10. The Raven Knights (1)

The sound of blades colliding was distant. Maxim floundered and waved his arms.

throw it away

The whole time the swords were facing each other, Maxim kept saying that to himself. He said that he had to throw away lingering feelings and emotions.

When Theodora entered the competition herself, she could vaguely realize what she was looking for. I knew that he wanted a silent conversation, sharing swords with swords. He thought that the sword he swung like that was the best answer he could give to Theodora, but it wasn’t.

Theodora really wanted to compete with Maxim with all her might, with all her emotions. The emotional rift with Theodora was much deeper than Maxim’s thoughts.

I just had to hate myself comfortably and hate myself.

It’s hard, but I’ve been able to endure it.

I could do it to overdo it. At one point, he was in a state where he could survive even if he left Christine behind him and took out his aura blade and fought.

However, Maxim did not make that choice until the end of the competition.

Theodora wanted to know what Maxim had hidden, and Maxim had no intention of revealing it. Maxim chose to bear all of Theodora’s negative emotions on his own. Maxim had no doubt that it was a choice for both Theodora and himself.

I wish I would have stopped writing.

Someone scoffed in Maxim’s head.

‘It couldn’t have been like that.’

Maxim answered.

He was there, unable to extinguish the embers left by Theodora. He was there, living only by looking at that small fire.

The morning on the royal road was fast and busy. With the sound of a carriage rattling through the streets, Maxim woke up.

“…Dreaming once wildly.”

The morning sunlight, which was barely saturated in color, passed through the window and fell into the room. A neatly arranged room. To be precise, that was what Maxim said as soon as he opened his eyes on the bed placed in the corner of the room that looked empty rather than tidy. Except for a desk, a chair, and a simple bookshelf, all that was left was a sword.

The first day of work after being demoted from vice-captain to general member dawned. Maxim scratched his messy head and lazily raised his upper body. My body felt strangely heavy, probably because I hadn’t slept well. The clock on the wall showed half past seven.

“I hate going to work.”

Maxim grumbled into the air. Since I deliberately chose the thorny road, should I be sweet? A gasping sound came out of Maxim’s mouth.

“Life is not easy.”

Maxim rubbed his eyes and slipped out of bed. Maxim was washing his body in the bathroom and clearing his still hazy mind. The young man in the mirror had wide eyes.

It’s self-employed.

Maxim whipped himself like that.

After roughly wiping the water off his face, Maxim put on his uniform. Now, the black uniform without the vice-captain’s ribbon was extremely awkward. From now on, I am a regular member. Maxim went to work in a relaxed, heavy, contradictory mood.

As I walked along the hill that I always climbed, the feeling I felt at the training ground was unusual. The sound that came out was also brutal. It seemed that the training ground was finally starting to do its job. Maxim nervously climbed the hill. A metallic sound pierced Maxim’s ears.

“…that’s cool.”

At the training ground we arrived at, a scene we hadn’t seen before was unfolding.

The training ground was quiet but noisy. The sound of using a rattlesnake and the sound of tapping, jumping, and bumping harmonized together to create a sense of tension.

On the dusty stone floor of the training ground, ten or so knights were sweating, each holding a weapon. Countless scarecrows were being cut down, and a similar number of logs were being nicked. There were knights who worked hard around the training grounds, and there were members who devoted themselves to physical exercise.

This is the normal daily scene of the Knights.

So far, I’ve only seen very abnormal sights. Maxim laughed and entered the training ground. What greeted Maxim right away was a familiar face and voice.

“Vice-captain, you are late!”

Seeing Christine’s consistent attitude, Maxim’s lips slackened.

“I am no longer the vice-captain. And it’s not too late.”

At Maxim’s grunt, Christine laughed as if it were fun. It was a smile that somehow seemed brighter than before, as if he was happy with the changed scenery of the Knights.

“Still, the members are all here now.”

At the words that everyone had gathered, Maxim raised his eyebrows. Shouldn’t there be about 30 people in the first place?

“already? There are only a dozen people you can see?”

Christine shrugged.

“When I asked, they said it was because they hadn’t expanded their staff yet. Right now, you could say it’s on standby. The rest of the people will gather after some time.”

