Chapter 366 - Not All Proto Knights Are Equal

The Scarlet Cloak Knight Order had three knights, each with a unit named after them. Their formidable renown went without saying. But a knight order could hardly consist of three knights alone. Its true core was its proto knights, of whom there were more than twenty.

Fewer than five of those proto knights remained in the capital. There were also over fifty squires in total, but fewer than ten remained here. So Aesia explained.

"Well, there are a few other people with proto-knight-level skills. The commander of the Royal Guard used to belong to the order, and there are the famous twins who guard the marquis."

"Those two were twins?" Encrid interjected.

"You said you'd met the Marquis of Fertile Lands, didn't you? Yes, fraternal twins. They don't look alike, do they? I was surprised when I heard, too."

Aesia was unpretentious. That was how Andrew saw her. Though its ends were split, her orange hair seemed to accentuate her vivacity. Unpretentious and lively, like a farm girl who had grown up without a care. That was the impression she gave him.

In looks, the mage Esther and Kin Vaisar surpassed her, but when it came to charm, the proto knight Aesia had probably set many a man's heart feverishly aflutter.

'Those looks, with that cheerful disposition...'

It was immensely appealing. On top of that, she was friendly without a thought for keeping her distance. Uninhibited was the word that immediately came to mind. She joined the table without any fuss, eating and drinking as if she had been here yesterday, too.

"Pass me some of that bread, would you?"

The funny thing was that Rem and the others treated her just as casually. A proto knight of the Scarlet Cloak Knight Order, no less. Andrew found it difficult to get used to, but soon abandoned any attempt to take it seriously.

'I don't know anymore.'

Whenever Encrid was involved, things stopped making sense. It was no different from the first time he had gone on a mission with the Captain. Even then, everything the man did had defied belief.

'He acted as though he knew where every enemy was in those bushes.'

Then he had set fire to the barracks as he fought. Only after they escaped had Andrew realized that this man was different. Now the scale of events was greater, and their standing higher, but nothing had changed. That was how Andrew decided to think of it.

"Here."

Aesia sliced a round loaf and tossed a piece over. Rem snatched it out of the air, spread marmalade on it, and took a bite. Ragna cut some cured ham, then trimmed the rough crust from his bread and ate only the soft inside.

"Picky bastard," Rem remarked.

"If watching that woman fight has left you desperate for a beating, wait. I'm eating, you wild animal."

Ragna's reply was perfectly composed.

"Not 'that woman.' Aesia."

She raised a hand and interjected.

"Oh, right. Aesia."

Ragna, too, slipped naturally into casual speech. Aesia also thanked Andrew, the owner of the mansion, for inviting her. Of course, no invitation had ever been mentioned. She had simply turned up, sparred, and sat down to eat. Andrew spared her any embarrassment with a "You're very welcome."

"Now, his face is just my type," Aesia said, looking toward Jaxon.

"Most women say that. Don't let him fool you. He's seeing more than a woman or two," Rem added.

"They're all friends."

For once, Jaxon's response was mild. Watching him, Aesia thought he probably did attract quite a following of women. His being her type didn't mean she had fallen for him on the spot.

She looked at Encrid, chewing bread across from her. No matter how often she looked, he remained a curious man.

"I don't have many female friends, either," the curious man said, sensing her gaze.

"I didn't ask."

"Right. Spar after this?"

Aesia nodded reflexively.

"Once we've digested our food."

They could sort out the work that needed doing while they digested. Aesia hadn't come here for fun.

"We did agree to catch the Moonlight Beast."

"You've already named it?"

"It's a beast that only appears under moonlight."

The capital wasn't populated entirely by fools, morons, and imbeciles. They had established what the enemy looked like, where it appeared, and when. Listening to the explanation, Encrid asked, "Why have you left it alone this long?"

She had said five proto knights remained. There were squires and city guards, too. This was the capital of a kingdom. Surely it had people capable of dealing with something like this. Of course it did. Yet they had let it get away.

There were several reasons for that. First, they had underestimated their opponent. Second, no one outside the knight order was willing to commit their forces.

"Everyone's too busy looking out for themselves. Well, I can understand that."

