I Resign From the Coin Mercenary Knights

Until Eric uttered the words “compensation,” Ember had not relinquished her lingering hopes.

She hadn’t expected him to show warmth. Nor had she anticipated him feeling sympathy upon seeing her haggard appearance.

Throughout their engagement, Eric had consistently maintained an indifferent attitude.

You don’t need to visit so often, Ember. We hardly have anything to discuss, do we?
Why are you so curious about whether I’m an advanced or peak expert…? Ah, I can guess. But the expert ranks aren’t so clearly delineated, you know. It’s hard to explain, so don’t bother.
Wouldn’t you prefer being at the salons instead of with me?

Eric’s sardonic tones still vividly lingered in her memory. Not that it wasn’t her own doing, of course.

However, he hadn’t always been so cold.

Until the Codana prices skyrocketed, she had even felt their personalities meshed well at times, finding their joint planning of their future rather enjoyable.

Eric’s attitude had chilled only after the Codana windfall, after Ember belatedly began making “efforts” to grow closer to him.

Wearing pretty dresses, demanding dates befitting lovers, hinting at allowing intimacy – Eric had scoffed as if seeing right through her intentions. The more he did, the more desperate Ember became.

‘If only I had maintained my initial sincerity.’

As she blankly stared at Eric sliding the compensation demand towards them, Ember wondered if the current catastrophe could have been averted.

Regardless, Eric simply alternated his gaze between Ember and her father, clearing his throat.

“Please confirm. This is an amount calculated on reasonable grounds.”

For the owner of a fortune capable of purchasing entire cities to demand compensation for an annulment – even Ember’s father, a prosecutor for over two decades, could only open and close his mouth in dismay.

The one barely maintaining her composure was Ember herself.

“Eric, what is the meaning of this…? The one who issued the disciplinary action was the commander.”

“I intend to negotiate separately from him. And I’m not making arbitrary demands, Miss Ember. Do you remember how we used to discuss my career path quite often in the early days of our engagement? If it had been maintained, it might have become ‘our’ path. It may be long over now, but still.”

“But Eric. You’ve been referring to me politely this whole time.”

As she forced a smile in an attempt to change the subject, Eric paid no heed.

He simply wore a faint smile as he recited the grounds for calculating the compensation amount.

“I am twenty-five years old. Of course, having reached this level at a young age does not guarantee becoming a master. There are many experts who spend 10, 15 years at the peak expert realm without ever breaking through before their skills deteriorate with age.”

“……”

“But if I had remained a knight and ascended smoothly to mastery? Becoming a commander would have been virtually assured. I would certainly have received a title as well – not just an empty title, but a landed estate with tax rights.”

“Eric, if you do eventually reach mastery later on, that could still…”

“Do you really think that will be easy? With no opportunities to spar with knights of comparable ability, no chances to accumulate actual combat experience? The world does not work according to your fanciful notions, Miss Ember. Mastery is no trivial ‘town mutt’ title.”

Town mutt. As he uttered those words, Eric fixed an intense gaze upon Ember and her father.

“So, you’re asking us for compensation?”

“Yes. If not for High Prosecutor Hyde’s disciplinary recommendation, I would never have faced discharge or forced retirement in my prime. Isn’t it only proper to compensate me for the damages I’ve suffered to some extent?”

“…Haah.”

In the interim, Ember’s father, having barely regained his composure, tremblingly picked up the document outlining the compensation calculation.

Ember too cast a dazed look at its contents, finding it less painful than meeting Eric’s gaze directly.

Yet contrary to her expectations, the compensation amount only served to further unsettle her heart.

Was the sum too exorbitant?

No, that wasn’t it.

He wasn’t demanding dozens of years’ worth of a knight’s salary, nor compensation for the mental anguish of losing his chance at the Imperial Knights’ commandership as a commoner.

The amount Eric demanded was modestly realistic.

“5 million. That’s all I ask to withdraw cleanly.”

Over twice her father the high prosecutor’s annual salary.

While they didn’t have that kind of cash on hand, it was an amount they could somehow scramble to raise if they tried desperately enough. The calculation basis was even meticulously documented, evidently with professional assistance.

The compensation factors like age and projected wedding costs seemed relatively reasonable even to an outsider like Ember.

‘Could Father possibly refute this…?’

She glanced at her father with a glimmer of hope, but regrettably, he too appeared flustered.

Having served as a prosecutor for over 20 years, he had likely seen all manner of sordid affairs. Yet even for him, Eric’s demand seemed difficult to refuse – to fight it to the bitter end would inevitably involve the Imperial Knights’ commander at the pinnacle of power.
The fact that Eric did not seem to fear that implied he had made some calculations.

