“Damn! Nice moves, Brig!”

I grinned as Kaitlyn punched my shoulder playfully after we’d just finished a sword drill routine that was rather lengthy and exhausting. Thanks to the arrival of the imperial siblings and the whole debacle involving Medrauta, us knights were being worked to the bone.

Well, not that I mind though. The extra practice helped since the summer festival was just around the corner and it looked like Kaitlyn and I were the favorites to win the tourney. Outside of Medrauta that is, but...

...Honestly, I’m not sure if she’ll even recover in time. I hadn’t even been permitted in the infirmary when she was first admitted after the match, but... Damn. It didn’t take a genius to figure out how injured she was after seeing the state she was in before the match ended.

Not only that, but the sudden increase in workload and classes didn’t help with getting updates on her condition either. The last I’d spoken to Viviane was during a chance encounter in the hallway, and I hadn’t even seen Levant during the past few days either.

It was that busy.

“Thirty seconds left!” Dame Julia’s voice echoed powerfully across the training grounds. As the instructor of my class, she was pretty by-the-book so her classes were fairly simple so long as you followed instructions.

Because of that, Dame Julia’s class was often seen as the “easy” class, and nearly every knight wanted to be placed into it thanks to the abundant free time they’d have.

There weren’t any surprise assignments, sparring exams, or anything that’d make you need to do any extra work outside of following the semester schedule and reading the swordplay manuals.

However, the training grounds were being supervised by an imperial minister who’d come along with the imperial siblings, and Dame Julia decided now was the best time to kick it up a notch. Used to the more relaxed drills and cadences, most of the knights in my class had already ended up collapsed on the ground and sinking into a puddle of their own sweat.

Honestly, if it hadn’t been for Medrauta dragging me out to spar on a regular basis, I probably would’ve been right there with ‘em too.

I looked beside me, watching Kaitlyn down a swig of water from her flask. She was sweating, but her breathing was controlled and relaxed. It didn’t look like she was the least bit exhausted either. Honestly, I couldn’t help but be impressed.

“Want some?” Kaitlyn asked, thrusting her flask toward me.

I shrugged. “Sure. Thanks.”

I downed the remainder of the flask and handed it back to Kaitlyn, hurrying to stand and join the line of knights readying up to perform the next drill.

Dame Julia stood in front of us, and I gotta say, her face looked like she’d just shat a live skunk. I don’t know what it was we did that pissed her off so damn much, but I had a feeling we were about to find out.

“Salute!” Dame Julia commanded.

The sound of shifting steel and clattering armor rang across the training grounds as we all performed the knight’s salute. All of us had varying degrees of confusion on our faces, including myself.

We held the salute for a good couple of seconds before the imperial minister waddled down his observation deck to stand next to Dame Julia. Honestly, the contrast between the two was incredibly jarring.

Dame Julia stood with strength and poise, her wide, tapered shoulders and narrow waist giving her a powerful appearance. Her build was a product of hard work and diligence, and the single scar that ran down her right cheek gave her a rough sort of charm. In other words, she was someone that no knight would have trouble saluting.

However, the humanoid penguin standing next to her was an entirely different matter. His gait was wobbly and unbalanced, probably due to the immense amount of weight he’d managed to put on over the years. He wore a red-golden doublet coupled with all sorts of accouterments, gems, and whatnot that I couldn’t even begin to describe.

...I think that’s called a parure...? I squinted as I inspected the ridiculous amount of jewelry that adorned the man. He was no doubt the very definition of excessiveness.

Had Dame Julia not been standing before us, I doubted any knight would show him even a modicum of respect, especially given the look of disdain that he seemed to eye all of us with.

Even so, he was an imperial minister, a position that required quite a lot of work to attain. I decided I would reserve my personal judgments for after I’d met the man.

“Ahem!” The minister warbled. “It would appear that Dame Julia has run into some trouble controlling her students. It’s quite the problem, you see. We at the imperial capital finance this place out of the goodness of our hearts, yet it seems the instructors cannot even be accountable for their own students!”

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Get to the goddamn point. My right eye twitched as I struggled to hold back my anger. The man had already given me a terrible impression after walking up, but I had resolved to at least listen to the man. Unfortunately, his decision to start off with an insult to our class instructor wasn’t exactly landing him in anyone’s good graces.

“Now then,” the minister smacked his lips as if he were exceedingly satisfied with himself. “Has anyone seen a ‘Leticia Alcor’? It would appear that she has not been in attendance for an entire week. This is quite unacceptable, you know?”

The class remained silent. The minister certainly hadn’t endeared himself to any of us. Even if we had seen Leticia, none of us were going to tell him shit.

