Side Story: Zackary, Captain of the Sixth Knight Brigade

Side Story:
Zackary, Captain of the Sixth Knight Brigade

 

MY NAME is Zackary Townsend, captain of the Sixth Knight Brigade.

The first time I saw Fia was at the welcome ceremony. The ceremony went as it did every year—until the sudden announcement that Commander Saviz would be participating in the exhibition match. Surely, the announcer was joking or crazy, but the pale look on the announcer’s face made me realize that they were quite serious. Ah. The Commander must have put them up to this.

The Commander seemed like the serious type, but I knew he actually had a playful side. Still, I couldn’t help but wonder if it was just playfulness or something more sadistic when a young girl stepped forward to be his opponent—to take on Saviz himself. What meaning could there be in a match against her? She didn’t look like she could withstand a blow, much less stand, with how much she was shaking. She walked nervously, the same foot and arm swinging forward as she moved. It would’ve gotten a laugh from me if it were two of my subordinates fighting, but against the Commander? I only felt pity.

That was when Ardio, a well-known knight with the moniker “The Knight of Ice,” and his younger brother Leon ran up to the young girl and said something.

Ah…she must be Dolph’s daughter, then. I recalled Dolph, the vice-captain of the Fourteenth Knight Brigade, having three kids in the Knight Brigades. This girl must’ve been the fourth. She’s a bit small for Dolph’s kid, though. Tough luck—she probably wasn’t blessed with a good physique.

Perhaps she had some skill with the sword, being born to a knight family, but she surely wasn’t going to last one blow against the Commander—not with a body like that. At least she’d have a happy memory to look back on later; being the Commander’s opponent itself was a great honor.

The girl then gave her name, Fia Ruud, and dashed forward toward the Commander.

Hm…it’s impressive enough she didn’t freeze up, I thought, genuinely surprised, when she suddenly sped up five meters before the Commander, drew her sword at an abnormal speed, and swung.

A sharp twang resounded as I watched the Commander brace his entire body to block.

How heavy is that sword? I thought, noticing the sound her blade made.

I watched in surprise as Fia swung again and again at the Commander, the intervals shortening with each swing. But what really caught my attention was how she focused on striking the same side.

What is she aiming for? I wondered as I watched the fight unblinking—only for it to abruptly end with her sword being knocked away.

The knights erupted in cheers…but my eyes were drawn to the Commander, who bit his lip in frustration.

She managed to make him, of all people, feel like he had lost.

He soon after declared the match invalid. It came to light that her weapon was a magic sword with incredible enhancements, but even more problematic was the reason that she kept attacking the same side of the Commander. Pressed for answers, she admitted that she’d discovered an old leg injury by analyzing his movements.

She’s a recruit? I thought, shaking my head in disbelief. I took a good, hard look at her. It hadn’t been long since the Commander had entered the ceremony grounds, but in that short span of time, she’d uncovered his old combat wound. It was incredible, too, that she hadn’t frozen up before him—even with her magic sword, not many could fight the Commander without cowering.

It was unimaginable. But even more unthinkable was her reasoning for taking advantage of the Commander’s weakness, boldly claiming it was her “chivalry as a knight” with a suspiciously straight face—an obvious lie.

This girl’s got guts of steel to lie to the Commander…

That day, the Commander declared that he would remember Fia Ruud’s name. I did the same.

 

***

 

I next met Fia at a feast. My brigade had returned from a successful expedition with monster meat in tow, so we decided to celebrate with an informal gathering where we ate meat and drank—we called it a “meat festival.”

But before the feast began, Cyril called for me. Two recruits from his brigade had been tagging along with mine for training—had there been a problem with them? I had been busy and hadn’t had time to hear how the expedition went directly from my subordinates. When a knight from the First Knight Brigade came to pick me up at the canteen, I followed him without knowing what was going on.

I was led to a room. There stood some of my knights who had embarked on today’s expedition standing across from Cyril, who wore an unnerving smile, and the Commander, whose expression was unreadable.

Something displeasing had occurred—I knew that at once. I watched my knights’ faces as I stepped before Cyril and the Commander.

Cyril smiled stiffly. “Thank you for coming, Zackary. I was just commending these knights for their wonderful performance on today’s expedition.”

I glanced at Cyril’s stiff smile, then looked back to my knights. That’s a lie. What the hell did you guys do to piss Cyril off this badly?

Before I could ask, two more knights entered the room. One of them was Fia.

