It's been almost a week since I was appointed as the Commander of the Black Lion Knights.
Right after the inauguration ceremony.
Thanks to the neat handover materials prepared by the vice-captain, I was able to roughly understand the circumstances and causes of the Black Lion Knights' downfall.
Also, after diagnosing the current situation, I came to the heartbreaking conclusion that the current Black Lion Knights should never be called a knights' order, but rather a ragtag group.
In any case, I was assigned to be the Commander of this place according to the imperial court's judgment, so rather than being dissatisfied, I decided to do my best in my duties.
In fact, I never expected the unit I would command to be flawless from the beginning.
'At least it's much better than it was then.'
When the war was in full swing, all the commanders above and below were assassinated overnight, and when I came to my senses, the unit was in shambles.
At least, the Black Lion Knights were fully organized without any vacancies and could continuously receive supplies thanks to their garrison located in the institutional area.
Although there are many shortcomings at the moment, I think there is plenty of room for improvement.
'In fact, there are better aspects to being a decommissioned unit.'
Above all, I thought that the pleasure of changing the unit to my liking by improving various problems one by one would be very special.
As the first step, I first slapped the corrupt administrator.
'It's unfair! I just did what the previous commander told me to do... '
Come to think of it, I think he must have been talking to me a lot right before he was taken away by the inspectors.
The Imperial Justice Department must have listened to all the excuses he wanted to make to me. He must be sitting quietly in the iron bars by now, having fully resolved his grievances.
'Ahahaha!'
In fact, the only thing I can clearly remember now is the clear and refreshing laughter of the Vice-Chief as he watched the former administrator being dragged away.
It was really nice to see him laughing so brightly.
The fact that my subordinate, who I inevitably encounter often, is a capable beauty is having a very positive effect on my job satisfaction.
The new administrator hasn't even arrived yet, but I haven't had any problems with my paperwork so far. It's all thanks to Vice-Chief Agnes.
Her presence was the most pleasing element of the Black Lion Knights to me. At least so far.
I had already tried to introduce her to a tailor for her health and work efficiency, but if she continued to work satisfactorily like she did, I thought I could give her a bigger gift.
A capable subordinate needs to be treated according to his abilities.
And, the second step is now steadily moving forward.
"Then let's begin. First, let's show courtesy to each other."
The central training ground where all of the knights' troops were gathered without exception.
In the middle of it, two knights, fully armed with real swords, were glaring at each other.
"Raoul, captain of the 300th decree."
"Pascal, captain of the 200th decree."
In this place now, a public duel, which has gradually become a unique culture of the Black Lion Knights and an event that wraps up the day's work, is about to unfold.
The eyes of the members were sparkling brightly, as befitting a fight that is considered one of the most interesting spectacles in the history of mankind, along with watching fire and watching water.
"Raoul! Win!"
"Pascal, captain! Just trample on him!"
Even among his subordinates, there was a certain hot heat that made it hard to believe that they were the same guys who had shown their dull eyes like rotten fish during the inauguration ceremony.
… Surely there wasn't some kind of dirty trick like a gambling table going on?
Something feels a bit suspicious. I'll have to investigate this separately later.
"I'll count backwards from now on. Three, two…"
Well, if you think about it, it makes sense that everyone would do that. There was a reason why today's duel would be even more exciting than usual.
It wasn't a duel between ordinary knights, but a showdown between commanders. And it was a showdown between a ten-man captain and a hundred-man captain.
It was enough to make the blood of the young, energetic warriors boil. I, too, was looking forward to seeing where this fight would go.
"One!"
—Paat!
With the sound of cutting wind, the brown-haired captain, Raoul's new form, rushed towards the nervous-looking captain, Pascal.
The distance between the two converged to 0 in an instant, as if both were superhumans. Raoul's sword strike was thrust towards Pascal's chin in an instant. It was a clean movement without any unnecessary details.
'Captain Raoul. He's quite useful.'
However, the opponent, as expected of a captain, did not give in easily. Pascal, who kept his eyes on the opponent's movements until the end, twisted his body with minimal movement to avoid the stab.
