I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 197: Checking In

Chapter 197: Checking In

On their way back into the barracks, Irene and Felix only saw two goblins. When Felix turned to Irene and pressed a hand against the front of her shoulder, silently telling her to stay put, she let him make quick work of the monsters.

She figured it was alright since it wasn’t the larger swarm that was towards the Duke’s Tower.

His anger was palpable as he brutally slashed them with his sword a bit more than necessary. By the time he was finished, the disarray on the first level of the barracks was covered in blood.

The efforts to move the supplies to higher floors were well worth it, it seemed.

Irene decided to look past his explosive anger. If he needed the relief, she wasn’t going to deny him that. If it made him feel better after all he had gone through that day, she felt she owed it to him.

The whispers of love to a girl who no longer lived had broken her heart into two, and she saw Felix in a different light. It was similar to when she found out he was the product of a pillaged village, a child who lost everyone he knew to monsters.

When they arrived at the second level, they saw one of the barracks with a door open, and they walked towards it cautiously until they saw Sir Gunnar talking to a couple of squires.

Since there weren’t maids to refresh the candles, the hallway was dark due to the dusk that was setting in. Despite that, when they approached the knight, he could tell both of them had been crying. He had a strange paternal urge to hug them both.

"Did you eat?" he asked Felix, already knowing that Irene did.

"I did, sir," he assured the knight. "Thanks to Iro."

"Very good," he said. "We will be staying in the same groups as before. It seems this arrangement has given us all a better chance of helping one another."

Since the room Felix had been in before was close, he stepped into it first after bidding the others in the hallway goodnight.

Gunnar then approached Irene, and when he was within an arm’s reach, he placed a firm hand on her small shoulder.

"Is Leif a sufficient partner for you?" he asked, keeping his voice low so the conversation was private.

What he truly wanted to ask was if she was uncomfortable being in such an enclosed space with a boy, but he didn’t have the heart to tell her that. He trusted each and every one of his apprentices, but the secret Irene kept so close to her chest was so incredibly fragile.

"Yes, sir," she responded. "I would have already told you if he weren’t."

Despite cheeks with tear tracks down them and swollen eyes, Irene grinned at the knight. His concern offered her a bit of comfort.

Gunnar felt his heart crack a bit. She had to have been crying less than twenty minutes before, yet there she stood with a smile on her face as she tried to assure him that everything was fine.

"Get some rest then," Gunnar gently insisted. "We will be facing a mundane schedule from now on. We must figure out how to block off whatever was broken in the basement."

There was another brief goodnight before Irene went to the barrack she shared with Leif and knocked on the door.

To her surprise, he was sitting against the wall next to the small stove and staring at the open metal door. It cast long shadows and an orange glow on his face. He seemed to be thinking deeply about something before Irene interrupted him.

That was a heavy day for everyone, even those who weren’t as close to Agnes.

It was difficult to see a place once so beloved and safe in ruin because of an army of unstoppable goblins. Even at that moment, they could hear movement from outside despite the closed window. They all hoped that they wouldn’t have to endure an entire winter of that.

Would these goblins slow down in the winter, or would they even ignore the rules about that as well?

Irene took off her boots. She then pushed the bedframe back to where it locked the door shut and kept them protected in case a rogue goblin made its way up the stairs somehow. For some reason, it seemed that they hadn’t figured out the narrow stairwells that led up to higher levels.

Considering the evening was getting cold, Irene cautiously moved through the room, stepping over her mattress before she sat down next to Leif.

"Everything alright?" she wondered, breaking into the silent mood.

The apprentice turned to look at his friend, but he was shocked at the sight of her face.

Leif scrambled to find a cloth, and he reached for the clay pitcher on the top of the stove so he could dump some water onto the cloth. He had retrieved water from one of the wells for them while Irene was helping Felix.

He settled back down and wiped at her face. She felt like a small child being taken care of, and she frowned at him.

"I can take care of myself," she insisted as she took the cloth from him.

For a moment, all she did was hold the open cloth over her face. The warmth of it was comforting. She eventually wiped off her entire face.

"Can you stand the sight of me now?" she asked sarcastically.

Leif merely took the cloth from her and tossed it into a basket where the apprentices normally kept their dirty items for the maids to take, although there was no one to take the items away.

"Yes, I’ll try to bear it," he joked. "You’re asking me if I’m alright as if you didn’t show up tonight with fresh tears on your face. Are you alright?"

He was using his usual know-it-all sort of tone, and Irene resisted at first, but as he looked at her, she thought he really did seem concerned. He was always worried she didn’t trust him, so she decided to trust him at that moment.

"I just don’t know how to handle all of this," she admitted. "We keep losing people, and it feels like it’s only just the beginning."

"We need to keep fighting for those who aren’t here," he reminded her. "They can’t fight for themselves, so we will fight for them."

Even though it was the same discussion she and Felix had before, Irene was more resistant when it was she who was receiving that advice.

"I know you’re right," she admitted. "I just find it hard to handle."

"Well, we’re partners now, so I guess you’ll just have to trust me," Leif responded, trying to lighten the mood.

He offered her his hand, realizing it was a mistake when she tossed her gloves to the other side of the room and shook his hand. It was exactly what he asked for but once their hands touched, Leif felt unbelievably nervous.

"I trust you," she assured him. "We’ll face it together."

"Now it’s time for us to rest, according to Sir Gunnar," Leif explained with a sigh. " I don’t look forward to what the next days hold."

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