Chapter 8

Rihirt expressionlessly tucked the note away. His gaze lingered on the ceiling briefly, but he sat down and began his work. Even when evening came and it was time to leave, he couldn’t see even a single strand of hair from the culprit who had sent the note.

The next day, and the day after that, the notes continued.

[The weather seems really nice today. Let’s start the day energetically!]

[I think it might rain today! The weather is gloomy. If you didn’t bring an umbrella, you can borrow one from the vice-commander. He has two umbrellas!]

[This apple came from breakfast distribution this morning and it was delicious. I thought you might like it too, so I brought one! Try it!]

He picked up the bright red apple placed next to the note and brought it directly to his mouth. As he took a bite, sweet juice spread throughout his mouth.

The apple was extremely sweet. Though he didn’t usually like sweet things, he found it particularly delicious. After savoring the apple a bit more, he belatedly looked up at the ceiling.

“Are you there?”

No sooner had he finished speaking than a tile lifted with a clattering sound, and a head popped out.

“Good morning!”

Anasha landed in front of him and gave him a salute. Then she pretended not to notice the apple in his hand.

“I just arrived myself, what a coincidence. Haha.”

“Thank you for this.”

“…When did you figure out it was me?”

Anasha scratched her cheek while avoiding his gaze. She hadn’t intended to hide it, but since she hadn’t done it to receive thanks directly, she felt somewhat embarrassed. Of course, that didn’t last long; when her eyes fell on the apple in his hand, words spilled out reflexively.

“More importantly, how is it? Delicious, right?”

“Yes.”

It was an answer that left the other person with nothing more to say, but Rihirt hadn’t intended it that way. He was simply unaccustomed to such casual conversation.

“I’m glad you like it. They say this month is when apples ripen best. If you smell it, the scent is really sweet.”

Anasha wasn’t one to let conversation end with short answers. She smiled brightly. It was worth bringing the apple.

“You don’t need to go through such trouble in the future.”

But at his next words, Anasha’s face fell as if her heart had sunk. She quickly composed her expression, but her shoulders couldn’t help but droop a little.

Anasha really liked the new commander. Even if they couldn’t become as close as she had been with her grandfather, she at least wanted to get close enough to trust each other.

She had deliberately approached him with notes to avoid bothering the taciturn man, but now she thought even this had annoyed him.

“What I meant……”

At the low voice that reached her then, Anasha raised her head again. Under his snow-white golden hair, she could see his face with slightly troubled eyes. After sighing briefly, he began to speak.

“I meant that I’d prefer to meet with you directly rather than through notes.”

His face had softened somewhat. Anasha stared blankly at his face, then struggled to contain her widening smile as she spoke.

“Really? Is that really okay?”

“Yes.”

“I might come down whenever I have free time and be really annoying, you know? And I talk a lot, so I might disturb your work, and I might even act rudely without meaning to?”

“That’s fine.”

It was an impeccably clean answer. Only then did Anasha smile broadly, showing her joy.

“Then first! You haven’t toured the entire knight order building yet, right? I’ll guide you after lunch today! I’ll even show you the shortcuts and secret places!”

Chattering like a girl excited about making a new friend, Anasha belatedly shouted, “See you at lunch!” and left the commander’s office.

⁕⁕⁕

And at lunch that day, knights who had finished their meals had to stop in their tracks when they saw two people appearing in the corridor of the knight order annex.

“What am I seeing right now……”

With Mavrik at the lead, rubbing his eyes as if seeing an illusion, the knights who followed him also stared at the distant scene.

They saw a man and woman walking while having a leisurely conversation. More precisely, only one of them was excitedly talking.

“…Isn’t that Asha? Is she giving a tour of the building?”

“…More importantly, why is she with the commander?”

To the question of why she was there, none of the knights could provide an answer.

It was an extremely odd combination. To begin with, it was strange to see “that commander” with anyone.

The commander the knights had seen so far was quite taciturn and possessed a dry temperament that seemed incapable of showing even a hint of compassion.

Former Commander Abert was also famous for driving knights hard in his day, but at least he had humanity. This new commander, however, seemed completely devoid of human warmth.

The incident on the first day of training was famous—he had instructed them to run around the training ground with an expressionless face, then watched silently for two hours. The knights thought that emotionless face, which only said “Stop” when about half the knights had collapsed from exhaustion, was no different from a demon.

