Alma puffed her chest out proudly, then turned her gaze to Seira. “Has everything been business as usual for you, Lady Seira?”
“It has! I’ve been doing quite well.”
“Really? That’s such a relief...! If you ever run into trouble, all you need to do is call me. I’ll drop everything else and come running to you.”
“I appreciate the thought, but please make your duties your top priority. You don’t want to cause trouble for your squadron,” Seira responded, smiling awkwardly. “And really, you don’t need to be by my side constantly when we’re not at work...”
“But if I’m not by your side and something happens, I might not get there in time to protect you!”
“Aren’t you bein’ overly paranoid? You’re gonna smother the poor girl!” Spinoza muttered in exasperation.
“Lady Seira is a princess of Sorcera! As commander of her Royal Guard, her protection is my absolute top priority of all! That much should be obvious,” Alma asserted with confidence. “Wherever my lady goes from now on, I intend to be there, following her at all times!”
“Can’t beat bein’ a stalker with a legitimate excuse, huh...” Spinoza groaned.
Fam chuckled. “You and I would make great drinking partners,” she said with a grin. “After all, one of my guiding principles of life is to follow Sieg like a shadow wherever he goes.”
“Our stalkers are starting to bond with each other,” I quipped.
“It’s really nice that they think so highly of us, but I’d rather they not be at our sides at every waking moment,” Seira added politely.
We looked at each other and shared a pained smile. It seemed the two perpetual stalkees were having a bit of a bonding moment here as well.
“Y’know, there’s one surefire way to solve both of your problems at once,” Spinoza suddenly blurted out. She had a look on her face that just screamed she had thought up something devious.
“Which is?” I took the bait.
“The two of you just gotta get together.”
“Whaaa?!” Seira squeaked.
“If ya did that, it’d make Fam’s and Alma’s brains shut down, right? You’d take out both stalkers at the same time! Not bad, eh?”
“Spinoza, you say some truly frightening things sometimes...” Fam murmured.
“Pure evil! Is there no humanity in that heart of yours?!” Alma sputtered.
“All I care about is seein’ things that amuse me. Pairs really nice with drinks!” Spinoza said, then tossed back the entire mug of ale in her hand.
As we were getting into the spirit one would expect from a drinking party, I broached a certain subject with Alma. “So, what do you think of you-know-who?”
“Who?”
“Leobolt. He was assigned to the Seventh squadron, wasn’t he?”
“Oh, him...” Alma’s expression suddenly changed. “Leobolt’s a really talented guy. He’s got excellent combat skills, and great leadership too. He’s clearly a cut above the rest of the Seventh. Not to mention,” she went on, “he seems to be really popular with the townspeople. His whole backstory of being a noble who gave up his position as successor to rush over and defend the royal capital probably tugged at their heartstrings. His good looks and gentle demeanor don’t hurt either, I suppose.”
“People do tend to gravitate toward stories that are easy to understand. At any rate, it sounds like his actions are living up to our expectations.” I said, then took a swig of ale before finishing my thought. “The way things are going, he’ll probably be promoted to squad sergeant any day now.”
“Yeah, that much is pretty certain,” Alma responded, and started stuffing her face with the meat skewer in her hand.
Normally she would’ve eaten the entire thing in one go, but this time her hand came to a sudden stop. A shadow fell across her expression, and she let out a few murmured words. “There’s one thing I’m kind of apprehensive about, though.”
“Apprehensive...?”
“Leobolt is a straightforward person. He’s sincere, and he’s a man of character. But...he has a tendency to be a bit too straightforward at times.”
“What do you mean?”
“If he sees any guards slacking off, he reprimands them in a really harsh tone of voice. He also apparently tends to assign extra training after work to our less-skilled guards.”
“That’s pretty intense.”
“If that was all, it wouldn’t be so bad, but sometimes he starts going on about how ‘guards who protect the Orb of Light must conduct themselves in a certain way’ and nitpicking about our manners and whatnot,” Alma muttered in frustration. “He even yelled at me about the way I eat. He said I was too messy.”
“Well, you are pretty enthusiastic about shoveling food into your mouth. That might be hard to deal with for someone with a noble upbringing,” I said, trying to think about it from Leobolt’s point of view.
