Leaving the warehouse where the 18th Knights platoon assembled, Fie headed towards the dormitories for squires.
There were four dormitories in total, existing in the four cardinal directions of Orstoll’s vast royal castle. As it turned out, Fie was assigned to the northern dormitory.
In Orstoll, squires below the age of 17 did not follow their senior knights around. Instead, a room-and-board schooling system was in place. Here, instructors would drill the squires in the basics of their knightly training and studies.
These training sessions, in turn, were a Monday through Friday affair — the squires were to train with their own platoons every Saturday, attending anything from simple assignments to personalized training sessions.
Sunday was the squires’ only rest day.
With that being said, a week was given to the new squires who had just passed their tests, allowing for them to acclimatize to dormitory life.
However, not every squire was adequately housed in their assigned dormitory quite yet — those of noble birth were often bogged down by time-consuming preparations, and there were those still saying their farewells to their families.
On the other hand, Fie had no place to go back to anyway, and as such, quickly found herself at the gates of her dormitory.
The northern squire’s dormitory was a quiet and calm affair, made mainly out of wood, with a blue-tiled roof. Following the directions written down for her by Crow, Fie made her way to a certain room in the building.
A room with a view on the second floor. Although it was a small room, Fie was very pleased with her current circumstances, if only because she had freedom of movement, regardless of the size of her accommodations. If she were to leave the castle gates, she could even visit various places in the town surrounding the royal castle.
Due to her not having anything in the manner of luggage other than the sword gifted to her by Garuge, Fie promptly made herself at home.
As she did so, a series of knocks rang out from the general direction of the door — visitors.
“Yes?”
“Oh, as I thought! Someone’s in here. Can we come in?”
“Oh, sure.”
The voice from beyond Fie’s door belonged to that of a young boy. If Fie had to guess, he was probably a squire of her age.
With a click, the door opened, and three young men trooped into Fie’s small room.
An energetic kid with spiky red hair was the first.
Then a youth of gentle mannerisms and soft, wavy cream-colored hair.
Lastly, a slim and tall boy with black hair, swept and parted to one side.
And all three of them sported expressions of astonishment.
“Huh...? A child!?”
“Why such a small kid?”
“This child is a... squire?”
Fie sulked a little at their simultaneous reactions.
“How rude! I’m probably the same age as you, you know. I’m 16, despite how I look.”
Sure enough, in spite of her small build, Fie was already old enough for marriage — disregarding the fact that she was actually, in fact, already married... technically.
If one were to compare Fie to individuals her age, it was difficult to deny that she was a little on the small side. However, for the average girl, Fie was probably only about 10 centimeters shorter — give or take.
On another note, her sister, Fielle, was only of average height, but was often seen as much taller than she really was, mainly because of her beauty.
“Ugh, we’re the same age!”
“Me too.”
“I’m... a year younger...”
And as such, it was established that the slim youth with the fringe was a year younger than Fie, with the other two having been born on the same year as she was. And so the three of them sincerely delivered their apologies.
“Ah, never mind. It’s fine. What did you need?”
It turned out that the youths had just wanted to welcome their newfound comrade. Of course, it wasn’t in Fie’s interests to pick fights or argue over small matters like this. And so she promptly forgave them.
More than just that, it seemed like the squires all just wanted to get along — as a commemoration for having been assigned to the same place.
“Yeah... I mean your room was close by, so I thought I’d come say hi. I’m right next to you, see.”
“And I’m opposite you on the hallway.”
“And I’m diagonally opposite!”
They were all on the same page — or at least, hallway, and had visited for a casual greeting.
It was also worth noting that each squire had a private room in the northern dormitory, and as such their rooms were crammed close to each other.
Personally, Fie was very grateful for this. It would have been difficult if it had been two or four to a room. After all, she was masquerading as a boy.
“Well it’s some fate isn’t it? We’re in adjacent rooms and all that. Let’s be pals,” said the red, spiky-haired youth.
Fie didn’t have any objections at all.
“Sure, you’re welcome anytime. I’m Heath. Nice to meet you.”
Smiling, Fie introduced herself.
“I’m Slad. Nice to meet you too!” The red-haired youth raised his hand in enthusiasm.
“I’m Remie. Good to see you too.” The quiet, cream-haired youth finally introduced himself with a slight smile.
“I’m Gees. Nice to meet you.” The black-haired youth with the fringe raised his hand in a slight wave.
After all the relevant introductions were made, the four youths set off for dinner together upon Slad’s invitation.
The squire dormitories’ first floor usually housed a canteen — and of course, ample amounts of food to be served to hungry squires. However, meals were only served at strictly-observed mealtimes.
“It’s delicious! It’s delicious!”