“So, Viviane... About last night...”

Viviane nearly choked on the loaf of bread that she’d just bit into, coughing furiously. The rocking carriage only served to exacerbate her discomfort. Much to the chagrin of the inn’s patrons and the innkeeper, the two had left at the crack of dawn, heading toward Orinth at top speed.

Medrauta reached over, patting her lady on the back as Viviane took a swig from one of their water flasks to wash down the remainder of the bread. She gave the noblewoman an apologetic look, not expecting Viviane to be so surprised. After all, the noblewoman did take the lead.

“L-Let’s table that discussion for now, Medrauta!” Viviane hastily said as she recovered.

“Oh? Why’s that?” Medrauta asked, leaning a little closer to Viviane. “Do you regret what you did?”

“N-No! Of course not! I didn’t mean it like that!”

“Then tonight...”

“We can’t!” Viviane shook her head vehemently. “Last night was... That was an impulse thing. For now, we should focus on our main objective. There’ll be plenty of time for... things like that later on.”

“You sure?” Medrauta continued pressing her lady, wrapping her arms around Viviane’s hips and pulling the noblewoman close to her in a tight embrace now. “Perhaps I should—”

Viviane’s expression grew sharp as she placed a finger on Medrauta’s lips firmly. “Behave yourself, Medrauta. Let’s focus on our mission for now.”

“O-Okay...” Medrauta replied meekly, releasing her hold around her lady’s hips.

Viviane gave Medrauta a quick peck on the cheek before returning to her seat. Though she was shaking her head in mock disapproval, she couldn’t stop the grin forming on her face. ...Geez. How can she be so aggressive yet so docile at the same time?

Little did Viviane know, she was the only one who had managed to tame the fierce knight who was Medrauta. She looked at the seemingly despondent knight now, reaching over to lay a hand on top of Medrauta’s.

“C’mon. You know better than I do that we have a job to do here... and that there are people in danger.”

Medrauta sighed. “Yeah, you’re right. It’s just... I can’t help but think that if Amelia hadn’t turned out to be the biggest asshole in the history of the empire, we wouldn’t be here on a mission. Lady Sakura and Riku wouldn’t be in danger, and we’d just be relaxing after the academy festival. It was... I thought everything was going to go so smoothly.”

“...You know, I did too, Medrauta.” Viviane smiled, her expression almost wistful. She truly understood where her knight was coming from, and though Medrauta usually put her duty first, the night that they spent together must’ve reawakened some old regrets in the silver-haired knight.

“But I suppose this is the path that Aluvsha has forced us to walk,” Medrauta replied. She gave Viviane’s hand a gentle squeeze before speaking again. “And walk it we shall. I’m sure there’ll be a beautiful destination at the end.”

“Oh, but anywhere would be beautiful so long as I’m with you, Medrauta.” Viviane replied sweetly, shooting her knight an impish wink.

“Y-You...!” Medrauta’s face flushed, surprised by Viviane’s sudden attack. “Since when did you learn to talk like that!?”

“Didn’t I already tell you everything you needed to know last night?” Viviane asked coyly as she stuck out her tongue. “Anyway, it looks like we’re close to arriving now. This really does fit the sort of place that you’d go to lay low, doesn’t it?”

Medrauta followed her lady’s gaze out the window, looking upon the town of Orinth in the distance. Judging by the speed of the carriage, it looked as though it would still take a couple more minutes for them to arrive, but even seeing it from afar told Medrauta all she needed to know about the town.

To put it lightly, Orinth was a shantytown. Largely abandoned by its local baron and overlooked by the government due to its unprofitable location, Orinth was once the site of an iron mining operation. Once a booming metropolis, it slowly fell into obscurity and neglect once the ore veins were exhausted. As the town received less and less funding while more and more citizens moved to find better prospects in life, Orinth became nothing more than a festering pile of buildings in dire need of repair.

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However, in recent years, it slowly became a place where the lawless made their home. Whether they came from other duchies or whether they were local criminals, most of them chose to hunker down in Orinth thanks to its closely packed buildings that made for labyrinthine alleyways. Its streets were primarily strewn with debris, making it difficult to send troops or cavalry in to clear the town, and thanks to its history as a mining town, there was a large underground network that ran on for several kilometers.

That network had only expanded throughout the years, becoming home to many criminal organizations throughout the empire. There were even rumors that it encompassed the entire empire’s territory, serving as a secret underground transport route for those who were a part of the more unsavory side of society.

