Chapter 323: Intermission – The Valkyrie Knights
Editor: Tseirp
“Hmm~m, as expected of the Silverdale Knights. Quite impressive.”
“Indeed, they are, but… we can’t just stay impressed.”
“Even if you say so, you can’t deny the legacy. I’m really glad that they didn’t turn against us during the Liberation War.”
The central training ground of the royal capital.
It is a huge training ground used for training by the royal knights, court magician order, and the nobles’ knights.
There are four other huge training grounds outside the royal capital, but this central training ground is often used by the king and others when they conduct military inspections.
It’s a newly built training ground on the site of the former residences of the nobles who were in Raymond’s camp during the Kingdom Liberation War that the royal family confiscated, and it is said to have plenty of the latest alchemy equipment…
The Silverdale Knights of the Silverdale Duchy were currently conducting exercises at the central training ground.
The Duchy has its territory in the central region of the Kingdom where the royal capital is located, and is known as one of the most prominent military families in the Kingdom.
During the Kingdom Liberation War, the head of the family, Lawson, who was trapped in the royal castle, was imprisoned and was originally supposed to join Raymond’s camp.
Apparently Prince Raymond was also counting on the formidable Silverdale Knights, but all the Knights disappeared without a trace.
They were not only gone from the Silverdale domain but also from the royal capital.
The Silverdale Knights numbered about 300 at the time, which was not a large number.
However, their skills as Knights in assault, shooting, and riding were said to be on par with those of the past Royal Knights in their heyday.
When Raymond learned that he could not recruit them into his forces, he threw the cup in his hand…
When Lawson, the head of the family, heard the report, he laughed uproariously…
The anecdote of him laughing so hard when he could lose his own life became a well-known tale in the royal capital after the war.
Rumor has it that the vanished Silverdale Knights hid out in the west and cooperated behind the scenes in the recapture of eastern Wingston.
Wingston was traditionally the eastern base of the Silverdale Knights, and their familiarity with the geography of the area led to such rumors.
While that was true, the Silverdale Knights were not proud of it.
Rather, it was said that they were ashamed that they could not join King Abel.
It was inevitable since the head of the family was inprisoned…
Watching the drill exercises of the Silverdale Knights were Imogen, the leader of the Valkyrie Knights, and Camilla, the deputy leader.
Imogen and her team were former adventurers of the C-rank party, ‘Valkyries’, operating out of the royal capital.
They were the core of a new all-female knight order formed after the Kingdom Liberation War.
At the time, the official name was undecided, so it was commonly known as the Valkyrie Knights, which then became the official name.
The Valkyrie Knights is officially a knight order directly under the queen.
After three years, their number had risen to 500.
The Valkyrie Knights include divisions like ‘Magic Corps’, ‘Scouting Party’, and a ‘Rescue Team’ within their ranks, and the Order alone is capable of independent operations.
Therefore, not all 500 members are knights, of course.
Still, it has 400 knights.
But….
“To put it bluntly, we still can’t beat even these three hundred.”
Imogen muttered.
Half of the Silverdale Knights were conducting exercises in front of them.
They were half of the Silverdale Knights which grew to six hundred after the war, and even against them, the five hundred Valkyrie Knights were no match.
This was the current impression of the captain, Imogen.
“We still have a long way to go…”
Camilla, the vice-captain must have felt the same way.
She nodded and replied.
“That Lady Faith, too, is one brilliant commander.”
Imogen commended the instructions of the silver-haired beauty who leads the Silverdale Knights.
“And she is only nineteen years old, isn’t she? She is indeed from a prominent military family. She must have gone through all kinds of training since childhood.”
Camilla answered with a nod.
Whenever Imogen sees other knights’ exercises,
She is reminded of her inexperience.
Especially in commanding group battles.
Therefore, she’s been conducting drill exercises as often as possible….
But, experience is not something that can be gained overnight.
She’s confident in her ability at a party level.
Even three-party coordination won’t pose a problem.
But, precisely for that reason, she’s struggling with commanding dozens or hundreds of people.
“Don’t rush it. I’m still not very good at commanding group battles either”…she recalled her Lord’s face smiling broadly as he said so over and over again.
“Your Majesty…”
Imogen didn’t become despondent.
But rather, looked up decisively, figuring out where she was lacking.
Accepting and acknowledging it in earnest.
Deciding the way forward while believing in herself and her comrades.
Since she has friends who believe in her.
She will be fine!
The next day, a part of the Valkyrie Knights departed for a training expedition.
Composed of the middle ranks in the Knight Order.
Fifty knights, ten magicians, five scouts, and five rescue workers. A total of seventy people.
Led by Captain Imogen.
Aided by the Magic Corps Captain Miu, and the Scouting Party Captain Abigail.
Vice-Captain Camilla and Rescue Team Captain Scarlett would remain in the royal capital.
The purpose of the exercise was to improve the teamwork of the entire group.
Their expedition outline also included going to the southern part of the kingdom to defeat monsters in a large forest.
For training purposes, their nights were to be spent out in the open.
And as expected, no one protested against it.
Even though it’s a knight order directly under the queen, there are no children of great nobles. Except for Miu.
Half of them are commoners, and the other half are mostly second and third daughters of families below the rank of viscount.
These women were the ones who didn’t give up or run away from the rigorous training.
