The Knight Commander of the Second Male Lead [Novel] Chapter 31

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Translator: Harry Potta

Chapter: 31

Chapter Title: Preparations for the Ebony Knight Order

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The effect of the short break was astonishing. Adrian could feel his mind had cleared to a cool sharpness.

The remaining four days passed just like that. With Nina diligently assisting him like a close aide clerk, Adrian was able to work smoothly.

The documents were sorted by type, the trash bin was always clean, the pen nibs were wiped spotless without a trace of hardened ink, and even the rims of the ink bottles were immaculate.

By the time her vacation ended, Adrian almost felt regretful.

He hadn't given her the vacation intending for her to do such tasks, but the comfort it brought to his body was undeniable.

Whenever the two of them climbed the watchtower, they always made sure no one spotted them.

With North Wind's help, they never ran into anyone on the way up.

But now, even that was over.

Nina opened the door to the Knight Order Captain's office. The newly assigned room was on the first floor, right next to the training grounds. It was spacious, with decent natural light.

'Alright then.'

Nina rolled up her sleeves.

'Let's start with cleaning.'

The Knight Order Captain's office had an attached waiting room for guests. She began by cleaning the waiting room.

She had Vice-Captain Jin do the mopping while she handled the sweeping.

The servants had done a sloppy job, nowhere near clean enough to satisfy her, so she swept and scrubbed it all over again.

As she cleaned, Nina asked,

"What do you think, Jin? Will a lot of candidates show up?"

"Since we're selecting purely on ability regardless of status, plenty will come. Where else in the world is there a knight order like this?"

"That's true."

Nina nodded in agreement. Jin hadn't skipped a single dawn training session.

Of course, it was only possible because Nina kept a sharp eye on him, glaring fiercely.

You might slack on work, but you can't skip training.

Your body will dull.

That was Nina's mantra, and she trained with Jin every dawn.

She'd stopped the fivefold gravity training. It just drained stamina needlessly, which would be a loss if it left them unable to respond in an emergency.

'I hope we get enough people to fill the training grounds.'

The budget Sir Lui had informed her of was surprisingly generous.

Still, she'd spent the bare minimum on furniture.

'Once we make a ton of money, we'll upgrade to the good stuff right away!'

That was the logic behind the minimal spending.

Once the cleaning was done, the furniture brought in, and the knight order flag hung on the wall, the setup was complete.

Since it doubled as her own office, Nina used the space to send a letter to the Isle of Sages.

She placed the sample she'd received from Kiril into a glass vial, packaged it carefully, then sealed it firmly in a large wooden box along with her report. That finished the preparations.

The Isle of Sages had its own postal system, so sending it off posed no major issues.

In the meantime, the head of the Goda family, tasked with managing the One-Horned Horses, came to see her.

Surprisingly, he was a boy clan head who was only sixteen.

When she quietly asked Sir Lui about it, he explained that due to the rebellion, most of the surviving families were led by young heads like him.

'He really wiped them all out, that Young Master...'

She had wondered how a boy from a branch line would fare as clan head, but he turned out far more mature than expected.

"We are deeply grateful for this opportunity to serve your house once more."

Tura, the clan head with brown hair and faint freckles, spoke resolutely despite his tense expression.

He had heard the rumors, of course.

The only human contracted with a supreme spirit.

The spirit knight who returned from death.

Seeing her in person, she looked almost like an elf from the tales. Yet the black uniform unique to the Ebony Knight Order exuded a subtle pressure.

'And she's tall, too...'

"I've heard the Goda family has pastures."

"Yes, though we have hardly any horses left at the moment..."

"One-Horned Horses don't need flat plains. Mountains or valleys will do just fine, so allocate a wide area."

"Are they really One-Horned Horses?"

"Of course. Let's go take a look."

Since Nina was the one who had brought the One-Horned Horses, it fell to her to guide them. Tura's jaw dropped as he watched them contentedly munching on porridge in the temporary fenced-off pasture.

'They really are One-Horned Horses!'

The jet-black creature looked like it had leaped straight out of an illustration.

Well, the ones in illustrations were snow-white, but a black One-Horned Horse suited the Rubaenu Ducal Family perfectly.

Tura and the Goda clansmen, who took all but the leader and two or three others, let out exclamations of awe one after another.

She flashed a bright smile and said,

"The Goda family has long been a loyal vassal house to the Rubaenu Ducal Family. From now on, you'll continue that relationship in a new way. I'm looking forward to it."

"Y-yes!"

Tura glanced around before saying softly,

"A few from our family have stepped up to challenge for the Ebony Knight Order. They're clumsy, but..."

His face paled slightly as he whispered even quieter,

"Please show mercy and send them back alive."

He added earnestly that they were prepared to lose a limb or two. Nina thought, What on earth, Young Master?, but nodded anyway.

"Of course. For the Goda family, we'll send them back in one piece. No need to worry."

Only then did Tura's face brighten.

The young clan head declined the offer to stay overnight, eager to take the One-Horned Horses home as soon as possible, and departed with his clansmen herding them away.

Back in the captain's office, she found the list of recommended merchant representatives that Lui had sent.

True to form, it was written in his fluid handwriting, with meticulous profiles for each.

Most were small-time merchant owners or peddlers looking to expand their cart fleets.

Nina skimmed through the names first.

'There's a familiar one.'

Nina grinned.

'Lorokomo!'

The unique name had stuck with her.

The Ebensel Empire was home to all sorts of minority races, and Lorokomo was a peddler from one of them—the Bleka tribe.

Tan skin and heterochromatic odd eyes were hallmarks of the Bleka people.

As conspicuous as their appearance was, they faced heavy discrimination, making life as a peddler tough for Lorokomo.

Still, he was shrewd enough that by the time he met the original heroine, the saintess Fiona, he was leading a respectable three-cart caravan.

Of course, after meeting Fiona, his business exploded, turning him into a great merchant.

'But right now, doesn't he only have one cart? For Sir Lui to recommend someone like this—his eye for talent is incredible... And on top of that, he's spear-strong enough to be a vice-captain. Why on earth was he wasting away as one here???'

Puzzled, Nina circled the name.

On top of that, she wrote letters to every talented person she knew of. Interestingly, when she shared the list with Adrian, he handed back detailed personnel files—complete with residences and basic profiles—within a week.

"How do you know about these people?"

"Young Master, how did you investigate them so quickly?"

Amazed at each other, the two finished up their respective tasks.

In the meantime, she and Jin had explored the Violet Forest twice more.

Both seasoned campers, they moved in perfect sync.

Plus, traveling with the One-Horned Horses made round trips faster and let them carry far more gear, making everything much easier.

"Is this a new kind of tree?"

Nina lobbed a stone at a fruit on a distant tree.

With a thud, a bright red fruit fell to the ground, unbroken—it seemed to be a hard one.

Even if it looked fine on the outside, she had to be cautious. Plenty of bizarre plants in the forest would explode when prodded or suddenly gape open to devour anything nearby.

"Normally, red fruits like this should look edible..."

Jin peered up at the massive tree with a dubious expression.

The black trunk bore purple leaves and clusters of plump, vibrant red fruits—an eerie sight.

Nina crept toward the fallen fruit.

She poked at it with her dagger...

"Huh?"

Something shimmered with iridescent colors. Nina crouched down and plucked a seed from the tomato-like pulp where it had split open.