(Chapter 4)
***
The Ragomal Knights’ Order in the Kingdom of Tainmurth was no ordinary Order. It was both a military force and a center of education. Every noble in Tainmurth, regardless of gender, had to spend two years of their life as a Knight in the Ragomal Order. To achieve this, they had to enter the Order as a cadet at the age of thirteen and complete three years of Knight training.
Consequently, swordsmanship in Tainmurth was not just a means of self-defense for the nobility; it was a fundamental requirement for being a noble. Being rejected in the entrance examination was a disgrace to one’s family, so every noble made sure to teach their children swordsmanship. This elevated the swordsmanship skills of Tainmurth’s nobles far above those of the nobility in surrounding countries.
“Did you hear?”
Dennis spotted a black-haired man walking down the opposite corridor and called out to him. A man as tall as him was rare, not only among commoners but even within the Knights’ Order, making him easy to spot.
“Hear what?”
Dark eyes turned toward Dennis. His face, as neat as a sculpture, was revealed, matching his imposing height and muscular build.
Dennis casually rested his arm on the shoulder of his superior, Ash Graywind, and said, “I hear the Earl and Countess of Hunter are dead.”
The Earl and Countess of Hunter. Ash’s eyes narrowed.
“When?”
“Two days ago. It was a carriage accident, they say.”
Two days ago was the day of the cadet entrance examination. Ash spoke with a grave expression, “Did someone from the Hunter family enter as a Page?”
The cadets of the Ragomal Knights’ Order live and train with the Knights for three years. They learn swordsmanship and chivalry and must attend to the Knights. This two- to three-year period was called the Page period, and the cadets were called Pages.
“Yes. Ezra Hunter. They say he’s thirteen.”
The name was familiar. Ash flipped through the documents he was holding and found the name. Ezra Hunter. He had just been reviewing the Page examination results.
“Barely passed.”
At Ash’s words, Dennis raised his head and examined the documents in Ash’s hand. As he said, “barely passed” was accurate. Ezra Hunter was the fiftieth person to pass out of fifty.
“Not like his sister, I suppose.”
At Dennis’s comment, Seirena Hunter naturally came to Ash’s mind. Curled blonde hair that reached her waist. Amethyst-like eyes. Though of average height for a woman, Seirena looked petite among the exceptionally tall men of the Order.
“Indeed.” Ash nodded, recalling Seirena’s entrance score. Seven years ago, Seirena’s entrance score was first out of sixty candidates.
“It seems the gods gave all the talent to the sister.” Dennis grinned as he spoke. He remembered the fuss when Seirena first entered the Order, with everyone calling her a fairy. Her beauty was sufficient to earn that nickname, and her talent was as beautiful as her looks.
Ash’s eyes narrowed again. First out of sixty. With skill so incredible it was hard to believe it came from that small, frail body, he had expected Seirena to become an excellent Knight. Perhaps even a Chevalier. No, it didn’t matter if she became a Chevalier or not. He thought she would rise to the top ranks of the Order within five years.
“Talent is useless.”
Ash spoke coldly and closed the document. Seirena Hunter had talent. But she had never cultivated it.
The Ragomal Knights’ Order was composed of twenty squads, from the First to the Twentieth. Knights were divided into squads based on their skill, and the lower the squad number, the more skilled the Knight.
“Hunter’s squad was the Twelfth, wasn’t it?” Dennis said, removing his arm from Ash’s shoulder.
Twelfth Squad. Ash’s eyes narrowed in disapproval. If she had met his expectations, Seirena should have been in the Fifth Squad at least by now. But Seirena had never trained in swordsmanship and had let her talent rot away.
“Well, she is an Earl’s daughter, after all.” Dennis said this as he began sauntering down the corridor.
Ash disliked that. While swordsmanship was a basic requirement for the nobility, Seirena possessed genuine talent. He was displeased with her laziness for letting the talent gifted by the gods go to waste.
“If the Earl and Countess are dead, she’ll quit the Order, then.” The tone was somewhat relieved. Dennis looked at Ash in surprise and asked, “Why? Do you dislike Hunter being in the Order?”
“Because a Knight with such talent being lazy is not good for the Order as a whole.”
*Just as I thought.* Dennis had wondered why he was showing interest in a woman. It seemed his interest was that of a Knight, not a man.
“I doubt Hunter wanted to be here either.” Dennis spoke in a lighter tone.
Every noble had to be sworn in as a Knight and serve for at least two years. Most nobles probably disliked this law. Especially for someone who hated sweating and swinging a sword, the five years—three as a Page plus two as a Knight—must have been a terrible period.
