CH 14

“Yes,” the other one agreed. “His Excellency even took in a supporter like you. Eugen will be more useful.”

Axion couldn’t stand their driveling any longer; with a sharp jut of his chin, he gestured to the Dark Knights members beside him. “Get them out of our sight, please.”

“Yes.”

As several Dark Knights grabbed my parents by the arms, they struggled to free themselves and, raising their voices, said, “Why are you doing this! It is only with goodwill that we—”

“I believe I said we have no time to delay; have you already forgotten my words from a mere couple of minutes ago? Or did you find them so laughable that they weren’t worth remembering?” Axion’s narrowed eyes glinted dangerously behind his glasses; his usually respectful manner belied his fierce temper. “Or perhaps do you think only the dungeon near your village should be closed with haste, but dungeons near other villages can wait? Is that it? Really now… Aren’t you stepping over the line?”

“T-that’s not what I meant, I—”

“You’re misunderstanding this! We just wanted to be of help to the Dark Knights, so…”

My parents sweated bullets as they tried to come up with excuses, but Axion only shook his hand in response, irritated. Immediately, expedition members lifted the shameless duo and took them over to where the other villagers were standing. Axion then looked at me, an apologetic expression on his face. “Looks like I stole your opportunity to give them a piece of your mind. I’m sorry.”

“Not at all. I’m sure they wouldn’t have listened to anything I said. They’ve long considered my words to be the wind passing by their ears,” I said, glancing at where my parents were being dragged off to. They were screaming in my direction with reddened faces—something about me being unfilial and an ingrate? They didn’t have the balls to confront Axion, the one who had chased them off, and so they poured all their resentment on me. What of it, though? It wasn’t like they were my real parents so it served them right to be treated like that. With a giggle, I patted Axion on the back and said, “Still, I feel good thanks to you.”

“That’s a relief.” He chuckled.

A united front against a common enemy was indeed the best way to build up camaraderie. I bumped fists with Axion and had to say, the guy’s got a big fist.

* * *

Meanwhile, the villagers could only suck their thumbs as the Dark Knights quickly packed up their camp. Already experienced in the act, it didn’t take long before everyone was ready to leave.

“Do you have anything else you want to bring along?” Axion asked me.

“No, nothing in particular. We can just go.”

He gazed at me silently with sympathy-filled eyes as if looking at a child who had never been given a proper set of clothing before by their family. And I realized that it wasn’t that far off the mark—I really didn’t have a proper set of clothing. Thinking back to the practically empty closet I had back home, I recalled how the few pieces I had to wear were all patched up and old. All this time I had naively thought that it was something that couldn’t be helped since I was a commoner in a rural village. But now that I thought about it, my half-brother Eugen had decent clothes—despite being a growing boy—and more than one set at that. Since I had never stayed in the village for too long, I had never felt the difference, but now I could see it very clearly.

The realization of how blatantly I had been discriminated against made me let out a bitter laugh. Axion suddenly turned to me with a worried smile on his lips; perhaps he mistook my reaction as me being hurt by my parents’ unfair treatment, because he said, “Don’t worry about it anymore. Right, now that I think of it, a mage’s uniform is provided as equipment.”

“Really?”

“Yes! I briefly forgot about this because mages usually dress as they want… but I think there are some mage uniforms left somewhere. If you would please wait a moment…” he said, walking away.

“Hey, wait a minute, I don’t need it right away—” Axion strode off without even giving me a chance to stop him. What a hasty fellow. “…and off he goes.”

It didn’t take long for him to return with a mage uniform in hand. True to the Dark Knights’ name, the uniform was a long, black dress-like robe with long sleeves and the symbol of the dukedom of Nochtentoria embroidered in silver thread on the chest. “I couldn’t find a mage uniform for officers… Please wear this, for now, I’ll have a new set made for you when we return to base,” Axion explained, his mouth twitching at the corners in dissatisfaction. Wondering what was making him unhappy, I took a closer look at the uniform and saw that the quality and finish of the fabric were inferior when compared to what he was wearing.

“What a shame to be giving something like this to our vice-captain-to-be,” he grumbled to himself.

However, the uniform was only lacking when compared to Axion’s clothes; compared to what I was wearing, it was practically a robe made for a fairy. “I’m satisfied with it,” I said. “It’s much better compared to what I have on right now.”

“But it doesn’t even bear the mark of a support mage…”

“As for having a class symbol on it… Well… Honestly, you can tell a mage’s class just by looking at the color of their hair. It changes according to their mana, after all,” I said.

“Indeed.”

The denser the mana a mage possessed, the more vivid the color of their hair would be. That was why the top-tier flame mages—Fabian and Axion—had burning red hair, while mine was literally in the grey zone like any average support mage. I twirled a lock of hair that hung down my shoulders on my fingertips. Just then, Mayer appeared, all in good time. “Let us depart now,” he told us.

Seeing me wearing a Dark Knights uniform, he paused.