emperor of steel
Chapter 15: Reina’s Crisis 3
Reina was cleaning the east side of the Gigant.
She sighed, as she was stroking the last remaining Gigant of her royal family.
As she was in her world of concerns, an old man in a knight uniform spoke to her.
“Do not worry, princess. Andrey is a well-known veteran rider.”
“But the difference in the performance of the Gigant is too much…”
“If you are as skillful as Andrey, we’ll be able to beat the Count’s rider.”
Reina’s expression lightened a little after listening to the words of the old man.
The lady was in crisis.
The crisis started with the debt reminder from the Imperial bank, which was given to them a month ago.
If the principal and interest weren’t paid back, which was 200,000 pesos, then the rules had to be enforced on them.
Reina had taken several loans from the Imperial bank last year to rescue the refugees, who were heavily damaged by the floods.
But she didn’t realize that the letter for payment would appear suddenly without any notification in advance.
In recent years, the Imperial bank’s debt enforcers surpassed quite a few creditors.
Once their ruthless debt enforcement began, they started to lose everything that was left behind in the royal family.
Not just the remains of her mother and father, but also the memories in the mansion and their furniture.
Reina looked at every place to make money.
But she was a royal family in exile. There was no one who was willing to lend that much money to her.
At that time, someone had approached her and gave her a suggestion.
It was the Count Monarch of Lamer, Lippie de Monarch.
“I will pay your debts, but you will have to marry me.”
Reina refused immediately.
The Count Monarch was fifty years old and already had two wives. There were also rumors that there were ten more hidden ones.
In addition to other women, the reputation that the Count Monarch had was terribly bad, and people had to work their asses off.
Princess Reina thought that it would be better to live alone than marry such a messy person.
But as the debt repayment dates began to approach, and the Imperial bank’s warning increased, her mind began to doubt.
During that chaos, the Count Monarch had made a bet.
Inside the arena, a duel would be fought, and if the side of the princess won, he would pay the debt without any conditions.
On the contrary, if he won the bet, she will have to marry the Count.
In the end, Reina had accepted the bet.
There was just one Gigant left in her royal family.
Although it was produced almost 50 years ago, it was possible to rent it to the lords who wanted to defeat the monsters.
The problem was the rider.
The only knights, who were on her side were the ones of the Old Volga Kingdom, who were with them for 10 years, and the only rider among them was Sir Victor.
However, the last time Victor rode a Gigant was almost 10 years ago.
Eventually, he brought in a mercenary rider as an alternative and successfully recruited Andrey, nicknamed as the ‘Red Reaper’.
Andrey was a well-known mercenary rider in the Southern Empire, he was so good that he won 100 battles.
And he wasn’t just a talented rider, he was also from the Volga Kingdom.
He just wanted to help out the virtuous princess and didn’t want a single dime in exchange.
As a result, the princess could see some hope in her dangerous gamble.
“Sorry, Sir Victor. I guess I’ll have to rely on you guys again.”
“You don’t have to! If he dares to take you as a concubine, this old man will not standstill. If it wasn’t for the princess, I and Pavel would’ve gone against him”
Knight Victor and Captain Pavel, were the most loyal ones of the remaining Volga people.
The two of them had looked after Reina since her birth, even during her exile.
It was the very reason why they decided to hold their places even after getting old.
Reina, who knew that, treated them like her very own grandparents.
“But Andrey is late.”
“Pavel has gone to bring him.”
The two of them were talking while standing in front of the Gigant.
Pavel, who went to bring in Andrey, came back.
But something didn’t seem to fit.
His expression was blunt as usual.
“Something big happened, princess!”
“What is it?”
“Andrey has disappeared! I went to the riders’ waiting room as well as the place he was staying, but I couldn’t see any trace of him!”
“No, no, that can’t be!”
Reina’s body began to get hot out of nervousness.
Victor, who noticed that, asked Pavel,
“Did you look thoroughly?”
“Every nook and cranny. Andrey is nowhere to be found!”
“This! I wanted to get things done easily…”
The Red Reaper was a mercenary rider with the ability which made him a wanted individual by not just the famous clans, but also the powerful nobles and the royal families.
Even if he belonged to the same country, they should have at least suspected when he immediately accepted the request of the princess. They should have known that something was going on no matter how drastic their situation was.
But they were all way past those stories!
With a red face, Victor yelled,
“This is clearly the doing of the Monarch! We need to go and get him!”
“But do you have any proof?”
Reina sighed and shook her head.
The notarization was already completed for El Kassel, and it couldn’t be postponed. In that situation, if they decide to give up, it was similar to losing the bet.
“Keuk, I’m going out. Even if we have to die, we need to win…”
“No! Sir Victor has already hurt his back. It is impossible to control the Gigant with that injury!”
“But where would we get a rider in such a situation?”
The Gigant rider had to be a knight to be skillful.
Where would they get such a person in this situation?
Borrow a rider from another clan?
Not only was it uncertain, but even if they lent them their rider, even if they lent her a decent one, it would be tough to win over the Count’s knight.
It was then.
An unexpected character appeared and said,
“The rider… can I be the one?”