SBTMK Chapter 24

"Commander Hakra of the Black Knights will be visiting tomorrow at lunch to check on you. Commander Kasin Revelotia will come by dinner."

Eden, finished with the treatment, relayed the message to Flora, thinking back to the two commanders he'd run into in the corridor earlier.

The two of them had already argued over who'd get to visit Flora first, so word of her wasn't going to stay quiet no matter what.

The childish squabbling had shown no sign of ending, so in the end Eden had to mediate himself. Once he set an order, the two commanders had, thankfully, accepted it without complaint, and the matter had resolved itself.

If she thought back on the whole ridiculous scene for a while, her mood was likely to lift on its own.

In the meantime, Flora had been turning Eden's words over, and asked.

"Is it customary for the corps commanders to visit right after the exam?"

"No, there's no such custom. I'd guess they're coming to recruit you."

"……Ah?"

If that were true, it meant both the White Knights and the Black Knights wanted her……

"Impressive, Lady."

'I didn't think it'd really be true… but is it?'

She'd been braced for the possibility of failing, so hearing that both commanders wanted to recruit her left her a little dazed.

"I have evening prayers coming up, so I should get going. Lady, rest easy."

"Ah, yes. Thank you, as always, Eden."

"There'll be a Holy Knight in the corridor. If you get hungry, just ask him to show you the way."

Eden smiled, eyes creasing, and left the room.

Her heart pounded. The first step she'd taken toward her dream seemed to be going smoothly, somehow, and the feeling wasn't bad at all.

"Lady Flora!"

Not long after Eden left, Lugaria came to the sickroom.

She was struggling to open the door with both hands full and couldn't even close it properly behind her, flustered—Flora watched her, briefly lost for words.

She wasn't in her maid's uniform, but in the Dawn Knights' own.

"The uniform suits you well, Lugaria."

"Oh—no, not really."

Waving her hands and looking flustered at the compliment, she was, Flora thought, quite endearing.

"Are you feeling all right?"

"Completely fine. Eden just came by."

"Well—with Eden's healing power, of course it'd be reliable. That's probably why he's His Majesty's personal physician, and why the High Priest is training him as heir, don't you think?"

"……."

Lugaria set the tray she'd carried down on the table, murmuring.

At that, Flora swallowed a breath and her eyes went round.

She'd had no idea, and now she did.

The Emperor's physician. And heir to the High Priest……!

Wait—Eden was……that important a person?

At this point, one thing was certain. This country's looks and talent seemed to run in direct proportion. Arzeka clearly had a thing for handsome men.

"Anyway, how did the exam go?"

"I did everything I could. Shouldn't the results follow whatever effort was put in?"

"I'm sure someone like you got a good result, Lady Flora."

Flora didn't mention that the two commanders were coming to visit tomorrow.

She hadn't been officially recruited yet, and didn't want to get ahead of herself.

"What about the second exam? I've heard the new one's earned quite the reputation."

"It was awful. I fought a demon-beast made by magic for ten minutes."

"……Good lord."

Lugaria's face went white as she shook her head. She kept repeating how awful it sounded, then studied Flora closely.

"You're really all right?"

"Yes. I'm fine."

Her light brown eyes, plainly worried, rolled like marbles.

"You didn't fight alone, did you? Please tell me you didn't."

"……."

"You're kidding. Alone?"

Lugaria frowned like she'd grown a horn, and let out a long sigh.

Then she told Flora how glad she was nothing had happened, and that she must have had a hard time.

Flora broke the brief silence and spoke to Lugaria.

"……Lugaria. I have something I've been curious about."

"Yes!"

"Which corps did you come from, before the Dawn Knights?"

At Flora's question, something flickered in Lugaria's eyes.

Something about her looked uneasy, and Flora couldn't help but be thrown by it.

"Ah, well, that……"

"Ah, if it's an uncomfortable question to answer, you don't have to."

Lugaria bit down on her lower lip, head bowed, and finally spoke in a voice that trailed off before it finished.

"I'm—I'm not from the imperial corps. I came from a provincial post. I met the Captain by chance and joined the Dawn Knights that way."

Was it not being from the imperial corps that had shaken her confidence like that?

Flora looked at Lugaria, who was still keeping her head down.

There were knights who looked down on people simply for not being Academy graduates—

So of course there'd be people who sneered at her for not coming from the imperial corps.

"Lugaria."

"Y-yes?"

Lugaria sometimes reminded her of Rene. Like right now.

Flora set her own hand lightly over Lugaria's.

"Whatever anyone says to you, you don't need to let it get to you. Right now, you're a Dawn Knight—His Majesty's own personal guard. So you're allowed to carry yourself a little prouder than that."