There was a reason why the knights, who usually maintained a lively atmosphere even during training by exchanging silly jokes, became as gloomy as if someone had died whenever he appeared.

The knights’ knees would weaken for no reason whenever his cold blue eyes fell on them, even when they hadn’t done anything wrong. He was a perfect example of the saying that someone is scarier when they don’t speak, to the point where the knights wished he would voice any complaints verbally.

Fortunately, the distant figure appeared to have a slightly more relaxed expression than during training, but even so, his characteristically cold and indifferent demeanor remained.

“Asha is really amazing when you see her like that… They say she used to act spoiled even in front of Commander Abert.”

Whether it was her conversational skills or sociability, they could only admire how she could talk by herself in front of that expressionless face.

“…I hope she doesn’t make any mistakes.”

With feelings similar to parents secretly watching their child running an errand alone, they hid behind the corridor wall and observed Anasha for a while.

3. How to Become Friends with Him

Unlike usual, Rihirt came to the training ground in light attire instead of his uniform. It was to spar directly with the knights.

“If it’s not too presumptuous, would you grant me the first honor of receiving your sword, Commander?”

The first to step forward was the oldest squad leader in the knight order. Though he came forward under the pretext of receiving instruction, his eyes burned with competitive spirit, perhaps because he was curious about the young commander’s skills.

Reading this, Rihirt nodded to show that he wouldn’t go easy on him either. Though it started calmly, once they crossed swords, the atmosphere changed completely.

The experienced squad leader’s sword was wielded with full force to win. Though it was training disguised as sparring, killing intent worthy of a battlefield flowed between their swords.

The match lasted for ten minutes. The fierce duel between the two, who didn’t stop even while rolling in the dirt, seemed like it would continue endlessly, but it ended when the squad leader’s shoulder began to bleed.

Though it was merely a grazing wound, the squad leader had to consider the chilling thought that if this had been real combat rather than sparring, he might have lost an arm. The knights who watched the duel felt equally dizzy at the thought.

More duels with other knights followed, but Rihirt won them all. He sheathed his sword cleanly as soon as each match was decided, but the pressure felt by the knights who faced him was indescribable.

After finishing the duels, Rihirt headed to the water tap located at the back of the training ground. Just as he was about to shake the moisture from his hair after washing off the dirt and sweat, a towel landed on his head.

Before Rihirt could raise his head to identify the person, a cheerful voice was heard.

“I heard the commander won all the matches? I heard about it on my way here.”

Anasha lightly jumped down from a tree and landed beside him.

“Would you spar with me sometime too?”

“…Spar?”

“Yes! Honestly, I’m at a disadvantage when fighting against longswords, so I want to practice combat when I can. You know, life is unpredictable.”

Though a spy’s job was to move without being noticed by the enemy rather than confronting them directly, Anasha explained to him repeatedly that one never knows what might happen.

“I’m also thinking about learning to use a longsword. I asked grandfather before, but he said it was too heavy for me, or something like that.”

Grumbling, Anasha shifted her gaze to his sword.

“Can I swing your sword just once?”

When Rihirt nodded to indicate it was fine, Anasha quickly picked up his sword. She gripped the handle with both hands and swung it with all her might, but as her arms gradually lost strength, she had to put it back down.

“It’s really heavy. Maybe I should stick with daggers……”

“You could use something made of thin, light material.”

Rihirt approached her while drying his wet hair with the towel. Though he looked as if he had been caught in the rain, even this disheveled appearance was enough to evoke peculiar emotions in many women.

“And a medium-length sword would be more advantageous in combat than a dagger.”

“Oh. A medium length would be convenient to carry too. I might buy one when I get my salary.”

Of course, Anasha was more interested in the sword talk than his appearance.

The two talked about swords as they walked to the office. Anasha dominated 80% of the conversation, but the fact that she drew out 20% of responses from him was a remarkable improvement compared to before.

Upon arriving at the commander’s office, Rihirt looked at Anasha who had followed him in, as he needed to change into his uniform.

“Oh. I’ll wait outside. Let me know when you’re done!”

Anasha hurriedly closed the door and went out. How many minutes did she wait outside? It should have been more than enough time to change, but strangely, there was no invitation to come in from inside.