SBTMK Chapter 36

After what felt like an eternity had passed, the moment his shadow slipped into the shadow of the tree, Flora took a short, quiet breath.

"……Flora."

She watched, entirely, as those thin red lips called her name.

The name she'd hated most in the world had just sounded, somehow, sacred.

"Flora."

When Flora only kept looking up at him without answering, Simen bent at the waist, brought his face close, and called her again.

"Still taking me for a ghost."

Only then did Flora come back to herself and blink.

A familiar scent tickled the edge of her nose.

No drug could be more perfect than this, she thought, and let her eyes drop.

Flora moved, slowly.

"Flora of the White Knights greets the sun of the Haenkan Empire."

The knight who dropped to one knee before him swore her loyalty to her lord with her whole heart.

Simen, silent for a moment, set his hand on top of her head.

A warm, languid feeling, stroked gently.

It was the familiar touch of the master she'd permitted.

"That's enough. Lift your head. Flora. My knight."

That gentle voice left her no choice but to lift her head.

My knight.

The words wouldn't leave her, as if branded into her mind.

If it were possible, she wanted this moment, this instant, to last forever.

Ah—my knight.

It was a phrase that filled her chest to overflowing enough that she wouldn't have minded dying right then.

She made a vow.

To live nobly as this man's knight, and to die that way too.

"It's been a while."

"……Your Majesty."

"The greetings are done now, so—will you say my name?"

"But I'm now Your Majesty's knight, so—"

"That was the rule between the two of us."

Simen's face was set, insistent again.

"Go on."

Her lips parted, slightly.

Longing—a genuinely lousy feeling. To think it wouldn't let her look away, not even a little.

"Flora."

"……Simen."

Flora's lips finally opened. She could never win against his stubbornness.

Simen looked satisfied.

Whether it was mere teasing or genuine goodwill, pity or something else entirely—if it satisfied him, she decided that was enough.

"Sit comfortably. And from now on, don't greet me that way when it's just the two of us."

Flora pressed her lips together, then sat down onto the ground.

"By the way, how did you find me here?"

"I had you tailed."

"……Excuse me?"

Flora narrowed her eyes and scanned her surroundings. Simen huffed out a short laugh, as if she were being ridiculous.

"If you can spot it just by looking that way, is it even a tail."

"I didn't sense anything suspicious."

"If you'd caught them, they wouldn't be my honor guard."

Simen shrugged.

Seeing him so pleased with himself, Flora couldn't help but let a faint smile through.

"You look good when you smile."

"…….."

"I was a little hurt, thinking you weren't glad to see me."

"There's no way I wouldn't be."

"Can't be sure. You've never asked, and you've never told me either."

Was that so. Flora glanced at him.

She couldn't lay out everything she'd just seen, exactly as her heart wanted to—but maybe she could reveal a little of it. That thought crossed her mind.

Flora opened her mouth, slowly.

"This is the hour I like best, right now. When the sun sets."

"…….."

"I like it even more because I got to see Simen during the hour I like."

An unfamiliar feeling, an unfamiliar current in the air. And it wasn't only Flora who felt it.

Having no way to know what she was feeling, Simen let out a low groan, closed his eyes briefly, and opened them again.

He'd come running the moment he heard she'd been drawn for the subjugation force.

She was an excellent knight, and would only become more so—he couldn't say exactly what it was he'd been so worried about.

Only this much was certain: this was a wholly unexpected situation, badly at odds with his plans.

Something faintly scorching rose from deep inside Simen.

"I'd like it even more if you kept telling me things like that, from now on."

He said it with deliberately feigned indifference, and quietly clenched a hand she couldn't see.

Afraid he might get swept up in this strange feeling that kept surging without warning, he hurried to change the subject.

"I heard you're being sent out on a mission."

"Ah, you heard already?"

Only then did Flora start to guess, dimly, why Simen had come looking for her.

"That's right. You volunteered to go?"

"Yes."

"You've only been in the corps a week, I think—why already something so dangerous."

"It felt like a good opportunity for me."

Simen pressed his lips shut.

He couldn't say anything. No—there was plenty he wanted to say, he just couldn't say it.

Because he had neither the right nor the reason.

An imperial knight facing a demon-beast with courage was exactly what an emperor was supposed to commend.

