Maxim thought to himself to throw it all away as his blade clashed with his opponent’s. He told himself he needed to discard his lingering attachments and emotions.

When Theodora personally stepped up to duel him, Maxim had a vague sense of what she wanted. He knew she wanted to have a wordless conversation through the crossing of their swords. He thought his fierce swordsmanship would be the best answer he could give her at that moment, but he was wrong.

Theodora truly wanted to face off against Maxim with all her emotions laid bare, at full strength. The rift of emotions she harbored towards Maxim ran far deeper than he had imagined.

It would have been easier if she could just hate and despise him.

He could have endured it if he steeled himself.

If he had pushed himself, he could have drawn his aura blade and fought while entrusting his back to Christine, even if just for a short while.

However, Maxim did not make that choice even at the very end of their duel.

Theodora wanted to know the emotions Maxim kept hidden, but he had no intention of revealing them to her. Maxim chose to take on all of Theodora’s negative feelings himself. He firmly believed this was the right choice for both Theodora and himself.

It would have been better if he had just quit being a knight.

Someone mocked Maxim in his mind.

“That wouldn’t do,” he answered back.

Deep inside, a part of him couldn’t bear to extinguish the embers Theodora had left smoldering in his heart. A part of him lived on just by gazing at that tiny flickering flame.

The mornings in the imperial capital were fast-paced and busy. Maxim woke up to the sound of carriages rumbling down the streets.

“What a restless night,” were the first words out of his mouth as he opened his eyes, lying in bed in the corner of his neat and tidy, or rather sparse, room with only a desk, chair, small bookshelf, and a single sword beside the bed. The morning sun’s pale light filtered in through the window.

It was the first day of work after his demotion from Vice Commander to regular knight. Maxim languidly sat up, scratching his disheveled hair. His body felt strangely heavy, perhaps from not getting a good night’s rest. The clock on the wall pointed to 7:30.

“I don’t want to go to work.”

Maxim grumbled to himself. Since he had deliberately chosen this thorny path, he supposed he had to just grin and bear it. A deflated sigh escaped his lips.

“Life sure isn’t easy.”

He rubbed his eyes and dragged himself out of bed. He washed up in the bathroom, trying to clear his still-groggy mind. The young man in the mirror had haggard eyes.

This is what you get, Maxim rebuked himself.

After hastily drying his face, he got dressed in his uniform. The black uniform without the Vice Commander’s insignia felt extremely awkward now. From this day on, he was just a regular knight. With a contradictory mix of feeling unburdened yet heavy-hearted, Maxim set off to work.

He sensed an unusual atmosphere as he walked up the familiar hill leading to the training grounds. The sounds emanating from there were also unusually intense. It seemed the training grounds were finally starting to serve their proper role. Maxim climbed the hill with growing inner tension. The clanging of metal assaulted his eardrums.

“Impressive…”

Maxim muttered as he took in the sight before him upon reaching the training grounds.

The scene unfolding was one he had never witnessed there before. The training grounds were quiet yet noisy. Shouts, thumps, and weapons clashing blended together to create an air rife with tension.

Around ten knights were wielding various weapons and breaking a sweat on the dusty stone floor of the training grounds. Countless training dummies were being sliced, and just as many logs were getting nicked. Some knights were diligently running laps around the perimeter, while others were engrossed in calisthenics.

This was the normal daily scene of a proper knight order.

The abnormal scenes he had been seeing until now were, in fact, the anomaly. Maxim entered the training grounds with a wry chuckle. He was immediately greeted by a familiar face and voice.

“Vice Commander, you’re late!”

Seeing Christine with her usual demeanor, the corners of Maxim’s mouth relaxed.

“I’m not the Vice Commander anymore. And I’m not late either.”

At Maxim’s grumbling, Christine laughed as if amused. Perhaps because she was in high spirits seeing the properly transformed knight order, her smile seemed brighter than before.

“Still, all the other knights are here already.”

At the mention that everyone had assembled, Maxim’s eyebrow twitched. Aren’t there supposed to be around thirty members?

“Already? I only see a dozen or so people.”

Christine shrugged her shoulders.

“I asked around, and apparently, the recruitment isn’t fully complete yet. We’re basically on standby for now. It will take some time for the rest of the members to gather.”

