The Rookie Talks Back?
After that, Kael and the others headed for the staff cafeteria.
The atmosphere was painfully awkward.
Even the guards serving the food looked tense.
These guys are the Imperial 5 Swords?
Hagen’s hand trembled so badly around the tongs that it was almost comical.
His stomach churned. It was pure instinctive revulsion.
Honestly, he wanted nothing more than to kick the tray aside and run for his life.
He might have been the boss of Iron Thorn only a short while ago, acting like king of Nox, but none of that mattered now.
Under the presence of the Imperial 5 Swords, Iron Thorn was no more than a pack of unruly brats.
It was like a lizard standing before a dragon. If you didn’t tense up in a situation like this, what kind of person were you?
“...Hey.”
Baren, tray in hand, spoke up.
Hagen, who had been keeping his head bowed as he ladled out food, jerked so hard his shoulders nearly jumped.
“Y-yes...?”
Did I make a mistake? Or did I do something offensive?
Cold sweat poured down his back.
To someone like Baren, he was no different from an insect.
A thing that could be killed at any time. No reason needed.
Did you need a reason to kill a mosquito? If you wanted to crush it, you crushed it.
Baren, watching Hagen tremble in terror, asked in a casual tone, “Can you give me a little more? I’m kind of hungry.”
“...?”
Hagen blinked. What did I just hear?
He was usually quick on the uptake, but now he seriously had to wonder if his ears were broken.
“Come on, have some manners. If you get greedy, the people behind you won’t get any. Don’t you know portion control? Portion control.”
“No, I’m just saying, what difference does a little extra make—”
Baren and Kael immediately started bickering.
Hagen stared at them in a daze.
What the hell was going on?
The guard captain was arguing with an Imperial 5 Swords member?
It was so absurd it bordered on nonsense.
...Just what the hell are they?
He already knew Kael wasn’t a normal guard captain, but this was beyond common sense by a mile.
“Tch, fine. I’ll be generous and give you one more sausage, so move along. Can’t you see people are waiting behind you?”
“...Hmph.”
“Honestly, what a greedy bastard. Here, I’ll take it from here, so hand it over.”
Kael snatched the tongs away and briskly loaded his own tray with the biggest chunks of meat he could find.
At a glance, it was a ridiculous amount.
It looked nothing like portion control.
“All right, then. See you later.”
Carrying a tray piled high with meat, Kael sat down at the table where Baren was waiting.
Today he’d chosen to sit away from the rest of the group. Baren had said he wanted to talk privately.
Baren stared at Kael’s tray for a moment before speaking.
“...Hey, didn’t you just go on about portion control a second ago?”
“Come on, I’m different. I’m injured, remember? If I want to heal fast, I need to eat well.”
It was the kind of comment that made his intent to needle someone impossible to miss.
“...Didn’t we agree to stop talking about that?”
“Who’s talking about it? You asked, I answered.”
“...I should just stop speaking.”
The more he talked with Kael, the more Baren felt like he was being led around by the nose.
It was a different feeling from dealing with sharp-tongued nobles or seasoned merchants.
Kael was slippery. Every sentence somehow managed to prick at his nerves.
“So, what did you want to talk about this time?”
Kael asked while shoving a piece of greasy meat into his mouth.
He had only recently finished eating food Dining had prepared, but after all the movement, hunger had come roaring back.
“Take this.”
Baren held out a box.
When Kael opened it, he found a necklace inside.
A crescent-shaped crystal pendant hung from a thin silver chain.
With the faint blue sheen drifting over its surface, it looked like a pretty expensive piece.
Kael took the pendant out.
Under the light, it shimmered softly, as though a thin film were rippling across it.
“...What is this?”
Baren gave a snort of laughter.
“Something amusing. A guy who isn’t even one of the Imperial 5 Swords somehow has two of their symbols.”
Kael had already half-expected that when he first took the box.
He had sensed a familiar presence from it.
“The symbol of the Imperial 5 Swords?”
Kael frowned.
He wasn’t stupid, so he immediately caught what Baren was saying.
“This bracelet you gave me earlier, and this necklace too—these are symbols of the Imperial 5 Swords?”
“That’s right.”
“And you just hand something like that out to other people?”
“Well, why not? That little piece of jewelry doesn’t decide who the Imperial 5 Swords are.”
Baren spoke as if it were no big deal while stuffing his face.
Kael was stunned. At last, Linvel’s reaction made sense.
Even if it was only on loan, they had still handed what was basically a knight order’s emblem to an outsider. Of course she’d be horrified.
“And more than anything, it’s probably more useful in your hands than ours.”
“...What’s that supposed to mean?”
“You already know, don’t you? The Empire’s political climate is far from normal right now. The Seven Deadly Sins. Just look at the way those bastards are moving openly, and you can tell roughly what’s going on.”
“... ”
“You’re not going to deny that you defeated Harkan now. So the question is what the other Seven Deadly Sins will do next.”
