SOTBW - 34

Najane stopped in her tracks, heading towards the Order, and followed the gaze of the people around her. The street, which was usually filled with moving carts and people, was now packed with soldiers wearing silver armor and white cloaks.

The residents stood at the edge of the street, watching as the soldiers made their way towards the field. The faces of the unfamiliar soldiers bore a sense of solemnity and duty, which had been rare in the faces of the boy soldiers or trainees. Their heavy, imposing presence made the entire street sound with the thudding of their boots.

The people silently watched the soldiers as they marched towards the field. Najane followed the soldiers’ formation until she arrived at the front gates of the Romsoa Order. The line of soldiers heading for the field seemed endless.

Wanting to find out what was going on, Najane hurried inside. She happened to see Daniel coming out from the training ground. She quickly greeted Belshua and Jacob, who were following Daniel, and then approached him.

“Daniel, did you see the soldiers outside? They were all heading towards the field. What’s going on?”

“Ah, you saw the papal army,” Daniel said.

“Papal army?”

Jacob answered in place of Daniel.

“They’re soldiers sent by His Holiness the Pope. They say there are about 3,000 soldiers, led by twelve knights. They’re going to fight on the field today and tomorrow, so we can rest easy for now.”

Jacob’s explanation made Najane’s face brighten for a moment.

“Does this mean reinforcements will be stationed here from now on?”

“That’s the plan, I think. It’s fortunate for us. Of course, we don’t know how long they’ll last.”

Daniel stretched lazily, looking tired. But Najane genuinely felt relieved. While she had mostly been handling non-combat duties, dealing with the undead occasionally and very rarely facing holy beings, other knights fought daily on the frontlines where the enemies—Serith—poured in like water.

There was no time to rest. The mercenaries hired to replace the vacancies in the Amberon Order weren’t trustworthy comrades or soldiers. The only consolation was that their presence had somewhat reduced the burden on the young soldiers.

The higher survival rate of the young soldiers was a significant result. They had to endure on the field to become reliable soldiers.

As Najane returned to the dining hall with the three, she glanced at the sky, which was beginning to turn red with sunset. The fact that the Romsoa Order wasn’t deploying meant that Maximón would also have a quiet day.

What would Maximón be doing now?

He was probably in his office, processing the piles of paperwork with his usual expressionless face. Najane no longer knew what Maximón was doing or what he was thinking. The only time she saw him was when they had to gather for reports after a battle.

Although their rooms were next to each other, whenever she heard Maximón leaving his room, she would freeze, holding her breath in nervousness. Even when she was in heat, she never went to find him. Maximón must have noticed that she had resumed taking her medicine.

She had started her life as a knight under the condition that he would lift her curse, but over time, Najane had come to enjoy this life. Of course, she still feared facing holy beings on the battlefield, her heart pounding in terror, but somehow, she had grown accustomed to that fear.

Now, when fighting holy beings, she didn’t think of Maximón. She didn’t look at the frontlines where he might be struggling, nor did she worry about him. She just silently stood her ground in her own position.

Fortunately, Najane was benefiting greatly from her life as a knight. The special allowance she received each time she defeated a holy being was quite generous, and thanks to Amelia, she always had clean, good clothes and sometimes ate meat, something she never got to see when she was a servant.

When she couldn’t bear it anymore, she would chat with Amelia about trivial things, and whenever she fell behind in training, Daniel would stay by her side, claiming he was bored. Being with Daniel naturally drew other knights closer, such as Jacob and Belshua.

Because of this, Najane wasn’t lonely. She found that this life was bearable. She was so busy that she didn’t have the time to dwell on Maximón’s gaze, expression, voice, or the broken shards of ice that had been his words.

She sincerely hoped that these peaceful days would continue. She wished for the people around her to remain healthy and unharmed. She hoped they would live for a long time.

“By the way, we should hurry up and select the standby troops,” Belshua said, looking towards the dining hall building.

Najane tilted her head in confusion.

“Standby troops?”

“Ah, you wouldn’t know since you’ve only been fighting on the field. Do you remember when the undead caused chaos beyond the city walls? To prevent incidents like that in advance, we need soldiers to stand by behind the walls. At the very least, we’ll need about eight knights and fifty soldiers. Just in case, they’ll be stationed in the barracks or with the Order, armed and ready. They’ll take turns patrolling and go out to the field if there’s an emergency.”

“There’s been plenty of times we fought without backup forces. The worst was when we had to station wounded soldiers with severed limbs to stand guard.”

Thinking back to that moment, Jacob shook his head in disbelief.

“So, how are the backup forces selected?”

Najane asked, looking curious, and Daniel answered kindly.

“Mostly through volunteers. If you force people, they’re going to complain, big time. We’ll probably need to pick one knight from our Order too.”

“Then I’ll do it.”

“Huh?”

At Najane’s response, all three of them turned to look at her. She smiled awkwardly at the sudden attention.

“I haven’t been sleeping well lately, so I’m confident I can handle staying up at night.”

Najane said confidently. However, Daniel frowned slightly in concern.

“It’s better to just rest. It’s actually really tiring. If a sensitive person is on guard duty, they’ll constantly sound alarms and lose their mind after a while.”

“It’s fine. Besides, someone has to do it, and I should experience it at least once.”

“If you’re insisting that much…”

Not wanting to keep discouraging her, Daniel quickly fell silent. Belshua, who had been walking ahead, glanced back at Najane.

