I Will Be the Greatest Knight
Chapter 99: Foggy Night

Chapter 99: Foggy Night

Indoor duties were supposed to be as boring as usual, but when Irene entered the library, she saw more apprentices and even a few knights including her father. She was immediately faced with the terrible realization that they still had to participate in the winterization that year.

"We will have to organize ourselves better than last year to ensure that it is done properly this season," Sir Gunnar explained as his greyish eyes scanned over the group in the library. "Sir Arthur and I both believe that the monster problem in the valley this season could have possibly stemmed from us missing a few of their hiding places. In the meantime, we will scour the foothills each day before we finally go up into the rocky mountains and seek out cave systems."

Arthur nodded and he stood up as well, joining the other knight where he stood at the front of the tables. He crossed his arms confidently, but many couldn’t help taking note of where his sleeve ended and there was nothing inside.

"We will have groups just as the year before, some managing the valley while others go to the mountains," Arthur stated. "I will take over the valley while Gunnar will be in the mountains. There will not be an apprentice or knight who doesn’t participate this year. Because of your hard work, you will be able to return to your families the moment this winterization trip is over."

Since Sir Arthur could participate fresh off of an injury, it instilled in a few of the more inexperienced that they would be able to do it as well.

Irene wondered if his motivation was perhaps intentional. To her, it seemed he was using everyone’s admiration of him to make them volunteer themselves for winterization.

Because the winterization tour around the duchy had been halved since Sir Arthur took the north while Sir Gunnar took the south, they still had time to properly scour the mountains.

Irene realized it truly never ended in a knighthood and this was simply a reality she was going to have to accept if she wanted to be the knight she believed she could be.

"We will be re-adopting the night schedule," Sir Gunnar explained. "Squires can take over daily duties while all of you get accustomed to fighting monsters at night. That is the only time they are truly active which is, therefore, the only time it makes sense to seek them out. Does anyone have any questions?"

Since nobody spoke up, Sir Arthur nodded and said, "All that’s left is preparation."

It certainly was that.

The first night after the monster culling announcement, the apprentices were forced to night watch. Irene and Leif were subjected to the familiar nights of staying on top of the wall with a small fire between them as they watched the valley for any signs of monsters. Felix and a few others took to the edge of the forests again and Sir Gunnar went deeper in the plains.

"I’m tired," Irene muttered accompanied by a huge yawn.

"I think that’s only the seventeenth time you’ve said something like that," Leif responded from where he lay on the cold wall.

A fog had settled so they couldn’t see very far. Rather than watching, they were mostly having to listen to monster sounds since what lay ahead was pitch blackness.

Leif was staring at the sky that occasionally offered him a view of beautiful stars when thicker clouds left. However, the moments were only few and far between so all he did was lay and beg himself not to sleep.

It helped that Iro occasionally complained about being tired.

"It doesn’t make it any less true," Irene retorted and leaned her back into the back part of the wall so that the wind couldn’t reach her when it rolled by.

There was a long pause and another yawn from Irene.

Leif decided to sit up and try to keep the other apprentice awake. It would look bad if Sir Gunnar returned to them and saw both of them snoozing on the job.

"Aren’t you worried about going back up the mountains?" he asked candidly, his eyes going towards the mountains but not seeing them because of the thick fog. "I am."

It felt a little bit creepy to have a bunch of nothingness around them so earlier Irene had pulled the ladders up on top of the wall a while before so that no one could sneak up on them. She considered how it looked as she stared into the blackness.

"I’m not allowed to be worried," she admitted.

"And why not?" Leif asked.

"Do you think it will help me think clearly when we’re on the mountain if I’m worried the whole time?" she wondered. "I will only bring down the entire travel party the way I did the year before."

"Nobody believes—"

"Well, I do," she cut Leif off. "I was reading about the Great Chain of Being and how if we make the wrong decision it affects everything around us because we’ve interfered with God’s plan. If I had never been injured in the first place, we would have been able to finish the monster culling. If we finished the monster culling then my father’s party would have never been attacked that day. If they never were attacked—"

"You ought to not finish that sentence," Leif insisted. "I didn’t realize you were so pious."

"I am just trying to make sense of things," she argued.

"Why do you have to?" Leif wondered. "This isn’t some ’everything happens for a reason’ type of situation. If you want to bring God into this, monsters are against God and therefore out of his control."

Irene hated when Leif was logical and she rolled onto her stomach and put her forehead on her hands with her face less than an inch from the cold brick.

"Then who am I supposed to blame for any of this?" she wondered, her voice muffled.

"You’re not—"

However, before Leif could finish his sentence, Irene sprung to her feet and Leif did as well.

"Wh—" Leif began.

The girl hopped over the fire and towards the other apprentice, shushing him as she did so.

"Listen," she whispered as quietly as she could. "There is something there."

She crept to the edge of the wall that was closer to Leif’s side and she crouched so whoever was there wouldn’t see her. He followed her lead.

"Shouldn’t we alert someone?" he whispered.

Irene realized the only way to do that was through a fire arrow and she unsheathed one of the cloth-wrapped arrows. She then stuck the tip of it in the fire for a few moments and lined up a shot in the fog a short distance away.

"Who goes there?!" she shouted.

Her logic was that if she shot a fire arrow, perhaps Sir Gunnar would see the fire and come running. It also had a chance to injure whoever was there.

"Very good response time," Sir Gunnar complimented her as he walked closer to the wall, holding onto his horse’s reins. "Although, I wouldn’t recommend shooting the knight who watches over you."

Irene gasped and she dropped the arrow which she immediately snuffed out with her boot.

To her surprise, someone deeper in the valley conjured up a light and she knew immediately that it was Stanley when she saw his long, braided beard. He also had a horse walking beside him.

However, the person who surprised her the most was the blacksmith, Samson, making himself known as he called up to the girl.

"You’ve grown quite a bit since the last I saw of you!" he called.

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