Huh. So she was one of the recruits assigned to today’s expedition.

Cyril made all the knights, including Fia, sit down in chairs. I moved to a position where I could stare down on everyone. The Commander stayed behind me, silently watching. His presence made me sure that whatever had happened was serious. I folded my arms and watched silently as well.

Cyril explained what had happened: a monster from the deep forest had appeared, and it was defeated without casualty, thanks to the splendid performance of the knights. The problem, though, was that the one who took command during the encounter wasn’t one of the experienced knights of the Sixth Knight Brigade.

It was Fia, a recruit from his brigade.

What in the world…?

Cyril’s voice was as cold as ice and his smile as frigid as a demon’s as he pressed the knights for answers. He was livid. In an attempt to calm my own rage, I closed my eyes. Sighed. Opened my eyes and glared at my knights.

What the hell were you all thinking?!

But my knights were smart enough to know that speaking would only make things worse, and so Cyril singled out Fia. The girl promptly spilled the beans, but her words only confused me. She claimed to have taken command and defeated a monster with knowledge from a reference book and experiences she’d had in dreams!

That’s nonsense! How could anyone lead so calmly while analyzing a monster they’d never seen, and accompanied by so few knights? It’s impossible. If it were that easy, we’d have rid the forest of monsters ages ago.

I looked on with exasperation as she continued, explaining how she determined the intervals between the monster’s attack and calculated the monster’s health. I couldn’t help but smile wryly when she talked about that last part—why, such a method would require one to fight the same monster hundreds of times, if not thousands!

Just who was this recruit? This abnormality mixed in with the knights. But the part that shocked me most was what followed—Fia fought back against Cyril.

Everyone had gone pale in the face of Cyril’s icy smile, gloomily staring down at their feet. Fia alone dared to look Cyril in the eye and declare that her hands were meant to be holding delicious meat and drink this very moment.

This girl’s got guts. She’d talked back to the highest-ranking captain, and in front of the Commander at that. Needless to say, my interest in her was piqued…but I’m ashamed of what happened later that night. I don’t remember much, but what I do remember is rather embarrassing to my knightly pride.

I remember Fia’s bulging, toddler-like chubby belly, I remember her lamenting about training every day but not gaining any muscle, and I remember not knowing what to say to all of her loaded questions. She was right—I had no right to complain about my four-pack when there were those less fortunate than me in this world, like Fia. Since then, I haven’t complained once about my abdominals. I do, however, wish I could completely wipe the sight of Fia’s belly from my mind—because that’s the chivalrous thing to do, of course.

 

***

 

The third time I met Fia, she was with Quentin. She greeted me formally, as though talking to a stranger—probably because she wanted to forget how she’d so embarrassingly displayed her belly. I did too.

I’d heard from Cyril that Quentin was mentally unwell after his long expedition, but I hadn’t expected his state to be so dire. Usually well groomed, Quentin was wet for some reason when he appeared, an early indication that something was off. Concerned, I asked him what had happened, only for him to plainly state that Miss Fia had spat water onto him!

You haven’t wiped yourself off, and now you’re calling her Miss Fia?!

I watched, confused, as Fia reprimanded Quentin for his word choice. The latter apologized profusely. The sight was so revolting that a shiver ran down my back.

What the hell…? Did Quentin awaken to some strange fetish? He used to be a lone wolf kind of guy who performed his duties as a captain properly. We hadn’t talked much, but he always kept things brief, giving just the right warning and advice. He’d been a model knight. What could’ve changed him so much in the half-year I hadn’t seen him? I hoped Cyril was right, that this was just stress from his long expedition, that he would be back to normal eventually…

When the Commander entered the room, I breathed a sigh of relief—finally, things would get back to normal. But then Cyril, of all people, began to argue with Quentin over Fia!

What was this? Was there some infectious disease driving everyone bonkers? Cyril was a duke! He was the captain of the First Knight Brigade! He should be as logical as they came, easily suppressing his true emotions and manipulating others. And now he was losing it too?

In an attempt to calm things down, I offered to let her stand behind me. In response, Cyril and Quentin turned their necks lightning-fast and glared at me.

These two are sick in the head, I thought, but it turned out that the sickest one there was Fia. Ignoring the three of us, she walked over and chose Clarissa, the Fifth Knight Brigade captain.

Just trying to understand what was going on in Fia’s brain was giving me a headache. She looked positively happy standing behind Clarissa.

