08 — Chinks in the Armor

08 — Chinks in the Armor

Silly me had thought that everyone would disperse to their respective duties after our training session was over. But the fact that I was having another session with the Valkyries had somehow gotten out, and some other regiments didn’t like that. Their captains were currently accosting Catherine.

I minded my own business and turned my focus to my team.

“Good work out there. How were the Knights?” I asked.

Lionel’s face was stern. “It’s honestly worse than expected. I hadn’t anticipated the Valkyries to be the standard, but I thought surely they would have been on the same level as the Order of Healing at the very least.”

“Elaborate,” I pressed him.

“If Illumasia had set their sights on Shurule when I still led their forces, I’m positive the republic would not exist today. The fact that the empire has been held back by history is Shurule’s one saving grace, I suppose.”

Lord Reinstar’s legacy was the only thing standing in their way, it seemed. The barrier protecting the country was one such advantage Shurule enjoyed, allowing them to protect themselves without the need to include slaves in their standing army.

“Was there anything positive, you think?” I asked.

“Well, they are Shurulian,” he said. “Your changes to healing pricing have earned you the support of adventurers and civilians the world over, which stands as a powerful deterrent for potential invaders.”

So it was back to me again, not the Knights. It was sort of incredible how much ire I had probably earned from the empire unintentionally. Mental note: never go to Illumasia.

“Agreed,” Ketty added. “Thought we might see healers bolstering the ranks like you, to be honest. I always thought it was a good thing Sir Lionel never suggested an invasion, but now I’m thinkin’ Shurule’s not gonna last long unless they’ve got some secret weapon.”

That didn’t sound very good. But their advice was solid. Still, a troop of healers would surely be the primary target of an enemy army, so they would need a cohort of guards all to themselves.

“Everyone in the Order was better than just about every knight here,” Kefin remarked.

“My master had a lot to do with that. Plus they were extremely motivated,” I said.

Lionel grunted. “I believe the best course of action would be for them to learn healing or barrier magic, or else establish a company of healers.” He looked into the distant sky. “Or it may eventually be too late.”

The regiments began to cram into the dining hall as Catherine continued to speak with their captains. My group didn’t feel like fighting the rush, so we decided to head there last. Meanwhile, many of the knights who had fought Lionel, Ketty, and Kefin had come to hear their advice.

I had heard that human supremacism had been on the rise in the Church, but the knights regarded Ketty and Kefin with respect and decency. Perhaps someone was manipulating information, in which case I wanted to kick myself for not having Galba teach me some of the secrets of the trade.

As we waited for the dining hall to clear out, I cast Area Barrier on the knights receiving extra guidance so that they could put what they had learned to the test immediately. I didn’t discuss anything related to healers, though. All I could picture when battle healers came to mind was a nightmare of forced conscription and tragedy. It would have been all too easy for one to find themselves separated, without magic, and that would be all the enemy needed to put them down. And it wasn’t for me to decide the ethics or morals of war and who to drag into it.

I considered maybe placing healers into adventuring parties, but this world wasn’t like a game. The discrepancy in stats between classes was too great, and healers wouldn’t be able to keep up with the pace of increasingly powerful monsters. Another dead end.

That was the reality of this world. It was dangerous. Life was fragile. So it was a good thing the Knights of Shurule were so adamant about improving. The rest was up to Captain Catherine.

Catherine was waiting for us when we finally headed for the dining hall. The training session with the Valkyries that afternoon had been replaced by joint drills. She had evidently given in to the captains’ demands.

“I’d like General Lionel to examine and evaluate how well they do,” Catherine explained. “If you’ll allow him.”

It felt like she had been asking more and more of us since we arrived at HQ—which, to be clear, did make me happy, since she was relying on others more, but maybe it wasn’t a good habit for the Knights of Shurule to be getting into. Even if I wasn’t one to talk—I had done much the same with Jord, and I still did it with Lionel—I really didn’t think we were the ones she should have been leaning on.

Catherine was the captain of the guard. She should have been taking all this up with her sub-captains. If she wasn’t doing that, then no wonder she had been so stuck in her head lately.

I remembered Lumina’s words and gave in. “You want constructive feedback,” I summarized.

“Exactly. Every knight here wants to be stronger. I want to help them.”

They had only held these joint drills three times in the years I had spent at Headquarters. And they could hold them whenever they wanted, but I found the timing a little curious. Like she was just assuming everyone wanted what she did.

Not that I didn’t understand wanting Lionel’s perspective. Not at all. But Catherine was the captain of the guard, and her previous hiatus didn’t change that. Lumina attested to her leadership skills, and Lionel had spoken a lot of criticism, yet there was not one word against her qualifications. Yeah, she had been out of the game for a while, but it had been over a year since then. Catherine had been a prodigy, earned her position at an absurdly young age, and on her own merits. And she couldn’t keep a few subordinates in line?

I knew that I was partly the cause of this. I just struggled to process my feelings on the matter. It had surely taken a long time for the Knights to recover after the labyrinth incident, and the lack of any other trustworthy guard captains wasn’t doing Catherine any favors. She desperately craved a confidant, a powerful leader to guide her. She wanted a mentor.

