Chapter 13

“Oh, this training was ordered by the Vice-Commander,”  

Lanark said with a bright smile.  

‘Aivert?’  

Latine rolled his Vice-Commander’s name around in his head, then quickly came to a more rational conclusion.  

“Was it actually Quartermaster Dame Siverick who ordered it?”  

“She planned it, but the Vice-Commander gave the command.”  

Same difference, wasn’t it?  

Latine gave the training ground another baffled once-over and asked, “This is training?”  

“Yes! Oh, would you like an apple?”  

Just then, another knight called out:  

“Someone bring me the beaten eggs! I’m frying!”  

—Sizzle!

With the sound of oil popping and a savory scent wafting through the air, the place now felt more like a street market or a wandering circus troupe than a knights’ training ground.  

“Please, have some breakfast before you go!”  

Before he knew it, something had been shoved into Latine’s hand: a piece of toast filled with several thin slices of apple soaked in egg batter.  

It looked a little uneven to him, but the apple slices were so thin you could almost see through them from one side to the other.  

Far too much effort for a piece of toast.  

No—  

It wasn’t effort that had gone into the toast…  

He took a closer look at the knights.  

Then he spotted a group intently practicing how to slice apples as thinly as possible.  

“Hoooh.”  

He let out a low sound of admiration.  

Next to the focused knights was a plate, stacked in layers: from their earliest, jagged, overly thick slices to the paper-thin ones they were currently working on.  

Well, better they mess around with food than go smashing holes in the walls.  

Pleased, Latine was smiling to himself when his eyes suddenly went wide.  

“Wait, what?”  

He rubbed his eyes, not quite believing what he saw.  

Were these guys… holding wooden utensils?  

And they weren’t breaking?!  

This was the Azure Knights—a group of muscle-heads strong enough to bend metal with their bare hands.  

He had tried getting them to train their strength control before, but there had always been limits.  

Yet now, wooden utensils were surviving their grip? Their control had become that precise?  

What had looked like a clown show just moments ago had transformed before his eyes into an effective training session.  

So this was the difference a top-tier quartermaster could make…  

Jaw hanging open in admiration, Latine suddenly straightened and shouted with all the strength in his core:  

“Everyone, stop what you’re doing and gather up!”  

“What is it, Commander?”  

“Good morning, Sir!”  

The knights gathered in twos and threes, looking like they’d just fought a battle in a kitchen, but to Latine, they looked the most promising they ever had since joining the order.  

Somehow, in this state, he felt like they might actually show him results worth being proud of.  

With a grin, Latine scanned the crowd.  

“All right, listen up. Seems our new quartermaster’s got a knack for making things happen. Gather around.”

* * *

The next day.

Through reviewing records, Rodella had figured out that Latine’s arrival time at the Azure Knights’ headquarters was completely unpredictable.  

While he usually took short naps by sleeping at the HQ, he often disappeared without a trace.  

It was clearly a problem that the Commander of the entire knight order could vanish like that—but strangely, by the time anyone went looking for him, he always happened to be exactly where he needed to be, and no issues ever arose because of it.

On that mystery(?) the knights of the Azure Order had this to say:  

“Of course he’s different. He’s a war hero from the previous generation.”

Latine Modilac.  

One of the many heroes who brought an end to the massive monster crisis that had erupted over a decade ago.  

Back in the day, the name “Modilac’s Blade” was enough to make anyone pause in deference.  

Now?  

He spent his days apologizing for all the property damage caused by the Azure Knights—throwing away all that past honor.

“…Anyway, he always shows up before 8 a.m., right?”  

Having worked out a rough statistical pattern for Latine’s arrival times, Rodella had also incidentally discovered another thing:  

Her friend, Aivert, showed up like clockwork every morning at 6:30.

So what people said about him being diligent in the field… might actually be true.

Just then—  

Knock knock.  

Someone knocked on the office door, then walked right in.  

Not a knock to ask permission, but a knock as an announcement of entry.  

Naturally, it was her friend—Aivert.

“What is it? You’re here to help with paperwork?”  

At her question, Aivert made a face like that was the most dreadful idea he’d ever heard.

“No thanks. Come out to the training yard.”  

“Why? Did something happen?”  

