WW Chapter 63: Better Introductions (Patreon)

Earlier today was actually Tuesday's chapter. Maybe getting an additional AR chapter later tonight? We'll see.

Before they left, Smith took a look at Ezra‘s equipment and let him know that, on top of everything that the young Adept had brought himself, he would be provided with a new uniform, a side sword, new, higher-quality armor, and any other weapons that Ezra himself wanted to be trained in.

“I have no doubt that you trust the equipment you are wearing now,” Smith said, “however, to ensure that the people in your position are given the respect that their station deserves, all of that given equipment will be of a higher quality than what you currently own.”

“And none of that is going to be taken out of my pay?” Ezra asked, disbelieving.

“Of course not,” the quartermaster replied, his face and body language communicating laughter as his throat struggled to do the same. He hacked out a cough and continued, “Consider it one of the purposes of the position, or a signing bonus.”

“If that’s the case,” Ezra nodded, “I humbly accept the Duke’s generosity.”

“He’s better behaved than many of the kids you bring in,” Smith observed, nodding at the correct address of who the gift was coming from. “I guess you’ve done some training.”

“As much as we could for the past two weeks,” Chloe confirmed.

The conversation died not long after that, though not for lack of trying on Chloe‘s part. As soon as she started to exchange friendly teasing, Smith stood up, opened the door, and gestured for the two visitors to walk through. “I am a very busy man. Please, do not waste my time when I am working.”

With a laugh, Chloe led them out into the hallway.

“He’s always like this, so don’t think that he’s being impolite.”

“I didn’t,” Ezra laughed. “Now tell me, what kind of shit am I getting myself into taking this noble jackass’s place?”

Chloe laughed, though she did glance back and forth to make sure that there was nobody nearby to hear. Ezra didn’t blame her, doing the same as he gratefully realized that nobody was close enough to have heard him clearly. Down the hall, there was somebody, but he hadn’t been speaking loudly enough for his voice to carry quite so far.

“Honestly,” Chloe shrugged, “not that much more than you were already getting yourself into. Since you have promised to be solidly in the Ducal faction, it was only a matter of time before you were seen as an enemy to these kids. Just keep your head down and keep progressing quickly. I’m not sure exactly how fast you are in terms of your inner world’s development in general, but I can guarantee that, within the next year, you’ll be a Pseudo-Knight. At that point, none of them will be able to stand up to you anyways, so don’t worry too much about it. It’ll just be petty stuff for a little while.”

“They’re all in the squad that you have to have at least some measure of skill to get into,” Ezra disagreed, walking behind her. The sound of their boots echoed off the halls as he continued, “Why would you think that they couldn’t do the same?”

“Technically, that’s possible,” Chloe allowed. “All of them can sense aura, and several of them are Adepts, but I have faith that you’ll be better than any of them.”

“Really? That’s it?”

“Most of them aren’t trying very hard,” Chloe said, keeping her voice low. “Also, all but one of the Pseudo-Knights here are solidly in the Ducal faction, so only Mikhail helps the antis as much as he’s capable of. Even then, most of them are more concerned with what their money can buy them and how to make more money in general than with how to build their personal strengths.”

“Wouldn’t they be able to make more money by becoming Knights?” Ezra asked, disbelieving. “You said that there’s just the one Knight in this entire Duchy, and he’s got the Duke’s ear on top of being able to go out and take care of just about any threat short of a dragon by himself.”

“That’s not strictly true,” Chloe said as they walked down a staircase and into a hallway full of doorways. Nobody was there for now, and as they counted to the fourth door down, Chloe entered the key into the door, unlocked it, and shouldered the door open. She walked into the room as she continued, “It is true that Dominick’s crazy strong. He’s old and not as good as he once was, as far as he says, but he absolutely could have taken care of the entire army that we fought against by himself. It might have exhausted him, it might’ve been dangerous, but he could have. In terms of battles, a Knight is a strategic resource, and it doesn’t matter where you go, a Knight can find good employment.

“However, although people don’t really talk about it,” Chloe continued as they walked into the room, and Ezra looked around. It was a simple room, though, when he sat down on the bed, he could feel that it was stuffed with something much softer than straw. The simple facilities were sturdy, without frills, and nice. In the corner of the room was an armature mannequin, and he started taking off his armor to put on it. Would he ever wear it again after the quartermaster got him this new armor? Artemis and Helen had worn simple but fully metal breastplates when they’d come to participate in the battle against the goblinoid army. Only in that moment did Ezra realize he was probably going to run into Artemis again sometime soon.

“Hey, I’m talking here,” Chloe joked, as Ezra found himself looking more at the wardrobe and his bed than at her.

He refocused on her as she repeated, “Although people don’t really talk about it, Knights aren’t the strongest people around. People consider fourth-circle sorcerers and clerics to be about on the same level as a Knight. A Knight is able to go for a lot longer than any casters, and the exchange for that is that we can’t do quite as wondrous things as a magic caster with access to whatever circle is equivalent to what he’ve got. I’ve seen entire storms conjured, people brought back from the dead, and things as crazy as that. Yes, a Knight can cut through an army, but they’d probably lose a fight to a prepared caster.”

Ezra’s jaw dropped open at the prospect of somebody being able to bring the dead back to life. Evidently seeing his question coming, Chloe spoke back up.

“There’s a lot of caveats to when somebody can be brought back to life, but it’s possible. So, Knights are army killers. There isn’t a nation on the planet that would say no to one of them. But if they have to choose, every country’s leader will take one of the casters of the same level as a Knight, if they have the option.”

“Shit,” Ezra scoffed. “Why the hell am I trying to be a Knight when I can bring people back from the dead? Tilly’s got the right idea!”