Aesia spoke frankly, then added, "One of the squires was taken down. Badly injured. I'm not sure that one will even live."

A squire was a member of the knight order, no less. For one to have fallen victim was evidence of just how dangerous this Moonlight Beast was.

"What about a priest?"

The injury was one thing, but why wasn't it being treated properly? Squires were chosen for their recognized talent, one in hundreds or thousands. Knights were the very symbol of martial might. And the knight order was made up of those preparing to become knights.

Naturally, they were treated well. More than well. Being assigned their own cook was a given, and they could certainly receive a priest's prayers. Divine power could heal even grave injuries. It ought to restore them enough to keep them from dying.

"The priests who were in the capital are away right now, too. The palace's own priest says it's difficult to use divine power for other reasons."

Encrid thought of the temples he had seen while traveling through the capital. They existed. Not just one, but several. Naurilia did not persecute religions, so its capital, Nauril, had several temples. It couldn't compare with the holy city of Legion, but there were quite a few here as well. And not one of them had a priest?

"To be precise, there aren't any priests who can wield divine power. One of them has already fallen victim to the beast."

When the Moonlight Beast first appeared, the response had been slow. It had gone straight for a priest who had awakened to divine power. As a result, she too was reportedly struggling for breath, clinging to life from one day to the next. Some of the other priests capable of wielding divine power had gone to the border.

"Divine power is rare to begin with."

At least a palace healer was reportedly trying various treatments. There were alchemical potions, too.

"They won't die," Aesia said.

Her calm delivery only made her resentment sound deeper. No, what came through was her determination to catch the beast, no matter what.

"We'll catch it."

Rem lent his support with the tone of someone stating a simple fact. Fair enough. Hunts like this were familiar to him.

"Yes, thank you. Rem, wasn't it?"

Encrid found Aesia rather remarkable. Had she always been this personable? He hadn't known, since their previous encounter had allowed neither the time nor the circumstances for a proper conversation. Then again, she hadn't left a bad impression that time, either.

"It's cloudy again today," Jaxon said offhandedly. He was right.

The moon wouldn't show tonight, either. More importantly, the beast didn't always appear when the moon was out. Why was that? They didn't know. But it was worth considering. Given some thought, they might come up with a hypothesis.

"Anyway, a proto knight chased it as it fled after killing the squire, but lost it. It's incredibly fast on its feet. I don't think we'll catch it by chasing from behind like before."

"Is there a reason the knight order hasn't stepped in?"

Having more or less finished eating, Encrid cleared away his leftovers, and a maid brought him tea. Aesia split an apricot in half and popped a piece into her mouth, then grimaced. It seemed to be too sour.

"What do you think?"

He didn't need to ask twice. It was because of the situation inside the palace.

"We serve the Queen."

They didn't leave the Queen's protection solely to the Royal Guard. They guarded the throne.

"Then what about you?"

"The marquis has more than enough influence to spirit away a few proto knights. That man's belly is so full of scheming serpents they call him Hydra's Guts."

At that, Andrew gave him a look. See? Everyone calls him that. That was what the look meant. Encrid gave a perfunctory nod.

He had seen at first glance that the marquis wasn't a man who readily revealed his thoughts. So what? What mattered was that the Moonlight Beast was connected to Black Blade, and they needed to find Black Blade's leader.

'He's Jaxon's enemy.'

Once they caught him, whether Jaxon killed him, spared him, tortured him, or sliced him into jerky was his own business. But Encrid would commit himself to finding the man. This concerned one of his men. Though no request had been spoken, it was as good as having heard one.

That was his first reason for catching the Moonlight Beast and wringing answers out of it. Second came helping the people suffering at its hands. The marquis's request came in around third. Whether the man was Hydra's Guts or a sly serpent's cock was none of his concern.

"Then you're free until tomorrow?" Encrid asked.

There had to be moonlight for even a stakeout to be worthwhile. Unless the clouds suddenly cleared during the night, Aesia wouldn't have much to do, either.

"Yes."

"Then?"

"Let's go again."

Aesia's eyes blazed as she spoke. Encrid, too, wanted to face her sword again.

