Ho ho ho, I think everyone can see where the story is starting to go with this chapter. The one that everyone is waiting for should appear in a couple more chapters.
On that note, hope you enjoy the chapter! It was a bit of a pain to translate
CSWH Chapter 14: The General and Prime Minister"&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;excuse me."
After knocking on the door, Gazelle entered the room.
"Marquis Anderson, is it. Sorry but, please wait a bit longer&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;.you there, take these doc.u.ments here and bring them around to the related departments. Also, this paper can pa.s.s as is, but the other two have to be returned."
This room"s master, who was called out by Gazelle as he worked&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;was Duke Romel Jib Armelia.
He was the exact opposite of Gazelle, a n.o.ble-like n.o.ble with gentle facial features.
One of the top n.o.bles of this country, he was the head of the Armelia Duke House, and the Prime Minister.
Contrary to his soft demeanor, he was evaluated as someone with a sharp sense for politics.
And each of them had a majesty appropriate for their respective t.i.tles, and even now, he had such an aura surrounding him.
In actuality, the eyes of the man who he had given orders to were shining.
The other people in the room who were waiting for orders, opened their ears so as to avoid missing even a single word.
It was a sign that they felt pride in being able to work as his hands and feet.
"The rest of you too, take home and consider the respective topics I gave you, and give me a proposal tomorrow."
After he gave out his last orders, everyone bowed and left the room one by one.
And then, the only ones left in the room was its master, Romel, and Gazelle alone.
"My bad, I made you wait."
At that moment, Romel"s tone of voice changed to that of one you might hear from some guy in a bar, and the majesty that he had up until then was blown away.
"How to say, I can"t get used to that sudden change of att.i.tude of yours&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;"
As Gazelle let out a wry smile, Romel laughed magnificently.
"Really? Even though you say that, you"re quite a bit calmer than last time, aren"t you?"
It was just by chance.
That Gazelle saw Romel in his current appearance.
Having been invited by his subordinates to a bar situated in a corner of the Capital, he saw a man that he felt like he had seen somewhere before&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;.is what he thought, and that man turned out to be Romel.
Unbelievably, Romel was mixing in together with the commoners and drinking&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;.even though he was the Prime Minister, and the head of a leading n.o.ble family.
"Iyaa, everyone"s surprised faces at the time was quite the sight to see, you know? It"s admirable that you didn"t end up yelling out my name."
"At that time, if you hadn"t covered my mouth and said you"d explain everything later, I would have yelled."
"Even if I said I"d explain everything&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;.it"s as it looks. The man in front of your eyes right now is Romel Jib Armelia. That"s all."
"&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;is the usual you wearing a mask?"
At Gazelle"s question, Romel laughed as though he were having fun.
And after laughing for a while, look in his eyes suddenly became sharp.
It was sharp to the point where one would feel threatened by it.
His tone of voice remained as it was, and was as affable as usual.
As expected of the Prime Minister, Gazelle sighed from the bottom of his heart.
"Oi oi, like h.e.l.l there"s anyone within this palace who isn"t wearing a mask. In this den of demons, it"s an everyday occurrence to probe out each other"s real intentions, while at the same time making plots to sabotage others. Ohh, how very scary&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;my mask is just a bit thicker is all."
"I see&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;however, why was the Duke at that kind of bar?"
"&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;that kind of bar, you say. Is it really that odd for me to be there?"
"Rather than odd&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;if I may be frank, it was unexpected."
"My old man often used to tell me to "know the people". It"s the same as in military tactics. Know your enemies, right? If you want to properly rule over the people, and you don"t know about the other party at all, then you won"t go anywhere. That"s why, ever since I was young, I"d slip into places throughout the town and listen to all kinds of things. Well, at some point, I ended up stuck with this kind of speech, "cause I found it much more comfortable being at ease over there instead."
"It is quite respectable of your father to say such a magnificent thing. For you to put that into actual practice is also something to look up to. However, at the same time it is frightening."
