70. A Night of Late-Night Snacks

Darius would be leaving Inkheart for a while. And for the dangerous task of eliminating monster, no less. Her feelings were mixed.

After dinner, she was walking around absentmindedly when she heard shouts from ahead. Looking up, she realized she had reached the training ground.

I seem to like the training ground. Maybe because I spent my own money to repair it.

“Sirs?”

When she opened the door to the training ground, torches were lighting the area as bright as day.

“Hyaaah!”

An ordinary knight charged at Sir Lucion with a sword.

Clang. Sparks flew as the blades collided.

What time is it now, anyway?

“If you’re going to fall over from your own momentum, don’t charge in the first place.”

Sir Lucion easily deflected the charging knight. True to Sir Lucion’s assessment, the knight couldn’t handle his own charging speed and fell onto the dirt floor.

Ptui. The fallen knight gritted his teeth and stood up again.

“Thank you for the lesson, Sir!”

“Who’s training at this hour?”

“Lady Anette. What brings you here in the middle of the night?”

Sir Lucion removed his helmet to show proper etiquette in front of her, shaking his sweat-soaked hair. His long blonde hair sparkled in the firelight.

Now she noticed that not just one or two people, but the entire knight order was training. They must have been at it for quite some time, as everyone’s foreheads were beaded with sweat.

“Lady Anette!”

“My lady!”

“What brings you here at this late hour!”

The knights who recognized her crowded around her excitedly. It felt like watching puppies wagging their tails in front of their owner.

Everyone, could you come one at a time, please?

“Yes, I understand. I’m happy to see you all too. But when you all crowd around me at once with those builds, it scares me, you know?”

With those bulky figures all wearing breastplates, small and fragile as she was, she might burst if caught in the middle.

“The time to climb the northern mountains is approaching, so we’re intensifying our training. We need to set an example.”

“I heard about exterminating monsters in preparation for winter, but what do you mean by setting an example? Are there others going with the knights?”

“Yes, not just from Inkheart but also from other northern territories under our command, and though not every year, we climb the mountains together with knight orders from other territories adjacent to the mountain range. Winter damage from monsters affects the entire north.”

When she handed him water from the training ground, Sir Lucion bowed his head respectfully and drank. The hastily drunk water spilled over his Adam’s apple, which was covered in sweat.

Rose had been saying lately that she wished Sir Lucion would get married soon. Then she could get rid of her useless brother’s room and expand her own space, or something like that.

‘The ladies of the castle should see this, not just me, for Rose’s wish to come true.’

What a waste that only I get to see it.

“The north is still a place where the logic of power prevails. In fact, this is true of any gathering of knight orders.”

Due to the harsh natural environment, the north has a particularly strong spirit of self-reliance.

“The late Grand Duke was a thoughtful person, but unfortunately, circumstances were poor in many ways.”

So because of the natural environment, people’s temperaments were already like that, and with the inadequate governance of the sickly former Grand Duke added on top, the already contemptuous gaze of the northern nobles under the duchy became even more blatant.

“They’re the type who will try to take the lead if they sense weakness.”

“This winter monster subjugation is about establishing dominance in many ways.”

Still, compared to monsters, human power struggles don’t put lives at stake if you lose, so maybe this is better?

“Anyone want a late-night snack? You all seem like you’ll be up all night. Tell me what you’d like, and I’ll bring it right away.”

Whoosh, Anette’s skirt hem turned back toward the castle. Her destination was the castle kitchen.

“Haha. The lady is something else.”

“Such quick movements, like a squirrel with food in its mouth. I didn’t even have time to tell her the kitchen doors would already be closed.”

Everyone laughed.

It was already too late to cook with a lot of commotion.

“But since the lady has come to cheer us on, shall we do one more round?”

They were about to start their final training session, which would end a bit later than usual, when…

About an hour later, Lady Anette reappeared with a basket of fried food.

“I thought this would be easy to eat, but I wonder if it might be too heavy for this late hour?”

“M-my lady?”

“Maybe it is a bit much? It’s nighttime, so it might be hard to digest.”

“My lady, your hand…… Are you hurt?”

“Oh, this.”

Anette shyly hid one hand behind her back as she held out the basket of fried food.

“It’s embarrassing, but I’m not very skilled at cooking…… A little oil splashed when I was moving the finished fried food, but don’t worry.”

“My goodness, to think that our precious lady would cook for us with her own hands!”

“Even burning her hands with oil!”

“What if it’s burnt! Both the fact that the lady hurt her hand and the possibility that a beginner’s cooking might be dangerous…… mmph!”

