Colin must have been very glad to see Ruite, as he gave him a tight hug and then placed his hands on Ruite’s shoulders, bringing his face close.
“It’s been a long time. How have you be—?”
Colin couldn’t finish his sentence. Chester had slapped his hands away and pulled Ruite toward himself.
“Colin, what are you doing?”
There was a sharp edge to his voice.
Ruite looked up slightly. He saw Chester’s face, glaring at Colin with a deep frown.
Just then, members of the order passing through the main building glanced at the three of them with curious eyes.
“Ah, Chester, you were here too.”
Despite Chester’s wary behavior, Colin didn’t even blink.
He simply offered a greeting with his signature refreshing smile, as if he had only just noticed Chester.
Looking at that calm face, Ruite felt that Colin was truly impressive in many ways.
“This is the Knight Order headquarters. Colin, isn’t your rank as an aide lower than mine?”
“Ah! My apologies, Commander.”
Even though they were once classmates at the academy and he might have felt offended, Colin dutifully used formal language with Chester.
Ruite watched the two and thought it was hard to tell if they were a good match or a bad one.
More and more eyes were gathering.
It was unavoidable, as the Commander, Chester, was clearly on edge toward a member who had come from the North to deliver documents.
“Um, excuse me…”
Ruite, who was still practically huddled in Chester’s arms, cautiously raised a hand.
If they drew any more attention, there was no telling what kind of rumors would spread.
Ruite didn’t want bad things being said about Chester.
“Let’s go eat first.”
Chester and Colin, who were locked in a staring match, looked at Ruite at the same time.
“It’s lunchtime.”
A moment of silence followed.
Colin asked Chester, “Shall we do that then?” and Chester nodded.
The three of them moved to the dormitory cafeteria together.
“Colin, you were originally at headquarters before going North, right?” Ruite asked while receiving his meal.
“Yeah, that’s right.”
It seemed Colin had taken the entrance exam around the same time as Chester and joined the headquarters, but after working here for only a short while, he applied for a transfer to the North.
This matched what Ruite had heard from Chester previously.
“I’ve been in the capital my whole life. I wanted to experience different things in other regions.”
“I suppose that suits your personality better.”
“But I didn’t know you would join the Knight Order too, Lui.”
Colin added that he had been surprised to see a familiar name while accidentally looking at the list of headquarters members at the Northern branch.
“Ruite, stop talking and just eat. You must be hungry after having meetings since this morning.”
Ruite, who had been chatting happily with Colin, looked at Chester sitting next to him.
He had a somewhat sulky expression.
Wondering what he was unhappy about now, Ruite let out a low hum.
“Chester.”
“Yeah?”
When Ruite whispered softly, Chester habitually leaned his head down to bring his ear close.
“Are you jealous?”
“…”
Chester’s face twisted comically.
Seeing the expression that seemed to say he’d been caught red-handed, Ruite swallowed a laugh.
Meanwhile, Colin’s face turned into a warm smile as he observed the two of them closely.
“Lui, you still eat a lot.”
“Of course. I have to eat this much to feel full. Anyway, Colin, do they still give you very little food in the North?”
“It’s exactly the same as when we went to camp.”
Ruite looked at Colin with a pitying expression.
Colin burst into a small laugh, finding that funny.
From Ruite’s perspective, it might seem like a small amount, but it was actually a perfectly normal portion for an adult.
They continued their conversation intermittently while eating.
Since the three of them had attended the academy together, most of the talk was about old memories.
They talked about seeing a ghost at camp, the hellish practical exams, and going out on a monster subjugation mission during the festival.
Sharing those stories after so long made the happy memories feel vivid again.
Additionally, thanks to Colin, they learned that Magnus was also currently working in the Northern Knight Order.
It was surprising that such a playful and talkative person was working as a knight, but according to Colin, he was performing his duties quite diligently.
Ruite couldn’t stop smiling throughout the meal, seemingly enjoying the conversation from their academy days, and a faint smile remained on Chester’s face as he watched Ruite.
“Well, Colin, it was good to see you after so long.”