Those bastards had become brazen enough to launch a daytime assault on the Imperial capital.
There was no telling what they might do next.
“If they’ve already identified the person who killed Harkan, then logically, who would be the biggest threat?”
“...You’re really making me lose my appetite.”
“Haha. So don’t feel pressured. There was a reason for giving it to you.”
Baren chuckled and went back to eating.
Nice for him. One person’s appetite had just vanished completely.
The Seven Deadly Sins.
He had been so focused on Balmung that he’d nearly forgotten about them.
In Kael’s case, if he thought about it carefully, the Seven Deadly Sins were an even greater threat than the Empire itself.
This is becoming a real pain in the ass...
He’d set his sights on living a leisurely life out in the countryside, and yet the trouble kept ballooning into something he could barely manage.
“Oh, and what are you planning to do about the monster wave? The timing should be close by now.”
“...Monster wave? What the hell are you talking about?”
“What, you didn’t know? Nox is supposed to cull monsters on a regular basis. If you leave them alone, sea monsters start breeding like crazy. This place is basically a breakwater.”
Monster wave? Breakwater?
It was the first he’d ever heard of it.
What kind of garbage city is this?
Not a single piece of good news.
“No, seriously, what kind of shithole is this place?”
“I think the same thing. Up until now, that bastard Sigmund—traitorous piece of trash—handled it, but now our guard captain gets to deal with it.”
“Can’t I just quit this job somehow?”
“Who knows? Well, at your level, it shouldn’t be hard to handle. And Linvel might have a rotten personality, but her skill is solid, so if you use her well, she could be useful.”
“Just so you know in advance... I’m not responsible if she dies.”
“You’re stating the obvious. Even if she dies, that’s entirely her own responsibility.”
Baren drew a cold line.
Judging from his behavior so far, he seemed to care about Linvel, but apparently he could be surprisingly firm.
“Then I’ll be going first. The food was good.”
Baren stood, returned his tray, and headed toward where Linvel was sitting.
She had been poking at her food listlessly, but when she saw Baren approaching, she flinched hard. Her pupils shook.
“Linvel.”
“Captain...”
“You’ll take responsibility for the words you spit out. You’re a member of the knight order, after all.”
“...Yeah.”
Baren, who had been looking at Linvel with a chilly gaze, turned away.
“Bram, let’s go.”
“Huh? Uh... but there’s still food left...”
“Move it.”
“Yes, sir...”
The normally gentle Bram, who usually looked after Linvel like a younger sibling, had no choice but to obey.
He gave Linvel a pitying look for a moment before following after Baren.
She just stared blankly as the two of them walked away.
Then someone put a hand on Linvel’s shoulder.
The moment she turned her head, her face went white.
“If you’re done eating, then it’s time to work.”
Kael looked at her with a pleased smile.
She wanted nothing more than to run away on the spot.
“Hey... Captain, are you sure it’s really okay to leave Linvel alone? She’s always had a pretty unusual personality, but...”
“Shut up.”
“Y-yes, sir...”
The dejected Bram lowered his head.
They had only just left the city, and already he was worried.
She was a kid with such a peculiar personality to begin with. Could she really adapt all right?
“You noticed it too, didn’t you? That she’s been running into a wall.”
“I knew that much. But she’s still young, and with time she should be able to overcome it...”
“Overcome it? Are you serious?”
“... ”
Baren snorted.
Recently, Linvel’s skill had entered a stagnant phase. Worse than stagnation, it was starting to look like regression.
That kind of plateau was something every knight went through. And the way to break through it varied from person to person. There was no single correct answer.
“Wake up. What, do you think this is some kind of orphanage?”
“...No, of course not.”
Baren shot Bram a glance, then looked ahead again.
Merit had to be seized by one’s own hands. He had no intention whatsoever of letting anyone latch onto the reputation of the Imperial 5 Swords, the Red Flame Knight Order, without earning it.
This is actually a pretty good chance.
Above all, Baren believed this was a good opportunity for Linvel.
Luke and Kael.
A rival of similar caliber, and a swordsman who has already reached the peak.
Finding a place with both of those things was far from easy.
Baren was a swordsman who fought by instinct and feeling more than by form.
Because of that, he might make a good warrior, but he would never be a good teacher.
But that man—
Kael—was different.
That sword... it had definitely touched the ideal.
His attitude and behavior might look light and careless, but the sword he wielded was anything but.
Orthodoxy. Essence.
If she could realize even one thing from watching that, Linvel would be more than capable of breaking the wall blocking her path.
Go seize it with your own strength, Linvel.
A faint smile touched Baren’s lips. He was already looking forward to what kind of person she would become.
“Hey! Who told you to mop the floor like that?!”
“...I-I did exactly what you told me to...”
“Hah! A recruit talking back?”
Kael glared, and Linvel grit her teeth.
She was on the verge of tears, but the only thing she could do was keep mopping.
“Faster! I said scrub until the floor shines!”
Kael’s shouting drove straight into her ears without the slightest mercy.