Chapter 32: I’ll Bet You’ll Take First Place

“I must say, you’re quite impressive, thinking of participating in a thesis competition… But I have no doubt your thesis will win an award.”

“You flatter me, Chancellor. Please, don’t say such things.”

“Oho, being humble again today!”

Persian had been watching Dien from the side. While other noble students might be a different story, Dien—whom current aides sought advice from—was more than capable of winning a thesis competition.

“So, what rank do you think you’ll get?”

Persian raised an eyebrow, curious about Dien’s answer. There were ten prizes in the competition. Dien smiled and asked back.

“What rank do you think I’ll get, Chancellor?”

“Hahaha, I knew you’d turn the question back on me. Let’s make a bet on your ranking! Let’s see what place you’ll take!”

“Surely you haven’t read the submitted papers beforehand?”

“Hahaha, do I look that idle to you? I haven’t even seen the topic of your thesis yet.”

“Hmph! Then let’s bet!”

Persian nodded at Dien’s ready answer and fell into deep thought. After fiddling with his pen for a while, Persian answered with a determined face.

“I’ll go with first place.”

“Pardon? First place?”

“Yes! I’m betting that you’ll take first place!”

“Then I’ll…”

“No! I only win if you take first place. If you take any other rank, you win. Of course, you win even if your thesis is rejected!”

Dien’s eyes widened at Persian’s unexpected terms.

“Hahaha, isn’t this too advantageous for me?”

Internally, however, Dien felt good knowing he was recognized by Persian. It was proof that his superior did not doubt his abilities.

‘We’ll see about that.’

Persian maintained a relaxed, confident attitude, as if he were the one who had written the thesis.

“Then, what should we set as the stakes?”

“Hmm… I’ll think about that after I win!”

“Huh? Chancellor! You haven’t won yet!”

“Hahaha, I know that!”

Dien was actually flustered by Persian’s bold attitude.

***

After his chat with Persian, Dien went to the Royal Castle as usual to check the petitions.

‘This one is also ambiguous…’

As expected, there were petitions where the responsible department was unclear. However, Dien’s expression remained bright. He no longer had to wander between the Chancellor’s Office, the Ministry of Finance, and the Royal Household Office with these petitions.

“Hello!”

Dien greeted the Ministry of Finance officials in a cheerful voice.

“Young Lord Dien! Are you here again today?”

“Yes, Baron! I came because I wanted to hear your wonderful voice today!”

Dien had become close enough with the finance officials to exchange informal greetings.

“Oho! You shouldn’t say such things while holding petitions in your hand!”

“Hahaha, the petitions are just an excuse!”

“Then you should visit without petitions once in a while!”

“Hahahaha.”

Dien put on a sly expression as if that wasn’t the case. Then, he slowly placed the petitions on the table. He glanced around, looking slightly hesitant.

“Baron! These are the petitions for this week. But… it’s a bit ambiguous to decide which department should handle them.”

As Dien tilted his brow as if troubled, the finance officials approached him. They carefully examined the petitions Dien had set down. Seeing them call an aide to hand over the petitions made the corners of Dien’s mouth twitch. In fact, Dien had known from the start that the Ministry of Finance would take these.

“We’ll handle these…”

“Hahaha, thank you.”

They gave Dien awkward smiles. Having anticipated this reaction, Dien bowed deeply in thanks.

At some point, the finance officials had begun taking the petitions without anyone having to ask first. They started handling petitions with vague jurisdictions without complaining, unlike before.

He had heard that the Minister of Finance, La Pierre, had turned the ministry upside down after being enraged by the defense project matter… It was likely then that the officials’ attitudes began to change. Thanks to that, Dien’s life had become easier. The headache of distributing petitions was gone.

“Well then, I’ll be going now.”

“Sure, sure. Good work, Young Lord Dien…”

The finance officials wore bitter expressions. Recently, they had been processing petitions left and right. Because they were handling more petitions than usual on top of their already busy workload, they often didn’t leave their offices until late at night.

***

While it might be a busy and difficult day for someone in the Royal Castle, Dien, who was already a veteran of public service, didn’t feel that the “big tasks” the other officials felt were big at all.

Leaving the Ministry of Finance and heading back to the Chancellor’s Office, Dien took a walk through the Royal Castle, enjoying a moment of leisure. While he was savoring the brief peace, a noise coming from the castle entrance piqued his curiosity.

‘What’s going on?’

As he slowly approached the source of the noise, he saw an old woman wailing loudly and a guard trying to stop her. What could have happened to her to make her wail so loudly that the sound echoed through the entire castle?

Dien also saw some guards he was friendly with trying to calm her down. They were struggling, cold sweat dripping from their faces.

“What’s the matter?”

The old woman’s eyes were swollen from crying for a long time. Dien approached her, gave the guards a brief nod, and sent them away.

“I’ll talk to her.”

Dien signaled the guards with his eyes.

“Are you a noble Secretary?”

“Yes. That’s right.”

Dien knelt down to match the old woman’s eye level.

“Please listen to my story… please!”

“Hmm…”

Dien glanced around. There were many eyes watching, so he looked for a place where they could talk privately.

“Tell me everything. Let’s move inside first. It’s a bit chilly out here.”

At Dien’s calm words, the old woman stopped crying and slowly stood up with his assistance.

