the carefully torn letter into the scrap basket for document disposal, and then headed toward his room with a fluttering wave of his hand.

But still, you should at least show your face, right? It's not right now, but can I get a leave of absence in the near future?　I have to get to your father's place in King's Landing, so I need a reasonable amount of time off .......
I'll probably be okay with the ...... branch, which will give me more room in the main office (here), and I'll probably be fine. We'll work out a schedule, let me know when we have a date.

　While acting like the person in charge, I couldn't help but feel a kind of heartburn that I can't describe.