Chapter 44
44
Nina was loudly pointing out Raja's movements.
"You're getting excited and swinging too wide. Even if training just ended, if your lower body is weak, your sword won't come out right. Wrist, wrist. It's empty."
After being thoroughly beaten, Raja finally stretched out, and Nina poked him a few times with the Training sword.
"Not dead, right? Alive? You're okay."
Raja only groaned.
Seeing Nina like that, Sharlo also poked Raja with her sword. Raja tried to wave her off, saying, "Ugh, seriously!" but he didn't have the strength, and his hand fell limply.
Kell glanced at Sharlo doing that and tilted his head.
'Is Raja's type comfortable for her?'
Nina looked back and forth between Sharlo and Kell.
"Next?"
Sharlo's eyes sparkled, then she became dejected and said,
"There's still a little more left."
"Okay."
Kell raised his hand.
"I'm done, Captain."
"Good, come on."
Kell felt a chill again as he looked at the Captain, who was giving him a refreshing smile, but he gripped his Training sword with both hands.
Soon, Kell was also stuck to the floor like a jellyfish washed ashore. Then Sharlo rushed in, but she was the same.
Nina couldn't help but laugh when she saw the three of them. All three had similar hair tones.
Light purple (Raja), light pink (Kell), and beige (Sharlo).
These three were the most outstanding of all the new members, and they were also the most diligent. Nina turned her gaze to the remaining members.
"Everyone needs to finish training quickly, right? If you don't finish, I'll rework your individual training."
At Nina's words, everyone was horrified and sped up their training, and Nina walked among them, correcting their incorrect postures.
By the time Jin changed into his training clothes and came out with a refreshed face, everyone had collapsed from exhaustion.
Nina tapped her shoulder with her sword and smiled at Jin.
"Then let's give the Vice-Captain some special tutoring."
This time, Nina held a Buckler, so everyone dragged their bodies to get up and watch their training.
Raja watched their exchange and said quietly,
"That's the person who's teaching us."
Kell glanced at Raja and saw the admiration in his eyes. Kell smiled.
"Right. Unless you're an Order Knight, it's hard to be taught by someone."
Wasn't he the same?
It was the first time he had been taught so thoroughly by someone of that skill level.
The Knights only recruit talent that can be used immediately, unless they are Order Knights.
Even if the opportunity to learn arises, it was rare to learn directly from the Captain. Most of the time, they learned by watching over the shoulders of knights who had been following an Order Knight for years.
They could pay for a Swordsmanship teacher, but he never thought he would be learning like this at his age.
Sharlo muttered softly.
"Dazzling..."
Kell looked at her as if to say, 'Huh, what did you say?' but Sharlo didn't seem to notice his gaze.
Her cheeks were flushed with excitement, and her eyes were sparkling as she fixed her gaze on the Captain.
'Wow...'
These two seem to be completely smitten with the Captain.
Kell shifted his gaze to the Captain and Vice-Captain.
The Captain nimbly dodged the sword swung by the bear-like Vice-Captain, or deflected it by twisting the Buckler, like a weightless person.
'Is she human?'
People are bound to be afraid of getting hurt.
If they feel like they're about to be cut or stabbed by a sword, they'll unconsciously flinch and take a step back.
But the Captain seemed to be someone without that fear.
She was dodging the sword by a truly thin margin.
Skill is one thing, but it's impossible without considerable courage.
In the end, the training ended with the Captain's victory.
Only after letting out a long breath did Kell realize that he had been clenching his fist tightly. His hand was trembling.
He clenched his fist and sighed.
It seems he's in no position to say anything about how Raja and Sharlo are too devoted to the Captain.
"You three over there, still have energy left?"
At Nina's words, who had approached unnoticed, Kell tried to jump up from his seat, but his knees gave way and he staggered. Nina grabbed his arm.
Kell felt a strange flutter in his heart at that unwavering firmness and stood up straight.
"I'm sorry."
"No, it's okay."
Kell gave an awkward smile, feeling Sharlo's sharp gaze. Sharlo and Raja also quickly got up from their seats.
"Any of you three ever done guard duty?"
At Nina's question, the three looked at each other. Kell carefully raised his hand.
"Are you talking about a royal guard?"
"Yeah."
At Nina's question, Kell hesitated for a moment and said,
"May I have permission to speak?"
"Go ahead."
"I don't think there's anyone among us who is at the level of a royal guard."
Guard.
So, a royal guard is a close aide.
It's not for nothing that people praise the royal guard of the royal family as the 'Royal Guard'. As there are people who believe that loyalty comes from blood, to become a Royal Guard, one must have both a high family background and outstanding skills.
However, this statement was cautious because it could hurt the pride of the Duke's family and the Captain of the Jet-Black Knights.
As soon as he finished speaking, Raja's face hardened, and Sharlo lowered her gaze slightly.
But Nina replied nonchalantly, "Ah, really?" and Kell blinked without realizing it.
Nina smiled at that expression.
"What. Did you think I wouldn't be able to tell the difference?"
"No, it's not that."
Nina gestured for him to say more, but Kell couldn't say anything more and closed his mouth.
She chuckled and said,
"Then I guess I have no choice but to train you. Can you three handle more individual training?"
At Nina's words, Sharlo raised her head like a foal seeing a carrot dangling in front of her.
"Of course!"
"It's possible."
"It's an honor."
Of course, the last statement was Raja's.
Nina nodded and said, "I'll contact you separately later," and turned around.
Seeing her approach the Vice-Captain and say something, causing the Vice-Captain to get up in annoyance, Sharlo muttered again.
"Envy."
Kell suppressed the question, 'Which one?' that was about to come out reflexively.
He rubbed his sweaty and sticky forehead and his pink bangs, which were covered in salt crystals, with his fingertips and said,
"I'm going to go wash up."
He added,
"I don't want to be covered in sweat when the Captain calls."
At those words, Sharlo and Raja quickly followed him.
Kell chuckled inwardly.
I think I know how to handle them.
\ \ \
Nina took a refreshing shower, changed into clean clothes, and then devoted herself to her work.
Buttons were luxury items that were made one by one by hand, so most people here wore blouses woven as a whole, and pants or skirts as bottoms. Those who were better off wore a short tunic over them.
Nina's outfit was the same. She just wore a tunic made of expensive fabric.
Buttons were all the rage in the capital. So, decorative buttons and jackets, coats, and vests that could be buttoned were popular.
Of course, they would just attach a lot of gold and silver buttons to their tunics.
So, in a word, uniforms are expensive.
'But you absolutely can't skimp on money.'
Black from top to bottom. It's not enough to match a hat to this now...
Nina blinked.
'Come to think of it, uniforms in this world don't have hats yet. Let's add hats to our dress uniforms.'
So that everyone will gasp and look at the Jet-Black Knights with eyes of admiration, and be desperate to copy our outfits.
You can't ignore the reputation you get from appearance.
Nina was thinking for a moment when she looked up at the knock.
"Come in."
Unexpectedly, it was Kirill. Since he was someone who hardly ever came out of the lab, Nina got up from her seat.
"Kirill? What's wrong? Did some kind of explosion happen in the lab?"
"Do you think I cause explosions all the time?"
"Well, or did you fight with Randel."
Kirill snorted.
"I'm past the age of fighting with him."
As Kirill waved his hand, a rhombus-shaped jewel with geometric patterns appeared.
It looked like a pendulum.
Nina's eyes widened.
"This... didn't Randel have something similar back then? Like an Armillary sphere."
</glossary>
