The two stayed at the Princess' residence for a while. Caspar and Cecilia had gotten very close to each other during this time. Caspar saw Cecilia similarly as his sister Felizia and treated her the same. Cecilia, on the other hand, felt the same brotherly affection from Caspar as she does from Lothar, so they quickly warmed up to each other.
"Hey Cas, tell me, how was my brother like on the front line?"
Cecilia had gotten so close that she already started using the nickname his sister used.
"Well... He didn't change much, Maybe acted more serious back then."
Caspar replied to Cecilia's question. The two had been conversing for a while about Lothar as if he was not in the room with them. The silent treatment Lothar had been getting from them has started to get on his nerves. So at one point, while the two were happily laughing together at his expense, he finally exploded. Well... It would be more accurate to call it a boil-over than an explosion.
"I see you too have gotten quite comfortable, huh?"
After hearing his tone of voice, a shiver went down Caspar's back as he froze in place. Cecilia, already experienced with what is about to happen, let out a soft shriek as she said.
"Eeeep, he's out, Demon Lothar is out!"
"Who are you calling a demon, First of all, you both ignore my existence and chat happily, and you Cecilia, don't go spouting embarrassing stories without my permission..."
Lothar's lecture lasted for half an hour straight. Once he was done, both Caspar and Cecilia were looking at their own feet, showing a sad expression.
'Was I being too harsh on them?'
Lothar thought as he drank an entire cup of water to wet his now dry throat. Once he drank his water and sat back down, Cecilia came over to his side and hugged his arm.
"Come on, Lothar, don't be mad, we didn't forget about you."
While she was coaxing him, she was also looking at Caspar, as if hinting at him to do the same. The confused Caspar saw the hint as he quickly shook his head and thought to himself.
'There is no way I'm doing that.'
Catching their sneaky exchange, Lothar smiled at the two, and his mood got better. The trio then sat back down and continued conversing, not forgetting about Lothar this time.
While they were talking, Lothar dropped a bomb at Caspar.
"Oh, by the way, you are invited to the victory celebration at the royal hall tomorrow. As a guest that is, not a guard."
Confused by the invitation, Caspar had no choice but to ask.
"What? Why?"
"You are credited with the most merits during the final battle in the war, so you are invited as a guest of honor. Don't worry, you can come in your Reiksguard uniform, you're just going to be expected to do more socializing than actual guarding."
Caspar frowned at the invitation, He was never really a person for social events. He always enjoyed acting like himself and being unrestrained. Royal celebrations, on the other hand, required a lot of etiquette and posturing that he was not a fan of. He had no choice but to attend, he was already going to be at the palace doing his job, so he can't just refuse a royal invitation.
------------------------
After having dinner with the Princess and sending Lothar back to his residence, Caspar made his way back to the office of the third squad. When he was a fair distance away from the palace, he noticed that some people were following him.
Caspar, knowing that some people are trying to harm him, walked away from the palace and the Reiksguard office into a quiet alleyway. The alleyway was decently wide so as to not limit his range of motion. Caspar knew who was following him, and he wanted to teach them a lesson.
Just as he stepped into the alleyway, three figures walked in behind him. They were his three squad members from earlier today. Arno Walch, the leader of the trio, stepped forward and spoke towards Caspar.
"Lowly peasant, you should know what's good for you and screw off before some 'accident' happens."
Caspar completely ignored the anger behind the threat as he laughed out loud at Arno's idiotic actions. After laughing for a while, Caspar completely deigned to answer them as he charged forward and started to fight them three on one.
The trio were caught off guard by the sudden attack, they barely lasted a couple of seconds before they were all lying on the ground. After looking at them for a second before he turned and attempted to leave without saying a word.
Seeing his blatant disregard and feeling the shame and embarrassment from being beaten up, Arno stood up and shouted at Caspar.
"Caspar Hahn! Where do you think you are going?"
Caspar turned his head to face Arno before replying.
"The office."
Arno was momentarily baffled by Caspar's honest reply. Caspar had already started walking again, but behind him, Arno was getting more and more pissed off at Caspar's disregard of him. In the heat of the moment, Arno drew his blade and charged straight at Caspar, trying to stab him.
Caspar had already noticed the idiotic straight charge and simply turned around, the stab missed him, but that did not stop Caspar from retaliating. As the sword passed in front of Caspar, He extended his hand and grabbed Arno's sword arm, twisting it, causing Arno to drop his sword. Caspar then proceeded to pin Arno to the ground with his hand twisted behind his back.
Arno screamed in pain as he felt his arm twist into an unnatural shape. Caspar completely ignored Arno's screams for mercy, as he calmly stated.
"I don't really care what you think of me. But I am your Captain, and you drew your blade at your superior. That can be considered treason, and in all honesty, I could kill you right now, and nobody would be able to complain, you understand?"
Arno could only scream in agreement.
"YES, YES."
Caspar nodded behind him and continued.
"Good, from now on, you three WILL fall in line, or I could promise you that you will break a bone every time we meet. I will also do everything in my power as Captain to make your time in the Reiksguard hell. Understand?"
Caspar tightened his hold as Arno kept shouting, "Yes."
Arno suddenly felt the weight from behind him disappear, and his arm relax. He cradled his arm in the other one as he turned to look at Caspar, who was already walking away calmly.
Arno turned to his lackeys as he asked them harshly.
"Why did you not help me?"
The duo shivered in place before replying.
"You couldn't see his face man, It felt like he would really kill us all here. That man's trouble."