Johan Oceanus’s first impression was one of freshness.
His wavy, bluish hair gleamed as if heavy with moisture, shining like wet silk.
It was enviably healthy hair—so much so that it almost came off as gaudy.
His features were striking as well, the kind of face anyone would call handsome without hesitation.
Even more remarkable, despite years of service on the coast, his skin was clear, without the slightest blemish.
No matter how disciplined a knight’s body might be, life in harsh conditions left its mark.
Especially near the salt-saturated sea, where people often claimed one aged faster.
And yet Johan, after years of service there, remained unscathed.
Not because he had neglected his duty, but because he invested immense effort in maintaining himself.
‘...Then why is he half-naked?!’
Enya stared at him in disbelief.
Commander Johan Oceanus.
He had entered the training ground with his upper body bare.
It seemed as if it must hold some symbolic purpose—otherwise the scene was absurd.
“Fufufu. To think my rival would be found in a place like this.”
With an exaggerated pose as though tormented by inner struggle, Johan addressed Passius.
Passius could only offer a strained smile in response.
Anyone would want to avoid conversation with a shirtless man declaring himself a rival.
Terrina shook her head as if she had seen this too many times before.
“Is... is that really the Commander of the Stella Siren Knights?”
Enya whispered to Terrina in disbelief.
She knew his background, but seeing him in person was entirely different.
He didn’t radiate the dignity or commanding aura one would expect from a knight commander.
Instead, his first impression was simply that of an eccentric.
“...That’s just how he always is,” Terrina muttered.
“Oho! Terrina! You are as beautiful as ever!”
Johan strode toward her, shouting unabashedly.
His voice was loud, his words embarrassing, yet he delivered them with absolute confidence.
Enya instantly realized what kind of man he was.
An extreme narcissist.
The incarnation of self-love.
That gleaming skin and lustrous hair were surely the result of heavy investment in grooming.
Even stripping his clothes off here was simply to show off his beauty.
Frankly, Enya questioned if he was truly a knight commander at all.
“Johan. I warned you before. Speak to me like that again, and you’ll face my blade.”
“Hm? Hahaha! Perhaps you did! But what of it? I can take a kitten’s claws any day. I am a man whose chest is as vast as the sea.”
A murderous aura erupted from Terrina.
Johan’s words were nothing short of belittlement, yet he had no awareness of it.
To him, exalting himself above others was as natural as breathing.
“C-Commander, please! Restrain yourself!”
Enya grabbed Terrina before she could draw her sword.
Johan, watching Enya intercede, suddenly lit up.
“Oooh. And who is this lovely fairy?”
A fairy? He dared to say that on their very first meeting?
Enya could only stare, dumbfounded.
Terrina’s killing intent spiked even higher.
“Johan. If you so much as touch my adjutant, I’ll make sure you never use your lower body again.”
Even Johan, thick-skinned as he was, stepped back at that.
“Fufu. Very well, very well. So fierce as always. Still, that’s charming in its own way.”
He winked flamboyantly.
Dear heavens.
Enya immediately turned away, unable to watch.
A thunk rang out, and Johan’s head lurched forward.
“...My apologies. Our troublemaker has caused you trouble again.”
The voice came from a woman in a crisp blue uniform and glasses.
Her short, sky-blue hair and sharp eyes gave her a distinctly cold impression.
Astonishingly, she had just smacked the Master-ranked Johan on the back of the head.
“I am Doria Imiron, Vice-Commander of the Stella Siren Knights.”
“Ah, pleased to meet you. Enya Joinas.”
“Once again, forgive our fool. Odd as it sounds, he truly means no harm when he behaves like this. Please be understanding.”
“Ah, yes...”
Doria turned to Terrina as well.
“It’s been a while, Commander Terrina.”
“Yes. Doria. You’ve had it hard, serving under that idiot.”
“Haa... It’s been years, and I still haven’t gotten used to it. The moment I take my eyes off him, he causes problems.”
“Doria! What do you think you’re doing?!”