“Calm down,” Chloe commanded. “The other part of what I was saying is that Knight isn’t the end of the line. There aren’t any here in the Duchy, but I know that in the entire kingdom, there are at least four Masters. Don’t ask me what the difference is between a Knight and a Master, I don’t know. However, two of them are employed by the king, and they can all do a whole lot more than a Knight, of which there are dozens in the country. Apparently, there are stories of something even stronger than that, the sixth circle of casters and whatever, but I think that they’re myths.”

Ezra subconsciously glanced towards Jormun, who smirked at the younger man. Chloe noted where he was looking and looked where Ezra was before she jumped up and swept her hand through the corner of the room.

“Are you scared of spiders?” she asked, wiping the cobwebs on her hand on her pants.

“No,” he shook his head, refocusing on the conversation. “Just saw something moving up there and wondered what it was.”

“Well, it was the spiderweb. Now, let’s go get some lunch already. I’m fucking starving.”

“You were the one who told me that I need to watch my mouth when I’m around here,” Ezra laughed, pushing himself to his feet. “Something about how people will judge me by what I say?”

“Well, I’m plenty strong enough to not have to worry about that shit,” she replied, deliberately swearing with extra emphasis as she grinned at him. “So don’t worry about people who can do what you can’t, just become better and better at what you’re already doing.”

Ezra grumbled as he followed her out of the room. She handed over the key, which he placed into the lock and locked the door closed. With a thought, he took the key and put it in the same pouch where he kept his money, which hung inside of his uniform coat. Since he’d taken off his armor, it was easier to get to, but still required him to unbutton two buttons to reach where it hung across his left ribs.

“I would say don’t be so worried about losing the key,” Chloe said under her breath, “but I’d say that prudence is probably a better approach than being careless and finding your room robbed.”

“Think that would happen?” Ezra asked. “I don’t think that I have anything that would be worth stealing to anybody around here.”

“I doubt it, but there’s no reason not to be careful.”

As Chloe said it, Ezra looked around and saw that, unlike when he had first entered his room, there were people in the hallway. Each of them wore the same armor that he remembered Helen and Artemis wearing, solid steel breastplates with matching pauldrons and arm guards. Everybody had a sword on their hip, and most carried a helmet under their arm, though most carried an additional weapon beside the sword.

A dozen men walked down the hall, and each one nodded at Chloe as they noticed her walking out. Though each had a different level of personal respect for her, based off of their tones, the most disrespect that was shown to her was simply muttering, “Captain Chloe,” as they kept their heads bowed and walked past.

“Looks like they’ve been released to go to lunch,” Chloe said. “In this hall, it would be best for you to go with Telemachus. I’ll guide you to his room. Knowing him, he was the first in.”

“Will it be better for me to go with them?” Ezra asked, leaning forward and speaking barely above a whisper.

“Exactly,” Chloe replied, her tone the same. “It’ll be better for you to get to know them as a peer instead of being my new project or anything like that.”

He just nodded in response to that, following behind her as she walked five doors down from him and rapped out a knock on the door.

“Give me one second,” a man’s voice answered.

“No hurry,” Chloe answered.

About thirty seconds passed before a man answered the door. He had, like Ezra, wavy hair, but where Ezra’s skin was fair, Telemachus’s was olive. Ezra’s eyes were blue, Telemachus had brown eyes. Ezra’s hair was brown, and Telemachus’s was black.

“Hello, Telemachus. Your pale doppelgänger here is Ezra,” Chloe said, gesturing towards him. “He’s the newest member of the prospective Knight squad, and it’s eating time. I figured you could show him where he’s going. Any questions?”

“No, ma’am.” Telemachus shook his head, reaching out a hand to take Ezra’s. “It’s time to eat, and though there’s always enough, it’s better to get there early. Are you able to keep up at a jog?”

“Oh yeah,” Ezra smiled back as he shook Telemachus’s hand. “I’ve been on the road since this morning, so I’m looking forward to it.”

“Then let’s move.”

The darker-skinned man quickly locked his door, saluted Chloe, and then jogged down the hallway opposite of where Ezra and Chloe had come from. The Pseudo-Knight waved her goodbyes and turned on her heel as Ezra followed his new companion towards lunch.

They moved in sync as they ran down a winding staircase for one floor and then down a different hall. They moved quickly, and the few people that they passed seemed to smile at their passage. Ezra was wondering why this man that Chloe trusted was moving so quickly, but before he could ask, without turning his head, Telemachus spoke up.

“Are you the one they put in Eli’s room?”

“So I’m told.”

“That’s rough. You’ll probably want to be hurrying to meals with me, then.”

“I can tell by the people around here that it’s not normal to be running to lunch,” Ezra shot back. “Is there something I should know?”

“Do you know any nobles well enough for them to be willing to sponsor you?” the other prospective Knight asked without answering.

“Definitely not,” Ezra laughed. “Should I?”

“It’s not a question of should. It’s just going to be a bit more uncomfortable for you since you don’t. There’s people like you and me who, wherever either of us are from, work for what we’ve got and got here because we are outstanding. Then, there’s the people who have connections and are slightly above mediocre. They don’t like being reminded that they’re not worth much compared to people who are naturally talented, so they like to be arseholes to people who are better than them. If they can get you burnt food, they’ll do it. If they can get a stone in your shoe, they will. Little shit like that.”

“Thanks for the warning,” Ezra said, liking Telemachus more and more as the man was bluntly honest. As they came around the corner into the mess hall, the smell of bread and meat was thick in the air, and Ezra felt his mouth begin to water.

“Sure thing,” Telemachus said, leading Ezra towards where they would get their plates. “Now tell me, where are you from? You spill some of your secrets, I’ll give you some of mine.”