Chapter 56

Chapter 56 - House of Knights (2)

The meal provided by the House of Knights was close to military rations. It wasn't as splendid as a noble family's treatment, but it was exceptionally excellent for health.

The operators including Largo, instructors, and clerks attended the gathering.

"To be conferred a territory at that young age. You are amazing, Sir."

"Because he is a knight who slashed Sir Geist in a single stroke, it is natural."

'I didn't slash him with a sword, I beat him to death with a shield, though.'

Like rumors passed from mouth to mouth, there were various distortions. However, it is also true that killing with a sword looks cool in an epic. Eugene just smiled appropriately and accepted it.

"Sir. Having handled him, you would know, but Hind is a useful swordsman. If it is okay with you, do you have any thoughts of taking him along on your future journey as an apprentice knight?"

"...!"

At Largo's proposal, Eugene tightly clenched his fist under the table. Although he didn't show it, it was because it was something he had been continuously expecting in his heart.

A squire is an existence that shares fate and inherits everything by a knight's side. A community of destiny stickier than even a vassal contract.

On the other hand, an apprentice knight is a relationship with a weaker connection ring than that. It can be seen as a mercenary contract between a highly reputed knight and a fledgling knight.

The difference from a mercenary is the part where one only needs to provide food, clothing, shelter, equipment, and dignity maintenance expenses. An apprentice knight receives combat experience, teachings, and connections from the knight they follow as compensation.

Even though money worth several mercenaries goes out just for that, from Eugene's standpoint, it is a greatly welcomed proposal.

"As for me, I am happy. Where else would I seek such a knight? However, cadet Hind might have other plans."

"For Hind, becoming the best here. He has devoted himself solely for that one thing. As for what he will do starting tomorrow, he is in a state without a plan."

"Is there not also the option of returning to his family? He seemed to come from a fairly precious household, though."

Whether by appearance or tone, he is absolutely not a type who grew up roughly. He seemed to have spent his childhood being treasured in a wealthy family.

"Hind's father is a self-made man who became a merchant in a free city. He took in a wife from a fallen noble family and saw that lad."

"Ah!"

With just that explanation, Eugene could roughly guess the story.

Those who squeezed into noble society from commoner origins harbor an inextinguishable jealousy inside. Towards the true nobles born with noble blood from the start, that is.

That tenacity concentrating on their children is an inevitable occurrence. It is not rare for children of successful merchant families to receive knight education.

"Hind's father will not be satisfied with just receiving knighthood. However, if it's by the side of an outstanding knight who received a territory from Count Morad, the story is different."

Anew, Eugene realized that he had become a position someone might line up for. Even though it is a weak line at the bottom seat of noble lords yet.

"Have you spoken with Hind himself?"

"The lad was also worrying about his future plans. If I recommend it and you accept it, Sir, it will be fulfilled just like that."

At this point, Largo stepped back. Because it was obvious that the instructors present together were itching to ask this and that.

As if a riverbank had burst, they poured a barrage of questions, and it wasn't about Eugene's martial prowess or duels.

They were immensely curious about how Godfrey had trained him. Because as educators raising pre-knights, it was a topic they absolutely could not help but ask.

As the lively mealtime ended and night fell, Eugene was assigned a private room.

"It's the first time I'm seeing a lunar eclipse directly."

The sight of the moon that was always floating in the sky completely hiding its traces does not look good at all.

Even if they aren't necessarily magicians, perhaps everyone is staying indoors, there is completely no movement in the village either. Not even the vigilante corps patrolling holding torches could be seen.

* * *

Is it because of the lunar eclipse where all mysteries of the world become unstable? That night, Eugene had a peculiar dream.

A naked Eugene is standing alone in a massive stone building. It's a place without even a single candle, let alone a fireplace, but although he was stripped, it wasn't cold.

Splash, splash.

Because both the stone floor his feet touched and the castle walls he felt around because it was dark were warm. As if hot water, no, blood circulated inside the stone walls.

Wandering hither and thither, Eugene arrived in front of an extremely large door. When he gave strength and pushed, it opened soundlessly.

Inside, an expansive space spread out, and at the end of it, there is a throne receiving faint light alone.

[Come to me. Come to me quickly.]

For some reason, the throne was conveying a thirst for Eugene.

One step.

Two steps.

Three steps.

Eugene, who walked as if bewitched, finally reached the front of the throne. He turned around and sat down slowly.

