Chapter 12 — Queen

“Hmm... Who do you think looks promising this year?”

In the gardens of the royal castle, a few maids were talking amongst themselves — predictably, their chatter was not about work, but about the new hires this year.

“It seems like we’re spoiled for choice this year.”

However, they were not talking about newly-hired maids. Instead, they were talking about the newly-recruited squires.

“It has to be Persil from the eastern dormitory. His glasses make him look so intelligent and cool!”

“Queen is quite the looker too. That wavy, white-blonde hair of his... Oh, and his exotic face! He’s very charming.”

“If you want to talk about lookers, isn’t Rigel up there too, with his chiseled features?”

“But, his hairstyle leaves quite a bit to be desired...”

“That... is true.”

“Luca is quite something as well. Isn’t he a bit of a flirt? Reminds you of Master Crow, doesn’t he?”

“Don’t associate Master Crow with the likes of him!”

One maidservant, having taken particular offense to that statement, began arguing with the maids next to her.

“Be careful of what you say! Kiria is a fan of Master Crow. She’ll definitely argue with you if you compare him to Luca.”

“Ehh... But to me they are kind of similar...”

“Well, they are somewhat similar, but at the same time they are very different. At least with Master Crow, you know he’s really just flirting... But Luca definitely has ulterior motives.”

“That’s not the same at all, right!?”

“Even I can’t deal with this anymore... Ugh. It’s all your fault, Sarya.”

“Ehh?! My fault?”

Kiria, who was apparently not usually this headstrong, had unfortunately caused the discussion to veer off into a strange direction. As if sensing this, one of the maidservants skillfully led the two back into the conversation with a question clearly meant to change the topic.

“Well then, how about the northern dormitory?”

“I think Gees is pretty good.”

“Yeah... he has that whole stoic aura thing going, doesn’t he?”

“What about Zerius?”

“He’s in great shape... and has a manly face.”

“How about G-Gormus...!”

One particular maidservant tripped over her own words as she said Gormus’ name, blushing the whole time. The other maidservants, however, looked upon their compatriot with confusion.

“Uh... that’s a bit...”

“You know... that’s...”

“Well it’s not like I don’t get where you’re coming from, but he’s completely different from all of the others we’ve mentioned so far. Pass.”

“Ehhhh!!”

It would later turn out that the one maidservant who fancied Gormus had her secret leaked by the maid who was taking notes for everyone during the discussion.

“What about Remie?”

“Yeah, he’s cute. I’ve also heard that he’s actually a really nice person.”

“He even smiles when he’s speaking to us!”

“Speaking of cuties... then how about Heath?”

“Heath? What Heath?”

“Oh come on. You know, the tiny one!”

“Oh yeah, him. He’s definitely the cutest.”

“I don’t know how I feel about guys who are shorter than me though...”

“But he’s really cute when he laughs!”

“Yes, I know. They say it’s like the smile of an angel!”

“The smile of an angel, huh. There’s certainly some weight behind that image.”

Unaware of the gossip that was flying between the royal castle’s maidservants, the squires of the northern dormitory were, as usual, conducting their afternoon training.

However, their eyes all settled on the silhouette of an unfamiliar person standing next to Heslow — a youth that even Fie did not know.

The youth’s white-blonde hair struck a sharp contrast to his dark colored skin, and it was obvious that he hailed from a faraway country. Foreign blood flowed through his veins, further adding on to his exotic visage.

He was robed with expensive-looking clothing cut from purple cloth, and from his posture, one could sense the traces of a refined upbringing.

The youth stood with his hands behind his back, standing at attention with a serious expression next to Heslow.

Upon seeing his form, many squires wondered aloud who he was — and soon an audible cloud of gossip had risen from those present.

Fie, however, didn’t have much of a reaction to the newcomer. Perhaps this was to be a given, as she had only been here for less than a year.

With this in mind, Fie decided to prod Gormus for answers.

“Hey, Gormus. Is that person famous or something?”

Gormus nodded, his trademark serious expression once again plastered across his face.

“Yes — he is one of the victors of this year’s squire test.”

Standing in front of the gossiping squires, Heslow promptly introduced the newcomer to the squires of the northern dormitory.

“Quiet! Today I’m going to introduce you guys to someone new. With respect to his strong wishes, he has been transferred from the eastern dormitory to the northern dormitory. His name is Queen, and he’s with the 1st Knights. He is also the disciple of Master Kaizer, who once instructed King Roy in the art of the sword. Queen was personally instructed by Master Kaizer as well. I’m sure you squires can learn a lot from him. Now Queen, say hello to your fellow squires.”

Upon being introduced as such, Queen took a step forward.

Fie had assumed that Queen would simply introduce himself — and from the looks of it, the other squires assumed the same.

However, the first thing that came out of Queen’s lips was not exactly an introduction.

“Where is the squire known as Heath?”

“Eh...”

Fie’s eyes opened wide upon suddenly hearing her name. She felt the gazes of all the squires turn to her — and Queen identified her without too much trouble. His purple eyes instantly darted in her direction, fixating on the small squire.

Queen blinked twice at Fie’s small stature, as if wondering if he had the right person. However, Queen quickly regained his composure, and then promptly pointed his wooden sword at her.

“Heath! I challenge you to a duel. A one-on-one duel between men. If I win, you shall hand over the position of the squire of the 18th Knights!”

Upon hearing this sudden challenge, whispers rose up between the squires once more.

“Hey hey... suddenly a duel?”

“With Heath?”

“Isn’t that guy super strong? Will Heath be okay?”

“You don’t think he transferred here just to snatch the position in the 18th away from Heath, do you?”

Queen and Fie’s eyes finally met.

Queen’s purple eyes peered out at Fie from behind his white-gold fringe.

“If you too are a knight, you would not think of fleeing.”

“Hey, hold on.” The one who responded to Queen’s provocation was Gormus. “You suddenly show up and say all this! You’ve got some nerve.”

“And you must be the Zal-Shiq Dojo’s Gormus.”

“Huh. Am I that famous?”

Upon being addressed in that way, Gormus stared down at Queen, a wry smile on his face.

“This matter has nothing to do with you. Could you please keep your words to yourself?”