Apparently, Christine seemed to have had some conversation with the new members. Deep down, Maxim was envious of her affable personality.

“Then, shall I change my clothes and start training?”

“Come on, get changed…”

Christine sighed and looked at Maxim. Maxim tried to talk to those green eyes that seemed to be thinking about something.

“Why, what happened?”

“No, I want to know what to call the vice-captain.”

“What else am I saying?”

Maxim burst out laughing. But Christine seemed to be really serious as she held her chin with her fingers. I was told to call her by her first name, but that seemed a bit unpleasant.

“Knight?”

“You are also a knight, this young lady.”

When Maxim scolded Christine for being joking, Christine cautiously opened her mouth.

“…Seniors?”

“Not bad.”

Maxim nodded readily, but Christine’s worries continued. And as if she had finished her thoughts, Christine clapped her hands and her eyes twinkled.

“….oppa”

“no.”

Christine frowned, and Maxim groaned.

“No, why!”

“I hate me, me. Hey, do you see the goosebumps on your arm here?”

When Maxim actually rolled up her uniform to show her arms, Christine, with a teary expression, started beating Maxim at random.

“Ouch ouch! hey wait a minute sorry.”

“Can’t a real person make the horse a little prettier?”

When Christine spoke in a pouty tone, Maxim laughed and joked.

“I’m sorry for not being able to say things that I don’t have in my heart.”

“Okay then. I’ll call you uncle, so hurry up and go change your clothes.”

I hate that more.

Maxim was about to say that, but was pushed back by Christine’s annoyance and kicked out of the main building.

When Maxim changed his clothes into active clothes and returned to the training ground, the heat of training had subsided to some extent. Maxim, planning his morning training in his head, lightly swung his favorite wooden sword. There must still be time left before the leader goes to work. Looking to Christine’s side, she was concentrating on meditation alone, so Maxim decided to train alone.

“Let’s run for a while…”

Maxim looked around the training ground and started stretching. How long has it been since you trained systematically like this? I think it’s been at least half a year.

“I don’t know if my stamina will be up yet.”

While Maxim was twirling his ankles to relax his muscles and ligaments, a new member walked by him. It was a familiar face. It must have been one of the four knights accompanying Theodora.

“Maxim… did you say apartment?”

He looks like he’s in his mid-40s. Actual age is probably less than that. He was shorter than Maxim. And, unlike Maxim, his shaved hair was impressive. A firm mouth and a thick, strong jawline that cuts down. Maxim had a hard time coming up with the name.

“Senior Paola Simon.”

“I’m glad you remember the name.”

Paola had the prayers of a well-trained soldier rather than a knight. Maxim thought of his rivalry.

The swordsmanship itself wasn’t particularly special. There is a high and low in swordsmanship. If you classify his swordsmanship according to that standard, you could never say that he was a passionate swordsman. The skill of the sword was never fluent. Rather, the member’s sword against Paolo was superior to Paolo’s. However, Paola lightly ignored the difference in skill and defeated her opponent very easily.

battle.

Paola Simon had an excellent sense of fighting that could be called a genius. He probably wasn’t originally a knight. A strong soldier who made a lot of contributions would have been recognized by the commander and appointed as a knight.

“I saw the sword very well.”

“…Are you referring to my sword?”

Paola Simon nodded slowly.

“It’s embarrassing, but I don’t know much about swords. It is because he became a knight by receiving the title of knight from the status of a soldier. But Maxim, I could tell that the sword you are wielding is of a very high level.”

To come and compliment her out of nowhere, Maxim thought it was more awkward than happy. To be honest, the memory of the screening test wasn’t something I wanted to recall.

“…thank you.”

“I really wonder why you fell for the Raven Knights.”

The conclusion was this. Maxim grabbed his head and wanted to sigh. He didn’t look like a gangster, but like a former soldier, he seemed to like gossip.

“I wasn’t particularly successful in my first assignment, and the commanders didn’t like me.”

“It is unusual. Did you even have a big fight?”

Maxim moderately looked around. He was a member of the knights he would be with anyway. It was better to hear these words than to hit the wall and be hated from the start.

