Chapter 3

“Wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wh-wha–huh?”

For the first time in her life, Neia Baraja could be assured that no one who saw her could possibly mistake her gaze for a nasty glare. That was because her eyes were so wide that she swore they would roll out of her skull and onto the desk.

“You can’t say you didn’t see this coming,” Gustav Montagnés, the Grandmaster of the Holy Order, told her. “We’ve approached you about this several times over the past three months.”

“But nothing I’m saying is against what the Temples preach!” Neia protested.

“I understand that,” Gustav said. “But that isn’t the problem. Again, we’ve gone over this. The Holy Order is affiliated with the Temples. This new moral philosophy that you’ve been promoting can be mistaken as a message from the Temples and the Temples don’t want that.”

Neia sniffed and stared at the grain of the wooden table.

“If you don’t want this to happen,” Gustav told her softly, “all you have to do is stop.”

Her heart froze.

Stop? How can I just stop? It’s the truth that His Majesty the Sorcerer King taught me.

They may as well have demanded that she cut off her arm.

“Your answer, Squire?”

“…”

“…”

“I-I can’t,” Neia said. “I can’t just stop. Don’t you understand how important this is, captain?”

Despite her efforts to keep her composure, a tear escaped and trickled down her cheek. Gustav was unmoved.

“I’m afraid it isn’t my call to make,” he told her. “This demand came from the Holy King himself.”

“Th-the Holy King? But–”

Another tear joined the first. A sob seized Neia’s throat.

“But we fought together, captain. I fought just as hard as anyone else – worked just as hard! Even now, I’m returning from a two-week patrol…”

“I know,” the captain said. “I advised His Divine Grace against it, but he stood adamant. I’m sorry.”

If it is for the sake of the Holy Kingdom, I will endure it with a smile.

Neia looked up at Gustav through her tears, a dark sliver of resentment pricking her heart. He wore the exact same expression as when he consoled Neia over Remedios hounding her during their trip abroad; the exact same expression as when he had convinced her to bear it all with a grin. Back then, she saw him as a dependable ally that sympathised with her troubles. When he became Grandmaster, she thought that it was a wise decision by the Holy King.

Maybe it was, but, now, she could only feel anger rising in the face of his sympathy. It probably wasn’t sympathy at all – he was just a bureaucrat trained to deal with people so others didn’t need to. Everything he did was done to ‘smooth things out’. He had even decided to speak to her outside of the capital near the end of a long patrol.

“You can leave your equipment with me,” Gustav said. “Use the closet in the back to change.”

“…but everything I have with me belongs to the order. Even my underwear.”

“Er…in that case, head back to Hoburns. You can drop your things off at headquarters.”

Neia rose from her seat and shuffled out of the office. When she left the town hall, her partner straightened from where he was leaning against a lamppost.

“Hey Baraja,” he said, “what did the cap–”

“UEHHHHHH!!!”

She broke into tears and fled, her cheeks burning with shame. The sound of her warhorse’s hooves accompanied her sobs as she galloped into the night.

Father, Mother, I’m sorry. I tried so hard, but in the end…

As a little girl, all she wanted was to become a Paladin just like her mother. She had even gone against her parents’ counsel to do it. In the end, they were right: she couldn’t even graduate from being a Squire.

Why did this happen to me? I gave my entire life to the Holy Order! My family gave their lives for the Holy Kingdom! How could they just throw me away like this?

No answers came, nor any consolation. She rode alone in the moonlight amidst her shattered dreams, facing an uncertain and dark future. Thinking about that future only gave her more to worry about.

Neia passed through the labour camps north of the city just after noon, watching the throng of people busy with their work. It looked like the camps had grown bigger again. Those who looked up and made eye contact with her swiftly turned their heads or scurried away. She did her best to wipe her face. After crying all night, she probably looked even more terrible than usual.

Ugh…I hate this. What should I do? I’m just a failed Squire – I don’t have any trade skills or anything…

As a Squire, she knew how to perform basic maintenance on equipment. She could also tend to mounts, clean, cook simple meals, and fight. It was a pile of little things that all novices could manage, which meant that they weren’t very special in civilian life. Any kid that grew up on a farm could do most of it.

