After a rather passionate and longing kiss, Setsuna felt that many of the insecurities that had built up inside her heart melted like snow under the radiant sun.
In his embrace, she felt like she had nothing to worry about and that everything would always be alright and well. That he would always take care of her no matter what and — She loved this feeling. She also hated this feeling with a passion.
Weakness hidden under the guise of happiness was just a disgusting thing.
For all his heaven-defying powers, Sol was not a god.
Nay, even the Goddesses were not omnipotent or omniscient. They could lose. They could taste defeat like anyone else or be misled by others on the same level. The incident with Lilith had been an indicator of that fact.
Accepting to bask in the happiness Sol gave her meant that she would never become strong enough to proudly stand at his side.
Not as just a simple lover. But as a true mate who could support him and be there for him in his toughest times.
Setsuna exhaled a strained breath. She could feel her ideas becoming clearer with each thought and the path she had to tread upon was no longer covered in the perpetual fog that was plaguing her mind since long.
However — She still lacked something crucial.
"By the way. If you aren't busy, ready to follow me to inspect the knights? You train quite regularly with them, right?"
Setsuna snapped back to the situation at hand at his words.
"Indeed. I have trained some of the knights myself while they trained me in strategy and leadership."
Even though Setsuna was not yet a Duke, her power was by no means inadequate and no humans could match her skills and inhuman levels of strength.
Even in Sol's case, shortly after his awakening, he had been unable to win against Setsuna in the contest of power and momentum even after inheriting the full properties of the dragons.
"Then let's go. The Black Knights will be essential for us in this war. I also plan to summon the Paladins later on. We will need many healers."
Humans did not have the accelerated healing capabilities of the werebeasts. If this changed into a war of attrition, then they would be in danger. No, it was certain that they would lose without getting their top-level powerhouses involved.
Setsuna nodded her head in understanding… “Let me take my sword and change into my armor."
She gave a beaming smile, "It has been quite a while since I walked with you as your Knight."
This made her brighten somewhat. After all, there were not many things she wanted more.
———
The Knights' Barracks where they received training was now filled with rows of knights of all sizes and shapes. Both official ones and squires.
They had been called on this day for a royal inspection and as a result, they were feeling quite uneasy about what the day held for them.
It wasn't as if they had never interacted with Sol before. In fact, they had sometimes seen him training with Setsuna or Gerald.
But — Ever since what happened with Gerald, they had been wondering what would happen to the Order of the Knights.
After all, their leader had turned out to be a traitor. Though he redeemed himself somehow, there was no changing the fact that he betrayed the crown.
Ever since that harrowing incident, they had been wondering what would happen to them. Whether or not the Order would be disbanded or reorganized from the ground up.
Their worries had somewhat calmed down by the slightest bit in the following days but came back with a vengeance after watching the Declaration of the Prince.
And how he was now coming to inspect the whole lot of them.
They wondered what decision he would make in the end.
A few feared participating in the incoming war, while others were thirsty for this chance to prove themselves and redeem their value in front of the Prince and the Kingdom.
Furthermore, the incentive Sol had laid down before them was simply too attractive for those who were commoners in the Order. Even for those who were of Noble blood, the incentives didn’t leave them indifferent. Primarily because they were the 3rd or 4th children in their families, and so they had no rights of inheritance.
“The Head-maid is here.”
Someone muttered and silence immediately fell among the rows of armored populace. The knights were not stupid. The authority Milia wielded was too high to be that of a simple maid.
The fact that she was a beast woman did not matter much to them and all that stemmed from a simple reason.
She also had control over the funds of the Black Knights.
Knights were perhaps one of the most expensive investments of a Kingdom. Good weapons, good armor, good steads as equipment. Years upon years of training. Investment in elixirs and food of great quality. There was practically no end to the list of expenses.
And all of that was without counting the salary and all the little bonuses when Knights reached certain targets in their training.
All of this cost a shit ton of money and the one holding that money had all the power.
When Milia, accompanied by Clara, came on the podium and looked at the perfectly arranged Knights, she nodded in satisfaction with a somewhat indifferent gaze.
