As I walked through the deep layer of the dungeon, I kept my eyes on Sir Geos’s back. We’d come here following the lord’s order to capture the children. Is this really a job for a knight?
“It’s a dog’s duty to obey its master’s orders, right?” That’s what Sir Geos had said, but I knew that wasn’t how he’d truly felt— No, he’d probably mistakenly thought that it was how he’d truly felt. After all, if you simply follow orders without thinking, you don’t have to feel any sense of responsibility. If you don’t act of your own will, you don’t have to suffer when things go wrong. If you’re betrayed, you don’t have to feel hurt.
I remembered the events that took place yesterday. On our way to the dungeon, we passed a black-haired mercenary who asked why we obeyed the lord. Sir Geos responded in his usual tone.
“Even if you’re decent with a sword, you can’t save anyone. In the end, not thinking about anything and doing what powerful people tell you is the smartest choice.”
“A person with strength like yours should be able to save countless people,” said the mercenary.
“But you’re strong too, and you still let your comrades die, didn’t you?”
The mercenary seemed taken aback by this remark.
“Well, there you go.” Sir Geos started walking again, leaving behind the young man whose expression spoke of his regret. As we moved forward, I spotted a familiar boy up ahead, who shrieked at the sight of us.
It was the child Sir Geos had roughed up before. He didn’t wait for us to speak, bolting in fear the moment he saw Sir Geos’s face.
Sir Geos nodded as he watched the boy run—most likely oblivious to the satisfied look on his own face.
“Are you okay with this?” I asked.
“Okay with what?”
“Nothing...”
That boy must have lost his parents and home during the dragon incident and ended up in the slums, harboring hatred for the lord and his men for abandoning him. Eventually—perhaps unable to bottle up his anger any longer—he’d thrown a rock at us while we’d been on patrol. That was when Sir Geos had caught him and given him a painful lesson.
But there was a reason for that. If the boy had done the same to any other knight or soldier, he could’ve been killed on the spot. Sir Geos had wanted to teach him how dangerous it was to get on a knight’s bad side, to make sure he never did something so reckless again. At the same time, it served as a warning to the other children not to follow the boy’s example.
Honestly, it had looked brutal, but Sir Geos hadn’t hurt him that badly. In the end, he’d even told me to give the boy a potion. The boy had probably gotten a few bruises, but no broken bones or anything serious. After a few similar incidents, rumors started to spread...but Sir Geos didn’t seem to care, brushing them off like they didn’t matter.
After walking for a bit, I said, “Sir Geos.”
“Yeah?”
“No matter the decisions you make, I’ll follow them.”
“Yeah? That so?”
“Yes, sir.”