“I’m afraid I can’t do that.” Pointing his thumb back at Heath, Gormus proceeded to say, without blinking, “This guy here... he’s like a little brother to me.”

(Little brother...!)

Fie herself, however, had no intention of letting Gormus fight her battles for her.

“If you’re going to mess with him, I won’t take it sitting down.”

“I see. Then what would you have us do?”

The two squires continued staring at each other during the exchange of words.

Upon seeing this, Fie finally spoke up.

“Gormus! Don’t friends treat each other as equals!? I object to this!”

Fie had apparently risen her hand in objection upon hearing that she was suddenly Gormus’ flunky.

“Slad, make this fool shut up.”

Fie, who had butted in at the wrong moment, was promptly booted from the conversation by Gormus.

“Yeah... I think it’s best to stay quiet for now, Heath.”

“Yep. Don’t say anything for a while.”

“It’s as they said, Heath... Let’s just keep quiet for a while...”

And so the three friends agreed, and Slad promptly silenced Fie, placing his hand over her mouth.

“Ummf! Ummf! Wumph!”

Although it seemed like Fie still had more to say, her friends were determined to not let her go on, and thus ended Fie’s impassioned speech.

Now that Fie had been deposited at a location where she would not interrupt the atmosphere of manly combat between the two, Gormus once again turned to Queen.

“That fool... Well, he isn’t here anymore. If you want to duel Heath, you’ll have to go through me first.” Gormus raised his wooden sword at Queen, smiling confidently.

Queen, however, did not respond to the provocation at all, and with a serious expression, nodded at Gormus’ words.

“Very well. I shall accept that challenge.”

“Oi, you guys. We’re still in training here!”

Just as it seemed like Queen and Gormus’ duel was about to begin, Heslow finally decided to intervene. Although Heslow could have stopped them earlier, the fact that he did not showed that he was well aware of the atmosphere.

Duels were the romance of squire life — one could say that they were compulsory events. Heslow’s seniors in the past had also engaged in duels for a multitude of reasons — some of which did not make much sense at all.

“I understand. Gormus, we shall have our duel after training.”

“Got it. You had better not run away with your tail between your legs!”

“There will be no such thing.”

Upon seeing the two squires exchanging heated glances, Heslow could not help but shake his head in a mixture of exasperation and nostalgia.

After that, afternoon training began.

During the training session, all the squires could talk about was the upcoming duel between Gormus and Queen.

“Hey, who do you think will win?”

“Didn’t Master Kaizer train King Roy AND the Captain of the 1st Knights, Zephas? If he’s Master Kaizer’s disciple, he must be really strong.”

“Well no, Gormus is pretty awesome too. He has never lost to anyone in the northern dormitory.”

It was true that the strongest in the northern dormitory was Gormus. Recently, inter-squire mock bouts had begun, but even in those, Gormus never lost. His build, power, and knowledge of the sword combined to make him a fearsome force.

However, Gormus had more than that — he was able to come up with stratagems for counterattacks while watching his opponent’s movements. Contrary to common belief, he wasn’t just all muscle — there was brain in him too.

“I was in the same dojo as Gormus... Back then, he mostly relied on his power, but ever since he entered the Royal Knights, he has begun incorporating strategy into his fights.”

“If he thinks on top of having that build... We can’t possibly beat him, huh.”

The squires knew of Gormus’ power, having faced him in person before.

However, Queen didn’t exactly come off as weak either — his position as a squire of the 1st knights was testament to that.

On paper, all the knight platoons were said to be equal, with no major differences between them — but in reality, the 1st and 18th Knights housed members of the highest caliber within their ranks.

The platoon captain of the 1st, Zephas, was known to have King Roy’s trust. Knights under Zephas’ command were also known for their skill and character — indeed, the 1st was made up of individuals who were the very paragon of knighthood. Although entering the 18th Knights and serving under Master Yore was every squire’s dream, the realistic target was instead aiming to be assigned to the 1st Knights.

In fact, Queen, who was a squire in the 1st Knights, was proof of that — he was a top-class candidate amongst this year’s pool of squires.

It was also worth noting that Gormus was assigned to the 2nd Knights. There were rumors that to get into the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd platoons, one must have a certain degree of strength — and the squires were in unanimous agreement that Gormus was testament to that.

“In any case, let’s just see how Queen is in training.”

“Yeah, I bet he runs really fast!”

Queen, however, was found at the back of the line during running training, much to the confusion of the squires searching for the sudden transferee.

He was, if anything, slow. Although the group of curious squires had purposely slowed their pace, Queen had somehow managed to be even slower than that.

“W-Well... maybe he’s conserving his strength for the match later?”

“Yeah, that’s definitely it.”

Gormus, on the other hand, was in the middle of the pack, which was led right at the top end by Remie — and no one else. The squires were unsure if the two of them were simply conserving their strength, and were a little disappointed by the sight.

Next to Gormus was Fie, who was breathless as usual.

Fie had apparently built up some degree of stamina as of late, and was able to join her fellow squires for running, although she was usually right at the back of the pack.

On this particular day, however, Fie was running at a reckless pace, if only to catch up with Gormus.

“Gormus, will you be all right? Isn’t that guy really strong?”

“Oh, are you worried about me?”

“Yeah, I’m your friend, right?” Fie strongly emphasized “friend” in her statement. She was apparently still upset about having been treated as Gormus’ little brother.

“Ugh. You take everything at face value, don’t you? It’s true I called you that, but that was just so I could take on the duel for you. You have no chance of winning against someone like that...”

“Oh, I see. Thanks!”

Fie, now no longer upset about the whole “brother” affair, promptly thanked Gormus with a wide smile. In his heart, however, Gormus thought that taking on such a troublesome “brother” was a bit more trouble than it was worth. However, he kept that thought to himself.

“Yeah, I totally knew what you meant the whole time, Gormus. Heh heh.”

“Don’t lie, you were taken by it hook line and sinker!”

“Also, Heath... are you going to be all right running at that pace?”

The middle of the pack was usually populated by Fie’s friends — namely Gees and Slad — so naturally, they were nearby. Slad in particular was worried about Fie’s running pace. Although she had gained some stamina since the time she collapsed, Fie was definitely over-pacing herself.

Fie responded with a slightly strained smile.

“Well... it’s just the beginning for now, so this should be okay...”