"I'd like to fight you lot, too."

Aesia's flames spread even further. Had Sinar seen them, she would have wanted to douse them with water on the spot. Rem and Ragna responded to that ardor.

"Sounds good."

"Anytime."

Neither was the type to back down.

"Leave me out of it, please."

Jaxon shook his head.

"Count me in, too."

Dunbachel joined in, her voice lower than usual.

"Great!"

Aesia gave a hearty shout and headed outside. Straight to sparring, then.

Everyone got moving. Andrew went along, too. The five trainees, putting themselves through their paces off to one side, stopped to watch whenever the sparring began. Even Mac made time for it.

These were bouts between proto knights, no less. Missing them would be a loss. Of course, merely watching wouldn't improve their skills on the spot. But it would let them experience in advance the results they could only imagine. That made an enormous difference. In short, it was their good fortune.

Encrid took everything seriously. More excited than ever, Aesia sparred, ate, and drank, and ended up claiming a room in the mansion.

The sky grew overcast, and at last the rain poured down. It seemed they wouldn't be seeing moonlight for a while. Through it all, Encrid learned and learned.

"Hey, do you think all proto knights are equal? Are all knights equal? Were all mercenaries? Shall we put it in terms of Naurilia's soldier grading system? Were all low-grade soldiers equal just because they were low grade?"

No, they weren't. Clear differences in ability existed even among low- and intermediate-grade soldiers. At high grade and beyond, those gaps became more pronounced.

"By the time you get to proto knights, those differences can be pretty wide. And I'm somewhere in the middle."

Her talent had earned recognition, but her skill placed her in the middle.

"There are actually proto knights who can face a knight, even if they barely manage it for only a few exchanges."

Aesia's eyes sparkled as she spoke. They seemed to say that she, too, would keep moving forward without stopping.

"Right. I didn't know."

They had been too far away, too high up for him to see. Only once he had climbed that far could he see the differences between them.

To Andrew, for example, Aesia, Encrid, Rem, and Ragna were all equally monstrous. Yet Aesia never once defeated Rem or Ragna in their bouts. And when Rem and Ragna occasionally fought each other, Rem never once beat Ragna.

As for Encrid...

"Is insisting on the Righteous Sword really the right way to break illusion swordsmanship?"

Aesia beat him every time. Encrid judged that defeating her in a spar would be difficult.

'Illusion swordsmanship.'

He knew what her technique was. Through deliberation and Review, he had also worked out how it operated. She planted an illusion and locked her opponent's vision in place, confused their sense of distance, then added speed.

No, it wasn't only speed. Earlier, he had attacked with that in mind and fallen victim to the Flowing Sword. Hidden within her illusion swordsmanship was a sword whose next move he could never predict. That in itself was deception. She had truly mastered illusion swordsmanship and made it her weapon.

Seeing it made Encrid smile. The harder it was, the more motivated he became. That was a core part of the man he was.

The rain fell for four days. Deliberation, Review. Sparring, training. And when those four days had passed, the skies cleared to brilliant sunshine.

Between rolling through the mud as they sparred, washing, chatting, and discussing how to catch the Moonlight Beast, Aesia had somehow become friends with everyone.

"Wow, a mage? Fascinating."

She even managed to avoid any awkwardness with Esther.

"Is this your horse? What's with his eyes? Wait, can you understand me?"

She had made Odd-Eyes's acquaintance as well. This seemed to go beyond being personable. Perhaps it was her special talent.

Encrid also heard bits and pieces of her story.

"I was born a commoner. The usual story. Happened to pick up a sword as a child. Discovered my talent."

"There's one other thing I want besides becoming a knight."

"It's not something I'd tell anyone. Listen to me, talking about all sorts of things. You're a strange one. You have a knack for making people let their guard down."

Then, on the fourth day, late in the afternoon just before sunset, Jaxon said, "There will be a full moon."

The sky had yet to take on the colors of sunset. Standing in the middle of the training grounds, Encrid raised his head. Above him stretched a clear, lofty sky without a single cloud.

Jaxon was right. Though the sun had yet to set, he could faintly make out the moon. It had the round shape of a full moon.