The Black Knights were more of a cavalry regimen. This was why Discipline was even more paramount for them.
After all, one mistake could take down the entire regiment if they were not careful.
“Where is the captain?”
A tall man with a muscular frame fitting that of a giant approached Milia and gave a light greeting by placing a fist over his heart.
“I am William, Madam!”
He was one of the retainers under the order of the Highland family. But his loyalty to the crown and the royal family was unmatched among this gathering of elites.
He had joined the Order ever since the day it was created by Lilith and had slowly climbed the rank over the years after some achievements in small skirmishes while following Athena and Tyr.
Milia knew that he was a steadfast man who knew how to do the job given without speaking too much.
“At ease.”
The knight relaxed but still stood straight as he placed his hands behind his back.
“I am ready to listen to your orders, Madam.”
“The prince will soon come. He is currently dealing with some personal matters. The second division captain is accompanying the Princess, right?”
“Yes! The Princess claimed that she was able to decimate the bandits alone and while that might be true, we judged it would be a perfect opportunity for some of the squires to get their hands bloodied.”
It didn’t matter how trained a knight was… If they were unable to fight when it was required of them and died because they froze up in fear and intimidation, then it would be over for them.
William had wished many times to erase the Bandit nests that were continuously growing in the surroundings of the capital. But he did not have the permission of the royal family until a few days ago.
Clara stood aside as she took a notebook and observed the knights in silence while scribbling down something every now and then.
She had thoroughly memorized the names, ages, powers, skill levels, and even familial circumstances of all the Black Knights. As an elf, she naturally had a very high memory capacity so this was nothing much in her opinion.
She was simply doing her job.
The atmosphere became quite heavy with the silent sounds of scribbling, as they did not really know what Clara was writing.
While Clara was new, they knew that she was in a way the representative of the Prince now and should have quite the power to influence his decisions.
William was inwardly quite displeased at this sight. He had a great aversion for elves. After all, they had enslaved humans for quite a long time and whenever Lustburg fought against the Southern Pride, they never missed a chance to remind humans about this.
For an elf and worse, an elf who was not a citizen of Lustburg to be the Spokesperson of the future King of Humanity left a bad taste in his mouth.
‘Sigh. I hope Lady Athena will be able to get the favor of the Prince.’
Only a human should have so much power in the Kingdom of Humanity. Even if not a human, a citizen born and raised in Lustburg like Milia was also acceptable for that task.
Clara had quite the opposite thought than our Knight Captain. As she looked at the rooster of the knights, she once again realized that the vast majority were pure humans.
In her opinion, this was a great oversight by the kings. The difference between races was more or less equalized at the Duke level as power then depended on the Zone or the Name of the individuals and so on.
But below the rank of Dukes, humans were at a great disadvantage.
In her opinion, the only reason Lustburg was never totally erased was that they were lucky enough to have powerful leaders whenever the time came.
She thought about the data she accumulated as she adjusted her glasses.
‘Should we fuse the Black Knights and the Paladins?’
It was impossible to train an entirely new order of knights at this time and the impossibility only rose when it came to instilling loyalty in the new recruits. It would just be a complicated mess.
Even so, it was a project worth considering.
Sol had shared some of his plans with her and she knew very well that this war was just the beginning of a worldwide conquest.
Just thinking about how her master might become the Emperor of the Mortal Realm made her jubile inwardly like a fan girl meeting her idol.
She would give her all to realize Sol's dream and ambitions even if for that she had to rework the entire foundation of Lustburg from the ground up.
(AN: I just realized that Clara is the most forgotten girl in SHK. I believe the number of times she appeared or was mentioned doesn’t go past ten. XD. but now she is slowly becoming important.She is no yandere broken girl. But she is very loyal and faithful. I am still undecided about adding her to the harem. Even now, I am struggling to give all the girls some screen time. The larger the harem becomes the harder it will become. I talked about this in the server but I plan to severely limit any new entries for quite a while. Officially he already has 12 or so girls in his harem and if I add the prospective incoming girls… Welp. yeah really need to control myself.)