The tactless last knight was immediately punished. Anette waved her hand hastily with a reddened face. The handkerchief on her hastily treated hand fluttered. That made the knights’ hearts flutter.

‘She made this with those small hands that look like they need protection!’

“No, no! It’s not burnt! But now I’m hesitating, wondering if it might not taste good.”

Sir Lucion ate the fried food dipped in mayonnaise without a word.

“I like fried food.”

“Oh my.”

“It’s delicious. Really. The crispiness is perfect.”

“I, I like fried food too! Even if I didn’t before, I’ll like it from today!”

“Ooh! This taste is like potatoes and carrots freshly dug from the field and shrimp from the sea frolicking together! I can’t believe I’m eating such excellent cuisine! The ingredients dancing on my tongue are so vivid, it feels like they would return to nature if I let them out of my mouth!”

“Wait, isn’t that taste dangerous? What did you just eat, Sir? Is that really what I fried?”

When the lady personally made food for the knights, they couldn’t refuse to eat it. And it actually tasted good.

The knights hurriedly grabbed and ate the fried food with much commotion. Since she hadn’t made much to begin with, fearing it might not suit their tastes, the basket Anette brought was emptied after each person had two or three pieces.

“I’m glad. It seems to suit everyone’s taste.”

“It was truly delicious! The slight sense of wanting more made it perfect for a late-night snack!”

“Oh, that won’t do. I’ll go in and fry some more. It won’t take long, so please wait.”

“What?”

The knights who had been laughing felt that something had gone wrong.

She’s sorry there wasn’t enough and is going to prepare more fried food? She’ll be back soon, so wait?

So what are we supposed to do while waiting?

“Well, now that we’ve had something to eat, let’s get back to training. She said she’d make a lot this time, so it would be perfect to move around for about two hours and then eat again.”

〈The north is still a place where the logic of power prevails. In fact, this is true of any gathering of knight orders.〉

〈Anyone want a late-night snack? You all seem like you’ll be up all night. Tell me what you’d like, and I’ll bring it right away.〉

“Um…… Commander, surely not.”

“If you’re confident you can beat me, you can go home right now. You won’t get to eat the lady’s fried food tonight, though.”

Sir Lucion, putting his helmet back on, threw a sword to the knight who couldn’t believe the reality.

“Come at me.”

* * *

The dawn sunlight shone down on the training ground. Tweet tweet tweet, Barbarossa opened the door to the training ground while watching a bird that had perched on a branch early in the morning.

“I, I……”

“Whoa, geez! You scared me!”

Startled.

From what looked like a mountain of collapsed bodies, one person wriggled and then darted toward a basket placed in front. Despite having been collapsed until just now, his speed was frighteningly determined.

“The lady’s last fried food is mine. I won’t share it.”

Grin, an Inkheart knight looked at the entering Barbarossa and smiled, then took out fried food from the basket and ate it.

“I…… ate it last. The fried food of glory.”

Munch munch.

He proudly put a piece of cold fried food in his mouth, then fainted without properly chewing it.

“What the hell is that……”

Barbarossa. It had been several years since he left the knight order and lazily rolled around in back alleys.

The returned prodigal son was feeling his deteriorated skills while watching others train, despite putting on a brave front. That’s why he had come to the training ground at dawn when it would be empty.

In the training ground where everyone had fallen asleep after an all-night training session, Barbarossa was dumbfounded.

What is that thing that makes you brag as if “you can’t even eat this”? It’s irritating for no reason?

Barbarossa found his brother sleeping among the mountain of bodies and kicked his head.

* * *

“I heard Anette personally made snacks for the knight order last night.”

“Yes. The lady’s encouragement was a great strength to our knight order.”

Sir Lucion was indeed an exemplary knight.

While all the Black Knight Order members who had to patrol the training ground all night were too sleepy to focus, only Sir Lucion was clear-headed. He even had a sparkle in his eyes, like someone who had just gone for a light jog. Crazy person.

“Hmm.”

Darius looked at her with a somewhat dissatisfied expression.

What? Does it look like I, a non-professional, was overzealous and pushed our precious Inkheart knights too hard?

No, I originally planned to just deliver one basket of fried food and quietly return to my room.

〈”Even these humble humans work so hard.”〉

Sylphid again.

〈”Don’t you feel anything watching them?”〉

If I hadn’t had the feeling that if I went back like this, I’d have to do spirit training all night without sleep again, I wouldn’t have sat in front of the frying oil all night either.