Rumble.

Then, the entire stone building vibrated.

The throne, the floor, the walls, and the ceiling too. As if all the elements composing this place were trembling in joy.

It's the same trembling one feels when hugging a person who was sobbing in loneliness. Eugene also softly stroked the armrests.

Everything was good, but the part where nothing could be seen because it was pitch black was regrettable. If it's like this, what meaning is there even if one sits on a majestic throne?

"It's too dark."

Flash.

As a single word casually fell from Eugene, the building brightened as if responding. Glass tubes in various places, not candles, emitted magic light and drove away the darkness from the expansive hall.

"...!"

In the place he thought was completely empty, traces of death were rolling around in all directions.

Whenever he looked, skeletons entered his eyes. Skeletons draped in splendid armor, antique clerk attire, and clothes of maids and servants were collapsed everywhere.

The surprised Eugene reflexively tried to stand up from the seat but failed.

[Do not leave. Be together with me.]

Along with an intent that seemed to ring throughout the entire castle, chains that surged from around the throne bound Eugene.

Crrraaack!

Even in a dream, Eugene's strength was alive and well. When he shook off his arms, they shattered instantly. However, chains twice or thrice as many immediately entangled him.

An unpleasant pressure as if having sleep paralysis! It was a sensation as if the coldness of the chilly chains was digging into even his soul.

At that moment, leaves and petals poured down from the ceiling. The chains that touched them crumbled in droves.

Through that, a radiantly shining woman descends. A beautiful naked elf embraced Eugene. Warmth and gentleness enveloped his whole body as if protecting him.

At the same time, Eugene realized he was starting to wake up from sleep.

A feeling as if his consciousness was being sucked somewhere. He felt as if lamps were turning on click! click! in order from deep inside his brain.

* * *

Eugene's eyes opened.

Having raised his upper body from the bed, he is being embraced in Valda's bosom. He feels a white nightgown and soft touch filling his face.

"Are you conscious? You were suffering immensely."

"Lady Valda? Just what on earth is this..."

"The aura of mystery was fluctuating from the side room where you were sleeping. Furthermore, moans seemingly in pain could also be heard. Still, if I didn't open my eyes, I'd be disqualified as a magician and disqualified as an elf, wouldn't I."

Twitch twitch.

Valda's long ears moved. Fitting an elf, she is a woman whose ears are as sharp in sleep as Homi.

"Thank you for worrying. But it is just a nightmare."

"Shh."

Eugene felt Valda sweeping his back. Her body scent was identical to the one he smelled in the dream.

"It's not something to be dismissed merely as a nightmare. Because a dream of one who understands magic is not simple memory replay. Do you perhaps remember the contents of the dream?"

"Although parts of it are blurry. It is a spectacle I experienced for the first time in my life."

Eugene explained what he saw in the dream. Wandering around a dark and wide stone building and almost getting bound after sitting on a throne. The pressure and coldness the chains gave are vivid.

"What are you checking?"

Valda lifted Eugene's nightshirt top and checked his chest, back, and arms.

"Because you said it was immensely cold. Even by any chance, frostbite or other wounds might have occurred."

"It's merely just a dream."

"If it is something a magician dreamt during a lunar eclipse, it cannot be ignored. It could be a prophetic dream, or it could be that your mind temporarily visited another world. There is a possibility that the influence received there remains on the physical body."

Valda, having finished checking here and there, let out a sigh of relief.

"Fortunately, there are no abnormalities on your body."

"When I thought I would be tightly coiled by chains and locked away, Lady Valda came down and saved me. It was an appearance like an angel."

Valda smiled shyly.

"My will to pull you out of the nightmare must have taken shape like that."

It is a common occurrence for the feelings a physical body experiences in reality to appear during sleep. Like the content of a dream changing to a topic about fire or boiling water because one gets hot while sleeping.

"I am curious where the place you saw in your dream is."

"It was a strict space incomparable to any building I have seen."

Because it was too dark and a fragmentary spectacle, it was difficult to be certain of what it was. Perhaps for Eugene's stability, Valda also asked no more.

"If I fall asleep like this, will I dream again?"

Although Eugene has nothing to fear in the world, being thrown into a nightmare in a defenseless state is not a pleasant sensation.

"It will be fine."

The yellow moon floating beyond the window is escaping the veil of shadow and revealing its appearance again.

