North Fort V2C3 The captain’s circumstances (1)

Sorry for the lack of releases lately. Happy Family Day to the Canadians!

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When I was starting to get frustrated, the one-eyed knight told me, “I’m done”.

　When he finishes work, he takes a lunch break, which is when I eat lunch.

　When I was living with this fort, I also had breakfast and dinner, but now I only come to play at noon, so I get to eat rice at that time.

　I opened my eyes and jumped down from the knight’s lap.

　When I was about to rush to the cafeteria, the one-eyed knight arranged the documents on the desk and slowly left the room, so I waited while going back and forth without stopping at his feet.

　Hurry, hurry!

　The one-eyed knight seemed to know that if I walked by myself, I would run into doors that people open slowly, and collide with people at corners, so I was lifted up.

　I struggled a bit, but I learned that I couldn’t escape from the one-eyed knight’s arms, so I gave up wanting to run around by myself and became quiet.

　I licked my lips, the rice was going to be good.

 The one-eyed knight seemed hungry, but he didn’t go to the cafeteria.

　It was because someone kicked the door open without knocking when we tried to leave the office.

　Kix’s golden hair shook slightly, and he shouted as soon as he saw the one-eyed knight’s face.

“Vice Captain! Is it true that the Captain is going to leave the Knights …?!”

　For a moment, I thought I heard him wrong.

Then I thought it was a joke, but when I realized Kix’s voice was completely serious, I also looked at the one-eyed knight and asked.

“The captain’s leaving!?”

　Kix seemed to have finally noticed I was there, and when I looked up at the one-eyed knight, he seemed unhappy.

　Kix let out an, “Ah,” and closed his mouth.

“Mil? Do you not want the captain to leave?”

“No!”

　I answered with my mouth open.

“Why is this happening?”

　The captain’s going to quit.

　It seemed like I thought working was rewarding but I was wrong? A Captain’s job is probably stressful and it’s hard to be responsible.

　Wait? I didn’t notice it until now, but I reflected on what I was doing.

　I was breaking into the captain’s office during his precious break time, and he was just throwing the ball for me.

　Because the captain is the best thrower. The one-eyed knight throws too far.

　It was interesting playing ball, but I realized it was probably not interesting to just keep throwing the ball.

　It must have been painful to take over his break time, repeating simple actions and endlessly accompanying me. It was probably stressful.

　As I was reflecting… the one-eyed knight said to Kix,

“Who said such random things?”

“Random things… It was a lie?”

　I looked back and saw the one-eyed knight. Kix looked slightly puzzled.

“But, Gild said he heard the Captain and Vice Captain are talking about it…”

　Knowing the story was about himself, the one-eyed knight frowned. He declared,

“The Captain isn’t leaving, don’t listen to Gild.”

　Oh, he heard wrong! I stroked my chest in relief.

“Is that true?”

　Kix asked suspiciously.

　The one-eyed knight raised one eyebrow.

“It’s true.”

“But I heard a story that the branch manager is quitting,” Gild said, “I’m confused!”

　Kix struck his hand with a Pon~.

“He’s not leaving the knights… Is he quitting as captain of the fort?”

　I opened my eyes wide. Kix has a sharp intuition. Because he noticed things that I was trying to hide, such as stealing from the cafeteria, sleeping on the one-eyed knight’s coat and wrinkling it, he’s always right.

“Grail-san, are you gonna tell us?”

　The one-eyed knight looked down at me and made a troubled face. He began explaining after a while.

“Just because there is talk in the capital, nothing has been officially decided, since he himself wants to continue the mission here, he’s not leaving.”

　I patted my stomach, relieved.

　The one-eyed knight seemed to not want to talk about it much, but Kix pursued it further.

“I heard that Gild said that Sarrell, the captain of the knight corps in the capital, was mentioned in your conversation. Is he involved?

“We were discussing it in the captain’s office, but it seems that Gild was eavesdropping.”

　Kicks hurriedly shielded Gild, watching the one-eyed knight carefully.

‘I can’t help it. I’ll stick to a door if I hear a story like that. I admire and care about the captain, so I was worried. ‘

　Gild was a young knight who often hangs out with Kix. Both of them were in the Royal Capital when they started out; apparently, they started in the same team.

“In the Royal Capital, were you under Captain Sarrell?”

　The one-eyed knight asked Kix,

“When I first joined the Order, I just took a slightly rebellious attitude with Zild and they kicked us out soon after, so the other party does not remember me. I remember him as a disgusting superior, “

　Kix answered with a bitter face.

“Sarrell’s name came up in their conversation, so maybe he wants to be the captain of the fort? In the past, it would have been inconceivable for him to come to such a remote place… Now he’s all of a sudden interested in this place… “

　Kix paused and glanced at me before continuing.

“Ah, that’s right! There is a rumour going around that Captain Sarrell is here instead of returning to the Capital.”

　Kix mumbled to himself, but the one-eyed knight who was listening had a strange face. He turned his head to look at Kix.

　Apparently, Kix got the correct answer.

　Meanwhile, I was trying to remember something in the back of my mind. Before, when I learned about the kingdom’s main group of knights.

I pulled out my knowledge of the knight group in the capital while pushing aside important knowledge such as, “Take a bath after playing in the mud,” or “There is a stash of jerky on a certain shelf in the kitchen”.

　There seems to be many knight groups in the kingdom, including the ones at the fort, the ninth branch, but it seems that there were more people in the other troops because the scale was different.

　The scale of one of the kingdom’s corps was much greater than the number of people in the ninth branch. It was the difference between a captain of the kingdom and Captain, who was like a branch manager.

　It was probably one of the captains in the group that the now squad leader Kix was in. He didn’t sound like a nice person.

　And it seemed that he wanted to become the branch manager of the North Fort.

　To want to come to such a remote place, and to the cold environment around the fort, he must have a reason. Why does Captain Sarrell want to come here?

　I wondered if he had a strong ambition like Captain or Tina. However, it seems like Kix hates him.

“He’s alert for any chance for a promotion, as expected of such an ambitious person.”

　The one-eyed knight said without acknowledging nor refuting Kix’s words.

“Anyway, I have nothing to tell you right now, because nothing has yet been decided, so don’t say anything about this to anyone else, tell Gild that as well.”

　After that, I went to the cafeteria with the one-eyed knight and Kix, but I was worried about the Captain so I couldn’t concentrate on the taste of rice.