Problem Child (3)
It had been two weeks now since training with the Aln Knight Order began. Joy sat staring blankly at the meal set before her, and when she reached for her spoon, her fingers went slack and it clattered to the table.
Committing such a blunder in a gathering of noble daughters would have made for juicy gossip later, but today Joy couldn't bring herself to care. Her body and mind had both been pushed past the limit, leaving no room for such trivialities.
As the daughter of Duke Patran, Joy had watched her family's knights train countless times. Just before entering the Academy, she had even gone out to train alongside them herself, seeking practical experience.
So Joy knew better than most what a typical knight order's training regimen looked like. Basic conditioning. Strength building. Improvement of individual skill. Cooperative drills conducted in small squads. And finally, full-order exercises where the entire knighthood moved as one.
Amid countless shouts and barked orders, the ceaseless drills seemed designed to turn each individual knight into a single tool belonging to the order.
The Aln Knight Order's training was no different in broad strokes. These were people who had to be the military strength of House Aln before they were knights in their own right, and they trained to throw their lives away on the battlefield without a moment's hesitation.
The only real difference was that the Aln Knight Order's definition of "actual combat" and that of any other order were not even remotely the same.
'Our Aln Knight Order guards the frontier of the Soladin Kingdom. We are the heralds of war, the ones who charge the very front line of any battlefield. That is why we must remain in constant readiness for crises that may strike at any moment.'
When Forsell, Knight Commander of the Aln order, spoke of actual combat, he meant a level of strength capable of repelling an invading army through the order's power alone.
'Even in the worst case, we must possess the strength to hold the line unaided. That is the Aln doctrine.'
Had some member of an ordinary noble house said such things, Joy would have laughed it off as nothing more than overflowing pride.
But having trained alongside the Aln Knight Order, Joy knew there wasn't a shred of exaggeration in their words.
They had learned to forgo rest in order to hold a battle line alone. They had honed martial arts meant to let one fighter contend with a hundred. They practiced, over and over, to pulverize any dungeon that might ever come into being.
'Sir Forsell. I know it's unbecoming of me to say this as one who receives your instruction, but if the Aln family hadn't displayed the loyalty it has until now, your order would have been branded traitors long ago.'
'We're well aware of that, Your Highness the Third Prince.'
'...You know that, and yet you carry on like this?'
'Precisely because we know the Aln family's loyalty will never be called into question.'
It was because they held themselves to such absurd standards that the Aln Knight Order's training operated on an entirely different tier from any other order's — so brutal that anyone watching would think, ah, so that's what it takes to be called one of the continent's strongest.
If Joy had been in the audience, she would have felt sick to her stomach while simultaneously thinking how reassuring it all was.
But Joy was not a spectator. She was a participant, and she had to endure, with her own body, a training regimen engineered to contend with an entire nation.
Ever since Lucy departed and the full-scale training began, Joy would lie staring blankly at her ceiling every night, terrified of the fact that after three hours of fitful sleep, she would have to walk back into hell again.
Of course, the fear never lasted long. Her exhausted body had reached the point where it could sleep soundly even on a dirt road.
"Puhahaha! Look at you, drooling everywhere. The Scatterbrain's a scatterbrain even after all this time, I see."
Joy's head snapped up at the mocking voice she hadn't heard in days, and the moment she spotted that signature infuriating grin, she shot to her feet.
"Lady Aln!"
"Wow, you're excited? Did you miss me that much? Been lonely without me?"
"You abandoned us in this hell and went off playing by yourself! I will not forgive this!"
Joy roared with days' worth of pent-up resentment, but Lucy remained perfectly composed in the face of it.
At that utterly unrepentant attitude, Joy hesitated, lips working, then hastily glanced around. Condemning Lucy alone seemed pointless — she was trying to call in reinforcements.
Fortunately, Joy's reinforcements were already on standby. Arthur, who had endured far harsher training than the others for reasons he couldn't quite bring himself to voice, approached Lucy the moment he saw her, eyes blazing.
"Your complexion looks wonderful — I see you had a marvelous time! You abandoned us and went off to frolic. Did you enjoy yourself?! Was it fun?!"
"Not really that fun, actually. It was just full of scrubs. Ah, though I suppose even those scrubs were better than the Pitiful Prince."
"Luuuucy Aln!"
Arthur bellowed with rage, then suddenly felt a multitude of eyes upon him and fell silent.
The Aln knights were glaring at him. Not the idle, drowsy looks they gave during training, but flat, expressionless stares that seemed ready to draw weapons at any moment.
Feeling the heavy air that had settled over the dining hall, Arthur felt cold sweat break out on his forehead.
"Screwy, dumb knights. Do you even have friends? Did you spend your whole lives gripping swords and never learn how to talk to people?"
It was Lucy, who had been teasing him mere moments ago, who cut through those stares. Brow deeply furrowed, she met the gaze of every single knight in the hall and snapped out her words.
"Eyes off. It's genuinely creepy."
The knights dutifully obeyed the command of the child who would one day be their lord. The instant Arthur escaped the crushing pressure of their stares and heaved a long sigh, Lucy snickered and pounced on him again.
"Scared of a bunch of scrubs like that? Are you actually a prince? Because for a prince, your courage is waaay too tiny, don't you think?"
Arthur felt wronged. He had trained beside these people and seen just how monstrous they were — how could he not be afraid?
But he couldn't voice a single word of excuse. Right now they had turned away thanks to Lucy Aln's order, but even now they might be quietly stockpiling something within.