Seirena Hunter was the quintessential example of this fact. She had talent, but she herself wasn’t interested in it. A typical noblewoman. That description fit her perfectly. She hadn’t practiced swordsmanship even once after becoming a Knight and would quickly rush out of the Order once her duties were over. And on top of that, she reportedly ate very little, afraid of gaining weight.
The story was baffling to Ash, but Dennis merely shrugged. She was the eldest daughter of the Hunter family, after all. She would likely marry a man without a title and become a Countess.
The only reason she remained in the Order was…
“The vow,” Ash sighed. He knew it too. That Seirena Hunter was reluctantly remaining in the Order and the reason why.
*Look at that?* Dennis glanced at Ash. Ash spoke as if he remembered Seirena simply because he disliked a talent like hers being wasted, but the interest Ash was showing now seemed to go beyond that level.
The Hunter family was a lineage of Knights passed down through generations, claiming descent from one of the Knights mentioned in the founding legend. Though which noble family wouldn’t claim that?
The oath made by the First Earl of Hunter to the King was:
> “The name Hunter shall never be erased from the Knights’ Order.”
According to that oath, someone from the Hunter family had to remain in the Knights’ Order at all times. Until Seirena was born and reached the age of thirteen, the late Earl of Hunter’s younger brother was in the Order. And as soon as Seirena turned thirteen, she immediately began her life as a Page.
The only way Seirena could leave the Order was for her younger brother, six years her junior, to enter as a Page. Two days ago, Seirena Hunter’s brother, Ezra Hunter, took the entrance exam and passed, albeit dead last.
Since the Earl and Countess were both deceased, it was an easy guess that Seirena would leave the Order and become the Countess.
“There seems to be no way I can help you, Lord Hunter.”
As they arrived in front of the Order’s administrative office, the voice of an administrative Knight reached Ash and Dennis’s ears.
Lord Hunter? Their eyes met. The Earl and Countess of Hunter were dead, and Ezra was only a Page, so the only person in that family who could be called “Lord” was Seirena.
“She’s already come to quit, has she?” Ash said with a note of displeasure. Did she hate the Order that much? Enough to quit before even holding her parents’ funeral?
“Why the question about a guardian?”
Someone’s voice followed.
Footsteps seemed to be coming out of the administrative office, so Ash and Dennis stopped in front of the door.
“Good day, Sir Kulin. Lord Hunter.”
The moment the door opened, Dennis greeted the two women exiting the administrative office. Moana Kulin saw Dennis and Ash and smiled.
“Hello, Commander. Vice-Commander.”
Seirena’s gaze turned toward Dennis and Ash. Both men fully expected to receive a smile from the pretty Earl’s daughter. Seirena enjoyed having fun and was generally polite and kind, befitting an Earl’s daughter. Though she was a little shy and not especially close to the people in the Order, she got along reasonably well.
“Hello, Vice-Commander.”
Seirena only offered a greeting to Dennis. Ash, Dennis, and Moana all expected Seirena to greet Ash separately. Instead, she soon frowned and said in a clearly forced voice, “And Commander.”
*What just happened?*
Dennis stared blankly at Moana, who was fleeing with Seirena as if dragging her away, and asked Ash, “Commander, did you do something wrong to Lord Hunter?”
Ash’s eyes turned toward Dennis. Even he, who was unflappable in most situations, looked quite surprised, his expression rigid.
“Of course not. And stop using honorifics only at times like this.”
Commander and Vice-Commander. Though Ash was the superior, Dennis was older. He usually spoke casually, reserving honorifics only for these moments.
At Ash’s rebuke, Dennis scratched his head and said, “Then why is Lord Hunter acting like that?”
“How should I know?”
Ash went straight inside through the open door. He wasn’t foolish enough to believe everyone liked him. But Seirena Hunter had never shown any sign of disliking him until now. If anything, she had shown a superior-subordinate kind of favorable regard.
“Sir Belmont. What help did Lord Hunter, who just left, ask for?” Ash approached the administrative Knight and asked.
The Knight, unaware of the situation outside, tilted his head and replied, “She asked if there was any way to refuse a guardian.”
“Refuse a guardian?”
*What is this about now?* Ash’s eyes narrowed.
Dennis, who had followed him in, rested his arm on Ash’s shoulder, whistled, and said, “Lord Hunter and her uncle are supposed to be close, aren’t they?”
“Uncle?” Ash’s eyes turned toward Dennis.
Dennis removed his arm, shrugged, and said, “Lord Hunter is twenty now. Was she twenty, or not yet? Anyway, she’s not twenty-one yet, and since the Earl and Countess are dead, she must need a guardian.”
*She was twenty now.*