It appeared Christine had spoken quite a bit with the new recruits already. Maxim inwardly envied her sociable personality.

“Then I guess I’ll go change and start training too.”
“Go change quickly…”

Christine’s words trailed off as she looked at Maxim. He addressed those green eyes that seemed to be pondering something.

“What, is something the matter?”
“No, I was just wondering what to call you now.”
“Really… what do I do with you?”

Maxim burst out laughing. However, Christine appeared to be seriously mulling it over, holding her chin with her fingers. He considered telling her just to use his name, but that felt a bit unpleasant.

“Sir Knight?”
“You’re a knight too, missy.”

As Maxim chided Christine jokingly, she spoke in a measured tone.

“…Senior?”
“Not bad.”

Maxim readily nodded, but Christine’s dilemma continued. Then, as if reaching a resolution, she clapped her hands together, eyes sparkling.

“…Oppa”
“No way.”

While Christine’s face scrunched up, Maxim shuddered.

“What, why not!”
“I don’t like it, that’s… Ugh, do you see the goosebumps on my arm?”

As Maxim rolled up his sleeve to show his arm, Christine’s expression contorted, and she started smacking him haphazardly.

“Ack, hey! Wait, sorry.”
“Couldn’t you just roll with it?”

As Christine spoke in a sulky tone, Maxim jested with a chuckle.

“Sorry, it’s not in my nature to say things I don’t mean.”
“Fine then. I’ll just call you Ahjussi so hurry up and go change.”

I like that even less.

Maxim tried to say that but got shoved towards the main building by Christine’s back.

By the time he changed into training clothes and returned to the training grounds, the heat of training had somewhat died down. Maxim lightly swung around his favored wooden sword, mentally planning out his morning training. There was still time before the Commander’s arrival. Seeing Christine focused on meditating alone, he decided to train by himself quietly.

“I should run a bit first…”

Maxim began stretching while surveying the training grounds. When was the last time he had trained this systematically? It had to be at least half a year ago.

“I wonder if my stamina is still up to par.”

As Maxim was rotating his ankles to loosen up his muscles and ligaments, a newly recruited knight walked up to him. The face looked familiar. He was probably one of the four knights who had accompanied Theodora.

“You’re Maxim…Apart, was it?”

The man appeared to be in his mid-forties, but his actual age was likely younger than that. He was shorter than Maxim. Unlike him, the man had closely cropped hair, which left an impression. He had firm-set lips and a strong, chiseled jawline. Maxim had to rack his brain quite a bit to recall the name.

“Senior Paola Simone.”
“I’m glad you remember my name.”

Paola exuded the presence of a well-trained soldier rather than a knight. He tried to recall his duel.

His swordsmanship itself was nothing particularly special. There are levels to swordsmanship. Judging his skills by that standard, one could never call it refined swordsmanship. His sword techniques were not elegant either. In fact, the knight Paola was facing had superior swordsmanship compared to him. However, Paola easily disregarded that difference in skill and defeated his opponent with great ease.

Combat.

One could say Paola Simone had a genius-level aptitude for fighting. He must not have originally been from a knightly background. He was likely a distinguished soldier who had earned knighthood through the recognition of his commanding officer for his merits.

“I was really impressed by your swordsmanship.”
“…Are you referring to my swordsmanship?”

Paola nodded slowly.

“I’m embarrassed to say I don’t know much about swords. I was originally a mere soldier before receiving a knighthood to become a knight. But Maxim, even I could tell the swordsmanship you displayed was of a very high level.”

Being suddenly approached and complimented felt more uncomfortable than strange to Maxim. Frankly, he didn’t want to recall the memories of the selection exam.

“…Thank you.”
“That’s why I’m quite curious as to how someone of your caliber ended up in the Raven Knight Order.”

So this was the point. Maxim felt the urge to bury his face in his hands and sigh deeply. While Paola didn’t seem like a gossipmonger, he appeared to enjoy rumors, befitting a soldier.

“I didn’t particularly distinguish myself at my first post, and the commanding officers there didn’t take kindly to me.”
“How peculiar. Did you get into a huge fight or something?”

