Chapter 75
Yuriene's temporary Squire was assigned on a rotating basis by the Military Cadets, according to their ranking. It was the same method used by most Knights who didn't have a Squire.
Other Knights would sometimes call a Cadet who was a good fit, comfortable, or liked as their temporary Squire, but Yuriene never did. He treated everyone the same, and didn't care whether they were replaced or not. Until today.
Usually, a temporary Squire would visit the Knight they were assigned to early in the morning to hear about the day's schedule. Unless there were special instructions from the previous day, they were basically required to wait in front of the Knight's door around the time the Knight would wake up.
"I have been assigned to provide Squire preparatory training to Cadet Ekinesia Roaz. Therefore, starting today, Cadet Thomas, who is next in line, will be performing the duties of temporary Squire for the captain of the royal guard."
Facing Ian Pelletro as soon as he opened his eyes in the morning wasn't a pleasant feeling. And to top it off with a report like that.
Yuriene looked down at Ian Pelletro, who was smiling calmly. In his True Sight, a dark, sinister malice was clearly swirling.
Who is he going to provide preparatory training to?
He knew Ian's tendencies quite well. He probably wanted to strangle Ekinesia Roaz, who was appointed as Squire on the first day of admission, out of jealousy.
He was like that even towards Baraha, so it would be even worse for her, a freshman.
'She wouldn't be harmed by someone like him, but...'
Still, he hated the very idea of letting him loiter around her. So Yuriene calmly ordered.
"Assign the Squire preparatory training to another Cadet, and you are to perform your temporary Squire duties as scheduled."
"...Excuse me?"
"Don't make me order you twice."
"Ah, I understand... Then, may I be excused for a moment? I need to find a Cadet to replace me and introduce them to Cadet Ekinesia."
"I'll give you an hour."
Yuriene glanced at the clock and said. Ian was flustered, gave a hasty salute, and ran off. He didn't intend to give him much time. Even if he had time, there was no way that guy would assign a proper Cadet to her.
A Cadet to give her Squire preparatory training. Yuriene pondered whether there was a suitable person. He hadn't paid much attention to the Military Cadets, so no Cadet came to mind.
With his eyes only on the documents, Yuriene pondered repeatedly.
"Captain of the royal guard, is it really necessary to increase the scale of the Monster subjugation like this?"
Baron entered the captain of the royal guard's office with a surprised expression, holding a stack of documents. The moment he saw him, Yuriene thought of a suitable Cadet.
"Baron, where is your Squire right now?"
"Baraha should be in morning training. Why do you ask?"
"Tell her to stop training and visit the Military Academy for a while."
"Excuse me? Why suddenly..."
"Cadet Ekinesia Roaz is starting her Squire preparatory training today, so have her go and see if it's proceeding properly. If it's not going smoothly, it might be a good idea for Baraha to take over her training altogether."
Baron's expression crumbled with bewilderment. From the Squire appointment, which was already unusual, to now interfering with the preparatory training. It wasn't even difficult, so any upperclassman among the Cadets could do it, but he was specifically ordering Baraha, a formal Squire? Is this really the captain of the royal guard I knew?
Seeing his expression, Yuriene added as if making an excuse.
"It's not an order. I'm just telling you to consider it."
"...I understand. I will relay the message to Baraha."
Baron replied sullenly and left the captain of the royal guard's office.
That evening, Yuriene received a report that Baraha Islaff would be in charge of Ekinesia Roaz's Squire training.
* * *
"Hey, I heard you assigned Baraha to your Squire?"
Dietrich smirked as he picked up a grape and threw it into his mouth. Yuriene didn't respond and just flipped through the documents.
With less than a month left until the Monster subjugation, there were many urgent matters as he tried to increase the scale of the subjugation. He was reviewing the budget for the subjugation force's supplies when he heard Dietrich muttering.
"Unexpected. Well, the Squire appointment itself was unexpected, but... Aren't you jealous?"
"Jealous?"
Yuriene raised his head. Dietrich leaned back on the sofa, turning only his neck to look back at him.
"I honestly thought you fell in love with her at first sight. Otherwise, why would you suddenly appoint her as your Squire? But seeing you assign Baraha, I guess you were purely! smitten with her talent, just like you said. Anyway, you're such a blockhead. Is there anything you're interested in besides swords?"
The excuse Yuriene gave for appointing Ekinesia Roaz as his Squire was her talent. He had recognized her talent at first sight.
Among the people who knew him, it was much more believable that he was smitten with her talent than that he had fallen in love with her at first sight, so most people easily accepted it.
Only Dietrich, who was his closest friend, had a strange feeling and suspected something. But after the Squire appointment, Yuriene's daily life remained the same. He didn't call her separately or visit her. He was too indifferent to be someone who had fallen in love.
Still, he had interfered with the preparatory training assignment, so he wondered if something was up, but he had called Baraha. Was it just an intention to assign a capable senior to a talented Squire? He wondered if his intuition was wrong.