But given all that, I couldn’t see her request as anything but a bad idea. If Lionel took the field and told her knights how to act, advised them, led them, it would call Catherine’s own leadership into question.

“I have a suggestion, Captain,” I said. “We will not participate in these exercises. We will watch from above, I’ll collect my team’s thoughts, and then I’ll submit them to you in a report.”

“Okay.” She lowered her head. “Thank you.” And then she left, her steps purposeful.

“You’re certain we needn’t participate?” Lionel asked as soon as she disappeared from view.

“Catherine’s struggling with some insecurities right now,” I said. “If you take control of these drills, it’ll give others a reason to claim that she’s unqualified to lead. She could be dismissed the moment we leave the city.”

“She’s more than talented enough for her position.”

“I know that, but she doesn’t believe it. She doesn’t have the results or glowing achievements to prove it. Catherine might very well step down on her own if things go poorly enough.”

I had never seen her so spineless before. Something must have happened in the past year, but I couldn’t go prying.

“I dunno about that,” said Ketty. “But I do know it might not be so wrong for her to find someone who can pick up the slack.”

“Why do you say that?” I asked.

“A leader has a top-down view, a full grasp of several units that enact a single will,” Kefin said. “And to be a leader, you need tangible results, the magnetism to draw people to your cause, and the charisma to keep them there. I think that’s what she means.”

“The way you’re talking makes it sound like this is obvious.”

“His job is to know stuff,” Ketty pointed out.

“So you’re saying the Knights of Shurule aren’t as cohesive as they should be,” I said. I couldn’t doubt their judgment. They knew how to gather and analyze information.

“Sir Lionel, for example, led Illumasia’s forces at the front, giving orders as he fought right there with ’em,” Ketty said. “And he’d be there at the rear guard if they had to retreat.”

I could easily envision Lionel on the field, spear in hand, on horseback, weaving through and dodging arrows and spells, destroying anything that got too close.

“You value life, just as I did my men’s,” Lionel said. “Someday, your conviction may surpass even my own. And soldiers sense that. It raises their spirits. You lead a small troop well enough, and with practice, you may learn to extend your spirit to great armies.”

“What do you all think?” I asked. “Am I going to end up leading the Knights of Shurule?”

“Maybe,” Lionel said simply. “If you allow yourself to.”

“You do kinda have a habit of getting into trouble every time we leave you alone,” Ketty confessed.

“Frankly, I was amazed you even suggested observing over participating in the drills,” said Kefin.

I was a little taken aback, to be honest. But the truth was the truth. I sucked it up.

“This might sound impolite, but I don’t want to get tied down here any more than I already am,” I said. “I’d rather be heading for Merratoni as soon as possible.”

“Then I suggest we leave after dinner tonight,” Lionel replied.

He was right. I needed to put my foot down, plain and simple. But not yet.

“I appreciate the advice, but there are still things I need to take care of. It’s too risky to leave yet, so we’ll plan on heading out in a week. The horses are still inside the hermit key too.”

“You pick the weirdest times to get headstrong, Chief,” Ketty said, smiling oddly.

“That’s one of his best traits,” Kefin stated.

Lionel hardly blinked. “We will follow as you lead, sir.”

Afterwards, we returned to the field and found seats on the viewing platform where I had joined Catherine while last observing the Knights’ joint drills. The templars and paladins were divided on two separate sides, Catherine leading the templars, Lumina leading the paladins despite being the youngest of the captains. There were four regiments each, but the templars outnumbered the paladins two to one.

Catherine’s templars were standing in semi-circular fan formation while Lumina’s paladins had formed a sharp V-shape.

The match began.

“Thoughts?” I asked.

“At first glance, one is tempted to believe that the templars have the advantage,” Lionel noted. “But the paladins have the edge in terms of raw ability. It will come down to how their respective leaders command their forces.”

“Right,” Ketty agreed. “Also, I’d wager this whole drill’s only happening because they’re betting on your healing magic.”

She had a point. The knights would certainly have use for it.

“In a fair fight, the paladins would win, even outnumbered,” Kefin mused. “Their skill makes the difference.”

“I’m still betting on Catherine’s templars,” I murmured. “Maybe a draw at worst.”

The three of them turned to me in surprise.

“Why’s that?” Ketty asked.

“Lumina looks up to Catherine,” I explained. “And she knows that if Catherine loses, it’ll affect the Knights’ morale. I also can’t sense any real energy from the paladins.”

The divides in the Knights were incredibly obvious from a bird’s eye view.

“You’re paying attention,” Lionel noted. “The paladins’ victory is contingent upon them fighting at their best, but I’m sensing a lack of motivation from their ranks. Your prediction may be accurate.”

“A lack of motivation?” I repeated.

“Perhaps they’re aware that they’ll have to lose. Perhaps it’s something else entirely. Regardless, this entire battle feels disingenuous. A green commander like yourself would have no trouble leading masses like those.”

“Wait, you guys totally already knew that,” I said accusingly. “If I can tell just by watching from above, you should’ve seen it when you were in the thick of it with them earlier today. I’ve got a long way to go, don’t I?”

Lionel grinned. “It will come to you in time.”

I wasn’t so sure about that.

The exercise ended exactly as predicted. Catherine and the templars emerged victorious.