As Viviane asked about this out of curiosity, Medrauta surprised her by adopting an expression that grew more serious by the second. The noblewoman certainly hadn’t expected her knight to become so serious. It was a rumor at best, and she’d expected Medrauta to just laugh and say something silly.

“No, it’s not a rumor, Viviane.” Medrauta stated very matter-of-factly. “It’s true. Padraig and I had to go down there once with a whole bunch of knights. I wasn’t even supposed to be there, but there’d been no one to look after me and he said I could use the combat experience anyway.”

“W-Wait, really...!?”

Medrauta nodded. “Yeah. I’ll never forget what I saw down there. You know that drug the Imperial Knights cracked down on a couple years back, right?”

“You mean... Utopia?”

“Yeah, that one. It was... horrific. I’d never seen something so... so...” Medrauta shook her head as she struggled to find an appropriate word. “So blatantly wrong. They were people, Viviane... People with lives and jobs in the city... But there they were, clustered in a circle and curled up inside a small cavern with the most deranged expressions on their faces.”

Viviane blinked. She’d never seen such an expression on Medrauta’s face before. The knight looked so frustrated and angry, yet so helpless at the same time. She couldn’t resist.

Viviane pushed herself off her seat and hugged Medrauta tightly, much to the knight’s surprise.

“W-Whoa! Vivi!?”

“...I’m sorry, Medrauta. You were just a kid back then, right? You shouldn’t have been made to see such a thing...”

“D-Don’t apologize! And besides, I willingly accompanied them down there! I mean, sure, it wasn’t pretty, and I still can’t forgive those bastards who were peddling that stupid drug, but... It wasn’t all that bad, I suppose. It forced me to grow up a bit faster, learn more about the world... And more importantly, I understood the importance of helping others.”

“Still... It must’ve been terrifying for you, right? I mean... Sure, you’re a knight and all, but knights are people too, and I doubt you had anyone to talk to about it...” Viviane’s lips formed a thin line as she imagined a young Medrauta putting on a brave face to impress her mentor and the other squires in the Imperial Order.

While she wasn’t exactly familiar with the customs of knighthood, Viviane was still a duke’s daughter, and her private education had afforded her a decent wealth of general information. At the very least, she knew enough to understand that orphans like Medrauta weren’t accepted into the Imperial Order of knights at all. In fact, Medrauta was probably the only orphan squire in history to have been knighted in that particular order.

She... must’ve held it all in. Maybe that’s why she’s so strong... Viviane thought. She couldn’t even begin to imagine what Medrauta must’ve gone through with no one to turn to, forced to stay strong even though she had been no more than a child. However, she was only partly correct.

“...Yeah. It was terrifying at first,” Medrauta replied, running a hand through Viviane’s smooth blonde hair. “Honestly, I was ready to piss myself when we finally cornered the criminals we were tracking. Let me tell you, they don’t look like your average bandit, and they’re certainly better equipped than them. But... There was another girl with me. She was from an adjacent order led by Sir Markus. I think you might’ve seen her before.”

“Sir Markus...” Viviane thought for a second. “Do you mean Dame Charlotte? She was knighted in the Imperial Order?”

Medrauta nodded. “Yeah. And she’s one helluva knight. Her cooking’s dogshit, but she sure can swing a sword around. Wasn’t always like that, though. Back in that cavern, I was real scared, but Charlotte had been so terrified that she’d dropped her sword. I’ll never forget that night...”

As Medrauta’s voice trailed off, she unconsciously reached a hand to her neck as if feeling for an old scar. Of course, the skin there was now unblemished no doubt thanks to the work of a healing Crest, but it was obvious that she’d suffered a near fatal wound.

“I guess it wasn’t all that bad, though. She was the first friend I’d ever made in the order.”

“Medrauta...”

The knight grinned and shook her head. “All in the past now, Vivi. Look alive, we’re almost here.”

Viviane nodded, picking herself up from Medrauta’s chest. The resolve in her knight’s eyes was stronger than ever, and it inspired a sense of hope and determination in Viviane.

Though Medrauta’s story hadn’t been a savory one, it was heartening to know that the underground tunnel network extended as deeply as the rumors said.

With her resourcefulness, there was no doubt that Sakura had managed to reach them with Riku, hiding safely until rescue arrived.

Viviane clenched her hands into fists tightly as she stared out the window while the carriage slowed to a stop.

Lady Sakura, Sir Riku! We’re coming to get you now!