Royland made his way closer to the fire.

“Leon, could you prepare these? I left my knife back at the academy,” Royland said.

Leon nodded and took the two hares off Royland’s hands.

He spent the time to skin the hares, cut them into suitable pieces and pierced them onto sticks he found nearby. He put them over the fire and slowly roasted them. After Leon finished roasting them, the group of three began to dig in. Unfortunately, Leon didn’t have any spices on him and didn’t drain the blood from the hares, so the taste wasn’t as satisfying as it could’ve been.

When Dedric took his first bite of the hare, his face frowned.

‘This taste, how repulsive!’ he thought to himself.

However, when he looked at Leon and Royland stoically eating their portions without so much as wincing from the taste, he decided to deal with it and continued to eat his piece of hare trying not to pay any attention to disgusting taste in his mouth.

After finishing their meal, the group of three decided to turn in for the night. They came up with a rotation that one of them would be awake to watch over their surroundings while the other two rested.

The night was dark and cool. The fire provided warmth; the sound of flames crackling could be heard. The occasional sound of leaves rustling from the nearby trees due to the small winds flowed by. The horses tied by the trees, asleep while standing.

Thus, the night passed uneventfully.

---

The sun rose as its rays shone down peaking through the leaves of the trees. The day became warmer as the sun grew higher in the sky. The fire was already put out. The remains and embers of it produced smoke that rose into the sky.

Leon’s eye slowly twitched as he awakened. His mind became alert and he looked around the campsite. He found Royland by the remains of the campfire. It seemed that he just recently put it out judging from the smoke emanating from the ashes. Dedric was nearby, he kept a watch around the surroundings.

Leon got up and the group of three prepared themselves to return to Clifton Academy.

When the three set off, they only had the two horses that Leon and Royland set off with before. Because of this, Dedric had to sit behind Leon on the way back.

The three of them spent the whole morning traveling back to the knight academy and didn’t return until noon.

They arrived right outside of the entrance to the academy and were met by one of the knight captains.

The knight captain that found them was the instructor that taught Leon and Royland’s class.

“You two! Where’ve you boys been wondering? You’ve returned a day late and think there are no repercussions?” the knight captain questioned.

Leon looked the captain in the eye and said, “Sir, there’s been trouble and the situation is dire.”

The knight captain was surprised by the serious look Leon gave him. He turned to Royland and saw that he too had a solemn face. Quickly, he too took the boys seriously.

“All right, you lads unmount and meet me at my station,” said the knight captain as he briskly left the three boys and entered the academy.

Leon and Royland let out a sigh of relief. They and Dedric looked for a nearby stable where they could get off their horses and let them rest.

After leaving the horses at the stable, Leon and Royland made their way to the knight captain’s station with Dedric in tow. The knight academy was on the larger side and the group of three took some time before standing outside the door of the knight captain’s room.

Royland took the initiative to knock on the door rather hard.

“Royland Everette and Leon Nightwell, reporting!”

“Hi-iik!”

The sound of a small crash along with some quiet cursing echoed out from the captain’s station.

“C-come in!” the knight captain’s voice permitted them to enter.

Royland opened the door and walked in followed by Leon and Dedric.

The station was just basically an office for the knight captain. The office was a room with a desk facing the doorway. There were bookshelves on both sides of the rooms filled with different books. Some on History, others on fighting techniques and martial arts.

On the desk, papers and scrolls were scattered across it. One particular paper had ink spilled on it with the quill on the floor nearby.

Leon took note of quill and spilled ink but pushed it to the back of his mind since they had to make a report on the situation regarding the revolutionaries and the kidnapped Duchess.

Behind the desk sat the knight captain. He had a stern face, looking at the three who just walked in. His hair was kept short and he had an average-looking face. His body was leaned forward, elbows planted on the desk. His forearms were upward with his fingers intertwined together and his hands covering the lower half of his face.

Royland, Leon, and Dedric walked towards the captain’s desk and side by side. Leon and Royland saluted to the captain. Looking at this, Dedric decided to copy them and did so.

The captain closed his eyes, “Report.”

Royland stepped forward, “Sir!”

Royland began to report to the knight captain of what happened on the outskirts of Kandarynd, how they came across the wrecked carriage, faced off against the revolutionaries, and their meeting with Dedric. Occasionally, Leon and Dedric would interject with their sides of the story.

Throughout all of this, the captain kept his eyes closed and his hands, with intertwined fingers, covering the lower half of his face.

After Royland finished his report, the captain finally opened his eyes.

“So, you are Dedric of House Covin, serving under Duchess Sofia Silica of Ecrax, yes?”

“Y-yes, I am he,” Dedric managed to stammer out.

“I see,” replied the knight captain.

He let out a sigh.

“Those damned revolutionaries. Although having our numbers be filled with them helped us win the war against demons, I cannot lie that most of them haven’t faced the truth of war. Most were stationed as guards to protect our supplies and were kept behind the front lines,” the knight captain explained.

“Well, rest assured, friend from Ecrax, the Kingdom of Kandarynd will not let this injustice go freely. Queen Elaine will be notified at once, knight squadrons will be on the move to track down those traitors and grant freedom to the Duchess.”

“T-thank you,” expressed Dedric.

“As for you two,” the captain turned towards Leon and Royland, his lower face still covered, “Kandarynd smiles upon your deed. You’ve done great work taking down those revolutionaries.”

Then his eyes settled on Leon.

“Along with the notice to Queen Elaine, I will also send a letter to your elder brother, Magnus, and let him know of your merit. You should return home to your territory and see your family once more, let them know of the upcoming tournament. I’m sure they’d be thrilled to watch.”

Leon grew excited hearing that he would get the chance to see his family again. It’s been over a year since he’s last seen them.

Every year, Clifton Academy holds a tournament for the students for each grade. Since this was the last year before graduating for Leon and Royland, this was also the last tournament for them to participate in.

The conversation continued with a few more formalities.

“All right, you’re dismissed. Go and rest. Tomorrow I’ll have a carriage ready for your departure to House Nightwell’s territory,” the knight captain said as he dismissed the three from his station.

The three stepped out and walked down the hallway. Soon, Dedric felt a sense of relief coming across him.

“I’m amazed. That man had quite an atmosphere to him! He seemed domineering and wanted to get us out his sight!” Dedric exclaimed.

“Hm. Royland, did that captain seem a little strange to you?” Leon asked.

“Other than him staying in the same position the whole time during our report, nothing out of the ordinary to me,” Royland replied.

“I see.”

The three continued walking down the hallway towards the sleeping quarters.

---

Back in the knight captain’s room.

Once he was sure that Leon and the others were gone, the knight captain let out a big sigh.

“Finally, they’ve left.”

He stood up from his position from the desk and turned around towards the window, looking at his reflection.

On his face was spilled ink that left a dubious and humiliating mark on his face. Turns out Royland’s earlier knock on his door gave him a startle as he was writing, causing him to accidentally brush the inked quill on his face.

His body felt stiff for staying in the same position for a long amount of time. It felt good to finally move about. Then he giggled to himself as he looked out the window.

“Hehe, I hope I kept my dignity in front of those boys.”