What an easygoing girl. I bet she’s the sort who always finds a way to be happy, even if it’s at everyone else’s expense. Ah, poor Cyril!

Sometime later, I spotted Quentin and his slightly irksome vice-captain Gideon fawning over Fia. Gideon was on his knee begging for some reason. Odd, that. He’d always been the cynical sort, not the type to kneel down to someone half his height.

Eerie. Is that really Gideon, or am I mistaking him for someone else? I thought, and I decided to call out to him. From his response, I had no choice but to believe it was him.

Anyone who dealt with Fia seemed to become stranger in one way or another. It worried me, but the black dragon hunt was coming up, so I decided to put it aside. Looking back on it, I think I was right. It would have been a waste of time to worry about her. You see, what I saw that day blew all of those worries out the window.

On that day, every single action Fia took defied logic. The advice she gave for fighting the Green Nightmare and Flower-Horned Deer was perfect. Even if, as Quentin and Fia later insisted, the black dragon had told her what to say…well, she was far too calm, and her advice was far too precise for the intensity of the situation.

Then there was her command of the familiars. Quentin and Fia pinned it on the black dragon once again, but I saw the way the familiars moved. They were definitely looking at Fia and not the black dragon. I doubted that Quentin, an expert on familiars, would make such a mistake. Perhaps he was trying to mislead me for some reason? I would have to question him later.

There was also the problem of how the blue dragons beelined straight for Fia. Back when Cyril was questioning her, we learned that she took command because the unit’s leader was knocked unconscious by the Flower-Horned Deer. The Flower-Horned Deer, being a B-rank monster, was smart enough to determine who was in command at a glance and take them out to cause confusion. Which begged the question—why didn’t the S-rank blue dragons target Quentin or me? The only possibility was that Fia was somehow a more important target.

But why? For whatever reason, the blue dragons had immediately seen something within her that I could not, as had the black dragon.

I never could’ve imagined that the ancient and legendary black dragon, one of the continent’s Three Great Beasts, would be Fia’s familiar. However she’d managed to make a pact with such a powerful being, it was clear as day that he was loyal to her. He protected her, fought for her, even cut off his own horn for her. That last act of cutting off his own horn in particular struck me as something that went beyond a normal master-familiar relationship. It was like he was marking Fia so nobody would mess with her. Just what had she done to gain the black dragon’s favor?

A deep sigh escaped my lips as I contemplated the never-ending pile of problems. Frustration, irritation, and a plethora of other emotions swelled inside me…but the strongest of those emotions was gratitude toward Fia.

She was hiding something, something that would likely explain the web of mysteries surrounding her…but even so, I knew in my heart that she was a good soul.

Despite how much her secret clearly meant to her, she’d willingly jeopardized it to save everyone. Because of that, not a single life was lost. I’ve had brushes with death countless times. A mission with no casualties can be a miracle.

But still, I thought after reflecting on how much I owed her, she’s doing a dreadful job of hiding her secret. It’s a wonder nobody’s figured it out.

Fia lacked resolve. Her secret was clearly important to her, so why risk it being revealed to save the lives of a few knights? If she wasn’t willing to make that sacrifice, why hide it at all? It felt like only a matter of time before her secret would be forced into the light…

Whatever secrets lay behind the curtain, the simplest answers often proved correct. Whatever her secrets, whatever was behind the cloud of mysteries surrounding her, it was likely something very simple—something insignificant to anyone but her.

Most secrets prove insignificant in the light of day.

I wanted to tell her this, to encourage her to confide in me, but I couldn’t. Not after witnessing her panic attack. She was fighting her own battle, an internal conflict over whether or not to reveal her secret…and she’d made her choice.

She didn’t trust me.

At that moment, I wanted to kick myself for how useless I was. I couldn’t do a thing for her as she lay on the ground, drenched in sweat, struggling to breathe. Even when she could finally speak, it was only to say she couldn’t tell me her secret. I remember her eyes then, so fierce and determined.

The ferocity in those eyes…just what was she trying to protect?

Based on her actions so far, she was probably trying to protect others. As pathetic as it made me feel, she was probably trying to protect me as well.

Whatever her secret was, she kept it for our sake…and it tore me up inside that I couldn’t repay her for it, that I couldn’t be someone she could confide in.

So, in the end, Fia is protecting me. I let out a deep, full-body sigh and flexed my folded arms. The other captains would probably have a good laugh if they knew.

I had to become stronger.

Strong enough to become someone Fia could confide in.

