The drunken knights—including Gahariet—eventually began shedding their clothes and dancing, prompting all the women to avert their gazes lest they witness something very much unwanted. As for Char and the twins, their expressions reflected utter confusion, as though the knights were like strange monsters they’d never chanced upon before. Well, to be fair, they probably hadn’t seen anything of the sort, ever.
As I stood there, utterly dumbfounded, Ahn suddenly cried out beside me.
“No! Please stop!”
I spun around to see that one of the drunken knights had come to pester her. “Oh come on, lemme feel you up a bit, will you? Let’s go have some fun over there, just the two of us,” he said, his voice slurring.
“I-I don’t want to!”
Sitting not too far from us, Thibault overheard, and he stood up to come to Ahn’s rescue—but was much too scared to speak up and just fidgeted nervously.
Well, I suppose I have to intervene.
I slid in between the knight and Ahn. “Hey, can’t you see you’re bothering her? Stubborn men aren’t exactly popular, you know. Why don’t you step away and try again when you’ve sobered up?”
“Who the hell are you?” he barked. “Back off! I’m talkin’ to her, not you!”
“You’re the one who needs to back off,” I retorted, using a spell to put him to sleep.
He immediately collapsed to his knees, unconscious, his face slamming down into the floor.
“Oh dear, it seems he drank himself into oblivion. Are you all right, Ahn?”
“Thank you, Lam. I was so scared...” she said, shaking.
The other new girls gathered around and tried to console her.
These knights really are unmanageable. They’re all adults, yet they can’t behave in the slightest.
The ones who’d been dancing naked must’ve tired themselves out, as half of their group was now nodding off against the wall.
We should be able to go back to our floors soon, right? If we don’t go to bed soon, we’ll be exhausted tomorrow...
It was already past midnight. As I took in the sight of all the snoring knights sprawled out on the floor, I suddenly felt a presence loom behind me.
“Hic! Guess it’s time t’call it a night. Hic! Everyone! Go back t’your rooms.” The captain was slurring, barely able to articulate the words.
His breath stunk of alcohol, and with a leering grin, he leaned in to settle a hand onto my shoulder.
“You. Come back t’my room with me. I’ll teach ya what it means t’be a rookie here, hic.”
“No, thank you.”
“Shuddup. Rookies ain’t s’posed t’back-talk, hic. Issa order from yer captain. I’ll take real good care ’f ya.”
Despite my refusal, he insisted on his way.
Does he really think I enjoy being talked to like this?
Perhaps the squad leader and her minions had sung his praises so much that he genuinely believed he was that good of a catch.
His hand had barely made contact with my shoulder when it was slapped away. An expressionless Char stood behind Gahariet. “Don’t touch Lam with your dirty hands, sleazebag.”
“Huh? Whoddaya think ya are, ya rookie?!” The captain swung a fist at Char, who effortlessly caught his arm and twisted it. “Ouch! Id hurds! Id hurds!”
“To think that a man with your abilities is captain of the Royal Knights. Something truly is wrong with this country,” Char said.
“H-Hey, y’all! Don’ just watch! Come help me!” Gahariet yelled when he spotted the twins and Thibault coming to stand behind Char.
“Mr. Char, don’t cause too big a fuss,” Thibault said, nervousness on his face. “We won’t be able to do our thing undisturbed if you... Eeek!”
“Shut up. Are you saying I should’ve just sat back and watched that man forcefully drag Lam to his room?”
“N-No, but...”
The knights who hadn’t drunk themselves unconscious had started murmuring among themselves. I didn’t want this to come back and bite us later, so I put them all to sleep.
“Miss Lam, you can’t use such a big spell in front of everyone...!” Thibault said.
“Don’t worry. They’ll just think this was all a dream,” I assured him.
“They won’t! They all saw the same thing! They’ll know it wasn’t just a dream!” he insisted.
“Well... Maybe. But it would be too much of a hassle to manipulate all of their memories to make them forget. Didn’t you hear what King Flèche said last time? I once reverted a group of villains back to mental infancy when I messed up that spell.”
“That... That wasn’t a joke?!”
The only ones in the room who were still awake were the Mercures, Thibault, Gahariet, and me.
Char cranked the captain’s arm further, and he screamed in pain. “For now, I’ll just teleport him to the middle of a nearby forest. Spending the night outside should help cool his head.”
“Oh, that’s a good idea. I’m a bit worried about his future behavior, so I’ll also cast a spell to make his voice get a tad more high-pitched every time he’s mean to one of the knights,” I said.
“Then I’ll add one that shortens his legs just a little for each improper comment he makes to a woman,” Char added.
“I love that! He should be fine as long as he’s not doing anything questionable. Plus, they’re such small, inconspicuous spells that Thibault won’t be able to complain about them.”
These spells actually had a behavior-assessment element woven into them. For instance, my spell would detect every irrational and outrageous demand Gahariet made toward someone of a lower rank, as well as every instance of violence he directed at them, and would trigger accordingly. I surmised Char would do something similar.
The twins watched our exchange, amused.
“A knight captain with a super high-pitched voice and tiny legs, huh? His authority will drop by half when he yells at us,” Fouet commented.
“Half? I’d say more. I’m kinda curious to see how different he’ll look,” Barre added.
The two of them seemed convinced Gahariet would keep harassing his subordinates, both verbally and sexually.
As for Thibault, he was watching the wall in silence as if he’d abandoned his plan of carrying out his investigation quietly.