TWENTY
“You did what?” one of Mathis’s companions shouted, a spray of bubbling drink spewing from her nose and down her clean uniform as she stared at him with wide eyes.
“My first trainer, Knight Roose, gave me a rock and told me to clear a rift. I think she meant to kill a single F-Grade monster, but she was in a lot of pain at that point and wasn’t clear. She’d just lost her arm,” Kon tried to defend Alice as the other Squires stared at him in a mix of horror and fascination. They were supposedly close to his peers, but aside from Mathis not a single one of them had seen any type of combat. Even Mathis had been relegated to support roles and clean up on their goblin raid.
“That Alice Roose?” the same Squire asked, jerking her chin toward where Alice was still quaffing drinks and outrageously flirting with both Jurgen and two slender merchants, both of whom looked flattered and scared at the same time.
“Yes. Though, she does seem to be in the habit of losing arms. I’ve seen her arms get cut off at least three times now,” Kon whispered conspiratorally as he stared at the woman’s warm brown eyes. He wanted more than anything to make her smile or react in some way, to feel her attention on him.
“You are drunk. Get it together. Be cool!” His inner voice was screaming at him and Kon finally decided to listen to it. He pulled back from her, he had realized he’d been leaning slightly, and with a bit of effort shook loose a tendril of energy out of one of his runes to touch on his body cultivation. His body thrummed, a bell rung with great clarity inside of himself, and the effects of his heavy drinking began to disperse.
“Didn’t think that would work. Now stop making a fool of yourself!” Kon forced a smile to his face as he looked over the group of Squires who were nowhere near as drunk as he’d been.
“You’re definitely going to be a Knight then,” the same girl said while the others nodded along solemnly.
“You guys are in doubt? I thought being a Squire to an Order Knight was a guarantee?" Kon asked. All four of the Squires laughed and it wasn’t a pleased sound, bitterness ran through them as they shook their heads.
“Each Knight has five or so Squires that they choose from. Right now Knight Jurgen is looking to take one as HIS Squire while the rest of us fill out our terms. We’re here in case the chosen ones die or fail at something so they have a backup,” Mathis said. Kon hadn’t missed the way that Mathis had leaned on the emphasis of Jurgen’s Squire as if it was a position.
“How many of you are there?” Kon inquired. He tried to keep his touch light, but they were looking for soldiers and if disgruntled Squires were up for grabs, then he was willing to try for it.
“Jurgen currently has two five-man fire teams under his command, ten Knights all told, including himself. There’s about sixty Squires,” Mathis said, waggling his free hand side to side as their group came to a halt next to a pleasing to smell plant that was covered in thick thorns.
“Slightly more than the five per Knight,” Kon observed.
“Have to have some support staff. Most of them aren’t really in the running to become Knights but their families are deeply tied to the Order. Having trained as a Squire for a shortened contract can be a massive boon when applying to advanced schools for fleet work or officer’s school,” one of the other Squires said. Kon made a note to himself to try to get their names.
“Who’s going to be Jurgen’s Squire then?” Kon asked, looking over the four of them.
“Amelia isn’t here. She stayed behind to clean Jurgen’s outer set of armor. Part of a Squire’s responsibilities is cleaning their Knight’s armor and prepping it. Jurgen will go over it himself later, but it’s a good way to learn about the sleeves,” the brown-eyed girl said.
“What would your roles be when Jurgen loses his match?” Kon asked. All four of the Squires ooohhed as if he had said something disparaging. He looked around them and slowly their mirth faded as they saw he was serious.
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“You think she’ll beat Jurgen in a wrestling match?” one of the boys said, pointing a finger toward Alice. Kon followed the finger and saw Alice had draped herself around both of the merchants, neither of them able to escape her grip, but neither appeared to want to. Jurgen was watching with a stone face, the patience of a saint being tested.
“Yes. There’s not a doubt in my mind,” Kon said. Greed filled all of the Squires' eyes as they leaned forward, filling his personal space with their own scents.
“Would you care to lay a wager on that?” the brown eyes girls asked, fluttering her rather thick eyelashes at him.
