Chapter 47 - Squire, or Apprentice Knight

After the battle, the Fairy Company Commander had learned that the spell's medium was a flag. Then who had destroyed it? Tracing the events of the battlefield backward gave her the answer. 'The troublemaker squad's leader.'

That was why she was here. The Battalion Commander had not even considered the matter. He seemed to have no interest in who had destroyed the spell's medium. He thought some foolish shaman had botched the spell. Given how many of the continent's shamans were frauds, that did sound plausible. Even without that, the Battalion Commander would have had trouble keeping his wits about him right now. Someone who outranked even his immediate superior had come to the unit. "What do you mean?"

That was the answer to her question about whether it had been him.

"Spell. Flagpole. Medium."

Three short words conveyed everything she wanted to say. It was simply that no one had asked. Encrid had no particular intention of denying what he had done.

"Yes. That was me."

"How?"

Another short question.

"I picked up a spear like this and hurled it."

"There were five decoys."

Six flagpoles in all, and only one real one.

"I guessed."

"How did you know the flagpole was the medium?"

"I saw something while scouting, and I already knew a little about spells." His answers came without hesitation. The Fairy's keen intuition did not tell her he was lying. But it hardly took a Fairy's intuition to see that he had no intention of telling her everything. How to put it? He had done it, but seemed reluctant to explain the details. The Fairy Company Commander studied Encrid's blue eyes, then nodded.

"Understood."

"Is that what you came to ask?"

"Yes. And to see you."

She held back her next words for a moment, took a breath, then spoke.

"It seems fate keeps bringing us together." With that, the Company Commander turned away. Those words left plenty of room for misunderstanding. As Encrid froze in bewilderment, Rem poked him in the side.

"What's your secret?"

"What?"

"Tell me how you charmed a Fairy. I'm all ears."

"Impressive."

Ragna added his own comment.

"I don't think that's what this is." Even Big-eyes acknowledged Encrid's good looks. Without making any special effort with his appearance, he sometimes attracted women when he was in town. Naturally, he was no virgin. Nor was he naive or oblivious enough to misread the signals between a man and a woman. So that exchange had definitely not been anything of the sort. There had been no signals. If anything, it had only left him uneasy. Besides, she was his immediate superior's superior. "You wouldn't have had time to meet in private. Ah, I've got it. Was it then? When you were in the Medical Barracks? That's the only time it could've been!"

"I said no, you lunatic." Rem went on about the same subject for another four hours. Ragna left for a nap midway through. Jaxon came in later and nodded without any particular meaning, which at least made Encrid feel a little better. Big-eyes arrived later still, about to launch into something, but Rem's words brought him right up to Encrid's side.

"See? I keep telling you, stop rolling around on battlefields and open a ladies' salon with me."

"No, you lunatic." Big-eyes said his dream was to amass a pile of Krona and open his own establishment. A ladies' salon, specifically—a place where pretty men entertained noblewomen. He would sell drinks and food there, too. With its purpose so clear, he claimed, customers would flock to it even if he charged several times the usual prices for both. He had asked Encrid to join him. He had nearly taken a beating after making the same offer to Rem and seldom brought it up afterward. This was its first appearance in a while.

"Don't ask me. I'll split it with my axe. Your head."

Rem spoke from behind him with a pleasant smile.

"I-I won't."

Big-eyes sounded half dead.

"Only acts like a barbarian at times like this."

He grumbled quietly. He did not seem to have the courage to say it aloud. No, this was already remarkably brave. There was no way Rem had failed to hear that mutter. Just as Rem was about to glare at him, Big-eyes clapped his hands.

"Oh, right! I rushed over to tell you something, but all this talk about the Squad Leader nearly made me forget." Forget, indeed. He was simply blurting it out before Rem could retort. Encrid knowingly played along. Anything would be more worthwhile than another word about his supposed love story with the Company Commander. "They say someone's coming."

"Who?"

"Actually, they say they've already arrived."

Big-eyes whispered. His expression was so serious that Encrid instinctively leaned toward him.

"A squire from the knight order."

"... The Scarlet Cloak Knight Order?"

Encrid asked.

"Yes." The division Encrid and the others currently served in was called Cyprus. That was also the name of a knight belonging to the Scarlet Cloak Knight Order. Armies were generally named for knights, who in turn belonged to knight orders. Of course, few people deserved to be called knights. Their talents were rare even across the whole continent. That was why the kingdom's knight orders did not consist of knights alone. There were also those with the potential to become knights: squires, or apprentice knights, who accompanied knights as both attendants and pupils. Once their apprenticeship ended and a knight acknowledged them, they became proto knights. That was how they entered military service with a knight order. Squires normally did not take to the battlefield apart from their knights. For one to have come here now meant...

'Someone who's about to become a proto knight.' What was a knight? As one Bard had put it:

["It is a very, very grave mistake to think of knights as being the same as ordinary people. Yes, indeed. They have surpassed human limits, stepped outside a certain boundary. How else could they stand against the likes of Frogs?"] Knights were said to be beings who had surpassed human limits. What, then, was a proto knight? Someone who was not yet a knight, but had the potential to become one. Proto knights were experts in battle and combat. If knights had overcome human limits, proto knights stood at those limits. A squire who would soon become a proto knight and serve with a knight order. Encrid wanted to see this person. He wanted to know how skilled they were. The knighthood he aspired to was not merely an honorary position. In this age, knights were symbols of martial might. And a part of that symbol had come here. "You look like you're dying to see them," Rem said, looking at Encrid.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"I hear they're already ready to march," Big-eyes said.

"Did they come alone?"

Rem folded his arms as he asked. Big-eyes nodded.

"Yes. Apparently, they said one person was enough." That explained to Encrid why their army had not withdrawn.

