A Knight Commander's Field Assignment
The communication orb grew transparent as its mana scattered and faded the moment the call ended. I slipped it back into my pocket and turned to Luina with a satisfied smile. What I saw was her staring at me with an utterly dumbfounded expression.
“Honestly… You’re probably the only person in the world who would call the Knight Commander of the Shardena Order all the way here just to ask him to train your child, Kael.”
“You know as well as I do that the Order has way too much free time on its hands. And since he’s been dodging my calls, the least he can do is handle something like this.”
Considering the fame of the Shardena Order and its commander, Zenle, asking him to do something like this was indeed ridiculous. I could admit that much. But ever since the war ended and with no more political infighting in the royal family, everyone knew the Shardena Order was basically sitting around doing nothing. Zenle had probably avoided mentioning it because he thought I didn’t know and wanted to dodge any scolding… but that only made it more irritating. With so many of my disciples holding important positions in the kingdom and elsewhere, how could I not know? The fact that he’d deliberately hidden the truth just to avoid getting in trouble with me meant he more than deserved to take on this much as my disciple.
“Besides, didn’t he seem pretty happy about it?”
“Well… I suppose he would. He is one of your disciples, after all. All your disciples adore you, don’t they?”
“Plenty of them are scared of me too.”
“Even the ones who are scared of you still like you in the end.”
Just as Luina said, my disciples were quite fond of me. Back when I trained them, I had been incredibly harsh, so many of them feared me. But even those ones still held affection for me in their own way. As their master, it was something to be happy about. Of course, for how much they supposedly liked me, I still didn’t understand why so few of them contacted me or came to visit… but from the joy I sensed in Zenle during our last conversation, it didn’t seem like he minded taking on the role of Elia’s instructor.
“Above all, there’s no one better than Zenle when it comes to physical conditioning and teaching it. I can trust him with this.”
“That’s true. Who else could stand shoulder to shoulder with the kingdom’s Knight Commander?”
And since I could confidently entrust Elia’s physical training to Zenle, she would surely grow splendidly under his guidance. There were a few other disciples I could have asked, but none quite measured up to him. He was the perfect candidate for the excellent instructor I had in mind.
With that, I had secured someone to serve as Elia’s master. All that remained was to wait for Zenle to arrive and make a practice sword for Elia in the meantime.
“Three days, huh… That should be plenty of time to carve one by hand.”
Three days until Zenle arrived. That was more than enough time to craft and gift her a handmade practice sword. While I couldn’t train her physically myself, I was fairly confident in my ability to make a lightweight practice blade that wouldn’t weigh anything. Of course, I’d need to go gather the wood first. It would probably be better to collect the materials tomorrow. After all, I couldn’t possibly neglect Luina, who had taken the trouble to make time and come see me today. Setting aside the now-finished tasks, I asked her,
“Luina, have you eaten? If you’re free, want to have dinner together now?”
“Hehe, I’d love that.”
She answered readily, as expected from someone who visited once a month to share a meal with me. I thought about what ingredients were left in the pantry as I stepped inside the house with her. Even though we weren’t related by blood, we were still very much a family, and I wanted to prepare a meal for us.
* * *
Three days later.
“……What did you just say, Knight Commander Zenle?”
“I said I would like you to assign me field duty, Lord Administrator.”
Right after finishing his report, the place Zenle visited was the office of the Administrator—the head of the department that oversaw all administrative affairs in the kingdom. The Administrator, who had looked up with an incredulous expression the moment Zenle entered after a single knock and placed the report on the desk requesting field assignment, knew that Zenle was not the type to speak nonsense. So he picked up the report she had set down.
“What in the world would make you come here so suddenly… Let’s see. You wish to be stationed in Hagen Village for five days a week, staying overnight…?”
“That is correct.”
But the contents of the very first line were so absurd that the Administrator couldn’t help but let out a hollow laugh. Hagen Village was a medium-sized trading village located on the outskirts. While it saw a fair amount of commerce and was larger than most rural settlements, it was still ultimately a countryside town. Most of its residents lived comfortably, and it generally maintained a peaceful atmosphere. So why would someone of Knight Commander rank like Zenle request field duty there? And for five days a week, no less. Since no specific end date was listed, it seemed he intended to stay there five days every week until the assignment was complete.