If he provoked Lucy Aln any further, what kind of fate awaited him in future training sessions?
"Lucy. Lucy. I held strong."
"Want a compliment? Get down on your knees and beg for one, and I guess I could spare it."
"Like this?"
"..."
While Arthur dithered, lips wavering, Frey dropped to her knees without a moment's hesitation and received Lucy's head pat.
Wearing the blissful smile of someone whose every hardship had just been repaid in full, Frey made Joy think, against her better judgment, how envious she was — and Joy shook her head hard and raised her voice again.
"Lady Aln! I am still angry!"
"Mm? So?"
"What do you mean, so?! I am—!"
"Then you're not coming somewhere with me? Was sweating with the knights really that appealing to you?"
"...What?"
"What a shame. Oh well. If that's what the Scatterbrain wants."
"No, hold on! Let's talk about this properly!"
"Why? An angry Scatterbrain sulks and won't come along, right? So why would I bother asking?"
Faced with Lucy's slippery, shameless manner, Joy had nothing to counter with. Escaping this hellish training was one thing, but getting to spend pleasant time with her friends on top of that — how could Joy possibly keep up her resistance?
Joy, who had been trembling with clenched fists, finally lowered her head.
"...I'm not angry."
"Hm? What was that? The Scatterbrain's voice is too quiet, I can't heeear you?"
"I want to come with you! Please take me with you!"
"Pfft. Pfffhahaha! PUHAHAHAHA!"
Lucy laughed long and loud at Joy's flushed cheeks, and only after Joy's face had gone entirely tearful did she wipe the tears from the corners of her eyes and continue.
"Okay, okay. I didn't know the Scatterbrain wanted to go to the dungeon that badly."
"Yes! That's right! I want to go to the dungeon... the dungeon?"
"Yep. We're all going dungeon diving together."
Only then did Joy realize she had walked straight into a trap. She'd thought she was escaping hell — how could the place she'd escaped to be yet another hell!
Anyone can guess what happens when you enter a dungeon with Lady Aln. I've been dragged through the wringer in the Academy Dungeon more times than I can count. If anything, it'll be worse there, not better.
What do I do? How do I get out of this hell? Oh! Right! That's it!
"I... I would love to enter the dungeon with you, my lady, but dungeon expeditions require our family's approval..."
"No need to worry about that. The Careless Duke said do as I please. He said nothing would go wrong as long as I was with the Aln knights."
He already cut off my escape route?! While Joy froze, rooted to the spot in disbelief, Jackal, who had been quietly listening in, slipped in a word.
"Lady Patran. Wouldn't a dungeon expedition still be better than writhing around and dying here?"
"That's... I suppose you're right. Even hell has its degrees, after all."
"Oh, Inferior Young Master — you're not coming with us, so you'll be staying here."
"...Excuse me?"
Jackal's face went pale at the news that he alone would be left behind in hell, but unfortunately he had no means of resistance. Unlike the others gathered here, he was bound in a one-sided relationship of master and servant.
Watching Jackal trudge back to his seat and pick up his spoon, Lucy gave a little shrug and turned her head toward Arthur.
"Pitiful Prince. You memorized everything I gave you last time, didn't you?"
"Do you speak a single word of sincerity? How is anyone supposed to memorize something that thick while undergoing a knight order's training besides?!"
"Aww, was it too hard, and you were too busy going 'boo-hoo' to memorize it? Well, I suppose that can happen. That's my fault for expecting anything of the Pitiful Prince."
"Damn it all! In any case, I only need to finish memorizing it before we reach that dungeon! I'll memorize it! I'll show you!"
Watching Arthur bellow as he finally buckled under the provocation, Lucy told him he could try if he thought he could, then sauntered over humming a tune and dropped into a nearby chair.
Then Frey, who had been standing beside her, spoke up.
"By the way, Lucy. Which dungeon are we going to?"
The moment the words left her mouth, Arthur clutched his head.
"Impossible. You, who usually spout nothing but idiocy, have grasped the crucial point."
"That's because I'm smarter than a prince who gets treated like a toy by Lucy."
"...I have much to say to that, but something more important is at hand, so I shall let it pass. Lucy Aln. Answer. Which dungeon are we going to? The large dungeon near Kurten's territory? If not that, then one of the small-to-mid sized dungeons the Aln Knight Order normally uses for training?"
"Pitiful Prince, are you an idiot? Why would we go somewhere so scrubby I could smash it blindfolded?"
"Then what? Where are we going?"
"We're heading to the Archipelago — the backwater of all backwaters — and pulverizing every single one of its garbage dungeons. That's the plan."
The instant Lucy finished speaking, silence descended over the entire dining hall.
Not only Arthur, Joy, and Frey, who would be accompanying her on the expedition, but even the knights who had been quietly eavesdropping on the conversation were stunned by her words.
The first among them to find his voice was Carl, her escort knight, already well accustomed to her outrageousness.
"M-My lady. You intend to conquer every dungeon in the Archipelago?"
"So?"
"As I understand it, there is one medium-sized dungeon on each of the fourteen islands there. Surely it would be impossible to conquer them all within the length of the vacation?"
"Incompetent Dog. Did you and an actual puppy swap brains or something? Where's the reason it would take long? Clearing two a day means we're done in a week."
With even Carl falling silent at a remark so far beyond the bounds of common sense, the only person in the dining hall still capable of functioning was Lucy herself.