Chapter: 369
After two weeks of training in the Alrn Knight Order, Joy stared blankly at her meal and almost dropped her spoon due to the weakness in her hands.
If she had made such a blunder in front of the young ladies, it would have been a scandal for sure, but today, Joy couldn’t care less about that. She was physically and mentally pushed to her limits and couldn’t think of trivial matters.
As a young lady of the Partran family, Joy had watched her family’s knights train several times. Just before entering the academy, she even trained with the knights to gain practical experience.
Thus, Joy was well aware of how typical knight training was conducted.
Basic endurance training, strength development, personal skill enhancement, and then teamwork exercises with several groups. Finally, there were the group drills where the entire knight order would move as one unit.
The relentless training amidst all the shouting appeared to transform individuals into mere tools belonging to the knight order.
The training of the Alrn Knight Order wasn’t much different in essence. Before being knights, they needed to embody the martial strength of the Alrn family, training to throw away their lives without hesitation in real combat.
However, what set the Alrn Knight Order’s training apart was the complete difference in the idea of “actual combat” between how Alrn viewed it and how other knight orders did.
“Our Alrn Knight Order defends the borders of the Soladin Kingdom, heralding the onset of war and charging forth into the frontline of battle. Therefore, we must always be prepared for crises that may arise at any moment.”
The commander of the Alrn Knight Order, Possell, spoke of “actual combat” in terms of being capable enough to repel invasions from foreign lands solely with the strength of the knight order.
“In a worst-case scenario, we must have the strength to maintain the frontline.”
If someone from an ordinary family had said such things, Joy would have merely laughed it off as overflowing pride.
But having trained alongside the Alrn Knight Order, Joy realized that there was not an ounce of exaggeration in their words.
They had learned to forgo rest in order to uphold the front lines. They trained to face a hundred as one. They practiced incessantly to crush any dungeons that might arise.
“Sir Possell, as a disciple receiving your teachings, I wonder if I may say this, but if Alrn had not shown any loyalty until now, you’d be treated as rebels.”
“We know that all too well, Your Highness.”
“…Then you continue acting like this?”
“Because we know Alrn’s loyalty will not be doubted.”
With such absurd standards, the training of the Alrn Knight Order surpassed that of other knight orders. Anyone could see that they were among the strongest on the continent.
If Joy were a mere observer, she would probably feel a mix of disgust and assurance.
But she wasn’t an observer; she was a participant, and she had to endure training designed to confront an entire nation.
Since Lucy left and Joy began rigorous training, the fact that she had to walk back into hell after only three hours of sleep each night terrified her to the point that she would just stare blankly at her bed.
Of course, that fear didn’t last long. Her weary body had reached a point where she could sleep soundly even on the street.
“Puhahaha! Look at the drool! The idiot is still an idiot even after all this time!”
Joy shot her head up at the teasing voice she hadn’t heard in days and stood up immediately upon seeing that irritating grin.
“Lady Alrn!”
“You seem pretty excited? Did you miss me that much? Lonely without me, huh?”
“How could you leave us in this hellhole and go have fun all by yourself! I can’t forgive you!”
Though Joy’s voice was fierce with weeks of pent-up anger, Lucy remained unfazed.
With an attitude that seemed to say she had done nothing wrong, Joy hurriedly glanced around. She felt that it wouldn’t mean much to blame Lucy alone, so she was looking for backup.
Fortunately, reinforcements were already stationed nearby. Arthur, who had undergone even more grueling training than others for reasons he dare not voice, approached Lucy with a fierce look in his eyes.
“Your complexion looks good; looks like you had a great time! Did you enjoy leaving us behind?! Was it fun?!”
“Not really. It was just full of pathetic losers. Oh, but even those losers were better than the pitiful prince.”
“Lucy Alrn!!!”
As Arthur shouted in a fit of rage, he suddenly felt the stares of several eyes directed at him and promptly stopped speaking.
The knights of the Alrn family were glaring at him. Their expressionless gazes were different from the warm looks they’d have during regular training; it felt like they could draw their weapons at any second.
Feeling the heavy atmosphere settle over the dining hall, Arthur felt cold sweat trickling down his forehead.
“Pathetic, foolish knights. Don’t you have friends? Have you spent your lives just swinging swords and not knowing how people interact?”
Blocking that gaze was none other than Lucy, who had just been teasing him. She glared at the knights one by one and spoke with a sharp voice.
“Clear your eyes. It’s really annoying.”
The knights obeyed the command of the future head of the family. As Arthur freed himself from the oppressive stares, he sighed heavily, only to have Lucy chuckle at him.
“Look at you, scared of a bunch of losers. Are you really a prince? You seem a bit smaller than you’d expect!”
Arthur felt wronged. He had seen how monstrous those knights were during training—how could he not be scared?
However, he couldn’t voice any excuses. Although he turned his head now because of Lucy Alrn’s orders, deep down, he was still harboring something.
If he made a move against Lucy Alrn right now, he couldn’t predict what might happen during their future training.