“I would love to wager on that? What do you guys even have to offer?” Kon said, frowning as he looked between them. If he remembered his contract correctly they should be being paid in credits that were used amongst the human fleets as a standardized form of currency. Benny didn’t pay him directly, but so far he hadn’t balked from anything Kon has asked for and had several times given him money out of hand with no thought to it.
“We’re all piss poor,” she said and Kon looked toward Mathis. While the older Squire was definitely larger and more experienced, it appeared the girl was their leader. There were no individual ranks on their uniforms, but she appeared senior.
“Knight Draconis Jurgen is the strongest person I’ve ever met and he’s an undisputed champion in the region. Without the use of runes she doesn’t have a chance at all,” the girl said.
“Listen…?” Kon let it hang in the air until the girl caught on.
“Marie,” she said.
“Listen, Marie. I don’t care how strong he is or how good of a wrestler or anything else. Alice Roose does not lose fights. Period. End of story. So, what do you have to wager?” Kon informed them.
“My contract expires in twelve days,” Marie said. The others winced but nodded and Kon looked them over. It couldn’t be that easy. All of his senses were screaming that this was a trap.
“All of us except for Amelia are up by the end of the month. It’s one of the reasons we’re here. Jurgen is dropping us off and putting in a good word for us wherever he can,” Mathis said.
“That’s convenient. Really, really, convenient,” Kon muttered. The others either didn’t hear him or decided not to say anything.
“Two year contract with you and the old man for fighters,” Marie said. The others all quickly nodded their agreement and Kon started to feel like he was going to get played.
“And if Jurgen wins? What do you want from me?” Marie grinned and Kon knew that he had been had.
“Two year contracts,” Marie said and the other Squires nodded along eagerly. Kon looked over to Jurgen and saw the man’s eyes watching them, just the barest hints of a smile playing on his face.
“He knows something is up. I don’t get it though, he doesn’t trust Benny. I’m missing something here but Benny told me to find allies and this is four soldiers who are trained and exactly what we need.” The thoughts went through him as fast but he reached out and shook Marie’s hand, sealing the deal. Win or lose, he’d just secured four more candidates for their foundling Chapterhouse.
“If this is a win, why do I still feel played?” Kon shoved that aside as all four of the Squires relaxed and began to chat with each other. Mathis pulled at his elbow discreetly, pulling him to the side and slightly away from the others while still appearing to be in the same group.
“When we arrived we had a visitor before we could even get off the ship. Don’t know who it was but after they left Jurgen started talking to us about things. This was one of the contingency plans,” Mathis whispered. Kon nodded along and tried to figure out what was going on.
“Could it have been Lero Ran?” Kon didn’t know how much influence the high Inquisitor had, that he was powerful without a doubt, but did he have the ability to influence an Order? There was too much that he didn’t know, but he was careful to document these questions and stock them away carefully so he could ask later.
“It’s the man of the hour,” Mathis said, looking over Kon’s shoulder and toward a distant doorway that had opened up to a stream of martial men and women who marched in formation in golden uniforms with black lions heads on their breasts. It was gaudy, gauche and had a flair to it that the partygoers reacted too.
Kon’s pit of rage flared but he suppressed it quickly as he felt the power of those assembled Knights smash into his senses. Each one of them was powerful, easily as strong as Alice and that was just the first wave of Knights. Behind them came an honor guard wearing crimson uniforms with the same black lion's head, each of them stronger by a magnitude of the first group. There had to be at least fifty of the golden uniforms and eight of the crimson before Delano Sommers followed behind them.
Just like his pictures, Delano Sommers was a short, powerfully built man with slick black charcoal hair. His tanned face had a few lines to it but it only added a gravitas to his bearing. His white uniform was marred only by the black lion crest, his boots shone in the light. Black eyes swept back and forth constantly as he became the center of all focus in the room. Behind him came a wave of other, less martial members of the order.
The traitor to humanity stood there for a second, looking over the room of the rich and powerful like a king. His power flared for a brief moment, filling every inch of space with oppressive power. Anyone who had built up an energy sense reacted with a wince, pulling back as Sommers flexed his strength.
“The cat has bad manners,” Benny’s voice cut across the silent gardens and drew every eye to the old man.