There was also her religious training, but the Temples already didn’t want her. Her combat education, which revolved around facing the Holy Kingdom’s external threats, was useless now that the Sorcerous Kingdom had taken over the Abelion Hills. The Holy Kingdom needed people with the skills to aid in its recovery, of which she had none.

Neia eased her mount through the growing crowds, following the flow of bodies through Hoburns’ northern gate. The summer heat already made the paved streets feel like an oven, so she went as quickly as she could to her home. She settled down somewhat as she walked her horse through the shaded lanes between the hedges and gardens of the Prime Estates.

That’s right – I still have the senses that my father left me. If the Holy Order doesn’t want me, then I could join the army. They need people and they know who I am, so it should be–

Her thoughts came to an abrupt halt as she turned the corner. A group of liveried men stood in front of the gate of her home. One of them was sifting through a small pile of her things using the toe of his boot. She rushed up and shoved the man away.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Neia cried.

“That should be our line!” One of the men replied angrily, “Who do you think you are?”

“This is my house,” Neia told them. “And these are my belongings! Why are they just out on the street like this?”

She peered through the bars of the gate. There were no signs of a fire, but she couldn’t be sure until she checked around the house.

“What’s going on here?”

Neia looked away from her home and saw a man riding up to them on a black warhorse. He wore the same colours as the men standing around her stuff, but felt far more threatening.

“Sir Alencar,” the men lined up and saluted smartly. “This woman came up and attacked us out of nowhere!”

“I’m not ‘this woman’,” Neia fumed. “I live in this house! Why were your men going through my belongings on the street? Why are they even on the street?”

Sir Alencar exchanged a look with his men, then his gaze returned to her.

“No one lives in this house,” he said.

“What?!”

I know I was on a long patrol, but it wasn’t that long…am I going crazy? No, my things are right there on the ground.

“Someone obviously lives in this house,” Neia pointed at the pile of odds and ends. “This stuff was inside before I left.”

The Knight didn’t follow her gesture. A squad of men came running up behind him.

“If you have a…grievance,” he said, “take it to the palace. Assaulting the men working hard to keep order in the city won’t help you in any way.”

Neia glanced over the faces of the men. They all looked at her as if she was a dangerous animal. Or a Demihuman.

With an exasperated sigh, she went to her hands and knees and gathered her belongings. She fit about a third of them in her pack, then bundled the rest of them using her mantle. The men warily watched her the entire time, then dispersed after she secured her stuff to her saddle and left.

On the way to the palace, she realised that there were no soldiers at all. Instead, men in the colours of different Noble houses appeared to have taken their place. Was it like that in the rest of the city? She had been so wrapped up in her own thoughts that she hadn’t paid attention to much more than her immediate surroundings.

“Oh, Baraja,” one of the royal guards at the palace gate said, “welcome back.”

“Thanks,” Neia replied absently. “Um…where did the soldiers go? Why are there Noble retinues everywhere?”

“The army went to conquer the wilderness north of the wall,” the guard said. “A bunch of Nobles sent their men to take over policing duties while they’re out.”

“How long ago was that?”

“Hmm…just under two weeks ago? I’m surprised you’re surprised – you have your father’s eyes, so I figured you’d have noticed all the preparations being made before that.”

How could I have noticed?

She was so busy that she barely had time to sleep and things only got busier as time passed. Ironically, there was more time to rest during the war, as the officers had to ensure that their companies could fight properly. That same logic didn’t seem to apply in times of peace.

Joining the army sounds better and better.

Scouting was something that she was good at. She also had experience leading soldiers in battle. Being the sergeant of a reconnaissance squad didn’t seem unreasonable.

The more she thought about it, the more attractive it felt. She could range in the wilderness like her father, doing things at a pace of her choosing. Of course, the wilderness contained many threats, but she no longer felt as threatened by potential enemies as she had been before the war. Maybe she had just gotten used to being in danger.