“Lucy, Lucy, I’m pumped up.”
“You want a compliment? Kneel and plead for praise. I won’t refuse you.”
“Is this how it’s supposed to go?”
“…”
While Arthur mumbled, Frey knelt before Lucy without any hesitation, just to receive a pat from her.
Joy inadvertently thought how envious she was of Frey, who seemed to be compensated for all his suffering, and shook her head before raising her voice again.
“Lady Alrn! I’m still angry!”
“Hmm? So?”
“What do you mean, ‘so’? I’m!”
“Are you saying you won’t come with me to another place? You love this smelly knight order, don’t you?”
“…Huh?”
“Sadly, it can’t be helped. If the idiot wants that, then what can I do?”
“No, wait! Please talk properly!”
“Why? The angry idiot is sulking and not going with me? So why should I say anything to you?”
In front of Lucy’s laid-back demeanor, Joy had no choice. It wasn’t enough to escape this hellish training; how could she protest that she would be having fun with her friends in her absence?
With her hands clenched tightly and shaking, Joy ultimately lowered her head.
“I’m not angry…”
“Huh? What? The idiot’s voice is so quiet I can’t hear you at all?”
“I really want to go with you! Please let me go!”
“Puhuhuhu. Pwahahahaha!”
Lucy laughed heartily in front of Joy, who was blushing bright red, until Joy looked like she might burst into tears before Lucy wiped her eyes and continued.
“Alright. I didn’t know the idiot was so eager to explore the dungeon.”
“Yes! That’s right! I want to go to the dungeon… to the dungeon?”
“Yep. We’re all going to conquer a dungeon together.”
At that moment, Joy realized she had fallen into a trap. She thought she had escaped from hell only to find it was yet another hell!
If she enters the dungeon with Lady Alrn, she’ll know exactly how things will turn out. She had rolled on the floor enough in the academy dungeon; anything worse than that would certainly be unbearable.
What should she do? How could she escape this hell? Oh! That’s it!
“I… I want to go with the Lady, but I need to get permission from my family for dungeon exploration.”
“Don’t worry about that. Lord Partran said I could do whatever I like. He thinks nothing would happen as long as I’m with the knight of Alrn.”
He’s blocked all my escape routes already!? Stunned with disbelief, Joy froze as Jackal, who had been quietly listening, spoke up.
“Lady Partran, wouldn’t it be better to raid dungeons rather than suffer here and die?”
“Well… that’s true. There’s got to be some kind of moderation even in hell.”
“Ah, since you’re not going with us, just stay here and suffer.”
“…Huh?”
The realization that he would be left alone in hell made Jackal’s face pale, but unfortunately, he had no way to resist. Unlike others here, he stood in a one-sided superior-inferior relationship.
Seeing Jackal trudging back to his spot to pick up his spoon, Lucy shrugged her shoulders and turned her head towards Arthur.
“Poor prince. You remember everything I taught you, right?”
“Are you saying this seriously? How could I memorize that thick book while balancing training with the knight order?”
“Ah~ Is that why you cried and whimpered? Well, I can’t blame you; it’s my fault for expecting so much from the poor prince.”
“Damn it! As long as I remember it before we arrive at the dungeon, that should be fine, right? I can memorize it! I’ll show you!”
After Arthur could not hold back against Lucy’s provocation and shouted, Lucy told him to do his best and hummed a tune while taking a seat nearby.
Then Frey, who was standing next to her, spoke up.
“By the way, Lucy, which dungeon are we going to?”
As soon as she finished speaking, Arthur snapped his attention back to her.
“Wait, wait a second. For you, who usually just babbles, you’re actually making a point.”
“Because I’m smarter than the prince who gets treated like a toy by Lucy.”
“…I have a lot to say, but this is more important, so I’ll let it go. Lucy Alrn, answer me. Where is this dungeon we’re going to? Is it a large dungeon near the Kurtan territory? If not, is it a small dungeon that the Alrn Knight Order uses for training?”
“Ah, poor prince. Are you stupid? Why would we go to some trivial dungeon we could crush with our eyes closed?”
“Then what? Where are we going?”
“We’re going to the rural, rural area called Gundo to crush all its trashy dungeons.”
As soon as Lucy finished speaking, a heavy silence fell over the dining hall.
Not just Arthur, Joy, or Frey, who would be exploring the dungeon with her, even the knights who had overheard the conversation were surprised.
The first to break the silence was Carl, who was used to her antics.
“Lady, are you saying you’re going to conquer all the dungeons in Gundo?”
“And what about it?”
“If I’m not mistaken, I heard that there are medium-sized dungeons on each of the 14 islands there. Wouldn’t it be a stretch to conquer them all in the time we have for vacation?”
“What a pathetic pup. Did you swap brains with a dog or something? Why would it take so long? If we conquer two a day, it’ll be done in a week.”
With such comments that completely defied common sense, even Carl fell silent, leaving Lucy as the only one still moving around the dining room.
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