Chapter 18

18. Kneel

More than half of the royal guard members were from the Crusade, and they also guarded Helene's palace.

Unlike me, who had no contact with them, they were very close to Helene.

'Still, I didn't expect them to act like this during such a big event like the summit. Disappointing.'

But this was also proof of how well Helene had treated them.

Despite being from Quid, she had captured the hearts of the royal guard knights.

In Nix, a country of severe discrimination, it was unbelievably amazing for a Quid native to receive the support of the knights. So, in fact, I was willing to applaud her.

If they weren't hostile to me, that is.

'In that case, I have no choice but to utilize the imperial knights, even if they are unreliable.'

But there was one big problem with that.

That was, the imperial knights were a collection of good-for-nothings.

I heard that Valkyrie used to be quite famous in the past.

While the royal guard protected the Emperor and the Crusade protected outside the capital, Valkyrie was loyal to all the imperial family and protected the capital itself.

Since the scope of their duties was different, there was no conflict, and they respected each other's activities.

The problem started when the current Emperor became a member of the Crusade.

'During the last succession dispute, the Crusade was wholeheartedly on Enrique's side, and Valkyrie sided with the first prince, the eldest son and Enrique's rival.'

It was only natural that the Crusade's honor became higher than other knight orders when Enrique became Emperor.

With his enthronement, the Emperor's closest aides, who belonged to the Crusade, transferred to the royal guard en masse, so the royal guard's honor also increased.

There were also changes in Valkyrie.

In a bad way.

'The existing captain of the royal guard was executed along with the first prince under various pretexts, and the vice-captain was dismissed and returned to his hometown...'

Therefore, a split occurred within Valkyrie.

Knights from prestigious families requested a change of position to the royal guard, and the request was accepted under the pretext that additional personnel were needed to guard the palace where the Saintess was staying.

'In other words, all that's left in Valkyrie are commoners or nobles who have no money or power at home. Of course, they have no holy power either.'

As a result, there is even talk of 'the tax-eating Valkyrie should be abolished.'

'At first, they probably lived like they were dead to survive the Emperor's checks. But as that passed day after day, it probably became chronic alcoholism.'

It's understandable that they fell apart because they thought there was no hope... but still, isn't this a bit much?

Valkyrie's exclusive training ground.

As it was broad daylight, there were no knights to be seen who should have been diligently engaged in training.

Instead, the smell of alcohol stung my sensitive sense of smell.

I covered my nose with my sleeve and slowly looked around.

"The level is terrible."

Derek made a groaning sound at my words.

As he was also a knight, he wouldn't be happy to see the knight order in this state.

I frowned my beautiful forehead and muttered quietly.

"This is troublesome..."

Because of my soul's constitution, I can't call the Crusade anyway. Just thinking about being surrounded by Crusade throughout the banquet made me choke.

I have to stay close to Enrique, but I'll be lucky if I don't faint.

If I lose consciousness, Helene will gladly steal the rest of the banquet.

'I can't stand that.'

The royal guard acted lukewarm, so I don't want to use them.

And bringing Ahillo family's private soldiers is absolutely not allowed.

There was a risk of being framed for planning a future rebellion.

'In other words, I have no choice but to suck up these drunken bastards.'

I'm glad I prepared to wash these guys just in case.

"Derek. Bring the captain of Valkyrie."

"Being alone is..."

"I said bring him. If he's not there, bring the vice-captain in front of me. And give that to me."

When I held out my hand, Derek handed 'that' to me with a dubious expression.

'Ah, this feeling. It's been a while.'

That was none other than a wooden sword.

It was also a slender wooden sword made in the same shape as Lair Spear.

It was made of Karum wood, which has good elasticity and is light enough to float on water, so it was only slightly heavier than a silver knife.

'Usually, wooden swords are made to match the weight of real swords, but I can't wield something like that.'

I stroked the smooth blade and plunged the tip of the sword into the floor. Then I stood tall and stared ahead.

Flap!

Not long after Derek left to carry out the order, a loud noise was heard from somewhere in the knight's quarters connected to the training ground. Startled by the sound, the birds flapped their wings and flew up all at once.

'Ah, the weather is nice.'

I watched the scene and looked up at the sky.

'To be able to feel the warm sunshine all over my body.'

For this alone, I was willing to express my deep gratitude to that boy.

If that child hadn't filled his lifespan to the brim, I wouldn't have been able to stand outside like this.

I enjoyed the sunlight touching my skin for the first time in a long time.

"Haaam, I was sleeping well, what's going on... is... huh?"

"Is that Empress...? Am I still drunk?"

"Haaam, the Empress appeared in my dream, I should buy a lottery ticket... huh?"