After agonizing for a while, the emotion that surfaced on Gregory’s face was ultimately resignation.

“Well, prosecutor?”

“…I understand. You’re saying you’ll file this compensation claim if we don’t comply with the annulment, is that it?”

The already deflated Gregory responded in a meek voice.

Having interrogated countless criminals, he now cut a pitiful figure akin to a suspect ensnared in a trap rather than a prosecutor.

Eric clicked his tongue in seeming pity, but showed no intention of relenting.

“You seem to misunderstand. The annulment and compensation are separate matters, without any correlation between them.”

“……”

“And come to think of it, your phrasing was rather… odd. Not complying with the annulment? Could you perhaps be entertaining the possibility of maintaining the engagement? Forcing your daughter’s fiancé into unemployment, yet still expecting the marriage to proceed? That’s simply nonsensical.”

“No, I had merely thought to apologize and offer an explanation first.”

“I’ll accept an apology, but not an explanation. The content is predictable anyway. All you need to do is make a decision.”

What will you do?

In response to Eric’s prompting for a decision, the father and daughter blankly stared at each other as if having pre-arranged it.

There was no drawn-out discussion between them. Any words uttered now would only be unbecoming, after all. Simply observing her father’s wavering gaze, Ember could discern the words he wished to say.

‘Know your place.’

‘I cannot protect you.’

The refrains her father had constantly repeated echoed in her mind.

One’s station, circumstances, and propriety.

Whenever Ember had expressed desires like attending noble ladies’ social gatherings or the academy, her father had always chided her with similar rebukes. Ember had invariably rebelled against those words then.

But this time, she silently acquiesced to her father’s implicit message.

Loath as she was to admit it –

Her relationship with Eric was already a lost cause. His unyielding expression alone made it clear there was no room for leniency. Even if Ember were to plead with tears, he would pay it no heed.

“Eric.”

Instead of her already defeated father, Ember forced herself to speak.

In truth, her own spirit had been crushed long ago. Truthfully, she was still struggling to hold back her tears at this very moment. No, her eyes were already moist – she was simply suppressing those tears from flowing with some indescribable force of will.

‘But I can’t let Father fall apart too.’

Ember decided to take on the most humiliating role herself.

In the end, it was Ember who waved the white flag.

Her lips quivering as she struggled to swallow her tears. It was likely she believed she had made a significant decision for her father’s sake.

Not that I possessed any special insight into human hearts – that was simply how the thought process of such girls tended to go.

Considering the troubles Ember had caused her father, and would continue causing him for the foreseeable future, lowering her head once was trivial.

Though it was none of my concern, Ember had already passed her prime marriageable years in this society. While still in her early twenties, a few years younger than me, that was hardly a tender age either.

Of course, among academic elites, finding a match in one’s mid-to-late twenties was common. But Ember was simply an unemployed civilian schooled graduate.

Her exceptional looks meant she wouldn’t lack for suitors as an unwed woman, but finding a match meeting her standards would be difficult. Unless she was prepared to enter a household as a concubine, that is.

‘She’ll likely end up leeching off her father going forward.’

Considering that, lowering her head once to me was a small matter.

“…Eric. I’ll agree to the annulment.”

“A wise decision.”

“I won’t ask for your apology, so I’ll stop here. …But I have one final request, if you’ll hear it. Think of it as me being petulant if you wish, but could you say it?”

“Speak your mind. Though I can’t promise to oblige.”

“The compensation amount… could you perhaps adjust it slightly lower? It may seem insignificant to you, but… we simply don’t have that kind of money.”

Speaking haltingly with a tearful expression, her tightly clenched hands visibly trembling on her lap.

She must have agonized tremendously just to voice that request. Considering Ember’s character, she was likely waging an internal war.

I decided to show her a final kindness by granting a small concession. If I refused even this, the father and daughter might cling to me like leeches, which would only be a nuisance when I had money to spend. No need for my former fiancée and her family causing such troubles.

“Very well. I shall lower it for you.”

I generously shaved off 1.5 million from the amount.

However, there were two conditions:

Immediately registering the annulment with the authorities today, and announcing that Ember’s family had initiated the request for annulment. It would be problematic if rumors spread that I had discarded my fiancée immediately after striking it rich, after all. This much was necessary for me to show leniency.

“…Yes. I accept.”

Upon that answer, I readily nodded and rose to my feet.

“Discuss the rest with my lawyer.”

With my business concluded, I had no reason to keep the father and daughter in my residence any longer. Ember and her father slunk out of my home with slouched shoulders. Though Ember glanced back at me several times, I completely ignored her.