'Pascal's side is not bad either. Well, it's natural for a captain of a hundred.'
Inevitably, the gap right after the attack is large.
That's why Pascal immediately grabbed Raoul's right arm that was stretched out into the air and tried to break it. However, Raoul showed an irregular movement as if he had anticipated it in advance.
—Hwaak!
Raul, who was about to be caught, crouched even further. It was an attempt to break down his opponent's movements in return. It seemed like he was going to start a close-quarters fight or a joint-type fight.
A method that had absolutely no foundation. However, it was bold and threatening.
In a fight between superhumans who could use unusual movements, it seemed that he instinctively knew how to shake his opponent's psychology to gain the upper hand.
Pascal, who had a flustered expression, quickly did a backflip and gained distance. It was a situation where he had no choice since he didn't know what his opponent would do.
"Whaaaaaaa!" "Raul! Raul! Raul!"
As the sparring reached a lull, the members' cheers that seemed to pierce the heavens rang out.
However, he had no intention of restraining himself. In the first place, it was a place that was intentionally created to indirectly improve his skills by watching his colleagues' sparring, and to relieve his fatigue and frustration from work.
At that moment, a quiet woman's voice was heard talking to him from the seat next to the head of the table.
"… Raoul, the captain of the 10th, will win."
It was the vice-captain. She was watching this fight with such excitement that it made you wonder if she was the person who had been worried that the atmosphere of the sparring would get too heated and an accident would happen.
It was really cute how she pretended not to care and enjoyed it properly.
"Why do you think that, vice-captain?"
"Pascal, the captain of the 10th, has already fallen prey to the opponent's psychological warfare. Also, to respond to such an unconventional method, you need to have an overwhelming advantage, whether it be strength or speed, but Pascal does not have that."
"That analysis makes sense."
"This situation is just a sparring, after all."
The vice-captain crossed his arms and began to focus on the sparring after leaving a meaningful comment.
But because she crossed her arms, her already bulky uniform top stood out especially, and I had to strictly control my gaze that kept turning in a rude direction due to my manly instinct.
The more I looked at her, the more I saw that she was a body that would cause a lot of trouble in the Knights Templar, where men were much more important. It was a serious problem that it affected not only myself but also others.
"Tch, is this not enough? It's definitely in that book..."
But for some reason, she seemed to be clicking her tongue in regret, but I decided not to give it any meaning and to focus on the ongoing sparring.
Since neither of us allowed any distance between us, Raoul's mouth eventually opened first.
"Hey, this is something that even a centurion would do. I don't think it'll work next time."
"...Huh. Of course. You should fix that undignified fighting style."
When I heard that, I couldn't help but snicker. Didn't they just burst out in praise?
When you say things like "ugly", "undignified", or "fighting together" when fighting, it means praising the other person's outstanding skills.
In the end, when Pascal, feeling suffocated by the prolonged standoff, deliberately showed an opening. Raoul, as if he wasn't going to hesitate, tried to attack again with a similar structure as before.
—Chae-Ang!
This time, Pascal responded more appropriately. The sound of clashing swords.
Stabbing. Blocking. Swinging. Slashing. In an instant, sharp sword strikes exchanged between the two knights. Pascal clearly had the upper hand in swordsmanship.
Raoul, who seemed to be losing in swordsmanship, seemed to be slowly giving the initiative to his opponent.
Raoul's posture was collapsing. Pascal, who was trying to quickly finish off the weak point that was clearly visible to everyone.
—Kwak!
"…Gotcha!" "What?!"
Raoul, still holding the blade embedded in his shoulder, tried to kick Pascal's groin, whose movements were restricted due to his spread legs.
Feeling a serious threat from that merciless attack, Pascal forgot that they were in the middle of a duel and tried to raise an aura to cut off his opponent's arm.
"Stop."
I quickly intervened between the two and stopped the duel.
"Tch!" "You crazy bastard!"
The atmosphere between the two was as tense as sparks, but I really liked the current situation.
