"Yo, Tris."
Entering the dining hall, I greeted my fiancée with a wave. There was no one in the room besides three girls who didn't participate in the game. Empty plates were stacked on top of the table. It seemed like they had finished their meal.
Tris had changed to her elf tunic and turned to me. I was slightly disappointed because I couldn't see her in a tight nun costume, but I could always visit Castitas Academy if I wanted to see it.
"Where are the others?" She asked curiously, looking around the room.
Lea and Natasha also looked at me, wondering where the other female knights were.
"They can't catch me in their game, so I punished them. Right now, they are swinging wooden swords with status restriction effects in the training ground." I answered as I walked toward them and looked at Natasha and Lea.
"Will you do me a favor and tell the male knights that they can't use the training ground and tell them to have a meal and rest right now? I will personally do the patrol for the female knights tonight. Ah, also order some soup and bread for me, will you? Thank you."
"As you command, Sir Arthur," Natasha answered and stood up. Lea followed suit with a nod, and they left while bringing their empty plates and brought them to the canteen lady.
Only Tris and I left, and I sat on the bench right beside her.
"There is an empty one across from me." She said, looking at me with a slightly red face.
"I want to sit here," I replied with a smile, holding her hand under the table.
"Were you always this assertive? You've changed, Arthur."
"But you like it, no?" I grinned playfully. "And you said you would call me Art. Did you already forget about it?"
"Shut up… Give me time…"
Tris looked down shyly, but her hand gripped mine tighter. Silence descended between us. The silence broke when the lady brought me the meal I ordered and giggled, and Tris looked at me again.
"So, what's the deal with catching you and stuff earlier? You even went to the Castitas Academy and made a commotion. Did you know that I was interrogated by the others earlier? That was such a chaos."
"Ah, about that."
I explained the start of this game of catching me, starting from I heard something interesting after waking up for a nap on top of the wall to how I proposed this game because Rania and Sophia were about to fight over the Vice-Captain seat.
She looked rather impressed by the lioness' motive and rivalry against Rania.
"I don't know whether she's that hot-headed or has a high competitive spirit. When she was a church knight captain, she didn't talk a lot and had this charisma, but that's gone after she took off her helmet." Tris said as she looked at me with a suspicious gaze. "Ah, yes. It was when you arrived."
"So that was my fault?" I asked, pointing at myself.
"Yup! Who else?"
"That hurts… I did nothing except praise her appearance and allow her to compete with my sister."
Well, that was the biggest reason. Her biggest insecurity was gone when I praised her look and sharp eyes, making her more confident to take her helmet off. And the fact Rania, her rival, was here made her more competitive and free.
"I was just joking." Tris giggled cutely and poked fun at me.
We joked around as I ate my meal. She was watching me while resting her head on her hand, smiling softly.
After a while, I finished my meal and continued joking around with Tris.
At that, the dining hall was opened, and many church knights entered. They saw me flirting and wondering what they should do.
"Ah, they are here. Good job at your patrol, guys." I smiled at them and stood up with Tris, and they immediately saluted.
"No, Sir Paladin! We're just doing our job!"
"You can lower your hands. Ah, Lea and Natasha had told you about the training ground, right?"
"Yes, Sir! Dame Lea and Dame Natasha had told us about not using the training ground and rest at your discretion. If I may ask…" The knight, who had short brown hair, looked hesitant to ask.
"I just punished the female knights for playing around." I answered him before he asked, "They are to swing a wooden sword until morning, so enjoy your rest. I will patrol the Academy City with her and make sure nothing happens."
"N-No, how could you be?! Please, let us join the patrol. We don't need to rest!"
"Yes. Please let us patrol instead."
They were overly respectful to the point they wanted to sacrifice their rest. This wouldn't do. I wouldn't be able to mess with them in the future if they were so zealous.
So, I decided to do this instead.
"This is an order. Eat your meal and rest."
This time, they looked troubled and didn't know what to do. Tris stepped forward with her hands on her hips.
"What's your duty as church knights?" She asked with a booming voice full of authority. "It's to protect people. Don't misunderstand his order. He only wants you guys to be prime to exterminate monsters. Isn't the date for a monthly extermination fall tomorrow?"
As Tris explained, their faces changed with understanding. They looked at me with gazes filled with gratitude as they saluted once again.
"Our deepest apologies, Sir Paladin. We don't realize your kind intention! We will rest until tomorrow as you have ordered."
"It's good that you understand. Well then, rest well."
Saying so, I walked to the exit with Tris. The church knights made way for us and saluted as we passed by.
Leaving the dining hall, I looked at Tris and asked, "Is there really such a schedule to exterminate monsters monthly?"
"There actually is." Tris nodded at me. "Usually, it's done in the second week… Ah, I mean… fourteenth days of the month. But due to the mourning and your private party, which was still embarrassing to remember, the schedule is moved to tomorrow, the twentieth day of the month."
"Is that so?" I asked, not expecting an answer. "Well, let's patrol the Academy City. It will be only the two of us."
"Yup! But wait a minute. Let me change my clothes and wear my armor."
"Alright. I will wait near the church entrance."
"Yeah!"
After she answered, she ran toward the nearby washroom as I went to the entrance and stood before the stairs.
"Thanks for waiting! Let's go!"
A few minutes later, Tris showed up from the entrance between the two naked angel statues in her complete green leather armor, which consisted of a chest plate, shoulder pads, and dress armor on top of her white elf tunic.
Her current appearance once again brought me back to when I last saw her in Horizon Online. It was the appearance that plagued me as a nightmare for a while. Right now, I wasn't sad but felt nostalgic and happy instead.
"Let's go."
We moved down the stairs, side by side, and I answered everyone's greeting with a soft smile. I reactivated my <Presence Detection> again, setting the ones hostile toward me or Tris and the people in Castitas Church as enemies.
The owner of that cursed item or whoever cursed Ertha was still out there. By patrolling, I hoped I would find at least a clue regarding them and, if possible, get rid of them all at once.
As we walked down the main street, I realized something. I didn't know what the church knights did when patrolling, so I asked Tris.
"What did you usually do when patrolling?"
"Just the usual walking and finding troublesome people. It's usually peaceful, with some occasional people fighting at night because they are drunk. That's why the male knights usually take the midnight shift."
"Because it's safer for them to deal with the drunkard?"
"Exactly." Tris nodded, "And to minimize groping. Those drunkards usually lost their reason and could accidentally go too far and touch the female knights' bodies, resulting in them getting Sins. Well, that's only if the female knights were careless. Nothing like that had happened for the past decades."
"Makes sense." I nodded in understanding.
We continued patrolling without anything happening. Just like she had said, it was peaceful.
I quite enjoyed this patrol because it was like a date. Some people stopped us a few times, but that was because they wanted to give me a drink and stuff to eat. They were good people.
Older people who were playing some board games teased that I was having a cute girlfriend. They probably thought I would blush or deny it, but when I told them that Tris was my fiancée, they congratulated us with a laugh instead.
Honestly, only those old people respected me but still treated me like normal people. I joked around with them and made Tris embarrassed and pulled me away.
As thanks for improving my mood, I treated those elderly to a bottle of wine, which they received with much thanks.
We continued our patrol afterward, with Tris pinching my arm out of embarrassment because I announced our relationship with the people in Academy City with a big smile.
The rumor about it would probably spread tomorrow, along with Queen Eve's coronation date. Everyone would talk about it, and it would be a perfect material to tease my cute fiancées.
An hour into our patrol, my <Presence Detection> caught on something.
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