The grueling training left even Zack and Scotty, who had come to support them from the Royal Knight Order, to break out in cold sweats.
It was only natural.
To begin with, the five core members were C-rank adventurers.
They were famous adventurers who had been through many ordeals!
So, the training they came up with would, of course, be anything but half-hearted.
And they were sometimes life-threatening. Since relaxed training would defeat the purpose.
And those who endured these drills… are the Valkyrie Knights.
Though Imogen was not yet satisfied, they were by no means weaker than the other territorial knights in the Kingdom.
Considering that they had come this far in only three years, they should be highly regarded.
They had reached such a high level of competence.
The Knights arrived in Rune city in five days, a journey that would normally have taken seven days.
In Rune, they stayed at the lord’s mansion.
Because they thought they would learn a lot from the elite and renowned Rune Frontier County Knights, and because as a knight order under the queen, it was important to maintain ties with Rune, one of the key cities in the south.
Then again, both the current king, Abel I, and Queen Rihya, were based in Rune as adventurers for a long time, so the ties were still very strong.
As proof of that, a statue of when King Abel I made his speech at the inauguration ceremony was displayed in the town square of Rune city, and flowers were still placed there every day…
“Captain Imogen, welcome to our city.”
“It’s been a while, Sir Alfonso.”
With that, the two shook hands.
Alfonso Spinazola had officially become the Count of the Rune Frontier.
The previous lord, Carmelo Spinazola, had gone into seclusion, living out the rest of his days in a mansion a short distance from the lord’s mansion.
“I see you’ve also arranged a mock battle with our Knights. I’m looking forward to it.”
“We’ll be picking up a few pointers from you, Captain Neville.”
Neville Black, knight captain of the Rune Frontier County, also shook hands with Imogen.
The following evening. After the mock battle.
“They are unbelievably strong….”
“To think that everyone in the entire Order can ‘cut’ magic…”
“The scouts were just sitting on their hands, you know?”
Captain Imogen gave her honest opinion, Magic Corps Captain Miu was surprised by the performance of the Rune Knights during the mock battle, and Scouting Party Captain Abigail, who had nothing to do because she was a scout, said something totally irrelevant.
“Fairly strong, right?”
The three of them jumped up in surprise when a voice suddenly called out to them from behind.
“Sire Neville!”
“Whoa, my bad… I didn’t think you’d be that startled…”
Neville Black was more surprised than the three of them.
“Oh, no… and thank you very much for the mock battle experience.”
“Oh please. I know it sounds supercilious to say this, but don’t be too discouraged.”
Imogen thanked him, and Neville said with a wry smile.
The gap was that big.
To put it bluntly, they were stronger than any knight order they’d ever seen… in the Kingdom.
“Only C-rank adventurers with considerable skill can cut through offensive magic with a sword, but… are all of the Rune Knights capable of doing so?”
Magic Corps Captain Miu asked.
“Yeah. Pretty much. The inexperienced ones can be a little clumsy… but those who have been around for more than three years can all do it. Since that’s how they were trained.”
Neville replied, thinking back on something.
“They were all confident during the one-on-one sword fights, too. Even the person who served as my opponent wasn’t intimidated at all…”
Imogen said.
Imogen also fought and eventually defeated a member of the Rune Knights, but her opponent did not flinch at all.
“That was Nash, wasn’t it? He’s in his fifth year. Well guys like him already witnessed it after all…”
“Witnessed it?”
Imogen tilted her head at Neville’s words and asked.
“They’ve witnessed the ultimate sword fights between swordsmen. And were trained by them too. Sorry to say, but they probably wouldn’t feel intimidated facing you after being trained by those monsters. They certainly don’t feel intimidated facing me.”
Neville said with a wry smile.
“The ultimate sword fight…”
Imogen muttered.
“We only have one now, but the Rune Knight Order once had a second swordsmanship instructor. One was an elf. And the other, a magician. The funny thing is, even though he’s a magician, he’s one hell of a master with a sword. Sword fights between these two took place every day on the training grounds. I even went to see it. And I was fascinated. I was mesmerized, watching these two extraordinary swordsmen… fighting right in front of me, with such exquisite swordsmanship that was out of this world, you know? Of course, I couldn’t even see through half of their movements, but that didn’t matter. I was mesmerized, full of admiration, and wanted to get as close to them as possible… Even an old-timer like me felt that way, so you can imagine the impact it must have had on the active guys, right? We now have those people training with that goal in mind… see what I mean?”
Neville’s words were passionate.
For he, of all people, was one of those who were fascinated by them….
“Having been trained by those monsters… I hate to break it to you, but our members are the strongest in the Kingdom.”
Captain Neville Black stated clearly.
“Excuse me, Sir Neville. Who exactly are these two…?”
Imogen asked.
“One is Sera, an Elf who is a B-rank adventurer. She is the next head of the Western Forest and the representative of the elves in the Kingdom.”
“I see… I know of Lady Sera, though only by name.”
Imogen nodded.
The story of the defensive battle in the Western Forest had become a classic tale sung by bards.
“And the other?”
Imogen asked again.
“The other is a C-rank adventurer, a water-attribute magician. He is a close friend of King Abel and the premier duke of the Kingdom. His powerful and matchless water-attribute magic has earned him two names: Silver Duke, and Ice Fall…”
“Is that not…”
“Oh yeah. It’s Lord Ryo, the Duke of Rondo.”
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