I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 73: While the World Sleeps

Chapter 73: While the World Sleeps

By the time night fell, all three apprentices were giddy as they waited for the slowest hour to pass in each of their barracks.

Irene thought she was there first but she heard a "psst" and realized Felix was further out into the field and away from the windows, hiding amongst bushes that further concealed him in the dark. The girl ran to him quickly and crouched down so she was hidden as well.

"Your camouflage is quite good," she complimented him. "I couldn’t see you at all. Have you spotted them yet?"

"They went northwest about where we saw those infected goblins in the first place," he whispered. "I wonder what they’re up to that would need such secrecy. It isn’t as if they’re doing something against chivalry or the church."

"If the mages are involved..." she trailed off.

"What do you mean?" Felix wondered. "What have you seen?"

"His Grace doesn’t like that the knights are so comfortable with the mages now," she explained. "Even if we badly need their help he still keeps similar sentiments to His Majesty."

"Tch," Felix scoffed. "Pathetic when we know just how much they’ve helped us since they’ve arrived. Even if it’s a meager cut to a maid’s finger in the kitchen, they’re willing to help just to remain useful."

"Did you hear the rumor that the more you’re healed by magic the less you will be able to heal naturally?" Irene asked.

"There’s no way that’s true," Felix said, but he quickly cut himself off and pointed towards the wall. "Leif!" he whisper-shouted.

When Irene looked in the direction Felix was, she saw Leif standing at the very corner of the barracks, trying to hide around a dark corner and peering around to see if he could spot anyone else. When he heard Felix, he sprinted to where his friends were after being completely sure no one was going to see him breaking the rules.

"What now?" he asked, clearly paranoid by the way his eyes never left their surroundings.

Since Irene and Felix had already adjusted to the darkness, they were calmer since they could see better.

"We ought to go towards the stables and make sure there isn’t anyone in the stables looking after the horses or waiting for them to return with the horses to help them put away," Irene suggested.

"Good thinking," Felix admitted and Irene beamed.

He rolled his eyes but was the first to leave their hiding spot in the bush.

At that moment, their biggest worry was the possibility of someone in the barracks spotting them so they returned to just below the windows, hoping that no one would peer out and look downward. Once they were away from the barracks, they were in open space where three main structures could see them quite easily: the Duke’s Tower, the barracks, and the stables. Rather than working to be quiet, they opted to move as quickly as they possibly could until they all made it to the outer edge of the stables where they caught their breath.

All of the apprentices were more than apt in physical activity, but the nerves of breaking the rules and knowing about it were enough to cause their hearts to race more than necessary and everything felt more extreme.

When they were calmed down against one of the various sheds that were alongside the stables—that particular one being where practice materials for the practice yard were kept—they turned towards each other once again.

"As far as I can see, the knights and mages have gone into the forest," Felix began. "We should be able to run all the way there since there’s no way we can ride horses quietly. It will be quite the trip, but there are a few hiding places on the way there."

Even though it was too dark to see solid outlines of anything because the sliver of moon was hidden and the clouds were thick, Felix knew the lands well. After all, they were ones he had been riding through since he was merely six years old when they first found him amidst a bunch of dead people in a village ravaged by goblins.

He was the best swordsman among the apprentices and the best navigator. It irritated Irene’s competitive nature to no end.

"I trust you" was all Irene could say as Felix directed them forth.

Since they were moving closer and closer to where the knights were, they knew they had to be particularly careful. That meant movement was slow and careful. When there were stretches of perfectly flat grass that muffled their footprints as they ran forth, then they were able to go quickly.

Their first resting point was a large boulder half buried in the ground. When they got themselves together once more, they were able to hide amongst patches of bushes. That brought them over halfway there and they had to move much more slowly the rest of the way to the treeline where tree trunks and thicker brush would have to be their hiding point from that point forward.

The children made it to the forest’s edge and they were thrilled to have made it that far.

Finally, they could see the lanterns the knights and mages had brought them.

Irene spotted a mage and nearly gasped when she noticed one of them was using magic surrounding their hand as a torch. Leif slapped a hand over her mouth to silence her amazement. He knew her far too well.

Even though she was momentarily irritated, she was glad that he was so insistent on following the rules.

Felix pulled at the two younger apprentices and he got low to the ground so he could whisper, "We must go deeper to learn anything."

Since the mages and knights weren’t trying to be quiet whatsoever, the apprentices could move further easier than expected without being detected.

They found another bush that they could hide against and Felix gestured for the others to put their heads near his as he gazed at what the knights and mages were up to that night.

To their shock, there was a goblin tied to a tree. It had cloth shoved down its throat so that there was no noise coming from it except for what thrashing it could do while tied up like that.

Stanley was standing closest to the goblin and he ungagged the monster, causing it to scream its wretched scream which caused everyone in the vicinity to grimace. Before anything more could happen, the mage uncorked something and dumped it down the monster’s throat.

There was another horrible scream and the monster started screaming and convulsing. To everyones horror, it broke away from the ropes that tied it and Sir Phillip was the one who had to slice the monster in half so that it wouldn’t cause harm.

Smoke rose from its cut corpse and Irene felt her heart race. She wanted to be sick.

Before much more than that could happen, the apprentices heard a deep voice from behind them.

"What in God’s name are you doing out here?"

Simultaneously, their blood ran cold.

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