The Duchess wasted no time in making the preparations for the knighting ceremony and, as I was stuck in High Rock for the time being anyway, I didn’t even have the chance to simply disappear into the night.

Dissident Flame spent the next week assisting with the rebuilding efforts and winning over the hearts and minds of the locals. Or should I say, breaking up the constant bickering between the lycanids and the locals. It was like babysitting a group of grumpy children.

Of course we each handled mediation in our own way. Panda opted for scathing sarcasm whereas Bell preferred a fierier approach. Asmodeus didn’t concern himself with the squabbles of “petty lesser races” and I… well mostly I just tried to stay out of it.

During the week we’d moved the camper inside the city walls and helped to distribute rations to the people. It didn’t take them long to get back to the usual grind though and, with the exception of butting heads with Broken Sheild, the locals were passionate about rebuilding.

The male population had been mostly slaughtered, leaving the manual work up to the remaining residents: women and children. However, with Celestia being a system world, many of them had skills and strength abilities with made the reconstruction efforts fly by.

I spent a decent amount of time liaising with the Duchess. Since she saw me as Rex’s boss, that made me the head honcho in her eyes – though Rex did most of the managerial work.

We eventually found Margot’s father and, unsurprisingly, he had been killed. She planned to hold a mass funeral for him and the others once the town had been rebuilt.

The lack of men in the fortress was a worry for the Duchess. Though Celestia didn’t necessarily conform to the gender roles we used back on Earth, High Rock had its own customs. With the system in place all over the world, abilities and skills were quite evenly spread across different types of people, so theoretically it was possible to create a new army from the survivors to protect the fortress.

However, Margot was worried that the townsfolk would judge her harshly for making that decision, overturning hundreds of years of time honoured, nuclear family tradition. High Rock was a town almost completely, and uniquely, populated by humans and apparently whilst the rest of the continent had a mix of traditions born by cultural diversity, High Rock did not.

They lived and died by their idea of propriety: keeping to the old ways, as they called it. The men fought; the women did everything else. Yet despite their militaristic preferences, having lived through a period of a peace for the past hundred years, their fighters had become quite rusty. Most of them had never experienced true battle.

Honestly, I thought they were pretty pathetic. It sounded harsh, but if a greenhorn like me who had only arrived in this world half a year ago could fight adequately, then why couldn’t an army of dudes who were born here? It was literally their only job.

I kept that sentiment to myself, but I got the impression Margot agreed. As a Duchess she had been trained by the sword since childhood and she saw no logical reason why other women couldn’t do the same. Her only worry was getting the general population to see things her way. She believed that change needed to be gradual and there was already a huge change in her being the only surviving ruler. She was the first ever female leader of High Rock. I didn’t envy her position one bit; she was younger than me and I wouldn’t want that responsibility.

Luckily for her, Rex and I happened to have a pack of well-trained lycanids at hand. He offered to leave them in High Rock as protectors under the condition that she allowed them to help train up an army of her own so that they could one day leave and continue on their own paths.

She agreed but doubled down on the idea of knighting us both. However, despite her forced stoicism, I was pretty certain we’d solved all her problems with that offer. The townsfolk would have more time to come around to the societal changes Margot wanted, and she got to build up a well-trained army to defend her fortress. All’s well that ends well, as they say.

Which brought us to the evening of the knighting ceremony.

The entire town turned out to see Rex and I get knighted by the young Duchess. Her keep was medieval in design, large stone walls decorated with tapestries and throws. Multiple fires were lit around the main hall and even they barely provided relief from the chill.

Townspeople, lycanids, and the rest of our party crowded either side of the runway: an honour guard of sorts. Rex marched up first, Margot standing regally above us at the end of the walkway on some steps, though they barely made her tall enough to match Rex.

Unauthorized tale usage: if you spot this story on Amazon, report the violation.

Dressed in her fancy armour, but now with a thin, plain silver crown atop her head, she cast a noble shadow over her people.

“Good people of High Rock,” she said in her practiced and measured voice. “I invite you here for the knighting of two brave heroes. Without their courage and empathy towards our plight, it is likely that I wouldn’t be standing before you here today,

“Firstly, Rexus of the Crimson Fist. A lycanid yes, but a brave and kind man who has not only subdued the lycanid threat to our humble town but has taken leadership of them and assisted us in rebuilding. We have a long and bloody history with his kind, yet he stepped forward to help us when it mattered most. Please kneel.”

A light echo of hushed whispers bounced around the room. It was hard to tell if they were positive or not, though I suspected the latter.

