I didn’t know the kingdom’s coffers were in such dire straits. Given how highly the Faith was revered in Hanche, I wondered if this was really the place to cut corners.
“The captain is the one who decides our budget. We just work with what we have.”
Something clicked inside my brain: The captain was definitely pocketing the Royal Knights’ entertainment budget, wasn’t he? That was why he was so hell-bent on having us perform for the members of the Faith.
“Besides, we’re knights; we’ll at least be able to act as shields if the guests are attacked.”
“Sh-Shields?!” I exclaimed, goggling at her.
So now we were expected to fight? What in the world was this position? It was so different from what I expected.
Ahn and the other two appeared bewildered as well. At least I wasn’t alone in thinking this was completely unreasonable.
I really hope they won’t start to accept these absurdities as everyday occurrences. Are the squad leader and the senior knights beyond redemption?
There might still be hope so long as they developed this mindset after joining this chivalric order.
Is there a way to steer them back to who they once were?
Too much was wrong with the current state of the Royal Knights. My plan was to leave immediately after achieving our goal, but I was much too worried—especially for Ahn and the others.
“Rookies, you’re with me! You’re all useless anyway, so just stand near the guests and smile,” the squad leader said.
Though she might have stopped with her over-the-top harassment, she still treated the rookies like garbage—me, in particular.
“You, with the green hair! You’ll be entertaining the bishops.”
“Huh? Me?” I asked.
“Yes, you. Is there anyone with a weird hair color like yours here?!”
It wasn’t the first time people had something to say about my hair. Épée and I both had very distinctive hair colors that drew attention wherever we went.
“If you’re so able to captivate the captain, I’m sure you must be good at that kind of work, no?”
“What kind of work?” I asked, confused.
The squad leader ignored my question. “You filthy little vixen! The captain only thinks of you as a passing fancy. Don’t think you’re better than me just because you’re a mana wielder!”
Disregarding her first sentence for now, I concluded that she disliked me so much because I was a mana wielder who used magic. I had an inkling that she’d discovered my true nature when she stopped outright tormenting me.
I don’t understand what she meant about the captain, though. There’s no connection between us; he just tried to assault me.
She turned on her heels with an indignant “hmph” and led the way, her pace brisk.
Perplexed, I trailed after her.
Does she like the captain? Is that it? People’s hearts sure are difficult to understand.
To be fair, being considerate of others’ feelings had never been my forte.
I will help anyone who seems troubled or obviously suffering, though.
Understanding more subtle feelings was something I’d always struggled with, even five hundred years ago. Perhaps this was why Char and the twins called me “dense.” As a child, I deliberately avoided thinking of other people’s feelings.
Back when I was Ahn, the other villagers hated everything about me. If I had tried to be considerate of all their feelings, my own heart was the one that would’ve broken. That’s why I made a conscious effort not to think about it back then.
To survive in that village where no one wanted me, I’d had no choice but to bottle up my own feelings.
To this day, I still don’t know if that was the right decision. But I simply couldn’t bring myself to put on a mask and pretend to be “normal,” like they wanted me to be. It was too painful.
Then, I’d met Finis and, through many twists and turns, became who I was today: the me who was still painfully ignorant of others’ feelings. I had made some progress, but it seemed I was still too out there for most people.
“Hey, Lam?” Ahn’s whisper jolted me out of my thoughts. “Do you think that the squad leader likes the captain?”
She had reached my same conclusion.
“Or maybe there are no romantic feelings involved, and she simply wants to keep the rank she’s secured by suiting the captain’s fancy. That might explain why she’s so tough on us,” Ahn added.
“I-I see...”
The other two nodded in agreement with Ahn. They all seemed quite reassuringly insightful.
“Do you think the captain is the one who made her the squad leader?” Ahn mused.
“I think so,” one of the other two recruits replied. “She probably feels threatened by Lam since the captain has taken a fancy to her. Besides, Lam is a mana wielder, so the squad leader won’t retaliate, even if she wants to.”
The three of them were getting increasingly excited, gossiping about the squad leader.
That was when something they’d said stuck out to me.
Hold on a minute. Do the other two know I’m a mana wielder?
I hadn’t told them. Yet, they were talking about it as if it were the most normal thing in the world.
“Lam, there’s no use trying to hide your true nature. It was obvious from the start. I’m sure the squad leader realized immediately too,” one of them said with a smug grin, folding her arms across her chest.
“Yup. Weird things have kept happening since your confrontation with the squad leader and the welcome party. The wine turned into juice, the captain’s legs are getting shorter and shorter... When we had to clean the toilets, you definitely did something, didn’t you?” the other said.
They knew all along!
The Motar Faith hated mana wielders, and most people in Hanche were followers of the Faith. Did they not mind me standing beside them?
“Um, are you all right with talking to me when I have mana?” I asked.
“I was surprised at first, but you’ve used your magic for our sake, and I know that you’re a good person—mana wielder or not. You even put that drunken knight who was sexually harassing Ahn to sleep.”
“Exactly. Besides, if you weren’t a mana wielder, perhaps we would be sleeping in a storage room and forced to fast by the other knights.”
The two of them smiled at me.
“I would hate that,” Ahn chimed in, and they burst into laughter.
It seemed I was the only one who was struggling to wrap my mind around things.
Seeing me gawking at them, they each extended an arm forward and flipped up a thumb from closed hands. I had learned this gesture meant “It’s all good” in this country.
“Don’t worry about us, Lam. You can use magic to your heart’s content. There aren’t many mana wielders who are as proficient as you, are there?”
“We’ll help you keep it under wraps, if that’s what you want!”
“Today’s guests are from the Faith, so it’ll be bad if they find you out. Worst-case scenario, they might arrest you for being a heretic. We can’t let that happen! We might be believers of the Faith, but we don’t think they should harm you, regardless of what the scriptures claim.”
It seemed that this was the conclusion they had reached after considering my true nature. Their words truly reassured me, and a wave of happiness washed over me. They had accepted me as one of them.