“Please answer the question,” Dame Julia said after a long period of silence. Though she wasn’t shouting, her voice carried easily across the training grounds. “I am quite worried about Dame Leticia as well.”

Again, both Dame Julia and the minister were met with stony silence. I didn’t know anything regarding the whereabouts of Leticia, but I had a feeling we were going to be here for a while unless someone said something.

I drew breath to address Dame Julia, but before I could, I was interrupted.

Surprisingly, the one who spoke was Kaitlyn, Leticia’s childhood friend.

“Leticia cannot attend class for the remainder of the week and perhaps even next week.”

Dame Julia frowned. “Why is that?”

“She is fighting a gauntlet, ma’am.”

“A gauntlet!?” The minister exclaimed before Dame Julia could respond. “A gauntlet, you say!? Why I never! Is this what they teach here at Avalyne Academy!? How uncouth!”

I couldn’t help but sigh in annoyance. Of course, what the minister had said was true to an extent. Nobles oftentimes found gauntlets rather improper behavior for a knight, but at the same time, they could also be incredible displays of fealty.

A gauntlet was usually initiated by multiple knights who wished to serve a specific noble. While knights could duel for the right to serve a noble, if multiple knights desired the same thing, a gauntlet would ensue, with the winner taking the right of the oath.

Some nobles saw this as unruly and nothing more than a violent rendition of court politics whereas others saw it as the greatest display of loyalty that a knight could perform, fighting multiple opponents merely for the sake of swearing their sword. It was obvious that the minister fell into the former camp.

“There is nothing uncouth about a gauntlet, Your Grace.” Kaitlyn said with a measured edge in her voice. “Please do not speak ill of things you do not understand.”

All heads turned to Kaitlyn in shock. Even Dame Julia’s eyes widened as Kaitlyn issued her retort.

“H-How dare you! A mere knight has no right to tell me what I can or cannot do!” The minister sputtered after a moment of stunned silence. “I am a noble! I have fought in more matches than you can count, child! Real matches! Now, apologize and tell this foolish Leticia to return to class, else I shall mete out the appropriate punishments!”

“You have no authority to punish anyone in this school,” Kaitlyn replied.

W-What the hell are you doing, Kaitlyn!? Are you stupid!? He doesn’t need to punish you directly! I wanted to slam my head against a wall out of frustration. Kaitlyn was always cool and collected, even in the midst of a heated bout. I had absolutely no idea why she was mouthing off to an imperial official right now, but it sure wasn’t looking good for her.

“Oh, is that so, child?” The minister sneered. “What is your name? We shall see what the Round Table has to say about you!”

“You said you were a noble, were you not?”

“What of it, child?”

“Then I invoke my right as a knight to settle this dispute with a challenge.”

“A challenge? I am a noble, you fool. You cannot challenge me to a duel.”

Kaitlyn laughed, but it was a sound that possessed no mirth. “No, Your Grace. I challenge you to a match.”

Dame Julia’s eyes went wild. “K-Kaitlyn Ophius! Rescind your challenge immediately! This is an order! Minister Palquin’s knight is an imperial knight, you’ll stand no chance!”

Please just take it back, Kaitlyn... It’s not worth getting stuck in the infirmary! I touched a hand to my forehead in frustration. Sure, Kaitlyn was strong. I figured she could probably duel one evenly, but a match was a completely different monster, especially against an experienced pair.

“No.”

That one word caused the reality of the situation to settle in for everyone who was present. It was foolish and stupid, but I’d wager everyone’s respect for Kaitlyn just skyrocketed. In a matter of seconds, the class was dismissed, and everyone prepared to move to the arena.

It seemed that the minister wanted to settle this as quickly as possible, and Kaitlyn had no problems with that either.

“Are you insane!?” I shouted with a little more heat than I’d intended. “Imperial knights are no joke! Who the hell do you think you are!? Medrauta!?”

“Do I look like I’m gonna be bedridden for the rest of the month?”

“You—Ugh! You’re a real idiot, you know that?”

Kaitlyn merely shrugged.

“Right now, Leticia is fighting for the love of her life. As her best friend, I’ve gotta help cover for her, you know? ‘Cause that’s what best friends do.”

I stared at Kaitlyn, speechless. Was this what it was all about? Was this why she was mouthing off?

“...Kaitlyn.”

Kaitlyn shook her head, smiling all the while. “My lord’s coming. We’ll talk after, ‘kay?”

I nodded and watched her leave.

Though she had left with the smile still on her face...

...I couldn’t help but notice the unfathomable sadness and loneliness that laid behind it.