I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 40: Go Forward

Sir Gunnar took out another goblin before the storm died down and no new monsters were coming down from the foothills—there was simply the mess they were dealing with already and nothing more.

His dark eyes scanned his surroundings and he didn't find any further threats. There were already plenty of knights deeper in the fields past the barracks and doing a fine job of slicing down monsters.

The Knights of Tenetium were well-practiced. Even if Duke Arlin didn't care much about the state of the order, Gunnar and Arthur made sure that they weren't long without having a blade in their hands or helping others.

The fruits of his labor weren't for nothing.

The man reached downward and lifted the apprentice. Iro was small. It was easy for the knight.

"Forgive me," she pleaded. "I wasn't thinking. The shield made me slow. I wouldn't have been able to do anything against a goblin so fast."

It was then that the old knight realized the apprentice was trembling. Perhaps she knew that she had been close to a much worse outcome.

However, the reality of dying at the hands of a goblin struck her at the strangest of times. Even the ache in her ribs wasn't nearly as bad as the fear of dying again.

The pain of being stabbed through her chest and feeling herself bleed out was like nothing else. It continued to make her question if it was a reality she lived or simply a vivid dream. Her truth was no less clear because she behaved as if she truly had been murdered by a goblin at one point.

She couldn't compose herself or rein in her body's response as she normally could. Even when she was in the forest hunting rabbits for her father and stumbling upon goblins, she didn't experience such palpable fear.

Gunnar realized his approach was harsh and his original reaction was out of fear of having to witness another apprentice die when he was a mere short distance away.

"In these circumstances is not the best place to realize that you've never used a shield before now, have you?" Gunnar asked gently.

At least Irene was able to stand on her own two feet by that point.

"I never have before," she admitted. "I promise I will get better. I will never get worse. I will always try my best."

Her rambling caused Gunnar's eyebrows to rise. She acted as if she was having to fight to remain there.

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"You're already an apprentice so, for the time being, learning is your number one objective," he explained. "Same as the others."

As if to confirm, Irene's eyes drifted all over the once pristine yard and garden. All of which had some evidence that a battle between goblins and men had ensued.

She only felt relief when she didn't see any bodies of people lying down because of the monsters. She was surrounded by people who wouldn't be knocked down by mere goblins. Even the apprentices who already dutifully began stacking up bodies in the plains so that they could be burned were strong—stronger than her in a past life.

"Then it's time for me to continue like the others and get this place cleaned up," she spoke, beginning shaky but the determination Gunnar was used to seeing within her returning. "That is all I can do."

The knight's smile was small but it was warm.

He was unfamiliar with the child being so fearful. Tenacious suited Iro a lot better.

Since it seemed she didn't need anyone to help her any longer, he walked away to further assess the situation a bit more carefully. They were going to have to take some of the goblin's weapons before they could burn them. A knighthood's armory was never full enough.

A mere few moments was all it took for the girl to pull herself together and she sheathed her blade and then dug the shield out of the dirt and away from the goblin in a much more precise manner now that she had a clearer head.

She placed the shield strap around her shoulders so she could hold it without needing her hands.

Moving the goblin's body away made her feel a bit sick, but she wasn't sure if it was the looming anxiousness or because of the stench that wafted off of the monsters. She wasn't sure why they smelled like they were rotting from the inside out. Since she had witnessed knights making faces at the odor goblins gave off before, she imagined there was no getting used to it even if you were weathered.

Pushing her fears to the side, the girl grabbed the arms of the goblin and she began dragging it further out in the field where the others were starting to pile up bodies.

Despite the small size of the goblin, it was quite dense. Movement was slow as she pulled it away.

Soon Leif showed up after dealing with his own mess of goblin bodies. He elbowed her, silently telling her to burden him a bit as well. She let go of one of the arms and he helped her pull the monster until it was stacked amongst the others.

Sir Phillip stood next to the pile and, with each body brought to the stack, he assessed for weapons still useable to them.

In a pile beside him, Irene could see a few arrows, axes, rusted swords, and what seemed to be armor. Since it was nighttime and the further they got from the Duke's Tower, the less light there was to rely on, it was hard to see the full expanse of everything before them.

Everyone convened in the same area. Apprentices waited for knights to give them further instructions. Since Sir Gunnar was the highest ranked, the responsibilities fell onto him.

How strange it was to have the commander within the tower looming over them but have no contact with him at all.

The more word of his sickness seemed to spread amongst the apprentices, the more Irene wondered if something was really wrong.

She was taken from her thoughts as Sir Gunnar began to speak.

"We will handle the goblin carcasses," Sir Gunnar announced. "All apprentices and squires will clean up the weapons and deal with them in the armory. That also means that you will be up later than expected. There will be no morning practice. This evening was practice enough."

Everyone present agreed and they went off in the directions indicated by their rank.

Irene wordlessly followed the group and they went into the basement entrance down a flight of stone steps and into the armory.

While the weapons and armor they cleaned up filled the space with clanking, there were no words passed between any of the teenagers or kids.

Even the lowest classification of monsters could be quite scary.

Everyone dragged themselves back to the barracks, heavy with exhaustion by the time their heads hit their pillows. There was still mostly silence but they managed utterances of 'goodnight' as they returned to their rooms.

For a long time, Irene tossed and turned. When she finally got to sleep, she had a horrible dream of dying surrounded by the bodies of all the apprentices she had gotten to know so far.

Sitting up abruptly, she opened wide green eyes to an empty room and she thought that she might have actually yelled out loud.

Being in her room felt suffocating. Was the sun rising yet? Even though it couldn't have been more than a couple of hours, she still pulled on clothing and boots and then went to the door.

As she opened it, she was shocked to see two others already in the hallway.

"You're more like us than expected, aren't you?" a voice whispered.

She was met with Leif and Felix offering her sympathetic smiles.

Before she could ask what they were up to, they gestured for her to follow them.