“I can’t believe you!”
I spent the trip back to town on Viola’s back, getting scolded by the middle-aged man who was our squad’s commander. He had blond hair and blue eyes, but his scary face made him anything but inviting. His muscular body was a clear display of his training. That man’s name was Dan. He was both my adoptive father and my commanding officer.
“Calm down, father. Brother did a great thing yesterday.” The one trying to calm Dan was his actual son, Robert. He was my adoptive brother. He had inherited his father’s hair and eye color, but he got his mother’s gentle looks, making for an irritatingly handsome young man. On top of that, he was kind, righteous, smart, strong, and extremely popular. The guy even genuinely respected me. He was flawless in every sense of the word—the ideal holy knight. It pissed me off.
“Robert! You’re too soft on Al!” Even now, he was incurring dad’s wrath by defending me.
“I respect brother as a holy knight. His accomplishments are just as impressive as the Twelve Knights in the capital.” The Twelve Knights were a select group of some of the best holy knights from all over the country, but the exact criteria by which they were chosen was unknown. They were probably just chosen based on the whims of the bigwigs who ran things in the capital.
Among them were people like the “Invincible Shield,” a knight said to have never once been injured, and the “Thunder Blade,” a knight who specialized in both swordsmanship and lightning magic. It was clear they weren’t chosen solely for strength alone. When it came to the total number of monsters slain, I was every bit their equal.
“I’m aware of that! But Robert, he’s been nominated as a candidate for the Twelve Knights three times now, and all three times he wasn’t chosen! There’s an issue here, and it isn’t his accomplishments!”
“S-Still, father, there are great heroes who aren’t part of the Twelve Knights. Like the Dragon Knight of Luzarigue, the Giant of Trislimigante, the Archangel of Navael, and the World Tree’s Spirit King! If you just think of brother as being like one of them, then...”
“They were all approached to join the Twelve Knights, and they all turned it down. Their cases are nothing like Albert’s.”
Don’t lose your resolve, Robert! Keep defending your brother! He’s gonna chew my ear off if you don’t.
“Do you know what makes me the most angry about this situation? Their reasoning for not choosing him! All three times it was because they had issues with his conduct! A knight should have a certain level of dignity, and that’s something he sorely lacks!”
He sure did know how to shout. Even the birds were scattering from the trees because he scared the crap out of them. The other two members of our squad were used to this, and they were doing everything in their power to blend into the background to avoid getting dragged into the argument.
“We’re not even real knights; we’re holy knights. You’re the weird one for demanding dignity from a glorified exterminator.” Holy knights were different from the knights who provided military strength to influential people. Rather than serving one master, we served the people. A knight’s job was to protect his lord, while a holy knight’s job was to eliminate any potential threats to the people—usually monsters.
Originally, some knights did kill monsters—which was why people who killed monsters started calling themselves knights in the first place—but truth be told, most modern holy knights were just ordinary civilians. Some legitimate knights and nobles did involve themselves in the activities of holy knights, but they were few and far between. As a result, the dignity Dan spoke of really didn’t apply.
“It’s our duty to follow the will of the original holy knight who served the kingdom, and to do that we must selflessly protect the people!” He just went on and on.
“It’s not like I tell them they have to let me sleep with them just because I saved them. They just do it to repay the favor. If that’s so wrong, then what about you taking up their offer to spend the night in the village? Isn’t that also against your idea of selflessness? If accepting rewards goes against what it means to be a knight, shouldn’t you have camped outside?”
“Enough of your nitpicking!” Dan was getting even more pissed off.
Well, I was sure he just wanted his adopted son to get his act together—to be like his perfect son Robert. But that just wasn’t possible. My love for women was a part of who I was, and that wasn’t going anywhere. Plus, I saw zero reason to keep up appearances around men. The only thing I wanted—and the only thing that made me useful to Dan—was my skill with a sword.
It was all I had, and I was glad I had it. Without it, I never would have found a way to repay the man who had taken me in and raised me when I’d thought I was destined to forever rot away in the slums. Him finding some reason to lecture me after a mission was just our thing. Thanks to my talent for tuning out uninteresting conversations, it wasn’t a big deal. I said my piece, and then the rest of Dan’s rambling went in one ear and out the other.
“At any rate, brother.” Robert was used to it too, and he brought his horse up next to mine during Dan’s lecture so he could speak to me.
“What is it, golden boy?” I retorted.
“Father is proud of you too, you know.”
“He is? I was just kidding anyway.”
“Well, I was serious.”
“That’s why I can’t stand you.”
Robert gave a sparkling smile in response to my glare. He really pissed me off. At some point, this sort of back-and-forth had become our routine.
“So, what do you want?”
“I was just thinking that your swordsmanship is getting really good.”
“Flattery will get you nowhere.” I took a copper coin out of my pocket and tossed it to Robert, who caught it with a smile.
“It got me a copper coin.”
“That’s all the pocket change I have. You’re not getting anything else.”
Robert suddenly grew serious, his smile disappearing from his face. “Are you really not interested in the Twelve Knights? Like father said, they embody the holy knights. It’s the highest position you can get.”
“No interest whatsoever.”
“Brother.” Robert shot me a look that said, “Enough joking around.”
“The capital is the safest place in the country. Besides the Twelve Knights, it’s the headquarters of the entire holy knight order. They have more fighting power than they know what to do with. You know, they say the Twelve Knights barely even do any fighting.” Even with all those important people around, if there was no work to be done, I’d probably die of boredom.
“That’s true. But the Twelve Knights are the ones they dispatch when a monster the holy knights can’t handle appears. That means you would get the right to fight some of the strongest monsters out there.”
“It’s more like an obligation than a right.”
“Doesn’t fighting all the weak monsters around here bore you?”
“That monster bear I fought yesterday was all right.”
“Just ‘all right’? Besides the talk of recent undead outbreaks, there hasn’t been much else of note. You’re going to lose your touch at this rate.”
“What’s with you? Trying to drive your beloved brother out of town?”
“I just—”
“Robert. I don’t care about the Twelve Knights. Got it?” This time I made sure he understood I was ending the conversation.
Robert looked sad and mumbled one final thing. “I hope you don’t regret your decision.”
Robert was right. Fighting the monsters on holy knight missions wouldn’t be enough to keep my skills sharp. But if I wanted to get stronger, I would need to put myself in a position to fight stronger opponents. He seemed to think that something was holding me back and keeping me in the city. I did want strength, obviously. I wanted enough strength so that nobody could take anything from me ever again and to protect the women of the world.
Still, I couldn’t ignore the debt I owed to the holy knight who’d bothered to raise an orphan from the slums. Until I had paid that back, I couldn’t go anywhere. Robert probably saw right through that and was telling me to go. He was telling me I had already paid back Dan and his family. But Robert didn’t get it.
That debt couldn’t be repaid just by being a holy knight for a few years. In the end, I was never able to repay it at all. The nightmare was just about to begin. It started when we got back to town.