***

Entering a nearby guard post, Dien kept his mouth shut and nodded. The old woman had a lot to say; she poured out her grievances for hours, and Dien continued to listen to her pitiful situation.

The story she told through her tears for hours was as follows:

The old woman’s son was Dante. Dante was a middle-ranked knight belonging to the Third Knight Division of the Ministry of War. Most members of the knight division were from noble families, but Dante had joined as a commoner. He had become an Aura Expert without a swordsmanship master and received his knighthood, which meant his talent must have been extraordinary.

One could imagine how proud she must have been of her son, Dante.

Afterward, Dante was said to have devoted himself to training to become a High Knight. The moment one became a High Knight, they could receive high positions from high-ranking lords. Their happiness must have felt within reach.

The old woman spoke again.

“My child… he became strange after participating in the Imperial War.”

The fierce war between the two empires that broke out fifteen years ago. People called this most recent war the Imperial War. At that time, the Kingdom of Delos had also participated in the Imperial War, sending many knights to its ally, the Scandia Empire.

“After the war ended, my son suffered from the aftereffects of the war. He said the soldiers he killed appeared in his dreams every night… He grew gaunt day by day, and after not leaving the house for three years… eventually, my son made a bad choice in his room…”

“Oh…”

The old woman shook her head instead of answering.

“I… I understand…”

Sensing what that “bad choice” was, Dien lowered his head.

“Then the reason you came to the Royal Castle is…”

“After my son died seven years ago, I heard there was an Honorary Martyr system, so I applied for it…”

She choked up and hesitated. Dien quickly took out a handkerchief from his pocket and handed it to her.

“Thank you… To continue… The answer that came back from the Royal Castle after one year was that he couldn’t be recognized as an Honorary Martyr. This is that document…”

“No…”

“My family has no way to survive. We don’t even have the money to send my young grandchildren to the academy right now…”

Dien’s voice trailed off as if discouraged by her words.

Honorary Martyr. In this place, it was a term signifying a death in the line of duty. Dien had also looked into the Kingdom of Delos’s system for deaths in the line of duty, the Honorary Martyr system.

Besides honoring the dead soldiers and knights, being an Honorary Martyr held many meanings. The most important among them were the compensation and the survivor’s pension for the bereaved family.

Even in his previous life’s system, there was a distinction between a general death in the line of duty and a death in the field, with most benefits being given more to the families of those who died in the field.

While there was a big difference between a general death in the line of duty and a death in the field, the difference between being recognized as a death in the line of duty and not being recognized at all was truly like the difference between heaven and earth.

“Actually… after my son died, my daughter-in-law also left the house to earn money… but I haven’t been able to contact her.”

Dien let out a small sigh at the old woman’s words and took the document she held. He began to examine the contents of the document with sharp eyes.

‘It is stated that he cannot be recognized as an Honorary Martyr because his death was not caused by an on-duty illness.’

Dien’s brow furrowed. It meant that because the old woman’s son chose suicide due to the aftereffects of the war, and since those aftereffects were not considered an on-duty illness, he couldn’t be recognized as an Honorary Martyr.

The reasoning for the judgment was written plausibly, but from the perspective of the old woman who had watched her son’s pain, it was incomprehensible.

‘If the aftercare for a knight who devoted himself to the country had been thorough, would this have happened? And to think they view the aftereffects of war so lightly!’

It was something that happened because the system for the aftercare of war veterans was inadequate, and it was also a loophole in the Delos Honorary Martyr system.

“By any chance… did your son ever receive psychological counseling for the aftereffects of the war?”

Dien thought of various methods with sharp eyes.

“That child was stubborn. He didn’t receive any counseling.”

“I see.”

Dien clicked his tongue silently. No matter how he looked at it, the situation was unfavorable for the old woman.

Well, that’s why she must have come to the Royal Castle to cause a scene. It was fortunate that he had stopped her; as a commoner, she could have faced severe punishment for causing such a commotion at the Royal Castle.

“I understand your feelings, but… you still shouldn’t cause a scene at the Royal Castle.”

“What else am I supposed to do when there’s no other way!”

The old woman shouted in indignation.

“Everywhere I go, they just say no! They don’t even care, they just say they’ll look into it! I was so frustrated… I felt like I was suffocating. That’s why I did it!”

She cried out in despair, and her tears made Dien’s heart ache.

“I understand your heart, but those in charge of processing deaths in the line of duty might think poorly of you.”

He felt sorry for the old woman, but this was the reality. He wanted to wipe away her tears, but saying this had to come first.

“Then what am I supposed to do…”

Her tears were rising like a summer flood. Dien could no longer just stand by and watch. He clenched his fists tightly.

“Don’t come to the Royal Castle again, ma’am.”

“You’re saying the same thing in the end…”

“No.”

Just as the misunderstood old woman was about to burst into tears again, Dien looked at her with burning eyes and continued.

“I will help you with this matter. It’s cold out, so please stay at home. I will inform you of the progress through a maid, so please don’t do anything that might offend the officials in charge.”

“…Is that true?”

“Yes, I promise you on the name of the House of Portran.”

Dien took the hand of the old woman, who asked in a trembling voice, and wiped away her tears.

Tears fell again at those words. However, those tears were not of indignation and sadness, but of joy.