Rex knelt before the girl, bowing his white mane which glowed brightly in the orange firelight.

“I bestow upon you the title of honorary knight and protector of High Rock. Arise Sir Rexus of the Crimson Fist.”

There was polite clapping and some audible cheering, mostly from Bell. Nobody booed and that was a good sign, but the reception was much colder than it likely should have been.

“Adventurer Kaleb, please approach,” Margot called out and I began my march down the walkway.

There was much less mumbling this time and I saw a few appreciative and encouraging nods. I hadn’t spent much time with the townsfolk, but they seemed to like me.

Reaching the steps I looked up at the Duchess who nodded to me so slightly it was almost imperceivable.

“Adventurer Kaleb, a man who needs no introduction, for it was he who rescued me and so many of you humble citizens from the sewers. As the leader of the Dissident Flame party, he acted when he had no reason to. Saving one of our own from a burning building at the behest of her daughter, leading the ambush on the invaders, and later finding me.”

That wasn’t quite true, or… it was, but I wasn’t alone in any of that. As a team we all took part and Rex was in the most danger. I felt a little guilty as she spoke so highly of me. Her speech for Rex was just as nice, but I felt odd. Perhaps it was from the overtly positive murmurs from the crowd on my behalf.

Hopefully one day they’ll be this positive about Rex and his people too, I thought.

I understood the hostility towards Broken Sheild, they had just murdered half the town. But Rex wasn’t one of them, yet they were still so distrustful of him. I really wanted that to change.

“Please kneel,” Margot said and I complied. “I bestow upon you the title of honorary knight and protector of High Rock. Arise Sir Adventurer Kaleb.”

“Actually, my surname is Akabane,” I whispered.

“Arise Sir Adventurer Akabane,” she said, completely misunderstanding what I was trying to tell her and I suppressed a smile.

As I stood a HUD notification popped up and I opened it slyly.

You have gained a new title:

Honorary Knight & Protector of High Rock

As an Honorary Knight of the realm you are immediately trusted by the residents of High Rock and they will give you preferential treatment in local establishments.

This is a noble title, allowing you more respect among the upper classes.

Reward: Gold Digger’s Loot Box.

Gold digger, really? I thought with an internal sigh. The system never missed a chance to take a jab at me, though it had calmed down a lot recently. I wondered if that was due to me getting less notifications. I had to assume they calmed down somewhat the higher ranked a person became.

“And now fair folks of High Rock,” Margot continued, “let us celebrate.”

“Paaartaayy!” Bell yelled and the crowed joined in with whoops and cheers as alcohol was passed around and merriment was had.

We enjoyed ourselves for a while, the party lasting late into the night, until I found myself alone with Rex on the upper balcony which overlooked the fortress.

“We’ve done a good thing here,” he said with a sad smile, carrying a tankard larger than my head.

“Then why don’t you seem happier?” I asked.

“I am happy, it’s just… spending the last week clearing up the mess my men caused… I’m beginning to understand why the people are so afraid of us.”

“You didn’t do anything wrong.”

“No… but when we look so different from the humans can you really blame them for taring us all with the same brush?”

“Who could say?” I replied with a sigh, “I understand their resentment, but perhaps with time they’ll come around. Besides, with you as the new leader of Broken Sheild they’re bound to become friends eventually.”

“I certainly hope so,” he sighed heavily and leaned over the side for a long moment. “To Castalor then?”

“To Castalor,” I nodded.

“H-hello mi’lords,” we turned around to see an utterly hammered Bell staggering towards us and putting on her best peasant accent. “Which one of you wants to ‘av his way with a fair maiden?”

I chuckled, shaking my head and as I turned to Rex I saw the white fur on his cheeks turn a bright scarlet colour.

Can he actually blush now? I thought, how is that even possible?

“This one’s all yours mate,” I said, bumping my elbow into his arm playfully.

“What?” He gasped, “why would I? But… inter species relations is heavily forbidden for lycanids!”

“Forbidden relations?” Bell said, “kinky.”

“Kaleb help!” Rex pleaded and I burst out laughing.

Flustered he turned to me with wide eyes and then bolted, Bell hot on his heels.

“I guess being the leader of a band of feared mercenaries has done nothing for his fear of women,” Panda said and I looked across to see his sitting at the end of the balcony smoking his pipe.

“I don’t think it’s all women, just that one,” I said with a smirk.

“I’m just glad she’s on our side, kid,” he replied.

“I’ll drink to that,” I said, raising my glass.

We clinked and downed our drinks, looking out peacefully over the town.