At Gazelle"s words, Romel grinned broadly as the corners of his mouth rose.
It was a smile as though a mischievous child"s prank had succeeded.
If, to Romel, his "war" was "ruling", then his "enemies" consisted of everyone other than the king living in this country.
Because he was a duke, he was familiar with n.o.bles, and he was also learning about the common people like this.
He had, to begin with, held a sharp sense for politics. Putting that together with his knowledge of his "enemies", if he felt like it, then he could easily have his opponents rolling around in the palm of his hand, Gazelle thought.
"&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;so? Just why have you come to my place today? Don"t tell me, you only came to talk about something like that?"
"That"s&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;"
Seeing Gazelle falter with his words, Romel let out a sigh.
"I see&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;I was sure that you had come to consult me&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;.but I guess it was just me being conceited."
"Consult&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;?"
"Perhaps I should say something like&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip; "General Gazelle, I am truly sorry for guessing upon your worries. I am, at any time, willing to be your strength. Regarding the apprehension of the bandits, please feel free to speak with me about it.""
"&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;ahh!"
At his reaction that seemed to suggest that he had just remembered, Romel gave a wry smile.
"What, I kne~w you had forgotten. It was correct of me to have gone to the bar at that time."
Hearing the last few words that Romel murmured, Gazelle gave a twitch.
"Don"t tell me&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;you were at that bar in order to make me&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;.come here?"
It was mostly just intuition.
However, they were words too precise to simply shrug off as merely being his imagination.
While thinking that it was impossible, that it had to have been just a coincidence&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;but, compared to him going to that bar simply because his father told him to get to know the people, it was a much more convincing reason.
Because in reality, Gazelle had come here.
"It is true that I normally go to bars, you know? I said it before too&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;but that"s true&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;in this world, there"s no such thing as coincidence."
As he said that, a dodgy light burned in Romel"s eyes.
"That"s impossible&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;the reason why I went there that day was because my subordinate called me. It was a complete coincidence. It couldn"t be that you ordered my subordinate&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;?"
"You do know that it"s pretty d.a.m.n hard to get one of those guys who, more than simply respect, but worship you, to take you out."
"Then, just how&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;?"
"When people take action, I believe that there are internal and external factors that lead them to do so. The internal factors are, in brief, their way of thinking. That depends on their respective personalities and you can imagine if you take into consideration their usual conduct. And so, the external factors include things that have already happened, and things that will happen in the future. This time, the external factors were that you had finished training, and the fact that last time you finished training, you went out drinking with your trainees. And for the internal factors I didn"t even need to observe your subordinates to know&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;it"s obvious that they worship you. It"s only natural that, like the guys from last time, they"ll want to go drinking with you."
Since Gazelle took the position as General, he went to observe the training of many people.
The country requested that he do so for people other than his direct subordinates, but&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;as there were so many aspiring candidates, he had divided them into groups and went to observe periodically.
It"s true that previously, on the last day of observing a group, he had been invited to go out drinking.
However, that was on but a single occasion that happened several months back.
Leaving aside those who were enlisted in the army, for someone who was working as the Prime Minister like Romel to know the precise details of the training schedule, to the point where he even knew they went out to drink, surprised Gazelle.
"Just how far reaching are your eyes and ears?"
"It"s only natural to know the movements of the army as the Prime Minister. As for the drinking, well, if you don"t try and hide it, then of course people"s mouths are gonna run. I have ears in the town"s bars, you know? Since you"re famous."
"In any case, I"m surprised you knew. Even though it was a different shop than before."
"If you go to a lot of places, then you"ll come to know which ones are frequented by knights."
Gazelle felt a bone-deep chill run through him.
Just how much had the man in front of him seen through to&h.e.l.lip;&h.e.l.lip;! -he thought.
He had connected points from all over the place, made a conjecture, and then intervened to produce his desired result.
Thinking that this was the Prime Minister of this country, Gazelle shivered.