Ruite had scheduled work in the research department for the afternoon, and Colin was set to have a meeting with Chester to share the Northern data.
“Me too. Ruite, the whole headquarters is frantic right now because of this incident, but once things settle down, you must come visit the North.”
“Yeah, I will.”
Ruite waved at Colin and disappeared toward the research lab.
“Now, Commander, where should we go to talk?”
Chester let out a deep sigh at the formal tone Colin used with a smirk.
“You can stop with the formalities. Just speak comfortably like usual.”
Of course, by the rules, one should act according to rank within the order, whether at a branch or headquarters, but Chester hadn’t told Colin to use formal speech because of those rules.
It was out of petty jealousy—toward the guy who had hugged Ruite as soon as he arrived without even checking the mood.
Colin readily nodded, agreeing to do so.
The two moved to a small meeting room in the main building.
It was also the designated office for this special task force.
Colin placed the documents he brought onto the table first.
The amount of data was not small; it consisted of reports on the subjugation of evolved monsters and records from the Northern branch’s research department regarding the examination of those monster carcasses.
Colin began explaining the materials in earnest.
“The waves of the evolved monsters that appeared intensively in the Northern branch are definitely different from the usual patterns.”
After hearing the details from Colin, Chester compared the Northern records with the records investigated by the headquarters.
The waves of the evolved monsters that had caused trouble in the North were also showing unstable patterns, just as the headquarters’ research department had found.
Furthermore, that wasn’t the only commonality.
All the evolved monsters that caused problems at the headquarters and in the North were species that were originally not very ferocious and usually didn’t cause much harm to humans.
There was one conclusion that could be drawn from this commonality.
“They are intentionally picking docile monsters to amplify their magical power.”
“Anyway, I was surprised to hear about it. I can’t believe this was the intentional act of someone.”
The conclusion reached by the headquarters had been sent to each branch for now, with extreme caution taken to ensure it didn’t leak.
If this became known to the public, it could cause great chaos among the ordinary citizens of the Empire.
Even without this, the anxiety of the citizens was growing daily due to the recent disturbances in the capital.
“What’s certain is that if we don’t catch them quickly, the damage will become extreme.”
“Probably. There’s no rule saying that what happened in the lands managed by the North and the headquarters won’t happen in other branches.”
It was just as Colin said. If this spread to the lands managed by other branches, it could lead to a massive catastrophe.
The reason the Ferwin Knight Order received overwhelming trust from the citizens was that the Empire had become much more peaceful through their existence.
However, if the order could not protect the peace of the country and the stable lives of those living in this land, there was no guarantee that trust wouldn’t crack.
Colin gazed at Chester, who was intently looking over the documents.
“The pressure must be heavy, Chester.”
At Colin’s words, Chester put down the documents he was reading.
“Not really. This is what I must do as a knight and I’m confident I can solve it, so I don’t feel pressured.”
That wasn’t just empty bravado.
The determination to resolve this matter as the Commander of the Ferwin Knight Order shone strongly in Chester’s eyes.
“You’ve changed a lot.”
“What?”
“I guess that’s the power of love, too?”
Chester flinched. But soon, without losing his composure, he slowly spoke.
“…Did you know?”
“Well, mostly?”
“Since when?”
“Maybe since the third year? I felt like the relationship between you two was strangely odd. Especially since the way you acted and the expressions you made toward Ruite became unusual at some point.”
Chester couldn’t help but be surprised again by Colin’s quick wit and observation.
To think he had been vaguely sensing it since then.
“Well, since we’re talking about it, stop calling him by the nickname ‘Lui.’”
He hadn’t liked that nickname since their academy days.
He didn’t know how many times he had wanted to tell Colin not to call him that whenever Colin would say “Rui” so familiarly.
But he hadn’t been able to say it directly.
Back then, he wasn’t anyone special to Ruite.
But things were different now.
He had plenty of right to say it.
“It’s just a friendly nickname, can’t I even do that? You can call him that too, Chester.”
“If he’s called that, I should be the only one. It’s not okay for you to call him that. In the first place, you don’t even have feelings for Ruite, so why…”
“Huh? I never said I didn’t have feelings for him.”