Strong enough to be her shield the next time we faced a powerful monster.

How could I call myself a captain otherwise?

 

***

 

I sighed, trying to let out some of the frustration at my useless self, hoping to refresh my mind. The knights were at lunch with their units.

What was the best way to handle this situation?

Each of the three units had different understandings of what went down today. I wasn’t sure whether it’d be better to share information with everyone to prepare for whatever incident Fia caused next or to try to mitigate potential risk by only telling a few people.

Still conflicted, I glanced at Quentin by my side. I currently lacked the information needed to make a proper judgment, but perhaps Quentin could help with that?

“Quentin, come with me for a bit. There’s some things I need to ask you.” We moved away from the other knights, just past the trees. Once there, I moved my face close to his—a habit of mine when interrogating others.

“When I asked you how likely we were to find the black dragon this morning,” I said, “you stated that it was one hundred percent. You’ve known Fia’s familiar was the black dragon for some time now, haven’t you?”

“Of course,” Quentin said nonchalantly.

How infuriating! “‘Of course’ my ass! Why’d you keep quiet about something so important?!”

“Miss Fia and her familiar, the Black Dragon King himself, didn’t explicitly state his identity. What right did I have to tell you?”

“Don’t give me that! This is a black dragon we’re talking about! An expert like you, of all people, should know how big a deal it is for someone to make the black dragon their familiar! Why didn’t you report it?!”

“Precisely because I’m an expert. As I’m sure you’re aware, the width of a master’s proof of pact is proportionate to the time it took to make the familiar submit to a pact.” Quentin rolled up his sleeves. I could see his proof of pact—a scaly line coiling around like a snake, stretching from his wrist upward onto his upper arm.

“This is from the time I made a griffon, an A-rank, my familiar. It took a long time to make it submit, and so it stretches to my shoulder. Because the griffon resisted, the line is broken in many places. This is normal. But what Fia has is completely different. Her proof of pact is only one millimeter. It has no breaks whatsoever, even though the Black Dragon King is an SS-rank monster. It’s perfect! She somehow got the strongest monster to swear absolute obedience to her in no time at all.”

“I…see,” I murmured, nodding.

Quentin shook his head. “No, Zackary, you don’t see. A familiar with absolute obedience can read their master’s emotions, meaning the familiar can make their own judgments and act freely on their master’s behalf without orders! Now, what do you think would happen if I were to reveal that Miss Fia’s familiar was the Black Dragon King without her explicit approval? The Black Dragon King himself would kill me and anybody who heard on the spot!” He paused. “At least, that’s what I think.”

I said nothing. A shiver ran down my spine.

Observing my silence, Quentin continued. “Miss Fia told me the circumstances leading up to her making a pact with the Black Dragon King. He had reverted to infancy due to sustaining fatal wounds when Fia fed him a healing potion…but I have doubts about her story. It shouldn’t be possible for an external factor to heal wounds that the Black Dragon King’s natural regeneration couldn’t already heal.”

Quentin pushed his hair back and stared up at the empty sky, as if he was living the conversation again. “But it must be true,” he said. “I see no reason that Miss Fia would need to lie. I suspect that she omitted something important, something needed to grasp the full picture, but I absolutely won’t ask what. If the Black Dragon King deemed me a nuisance, I’d be killed.”

“You’re kidding…” I muttered. It was one shock after another.

“Well…the important thing to remember is that it doesn’t actually matter how Fia herself feels. If the Black Dragon King believes you’re causing her problems, then you’re dragon food. Or worse.”

“She’s picked up an absolute monster…” I whispered. A black dragon wasn’t something you should carelessly make a pact with, even if it was injured. Just what was she thinking?

But Quentin sounded downright spirited. “Not just any monster, but the legendary, ancient black dragon! He can read Miss Fia’s emotions even when separated, so you’d better not do anything foolish!”

“Ah.” I let out a long sigh. “Wonderful.” It felt like my back was against the wall.

Quentin looked at me with pity for a moment before he suddenly seemed to realize something. “You should be more careful interacting with Miss Fia. Just earlier, she seemed to have a sudden breakdown because you kept pelting her with questions. If she felt even the slightest bit of ill will toward you, the Black Dragon King would have torn a hole in the sky, appeared, and killed you.”

“Hey, wait—is that why you took off? I thought you’d left out of consideration for Fia!”

“You misunderstand! I was ensuring at least one of us would survive to make a report.”

