I Will Be the Greatest Knight

The knights, apprentices, and mage following Irene had been traveling for two entire days. Fortunately, their path was uneventful since most monsters had retreated deeper into the darkness if they hadn't been killed altogether.

Their new Commander was doing everything he could to relieve the lands of the awful creatures. It was evident that with each bend they rounded, they found a place once full of monster life was entirely devoid.

However, now that they had all settled down and were eating their hunts that day by the fire, she thought there was never a better time to address the ones she had been leading so far.

Surprisingly, she found herself closest to Bren during the trip. He had a penchant for sticking to the highest-ranked, she noticed. It didn't rub her the wrong way, considering how helpful he was.

"Everyone," Irene called to the travelers, not needing to speak loudly because they were all so close by.

The red-haired knight sat atop a boulder and balanced her small, wooden bowl of stew as she finally decided to address her fellow travelers. Her green eyes scanned the mage, knights, and apprentices. They all met her eyes, eager to take in what she was going to say.

It felt so amazing to be the third in command. The thought caused a small smile to appear. Being knighted wasn't the top; she still had higher to climb.

"Since it was Sir Gunnar who helped me decide who would go on this trip to meet up with the rest of our knights, I don't doubt your abilities whatsoever," she explained. "However, I do want to remind everyone that the direction we will be headed tomorrow is the lowest point in Chemois and tends to still be filled with water even during this time of year. Rather than the protective formation we have been traveling in with our less-experienced in the middle, we will have to stick to a single file line so that we don't risk hurting our horses by stepping in the parts of the marsh that are more precarious this time of year."

Many were still eating. There were mostly noises of agreement if they bothered responding at all.

"I will lead the line and hope that the apprentices will be someplace in the middle," she explained. "There are many who have gone through this very central region before and I trust that you will help lead those with less experience. As long as we stay on the safest path, we will not face any trouble."

"I will stay in the back," Siverly spoke up. "If there is anything amiss, I can handle it with magic."

It was probably the most he had said the entire duration of their journey, so Irene perked up at this.

"I appreciate it, Siverly," she commented.

He merely waved his spoon at her and continued eating, not liking the pressure of everyone looking at him.

When Irene was satisfied that everyone knew what the next day entailed, Irene slipped off the rock and sat on the ground once more with the boulder as her backrest rather than a chair. She finished her stew and brought the bowl to the apprentices.

"You're the highest ranked," Bren insisted. "You ought not to help with dinner duties."

Her reddish eyebrow raised at that, but she wasn't going to argue. After having to do meal duties day in and day out during the war, she was tired of that one specific chore.

The apprentices seemed eager to do their usual tasks, so Irene instead focused on making sure everyone was getting settled in instead.

As usual, even though it was summer outside and, in Irene's opinion, the perfect temperature to sleep once the sun was gone, she noticed that Siverly still clung to mana stones whenever he lay down each night. She thought that she didn't take the cold as well as the other knights, but she had finally found someone even colder than her.

It reminded her of herself during the monster war. Everyone seemed to know after a while just how cold she was as she crept towards the hearth with her cot each night.

That night, he seemed to be far from the fire, and Irene couldn't help offering him an extra fur.

"I have plenty of blankets, would you like this?" she asked.

He looked at her a bit quizzically with narrowed eyes, as if he was searching her intentions for an ulterior motive for being nice to him. However, he was met with no malice beyond her expression.

"I have mana stones," he insisted.

"You wouldn't want to waste them for a summer night," she persisted. "We don't know if this battle in Idona will take us into the winter. It's best to save your magical items for now."

Even though he seemed begrudging to do so, he took the undoubtedly warm fur from her.

"So chivalrous," he muttered. "What a great knight."

Irene decided to ignore the mocking tone he used, and she merely smirked at him, even though she had lost his gaze. He seemed not to like being taken care of. Perhaps it made him feel indebted to the others.

He was surprisingly fair compared to a lot of the mages she had experienced in her travels. Stanley was especially stuck in the idea that everyone owed him for how cruel people were to mages—she could understand that frame of mind as well.

All that mattered was that he was still willing to take care of the knighthood. Their Duke would compensate him fairly enough, according to himself.

The bowls were cleaned and given back to the knights, since they were wooden, most had their names carved on the bottom. Then the apprentices could finally settle in. They weren't required to take care of horses since everyone was traveling; they took care of their own so that the tasks didn't pile onto the few apprentices they had.

Irene went to sleep easily despite not having a guard out. Siverly told them the first night that he had a magical device that would tell them if someone was coming close to them.

She trusted the mage, and it was enough for her.

At the first light of dawn, Irene was amongst the first awake. She was already on the schedule of waking up before the apprentices so she could lead their practices, but it was unnecessary there.

Instead, she slowly got herself together as the others began to rise. She had her hair tied into a braid by the time they were ready to get their helmets back on and set off.

Sure enough, after only two hours of their traveling, they ran into the obstacle that Irene had explained the night before.

The marshlands were full, but Irene was familiar with the most stable path going through. It was misleading, however, because it didn't go directly through the marshes and meandered around throughout it.

"Be careful," she directed. "We will go slowly."

She pulled on Sammy's reins and managed to slow him despite his energetic nature and desire to move quickly.

"Slow," she ordered the horse under her breath.

Each step caused her to clench her jaw. At times the footing still felt unstable despite being able to tell the parts that were more traveled than others.

She had gone on this very path before, but it was less burdensome when there wasn't nearly a dozen following her to the other end.

As she got more comfortable, the faster she allowed her horse to move.

It wasn't until she heard Siverly shout from behind that caution returned to her.

"There is a Nok in the water!"

Her eyes widened.

A Nok sighting should have been a consideration of hers, but she had been so focused on losing someone's horse if it hurt its ankle that it fell to the back of her thoughts.

They were a strange creature. Not quite a monster, but more of a spirit. However, unlike most spirits, they didn't need the cover of the night or the autumn season to come out. The swamps were enough to allow them to thrive. It could appear as a horse, but most of the time it moved in strange, algae-covered tendrils and was hard to spot if you weren't looking for them.

It was a fortunate time to have a weathered mage on their side.

All she could hope was that it wouldn't get close enough to drag somebody into the uncertain waters and mud that surrounded them on all sides.

"It is on your horse!" Siverly shouted. "I will use magic."

The woman pulled out her sword, as if it would do anything against a spirit.

"We must keep moving so others aren't bothered," she directed.

However, when she made it to the side where the ground seemed to get harder and stable, she dismounted and turned around, horrified to see that Bren was the one whose horse had been grabbed. Its hoof was stuck in the mud as it was dragged slowly.

The apprentice had a panicked expression on his face that Irene felt she needed to respond to.

At her urge to rush forward, Siverly held out his hand.

"A knight will be useless here!" he shouted sternly. "Keep the others away."