Maxim made up an excuse. In any case, this man was a fellow member of the knight order. It was better to tell him something like this than to make an enemy of him by putting up walls.

“By the way, your first post? Where was it?”
“It was in the frontier. A region called Holten in the south…”
“Ah! Holten! I know that place well too.”

The first impression of a taciturn and skilled knight had completely vanished. All that remained was a talkative middle-aged swordsman who couldn’t wait to meddle in others’ business. Maxim glared at him with icy eyes.

“There was this one time when I was stationed in Holten. It was summer, I think? And the weather was ever so nice, just like today.”

This is the start of what seemed to be a very, very long story from Paola. He looked ready to recite an epic, barely able to contain his excitement as he licked his lips. At this rate, Maxim would be held captive all day, and his morning training time would be wasted. It was Christine who rescued Maxim from this predicament.

“I think the Commander is coming?”

At Christine’s words, the knights began putting away their weapons. Paola clicked his tongue, looking genuinely disappointed. Maxim glanced at Christine. She eyed Maxim, still trapped by Paola, with a prim expression. It was as if she had just done him a favor. While her triumphant look was irksome, he felt he could tolerate her gloating for a day or so.

Maxim tried to use the opportunity Christine had created to break away from Paola.

“Well then… Senior, I’ll be going…”
“Just one more thing! Answer this one last question, and then you can go!”

Maxim looked at Paola, who urgently grabbed onto him. He regretted not having the personality to tell him to buzz off.

“By any chance, what’s your relationship with that young lady who just said the Commander is coming?”

Oh boy, good grief. Maxim couldn’t help but hold his head. He should have just told him to get lost after all.

“… We’re comrades-in-arms. Just very close ones.”
“Really? I saw you two grinning and chatting away earlier too. Don’t deny it and tell this Paola here. My wife and I also met in a similar situation, you know…”
“Senior, for now, since the Commander is coming, it would be better to talk later…”

Paola cleared his throat.

“Then, then how about this?”

Paola grabbed Maxim’s shoulder and spoke.

“You, what’s your relationship with the Commander?”

Maxim’s expression momentarily stiffened before returning to normal.

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

He couldn’t prevent the hardness from seeping into his voice. Maxim bit his lower lip. Seeing his reaction, Paola backed off with a shrug.

“It’s nothing. Let’s go line up for now.”

Maxim watched Paola’s retreating back with a sigh.

“…Senior?”
“Huh?”

Maxim was startled by Christine’s voice suddenly coming from behind. She must have played some trick with magic to completely mask her presence. She teased Maxim’s flustered expression, raising one corner of her mouth playfully.

“So, what is your relationship with the Commander?”

She was eavesdropping after all. Maxim pushed away Christine who was taunting him.

“Looks like you settled on ‘senior.'”

Christine stared at Maxim, dissatisfied with his deliberate change of subject. But he just shook his head and swiftly joined the ranks of knights lining up, leaving her behind. As Christine watched him walk away, the mischief in her eyes faded. And slowly, a different kind of emotion filled that space.

==

Maxim thought the jet-black uniform of the Raven Knight Order suited Theodora well too. Her platinum-blond hair that shone like the Milky Way swayed slightly with each step she took. Theodora stood in front of the platform, her designated spot, looking over the knights. However, her gaze never once landed on Maxim.

“Good morning. This is the first time I’m formally introducing myself. Nice to meet you. I’m Commander Theodora Bening.”

Theodora kept her greetings extremely concise.

“I sincerely welcome all of you who have become members of the Raven Knight Order that will be reborn anew. As you all know, this restructuring will not only impact our knight order. Our reformed knight order will become the vanguard of the Riant Empire’s revitalization.”

Theodora’s words carried a force that overwhelmed her audience. The knights quietly focused on what their commander was saying.

“…But before that, we need to appoint a Vice Commander first.”

Theodora’s eyes briefly fell on Maxim before flitting away. His heart twinged for a moment under that steely gaze.

“I will gladly accept any volunteers.”

Two hands shot up among the knights as soon as Theodora finished speaking. Maxim turned his head slightly to see the volunteers.

One was a knight who had followed Theodora during the selection exam, and the other was,

“…Huh.”

Christine Watson, with her long blond hair that flowed down to her waist and determined emerald eyes.