“That’s…acceptable. But I still want to punch you for some reason…”

“Because you’re petty.”

“Hah, right. Now shut it before I punch you for real.” I took a deep breath and bit back the urge to clock Quentin, then I folded my arms and leaned against a nearby tree.

“Anyway,” said Quentin, straight-faced as ever, “we need to be careful. If, for example, we report what happened today to the Commander and the Black Dragon King deems it a problem for Fia, he might target him. But I doubt that will happen, seeing as the Black Dragon King decided to give us his own horn.”

“The horn? What has that got to do with anything?”

“We have the Black Dragon King’s approval. The horn is a valuable rare material that can be used to create a sword. The thing is, however, it is nearly impossible to break off. The only way to get it is if the Black Dragon King granted it to us on his own accord. Anyone who saw the horn will understand this, so I can only assume the Black Dragon King is permitting us to tell our allies about him. I’m thinking it should also be okay if we tell others that Fia’s familiar is the Black Dragon King…although not too many.”

“How certain are you?”

“At best, thirty percent.”

“You had so much confidence when you predicted the black dragon’s appearance. Where did that go?”

“The Commander’s life—the lives of many knights—are hanging in the balance. I can’t give in to wishful thinking.”

“Hmph. So you’re back to normal once Fia’s gone, huh?” I raised an eyebrow. He was surprisingly sensible again.

“The Black Dragon King clearly treasures Miss Fia. It should be okay to tell others as long as it ends up benefitting her.”

“She’s already got the black dragon backing her. What can we do that would even count as benefiting her at this point?” I rubbed my neck with my hand. “And Fia herself poses a problem. As far as I can gather, she’s just as dangerous as the black dragon. Letting her run loose might bite us in the ass one day…”

“It won’t,” he said. “Miss Fia is too kind.”

“Hm?” I furrowed my brow.

“Human emotions are unpredictable,” said Quentin. “Another’s actions or words can sometimes incite sudden rage or murderous impulses within us. Of course, we don’t act on these feelings, and they fade shortly afterward. But monsters aren’t like that. No, they simply kill what’s bothering them on the spot.”

“Sure. They’re just beasts after all.” Where was he going with this?

“That being the case, it’s strange the Black Dragon King hasn’t killed anyone yet. It should take some time for the Black Dragon King to understand that Miss Fia’s feelings toward others change with time, yet not a single person has died. I think she’s simply too kindhearted to bear deep resentment toward others. Even when my vice-captain Gideon treated her poorly, the most the Black Dragon King did was retaliate with some childish harassment. She probably didn’t feel anything more than annoyance at Gideon.”

“I see. You know, I can’t see Fia as the grudge-holding type either.”

“A person’s nature doesn’t change easily. We can assume that she will stay as she is and will not pose a threat to us. Besides, if we locked people up for being powerful, that would include both of us as well, along with the Commander and Cyril. If you really felt like it, you could kill around a hundred knights before they stopped you, no?”

“I…could,” I said.

“And yet I don’t think you’re dangerous at all.”

“Gee, thanks.” His words convinced me, but her family background left some questions.

“Fia’s the youngest daughter in her family, right?” I mused. “Maybe she grew up sheltered, showered in love, and never learned how to distrust or hate others.” It was the first thing I’d thought of.

“It’s likely. Miss Fia is unbelievably naive. She was free to do as she wished, loved by everyone in her territory.”

I stood up from the tree I was slumping against, and the two of us returned to the main group. As I walked back, I reaffirmed to myself my decision: we would keep today’s events under wraps.

I visited each unit and ordered them to not share any information with knights outside of their unit. Then I visited the commander with Quentin and Gideon. I kept the report superficial, saying that we met the black dragon, but its size was too great to attempt making a pact with, so we threw a stone from Blackpeak Mountain and succeeded in getting it to return to its nest. I finished by saying that I’d add to my report when the time was right. The Commander seemed to pick up somewhat on my intent and excused us, commending us for our efforts.

Just blindly reporting everything to the Commander would be foolish. I had a duty to keep him safe, even if it meant hiding things from him. That said, I had no qualms about endangering that bloodthirsty captain Cyril. The same with Desmond, whose position as commandant of the Military Police required him to know everything. If the black dragon didn’t appear for some time after we told those two everything, we could safely assume that we were permitted to tell others. Then, and only then, would we tell the commander.

Together with Quentin and Gideon, I headed to the conference room where Cyril and Desmond waited.