CHAPTER 12……………………………………….
Pegasus’ Little Lady Wants to Be Carefree!
Could it be that they don’t understand?
Tilting her head in puzzlement, Rin recalled the appearance of the hungover knights she had seen earlier.
Then, thinking that even an adult could be clueless if they were that clumsy, she kindly answered.
“Doing morning exercises!”
“Oh! Exercises!”
“That’s right, it really looks like it!”
“It does look like that… but you said it was a dance earlier—ugh!”
Before she knew it, the knights who had gathered around Rin nodded in agreement, clapping as if to cheer her on.
“Exercises, yes! Wonderful exercises!”
Rin’s cheeks flushed from the praise, and she lifted her chin with a proud smile.
At that moment, the knight who had spoken to her first subtly reached out again.
“Morning exercises are truly admirable.”
“Hehe.”
“But would you like to try stretching your arms a little further?”
Rin blinked at the knight’s sudden shift from praise to giving advice.
Facing the still-adapting Rin, the knight performed the movements in large, exaggerated motions so even a child could understand.
“See, when you send your right arm back like this, press your feet firmly on the ground to stabilize your lower body. Then do the same on the other side—”
Yes.
Gnyu, a professional who had spent his life training his body, couldn’t just watch a beginner flounder in clumsy attempts.
Unable to resist the instinct of offering guidance that any earnest trainer would have, Gnyu passionately demonstrated his lesson—without anyone asking for it.
“Alright! Up to here. Would you like to see any part again?”
“Uh… no…”
Gnyu understood that Rin didn’t need to see it again—not because she hadn’t learned, but simply because she didn’t particularly want to.
“Oh, my lady? Was my explanation too fast?”
“No, it’s not that…”
“I’m Gnyu. Within our knight order, when it comes to physical training, I’m considered the most knowledgeable.”
Perhaps Rin, a young lady, disliked this dark stranger acting like he knew better, even though the others considered her well-known.
Suppressing a groan, Gnyu forced a kind smile to appear friendly in front of the child.
But Rin, seeing his desperate smile, felt even more distant and spoke with distrust in her eyes.
“I learned these exercises from Jack… Do you know them better? Than Jack, who’s as tall as a tree?”
“J-Jack?”
From talking to Rin, Gnyu realized he had lost in credibility to the protagonist of the children’s recommended book Jack Who Grew Tall Like a Tree.
“Ugh… I don’t know any exercises that make you grow that fast, of course…”
Losing to a book in front of his young lady… showing that scene where Kay threw up earlier must have lowered her trust in the knights.
Feeling a dent in his pride, Gnyu thought hard and, to restore the cracked honor of a knight, suddenly lifted a training log.
“But I can do this!”
“Wow!”
“See? My strength is incredible, right? This is all from regular physical training—”
Gnyu’s already burly arms swelled impressively as he lifted a log the size of his own body.
Rin, astonished by the feat, let out a gasp.
This ignited the knights’ competitive spirit.
“Ha, that’s nothing. Lady, watch this. For a knight, it’s all about the sword!”
Swish!
A straw dummy was instantly dismantled, leaving Rin’s mouth wide open.
“Lady, watch me! I can split three wooden targets with my swordsmanship!”
“Hmph! Rin, check this out. With my greatsword, I can even crush this tree!”
“Showing off brute strength alone isn’t impressive. Lady, watch this!”
The knights’ display of skills swept across the training field, leaving it in chaos.
The Pegasus Knight Order was a unique place.
First, despite the name, it wasn’t only Pegasus beastmen; various beastmen gathered here—a rarity among noble family knight orders.
Moreover, most members were not originally knights, making it a one-of-a-kind order on the continent.
Some mocked them as “rootless seeds” or “mediocre beasts that couldn’t even be predators,” but no one in the Pegasus Knight Order cared.
They were proud.
“Whether herbivore or carnivore, it doesn’t matter what kind of beastman you are.”
Their lord.
“What matters is what you do with that sword.”
The strongest swordsman.
The legendary mercenary king who built the greatest mercenary corps with his bare hands.
The hero who sealed the Great Monster Flood.
Felrod Pegasus.
Because he had acknowledged them.
“I will make a knight order with you all.”
While other noble families recruited only their own kind, the mercenary king returned to his childhood family and created a knight order using his loyal mercenaries.
“Now that I am a lord, act according to your noble status. Keep the lowly mercenaries outside like hunting dogs.”
He paid no heed to the gossip of the surrounding aristocrats.
No one in the Pegasus Knight Order had forgotten the thrill when Felrod Pegasus extended his hand to them.
So, they who had been mercenaries became knights.
“My lord…”
But now that their lord had disappeared, they didn’t know who they truly were.
“The lord went alone to the Great Continent’s Demon Realm?”
“Yes. Can’t stop him anyway. Now he’s not just a mercenary captain, but a lord with territory. And he just left us behind.”
“I wonder when he’ll return.”
Even though the Demon Realm was dangerous, no one had anticipated that their lord would be unable to return.
“My lord… must be safe, right?”
“Of course! He’s that lord!”
“Yes! Don’t even say otherwise!”
The confident voices gradually weakened, until no one dared even mention the lord.
Before leaving, the lord had entrusted the order to the current captain, Theodor, so there was no confusion in the chain of command.
Theodor had inherited his lord’s martial prowess, earning the recognition of every knight.
Even though Theodor was barely of age, no one complained that the disciple of the strongest swordsman led the order.
Yet, no matter how perfectly Theodor filled the role of captain and acting head of the family,
“My lord… Felrod Captain.”
The first one they called “Captain.”
The heart that made the Pegasus Knight Order what it was—their lord’s place—remained an empty chair.
Years passed.
For a long time, the knights who had lost their lord sank into gloom.
Though they came to the training field at scheduled times, as they had when their lord was present, the vibrancy of the order was gone.
No one raised their voice in excitement, no one wrestled in sweat and dust, no one laughed heartily.
They ended their days in lethargy, drinking the comfort of mercenary life.
The order began to change one morning.
“Miss Rin?”
A small girl started appearing in the training field.
The young lady left behind by their lord.
Though physically weak and unable to engage in much outdoor activity, if their lord could truly not return, this young lady became the focus of their loyalty.
