I Resign From the Coin Mercenary Knights

From the morning, Ember Hyde was engulfed in turmoil.

Ordinarily, she would have freshened up and meticulously groomed herself immediately after waking, but now she sat listlessly on the edge of her bed, making no attempt at her appearance.

Ember’s morning routine was relatively simple – after dressing with decorum, she would spend time at the salons frequented by nobles.

After ordering a cup of tea, her delight was observing “true” nobles interact while elegantly reading a book for two or three hours at a time.

Of course, she could never actually be one of them, being merely the daughter of an untitled noble. She could only alleviate her frustrations by watching their camaraderie from afar.

But today, she had no time to observe noble culture as usual, due to the rumors – no, the gossip she had overheard at the salon yesterday.

He unleashed all 108 at once?
That’s the first time such a large quantity has hit the market since the exchange opened. Even when the Second Prince acquired 70 last month, it caused ripples for days.
The prices must have crashed hard, understandably.

With that much supply flooding the market at once, the prices were bound to plummet.

Ordinarily, individual Codana investors at most traded just a couple at a time. If a wealthy out-of-towner placed a large 30-40 Codana buy order at the newly established exchange, it might form a buy wall temporarily halting further price movements.

I heard the prices were revised three times within an hour. It even dipped as low as 340 million at one point. Some were worried it might trigger a short-term correction because of Eric.
Of course! That was insane… Oh? But I just saw the price at 380 million?
There’s a reason for that. When it temporarily dropped, the Arclight Marquis household started accumulating them, on the marquis’ direct orders apparently.
Ah, that makes sense.
After that, with investors piling in, it rose back up to 390 million or so.

The Arclight Marquis household – an immensely powerful family second only to the Emperor in wealth and influence.

Just the population of the territories under their direct rule approached 1 million, and they also owned massive iron and salt mines, making them exceptionally affluent.

It was thanks to that household purchasing over 30 Codanas that Eric was able to completely liquidate his enormous 108 Codana holdings within just a few hours.

The Arclight Marquis didn’t order that accumulation for no reason. The rumors about the hero temporarily returning to the Imperial City must be true.
He’s not just coming to rest, is he? It’s likely for the march on the Demon King’s castle?
That possibility is high.

Ember listened intently to the nobles’ chatter with wide eyes.

At some point, she was no longer eavesdropping discreetly, openly glancing their way – an extremely rude transgression, but the noble scions engrossed in Codana talk paid her no heed.

Of course, Ember herself was completely oblivious to her lapse in decorum, the details were so shocking.

‘He liquidated that entire quantity… all at once?’

Ember could scarcely believe it.

It had only been a few days since she had pressured her father into teaching Eric a lesson.

Her reasonably capable father, as prosecutors went, had dug into Eric’s record to find one flaw and used that pretext to recommend disciplinary action against him by the knightly order. The outcome was still unknown, but still.

‘I may have gone a bit too far.’

However, Ember had thought it would be enough to leave an impression – that she was not some meek, powerless noblewoman to be disregarded by a commoner knight, and that if he realized this, he would no longer ignore her.

‘I had planned to meet him soon to reconcile…’

But events had not unfolded favorably as she had hoped.

Instead of taking this opportunity to come to his senses, Eric had caused a massive uproar by liquidating all 108 of his Codanas at once, without so much as a word to her in the process.

This was not how things were supposed to go. She needed to understand the full details behind this nonsensical turn of events first.

Of course, she had no personal sources of information, merely eavesdropping on gossip at the salons.

In the end, she accosted her father, who was busy preparing for work, and questioned him.

“Father.”

“…Ember.”

For some reason, her father also looked rather haggard. Ember barely suppressed the sense of dread rising to her throat.

“Father, it seems Eric has acted rashly and caused an incident. In case he gets embroiled in a major controversy, you should meet with him once…”

“With what face can I meet that young man? Speak sensibly.”

“Face? Ah, because of that disciplinary recommendation? But that was just meant as a warning, wasn’t it?”

While Eric’s feelings were likely hurt, now was not the time to dwell on such petty grievances.

She needed to meet him as soon as possible, understand why he had caused this incident, and find a way for them to overcome the aftermath together. All eyes in the Imperial City would be on the fortunate soul who had come into the staggering sum of 40 billion rir.