Fie herself realized that if she had kept this pace, her body would soon be unable to keep up. She cast a slightly troubled look towards the tail end of the pack.

Upon doing so, Fie’s eyes met with Queen’s — who had apparently been staring at her all this time.

Slad, too, was aware of this.

“He’s completely locked onto you, huh?”

“I don’t even know what I did to him!” Fie furrowed her brows, sighing. With that stare upon her back, Fie found it difficult to return to the tail end.

“It’s because you’re in the 18th...” Gees’ declaration was sudden, but true and to the point.

“Does he admire the 18th so much?”

To Fie, she really enjoyed being in the 18th, but she honestly did not understand why all the other squires made a huge deal about it. Although there were some who became knights for social positions, Fie was in the 18th simply because she enjoyed it — nothing more, nothing less.

“Well... I mean, most people do admire that, but to go that far is little bit strange...”

That much was true — no squires in the northern dormitory had thought of challenging Fie for her position.

“To begin with, it seems like he transferred in just to do that.”

Although Slad and the rest of Fie’s friends did admire the 18th, they could not help but find Queen’s obsession with it abnormal.

“Well, rest assured. I’ll beat him up and send him flying.” Gormus flexed his arms.

So it came to be that after the end of the training session, Gormus and Queen stood before each other on the training ground, wooden swords in hand.

“Hey, transfer squire. Said your prayers?”

“If you mean to ask about my preparedness for battle, then yes, I am prepared.”

Gormus had his usual sneering smile on his face, but Fie and the others knew that Gormus was serious — they saw it in his eyes. Queen’s expression, however, hardly changed. He returned Gormus’ provocations with a quiet and serious expression.

Around them were countless squires — all squeezed in to get a view of the bout that was about to take place.

Instructor Heslow, on the other hand, had some sort of work to attend to, and was absent from the grounds. Although he was strict with squires who slacked off during training, he was surprisingly lax with regards to duels — although he did get angry if squires crossed the line. Such duels were apparently thought of as learning experiences, and as such, Heslow did not intervene. On another note, Heslow apparently dueled a lot in his day, if the words of their seniors and knights from Heslow’s squire class were to be believed.

The role of referee was left to Remie — although he merely witnessed the two parties agree to a set list of rules before beginning. Although the exact reason for Remie having been chosen for the role was unknown, the squires stipulated that it had to do with his famously good character.

Gormus and Queen readied their wooden swords, standing about five meters apart from each other.

In between the two stood Remie — soon, the battle would finally begin.

The squires in the audience collectively gulped in anticipation.

“Begin!”

As Remie’s voice rang out, Fie and her friends witnessed a shocking sight.

At the exact moment Remie announced the beginning of the bout, Queen dashed forward immediately, rushing towards Gormus.

He was fast. In fact, he was incredibly fast. Everything, from his movements to his swordplay, was incredibly fast.

Five meters was usually a distance in which normal attacks would not connect. However in a single moment, Gormus, who had thought of studying his opponent’s movements, was already in the latter’s range.

It was like a dark hurricane.

“What!?”

Although Gormus was caught unawares, he quickly made to dodge the incoming blow.

However, Queen’s stab moved at a much faster speed than Gormus’ attempts at evasion. The wooden sword was thrust into Gormus’ stomach.

“Guh!”

Having taken a hit from the front, Gormus’ body seemed to bend in two. Losing his balance, Gormus fell and did not get up — he had been knocked unconscious from the blow.

Queen looked down upon the fallen Gormus with the same quiet expression he had before the bout began.

“He... He felled Gormus with a single strike!?”

Fie and her friends were cowed by Queen’s display of power.

When Gormus woke up, he found himself face to face with a cute girl.

“Uwo!?” Jumping up in shock, he heard the girl say, “Oh, you’ve come to!”

It was then that Gormus recognized Heath’s voice.

(That was dangerous. If you only look at his face, he really seems like a girl. What a mistake to make after waking up...)

Gormus calmed his beating heart with a few deep breaths. It seemed that he had been knocked unconscious — after all, he found himself in the sick bay. The one who had brought him into the room, and bed, was apparently Heath.

It was then that Gormus recalled his misadventure.

“Ugh... He got me...”

“Yeah... It sucks...”

Gormus scrunched up his face as he remembered his defeat. Heath looked on, with an expression of genuine sadness on his face.

“Well, about that... Although he did catch me off guard, it’s strange that I could not dodge that thrust although I knew it was coming. Also... he had an air of superiority about him... Almost as if he could have made a follow-up attack had I dodged his first thrust.”

Gormus saw Heath jump in surprise at this statement.

“You’re oddly calm. I thought you would be upset because you were defeated!”

If anything, Heath looked like he himself had lost. To Gormus, the overly empathetic Heath seemed to be a very busy individual indeed, worrying about others so much.

“Dummy. Even I have lost before, if only a few times. No one gets upset over something like that.”

“Oh... I see. You were so confident, I didn’t even think you could lose.”

In reality, however, it was perhaps the first time Gormus had lost to someone his age. Although he had lost to his teachers at the dojo, or seniors in his platoon, he had no memory of losing to someone his age.

Although he had expected to take it a lot harder, Gormus was strangely calm about the entire affair. In fact, Heath still seemed more upset about the loss than he did.

In response to Heath’s downtrodden expression, Gormus smiled.

“Being confident can’t hurt, right? You just feel a little embarrassed if you lose. More importantly, it is to make your opponent think you are strong, and that they can’t win. Although, I actually am strong to begin with.”

“You have a pretty cool way of thinking, Gormus. I respect that,” Heath said, and smiled again.

Upon seeing Heath go back to his old self, Gormus turned to his friend, a serious expression etched across his features once more.

“However... I won’t be able to win against that. Not for a while. I’d have to fix up my training routines so I can keep up with his speed.”

Those were Gormus’ honest thoughts, having faced Queen in actual combat — he could not envision winning against such an opponent at this point in time.

The sudden explosive power, combined with a fearsome speed, made Queen a formidable foe. His blows were difficult to dodge, so it was difficult to take the flow of the fight away from him. Short-term solutions would not work on someone like Queen — one would first have to be able to match his speed through purposeful training.

