After checking on the state of the Knight Order early in the morning, he would take his packed food from the dining hall and head to the training grounds, where he would work out while mentally organizing his report. This was Moritol’s routine, cramming as much as he could into a limited amount of time.

And at this point, half the work was done.

“……?”

Moritol made a small frown as he entered the training grounds of the Heaven Time Knight Order. Usually, the commanders had their own training grounds in addition to the one for the Knight Order, but Moritol used the same training grounds as the members. He wanted to be close by to help them train.

Today, however, the training grounds, which were supposed to be in full swing as they were on display, were filled with clutter and clamor. He wondered if they were chatting while putting off their training.

Moritol’s lips twitched as he peered inside with a sense of dread. There, in a circle around the perimeter of the training grounds, was a group of men and a lone man wielding a greatsword in the center of the room.

They were so focused on the man in the center that they hadn’t even noticed the arrival of their commander. Moritol called to the nearest member of the group.

“Denoric.”

“Uh, Commander! Greetings!”

“You all look like you’ve got yourself quite an interesting spectacle. What are you doing fiddling with your arms at this precious hour, and don’t you feel sorry for your scouting companions?”

“Oh, well, it’s…….”

Denoric, who had been cowed by his commander’s stormy tirade, pointed to the center of the training grounds with a grimace.

“Van Herdos of the Scarlet Scales Knight Order has come to our training grounds, and he’s taking up residence there.”

“……What?”

“He emits his aura whenever we get near him, so we’ve all been pushed to the outskirts. The uncomfortable position has hampered our training, and some of us who were unhappy about it challenged him to a duel and lost. …….Everyone is just watching.”

Lost. Moritol’s jaw made a bone-crunching sound as he heard those words. Denoric’s eyes flickered to the darkened face of his commander, and he stared at him, unsure of what to do.

‘……No. No. The Heaven Time Knight Order is not some ignorant Knight Order that flies like a fire moth to victory. ‘Maximum efficiency at minimum sacrifice. Wasn’t that the motto of my Knight Order?’

So he couldn’t blame them for losing a simple battle. There was more to it than that.

“Why would a knight from the Scarlet Scales Knight Order be training here?”

“There was an accident at their training grounds, and the ceiling collapsed. It will take a few days to repair, and in the meantime, the Emperor has given permission for them to share the training grounds with another Knight Order.”

“His Majesty……?”

His Majesty gave such an order? Moritol pondered for a moment, then pushed his way through his men and out into the center of the training grounds. The members who had spotted him hurriedly cleared a path for him and greeted him with a snap of their hands, causing Van, who had noticed the commotion, to turn his head dryly.

Moritol cracked his knuckles as he returned the glare directed at him. Just like in the morning, he was not pleased with any of the knights of the Scarlet Scales Knight Order, except for Lumen.

“This is Moritol Anak, the commander of the Heaven Time Knight Order. And you are Van Herdos, Berserker of the Scarlet Scales Knight Order. Am I right?”

Van glanced Moritol up and down, then nodded slightly. He didn’t even answer. It irritated Moritol to no end, but he persevered with the patience of an elder.

“I’ve heard that something unsavory has happened at your training grounds, and because of it, His Majesty has ordered you to share the training grounds of another Knight Order out of mercy…….. Is that true?”

Even if the Scarlet Scales Knight Order was a small, elite order that couldn’t afford its own space in the castle right now, Moritol had a temperament that even the Emperor recognized.

A man who wanted everything to be within his control. And yet, the Emperor had ordered them to share the training grounds without telling him.

He couldn’t believe it, so he asked Van again, but Van was adamant.

“If this wasn’t true, why would I be sweating in a place like this?”

“……A place like this?”

Moritol asked coldly, and Van glanced around, wiping the sweat from his face with the towel he was wearing.

“Yes. A training grounds like this, where you can’t even find a decent training opponent, let alone a decent trainer.”

“……It’s rude, and it’s presumptuous.”

“You can’t blame me, I was born a lowly one.”

Moritol’s anger was homicidal, enough to make the knights in the training grounds reflexively gasp. But Van didn’t care. He even smirked, unmoved.

“Then will you make it so I can’t be so arrogant anymore?”

Re-sheathing his greatsword, Van jerked his chin toward Moritol. Van had chosen Moritol as his opponent. Even Moritol was stunned, let alone the rest of the group.

“What do you think you’re doing?”

“Um…….”

He thought that Moritol would be a worthy training partner. That very thought was the provocation that drove him.

‘Maybe that’s a step too far.’

Van corrected himself. Even if Lumen hadn’t begged him to do it in the first place, citing the pain of their commander, there was no way he would have wielded his sword in the midst of a group of wretched nobles.

“You have to invade under the pretext of sharing the training grounds that the Emperor never permitted. You are the best person to have that kind of guts. So go and piss off Moritol Anak.”

He didn’t like why he had to follow the noble young master’s words, but what could he do? Lumen said it was absolutely necessary to achieve Yeohwan’s goal.

‘It is sufficient to annoy Moritol’s temper, and if I go any further, I will only cause unnecessary chaos and trouble Commander.’

