I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 38: Knight School

Irene's impression of studying was toiling away while Lord Thomas hawked over her with a scrutinizing eye. He constantly breathed down her neck and noticed each wrong curve of her letters. The result was beautiful handwriting but it didn't feel worth the cost.

In the life she had seen, she grew up well-educated but wasn't able to do anything with it. It didn't seem that practical to her life other than the history of Chemois. The girls she spent her time with were dull and they wanted to talk about things she didn't find relevant to herself.

She stepped forward gingerly as she walked into the library of the Duke's Tower on the second floor of the northeast wing. A room full of boys wasn't the place to show her dread so she managed to suck it up and keep her head lifted high.

There were all of the apprentices who had just gone to the central township with her as well as a few apprentices she had never met properly before.

When she sat between Leif and a squire she was unsure his name, she remained silent until they saw their teacher walk into the room. Her posture straightened and she leaned into the table, suddenly eager to start learning.

Sir Gunnar walked into the room with surprising half glasses sitting low on his nose as he thumbed through a book.

She never viewed him as someone scholarly, but he was always the one overseeing apprentices, so it shouldn't have been such a surprise.

"Now that you're all subjected to indoor duties this week," the knight began, "you will each be tasked with researching a monster or beast using materials in this library. The requirements are a brief overview, how you would track one in its natural habitat, and what you must do to defeat such a being. Any questions?"

"No, sir," the students responded mostly in unison.

"Very good," the knight responded. "Now I will assign each of you a beast or monster. Any preferences?"

"Does that mean we will be able to hunt them once we're finished?" Felix asked.

Knowing Felix, Sir Gunnar decided to err on the side of caution.

"Congratulations, Felix, you will be researching dragons," the knight announced. "Wouldn't be worth hunting since they have gone extinct, now would it?"

Felix grumbled something and Sir Gunnar only looked pleased.

The knight pointed to an apprentice.

"Dire wolves."

He pointed to Leif.

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"Ogres."

He pointed to Irene.

"Wyrms."

The apprentice on the other side of Irene was assigned goblins, Louis had salamanders, Erik had griffins, the other squire had lindworms, and the last was given faeries.

"For the next few hours, you will be taking notes on these particular monsters and beasts," Sir Gunnar said, pointing towards the stack of paper and quills for the kids to take. "After that, you will report for supper then get to cleaning armor and weapons in the armory. Do I make myself clear?"

"Yes, sir," the apprentices and squires all responded, listening to the man intently.

When he was satisfied with their responses, he nodded before going to the bookshelves and finding something of his own to read. He then sat in a comfortable chair on the far side of the library and got lost in a book while his students remembered the importance of being able to read and write.

Being able to research on their own was also a valuable skill to have. If knights didn't have the knowledge of something, many had to turn to books for help.

Despite others standing up and going off to various ends of the library as they looked for materials to gather for research, Irene sat still for a moment.

Was it on purpose that she was being assigned a wyrm? The ones historically in this region were cold-dwelling monsters. They were found in the far north and were part of the reason for her family's move away from that region.

Was Sir Gunnar silently telling her that he understood her far more than he would admit out loud? How much did he know about being a Sünsto?

Despite the thought being dizzying enough, Irene soon pushed away from the table and began searching through shelves. It seemed that the others were concentrated to a specific point in the library so she followed them there after finding no luck on other shelves.

Sure enough, nonfiction books were found and thick textbooks with the monsters and beasts they were assigned were brought to the tables. A book she was pleased to see on the shelves was something in Sünstoian. Even though she wasn't great at the language, she thought that perhaps there was something to glean from it considering her grandmother was wary of even the mention of wyrms.

As she went through the first textbook that would be easier for her to understand, Irene took a paper and a quill and began jotting down a few brief notes before she would compile everything later on. It took her a while to write because she forced herself to loosen up her penmanship and try to write in a more masculine way.

After all of the writing practice she had, it felt like a shame to do it, but she didn't want to be suspected by others more than she already was.

Learning in such a way made time pass by incredibly quickly and, before she realized it, Sir Gunnar loudly shut the book he had been reading and stood up from his seat. He had taken off his glasses at some point and hidden them somewhere.

As he walked amongst the tables, he looked over the beginnings of the handiwork.

"You may leave your materials here because you will be doing the same thing tomorrow," he explained. "For now it's time to eat quickly then get to the armory. Squires, I want all of you to focus on shields when you're down there. The older apprentices will worry about armor and swords because it takes a bit more precise of a touch."

As Irene left the library, she felt light on her feet.

Without realizing it, her father had been training her to be an apprentice all along. She was already well-attuned in cleaning weapons and armor to ensure that they didn't rust and remained sharp. Not only was it the Sünsto thing to do but it was a time to bond with her father when they were under the same roof.

It felt like another adventure was beginning.

However, part of the way through their time in the armory, all hands were called outside and they were required to drop everything.