Najane’s complexion was worse than usual. She looked pale, like a sick person, and it was surprising that she was still walking around instead of collapsing.

But many of the knights didn’t pay much attention to her change. The young knights, once full of courage and spirit, grew cold as corpses after facing battle after battle on the field. Those who were kind turned cynical, and those who had been indifferent became irritable over the smallest things.

To survive on the field, one had to forsake their human dignity. Even if a comrade begged for help, it became hard to maintain the same humanity in a place where one couldn’t easily offer aid.

In that sense, Belshua really appreciated Jacob and Daniel. They were strong, perhaps even more so than Maximón.

The four of them entered the dining hall in turn. At this time, the hall was usually bustling with knights, but for some reason, no one was around. When Najane looked around in confusion, Daniel whispered quietly.

“Everyone’s gone out for fun since it’s a day off.”

“Ah…”

Najane nodded in understanding and began to gather her food. It was the usual bread with stew that always had the same ingredients, but today, she saw some meat floating in the broth. Though the meat was old and tough, requiring quite a bit of chewing to swallow, she ate it diligently.

Just then, she suddenly heard someone walking quickly from behind, and before she knew it, someone hugged her from behind. As Najane was eating her stew, she let out a small laugh, already guessing who it was.

“Amelia. What do you think you’re doing skipping work again? What if the head maid scolds you?”

“It’s fine. I finished everything quickly today, so I won’t get in trouble with the head maid.”

Amelia stood beside Najane and pulled out some roasted potatoes from her pocket. The potatoes had a faint buttery smell.

“Here. You like buttered potatoes, don’t you? I added a little salt and pepper just in case they might taste bland.”

Hearing this, Daniel, who had been chewing the meat in his stew, muttered in a low voice.

“Is this how knights are treated? So much favoritism?”

Amelia scoffed at Daniel’s words.

“I’m Najane’s personal maid. If you’re jealous, feel free to hire your own maid.”

“Tch. I know it’d be more trouble if rumors spread about having a personal maid.”

“Oh, are you concerned about your reputation, sir knight? Isn’t it a little too late for that? The rumors about you being a womanizer are already all over the place.”

“A womanizer? Me? I just like chatting with women! Hey, Najane. Are you going to let your maid talk to me like this while you sit there eating in peace?”

“They say you shouldn’t disturb anyone while they’re eating, not even a dog! Stop bothering him, Daniel!”

Jacob, who had been eating on the opposite side, tried hard not to burst out laughing. Amelia stood by Najane, urging her to eat more stew, and then left the dining hall. Last time, she got caught chatting with the knights and got a scolding from Didina.

Najane didn’t mind what Amelia did, but it seemed that the strict Didina was somewhat displeased with the idea of them being on the same level. After Amelia left, Daniel grumbled for a moment, then put his fork down with a sigh.

“But, about the Commander... haven’t they been talking a lot less lately? They used to at least respond when you tried to engage in conversation, but now…”

Najane focused on her stew at Maximón’s mention. She had already finished the solid ingredients, but still stirred the thick broth with her spoon to make it seem like there was something left. Belshua glanced at her, then took a sip of wine before replying.

“Right now is better for the Commander than before.”

“Really?”

Daniel asked, sounding incredulous. Belshua was sincere. Having fought by Maximón’s side since the early days of the Romsoa Order, she was certain.

“When the Commander first came to the Noctis Fortress as a rookie knight, they were like a walking sword. They were always on edge because of Lucas Elgort and hated anyone who dared to touch them. No one dared to speak to them, and people kept their distance, fearing even brushing against their clothes.”

Jacob sighed, recalling those years.

“Back then, if anyone had a dispute with a passerby in the street, we all had to pick up whoever had dared to provoke the Commander and get them out of there. If we left it, we knew something terrible would happen.”

“At that time, the Commander had no concept of right or wrong. Whenever something happened, they would either turn someone into a corpse or kill them.”

“But I can guarantee that Lucas Elgort is the one who made the Commander that sensitive. The Commander wasn’t always that cruel.”

Lucas was a madman. When Maximón became the youngest commander, Lucas personally came down to Noctis Fortress to disrupt him. He hired dozens of fighters to hurt Maximón and bribed knights to stab him in the back.

Once, he even sent assassins disguised as merchants to the commander’s office, turning the place into a bloodbath. Just thinking about the pieces of intestines I had to wipe off the windows to keep that incident from leaking outside the Order still makes me nauseous.

As Lucas’ schemes continued, Maximón began kicking out or killing anyone who even slightly bothered him. Back then, suspicion, interrogation, punishment, and murder were part of daily life. It was like walking on thin ice for years.

The horrific and exhausting battle between Maximón and Lucas finally ended with Taylor’s intervention. When Taylor found out how many people Maximón had killed, he became furious and reported Lucas’ crimes to Edwin.

Jacob and Belshua let out deep sighs in turn, reminiscing about those old days. Daniel stared at them strangely, then scratched his head.

“Still, I thought Maximón would soften up a bit after Najane came, but they didn’t even become a bouncing ball and just went back to the old ways. They’re such a strange person.”

“It definitely seems like something happened...”

Jacob mumbled, and naturally, their gazes shifted toward Najane. She ignored their stares and kept chewing her bread. She suddenly felt like the potatoes she had eaten earlier might rise up.