Karl in Trouble

"Cheers!" Karl shouted as he raised his mug! Everyone in the pub followed after him. It was the third night since Karl was celebrating his promotion in the pub. He paid for everyone all three nights so the regulars of the pub were very friendly towards to him.

The waitresses were also happy to see him. After all, Karl was a tall, hunky young man and even a knight. There were no girls among the waitresses who did not want to spend some time alone with him. But the one who could successfully take Karl to a room upstairs was not one of the girls in the pub. It was a slender man in black clothes!

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The next day, Karl was in a big room underground. There were a big crowd in the room, though two-third of them were attendants that accompanied their masters. Each of them had masks on their faces so he could not tell who they were and others did not know him either. It was the custom set by the underground auction organizer. While hiding one's own identity, either commoners or nobles could participate in the auction as long as they met the requirements set by the organizer.

Black Python, the organizer of the auction and black market, was believed to be an underground syndicate based in Boswel and led by three elders who were chiefs of their own merchant groups. The identities of those elders were a mystery but the security and privacy control of the syndicate was so high that there were many merchants and noblemen who were willing to do business with Black Python. As such, the auction that was held once every three months was always crowded with big spenders from near and far.

The auction was not a place for Karl who was only a knight and had nothing much to spend. However, he was invited to the auction by a middle-aged, slender man in black clothes in a pub the day before. Moreover, he said that one of the organizers of the auction promised to give him an item of whatever he wanted among the auctioned items. Karl accepted the invitation and then, he sat in the auction hall with someone in a black hood beside him.

"So, he took the bait!" said an elder of Black Python with a smirk.

While an auctioned item might be seen like a generous gift to a trivial knight, the elder thought it was very cheap for a bribe. According to intel gathered by him, new lord of Boswel was an idiotic fallen noble who was chased out of his own family and Karl was the closest attendant of that new lord. The elder could not understand why the first prince took in such fallen noble.

But to him, such an incompetent young noble could not even be called an obstacle. He just needed to buy off his vessels. Then, it would not even be needed to move the base of Black Python from Boswel to elsewhere!

While the elder was pleased with his own idea and casually glancing at the auction hall from his private room, he heard a knock on his door.

"Chief, the knight I brought in tonight and his servant are making a ruckus!" a middle-aged man entered the room and reported. "He said he wanted to meet you and I told him that elder is busy but he insists to meet you and his servant is throwing a tantrum. What should I do, sir?"

"Hmph!" The elder snorted. "I gave him one and he wants more? Greedy bastard that doesn't know his place!"

"Did you hear, Karl? He is telling you to know your place~"

The elder, the middle-aged man, the elder's bodyguards and servants in the room were all startled by the sudden unfamiliar voice. No one had ever dared to talk in such playful tone in front of the elder!

"Who are you!" One of the two bodyguards recovered from his surprise and roared. "How dare you enter this room without permission! Guards out there, what are you doing? Drag this bastard out!"

However, nobody outside answered his order.

Karl was not interested in his words as well. He took a few steps forward and said to the boy that was with him, "Yes, I know my place. It is to protect you, master!"

"Don't be that serious," said the boy in his usual playful tone.

He took off his hood and threw away the mask he was wearing. The face that appeared was none other than that of Huvel Senebres, the lord of Boswel. But since he was never seen by people from outside of the castle, nobody knew that he was the lord.

"I was just teasing you." Huvel chatted casually with Karl. "How can I let those bastards order you around, right?"

"How dare you chat freely in front of me, the Knuckle Master?!" The bodyguard who spoke first could not tolerate anymore and ran towards Huvel.

"Die bastard!" He cried as he threw a punch.

"Clang!"

Karl swung the sword he took from the guards at the bodyguard's arm. However, the bodyguard immediately retracted his fist and the sword was stopped by the bracers on his forearms.

"Sir Karl!" The middle-aged man that brought him in shouted. "Even if you are a knight, barging into the elder's room like this is a big offense to the elder!"

"Oh, you are that knight?" The bodyguard that called himself 'Knuckle Master' sneered. "You look too weak. Drop your sword. If both you and that arrogant servant knee in front of me now, I'll forgive you ignorant brats!"

"Servant?! Knee in front of you?!" Karl mumbled in a very low voice. He did not say any more words and started to swing his sword aggressively.

The bodyguard that called himself 'Knuckle Master' was momentarily overwhelmed by Karl's sudden assault. He guarded against the sword with his bracer and took a few steps back.

"Karl, calm down!" shouted Huvel.

However, Karl did not hear him and continued to close the distance between him and Knuckle Master. The other bodyguard did not move at all but even crossed his arms watched the scene with a grin. In the next instant, Knuckle Master suddenly ducked and threw a punch to Karl's chin! Karl was thrown several meters away. He spatted a mouthful of blood. He groaned in pain and could not get up immediately.

"Rest for now, Karl," said Huvel. "His weapon mastery is higher than you. You can't win him if you blindly charge in like that! I'll take on from here."

"…Please, master," Karl, however, pleaded, "please, give me one more chance! I must cut off that tongue that insulted you!"