“I like the way Alma eats! It’s quite pleasant, if you ask me.”
“Lady Seira... Thank you for such kind words...!”
“Seira... You’re a true expert when it comes to spoiling people,” Fam grumbled with a sigh.
Alma’s serious expression returned. “I’m sure he has an ideal image in his mind about how things are supposed to be, and that in itself is fine. It only becomes a problem when he starts expecting those same standards from others.”
Upon hearing that, Spinoza let out a snort. “Doesn’t sound like he’d get along with me too well.”
“If Leobolt ended up in the same squadron as you, Spinoza, he’d probably die of sheer frustration,” Fam taunted. “You’re pretty much the literal definition of the word ‘vulgar,’ after all.”
“Nah, I just do whatever the hell I want,” Spinoza countered.
Ignoring Fam and Spinoza’s exchange, Alma finished, “The way things are going, the other guards will end up resenting Leobolt. I just hope it doesn’t turn into some kind of internal conflict...”
✦ ✦ ✦
One month later, just as I had predicted, Leobolt was promoted to squad sergeant. It was a direct result of the high level of skill he had demonstrated to those around him.
He was assigned to the Ninth Squadron, which had been without a sergeant. With his natural leadership abilities, he apparently had no trouble whipping the rowdy guards under his command into shape.
“Congratulations on your promotion to squad sergeant, Leobolt,” I said.
“Thank you, Sieg. As sergeant of the Ninth Squadron, I will remain wholly committed to protecting the Orb of Light moving forward.”
Despite how quickly he had shot up through the ranks, there wasn’t a hint of arrogance to be seen in Leobolt. Quite the contrary, he vowed to be even more diligent than before.
He never flaunted his noble birth, nor did he give special treatment to anyone whatsoever, and those things seemed to make a good impression on the guards he worked with. Apparently, he was even giving extra practice sessions after regular training to anyone who desired it. I had looked in on a session once, and the morale of the guards had been quite high. Perhaps it was a product of his natural charisma.
Leobolt had become one of the main unifying forces in the royal capital. That meant that in the end, Alma’s worries had all been for naught.
With the addition of Leobolt, the strength of the Guard Corps’s forces had increased substantially. We still weren’t exactly in tip-top shape, but compared to how things had been before, the difference was plain to see. All it had taken to completely transform our entire organization’s ability to handle combat was a single capable leader.
One day, my Fifth Squadron and Leobolt’s Ninth Squadron were brought together to carry out a certain joint mission.
“So your mission this time around is gonna be getting rid of a ring of thieves that’s been frequenting the capital,” Commander Bolton informed us from his office seat. “I’ve been telling you all for a while about how the ring’s been spreading further and further across the city. I wanted to arrest ’em as soon as we possibly could, but they always disappear right after they do a job, and we’ve never been able to track ’em down... Now, though, we’ve finally found the bastards—Fam here managed to pin down the location of their hideout.”
Fam let out a soft chuckle. “Intelligence operations are my specialty. There are plenty of cats in this city, after all. There’s no way to hide when there are eyes everywhere.”
“That makes sense,” I said. “Great idea. Even if the thieves were careful to stay out of sight of humans, they probably would’ve never thought to avoid being spotted by cats.”
“It really is a method only usable by Fam, who can communicate with cats!” Seira added.
“So when you’re talkin’ to cats, you actually know how to hold a conversation normally, huh?” Spinoza teased.
“I may be shy around strange people, but I have no problem with strange cats,” Fam explained.
“I want the Fifth and the Ninth to bust into the thief hideout Fam located and arrest the lot of ’em—we’re gonna make a push to wipe this ring right out of existence,” the commander told us. “You guys can handle that, right?”
“Yes, sir,” I replied.
“We cannot stand by and do nothing while a group like that wreaks havoc across the capital. We shall go there and round up every last member of this thief ring,” Leobolt proclaimed.
Upon seeing both of our positive attitudes, Commander Bolton nodded appreciatively. “Make no mistake, I have faith in all of your abilities...but remember that these guys aren’t just gonna roll over for ya either. I want everyone to be extra careful when you’re taking ’em on.”