"……Lady Flora."

"How impressive is that, how admirable? The people who give you a hard time about it are just jealous, that's all."

Saying it out loud felt a little too much, but Lugaria's expression seemed to ease, so it had done its job.

"Thank you for saying that. I'll try to be braver. Honestly, once people hear where I'm from, a lot of them start looking down on me, even quietly. No matter how many times I hear it, it never stops stinging."

"I understand that feeling well. Being dismissed, being looked down on for a lowly background……but this morning, you were the one telling me to knock people down a peg. You need to do that too, Lugaria! You serve His Majesty, and you're someone Commander Erne personally chose."

"I'll do my best too! That way I can protect my junior, Lady Flora!"

Lugaria clenched her fist like she was steeling her resolve. Flora looked at her and murmured.

"I'll count on it. Senior."

Lugaria's face flushed bright red in an instant.

She felt a little bad for her, but Lugaria was too cute and too transparent not to keep teasing.

"Um, but—why did you ask where I was from? Was there something else you wanted to know?"

"Ah, yes. I was curious what the White Knights and the Black Knights actually do, respectively."

"Aaah……I don't know much about internal duties within the corps myself, but these days I think they do pretty similar work. There just aren't many people left."

"……Is that so?"

"Just hearing about your exam, Lady Flora, I think I understand why the numbers are down!"

Lugaria's eyes went hard again, like she'd grown that horn once more. Flora smiled faintly at the sight.

They talked a long while, and before either of them noticed, it had gone dark outside.

Lugaria stood, saying it was about time to head back. It was time to say goodbye.

Once Flora joined a corps, she'd have to live at headquarters, so there'd be no more spending whole days with Lugaria like this.

Unless their schedules lined up or they were assigned the same task, they likely wouldn't see each other much at all. Lugaria seemed to feel the same reluctance—she stood there a good while, hesitating.

"You may have heard this already, Lugaria, but before I came here, I was someone always on the run. So I was always alone."

"……."

"Living an ordinary life among people was my dream—and this whole time, living alongside you, it felt good. Like I'd gained a sister I never had, like I got to learn about joys I never knew existed."

"……."

"You must have hated pretending to be a maid, and still you stayed by my side this whole time. Thank you. I was able to settle into Haenkan because of you."

"Lady Flora……"

Lugaria's bottom lip trembled faintly, and she threw her arms around Flora.

The sudden hug caught her off guard, but Flora smiled and rubbed her back.

"I—honestly, I complained a lot at first, saying I really, really hated this job……but even so, I think now I'm glad I did it."

"……."

"I don't think you're a bad person, Lady Flora. Not from what I've seen of you. So—that wound you're carrying by yourself. Once it doesn't hurt so much anymore, you have to tell me, someday!"

Flora's hand, still rubbing her back, paused for a moment—and then, at last, she gave a small nod.

"Whichever corps you end up in, whenever I have free time, I'll definitely come loiter around headquarters. Though I'll have to run if the commander catches me——!"

Lugaria stayed Lugaria to the very end.

Flora couldn't help but laugh at her last words, half-shouted through what sounded like tears.

"The two of them seem to have gotten pretty close, don't they."

Simen murmured, looking up at the night sky.

Erne, walking behind him lost in thought, lifted his head slightly at his lord's words.

〈Yes.〉

"You still think she's dangerous?"

〈……She's still hiding things. If Your Majesty's keeping her close— there shouldn't be any risk left in her, at all.〉

Erne organized his thoughts calmly before answering, then recalled the exchange between Lugaria and Flora he'd overheard in the temple corridor just now.

'Whatever anyone says to you, you don't need to let it get to you. Right now, you're a Dawn Knight—His Majesty's own personal guard. So you're allowed to carry yourself a little prouder than that.'

'……Maybe she's not so bad, after all. A little.'

Erne's violet eyes settled, deep and quiet.

"I feel like that's her wound, somehow, and it's hard for me to just go digging into it."

〈……〉

"Won't she tell me herself, eventually? The way you did, for me."

Erne looked at his lord again.

His lord was already looking back at him, walking.

His face, moonlight settling over it, looked warm and gentle.

Just like the day they'd first met.

〈You'll trip if you keep that up. Watch where you're going.〉

"That's a shame. I wanted to talk Flora's ear off too, you know. Lugaria stole her from me, so you'll have to keep me company instead."

〈You'll be up all night again today too.〉

"Not that. You're no fun at all."

In the end, Erne let himself smile faintly too.

As always, he could never win against his lord. Not even the smallest stubbornness.

He was one of only two people he could never win against. So he decided—just a little—he'd let his guard down.