I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 235: Unfair

Chapter 235: Unfair

"This damned schedule!" Irene exclaimed. "Who cares about sleeping at a time like this?!"

The girl was quick to her feet as she rushed out of the tent and along the path that would take her to the other side of the wall. She moved faster and faster until she was sprinting in the field.

It was late morning, which was her usual waking time, but normally she didn’t wake to news that there were knights going into the Duke’s Tower. It was something she had been absolutely dying to do ever since Rosalind’s reemergence. The thought of others being there made her want to save them.

It had nothing to do with glory or recognition. Surprisingly, it didn’t even have anything to do with her desire to be picked as a knight. It had everything to do with the fact that she felt possessive of the Duke’s Tower. Even though they had volunteered to help them regain control, it wasn’t theirs to do with as they pleased.

Her feet only stopped when she heard a voice behind her.

"If you go much further, there will be consequences."

That of her knight. Ah, yes.

Irene’s eyebrows were lowered, and she turned back to Sir Gunnar, who stood firmly at the edge of the encampment with his arms crossed over his muscular chest. He spoke sternly, and his expression was much the same.

"Why are they allowed to go?" Irene asked desperately. "Why was I not considered worthy enough to step foot inside of what is mine to protect?"

Sir Gunnar strode forward and placed his hand on Irene’s shoulder.

"It isn’t about that," he assured her. "If you would like to be mad at someone, be mad at me. It was my decision to send others inside. I don’t think any of you need to see what’s left of that place. The bodies. The filth. We’ve all experienced enough hell."

She peered at him, angry at first, but then it melted away.

They had only been out there for less than a year, but Sir Gunnar had aged by far the most out of anyone. The tiredness under his eyes was evident. Between his eyes had developed a wrinkle that deepened whenever he was concerned. Even his hair had started to turn grey.

He was the embodiment of someone who didn’t want the burden he was forced to hold. It weighed on him heavily.

There were times she had passed judgment when he relied on Commander Lothian so much, but as she looked at his face she understood. He was doing his best.

His best always went back to his desire to give his apprentices the best possible outcome.

At that moment she had such clarity that she could not longer press the issue of not being chosen to go into the Duke’s Tower.

"I understand," she finally relented, slouching slightly. "I will get back to my duties."

"Very good."

Since it was a rare moment of disobedience from her, she peered around Sir Gunnar and saw that many others had gone to the edge of the encampment to take in whatever was happening. They figured it must have been serious for a normally level-headed apprentice to snap like that.

However, how she presented herself to the Knights of Hydrogia were different than how she presented herself to those within her order. Everyone she was close to knew that she was not the most level headed. Talk about her height or weakness and she would get heated up easily.

Duties meant more cooking for a few hours. They fed the knights lunch, cleaned everything two times over, and then dealt with the dinner rush. When the cooking tasks were over with, it was time to go to the guarded armory tent.

Surprisingly, cleaning up weapons that had been taken from the corpses of monsters was the most relaxing part of the day.

Irene settled into one of the wooden chairs with an old axe between her knees. Leif settled nearby cleaning shields that he and Sir Sven had used in the past. Others in the tent were occupied with their own tasks, but Irene and Leif always ended up in the vicinity of each other so they could talk—as if they hadn’t already done enough of that up on the ancient wall while they participated in the first shift of night watch.

"I don’t think I’ve ever seen Sir Gunnar talk to you so sternly as he did earlier," Leif uttered, although his eyes didn’t lift from his task.

Irene’s gaze lifted and she found Leif’s face even though he wasn’t looking at her. She felt suddenly self-conscious.

"You saw that?" she asked quietly.

"The person sleeping closest to me woke up and ran out of the tent," he justified. "What else was I supposed to do except follow?"

"Why am I the only one who is upset that they didn’t even tell us people were going into the Duke’s Tower?" she wondered.

"You’re not," he admitted. "But we both know that, while we’re burdened as much as the knights, we’re still not involved in the same decisions as knights. Only when we have the title will we be allowed to have more governance over ourselves."

She didn’t want to admit that he was right. These were things she had already considered certainly but she still didn’t like the truth of it.

Rather than arguing more and making more of a fool out of herself, she simply continued to clean the weapons. It was a never ending pile considering how many goblins they had killed carrying weapons that originated from their former armory.

For a while, the armory tent was only filled with the noises of weapons and armor being cleaned. There were no more words to be shared. The others were about ready to go to bed while Leif and Irene were ready to eat their final meal before they would have to go to the wall and keep watch for the night.

However, a shout for apprentices outside of the tent caused them to jump to their feet. It was certainly Sir Gunnar calling for them.

Wordlessly, they rushed out of the tent, leaving behind things on the ground, which they normally would put away before leaving.

As they made it to the infirmary where they were being called to, they went through the entrance before practically collapsing at the sight in front of them.

"S-Sir Phillip!" Irene cried out. "How?"