Having organized his thoughts neatly, Van shrugged and loosened his grip on his greatsword.

“No. I don’t want to cause unnecessary trouble, and I don’t want to end up on the wrong side of Commander afterward.”

“Well, I think you’ve already caused enough trouble, and I’m not going to let this one go…….”

“There’s nothing more to see, so I’ll leave now. Thank you for the training grounds.”

“……You’re leaving like this?”

It wasn’t enough that he came to someone else’s training grounds and muddied the waters, but he also challenged the authority of the leader, and now he was going to leave on his own?

Moritol was dumbfounded and tried to rebuke him, but he didn’t even pretend to listen. Van stumbled across the training grounds, shoving the knights who stood in his way with unrelenting ferocity.

And Moritol tried to control the boiling inside of him as he watched Van recede into the distance, the members of the Order watching his every move.

‘His Majesty allowed it, and while his behavior was rude, he did nothing of substance. I’d be a petty man if I stood here making a small thing a big mistake. ……Commander Cadel. Do you really mean to come out like this?’

His subordinates repeatedly emphasized that Cadel had no part in their atrocities. But what kind of fool would believe that?

How dishonest, how low class. At a time when solidarity was needed most, Cadel’s insistence on imposing his opinions while gnawing away at Moritol’s psyche was enough to make his head spin.

“Com, Commander…….”

Moritol waved away the approaching members with concern, then spoke in a calm voice.

“I don’t expect any of you to be swayed by such a provocation. Resume your training.”

“Yes, sir!”

* * *

After sweating out his rising anger, Moritol had to clean up and eat dinner, then gather his battalion captains to hear about the day’s accomplishments, and then take care of paperwork until he drifted off to sleep.

But all the while, Moritol had to deal with sabotage.

It started with a surprise assassin attack while he was taking a bath.

“Oh, I’m in the wrong room. This is your room.”

“Where are you? Show yourself, not just your voice!”

“I thought it was Cadel’s room.”

“Another knight of the Scarlet Scales Knight Order……? Judging by the lack of signs, you must be that rumored assassin.”

“Don’t worry. I’m not into looking at other people’s naked bodies. I can’t.”

“…… Now get out of here before I call the guards.”

No matter how many times Moritol pleaded with Yozen to leave, the assassin would interrupt his bath with endless nonsense about being in the wrong room. He tried calling for help but to no avail. No one could find the assassin, who only spoke when they were alone.

In the end, he had to listen in silence to the assassin’s killing methods until the bath was over to avoid the misconception that Moritol Anak had gone mad.

Eating while still stressed was not a good idea. The meal was followed by a meeting with the battalion captains. There, a black magician interrupted them.

“I’m afraid I missed out on the vice commander’s position this time. I came to see how the battalion captains of a group as large as the Heaven Time Knight Order behave.”

“So you’re going to interrupt the Knight Order’s meeting for that reason?”

“It’s not like we’re in competition, anyway, and if I can see and learn from the ways of the other Knight Orders, it will help me in war. If you’re worried about my identity, just say so. Because even though I’ve saved the lives of more allies than I can count during the war, the stain of my past may still bother you. I’m used to that kind of discrimination…….”

“Okay, stop talking, as long as you don’t interrupt us, you’re welcome to listen.”

How he was told it was okay if he didn’t interrupt. The black magician interrupted the battalion captain with a series of comments as soon as he started to say a few words, and when the captain became annoyed and tried to stop him, he began to recite the names of all the members of the Heaven Time Knight Order he had saved. He can barely keep track of them, but he’s memorized them all.

Eventually, the exhausted battalion captains scurry away, and Moritol glared at the empty spot of the black magician, who had left before he could say a word, and drew in a harsh breath.

“Now, who are you going to send for my paperwork……? Your remaining subordinate is Sir Lumen. Are you going to send him, or yourself? Maybe even the Scarlet Dragon? By the way, I’m looking forward to it.”

Anger flared in Moritol’s eyes at the utter disruption of his routine. The last knight to interrupt his routine would arrive, and he would not tolerate it any longer. If they didn’t recognize his patience and continued to insist, he would have to teach them a lesson.

So Moritol vowed.

“Isn’t he coming……?”

It was past Moritol’s bedtime, 12 o’clock, and no one had come to his office. He hadn’t gotten any work done because he was waiting for a visitor. He was just a fool, grinding his teeth for three hours.

“I, I can’t stand this.”

The fact that they didn’t show up bothered him even more since he’d been bothered all day. The next day was going to be another anxious start to the day.

He crumpled the papers on his desk roughly and muttered to himself.

“Okay, I’ll give you a point-by-point breakdown of why your opinion is garbage and not worthy of consideration.”

A stark reminder that nothing could be accomplished the way Cadel insisted. Moritol clutched at the last shreds of reason and drew out Cadel’s opinion from the depths of his mind.

If one polite refusal was not enough, he would crush the tactic so thoroughly that it would be impossible to recover. Pulling out a blank sheet of paper, Moritol’s eyes burned with determination.