"The lunar eclipse has ended and the world's magic has stabilized again. Even if you fall asleep now, you will not fall into a nightmare."

Eugene, who stepped back in relief, could finally see Valda's condition. Slumped in a sitting M-shape, she was barefoot.

Perhaps she came running so urgently that she couldn't even put on shoes. Her delicate soles are blackened and covered in dust.

Seeing that appearance, Eugene felt a heaviness surpassing gratitude constricting his heart.

"Did you perhaps injure your feet?"

As Eugene tried to touch them, Valda hastily knelt and hid her soles behind her.

"They are perfectly fine without a single scratch, so there is no need to worry."

"... I was too insensitive."

Come to think of it, it was a matter that could be sufficiently embarrassing for a noble young lady.

Click.

The door opened and Homi entered with a face full of worry. She is holding a towel and a basin containing water.

"There are no abnormalities, so do not make such a face. I only tossed and turned for a moment."

The relieved Homi placed the towel and basin in front of Eugene.

Splash, splash.

She sincerely wipes Eugene's body halfway out of his top. As his sticky neck and back are washed by the cool towel, he feels the remnants of the nightmare also disappearing.

"You worked hard."

He stroked Homi's hair, which always felt good whenever he touched it.

After talking a bit more and sending the two ladies out, he looks up at the moon outside the window.

'Is this kind of thing also a process of becoming a magician?'

The moon he usually considered as nothing much felt immensely precious today, like a guardian.

A moment later, Eugene lay on the bed. As his consciousness sank, this time he could take a deep sleep like usual without dreaming of anything.

* * *

The next day. Largo stood holding a sword in front of the kneeling Hind. Around the two people, all the instructors, clerks, and seniors were seated.

"As of today, I declare that you escape the status of a trainee."

Largo's sword tapped Hind's left shoulder.

"The severe training in this place has ended. From now on, true ordeals shall line up before you. That is an eternal caution against compromise and comfort."

Largo's sword tapped Hind's right shoulder.

"When fighting, always observe your surroundings. A knight's sword is to protect honor and the weak. If you focus only on killing the enemy before your eyes, at some moment you shall stray far from the path of a knight."

Largo's sword moved away.

"Rise! Rise! Knight of the Boundary, Hind!"

All the instructors clapped and blessed the birth of a new knight. Eugene, who was specially permitted to observe despite being an outsider, also clapped his hands.

'This kind of thing is a knighting ceremony. It would have been nice if Master Godfrey had done something at least similar to that.'

An event that happens just once in a lifetime. Even for Eugene, who is nonchalant about such things, as his life as a knight thickens, it can't be helped that regrets swell up.

- Just be a knight from now on.

Doesn't it compare too much with him, whose ceremony ended with hearing just that one measly remark?

A boy around 10 years old approached holding a wooden box. Inside it contained a patch proving graduation as a Knight of the Boundary. It's a form that can be attached anywhere such as armor, shield, surcoat, cloak, helmet, etc.

Largo personally attached it to Hind's chest.

"..."

Eugene had seen several knights until now.

However, it was the first time he saw a scene where a man kneeling as a trainee stood up as a knight.

The time of perseverance accumulated while sweating dozens of times one's own body weight. The master and seniors blessing it while accompanying it with advice and affection.

'The knights I slashed must have also been completed going through their respective long and precious processes, right.'

On one hand, he also felt a sad feeling. Because the existence called a knight felt too ephemeral.

* * *

A new party member was added to Eugene's party leaving behind the receding House of Knights.

"I look forward to working with you from now on."

"I am the one who looks forward to working with you. Sir Eugene."

Hind, wearing high-quality chainmail and a sword, overflowed with knightly dignity.

Senior knights who left the cradle and succeeded. Cities or lords indebted to the House of Knights in situations requiring martial prowess.

The sponsorships these parties send allowed the provision of equipment and warhorses to departing knights.

It is something that can be called a medieval version of school and regional ties, and a unique culture of Roman. Although in Hind's case, his wealthy merchant father's donation must have also played a role.

The feeling given by a following knight is of a different kind from the sense of relief a loyal Homi or a respected Valda gives.

Only a fellow knight. And a feeling of reassurance that only a knight who offered the acknowledgment of his heart could give.

'Even when the internship ends, I will keep you by my side and work you hard for the rest of your life.'

As the journey lengthens, it seems the only thing increasing is greed for talented personnel.