"I'll go and come back safely. Simen."

So why is it that I don't want that? Simen couldn't take his eyes off her.

Flora was smiling.

That smile kept making his chest itch, over and over.

"Go safely. Don't get hurt."

Tap, tap. At the light touch on her head, Flora nodded.

"Simen."

"Yes. Flora."

Flora swallowed against a dry throat as she looked at him.

"……When I get back, there's something I need to tell you."

Her eyes, as she confessed this, were lit with a resolve she'd never shown before.

Simen weighed whatever was hidden behind that look.

It was boundless trust.

"……All right. I'll wait."

So he answered in kind. With the same trust. Simen smiled, wide and open.

On the appointed day, the subjugation force set out for the county.

The combined total from the Black Knights and White Knights came to forty.

And Hakra, commander of the Black Knights, stepped forward as their leader.

The county was a place reachable only after a full day, or as much as two, of hard riding.

Flora was assigned to the very rear of the force, guarding the wagon that carried the knights' supplies.

"……I want to make a bet with the commander too."

As she walked along, silently keeping watch on her surroundings, Paul's voice came from behind her.

She turned back, wondering what he meant, and Paul answered.

"I want a gift too."

"…….."

"I can't even use a bow, but it looks cool. Just makes me want to own one."

Unlike the other knights, Flora had not only a sword but a bow strapped to her back as well.

The bow Paul envied had been given to her by Commander Kasin, the day before the subjugation force departed.

"What is this, Commander?"

Called into the commander's office, Flora had been handed the bow by him.

At a glance it was clearly high-quality, jet-black, and fit perfectly into her hand.

It was a bow far beyond comparison with the issued equipment.

When Flora, eyes wide, asked, Kasin had answered that it was the tied-bet prize.

"Wasn't the gift supposed to be exchanged on payday?"

"It was. But I don't know if you'll even be here by then, so I'm giving it early."

"Even so, if you give me something this expensive, I'll—"

"I thought it'd suit you, so I bought it. Don't worry about the price. It's not expensive."

Simen had said something similar back when he'd given her the sword.

Same master, same kind of knight, I guess.

Flora shook her head sharply at the faint memory of Simen that surfaced.

Watching that, Kasin's brow had furrowed, but before he could ask if there was a problem, an answer came from Flora.

"I'm an archer, Commander. I know roughly what materials this is made from, and roughly what it's worth."

Caught out, Kasin just shrugged it off, shameless.

"Buying that isn't going to starve me, so don't worry about it. I'm giving it to you so you can look after your comrades well out there—take it without any more fuss."

"To return a gift this size, I'd be the one starving."

"Who said anything about paying it back at equal value? A gift is about the intention. Now get going. I've got work to do."

Flora had cradled the bow she'd been landed with, carefully.

Kasin, by then looking as though even responding was too much trouble, had still needed a farewell.

"Thank you, Commander. When I get back from the mission, I'll be sure to give you a gift too."

At that, Kasin had smiled.

"Come back safe. That's all I need."

Pulling free of the memory, Flora found she'd been wearing a faint smile without noticing.

She'd been debating whether to use the bow she'd brought from Cenkan, and thought—well, this worked out.

They kept walking a good while longer, and by the time she noticed, night had fallen.

The roads were dark after nightfall, and everyone was worn out from a full day's walking, so they decided to rest for the night.

The knights settled into a village.

Since they planned to set out again the moment day broke, no one bothered unpacking properly.

The moment Flora had filled her own hungry stomach, she went to the stables and spent the rest of the evening watering and feeding hay to the horse that had worked all day. The other lower-ranked knights did the same.

Among the Black Knights' lower-ranked knights who'd come along on this subjugation mission, there were a few fellow candidates who'd sat the same exam as Flora and Paul.

Flora exchanged a quick round of how-are-you-doing with them, then went to sleep in the room she'd been assigned.

The lodging conditions were poor enough that the women knights, regardless of rank, were packed into a single room to sleep.

Among them, one senior knight from the Black Knights and one elite knight from the White Knights shared a bed, while the rest of the lower-ranked knights simply sprawled wherever they could on the floor and snatched what sleep they could.

Sleeping on the bare floor was uncomfortable, but they were too exhausted even to notice, and fell straight into sleep.