The Gormus of old would have been fundamentally offended and challenged Queen repeatedly, but now, he was able to calmly analyze his reasons for losing.

Upon looking at Heath, Gormus suddenly remembered the reason for him developing such a mindset.

(Come to think of it... the reason why I started thinking like this was because this guy gave me so much trouble.)

Up until then, Gormus had focused on closing the distance between him and his opponent with minimal movement. He had believed that this was a sure-fire way of winning — he had superior power and reach over the other squires, and hence the flow of battle was naturally his. To Gormus, all that mattered was defeating the opponent.

However, the difficulties and near-loss encounter he had with Heath, who was much smaller and weaker compared to himself, led Gormus to think more deeply about strategy. He also came face-to-face with the power of a desperate opponent who did not give up despite overwhelming odds.

To Gormus, who had simply thought that intimidation and sheer force were required to win a fight, the bout with Heath had brought about a huge change in his mindset.

“It seems like you’ll have to give up the top spot of the northern dormitory for a while...” Heath said sadly, as if it was he who had to give up said spot.

However, Gormus simply responded with a confident smile.

“Well, I’ll let it go for a while. Eventually I’ll just take it back again.”

“Yeah... that’s like you, Gormus.” Heath smiled at Gormus’ expression. “Well, I’ll be heading back now. You should have a quiet day of rest.”

“Hmph. I had wanted to start training right away, too.”

“You can’t overdo it, you know.”

Gormus could only sit in resignation as Heath delivered the doctor’s care instructions.

“Sorry, Heath. I couldn’t help in the end.”

“Hmm? Oh, that’s quite all right.” Heath shook his head at first, but then slowly started nodding as he seemingly understood what Gormus meant.

Heath’s relative slowness invoked a sense of uneasiness in Gormus. He thought of reminding Heath that he was the one being targeted by the new transfer.

“Well then Gormus, let’s try hard again tomorrow.”

However, before Gormus could say anything, Heath had left.

The sound of gossip filled the canteen.

“To think that Gormus would lose...”

“In one hit too!”

Although they were just discussing the strength of the two a while earlier, none of them had expected this lopsided outcome.

“What will we do? Heath is up next...”

“There’s no way Heath can win against that...”

The strongest squire in the north dormitory, Gormus, had fallen in a split second. Heath, whose name ranked among the bottom of the dormitory’s roster, could not possibly win against Queen.

“Then... will the position of the 18th Knights squire just go to Queen?”

“There’s no way that can be allowed. Squires can’t decide that kind of thing on our own.”

“Guess we’ll have to wait and see.”

Although Queen’s challenge was accepted in the heat of the moment, none of the squires had any administrative power to begin with, and changing a platoon’s squires was unheard of. The right to actually enforce Queen’s terms — that was the question at hand.

“Well, Queen was that serious about it. Surely he’s given it some thought?”

“Well... there’s that. He purposely transferred just to do this, too.”

The one thing all squires were in agreement of, however, was that Queen’s obsession with the 18th was not normal. They felt that there had to be some underlying reason behind it.

“Hey, Heath is here.”

The gossip in the canteen intensified once more. Fie had brought Gormus to the sick bay, and now returned.

Upon hearing the cacophony of voices, Queen made his move — he had been waiting all this time, standing against a wall in the canteen with his arms folded. At his waist was his wooden sword, although training had long since ended.

Queen advanced towards Fie, who was currently making her way down the corridor.

The squires collectively gulped. Even Remie’s group watched Fie worriedly.

At the moment Fie stepped into the canteen, Queen drew his wooden sword, pointing it at her.

“Now, it is your turn, Heath. Face me, with your seat on the 18th Knights on the line!”

Fie, upon hearing those words, had the following to say:

“Who the hell would accept terms like that? Are you a dumbass?”

With that curt refusal, Fie promptly walked past Queen, making for her seat at her usual table.

The duel that all the squires had been awaiting with bated breath was promptly dismissed by Fie.

Having reached her seat, Fie sat down at the table with Slad and the rest as if nothing had happened, before starting calmly on dinner.

For a while, Queen remained stuck in his pose, his wooden sword still pointed at the entrance where Fie was moments ago. When he was finally able to move, Queen made his way to Fie’s table, stating his claim once more with a flustered expression.

“F-Face me in honorable combat!”

“No. I refused just now, didn’t you hear?”

“Why? Why do you refuse!?”

“What do you mean why? What would I even gain from accepting those kinds of terms?”

Upon hearing that response, all the squires in the canteen were simultaneously reminded of Heath’s character.

Although Heath looked small, cute, and summarily weak from the outside, he had a rebellious spirit, fearing no one and always speaking his mind. In addition, while Heath seemed to be somewhat silly on a day-to-day basis, they knew he was actually a realist at heart.

To begin with, while everyone was sucked into the heat of the moment when a mysterious challenger transferred into their dormitory, Heath alone was oddly calm. It soon occurred to the squires that nothing would happen at all if he simply turned the duel down.

With Heath’s personality as it was, Queen had practically no hope of getting him to agree to any kind of duel — much less one that would cost Heath his seat on the 18th.

And so, the squires realized that there had to be some other way out of the situation.

The squires thought of knighthood as more than a title. They could not exactly explain what being a knight entailed, other than the fact that it was “cool.” But they knew that if they were challenged to a duel, they would have to accept, and they would have to fight in it with all their might — to the squires, this had to be what a knight was.

With Queen’s arrival, that collective vision filled the squire’s minds.

However...

To accept terms which had no benefit to the other party was indeed silly. Even so...

(His vision of what a knight is isn’t quite the same as ours, is it...)

Looking upon Heath, who was calmly eating as the flustered Queen stood next to him, the squires could not help but scratch their heads in puzzlement.

“G... Gain...?”

Upon hearing that Fie would not accept the terms due to them being of no use to her whatsoever, Queen started thinking once more, getting more flustered as he went on.

“Then... Then! I offer up tomorrow’s dinner...”

“What, are you really that stupid?”

“Then... I offer my family’s treasured heirloom saber...”

“I don’t need that.”

“What is it you wish for?! L-Land...?”

“What, exactly, am I going to do with a random plot of land?”

Although Queen desperately tried to think of reward after reward, Fie turned all of those suggestions down. It almost seemed like he was ready to cry. However, Fie’s reaction to that was predictably cold.