Enjoying this book? Seek out the original to ensure the author gets credit.

Neia clung to her new thread of hope as she strolled across the palace grounds. She dropped off her horse at the stables before heading over to the Holy Order’s headquarters. A senior Paladin at the front desk looked up from his work as she opened the door.

“Good work out there, Baraja.”

“Thanks, Joaquín. Um…”

An awkward silence hung between them. After a moment, Joaquín cleared his throat.

“Go ahead and use a room in the back,” he said. “For what it’s worth, I’m sorry.”

Her mother always said that Joaquín was a good man. He was her master when she was a Squire. Neia wondered what her mother would say now.

Neia went to the room at the end of the corridor and emptied her stuff on the table, picking out the Holy Order’s property. She pulled off her surcoat and stripped off her armour, adding it to the pile with her boots, gauntlets, and helmet. Her arming doublet, stockings, and underwear joined them shortly after. She bent forward to sift through her clothing, frowning as she realised how little she actually owned.

Everything’s so old…

She found a two-year-old shirt that didn’t need mending, but it felt a bit tight in the chest. Her newest pair of pants had holes eaten into them. In the end, she put on a pastel yellow one-piece that her father had bought her for her thirteenth birthday. She had grown a bit since then and the hem of her skirt was now high enough to expose her calves halfway, but she would have to swallow her embarrassment until she got something else. Thankfully, the shift that her mother had bought to go along with it was also still undamaged. It was probably because both pieces had been carefully wrapped up in a sheet of sturdy brown paper.

Do I even have shoes?

Neia didn’t recall any sitting in the pile on the street. It couldn’t be helped, really. She had been a Squire since the age of eight. The Holy Order provided her equipment along with her education and training.

After the war, she donated most of her mother’s old belongings to charity because she thought that was what she would have wanted. Neia’s father didn’t have much in the way of personal belongings beyond what he carried on his person and that was all lost when the wall fell. Neia’s work kept her so busy that she didn’t have any time for herself.

As a result, she only had a handful of mementoes and some old clothing. It looked pitiful sitting on the table beside everything that belonged to the Holy Order. She took an old shirt and wrapped her belongings up in it. Two medals – one from the Holy Order and one from the Royal Court of Hoburns – went into her coin purse. They were awarded at an extravagant ceremony and pinned onto her breast by the Holy King himself. She remembered the epic struggle that she had to keep a silly smile from taking over her face.

Is that all I have to show for it in the end? No…

She fished out the royal medal and gripped it in her fist. A respectable job on the northern frontier awaited her.

Joaquín stared at her as she came out of the corridor. She resisted the urge to pull down on the hem of her dress.

“Wh-what?”

“Ah…it’s nothing. I guess it’s the first time I’ve seen you out of uniform.”

She wasn’t sure how to respond to that. The Holy Order had all sorts of regulations and customs to keep things from getting weird between its members.

“Um, I wanted to ask something before I go.”

“What is it?”

“When I returned home,” Neia said, “all of my stuff was dumped outside. The sold–er, men there said that the manor was unoccupied.”

“That’s strange,” Joaquín furrowed his bushy brow. “Let me see if there’s anything about it.”

Neia waited as Joaquín searched the shelves behind him, which contained the last month’s worth of reports. For some reason, it was looking a bit sparse.

“I found it,” Joaquín returned to the counter with a binder in hand. “Looks like an order from the Holy King.”

“The Holy King?”

Was the Holy King picking on her? If so, why? She wasn’t anyone important.

“The order was bundled into the mandates from a while ago,” Joaquín told her. “It just wasn’t executed until a week and a half ago.”

“What mandates? The only mandates that I can think of are the ones promoting the recovery of the country.”

“Yep, those mandates.”

“I don’t get it,” Neia frowned.

“The manor you lived in is the official residence of ‘The Black’ of the Nine Colours. In other words, that manor is the property of the crown.”

Neia was struck dumb by Joaquín’s explanation.

They’re replacing father.

