I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 203: A Lot of Adjustment

Chapter 203: A Lot of Adjustment

For fairness, rather than allowing the same people to do night watch every single night, the schedule evolved the longer they were forced to stay in the camp they were establishing.

Rather than having one team guarding at night and one team during the day, one team would guard half the night and then wake the others up to guard, where they would then work until late morning where the others would wake up and they would have a bit of interaction for the rest of the day. The second night shift would then go to sleep early, and those who would take the first shift would remain awake and attend to the camp.

It allowed for more interaction during the day rather than behaving like ships quietly passing one another in the fog of night without much more than that. Everyone seemed happier because of this arrangement.

The monsters were kind enough to allow them to establish this schedule. Even though there were a few monster sightings from afar, none dared to come to where their camp was.

It caused stormy thoughts to fill Irene’s head about why that was. Their unwillingness to leave the tower or barracks for long felt strange.

Since her team was the first night watch shift, she and Leif brought a couple of fruits and jerky with them to the top of the ancient wall, where they sat and lit a small fire as they had multiple times before.

Perhaps the only difference between their old night watch and what they were doing now was the fact that Irene couldn’t loudly complain about how tired she was half the night. The tent where others were sleeping was too close. Her interaction with Leif had to be done quietly as they kept their eyes towards the mountains and the Duke’s Tower.

Irene sat with her legs dangling over the edge of the wall, and she lay her sword in her lap which she meticulously cleaned and oiled to pass the time. As she looked up at the Duke’s Tower occasionally, she could no longer keep back the thoughts that had been weighing on her since the beginning.

She sheathed her sword and put her gloves back on. Her fingers were freezing, and she held them over the small fire.

"I’ve been thinking a lot about the tower," she quietly began. "After what we saw in the forest when the mages were giving the monsters the poison, didn’t it seem like the monster took well to the poison? It was more energized before it was killed."

"I remember that," Leif responded, equally as quietly. "Thought they were insane for doing that, but it seemed the mages might have known more than they let on."

"It has made me wonder if there’s something in the tower that’s a source of this awful poison," she admitted. "Since the monsters haven’t bothered trying to get to us out here, it’s as if they’re protecting something on the inside. Perhaps they see the poison as something valuable. They won’t leave it behind because it benefits them in some way. Makes them stronger... More intelligent?"

Leif was quiet for a few moments, and he pulled his eyes from the fire so they could find Irene, who sat across from it.

"You noticed that too?" he wondered. "There’s something more intelligent about these monsters. They’re not mindless like the ones we’ve seen before. As if they’ve evolved..."

"Evolution is against the church," she gently reminded him.

"So is black magic, but it feels like that’s what this is," he reminded her. "None of what we’re dealing with is of the church, yet it’s the hell we’re facing regardless. Hell doesn’t exist as the church says it does because it’s here on earth right now."

"I don’t want to agree with you," Irene admitted. "That goes against what I was taught as a child... But there isn’t a better explanation than that."

"You’re still so dedicated to Sünstoian beliefs despite all you’ve seen," he realized. "Does it help you go forward?"

"There are contradictory observations of things all over the place," she admitted lightly. "The one thing that has always remained true to me was how the Sünsto handle death. They believe every life is valuable, even down to the tiniest mouse. It helps me believe that those who are no longer here will be with us again one day. Perhaps it’s untrue, but I need to find comfort in life or I’m going to feel like I’m drowning."

"The one who believes that still cries so bitterly and mourns for those who pass away," he responded lightly.

Leif’s voice was entirely devoid of judgment. His teasing was gentle and meant nothing more than diffusing the otherwise serious conversation.

It caused Irene to smile lightly.

"I am very much attached to this life," she admitted. "I want all of us to live it to its fullest potential. I still think it’s unfair when people aren’t given that opportunity."

A genuine smile appeared on Leif’s face that caused his eyes to wrinkle, and Irene quickly downcast her eyes. He was starting to look more like a man than a boy. He was almost as old as Felix when she first joined the knighthood.

She couldn’t believe how many years they had known one another so far.

As her eyes left Leif and she turned herself towards the Duke’s Tower, she lifted her eyes to see something she didn’t believe.

"You weren’t lying before," she said.

The girl stood up abruptly.

For patrol on top of the wall, they had found an old horn that would have to work to alert the others since they couldn’t afford to waste arrows.

After blowing the horn and hopefully waking up a few in the tent below, she pointed a gloved hand forward.

"It’s as if they’re coming from underground," she realized. "What is happening, Leif?"

Her voice was devoid of confidence despite her mannerisms which spoke of strength and determination.

"I don’t know," he admitted. "But we’ll get through it as we always have."

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