“Hmm… Don’t you think five days a week is a bit excessive for field duty in a place like this, Commander?”
“Originally I wanted to stay there permanently for the assignment, but I compromised at five days because there are a few essential duties I must handle. Besides, with the teleportation gate, there shouldn’t be any issues with managing those tasks, correct?”
“Well, the matter of travel is indeed solved by the gate, but…”
It was true that as long as the essential duties were taken care of, there was no real reason to deny the request. Still, if he was going to send the Knight Commander out on field duty in a place like this for five days a week, there had better be a suitable reason. Wanting to know what that reason was, the Administrator turned to the second page of the report. The moment he read the reason for the field assignment written there—
“……You were asked to take on the role of educating Lord Kael’s child?”
—the Administrator found himself unconsciously repeating the words in a daze.
“It is exactly as you read.”
At the Administrator’s reaction, Zenle smiled as if he had expected it and nodded. Knowing exactly what that smile meant, the Administrator let out a hearty laugh and leaned back in his chair.
“Haha… In that case, I have no choice but to approve it. If Lord Kael himself made the request, I suppose I can spare the Knight Commander who’s been collecting a salary while doing nothing.”
“……Lord Administrator? I do work, you know.”
“But not enough to justify your salary, now do you?”
“……”
At the Administrator’s sudden pointed remark, Zenle flared up and tried to argue, but the following words left him speechless. They were all honest truths, after all. How could he refute them? Once Zenle fell silent, the Administrator continued reading through the rest of the report. With each page of the meticulously written document, various sounds of disbelief escaped the Administrator’s lips. By the time he finished the final page, he finally stamped his seal on the report and nodded.
“I’ll report this part directly to the personnel department. So you’ll be taking leave starting the day after tomorrow?”
“Yes, sir.”
“Very well. Have a good trip… and if you see him, please give Lord Kael my regards.”
“Understood. I will be sure to deliver your greetings to my master.”
Though it had taken some time, the approval had come easily. Zenle bowed deeply to the Administrator and left the office.
Creak——— Thud.
The moment he stepped out of the office, a sigh of exhaustion escaped him involuntarily.
“Haaaa… It’s finally over.”
His wrist, which had grown stiff from writing the report nonstop for the past three hours, was now throbbing. His back, sore from maintaining perfect posture, felt refreshed after a good stretch.
“Ugh…! Whew. Then I suppose I should start packing.”
Thinking about the luggage he needed to prepare for his departure the day after tomorrow, Zenle turned on his heel. Even though he would be using accommodations in the village, he still needed personal items like clothes and toiletries. Just as he was about to head toward his private quarters, a voice calling his name made him stop in his tracks.
“Oh, if it isn’t Knight Commander Zenle. It’s been a while.”
The one who had called out to him was none other than the kingdom’s First Prince, Enoch Ring Shardena.
“Ah, greetings, Your Highness.”
Upon seeing his face, Zenle immediately placed a hand over his heart and bowed. But Enoch simply chuckled and waved his hand dismissively.
“Enough of that. It was a joke. I told you to speak comfortably when we’re alone, didn’t I? We’re fellow disciples, after all.”
“Even so…”
“Before I have to order you as prince, speak comfortably.”
“……Alright. It has been a while, Enoch.”
As he said, Enoch and Zenle were fellow disciples. They had trained and honed their swordsmanship together under Kael. Of course, the results of that training varied greatly between them, but what mattered was that they had sweated and trained together. Though Zenle spoke somewhat sternly at first, after Enoch’s playful words and a quick glance around to confirm no one else was nearby, he finally let out a small laugh and dropped the formalities.
“By the way, Zenle, what brings you here? Coming into the main palace is quite rare for you, isn’t it?”
“Ah, I had a reason to go on field duty soon, so I came in person to submit the report. It’s a rather important matter.”
“An important matter? Important enough that you’d come yourself instead of sending someone… What exactly is it?”
“It’s nothing complicated. Master said he was looking for someone to handle his daughter’s physical training, so…”
Thud———
Before Zenle could even finish speaking, the stack of documents slipped from Enoch’s hand. Seeing the prince’s face frozen in a blank, utterly bewildered expression, Zenle clutched his throbbing forehead.
“……I’ll explain everything from the beginning, so please stop making that face.”
It looked like packing his bags was going to take a little more time than expected.