TOPWL 183

After finishing his morning training and taking a shower, Yudit sat blankly in his bedroom. Even though it was his own house, Khalid hadn’t shown up at all, apparently busy with something. Only the dachshund, Ro, wagged his tail and greeted Yudit. Selena was absolutely smitten with Ro, while Yvonne looked horrified.

After arriving in the capital, Selena returned to the Craven Count’s estate. Yvonne said she had found a place to stay on her own, but given the situation, Yudit had hoped she would stay either at the Duke’s residence or the Craven estate. Perhaps embarrassed to meet Selena’s parents, Yvonne chose the Duke’s residence. Selena, insisting her own home had plenty of rooms, wanted Yvonne to stay with her, but Yvonne firmly refused. As a result, Selena was coming and going from the Duke’s residence almost daily.

“Shall I help you get dressed?”

The servant attending Yudit quietly asked from nearby. Yudit shook his head and stood up.

“It’s fine. Thank you.”

Taking off his robe, Yudit slipped his arms into a shirt. Today was going to be a busy day. He had a meeting with the knight order in the morning, then needed to visit the Marquis of Kinezia in the afternoon. Dressing simply, he slipped on his boots. After tying the laces and fastening the knots, he stood.

“I’ll be eating both lunch and dinner out today.”

“Yes, sir.”

With the servant seeing him off, Yudit stepped outside. The blazing sun showed no sign of yielding to autumn. The muggy air made Yudit flap his shirt. A carriage was already waiting for him.

Once aboard, Yudit opened the window. As soon as the carriage set off, a cool breeze rushed in. He looked outside. The view felt familiar, yet unfamiliar. These were the streets Reginald had changed after the second tournament. The buildings looked splendid, but many appeared to have gone unused for quite a while and gave off a gloomy air. Some windows were cracked or stained.

It used to be quite a bustling market district, but now not even a single ant could be seen. Yudit looked at the street with a hint of bitterness. Before he knew it, the Imperial Palace was drawing near.

“This must be it…”

Yudit muttered as he looked at the knight order’s garrison ahead. The order he was assigned to was the 9th Knight Order. The captain’s name was Noban, a commoner who had risen to his position by distinguishing himself in battle. The captain and vice-captain remained in place, while the princes were assigned the higher position of commander.

With a hint of nervousness, Yudit knocked on the garrison door.

“…”

There was no response from inside. He knocked again, but only silence returned. Eventually, Yudit quietly opened the door. As he stepped into the long hallway, the cool air typical of stone buildings wrapped around him. The floor was dotted with muddy footprints, likely from recent rain, and the walls were covered with strange stains and cobwebs. Dust danced in the rays of light, suggesting poor ventilation.

“What’s wrong?”

Shane asked softly when he noticed Yudit’s discomfort.

“Uh, it’s just… it’s not quite what I expected.”

Even for a royal knight garrison, he hadn’t imagined it would be this filthy. He didn’t want to sound fussy, so he held his tongue, but Shane seemed to have already figured it out.

“This is pretty normal… You’ll probably feel better if you just get used to it.”

“Really? This is normal?”

“Yes.”

If that’s the case… guess I’ll have to get used to it. Yudit forced himself to ignore a palm-sized spider building a web in the corner of the wall and kept walking forward. As they moved deeper inside, the sound of murmuring voices grew louder. When he opened the door at the end, a training ground came into view. Around ten men were gathered, shouting fervently around something.

“That’s it! The back! The back’s wide open, you idiot!”

“I bet this month’s allowance on you, Hamilton! If you lose, you’re dead!”

Yudit stared, dumbfounded, at the chaos. Was this supposed to be a sparring match? But since when did sparring look like a street brawl?

He stood on tiptoe to get a better look, but the men were so tall that it was hard to see. Shane stepped ahead to clear a path. The excited knights didn’t even notice the strangers entering and naturally made way. Thanks to that, Yudit, now in front, was able to witness the “match”–no, the brawl.

It was a spectacle. One brown-haired man had a swollen black eye and couldn’t even open it, while another man with black hair had blood gushing from both nostrils. Though they were supposedly fighting with swords, they barely used them, choosing instead to punch each other senseless.

Eventually, one of them seemed to tire of the sword entirely and tossed it aside, charging at the other. The other man flung his sword away as if waiting for that and met the charge. And so, a full-blown brawl began. Though the dust made it hard to see clearly, the sounds, flesh being struck, bodies sliding on sand, cries and gasps, painted a vivid enough picture.

When the dust finally settled, the black-haired man was straddling the brown-haired one, raining down punches. Each blow sent the man’s head lolling and split his lips. Some onlookers cheered, others booed. Caught up in the moment, Yudit found himself getting a little excited watching the fight.

“What the hell is going on here!”

A thunderous roar slammed into the training ground. Everyone froze, the instigators, the shouters, even the fighters themselves. A man parted the crowd and stepped forward. He had beer-colored hair, brown eyes, and looked to be in his early fifties, with streaks of white in his beard. Yudit was sure this was Noban.

“Ah, I had something urgent and forgot all about it.”

“You too? So did I…”

The man glared sharply at the knights who were trying to slink away.

“All of you, back to your places.”

At his icy command, the entire group stiffened. Yudit watched him with interest. Though he was bigger than Yudit, there were others on the field who were larger. Yet, with every word he spoke, the knights fell quiet and obeyed like tame dogs.

“I let you visit your families, and barely two days later, you’re back scratching for a fight. Fine, I’ll work you until you wish you were dead. Brace yourselves.”

The knights groaned.

“Thirty laps around the field.”

“But we were just watching…”

“If you’re that upset, win a match. Winner gets a pass.”

“That’s not fair, Captain! How are we supposed to beat you?”

“Shut it! You just stood there while this circus played out, and now you’ve got something to say? If you’re not running by the count of three, I’ll beat the crap out of you! One, three!”

Apparently unfamiliar with the number two, Noban drew his scabbard and started swinging. Swept up in the chaos, Yudit unintentionally began running along with the others. Shane tried to make his way to him, flustered, but it wasn’t easy. From the rear came pained groans as those caught fell victim to Noban’s wrath. Yudit ran with the rest, an awkward expression on his face.

Luckily, all his training paid off. Even at a fast pace, he wasn’t out of breath. After about a lap and a half, Shane caught up to him.

“You can stop now, Your Highness. Why did you even start running…?”

“I just got swept up in it. But I think it’s fair. We were watching too, after all.”

He had to admit he’d been a little excited watching the fight, so he would’ve felt guilty slipping away alone.

“It’s not too hard. I’ll just think of it as moving evening practice up.”

“If you insist, I won’t stop you… but please speak up right away if it gets too much.”

“Got it. You don’t have to run, Shane.”

“I’ll stay by your side, Your Highness.”

As they talked and fell toward the back, a stick came flying from behind. The sharp whistle it made as it cut through the air spurred Yudit to speed up. After three or four laps, people started dropping out one by one.

“I can’t run anymore. I came straight from drinking beer.”

“My wife laid out this lavish spread… expensive food we can’t even afford. I couldn’t waste it.”

“So what now?”

“What do you mean what now? We get beaten, of course.”

“Yeah, no choice.”

The two men broke off with determined looks. The sound of happy stick-thrashing soon followed. Yudit looked back at them with a moment of pity before realizing he had fallen behind again and pushed his legs harder. A few people running nearby glanced curiously at him and Shane.

“Who are you two?”