It was because both of them showed more than expected. Fighting spirit was one of the virtues of a good warrior.
However, as a commander, I couldn't help but warn Raoul.
"The duel is a draw. And, Raoul, Captain of the Ten."
"...Yes, Commander."
"I will not punish you today since this is the first time I have seen your fighting style. However, if you cause or try to cause trouble during the next sparring, I will not let it go. Do you understand?"
He deliberately let off some steam to pressure them. Such crazy people need to be dealt with a little roughly.
"Ah, I understand!"
"Pascal, you worked hard too. It was a very impressive battle."
"Thank you, Commander!"
That's how it seemed like the duel would end awkwardly without a winner or loser at first glance.
In the end, it was decided who would be laughing.
"Kuhahaha! Did you see it? Did everyone see it?"
"Damn!"
The contrast between Raoul, who was holding his shoulder with a hole in it and bleeding, and Pascal, who had no wounds but was frowning, was striking.
A duel between a ten-man captain and a hundred-man captain.
Even though the absolute variable, Aura, is limited, considering various factors such as experience and swordsmanship, it was a fight where the hundred-man captain had to dominate.
However, Pascal failed to overwhelm Raoul and instead kept getting dragged around by his opponent's tricks, and in the end, he almost had his balls burst.
If it had been a real fight, of course, Raoul would have been torn apart by Pascal's Aura in an instant without being able to use his strengths.
Paradoxically, Raul had the upper hand in terms of skill as a life-or-death fighter.
If both could handle Aura, Raul would have won.
I don't know why someone who would have made a name for himself as a mercenary joined the Knights, but he was definitely worth watching.
He was a rough diamond, but if he could somehow polish it, he could be reborn as a great jewel.
Pascal was also pretty good.
I thought he was a slacker because he couldn't hold his momentum during the inauguration ceremony, but if he could just improve his overly orthodox appearance, I thought he could continue to be a centurion.
'There's a lot to harvest.'
Most of the common knights are not even the basics, so watching them spar was frustrating.
However, it was interesting to have the commanders fight each other, and I've already discovered two useful talents.
In that case, it would be better to recommend the direction of public duels to encourage competition between commanders as much as possible, just like now.
After all, duels between ordinary knights are included in work hours anyway.
Of course, if a special ordinary knight appears to challenge the commander, I will gladly accept the public duel application.
It seemed like they had found the perfect way to instill tension in the commanders who tend to become lax.
'It was a satisfying day. I'm starting to feel affection for the Black Lion Knights.'
That's how I felt satisfied in many ways when I returned to the mansion after work.
"Master. What on earth did you do outside…?"
The old butler, who was usually so blunt that it made you wonder if he had no emotions, was sweating and trailing off.
Sensing that something unusual had happened, I quietly followed the butler to the reception room.
Then, the man who was staring blankly at the empty box of cookies and teacups and the two knights standing motionless on either side of him simultaneously turned their heads toward me.
The knights' skills were each at least that of a centurion. Furthermore, the three of them were wearing uniforms embroidered with pure gold thread, and it was clear…
"Commander of the Black Lion Knights, Wolfgang von Schwarz, receive the imperial letter."
I quickly knelt on one knee and saluted the herald holding the imperial seal between the two imperial guardsmen surrounding me on either side.
"Eternal glory to the imperial family! Eternal loyalty to His Majesty the Emperor!"
I then held out both hands and waited, and soon a paper envelope that was light and soft enough to be excessive was placed on my palm.
"With this, the will of the royal family has been conveyed. As a subject, you must serve with honor."
After the burdensome procedure that felt new every time was over, the guests from the royal family left without looking back.
'A message from the royal family, what on earth is going on...'
The war is already over. Could it be that the remnants of the northern barbarians are stirring up trouble again?
—Gulp
I tore off the seal with tension and immediately rolled my eyes to check the subject and sender.
Right after that, I personally experienced the mysterious fact that letters can make people dizzy.
[Notice of Visit and Inspection of the Black Lion Knights]
[Princess, Alicia von Diana Solaris]
"Ah."
Fucked.