Johan erupted in anger.
“Do you know how much care goes into this luxurious hair of mine? What if you damaged it?!”
He wasn’t furious about being struck—only that his hair might be harmed.
Enya was bewildered, but Doria and Terrina accepted it with weary familiarity.
“So even the Stella Siren’s problem child came. Then the sloth must be here too,” Terrina said.
“The sloth? You mean the infamous Commander of the Cold Steel Order?” Enya asked.
“Yes. He never leaves the northern mountains unless it’s something monumental. But if Commander Lutus summoned him, he should have at least pretended to show up.”
At that moment, another figure entered the training ground.
A tall woman in a white uniform, black hair tied back in a high tail—the mark of the Cold Steel Knights.
“Oh! Everyone’s here already!”
With a bright smile, Veronica de Ville greeted them.
Johan was the first to react.
“Hahaha! Veronica! You’ve only grown lovelier. Shall we share a bottle of wine tonight—”
“Commander Terrina. Are you in good health?”
Veronica brushed straight past him and asked after Terrina.
‘She ignored him.’
Watching, Enya immediately realized this wasn’t the first time Veronica had dealt with Johan.
Johan, however, neither flinched nor grew angry.
“Fufufu. So shy, all of you. I understand. Speaking with me must be too great a burden for women. Ah, such a sinful man I am.”
Unbelievable.
Enya could only glare at him in disgust.
“Oh! You must be Commander Terrina’s adjutant? Pleased to meet you! Veronica de Ville.”
“Ah, likewise. Enya Joinas.”
They shook hands.
Then Enya noticed Veronica had come alone. She asked cautiously.
“Um. And the Cold Steel Commander...?”
“Ah, the Commander? Haha. Well...”
Veronica gave an awkward laugh, dodging the question.
Enya understood at once.
She had heard the rumors.
The Cold Steel Commander—the greatest sloth of all knights.
Unless the Emperor himself summoned him, he never left his post.
It was a mystery why such a man had even accepted duty in the harsh Arret Mountains.
“So he didn’t come?” Terrina asked, frowning.
“No, he did. But the moment he found there was nothing immediate to do, he vanished to rest elsewhere. We tried to hold him, but you know as well as I do—our Commander won’t be caught so easily.”
“...That does sound like him.”
A narcissist heading the Stella Siren Knights, and a sloth heading the Cold Steel Knights.
Enya felt fortunate indeed to serve under Terrina.
Her loyalty deepened just as the final guest entered the training ground.
Everyone stiffened instantly.
Even the Master-ranked knights stood on edge.
“Oh? You’re all here already.”
Lutus Wardot.
Dressed in full uniform, he strode forward with light steps.
The Empire’s strongest sword.
The arrival of the man hailed as the Empire’s, no—the continent’s greatest sword, made Enya tense up to the extreme.
Lutus glanced around the training ground, his brow furrowing sharply.
“I summoned all the commanders. Why is one missing?”
“Ah, well...”
Veronica started to explain, but Lutus cut her off with a curt wave of his hand.
“Forget it. I’ll call him myself. Reinhardt. If you don’t show yourself within three seconds, I’ll come drag you out.”
He spoke in a low, almost casual tone, as if muttering to himself. # Nоvеlight # Yet the effect was absolute.
A figure dropped from the sky into the training ground.
‘I didn’t sense him at all.’
Enya’s heart skipped.
For her, an advanced knight, to have her senses pierced so easily?
The one who appeared looked the youngest of them all.
A boy, or so it seemed, for his frame was small.
Unkempt white hair, half-lidded eyes that seemed bored with everything, and an expression of pure indolence.
The last member of the gathering: Reinhardt Kimbel, Commander of the Cold Steel Knights.
Lutus bared his teeth in a grin as he looked at him.
“Do I always have to threaten you before you’ll move?”
“...Too much trouble.”
Reinhardt didn’t even bother with a proper reply, simply voicing his annoyance aloud.
No one rebuked him.