A voice in the corner of her head noted how irrational the thought was, but it was drowned out by a wave of emotion. That manor was her home. It was where she had been born; where she had grown up as a child and lived with her family. Now, it was being taken away because the Holy King was recognising someone for ‘excellent economic performance’.

“Do you know who the new ‘Black’ is?”

“Says here that it’s one Iago Lousa.”

“Oh.”

Neia knew who he was. She had just spoken to him a few days previous and saw him every time she went on her usual patrol route. He was a rancher that had grown in prominence since the end of the war. In addition to his growing holdings and his herds of Lanca, he had a small army of men that helped maintain order on his lands northwest of Hoburns.

She wanted to be mad at whoever had replaced her father, but she couldn’t. Iago Lousa was a pretty good guy and no one could say that he didn’t deserve the appointment according to the new criteria.

“Do you think it would be alright if I left my stuff here until I find a new place to stay?” Neia asked.

“I don’t see any problem with that,” Joaquín answered.

Her indignation ebbed away, replaced by fatigue from her long patrol. She dragged herself out of the Holy Order’s office, walking in the shade so she wouldn’t burn the soles of her feet. Groups of Nobles whispered to one another as she passed, eyeing her with scandalous looks.

The Royal Army’s headquarters was in the ward next to the Holy Order, so she didn’t have to endure it for long. It was strangely empty with the army gone, but there was still a receptionist at the front desk. The woman’s eyes widened in alarm as Neia closed in on her.

“I-Is there something we can help you with, miss?”

“I’m here to join the army!”

The woman blinked silently in the wake of Neia’s declaration. Neia’s smile faltered.

“Um…”

“My apologies,” the woman said. “I was a bit surprised, that’s all. It’s rare for anyone to volunteer for the army these days. Can you read and write?”

Neia nodded. The receptionist’s hand went under the counter and reappeared holding a piece of paper. She placed it between them and brought out a quill and inkwell. Neia pressed the tip of her tongue against the corner of her upper lip as she switched the medal clenched in her fist to her other hand and quickly filled out the form.

Good, good. There’s so much I can write here…

She imagined that new recruits wouldn’t have much to put down. Neia, on the other hand, had to use the back of the form to list all of her qualifications and experience. She smiled as she handed the form back to the receptionist.

“When can I start?” Neia asked.

“There’s a lot to confirm here,” the receptionist said as she scanned the form, “but if even half of what you’ve written is true, they’ll want you out at the front right away. If you don’t mind waiting for a bit, I can hand this up to my superior and see what he says.”

“Please do!” Neia said, “I’ll be sitting right over there.”

Neia went over to a row of chairs placed along a nearby wall. It looked like things would turn out alright, after all.

Fifteen minutes later, the receptionist came back with Neia’s form in hand. Neia rose from her seat and walked up to the counter with expectation welling in her breast.

“Miss Neia Baraja?”

“Yes! That’s me! Neia Baraja, reporting for duty!”

The receptionist seemed taken aback at her response. Neia tamped down on her excitement a bit.

“It pains me to inform you that we cannot accept your enlistment,” the receptionist said. “The reason for your discharge from the Holy Order is stated as unsuitability due to causes within the individual’s control, so–eep!”

A bang filled the air as Neia slammed her medal of honour on the counter and stormed out of the door. Nobles turned their gazes away as she returned their curious looks with a glare of her own. A few of the noblewomen fainted.

On the way out of the palace grounds, Neia stopped at the Holy Order office. Joaquín frowned at her from his desk.

“Baraja? Did you already find a–”

“SHUT UP!”

Joaquín dove to the side as Neia hurled her other medal at him. The banner over the office door shuddered as she slammed it behind her.

I hate this.

They had squeezed her and her family dry and cast them aside like wrung-out rinds of rain fruit.

How do I survive? I have nothing, now–ow ow ow ow.

Curious looks from the royal guards at the gate followed her as she danced over the sun-baked stones of the pavement. She ducked into a hedge on the other side of the street with a crimson-coloured whimper.

