I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 81: Girls

Chapter 81: Girls

"Felix and I will scout ahead, sir," Irene insisted as they took to a mountain path on the eastern side of the duchy. "The path seems to curve off and there is uncertainty about what lies ahead."

Sir Gunnar gave a proud smile from where he sat on top of his horse to the apprentices who seemed to grow more each day in front of him. He had no family of his own but felt lucky to never be lacking considering he practically raised most apprentices by himself.

Irene gestured for Felix to come along and they both squeezed their knees to force their horses ahead and leave the carriage they escorted behind.

The trail they followed was a common path that led them to a few of the larger townships in the duchy. At the end of a long path ahead, there was even a merchant family who kept their township interesting because of those willing to migrate there and take advantage of the wares being traded from various locations.

It lay in the heart of intersecting mountain ranges. While it was rather protected because of the mountains because most monsters originated north, it still had its fair share of issues. It wasn’t entirely without monsters either.

Irene was relieved to put space between herself and the carriage they guarded because the passengers had been making her uncomfortable ever since they were picked up from a township in the northeast, just outside of Earl Auden’s lands.

It had been a few weeks of traveling around and perfecting their scouting and guarding. So far they had mostly guarded merchants and people transporting goods or materials, but that time was a different test with a real noble family inside of the carriage—the Dethorns.

They never had children of their own, but Baroness Dethorn spoiled her brother’s daughter as if she were her own child. That day, it was only the Baroness and her niece, Rose, there and, fortunately, they hadn’t been quite as fussy as the Duchess. They were polite to all of the apprentices and gracious in understanding when unexpected things happened.

However, there was something else entirely that bothered Irene about the way the girl kept treating her.

She tried to shake it off for the time being as they scouted ahead.

Felix took the right of the trail while Irene took the left. They allowed their horses to weave through the trees before they were stuck at a riverbed and forced to stop at a bridge that would safely take the carriage over.

"Nothing this way!" she called to the other knight.

"Nothing here either," he responded.

They stopped their horses on the road and waited for the carriage to make its way around the wide curve before it went lower and met them at the top of the bridge.

"The Baroness would like to stop here for a meal," Gunnar told the apprentices.

"Good enough for me," Felix responded. "How about you help them out of the carriage, Iro?"

She glared at him, wishing she was a knight so that her expressions weren’t so easily deciphered. Sir Gunnar was lucky that he wore a whole suit of armor because, even though he always had his visor up for the apprentice’s sake, he didn’t have to if he didn’t want to.

The knight looked at Iro expectantly.

"Yes, I will do it," she responded, trying not to seem to be begrudging so it wouldn’t offend the two women in the carriage.

Even though her movements were practiced and she was well-trained by that point, she was still full of dread. She opened the door and helped out the Baroness first before her niece joined her soon after.

With a hand clad in a leather riding glove, Irene reached for the girl’s hand and she helped her down the two steps to the ground. The girl, of course, erupted with giggles the entire way until she was on the ground where she insisted on holding onto Irene’s arm as if she couldn’t walk on her own.

Irene reminded herself that it was all part of being a knight and that she was just training, but it didn’t make the situation any more comfortable.

As she helped the girl and woman to where the knights and maid who joined them on the journey were setting up a light meal for the two, she noticed the girl leaning into her arm and she had to avoid Felix’s prying gaze.

She knew her face was probably blushing, but that was the curse of someone with such light skin. And she wasn’t blushing for the reason the others expected but because it was uncomfortable that the girl was assuming a lot about her just because she was an apprentice and Sir Arthur’s ’son’.

"What is it like having a father like yours?" Rose asked, doing anything to keep the apprentice right where she wanted her. "It must be quite scary. He gave you such nice hair."

"It’s not scary, my lady," Irene addressed her quietly, ignoring the comment about her hair. "He is strong enough to fear nothing so I don’t fear anything either."

That caused the girl to giggle again and Irene felt horrified so she helped the girl to a rock where a blanket had been placed down for her. She quickly escaped after that, pretending that she had other things to attend to.

Unfortunately, Leif and Felix took notice of Rose’s interest in Iro and they walked forward to relentlessly tease.

"Rose Dethorn," Felix observed with a whistle. "She’s a bit older than you but she seems to really like you. With your father’s connections, you could marry a girl like that one day."

"I don’t want to get married... ever," Irene snapped under her breath so the others wouldn’t hear. "I will never settle for someone so fussy as a noble."

She was shocked to see even Leif was caught up in the situation as if he wished that Rose would pay attention to him instead. It would be too strange if he started acting jealous towards her considering she was a she and nothing Rose could truly ever like. What a strange situation to be in where the truth was just under the surface.

"I simply think you’re too young to understand," Felix uttered. "Everyone gets married one day. You could have the finest pickings if you wanted to use the life you were born into."

Irene uncomfortably adjusted her shoulder and chest plates.

"Sir Gunnar isn’t married and he does perfectly fine on his own. I also don’t want that," she responded firmly, refusing to keep having the conversation.

After Sorrel was fed and Irene had also eaten something herself, she was called back to the carriage by the girl’s request and forced to help her get into the carriage.

It was making her dread the months ahead and what might happen since she was going to have to attend the Winter Solstice Banquet as an apprentice. She thought that she had a soft appearance enough for girls to not take notice of her, but it seemed to be working against her rather than in her favor.

Search the lightnovelworld.cc website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.