It was when I was on my way to the garden in order to meet with Lady Sophia and Sir Alec after leaving Maria behind. As I was passing through the enormous courtyard of the castle, a knight appeared in front of me.
"Excuse me, my lord," The knight said.
I smiled kindly and answered. "Yes, how can I help you, sir knight?—"
"Kahk!" the knight suddenly grabbed his chest and took a step back. "Fuck, you are doing that on purpose, right?!"
"What?" That crass tongue. "Might you be my knight, Keith?"
"Yes, yes, I am Keith, so stop talking like that ok? Fucking chills."
"Oh, dear!" I straightened my back and spoke as nicely as I could, like a pampered flower in a palace, my words made honey fall into all my listeners' ears. Though for this guy, honey seemed to be poison, and this flower had some fucking thorns. "How can I speak if not like this? Brave sir knight?"
"No, please! Just stop and talk like a person."
"Alright, alright, I'll let you be since its been a bit."
"What are you talking about? It's not even been a week?"
"Oh my! It seems you would like to hear me speak more? How about I sing a song for you, brave sir knight?"
"It's been forever, young master! Just stop making that face ok?"
I cackled while Keith writhed in pain. That said, was my kind face really that bad? I mean. I was kind, right? I was very kind and very nice.
"Where ya off to?" Keith asked.
"Going to meet Lady Sophia, her knight is very much like you, you know?"
"He's very cool and manly and awesome?"
"He probably gets rejected by women thrice a day."
Keith stared at me.
I stared back.
"HAHAH!"
"HAHAH!"
A punch came hurtling my way, but I blocked it right away. The two of us stared at each other again.
"HAHAHA!"
"HAHHAHA!"
A thought came into my mind when I blocked his punch. Regardless of how stupid he was, Keith sure had tonnes of life-experience. Instead of someone like me who was fighting and training all his previous and current life, Keith was someone who lived each day to the fullest.
"Say, dumbass knight."
"What is it, incompetent liege?"
I glared at him, but Keith crossed his hands. He seemed to be saying he wasn't a dumbass either. Whatever.
"Hah. What would you do to completely take a man's dignity?"
Keith suddenly flinched. Before I could ask anything, he had already taken five steps away from me.
"I knew you were a sadistic freak, young master, I always knew you enjoyed hurting others, but do you also swing that way?"
"Fuck are you talking about?"
"You said all that stuff about taking a man's dignity!" Keith muttered.
Dignity...
Was I, possibly, interpreting things wrong?
What if... Raum doesn't like cuckoldry, but rather...
"Sodomy..."
I was completely absorbed in the thought. I forgot all about Keith as I grabbed my chin and walked away.
"What...???" I heard such a confused voice from behind me, but ignored it completely.
***
"Lord Eugene, you're early today."
Lady Sophia was waiting at the garden with a parasol in her hands. Sir Alec followed right beside her.
"Apologies, I met with my knight, Keith back there." I said. Moticing the lightness in her voice, I asked, "It seems something good has happened?"
Lady Sophia covered her face and laughed lightly. "Something good, indeed, something did happen." She then spun on her feet, her dress flailing in the air. "You'll hear it soon."
"Did they find a way to make protein shakes in this world?"
Sophia's head jerked ahead before she turned back to look at me. "Umm... what?"
"Never mind," I said. The joy she held wasn't one of a lifter, but of a noble. My bad.
As I followed behind Lady Sophia, her knight, Sir Alec turned to me. He had mellowed down a lot over the days.
"My lord," he said. "By Keith, do you mean the Knight Keith who used to be an adventurer?"
"Hm? Yes, I guess Keith was an adventurer a while back."
"Ohh!!" Alec exclaimed. "I thought about it when Sir Buhini mentioned him, but you're really the liege of sir Keith!"
What the heck?
"Is he a big deal or what?"
As far as I remembered, he was an outcast of the knight's order and a person who was sent with me for serious personality issues. That and his capability, now that I think about how the Marquis treated me, it was more than possible he sent Keith along being aware of his strengths.
"He's very famous amongst adventurers, sir! Even young knights like me were amazed by his feats!"
"What did he do?"
"My lord, the tale is one of the first things he did. When he was just 14, he registered at the same time as the current country's Hero Party."
Hero Party? Keith registered at the same time as the one's blessed by the gods?
"And, in three minutes, he wiped the floor with all five heroes! In three minutes!" Alec said with great excitement.
"Wow, you have a knight fitting of your greatness, young lord." Lady Sophia barged into the conversation as we reached in front of the prison cell instead of the stables.
Sir Buhini was standing in front of us all with no other knights around in sight.
"You're here," he said. "We have little time, so lets move in."
"I guess we found some of the exploding bastards, huh?"
"Right," sir Buhini nodded while Lady Sophia giggled. "We found 7 of them."