“E-Even if there’s nothing to gain! Surely you can stake your pride as a knight and face me in honorable combat!?”

“Hey... If I lose, I lose my path to becoming a knight, you know? That’s important to you isn’t it? The pride of a knight? To begin with, the members of the 18th Knights are the only ones who need me. If I lose my seat in the 18th, I lose my pride and livelihood as a knight. There’s no way in hell I can accept crazy terms like that. You get it? Good. Now go somewhere else. I can’t concentrate on my dinner with you pestering me.”

Saying so, Fie made a shooing motion with her hands, as if she were getting rid of a wild mongrel — after which she decidedly looked away from Queen, concentrating on her food instead.

Although there was no duel between knights, in the duel of words, Fie had overwhelmingly won.

Queen, who had become wordless at this point, stood unmoving at his spot for a while, completely ignored by Fie. And so for the rest of that day, Queen was absent from his seat.

It definitely seemed like he was close to tears.

After this incident, Queen continued to challenge Fie to duels.

“Heath. T-Today. I challenge you to a duel with me...!”

“I told you I’m not doing it.”

Queen knew it was pointless — Fie would definitely not agree. Perhaps because Queen himself already knew this, his voice tapered off towards the end of the sentence.

However, he could not think of anything else — and so Queen tried again and again to challenge Fie, but even the other squires knew that she would never agree to a duel.

“Face me!”

“No.”

“Once this is over, you shall face me!”

“I refuse.”

“Face me...”

“You’re annoying.”

With the repeated refusals, it soon became evident that the process was taking quite the mental toll on Queen.

Perhaps it was because Queen felt like he was being backed into a corner — after all, he had even gone through the effort of transferring to this dormitory in hopes of dueling Fie. As a result, Queen would repeatedly harass her with duel requests for over a week.

“Queen, I understand your feelings of wanting to reach your own goals... I understand it very well... There is passion in it. That in and of itself is a good thing, however... If you cause trouble for others around you, well... That’s not very good, you understand? Part of the squire training is also fostering a sense of camaraderie with others. Heath is saying that you’re starting to bother him.”

“Y-Yes...”

Apparently, Heath had mercilessly reported Queen to the instructor.

After receiving Heslow’s lukewarm but well-intended lecture for about an hour, Queen finally left the instructor’s office, drained.

The northern dormitory had a bath hall for the squires to use.

There was a beautiful spring on the first floor of the dormitory, and said hall was constructed around it, allowing for squires to wash away the sweat and dirt accumulated on their being across the course of their training sessions.

The bath hall was set up with a line of individual cubicles, each separated with a partition of wooden planks. Each cubicle was also equipped with a curtain, so that the squires in question could bathe in private. In addition, the cubicles were also unexpectedly wide, and hence made for a changing room of sorts if necessary.

The reason for this strange architecture was simple. At first, the assumption had been made that all knights were men, and hence no cubicles were needed. Even the changing rooms were similarly public.

However, at some point one particularly serious knight had made the claim that regardless of gender, walking around each other fully naked wasn’t very knightly at all — and the solution was apparently the cubicles in place today.

Fie in particular was extremely grateful to that knight.

With these cubicles, Fie did not have to time her baths differently than the other squires, and was able to clean herself without any issues.

After all, Fie was a girl. She naturally did enjoy bathing. It felt good to clean one’s body, and she especially relished washing away the sweat after a training session. She found the water calming.

“Hmm~ hmm~ ♪” Fie hummed a tune, enjoying her bath. “Ah! Gormus! I’ve lost my soap! Lend me some!”

Gormus, who was apparently in the cubicle next to Fie’s, was the subject of this loud request.

“Again? Here, you owe me one.”

“Thanks! I’ll buy you a new one the next time I go shopping.”

From above the planks, a bar of soap fell. Fie caught it in her hands, lathering up her body with a layer of bubbles. After a short period of washing, Fie sensed that Gormus had left his cubicle.

“Oh, you’re leaving, Gormus?”

“You take far too long with this.”

“Ehh, but bathing feels so good!”

Gormus, who had washed himself for the minimal amount of time, left Fie behind as he exited the bath hall.

To Fie, there was no point in rushing, and so she took her time with her bath.

Queen, on the other hand, was pouring cold water on himself, thinking hard about one thing or another.

(What am I to do...)

The instructor’s words were right. He could not raise valid counterpoints to Heath’s argument.

However, he did not want to give up — because Queen admired him. The platoon captain of the 18th Knights, Yore.

Yore was apparently the disciple of Queen’s master, Kaizer. In other words, he was someone akin to a senior in the same school of sword fighting. In addition, Kaizer mentioned that he “possessed the highest amount of latent ability” amongst all his disciples.

Four years ago, Queen had witnessed Yore’s prowess with the sword at a martial arts tournament — and was struck by it. His opponent had been a famous knight, but Yore had closed the distance between himself and his opponent instantly, cutting him down in one strike — like a flash of black lightning.

From then, Queen had looked up to Yore — to the point where he one day wanted to work for him.

And so, Queen strived to become a squire — before hearing an unbelievable rumor that involved a certain youth being recruited into the 18th Knights.

He had heard that members of the 18th were all scouted by Yore. To become a member of the 18th, an individual had to have a certain talent or value to Yore’s eyes.

That was why Queen had worked hard to become a squire, with the intent of performing well as a knight, and finally attracting Yore’s attention.

However, this particular squire had been assigned to the 18th immediately after passing the test — this was the first time in history anything like that had happened.

Queen could not accept this at all.

This was why he had submitted applications to transfer to the northern dormitory, where this particular squire was, time and time again — and his persistence eventually culminated in his success.

Upon finally meeting squire Heath, however, Queen was surprised at his small stature and build.

Even so, Queen had defeated Gormus, who had blocked his path to Heath — only for Heath to repeatedly deny his requests for a duel.

He had never even considered that his request would be rejected. Although there wasn’t any specific proof behind it, Queen had thought that as long as he challenged the relevant squire to a duel and then won, he would make it. If he lost, then perhaps he would learn something.

However, he did not expect to be in a losing battle of words — one where his challenges ended up being rejected over and over again. If this continued to be the case, there would have been no point in him transferring in at all.