This is so stupid. Is this what happens when people don’t have shoes?

Her father never liked the city. The fact that cities paved over everything was one of the reasons why. Her mother pointed out that there were plenty of trees and gardens around their house but that wasn’t enough. It was all unnatural to him.

Along with her father’s eyes and senses, Neia felt that she had inherited a bit of that from him. She didn’t hate the city, but she preferred the greenery of its gardens and the shade of its trees.

Ugh, I need to stop thinking about the past and figure out what I’m going to do now. First, I need some shoes…

“Hey, I heard you had some trouble earlier today.”

Neia lowered her profile, crouching in the shadow of the hedge as two groups of liveried men stopped to chat nearby.

“Trouble…? Ah, yeah. Geraldo was attacked by a girl earlier.”

“That don’t sound like trouble to me. More like a good time.”

“No, seriously, it was wild. She had eyes like a beast.”

“Yeah, she kept going on about how that one empty manor was her house. Then she snatched up the pile of garbage on the street in front of it and ran off.”

“Must have been some crazy vagrant. You should have chased her out of the district. The Nobles won’t be happy with someone like that running around the Prime Estates.”

“If she was that desperate, she should have gone to the work camps. There’s plenty still lookin’ for a wife.”

“Hey, now – don’t tell me you’re into that sort of thing…”

“Mmh…her outfit was all muddied up, but you could tell that she had a decent figure under it. Young, too. Could just cover those eyes with something, like a blindfold. I hear women are into that.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. This one time…”

Neia’s ears slowly turned bright red as the conversation went on. A few minutes later, the approach of booted feet caught her attention.

“Hey, guys!”

Another set of liveried men jogged out from inside the gate.

“What’s going on?”

“Any of you see a woman in a yellow dress run by?”

“I can’t say I have…what happened?”

“Some crazy bitch snuck into the palace grounds and attacked the noblewomen!”

Huh?

“By the gods…are they alright?”

“I don’t know. The Priests came and had them carried off to be treated.”

“What’s this world coming to…”

She couldn’t stay where she was. Even if she came out and told them what had really happened, no one would believe a former Squire who had been discharged under her circumstances. If anything, they would see it as her going on a retaliatory rampage.

After the men dispersed to search for the ‘madwoman’, Neia carefully crawled between the hedge and the wall nearby as she mentally plotted out her escape route. Unfortunately, as it was the Prime Estates, there were plenty of liveried men everywhere, including at the gates.

Maybe I could use the forbidden route…

Neia looked over her shoulder, fearing that her mother would appear from beyond the grave to thrash her at the thought. Since the city’s security had been taken over by the Nobles, it was probably her best avenue of escape.

There was a certain gate that led to a certain shadowed lane and that shadowed lane connected to a certain district of Hoburns. Both of Neia’s parents forbade her to even get close to it. The street coming out of the gate was officially known as Water Way, but it was colloquially known as the ‘Path of Sin’ by those in the Prime Estates. That was because Water Way led to the Water Gardens – Hoburns’ entertainment district.

Noble retinues naturally exercised a sort of discretion that soldiers generally didn’t have. That sense of discretion probably meant that the gate had minimal security. Those who were stationed there wouldn’t look too hard at who passed through lest they be targeted by the establishment.

Mother. Father. Please forgive me. I’m going down the Path of Sin.

They would probably understand.

At the Water Gate, Neia’s suspicions were confirmed and she stopped to build up her resolve. She wouldn’t stop anywhere or talk to anyone. She would ignore any sounds and smells. She wouldn’t fall to any of the dire temptations that were rumoured to lay within.

Neia bunched up her shoulders, holding her arms in front of her chest as she skittered through the gate. She tried to fix her eyes on the wall as she made her way along, but that was too hard so she just stared at the ground.

No one’s watching, right? I hope no one’s watching…

A disgraced member of the Holy Order was entering the Water Gardens wearing nothing but a flimsy dress that showed off her ankles. Too late, Neia understood the compromising situation that her decision had plunged her into.