Gray darkened the edges of the sky when I finished my herb planting. I made my way to the captain’s dining hall, only to find Desmond and Zackary already eating there. Desmond beckoned me over, then appraised me from head to toe when I approached.
“Kurtis, why is it you’re wearing the same clothes I saw you in this morning? And how come you don’t have a scratch on you?”
“Pardon? Why would I be injured?” I asked as I sat down. A chef quickly brought over a tray with my dinner. The dish used flower-horned deer meat.
Zackary stabbed his meat with a fork and said, “I heard from the chef that this meat came from the chefs in the main dining hall. ‘The gracious Captain Kurtis hunted this monster in no time, asking for nothing in return,’ the chefs apparently said.”
“Ah, right,” I said. “I happened to overhear that the chefs needed meat for tonight’s dinner. Lady Fi is still a growing woman, so I couldn’t allow her to miss out on her protein. That’s why I lent a hand.”
Despite my very reasonable explanation, Desmond slammed his hand on the table. “Again with this Fia nonsense, Kurtis?! And isn’t this meat from a flower-horned deer?! You hunted one alone? You went into Starfall Forest alone?! There isn’t an idiot in this world who would step into that place alone, not knowing what kind of monster might show up!”
“I see no issue. I had no intention of going farther than thirty minutes past the entrance. At that depth, the monsters are nothing worth worrying about, and I could always flee if something unexpected appeared.”
My calm explanation only seemed to rile Desmond up more. “Where is your confidence coming from?! Anything could have shown up! Some blue dragons appeared there not long ago! Heck, the black dragon showed up too!”
I appreciated Desmond’s concern, but I needed to put his worries to rest. “I’m not saying I would defeat such dangerous monsters. If I encountered one, I would simply flee.”
“The fact you think you could simply flee is the problem! Who do you think you are?! It isn’t that easy to escape a dragon!”
In my past life, I’d had a superior who defeated four blue dragons nearly single-handedly and without suffering so much as a scratch. Compared to that, escaping from dragons was nothing…
Saying that would only invite further frustration, so I instead said, “I see. I’ll be more careful then,” and left it at that.
After eating, Desmond and Zackary struck up a friendly conversation. I sat back and merely listened until Desmond turned to me.
“Just what do you think days off are for anyway, Kurtis?! You spent your morning leveling the pathway in front of the women’s dormitory so Fia wouldn’t trip, then spent your afternoon hunting a vicious monster so Fia would have meat! You’ve spent your whole day off on Fia!”
And what was so wrong with that?
Zackary spoke up next. “Desmond’s right, but there’s even more to it. I found Kurtis planting weeds around the eastern side of the grounds sometime after he delivered that monster to the chefs. Apparently he thought Fia would be happy if he did.”
“What? Planting weeds? Kurtis, you need to use your time off on something more meaningful! Ha ha, even my days of constantly overworking are better than how you spend your holiday! I guess your day off isn’t so meaningless if it makes me feel better by comparison!” Desmond crossed his arms over his chest. “But why plant weeds? I suppose Fia does pick weeds often… Wait, don’t tell me you planted all those weeds she picks?”
“Not all of them. I just happened to go to Starfall Forest today, so I picked whatever plants caught my eye.”
The other knights shook their heads.
“Kurtis, man… I thought you were picking weeds from the west side of the castle grounds and replanting them on the east, but you went through the effort of finding them in the forest and carrying them all the way back here?” Desmond groaned.
“Talk about a waste of a day off!” Zackary exclaimed.
I did not at all care for their suggestion that spending my day off on Lady Fi was a waste. “I’m sorry, but is one not meant to spend a day off as they see fit?”
“…No, they are,” Desmond replied, exasperated.
What was the issue then, I wondered.
Zackary swept in to explain. “You’re right about a day off being whatever you want it to be, but please use your days off for yourself!”
Wait, was all their complaining for my sake? I was touched, even if they were completely missing the mark.
“I am using it for myself. Everything I did today was exactly what I wished to do.” I tried to make them understand, but Desmond went on chiding me.
“Come to your senses! On top of your foolish decisions, everything you did today was for Fia! Your time off is supposed to be spent on what you want to do!”
“As I’ve been trying to tell you, that’s exactly what I did! I may shop, take care of chores, and do similar things, but that’s only out of necessity. To tell the truth, I consider it time wasted. The time I spend working for Fia’s sake is the only time I consider truly well spent!”
How many times would I explain myself? Perhaps now they would understand.
They simply stared at me with wide eyes, not saying a word.
“I am making full use of my time, and don’t you doubt it!” I stressed. “What I did today is the proper way to spend a day off!”
Still, they did not respond, but at least they did not protest, so that was that. Finally, I could make my coworkers understand the proper way to spend a day off.