It was then.

A group of knights walked slowly out of the corridor connecting the quarters and the training ground and made eye contact with me.

Unwashed hair, crumpled clothes, untied shoelaces.

It was a pathetic sight. No matter how you looked at it, they couldn't be called knights who valued honor.

I'd rather call them three stubborn horses.

I tilted my chin at them.

Even if they were reckless, they couldn't ignore the Empress's call, so the knights crept closer.

I stared at them intently and then stretched out my index finger. Then, I immediately drew it down and ordered.

"Kneel."

Thud!

Whether it was because they were still reeking of alcohol, the knights who had rushed to me at my command knelt on the floor without complaint.

It seemed there was still room for redemption.

'Huh? What is this familiar feeling?'

'Why am I being disciplined...? Is this a dream?'

'No, more than that... the Empress is disciplining us???'

But the three knights weren't really in their right minds. They just reacted too naturally.

They were just drunks now, but in the past, they had passed difficult entrance exams and entered Valkyrie.

The harsh training they had to endure for a long time was still in their bodies.

In other words, a reaction first, then thought.

They looked at each other with bewildered expressions.

'Hey, but that thing the Empress is leaning on right now. Isn't that a cane?'

'Does it look like a cane to you? It's a wooden sword.'

'So why is the Empress holding a wooden sword?'

Their names were Chedep, Giovanni, and Schopen, in that order.

All three were commoners and the same age, 27 years old.

Even their heights were similar, and they were all slender.

Now, all three of them had started to develop beer bellies. That should be different.

Anyway, they were so close because they had so much in common, so they could communicate with their eyes.

'But the Empress seems to have some experience giving discipline?'

'Yeah, yeah. I thought so too. Didn't she skip the word "head" when she told us to kneel just now?'

'Shut up, both of you.'

Still, Schopen was the best at understanding the situation among the three. Chedep and Giovanni were too emotional and had silly personalities, so they didn't fully recognize the seriousness of the current situation.

'The Empress, who was sick and reclusive, came to visit. Why?'

His head was pounding with blood, but Schopen continued to think hard.

'It's probably because of the upcoming imperial summit banquet. But if that's the case, they would have contacted the royal guard first... Ah! They were rejected!'

He felt like he was going to throw up because of his hangover. Still, Schopen was getting closer to the answer.

In the meantime, four or five knights who had been wandering out were caught and knelt with their heads on the floor. It was a friendly sight.

'She couldn't call in the Crusade to order protection because she's not on good terms with the Emperor, and we were the only ones left. It's just a simple process of elimination.'

She probably heard that when she looked to see if we were useful, we were laughing and drinking and passed out. So she came out herself.

With a club... no, a wooden sword!

'Chedep has good endurance, so I should let Chedep get hit first. Then she'll get tired and stop hitting us.'

Even in this situation, Schopen was calculating his own gains.

"Empress. Why... hic! Did you come?"

At that time, the captain of Valkyrie, still drunk, was dragged out by Derek Noert by the scruff of his neck.

Behind him, the knights who hadn't fully woken up were waddling out like a flock of ducklings.

Schopen and the knights who had come earlier and were kneeling with their heads on the floor all had the same thought at the same time.

'Ah, we're dead meat now.'

Not that their heads would actually be cut off, but that they would be kicked out of the imperial knights hand in hand.

It was already a known fact that the ministers were arguing almost every day that Valkyrie should be disbanded and a new knight order should be created.

It was a sad thing, but it was a foregone conclusion.

They were just not touching it because they had an important diplomatic matter with the desert empire ahead of them, but Valkyrie would probably disappear into the annals of history after this summit.

'I'll get scolded by the Empress before we disappear. A very rare experience.'

Schopen chuckled.

He secretly had a lingering attachment to the idea that Valkyrie might be able to revive someday.

The other knights were the same.

That's why they stubbornly stayed here without even being able to train properly.

It wasn't that they didn't do it, but that they couldn't.

That was the important part.

At first, they tried to continue training even after the captain was executed and the vice-captain was kicked out.

But seeing the Emperor's faction nobles going wild, saying that they were plotting treason just because they came out to the training ground, they couldn't bring themselves to do it.

They couldn't be executed.

"Hehe..."

Schopen forced a smile and lowered his head.

Misery clawed at his heart.

But about 10 seconds later, the smile disappeared.

"Huh?"

"Oh dear, it seems like everyone's ears are blocked."

The Empress clicked her tongue softly.

Then she said something unbelievable again.

"I will be training with you from tomorrow, so gather here at six in the morning. If you become proper knights, then I will call you 'Sir'."