The mood in the Snow Lions’ tower was absolutely jubilant.  It had been only a day and a half since the FTX came to an end, long enough for the unit to rest and sleep in, then begin to party, for they had come out of the FTX with six banners!  There wasn’t any official reward for victory in the FTX other than honor and glory, but they’d receive first consideration for any well-respected knights seeking squires.  The chances of every trainee in the unit receiving an enviable squireship had skyrocketed with their victory.

Contributing to the celebration in the first floor common room, Leon, Castor, and Alphonsus had moved a lot of their drinks downstairs.  They hadn’t had the opportunity to head into the city yet—there were still a few days of paperwork followed by the ceremony that officially ended the training cycle before they got any time off—so everyone had to content themselves with what little was available.

Perhaps the most central person in the celebrations was Alphonsus, as he had to hide out in the mountains with little food for three days, staying on the move to keep the remaining banners in the grasp of the Snow Lions.  None of the other men in the unit could help, as the allied units had occupied their camp, thus keeping them ‘dead’ and unable to render assistance—not an encouraged thing to do since the point of the FTX was for training and a ‘dead’ unit couldn’t train, but not one strictly against the rules when there were only a few days left in the FTX.

As for Leon, he just sat back and enjoyed the atmosphere.  He could feel some pride in the accomplishment, but it was tinged with a deep sense of melancholy.  He wanted someone to share this victory with, and while he was looking forward to seeing Elise once they could head back into the city, it was his father that lingered in his thoughts.

Artorias would never be able to revel in this victory with him.  His father was gone, dead at the hands of Adrianos Isynos and the other assassins.  For what reason Leon didn’t know, and his only clue was that Valeria’s family was likely involved, as well as who knew who else.  He liked Valeria, finding in her something of a kindred spirit, and the thought that her family could be connected to those who’d killed his father was intensely disquieting.

While he was proud of the accomplishment, it threw what he’d lost into sharp relief.  A loving and supportive father.  A stable home.  A potential friendship.

With all this in mind, Leon didn’t participate much in the revelry that his fellow Snow Lions did, and wound up heading to bed early for fear that he might bring the atmosphere down a little.  He didn’t want his grieving to affect the rest of his unit, not when they’d done something so monumental.

Better in his mind that he grieved alone.

---

“Well, you didn’t win the whole thing, but you acquitted yourself admirably,” Nicomedes said, he and Gaius once more sitting in his office.  “Father was impressed when I told him.  He said that you brought no dishonor to our family.”

“If all I’ve done is not bring dishonor to our family, then I’ve hardly done anything worth bragging about, have I?” Gaius asked.

Nicomedes cringed slightly at his younger brother’s words.  He sat there for several long seconds, wondering how he should break the next piece of news.

“I… well, little brother, I’m proud of you.  You did well, all things considered.”

“Thank you,” Gaius said a little lifelessly.

Nicomedes sighed.  “I guess there’s not much point in putting this off, I suppose…”  Gaius finally turned to look at him directly, though he still sat rather listlessly in his chair, the disappointment in the outcome of the FTX plain for even the blind to see.  “Prince Octavius has formally requested that you become his squire.”

Gaius blinked rapidly in surprise, a smile coming to his face for a moment as he straightened up.  However, Nicomedes’ dour expression had him rapidly clamping down on his excitement.

“You… you’re not saying that like it’s a good thing…?”

“It isn’t,” Nicomedes frankly stated.  “It’s… the request was made before the FTX; I was merely waiting until after it was over to tell you because I didn’t want this affecting your performance.”

“What’s wrong?”

Nicomedes took another deep breath, steeling himself for what he had to tell his brother.  “You’re to be a hostage in all but name.  The Prince framed it as an honor, but it was clear to Father that you were being taken as a squire solely to keep you in reach of the Prince should his support for Octavius waver.”

Gaius’ expression fell and he stared back at Nicomedes in horror.

“I’m sorry, brother.  I’m hoping things will be different and that the Prince will actually… teach you what you need to be a good knight, but…”

Gaius let out a long, depressed sigh as he slid down in his chair.  “Of course,” he muttered.  “What else could I have expected?”

Silence fell between the brothers again as Nicomedes wracked his mind for something to lighten the mood, or at least to cushion that blow a bit.

“Well, if you need some cheering up, Father said that he’d be stopping in Calabria for a day or so on his way north.  The impression he gave me in his letter was that he would broach the topic of formally requesting Valeria be married to you while he was there,” Nicomedes said in an attempt to cheer his brother up.

Instead, Gaius barely reacted.  He only closed his eyes and leaned back in his chair.

After several long seconds of silence, Gaius finally said, “That… isn’t necessary.”

“What?” Nicomedes asked in confusion.  “I thought you were crazy about that girl.  I seem to remember you declaring—multiple times, even—that you would one day make her your wife.  What changed?”

Gaius sighed, then said, “Those were the foolish dreams of a child.  She doesn’t love me.  Or even like me, I think.  Best to set that dream aside until I can earn it.  If I can earn it.  You said it yourself, my squireship under the Second Prince will be nothing but a cover for taking me as a hostage.  But, it’s still squiring for someone of royal blood; I only wanted to earn my place of honor.  Instead, I’ve earned nothing but humiliation.”

Nicomedes had no idea how to comfort his brother, and in the silence that followed, he didn’t get the chance.  Gaius rose to his feet, said his goodbyes, and left without waiting for his brother’s response.

As he sat there alone, Nicomedes thought hard about what he could do, if anything.  It probably wouldn’t help Gaius much, but he had an initial idea, at least.