They accepted it as if such behavior were commonplace.
Only now did Enya realize the true weight of this assembly.
‘The three Knight Commanders, their deputies, and the Commander of the Royal Guard—all gathered together.’
Four Master-ranked knights, and the strongest sword of the continent in one place.
With a touch of exaggeration, one might say this force alone could start a war.
Or perhaps not even exaggeration—if Lutus’s strength was taken into account.
“Seems we’re all here.”
After confirming each face, Lutus nodded in satisfaction.
“You must all be wondering why I called you so suddenly. Especially in these busy times.”
Even Johan, who had never stopped running his mouth, grew silent at that, one eyebrow arched warily.
Lutus came straight to the point.
“First of all—let’s see how much you’ve grown. A spar, all of you.”
At his words—
KWOOM!
A sword crashed down from the heavens, stabbing into the center of the training ground.
It struck with the roar of a meteorite, blasting out a gust of wind that shook the air.
Enya squinted against the gale, eyes fixed on the weapon.
A longsword. Too small for Lutus’s towering frame, plain in appearance.
And yet, it was his favored weapon.
A Gladius Arts—the special weapons bestowed only upon knights above a certain level.
The one Lutus wielded was among the Empire’s greatest.
Its solo numbering code: [Jet Stream].
Lutus picked it up smoothly, his voice calm.
“Don’t hold back. Use your full strength. Anything less, and you won’t survive.”
The faces of the four Master-ranked knights hardened like ice.
“C-Commander...?”
Enya turned to Terrina, her eyes pleading for an explanation.
But Terrina only answered with a command.
“Enya Joinas, my adjutant.”
“Y-yes?”
“Bring me my Gladius Arts.”
“What? But Commander, you swore never to wield it unless—”
“This is no time for that.”
Terrina’s tone left no room for argument.
She scanned the other commanders.
The easy smile Johan usually wore was gone.
Even Reinhardt, normally slouched in weariness, had sharpened his focus.
Passius too wore a grim, taut expression.
Their gazes no longer belonged to calm knights—they had become predators.
“As otherwise... we’ll die.”
Enya could only scream inwardly.
‘What on earth is about to happen?!’
* * *
Meanwhile, Sedina left the dormitory for an errand in Rederbelk.
Vacation was drawing near.
Other students were excited, but it meant nothing to her.
She headed to the safehouse near Royal Street, carrying organized documents to share with Hans.
Though he always acted indifferent, Hans had looked after her more than once. She expected he’d offer guidance again this time.
But when Sedina opened the door, she froze.
Her view was filled by an enormous white mass.
‘What... is that?’
For a moment, she thought she had stepped into a wool factory.
But when the massive white mound twitched, she realized it was alive.
“Hans... senior?”
Then she recalled what Ludger had told her.
Hans was born with a peculiar constitution—when bitten by a beast, he could transform into a hybrid of it.
As if in answer, a stag’s head poked through the thick white fur, turning toward her.
[Ah. Sedina.]
“Yes. I brought the files I organized, but... what’s with that form?”
[Ah. Just leave the documents there. I’m... in the middle of an experiment, so it’s inconvenient now. Come back another time.]
Hans’s voice, resonating from that great beastly form, carried a deep echo.
He exuded a thick aura of mana, antlers glimmering faintly gold.
Sedina recognized it immediately.
She had heard of a spirit-beast dwelling in the Kasarr Basin, described just like this.
[Guests will be arriving soon. If you stay, you’ll get caught up in it.]
“Ah... understood. Then I’ll just leave the files here.”
She placed the folder carefully on a side table and stepped out.
Even outside, her mind reeled at what she had seen.
She had known Hans had such a constitution, but witnessing it herself was something else entirely.
‘Should I return straight to Seorn now?’
She had come all the way to Royal Street, but with no taste for shopping, she decided to head back to the dorms.
Yet as she walked, she suddenly stopped.
‘...I’m being tailed.’
And she remembered Ludger’s warning.