“By the way, is this your first assignment? Where were you?”

“It was a change. It was a province in the south called Horton…”

“ah! Holton! I know that too well.”

The image of a taciturn and good fighting knight that I felt when I first saw it has already disappeared. There was only a middle-aged swordsman who was talkative and eager to meddle. Maxim looked at Paola with cold eyes.

“When I was at Horton, was it summer? That’s right, the weather was as sunny as today.”

Paola’s very, very long words began. The way he smeared saliva on his lips while trying to hide his excitement seemed like he was about to recite an epic poem. If I’m wrong, I’ll be stuck like this all day. It was Christine who saved Maxim, who seemed to blow up the morning training with chatter.

“I think the captain is coming up?”

At Christine’s words, the knights began organizing their weapons. Paolo licked his lips as if he was really sorry. Maxim looked at Christine. She looked at Maxim, who was being held by Paolo, with a cold expression. It was as if he had paid off a debt to Maxim. That elated expression was sarcastic, but I thought I could tolerate the arrogance for a day or so.

Maxim tried to separate himself from Paola, using the opportunity Christine had created.

“Then…Senior, I’m done…”

“Just one thing! Just answer this one and go!”

Maxime looked at Paola, who urgently grabbed him. He felt resentful of himself for not having the personality to coldly tell him to go away.

“By any chance, what’s your relationship with the lady who just said the captain is coming up there?”

oh my god Maxim stopped shaking his head. I would have rather coldly told him to go away.

“…a comrade. A very close comrade.”

“really? I peeked earlier and saw that the two of them were laughing and chatting. Don’t deny it, tell this Paola. In a way, I met my wife under the same circumstances as you.”

“Senior, once the captain comes up, we’ll talk about it later…”

Paola let out a cough.

“So, then how about this one?”

said Paola, holding on to Maxime’s steps.

“Hey, what’s your relationship with the captain?”

Maxim’s expression hardened for an instant, then returned to normal.

“…I don’t know why you’re asking that.”

It seemed inevitable that his voice would harden. Maxim bit his lower lip. When Paola saw Maxim’s reaction, she shrugged and backed off.

“It is nothing. Let’s sort it out.”

Maxim sighed as he watched Paola walk away.

“…Seniors?”

“100 million?”

Maxim was startled when he heard Christine’s voice approaching from behind. It seemed that he was playing with magic so that he could not feel his presence at all. Christine playfully raised one corner of her mouth and made fun of Maxim’s flustered expression.

“So, what’s your relationship with the captain?”

I was listening too Maxim pushed Christine, who was teasing her.

“Looks like you decided to call me senior.”

Christine looked at Maxim with a disgruntled look on his face as he deliberately turned away. However, Maxim only shook his head and joined the ranks of the knights who quickly lined up. The mischief faded in Christine’s eyes as she watched Maxim walk away. And in that vacancy, another category of emotions slowly entered.

—

The uniform of the Knights of the Ravens also suited Theodora well, Maxim thought. Her platinum hair, shining like the Milky Way, swayed a little as Theodora walked. Theodora stood in front of her seat, the podium, and looked at the knights. But that gaze never reached Maxim.

“Good morning, this may be the first time I’m officially saying hello. Nice to meet you. Captain, Theodora Benning.”

Theodora ended her greeting extremely succinctly.

“I warmly welcome all of you who have become members of the newly reborn Knights of the Ravens. As we all know, this reorganization will not only affect our Templars. Our reorganized knights will be the vanguard of the kingdom’s revival.”

Theodora’s words had the power to overwhelm the audience. The knights quietly focused on what their leader said.

“…Before that, it might be necessary to select a new vice-captain of the knights first.”

Theodora’s gaze briefly fixed on Maxim, then fell. Maxim’s heart, receiving that inorganic gaze, throbbed for a moment.

“If there is an applicant, I will gladly accept it.”

After Theodora finished speaking, two hands came up from among the knights. Maxim turned his head slightly to look at the applicant.

One was one of the four knights who followed Theodora during the screening test, and the other,

“…her.”

It was Christine Watson, with clear green eyes and long waist-length blonde hair.