Rodella reacted immediately.  

Given how chaotic the knights could be, she assumed her weird training regimen might have triggered some kind of incident.

But Aivert said something entirely different.

“The Commander’s about to show up.”  

He sounded completely certain.

“He’s not exactly consistent with his hours. How would you know?”  

But before she could get a reply, Aivert had already vanished outside—as if to say, just follow me.

Blinking in confusion, Rodella found herself thinking of something even stranger than Aivert knowing Latine’s schedule.

“…Wait, how did he know I needed to ask the Commander something?”

Puzzled, Rodella stepped outside.  

And right on cue, she entered the training yard at the exact moment Latine began gathering everyone.

“All right, everyone, gather up.”  

As he spoke, Rodella and Aivert casually approached.

“Ah, perfect timing,”  

Latine greeted them warmly with a wave, then continued, “There’s been a report of a monster nest discovered in the mountains near the Southwest Branch. They’re not sure of the exact location, and the branch forces aren’t enough to handle it. They’re asking HQ to send reinforcements.”  

He skimmed the papers in his hand as he spoke.  

“Estimated monster count is under 100, most of them smaller than mid-tier. But since it’s in an untraveled part of the mountains, we’ll need to be careful of ambushes. Anyone want to go?”

A few knights raised their hands.

“Great. Lanark and Ethan, you’re going together.”  

Latine quickly grouped several knights into teams.  

Normally, knight orders had pre-established teams that operated together, but the Azure Knights were different.  

They had official teams too, but in practice, things were more flexible.

That was due to Latine’s practical philosophy:  

No matter who you ended up fighting beside on the battlefield, you had to be able to perform the basics with anyone.

“Apparently, some of the smaller ones have been sneaking down and raiding nearby villages at night,” he added, as Rodella watched the others.

“Don’t engage unless they’re directly threatening people. Wait until they’ve returned to their nest before launching the attack.”  

“Yessir!”

It was a typical Azure Knights response—laid-back on the surface, but razor-sharp when it came to actual combat.

To their enthusiastic reply, Latine gave a wistful response:  

“Just…please try not to break things, okay?”  

“…Yessir.”

The reply sounded a little uncertain.  

They clearly had full confidence in their ability to fight and destroy, but not in their ability to fight without destroying things.

And so, a few days after the knights had set off—

A problem occurred.

* * *

“There are more injuries than expected? You didn’t even manage to properly destroy the monster nest?”

Inside the Captain’s office were Latine, Aivert, Rodella, and one of the dispatched knights—Ethan.

“Were the monsters that powerful?”  

“N-No, sir.”  

At Latine’s question, Ethan lowered his head with an awkward expression.

“Then was it a lack of training?”  Aivert asked.  

Rodella instinctively turned to look at her friend.  

His voice was devoid of emotion—completely different from when he spoke to her.  

It felt strangely unfamiliar.  

But neither Ethan nor Latine seemed fazed by it.  

As if they were used to this version of Aivert.  

As if she was the only one who wasn’t.

“N-no! It’s just… there was nowhere to hide.”

“What do you mean by that?”  Latine asked, clearly baffled.  

Rodella was confused too.  

Unlike the days over a decade ago when monsters had swept across the continent, nowadays, most were just minor threats.  

It made no sense for a formal knight order to return this injured from such a mission.

‘Did I misjudge the Azure Knights’ actual combat capability?’  

If that was the case, this was an emergency.  

But no—  

“The locals refused to cooperate, so we had nowhere to stay hidden while we waited to ambush the monsters.”  

At Ethan’s explanation, Rodella raised her eyebrows.

“What?”

But Aivert and Latine didn’t seem surprised.  

Aivert crossed his arms and narrowed his eyes, while Latine rubbed his forehead, looking like he’d expected this all along.

“This is what happens when you keep smashing things.”

“No way…”  

Rodella’s eyes widened as a possibility clicked into place.

“Because the buildings caught in operations keep getting completely destroyed… are imperial citizens just refusing to cooperate with the knights during missions now?”

At her tentative guess, Ethan shouted with an aggrieved look, “Y-yes, ma’am! That’s exactly it!”

Don’t act like you’re the victim!  

You’re ranked third this quarter for most property damage caused, remember!?