Chapter 272: Graduation Ceremony for Men

Priest Arjan was bustling around busily. The knights who had suddenly left had suddenly returned, saying. 

“Actually, please give us some food.”

For some reason, they all had relieved expressions as if a burden had been lifted. Arjan happily called on the help of the villagers, reheated the soup, and distributed it.

Sitting at the center of the chapel, Karin wiped her hair with a towel while sipping the soup slowly. It seemed she had a sensitive tongue. The knights, warm-hearted, watched over her, seeing resemblance to Lord Leonard even in such details.

“Come to think of it…”

As Karin wiped her mouth, she spoke.

“I’ve been condemning all of you for your mess, but I haven’t asked why you’re so fixated on my brother.”

The knights nodded, and Keith spoke on behalf of them.

“We all owe our lives to Leonard-sama.”

“Oh?”

This was news to Karin as well. Since her brother never talked about his achievements on the battlefield, she had to find out on her own.

“We owe deep gratitude to Leonard-sama, who saved us from enemy attacks, protected us from being executed by association, and negotiated our release when we were prisoners. Everyone here holds him in deep debt.”

“So that’s why you volunteered for the newly established Thirteenth Knights after the war.”

The knights nodded deeply.

“Leonard-sama often went for long rides on his days off. I asked him many times to at least have an escort…”

“My brother didn’t have the awareness of being an important person, and he didn’t like being treated as such.”

Karin agreed, indicating that they were not at fault.

“And then, he happened to stop by this village under attack by monsters and lost his life trying to save the villagers.”

Gripping his fist tightly on his knee, Keith continued to speak.

“For us, it was truly sudden. Without any warning, our lord and benefactor disappeared suddenly! We couldn’t even say thank you or goodbye!”

The chapel fell silent. The sound of rain seemed to have weakened.

“Although it was just a momentary illusion, thank you for letting us meet Leonard-sama. We bid him farewell, and finally, our doubts have been cleared.”

There was pressure to save the village, despair of not being able to return alive, poor visibility due to the rain, and the coincidence of Karin wearing Leonard’s armor. It might have been a collective hallucination caused by various conditions overlapping. Even so, it was fine. Their wish to see him even just once had come true.

After confirming that everyone had finished their meal, Keith stood up.

“The Thirteenth Knights will head to their final battle.”

“Final battle?”

In response to Karin’s accusing gaze, Keith quickly denied.

“No, no, I don’t intend to die. I was thinking of removing this thing after we finish off the orcs.”

He tapped the shoulder pad of the armor with his finger. There was an engraving of ’13’ there.

“I see. That’s good.”

Karin nodded in agreement.

Looking back, I had caused a lot of trouble for Victor, the commander of the Fourth Knights. It’s terrifying to think that his words, “I’ve waited long enough,” were an ultimatum.

“Cheers!”

One of the organization’s jokers raised the soup plate overhead. The knights, despite looking exasperated, went along with him, raising their plates and then slamming them to the ground in unison.

Originally, it was a ritual of smashing wine glasses. Breaking the glass signified the irreversibility of the upcoming battle. However, since they were using wooden plates, they didn’t break. There was only a hollow sound of “Kakoon.”

After a moment, someone, and then everyone, burst into laughter. It had been months since they laughed so hard, feeling so joyous. There was no sense of impending doom as they were about to embark on a desperate battle.

“Let’s go, you bunch of hopeless guys. It’s the graduation ceremony for you!”

“””Yeah!”””

Keith led the knights out of the chapel. Watching their backs, Gerhardt murmured deeply.

“They’re idiots…”

“Yeah, they’re idiots…”

Lutz also stood up and sheathed his sword.

Josel crossed his arms, nodding satisfactorily several times.

“This is it, this is the knighthood I was looking for…”

It wasn’t clear what he was hoping for, but Lutz thought it was something that couldn’t be achieved with the delinquent knights of Count Zander’s territory.

“Well then, shall we go too? We need to hurry or we’ll run out of treats.”

Gerhardt carried his sword on his shoulder with his left hand and put his right hand in his pocket, walking leisurely. It was as if he was going for a stroll. Josel followed suit, and Lutz stopped along the way to bow his head to Karin.

“Then, we’ll be going.”

“I don’t want to hear anything but good news. And…”

“Yes?”

“Take care of those troublemakers for me.”

“Leave it to me.”

Lutz nodded deeply and hurriedly followed Gerhardt and the others.

Karin watched Lutz’s departing back with eyes full of envy.

The rain had eased slightly, but the ground was still muddy as ever. The road was not maintained, and even a little rain made it difficult to pass.

The iron-plated shoes sank into the mud, pulling the shoes out of the mud and moving forward. Just that alone accumulated fatigue.

“That’s why I hate barbarians like monsters! Normally, if it rains, the outing should be canceled!”

Keith didn’t stop walking despite grumbling. The knight next to him chuckled while splashing through the mud in the same way.

“For them, this must be a familiar field.”

“I doubt I’ll ever become friends with orcs!”

“They have the right to choose too.”

They continued with such nonsense talk. Despite being mentally resolved, the terrifying presence of the giant orc remained unchanged. If they stopped or stopped talking, they might end up crouching right there.

Gerhardt, who was walking easily at the front due to his light armor, stopped and looked back.

“Hey, you brats, it’s about time to stop chatting.”

“Brats? I’m already in my mid-twenties, you disrespectful old man!”

“You haven’t even lived half of your life. You should hope to live a long life.”

Keith was about to retort further, but sensing Gerhardt’s unusual atmosphere, he closed his mouth and put his hand on the hilt of his sword.

“Good boy, you’ll live long.”

Gerhardt laughed recklessly and drew his sword from its sheath, throwing it aside.

Amidst the sound of rain, a low, growling noise began to mix in. Soon, it turned into a rumble, and vibrations spread through their legs through the mud.

“They’re coming, battle starts now!”

Keith’s shout and the emergence of five giant shadows from the forest, felling trees, were almost simultaneous.

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