(What should I do about this situation...?)

Queen was troubled. And then he came to a conclusion.

(As I thought, there is no other means to settle this than a duel...!)

However, as of late, he had apparently challenged Heath to one duel too many, and upon seeing him, Heath would frequently escape. He could not get a hold of his opponent at all.

And then Queen came to a realization.

(If I challenge him here, he won’t have a means of escape!)

Queen looked in the general direction of the cubicle that Heath was currently bathing in. It didn’t seem like he was coming out any time soon.

In this location, he would be able to stop Heath from escaping. In other words, he would be able to challenge Heath without him running away.

Making up his mind, Queen quickly washed and dried himself off, putting on his clothes and leaving his cubicle.

Now, he was standing before Heath’s cubicle.

Queen opened the curtains with a flourish, aiming to challenge Heath to yet another duel.

“Heath! As I thought, there is no other way but to challenge... Oh.”

“Huh?”

Queen found himself at a loss of words.

As he vigorously opened the cubicle curtains, his eyes were filled with the visage of a naked blonde girl.

Fie turned around, coming face-to-face with Queen, who was standing in front of her with the cubicle curtain open.

(Well, now he knows, I guess?)

That was a given — Queen had seen Fie naked.

Queen’s face became a vivid shade of red — not too different from that of a tomato. His mouth opened and closed in a series of gapes, much like a goldfish. A beet-red goldfish.

However, Fie was strangely calm. Although she was somewhat embarrassed, Queen was definitely the one who was more shaken. In fact, he was so shaken that he had stopped moving and was frozen on the spot. Fie, sensing the opportunity, decided to be as calm and open about the issue as possible.

In other words — hiding her body would be detrimental. If she attempted to hide it, Queen would know that her being a woman was something that the other squires did not know.

Although there were no rules against women being in the Royal Knights of Orstoll, no women had ever tried to enter in the first place. The squire system was also something that was constructed around the assumption that there would only be male squires. In the worst case, Fie could get fired and lose her position.

Fie remembered an important thing that Conrad had taught her a while ago. It was a lesson about the art of negotiation — particularly a lesson on human emotion.

Simply put, humans possessed two kinds of emotions: emotions that came from within, and emotions that were received from external stimuli.

For example, if someone laughs, there would be cases where they laugh because they find something funny, or cases where they laugh because everyone else is laughing.

In the latter case, the individual in question would sense that it is an appropriate time to laugh due to the responses of those around them. In other words, they would be influenced into laughing as well.

To put it in another way — one’s emotions were often dictated by the situation at hand. In interpersonal relationships, this simple fact sometimes generates interesting results.

For example, when someone does something wrong, they can then either show regret or act unabashed. It goes without saying that one side would be more likely to be blamed by the public. In most cases, the unremorseful party would bear the brunt of the blame.

However, this was not true in all cases. An individual who displays remorse tells others that they have “done a bad thing.” As such, the others around them would pick up in that fact, and be appropriately angry at said individual. So sometimes, it is the remorseful person who comes under fire. It’s like turning a chessboard around.

If a wrong-doer shows no shame, the wronged party can be caught off guard and not know how to respond. Or they might not realize that they had been wronged at all — at least, not until they thought about it later. In the moment, it can be difficult to tell if it’s appropriate to become angry.

To summarize, it is possible to use this technique to avoid someone’s immediate anger at any given situation. However, this is not always successful.

If a wronged person’s anger has exceeded a certain point, using this particular technique on them would only serve to fuel their rage, and as such, would backfire. After that, apologizing would do nothing to repair a relationship — precisely because of the unremorseful attitude shown in the beginning.

As such, using this technique for unethical purposes will likely backfire at one point or another.

In the end, it all comes down to if the offender is able to read the other person appropriately — to tell if the anger threshold has reached a certain point, and they would do better to apologize and defuse the situation.

However, in this case, Fie decided to act as if she had done nothing wrong at all.

If Fie were to show her fear and hide her body, Queen would realize that she was “doing something wrong.” In a life-or-death situation like this, that would have been a disadvantageous move.

However, Queen was the one who was currently flustered and panicked. He wasn’t exactly in a state to question or denounce Fie’s legitimacy as a squire.

If Fie wanted to close the deal, it had to be now.

Without hiding any part of her at all, Fie stood openly before Queen, looking at him as if there were no problems with this situation at all.

“What do you want, suddenly opening the curtain like that? Did you come here just to peek at me or something?”

Upon hearing those words, Queen shook his head violently from side to side, getting redder by the moment.

“Ah... No... This is not...”

“Hmph. Then close the curtain, won’t you? How much longer are you going to stare at me?”

“Agh! S-S-S-Sorry!”

Queen promptly pulled the curtain shut in a panic in response to Fie’s words.

After that, Queen’s unsteady footsteps could be heard, following the sounds of him colliding with a wall. Eventually, his footsteps faded far into the distance.

At the very least, Fie had gotten out of a dangerous situation for now. If she had panicked and made a fuss here, the resulting chain reaction would have summoned the entire dormitory.

All that remained now was Queen.

As he had just arrived at this dormitory, he had no friends at all. So Fie figured that Queen would hesitate in spreading the word that Fie was actually a woman.

(And before he does anything about that, I have to nip the issue in the bud...)

And so Fie dried herself off, put on her squire garments, and silently left the bath hall.

On that day, a strange sight was observed in the northern dormitory.

Although Queen usually chasing Fie around, now Queen was the one who was avoiding Fie.

Queen wondered to himself:

(Does everyone... Does everyone know of this...? About... that...)

As Queen began to replay that scene in his mind again, he shook his head violently, as if to dispel the vision.

No. He should not be imagining it.

Queen’s faced turned red once more.

(W-W-W-Why? Why is there a woman in the Royal Knights?)

And to think that Heath, of all people, was a woman. However, there was no mistaking it.

Queen’s mind was filled with the bath hall incident again, causing him to violently shake his head once more. In fact, his heart had been beating intensely for a while now.

Also, now that Queen was aware of this fact, no matter how he looked at it, Heath was a girl in every aspect.

Her lithe figure, much unlike the other squires, her relatively low height... Her features were girlish, if nothing else. Although there was a marked lack of certain protrusions in her silhouette.