But her father only let out a sigh, seemingly oblivious to her urgent plight.

“Whew. Ember, you fail to grasp the severity of the situation.”

Ember belatedly realized her father had not shaved. A prosecutor who always maintained a pristine appearance, insisting on propriety.

“Father…?”

“Ember, while I’m unaware of the precise situation within the knightly order, it seems Eric’s standing is not good. I had only recommended a verbal warning, but the order imposed severe disciplinary action – a dishonorable discharge, I’m told.”

“Severe discipline? If Father recommended a verbal warning, then they should have given a verbal warning.”

“Even as a high prosecutor, they had no obligation to follow my recommendation. I cannot intervene if they impose harsher discipline than what I suggested.”

“……”

Her father gazed at her with eyes tinged with faint reproach.

Ember opened her mouth to protest before closing it again, realizing he was not just concerned about his own career being jeopardized.

Rather, he seemed to pity his daughter for ruining her own prospects.
“I should never have listened to you in the first place. …I was a fool.”

“…Don’t say that.”

“Let me make this clear – don’t even dream of going to see Eric. You’ll only further embarrass yourself.”

“Misunderstandings can be resolved through conversation. …If you come with me, Father.”

He calmly pried Ember’s clinging hands from his clothes before leaving with a dejected gait, remarking sardonically that a prosecutor who had ended a promising knight’s career still had duties to fulfill.

Ember blankly watched her father’s retreating back.

‘His career is over…?’

Why would he say something so ominous?

Even if Eric had not truly been discharged, merely subjected to disciplinary action, her father seemed utterly dejected at the consequences of the recommendation he had made on her insistence. Eric himself had said that as long as he remained steadfast through the appeal period, he could potentially resume his regular duties.

But even as she rejected this reality, a lingering doubt arose within Ember.

Someone truly resolved to persevere stoically would not have committed such an outrageous act as liquidating 108 Codanas at once, drawing all eyes upon himself.

‘This wasn’t what I wanted.’

Ember stared vacantly into space with hollow eyes.

The interior of the modest single-story house her family had lived in for the past decade came into view.

Clean and refined, yet filled with aging furniture. The sparsely stocked wine cabinet. The small magical refrigerator they had splurged on a decade ago and were still using.

This was the typical lifestyle of an untitled noble household. Her father’s reasonably successful prosecutorial career was the only reason they could live at this modest level.

In contrast, Eric now had the means to acquire a sprawling mansion with an annex and gardens within the Imperial City itself, without any burden. No, it went beyond just a house – he could live an affluent life that would make even nobles envious for the rest of his days.

The thought crossed her mind that she needed to reconcile with him before it was too late and restore their relationship to a positive one.

But that was impossible.

Ember had never actually had a good relationship with Eric to begin with.

///

Early that morning, I was heading towards the Imperial Knights’ barracks.

However, my attire was completely different from the usual. I wasn’t wearing the ceremonial armor that functioned as our service uniform, nor had I donned the formal dress uniform worn to soirees. While I still had my sword at my hip, it was not issued by the knightly order.

‘The news has probably reached the order by now.’

In any case, with the majority of members obsessed with Codanas, they were bound to have heard about the pandemonium I had caused at the exchange yesterday.

They were likely gathering in groups right now, hurling curses at me.

Fortunately, it didn’t seem like I would have to endure their scornful glares for too long. Soon, they and I would no longer be able to call each other ‘comrades.’

“It’s Eric.”

I proceeded directly to the commander’s office.

Selina and a few other members were already engaged in serious conversation with Commander Weinwright.

‘How fortuitous.’

For the scenario my administrator friend Bingo and I had devised last night, the presence of members was necessary.

After giving the members a subtle nod of acknowledgment, I addressed the commander respectfully.

“Commander, I will accept the disciplinary action.”

“What…?”

“I forfeit my right to appeal. I will resign from the knightly order effective immediately.”

Commander Weinwright momentarily gaped at me in astonishment, while the members’ reactions were even more drastic. One even seemed to forget the commander was present, taking an angry step towards me before being restrained.

‘Damn fools.’

Ignoring them, I kept my gaze firmly fixed on the commander alone. He was the key to the plan I had formulated.