"Is there any significance to assigning Baraha?"
Yuriene was asking with a truly clueless expression. Dietrich now had no choice but to admit that he had really purely seen her talent and made her his Squire. His intuition seemed to have been wrong after all. He muttered in vain.
"Wow, I have to explain it for you to understand. You really weren't interested. Yul, I apologize for disregarding your pure sword-loving nature."
Yuriene frowned and closed the documents. He had guided Baraha to be in charge of her training because he was a capable Squire and a good soul. He also intended to block Ian Pelletro from scheming anything regarding the training issue.
He hadn't visited her even once in the six days since he met her in front of the fountain, and it was for her sake. He couldn't bring himself to visit her because he remembered her slender shoulders trembling with fear. Since they would continue to run into each other once she became a formal Squire anyway, he just endured it even though she was right in front of him.
But now he was being asked if he wasn't jealous.
It was something he hadn't considered at all, so he had to listen to what it was all about. As he showed signs of seriously listening, Dietrich turned completely towards him.
"Well, usually you wouldn't deliberately give a woman you like the opportunity to become close with another man. Especially if that other man is a decent guy."
"So you're saying that me guiding Baraha to be in charge of her is giving her the opportunity to become close with a decent guy?"
"Yeah. It's funny that I'm even explaining this."
"...Is Baraha Islaff a decent guy?"
"He's not just decent, he's a very good guy. He's young, handsome, has a great body, is skilled in swordsmanship, and since he's a Squire, his future is practically guaranteed, and he has a good personality, right? Don't you know how popular Baraha is with women?"
Dietrich, who had even counted on his fingers, frowned and added.
"Well, you might not know. You've been popular your whole life, so it might have seemed normal to you. You lucky bastard."
"..."
That wasn't it.
To him, Baraha was just the vice-captain's Squire and a promising Cadet, regardless of gender. He wasn't even aware that the relationship between Baraha Islaff and Ekinesia Roaz was a man-woman relationship.
Man-woman relationship. The term felt very foreign.
She is an unmarried woman. She could fall in love with someone and get married.
Yuriene, who was only now realizing this, had a blank expression. Seeing that expression, Dietrich clicked his tongue.
"Anyway, judging by what you're saying, you didn't even think about keeping them apart. I guess I was wrong after all. What does a sword-loving fanatic know about love?"
Dietrich shrugged and threw the remaining grapes into his mouth in one gulp. He spoke in a muffled tone because his mouth was full of grapes.
"I wish there were no decent men near the woman I like. To be more honest, I wish there were only married men, no, I wish there were no men at all. I'd be uncomfortable even if she was too close with another woman."
"That sounds a bit, like the words of someone who's not in their right mind."
"They say that love is actually a type of mental illness."
"That's an exaggeration."
"You'll know when you experience it, you bastard. In that sense, I, a mental patient, am going to see Teresa."
Dietrich chuckled and left the captain of the royal guard's office. Yuriene sat blankly, pondering the words he had thrown at him.
'How do I... feel about her?'
She is special.
So special that no one could replace her in his heart. Someone like her doesn't exist. It's impossible for her to exist.
And he wanted to approach her. He wanted to be by her side. He wanted to support her. He wanted to have a closer relationship. An unbearable desire like that was directed towards her.
There was also guilt in what was directed towards her. A deep guilt that he couldn't confess.
There was also fear. Just like everything he had desired since he was very young had been broken or taken away, just like the precious bird had been shot and killed by an arrow, he was afraid that it would be ruined if he desired it.
In fact, it had already been ruined once. She had revived what had been ruined.
The tangled emotions were so deep and intense that it was difficult to define them. He had never been in love, so he didn't even know if this was love.
Yuriene closed the documents and got up from his seat, heading out of the captain of the royal guard's office.
He hadn't visited her, but he had continued to hear about Ekinesia Roaz's training process. Within Changcheon, there were informants who served as the eyes and ears of the captain of the royal guard, and Yuriene received daily reports from them about the actions of the woman who was going to be his Squire.
It was a report that barely fell within the public domain because she was a Cadet who was going to be his Squire.
According to the report, she was supposed to be learning how to care for horses today. If so, she would be in the stables right now.
[Huh? Where are you going all of a sudden?]
The Holy Sword asked in a slightly flustered voice, but Yuriene didn't answer. He headed straight to the stables. His keenly sharpened senses felt that there were two people inside the stables. He could hear the murmur of voices.
"Senior Baraha, can I just brush the mane?"
"No, you have to untangle the knots with your fingers first. Otherwise, it'll break. Let me show you."
Ekinesia's voice was bright and light. It wasn't the tense and trembling voice she had when she was talking to Yuriene.
"Untangle the rough knots like this and then brush it."
"I see. Can I try?"
"Yeah, grab it. Yeah, like that."
The presence of the two people, who had been slightly apart, became very close. Almost overlapping. Then, his mood rapidly sank. He wondered if it was possible for his mood to worsen so quickly.