As such, with the assumption that there were no women enrolled in the Royal Knights, she would simply appear to be a small-sized youth to onlookers.

It wasn’t that there were rules prohibiting the presence of women in the Royal Knights, but there had been no women in the Kingdom of Orstoll who had harbored such ambitions thus far — it was an outlandish concept that wasn’t even thought of.

(What should I do...?)

Queen had no idea what the appropriate course of action was.

He wondered if the other members of the northern dormitory knew of the fact that Heath was, in fact, a woman — or if it had been a secret all this time. Having just transferred into the northern dormitory, Queen had no friends or informants whatsoever. This naturally meant that he knew nothing of Heath’s interpersonal relations either.

Queen assumed that one would usually hide such a fact, based on the line of thought that having a woman in the Royal Knights was nothing short of impossible.

However, Heath had acted like nothing was wrong at all — and that convinced Queen that perhaps nothing was out of the ordinary.

Being unable to discuss the matter with anyone else, Queen made the decision to avoid Heath instead.

What Queen did not expect, however, was to hear a familiar voice behind him as he passed through a relatively quiet break room in the dormitory.

“Seems like you have something to say to me, don’t you Queen?”

Turning around in surprise, Queen came face to face with Heath, who was currently seated comfortably on a sofa and enthusiastically chomping down on what appeared to be cookies from the local bakery. Although Heath leaned against the sofa in a relaxed manner, her eyes were fixed upon Queen’s. She had been waiting for him there all this time.

Unknown to Queen, Fie had already heard from her friends that Queen had been wandering around various locales in the dormitory today. It was with that assumption that Fie had planned to wait for Queen at this isolated break room — and there he was.

Although it was a given that Queen would keep his newfound knowledge of her a secret — things were not quite that simple.

Ensuring that she was able to meet with Queen alone in an isolated location was of utmost importance. However, Fie could not let this show.

After all, the one who had done something socially unacceptable in this case was Queen — and the one on the offensive was Fie. This was why she worked particularly hard to suggest such an atmosphere.

“Well? Sit.” Fie offered a chair to Queen, all the while giving him an ambiguous look.

Not resisting Fie’s stare and offer, he promptly took a seat opposite Fie.

“Uh... That...”

“So. I should ask — did you peek because you thought I was a man? Or did you peek because you knew I was a woman?”

Sensing that Queen was about to say something, Fie lashed out with a quick verbal attack of her own. With this single action, Fie took control of the conversation.

“N-No... That’s not it at all...!”

“Well, whatever. It doesn’t change that you were peeping at me.”

It was good that he had not asked any other questions. Fie was advancing the conversation on her own terms — and making her opponent answer her questions. Her goal was to weaken the opponent’s resolve, and it appeared to be working.

“N-N-No! No that’s not it... Not it at all...”

Queen vigorously shook his head, his face now a bright shade of red. He was so nervous that his words were delivered in a shakier voice than usual. Fie’s tactics appeared to be working... exceptionally well. Perhaps even better than Fie had anticipated.

From her past interactions with Queen, Fie had gathered that he was particularly easy to manipulate — for her, at the very least. Although his skill with the sword was formidable, he was not well-versed in communication at all.

When unexpected events occurred, Queen had a tendency to panic, and was easily flustered. Although he usually kept up a cool façade with his serious expression, the reality was quite opposite. Regardless of whether Queen was calm or flustered, he simply had difficulty expressing how he felt, and as such often just looked serious.

In fact, Queen was easily influenced by the atmosphere around him, simply because he was far too honest with his feelings — so much so that he could no longer keep up with his rapidly pirouetting emotions, let alone control them.

Fie believed that her plan was going to work — it had to.

“This means that you’re a pervert, doesn’t it? You’re a pervert if you peep at a woman bathing, but you’re STILL a pervert if you peep at a man bathing. If anyone finds out about this, I’m sure they would remove you from your platoon.”

Fie had rephrased the entire situation to make it sound as if Queen was entirely at fault, even though the situation would be a lot more dire for Fie should her status as a woman be discovered.

However, Queen misunderstood — or rather, he was made to misunderstand. The combination of Fie’s self-righteous attitude, in addition to the constant barrage of words reinforcing an atmosphere which suggested him being at fault, slowly started to change Queen’s views.

Before he knew it, Queen had started sweating — sweat pouring forth from his body like a spring.

“If it were made known that you were a peeping tom, it would surely hurt the reputation of the 1st Knights. And that would also be your fault... I wonder what they’d do in such an event? Oh, strip you of your knighthood, maybe...”

“What they’d do...? No... W-What do I do...?”

However, that was not a question that could be answered. Although Queen had posed such a question, he was fully aware of the fact that it was currently Fie who could decide his fate with a single declaration. As such, he dared not go against her at all.

In reality, however, even that was a misunderstanding. To begin with, if the circumstances of the situation were to be revealed, the facts would be to Queen’s advantage, with Fie being forced on the defensive. However, Fie’s attitude and her relentless assault on Queen’s mindset had caused him to think the exact opposite instead.

Queen was now completely in a state of panic. Peeping, perverts, dishonor, and the loss of one’s knighthood...

The impossibly heavy mental strain thrown unto Queen by Fie, who seemed to hold the reins to his existence, caused him to inadvertently look upon Fie with guilty eyes — eyes of the accused.

Upon seeing those eyes, Fie knew that she had won.

“Well, don’t worry about it. I’ll make an exception and let you off this time.”

“R-Really...!?”

Queen had fallen for her tactics entirely, perceiving her words as benevolence. To the grateful Queen, Fie nodded, smiling.

“In exchange, I demand your absolute obedience, Queen.”

“Eh...?” Queen opened his mouth, as if to question the meaning of the words he had just heard from Fie’s lips.

“Absolute. Obedience.” Fie repeated herself, slowly and precisely, as if to let Queen hear every syllable.

“Eh...? Why...?” Queen’s response suggested more confusion than resistance.

“Don’t you get it? If you still want to keep living here as a squire, Queen, then you have to listen to me. After all, I could decide the future of your knightly career in an instant... Just like—”

Fie withdrew a single cookie from the packet that she had been snacking on just now, and placed it on her palm, ensuring that Queen could see it clearly.

