The Dread Knight's Rage-Chapter 66: Keeping Secrets / Having Uses

Dakota’s curtains were always pulled tight over the windows so as not to allow any light inside.

He saw better in the dark. Thought more clearly, too.

Since training to be a knight, Dakota had realized that he liked being outside even less than he initially thought he did. Which was really saying something when one considered his upbringing.

Being outside during the days came with a lot of variables that he couldn’t always prepare for. At least at night, things were a little bit more manageable.

And yet, despite his dislike of being out in early hours, he was becoming quite good at it.

He could automatically tell when it was time for him to wake up. It helped a bit that his group was up training before the sun even started to rear it’s accursed head.

Dakota sat up in the bed while rubbing their eyes.

As the covers slipped away from their form, the darkness was beholden to something that did not quite belong.

A small, but irrefutable pair of breasts hung from their chest. Indents were pressed into her skin that seemed to come from some sort of tight binding.

Dakota rose out of bed with her eyes barely open.

She moved through the darkness of her room easily, never once getting lost or stumbling over an item lying on the floor.

She washed herself in silence before fetching a set of bandages from her drawer, binding her chest without showing any signs of discomfort.

Once that was done, she took a moment to practice some vocal exercises and ensure that her voice contained the necessary depth.

Dressing herself came last. Before she left her room, she made sure to pick up her new sword.

At Solomon’s recommendation, she had switched from something lighter and shorter to better capitalize on her natural agility and tactics.

Normally, Dakota would not have listened. She could not exactly put into words what had made Solomon seem so trustworthy.

Perhaps it was the sincere way he had apologized to her after their spar that day.

Dakota had never had anyone apologize for hurting her before. And the tortured look in Solomon’s eyes as he walked away from her only added to the amount of confusion she felt.

Dakota believed that, at the very least, Solomon did not want to hurt her or see her hurt.

And in their initial week of training, he had repeatedly proven himself to be a very capable and knowledgeable leader.

She had even come to see him as patient and dependable.

Those were rare compliments that she wasn’t often able to extend to anyone.

As she left her room under the cover of night, Dakota had a small smile on her face.

She wondered just what her dependable leader was going to teach her today.

-

"....What’s wrong with him?"

"He’s atoning." Raizel answered.

"...What for?"

"He says he sexually harassed your advisor twice over, so now he’s trying to purge his body of negative influences."

Dakota and Raizel stared down at Solomon’s body.

He remained firmly in a one-handed push-up position with an estimated three hundred pounds worth of extra weight on his back.

His eyes were shut tightly as he chewed his lip until it was raw. Large, bulbous droplets of sweat rolled off his steaming body and landed in the slowly accumulating lake on the floor.

Dakota blinked slowly.

"...How long has he been here exactly?"

"Well, he had that meeting with Lady Xu yesterday after breakfast, and when he didn’t come back to the room after that, I found him in here doing the pull-ups of death and destruction, so... I would say about eighteen hours?"

"Wow..."

"Yeah... I’m honestly a little worried. He didn’t even come back to the room to see Bansha."

"What’s a ’Bansha’?"

"Solomon’s pet cerberus." Nila answered.

"I’m sorry, his what?!" Everett was aptly bewildered. "Why are all of you acting as if that’s just a normal thing to have?!"

Nila and Raizel shrugged. ""It’s his dorm...""

The two of them looked at each other momentarily. Nila’s eyes betrayed her surprise while Raizel’s confirmed his elevation.

*Clang!*

The weights dropped onto the floor with a heavy metal sound that reverberated throughout the hall.

Solomon slowly sat up, his body pouring out steam en masse like a sauna.

When he opened his eyes, he was surprised to find the rest of his teammates standing around staring at him.

"Oh... what are all of you doing here? We aren’t supposed to be meeting until tomorrow. "

"It is tomorrow, musclehead." Nila said sharply. "You better not have done something to make Advisor Xu hold our group in an unfavorable light."

Solomon could only groan and take his head into his hands when he remembered his last two encounters with the beautiful Xu Jiaoying.