'While Aspen was preparing a spell...'

Their side had made martial might its trump card. Both Naurilia and Aspen had introduced a new element into a region that saw the same tedious border skirmishes every year.

'Are they planning to swallow up part of the plains with this?' If the spell had worked as intended, a proto knight or anyone else would have arrived to find nothing left to do. But that was no longer the case. The spell had been stopped, and their army had seized victory instead. Had the squire arrived a day or two earlier, they would have pressed the advantage at once.

'A little late, though.'

By now, the enemy would have finished regrouping too. "Prepare to march! The entire army moves out now!"

The shout from outside broke Encrid's train of thought. It was the Platoon Commander's voice. A moment later, he abruptly poked his head into the tent.

"Hey, did you hear? Oh, I suppose you did."

He answered his own question when he spotted Krais.

"Everyone's moving out. We're taking this chance to push our positions on the Green Pearl plains way up ahead." "Should you be announcing our plans so openly?" Encrid asked him.

"There's nothing to hide. We're leaving right now, remember? Are you going too?"

"I'd like to watch."

Encrid hauled his aching body upright. His wounds had not fully healed. Ordinarily, he should have stayed off the battlefield, but...

"I'll stay beside him."

Krais raised a hand. He was always good at keeping himself alive in the rear. Encrid could simply stay next to him. The Platoon Commander did not cherish Encrid like family. Encrid was also old enough to make dealing with him awkward at times. As leader of the troublemaker squad, he had often clashed with the Platoon Commander, too. Even so, the thought of Encrid dying troubled him. Here was a hard worker who swung his sword every day and never let a moment slip idly by, sometimes earning the scorn of those around him for it. Seeing someone like that become a corpse would leave a bitter feeling.

"Make sure you keep yourself safe."

With that, the Platoon Commander left. "If you want to watch, let's go watch."

Rem nodded. Ragna began gathering his things for battle. Jaxon buckled on his sword and picked up several throwing knives, equipment he rarely bothered to bring.

"I'll stay beside you," he said.

"Beside me?"

Rem cracked a joke. Jaxon shook his head.

"You stink so much it's hard enough sharing a tent with you." Rem excelled at needling people, but Jaxon was just as good at infuriating them with a single remark.

"Squad Leader, I think I'd rather split that bastard's head before I go after Aspen. What do you think?"

"Put up with it. Let's just go watch. Aren't you curious how well a squire can fight?"

"Damn well, I'd imagine."

Rem answered and collected his axe. As Encrid limped into formation to march out, Vengeance approached.

"Are you that desperate to die?" After the battle, Encrid had sent his thanks, and Vengeance had come grumbling to his tent. Then he had cheerfully gone on by himself about how his debt was paid, it was all settled, and he could finally rest easy. When Encrid asked what debt he meant, he said:

["The fire in the Medical Barracks. Forgotten already?"]

["Of course not. How could I forget?"] He had forgotten. It was a side effect of repeating today so many times. Still, it was not something he could forget completely. Krang, the assassin, and the fire. Encrid had started that fire himself. Vengeance thought Encrid had saved him from burning to death, but in fact, he had saved him from an assassin.

'I did save him, either way.'

A debt was a debt. If thinking of it that way made the man feel better, so be it. Hadn't that been what made him rush over to save Encrid? Looking at Vengeance, who was glaring at him on the battlefield as if to demand why he was there, Encrid spoke.

"Who would want to die?"

"Then why come out here?"

"I wanted to watch."

"Watch what?"

"I heard a squire arrived."

"Ah. Hey, don't get carried away. I won't save you twice."

With that, Vengeance returned to his own formation. "Why's that bastard suddenly acting friendly? Wasn't he always picking fights with you?" Rem asked beside him.

There had been a time like that. Vengeance had truly hated Encrid. How long ago had that been?

"He's a Platoon Commander, not 'that bastard.' Once I got to know him, he turned out to be a decent man."

"Don't go soft on people. By the time they stab you in the back and leave you whimpering, it'll be too late."

"Worry about yourself." The troops formed up and moved out in no time. Their ranks were anything but neat. They began marching in a broad, fanned-out formation. Someone stood alone at the head of the march. A scarlet cloak fluttered in the wind. The figure at the front trudged along, wrapped in that cloak. Nothing about the sight hinted at what made a squire or proto knight so extraordinary. "Hmm. From that walk, I'd say they can fight a bit."

Rem spoke beside him, frowning with his arms crossed.

"More than a bit. That's a solid bearing. Unless the other side has that Frog or something, this will be a boring fight," Ragna added. Jaxon also looked ahead. His eyes seemed to scan the scarlet-cloaked figure's back. Big-eyes, standing beside Encrid, had something else to say.

"Let's move to the rear now. We need to go now, or we'll get swept up in it."

He had been gauging the right moment to fall back. At that very moment, the scarlet cloak fluttered, streaming backward on the wind as its wearer broke into a sprint. Encrid had to blink to make sure he was seeing correctly. The person running ahead left afterimages in their wake. Just how fast did a person have to run for that to happen? "Looks like they've put determination into their legs," Ragna murmured at the sight.

Encrid did not understand what he meant, but had no desire to ask right now. It was time to shut out the voices and concentrate. Startled by the cloaked figure's charge, the enemy loosed arrows. They apparently had not deployed crossbowmen separately as before; a mass of arrows came flying overhead. At least a hundred archers seemed to have drawn and released their bowstrings. Arrows rained down over the cloaked knight. Rather than raising and swinging a sword, the squire accelerated. BOOM! Earth and dirt erupted like a fountain. In an instant, the cloaked figure was within striking distance of the enemy. Simply by running, the squire had escaped the area where the arrows would land. Those movements were unmistakably beyond human limits.