The FTX had been over for only two days, but already the Academy was swarmed with requests from hundreds of respected knights in the capital for squires.  Most were for the trainees in the Snow Lions—the requests for Castor and Alphonsus alone were almost more than the other third-tier trainees combined.  Leon didn’t receive as many, probably due to his last name being ‘Ursus’, but he still received a great many requests.

And Nicomedes immediately threw away all of the requests for Leon.  Then, he turned his attention to a detailed map on his wall with every Legion fort and fortress clearly marked.

‘The Central Territories are too good for this barbarian who’s caused my brother so much grief,’ Nicomedes thought with a vicious smile.  ‘I’ll send him to a place he can disappear in.  Somewhere on the Eastern frontier perhaps?  No, too much opportunity to face stone giants and gain merits in battle.  Ah, I know!  Yes, that’s the perfect place for a northern barbarian…’

---

“Straighten yourself up, Lu!” a young blonde noblewoman scolded.  If Leon could see her, he would recognize her as Victoria, one of the squires who had accompanied Roland to the Northern Vales.  The man she was scolding was Luke, Roland’s squire, who had also accompanied the Paladin north.

“My clothes are fine!” Luke said glancing down at his sharp green military uniform.  There wasn’t a single golden ornament decorating his chest, giving him an attractive clean aesthetic.

“Fine?!” Victoria said scornfully.  “You have dirt here and here!  And your pants have wrinkles!  No self-respecting knight has wrinkly pants!”

While Victoria pointed out the flaws in his uniform, Luke glanced over at hers, desperate to find some faults that he could point in her own dress uniform to distract her from his, but try as he might, he couldn’t find a single flaw.  He wasn’t too surprised, as Victoria was the daughter of a Count in the Western Territories, so she knew exactly how to dress.  In fact, her green uniform was much fancier than his, with golden trim and several medals and ribbons she had won during her time in Dame Sheira’s service—medals and ribbons that he, too, had won, but had simply chosen not to wear.  Such things weren’t required, he figured, so he didn’t want to bother putting them on.

The two knights accompanying them watched in amusement as Victoria took on the duty of personally fixing Luke’s uniform, supervising him as he smoothened and brushed the dust off his pants.

“You two sure make a cute couple,” the lady knight said.  As soon as she said this, both Victoria and Luke went bright red, shut their mouths, and slightly shifted away from each other, pointedly looking in opposite directions.

She was Sheira Evensen, the knight Victoria had served for the past two years.  The other knight was none other than the sixth Paladin of the Bull Kingdom, Sir Roland.  Both had come to knight their newly-turned third-tier squires in the Knight Academy’s graduation ceremony.  Luke and Victoria had served both of them for the required minimum of two years and ascended to the third-tier, so the Academy’s graduation requirements had been met.

“You shouldn’t have teased them!” Roland said with a playful smile.  “Now look at them, too embarrassed to speak!”

Both Roland and Dame Sheira burst out into laughter, further embarrassing their two squires.

“So,” Dame Sheira said, moving them along and giving the squires some time to collect themselves, “what’s the schedule like?”

“You don’t know?” Roland asked.

“I only glanced at the schedule they sent out,” Dame Sheira said with a shrug and an unapologetic smile.

Roland sighed, then said, “First comes the opening ceremonies.  Honoring the Ancestors and the Sacred Bull and all that.  Next comes the ceremony for the people who’ve just completed their training cycle and are about to go off to their own squireships.  Then comes the knighting ceremony for graduating squires.”

“Is that it?” Dame Sheira asked, her eyes already indicating that she was bored with the ceremony.

“For us, yes.  Or at least, I have no intention of staying after the knighting ceremonies are over,” Roland replied.

“Good,” Dame Sheira said with a smile, “because neither do I.”

---

The ceremony honoring the trainees who completed their training cycle was being held at the same place the enrollment test took place.  An enormous stage had been assembled, with thousands of seats surrounding it, enough for all the families of the hundreds of trainees.

The trainees themselves had been gathered together into one of the three surrounding buildings to wait for the ceremony to begin.  They had rehearsed it the day before, so they knew exactly what they had to do.

“It’s about time,” said Castor after checking the clock on the wall.

“We’ve still got ten minutes or so left, no need to be so impatient,” Alphonsus said as Castor started making his way to the door.  As the victorious unit, the Snow Lions would be placed right in the center of the stage, with all the other units off to the sides.  All the knights in attendance would get a good look at them, especially at the three young men who led the unit.

Consequently, Castor was quite nervous, constantly checking and rechecking his brand new uniform and running through the entire ceremony in his head.

Finally, the thirty Instructors arrived and wrangled together the units to prepare to march out to the field, with the Snow Lions leading the way.

Leon breathed deeply, to quiet his own nerves.  He wasn’t that thrilled at being placed in the center of attention, barely more than ten steps to the left of the Legate of the Knight Academy himself, but he didn’t have much of a choice in the matter; as one of the leading members of the Snow Lions, his place was at the head of his unit.

After a few more minutes of waiting where they could hear the distant roar of the Legate speaking into a voice amplifying stone, the training battalion began its march.

“… and these are the most promising young officers that will be the future of our Royal Legions!” the Legate said as soon as the battalion entered view, to which the entire watching crowd erupted into cheers.

The trainees were almost overwhelmed at the sight of over ten thousand cheering and waving family members, and all of them scanned the multitude of faces for their own loved ones.  Leon found himself scanning through the faces as well, if only to satisfy his own curiosity.  He certainly wasn’t looking for anyone in particular, though he did have a slight hope that Elise was in the crowd.  He hadn’t gotten a chance to talk to her since before the FTX, but he had made sure to tell her when the ceremony would be held.

But then, mere seconds after he started looking at the spectators, he saw something that almost made his blood freeze: sitting in the front row, in a place of honor, was the Paladin Roland.

—-

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