"We’re so fucked." Nila looked as if she wanted to cry.

"Alright, alright, let’s not devolve into hysterics." For once, Everett tried to be the voice of reason.

But the look he gave Solomon quickly changed into one of suspicion. "I mean, I’m not judging, but... Advisor Xu? Really? I mean, she’s kinda..."

"Shut it, piss mouth!" Nila stomped on his foot with every ounce of strength in her body.

"You bitch! What are you mad at me for? I was just saying the boss could probably get any woman he likes, so I don’t see why he would want-"

"You chauvinistic little piglet, come here!"

"Get away from me, she-beast!"

Solomon’s headache intensified.

"Please... just stop."

He hooked a finger over his shoulder at the track. "Hit the path and warm up. We’ll get started shortly..."

Nila and Everett shot each other feral glares as they trudged away to do as they were asked.

Dakota started to follow them, but Solomon called out to her before she could get too far away.

"Wait, D. I wanna talk to you about something. Sit."

Mildly surprised, Dakota sat on the ground across from Solomon with her eyes wide with curiosity.

"Yes..?"

Solomon rubbed his neck. "During my meeting with Advisor Xu yesterday-"

"You mean when you sexually harassed her?"

"...Yes, that one."

Dakota leaned in as if to show that she was listening.

"A-Anyway.. she told me about the upcoming exam at the end of the week. It’ll be our group against another team, like we thought."

Dakota nodded. "Okay... why did you tell me this first?"

Solomon looked as if he was trying to be very careful with his next words to avoid stepping on a potential team chemistry landmine.

"I know you have... an aversion to using the skills from your past. And, if you refuse after hearing my request, I’ll never bring it up again. But if we end up as the knights, then I really think we could use the skills of an assassin in this exam."

Dakota did not seem immediately put off. To Solomon, that was a good sign.

"...In what way?"

Solomon carefully explained everything he’d learned about the exam before he accidentally flirted with Jiaoying.

As he recounted the scenario to her with perfect recall, Dakota made no obvious moves, nor did she voice any thoughts. She simply listened.

"I’ll be honest... I don’t know a whole lot about setting traps. But with the other team’s numbers and the fact that they were giving us six hours to prepare, I thought it would be helpful if we had some kind of way to thin the herd of actors before we started trying to take down the enemy lieutenants."

Dakota nodded slowly, following his line of thinking. "...May I ask a question?"

"You just did." Solomon smiled.

"..."

"...That was a joke- you know what, just go ahead."

"It seems to me that our instructors intend for us to build a makeshift fortress with few resources."

"They probably are. Allowing yourself to be invaded so that you can control which point you get invaded from is a fairly simple strategy. I’d think it’s one of the first major decisions anyone in my position would have to make."

"Then why-"

"Personal biases, I suppose. Besides, if we can avoid being invaded and win our round with the least amount of effort possible, then shouldn’t we give it a try?"

Dakota finally nodded in agreement. Doing less for more reward was a basic assassin’s principle.

"I will do it."

"Really?" Solomon was genuinely surprised.

"Mmh. It is for the team." She nodded. "But my traps may be insufficient since I have no poisons. There is a chance that we might be breached. Do you have a backup plan for that?"

Solomon smiled cockily. "You kidding? Of course I do. We’ll all have to pitch in on that front, though."

"What are we doing??"

Everett and Nila returned from their warmup without so much as a drop of sweat on their brow.

"You, Me, and Dakota are going to sneak around, spy on other groups, and figure out their weaknesses for the rest of the week. We’ll compile everything we learn at the end of the night so that no matter who we face going forward, we can be prepared to face them."

Nila raised her hand, a frown already forming on her face.

"Excuse me. Why am I not being included in this plan?"

"Your ability for discretion is terrible."

"No, it is not! Only weaklings hide their presence!"

"This is why you can’t help."

"Damn you all!!"

Nila lashed out at the thing closest to her.

It was Everett’s bad luck that that thing just so happened to be him.