PFLWPL 22

CHAPTER 22……………………………………….

“What in the world happened here?”

He’d only been gone a few days, but the training grounds looked completely different from how he remembered them.

He stood there, unable to take another step because of the strange sense of incongruity, when his fellow knights approached.

“Oh! Kay, you’re back. Mission go well?”

“Eh, it was alright. …No, actually—what’s with you guys?”

“What do you mean?”

“Why do your eyes look so alive all of a sudden?”

“You say that like they were dead before.”

Hahaha! The knights laughed brightly, and Kay almost said, “Your eyes used to be like frozen fish, though.” But he swallowed the words.

They definitely didn’t look like frozen fish now.

The training grounds, which used to be filled with a gloomy air like gray fog, now had a spark of life—energetic shouts, lively movement.

As Kay scanned the area to figure out what had happened, he caught sight of something completely new.

“A training area… for children?”

Hidden behind the large bodies of knights was a newly built training space for kids.

A soft, cushioned floor so falls wouldn’t hurt; straw dolls replaced with cotton targets so debris wouldn’t fly; weapon props whose edges were all rounded and safe.

He stared blankly at this unexpected setup when a loud bell jolted him back to reality.

Ring-a-ling!

“Ah! It’s time. Everyone gather!”
“Line up properly! No messing up your assigned spots!”

In an instant, the knights neatly formed rows and columns.

There wasn’t even a scheduled training session today—why were they moving so fast?

Just as Kay was puzzling over it, he heard the light, pattering footsteps of the only small child in the castle.

Miss Lyn?

Only she had footsteps that tiny.

Kay’s eyes widened as he saw Lyn, already dressed in a knight’s training uniform tailored to her size.

“Hello, everyone!”

“Welcome, Miss!”

Greeting her warmly, the knights began their morning exercise with her as if it were the most natural routine in the world.

A few knights tried to subtly edge closer to Lyn for a spot beside her, but the majority quickly smacked them down.

After finishing the fixed exercise routine together, every knight brightened when Lyn praised them for starting another healthy day.

“Okay then, stay healthy today as well!”

“Yes, ma’am! We’ll be healthy!”

Lyn emphasized “healthy” suspiciously hard before leaving.

Kay, who had observed this bizarre new morning ritual, called over a colleague—the same one who had ditched their earlier conversation to go do morning stretches with the lady.

When Kay asked what had happened, the knight scratched his cheek awkwardly and explained.

“Well, you see… it all started because we wanted to help the young lady warm up…”

“You guys pulled out your spears because you wanted to beat that bean sprout kid named Jack or whatever?”

“No, no—it’s just, we wanted to show her that we were pretty impressive too.”

Apparently, everyone took out their weapons because they wanted to look cooler than some kid named Jack who was growing like a bean sprout.

What started as wanting to show off their strengths to catch Lyn’s eye turned into everyone unveiling their secret techniques.

“To look impressive even to a beginner, it’s more fun to spar in pairs than show off alone, right?”

“Uh-huh, so?”

“So… once we started demonstrating things, we got hyped up and ended up having real duels. That’s basically it.”

“…”

“But hey, everyone said they hadn’t had that much fun in a while.”

Kay looked at his cheerful colleague with a strange expression.

After learning the whole story, Kay could only reflect on the completely changed state of the knights compared to a month ago.

It’s thanks to Miss Lyn, huh.

After their master, the Mercenary King Phaelod, disappeared, the order had been sliding downhill.

Their individual combat abilities hadn’t faded, but their reputation was stained.

The abandoned order that couldn’t protect its master.

Nobody dared say it to their faces, but rumors spread behind their backs.

But worst of all, the knights themselves had lost heart.

The void left by the master they trusted and followed was too heavy. Their gray, lifeless expressions seemed inevitable.

At least until Miss Lyn appeared in their lives.

“Sure, the captain always perked up whenever he saw the young lady, but I didn’t expect you guys to be like this too.”

Their captain, Theodore, had been forcing himself through duties he hated, going on expeditions with a dead expression. But whenever he returned to the lord’s castle and saw his niece, it was like a wilted leaf turning green again.

But now even the knights—who had looked like zombies—were lively again.

It was as if she’d cast a spell on them.

“Hey! Look at this. I’ve been working on a new move to show the young lady tomorrow. How is it?”

“What the—when did you make that? Not bad… Let me join!”

The knights showed off poses bordering on acrobatics, buzzing with excitement about performing for Miss Lyn. They glittered with a vitality Kay had never seen in them—like weeds come to life after a rain.

These guys…

Kay shook his head helplessly with a grin. But in truth, he felt a cold emptiness in his own chest.

Well… it’s good they’re getting their energy back, at least.

He told himself that, but he couldn’t shake the hollowness inside.

“…”

Maybe seeing them renewed only highlighted the contrast with himself.

Kay, uncharacteristically quiet and heavy-hearted, quietly slipped away.

Behind the stump where the drinkers always hid out—

“Kay’s here.”

“Ehh. So your punishment’s all done now?”

The veteran knights—familiar faces from the old mercenary days—sat slumped around, lazily raising a hand in greeting.

“I’m back. …Everyone seems different lately.”

“Everyone?”

One of the veterans glanced toward the training grounds, then nodded knowingly.

“Ahh, the ones doing morning exercises with Miss Lyn?”

“The youngsters have way too much energy.”

Even after Lyn left, the knights moving around enthusiastically in the training grounds were all the newer members compared to the veterans lounging here like tired old men.

More energetic than the veterans, but the veterans themselves spoke with a detached tone, keeping a faint distance.

They won’t say anything to dampen the mood… but still.

Unlike the younger knights whose eyes still had spark left in them, the veterans were worn down from waiting so long.

That feeling lingered clearly in their gaze.

And then the next day.

Kay happened to cross paths with Miss Lyn, who now visited so regularly it had become routine. He was a bit flustered.

“Oh! You’re that—”

“I’m Kay, Miss.”

He could tell those round, wide eyes recognized him as “the one who threw up,” so he quickly stated his name.

Even from far away, he could feel the intense gaze of the vice-captain who had given him a heavy punishment for showing such disgrace during her first visit.

“I’m just an ordinary knight with no special tricks to show you, Miss.”

“More precisely, he’s the youngest in the whole order!”

“The youngest?”

Maybe that made him seem interesting.

Kay had tried to downplay himself, but the older knights beside him just had to add unnecessary comments.

“Heeeh.”

“….”

Lyn’s eyes sparkled in a peculiar way, and Kay felt sweat run down the back of his neck.

“Well then, I’ll go begin my training.”

“Okay!”

Tap tap tap.

He tried his best to ignore the tiny footsteps following behind him as he moved stiffly—his body feeling unusually awkward today.

A few days after someone returned to the order—

“Good morning, Miss!”

“Good morning. You’re out early again today.”