“This.”

To suggest to Queen the result of his potential disobedience, Fie’s fingers closed around the cookie, crushing it slowly.

“That’s why you can’t go against anything I say from here on out, Queen.”

In that moment, the smile that had been described as the smile of an angel by the maidservants, seemed to Queen like the smile of a devil instead.

To begin with, Queen was never good at negotiation, and hence could never stand up to Fie — that, on top of the mental strain, all contributed to him slowly nodding, as if he had no choice.

“I understand...”

That day in the canteen, a strange sight unfolded before the eyes of all squires present.

“Queen, bring me my dinner. Also, some sausages, salad, and corn soup would be nice.”

“Yes.”

Upon Heath’s order, Queen proceeded to enter the dinner line without a word of protest.

Although Heath acted like what just happened was the norm, all the squires seated nearby could not help but view this as strange.

Until yesterday, Queen had been chasing Heath around, shouting about one duel or another. Heath, meanwhile, had been cold towards him, avoiding Queen at every turn — this was the status of their relationship.

No one was quite sure what had happened.

Upon seeing Heath, who was leisurely seated at his table, and Queen, who was busy returning with food on his tray, the squires could not help but ask a single, common question.

(What the hell did you do, Heath...?)

It was a common point of gossip in the north dormitory that Heath possessed a somewhat shady disposition.

Heath had a bright personality, made friends easily, and would not hesitate to help those in need. and yet despite being such a gentle youth, he also did not hesitate to use dirty tactics in combat.

Heath did not hesitate to step on feet, or bait opponents into being careless by pretending to drop his blade, then viciously counterattacking by throwing swords, and even kicks in tight spaces. His small body did not have much power, and technically he was weak — but Heath was by far one of the most annoying individuals to fight in the dormitory.

Although he was usually pleasant, one would become quickly acquainted with his darker side during a practice bout. That was the Heath that the squires knew.

Now they observed that, in a single day, Queen and Heath’s positions had more or less reversed.

The squires understood this readily — and made the assumption that Heath had employed some kind of dirty tactic outside of combat to make the current situation occur. As none of the squires wanted Heath’s wrath upon them, they collectively decided to not say a word.

Only one person spoke up. It was the resident good samaritan of the dormitory, Remie, who attempted to convince Fie of the negativity of her actions.

Remie desperately tried to explain to Fie the problems with what she was doing — all the while hosting an increasingly pale expression on his face.

“W-Wait up Heath. This is going too far. It’s true that he was chasing you around and annoying you, but...”

“No. With things like this, the beginning is the most important, you see?” Fie replied to Remie’s protest, raising a single finger with a serious expression on her face.

After all, Fie’s response to this particular event was an emergency maneuver. Saying “Don’t tell anyone I am a woman” was not acceptable, as that would be showing that her supposed secret was a source of weakness.

Unless she did something to completely control and dominate Queen’s actions, she had no guarantee that the risks would be mitigated.

To that end, Fie had to pin down Queen’s weak point, and make him promise to be absolutely obedient to her. As such, for a time, a structure of social hierarchy must be established between them.

“I’ll say now that I have no intentions of treating him this way forever. I’m only going to be doing this for a while, to make sure he properly listens to me in the future.”

Fie did indeed intend to stop treating Queen this way after ensuring that he would not reveal that she was a woman. Although it was a troublesome event overall, Queen was a member of the northern dormitory and a fellow squire.

However, those who had overheard the conversation could only think of one thing...

(Isn’t that how you discipline dogs...?)

The squires collectively held their faces in shock. Although they had come to expect these dirty tactics, the fact that the mysterious transferee who had caused such a stir was now socially nothing more than a dog, struck fear into their hearts.

However, Fie looked peaceful, nary a hint of malice in her features. She turned to smile at Queen, who had returned with enough food for them both.

“Also, I don’t mean to just make him obey me for free!”

Pulling back a chair next to her, Fie motioned for Queen to sit — and then with an expression of sad but elegant determination, pierced through three sausages at once with her fork.

“As a reward for doing as I said, I’ll give you my favorite sausages as a reward!”

Although the squires were usually free to go for seconds in the canteen, sausages in particular were limited to a number per squire. To Fie, who loved food, a single sausage was worth its weight in about ten pints of blood.

However, those around her did not think this way.

To be given food because instructions were obeyed — no matter how one thought of it, that was how one trained a dog...

“Here, open wide...”

Without nary a care for the stunned expressions of those around them, Fie held out her sausage-impaled fork, stopping right before Queen’s lips.

“N-No, I’ll eat it by myself...”

Flustered once more, Queen could only offer a meek line of protest. However, Fie persisted.

“Say ahh!”

Fie was very clearly encouraging Queen to open his mouth. Seeming defeated, Queen opened his mouth at last, blushing as he did so.

Fie promptly inserted the sausage, fork and all, into Queen’s mouth, whereupon the latter had no choice but to begin chewing.

Upon seeing Queen obediently eating, Fie patted his head, evidently pleased.

“That’s it. Good boy!”

No matter how one looked at it, Queen had completely, absolutely become a pet dog.

Fie, on the other hand, remembered certain memories from her childhood — specifically about how she had always wanted to have a dog, but was not allowed to have one.

The squires in the canteen, although unfamiliar with Queen, could not help but shed tears for him — the contrast between his social status then and now was too great to bear.

However, Queen, for his part, seemed a little bit pleased.

Perhaps that was a given — Queen had spent all his life training and honing his skill with the sword, and was not used to receiving attention from a woman.

Sir Crow’s Journal

According to my information network, an interesting event is happening in the north dormitory.

Some sort of squire’s bout?

Good for them, you know? We did it when we were squires too. Here’s to hoping that this year, the spirit of the Orstoll Royal Knights will be passed on to the new squires. It’s a great occasion.

So I asked Heath about this, but all he had to say was, “It’s no big deal.” Maybe he’s trying to be all adult about it, but it comes off as a little cold, see.

Fights! Women! Messing around!

That’s the life of a knight.

Oh, also, it seems like Heath made a friend. Someone called Queen? If I recall, he was quite famous before he even joined, and is a rising star in their batch right now.

Well, it’s good that Heath is making more friends. As his senior, I’m glad that he’s getting along with everyone.