Chapter 59 | The Knights of The Realm

Theo spoke with the knight lieutenant in a neutral tone. Apparently, some of the fleeing knight companies had managed to gather up, forming this make-shift group. They were all from different major noble families, and most were from different knight companies.

They had managed to put together the fact that this place was an important trade route that ought to be protected, and they took it upon themselves to help them out.

Knights of the realm were truly virtuous.

As Theo accompanied the three knight lieutenants, he thought with a frown. From what he could tell, these people were actual knights, not bandits in disguise. Still, that didn’t mean they wouldn’t cause problems. Their first-rate forces matched them in power and the sheer number gave them an edge. If the sides were to break out into a fight, Theo wasn’t confident in winning without casualties.

All that to say, the appearance of these knights could cause a problem in the command chain. They could try wrangling away the control of the battle and the outpost. Either way, Theo had to first see what they were all about.

Heading into the tent with six first-rate warriors in tow, Theo felt slightly out of his depth. He didn’t let it show and led them up to the table with the map.

“I am Theo Robbins, a first-robe mage of the Gray Tower. These two are my close companions, Emma and Satou,” Theo started by introducing. Tatsuya stepped forward and introduced himself too. Then one of the knight lieutenants stepped forward.

“Greetings, I am Lieutenant Valerius of the Vandreth Royal Knights 3rd Company,” The man said. He had a clean-shaven face, marble white plate-armor coated to stay matte. His pauldrons bore the royal insignia of Vandreth, a black dove.

His face was square, with a small scar running down his left brow but not touching his eye. “My men and I fought several bandit gangs to a standstill and had to retreat. After regrouping, Sir Ameda, Sir Ceman, and I decided to support this section of the battlefield.”

“Lieutenant Ceman, Rose Family Knight Company,” The hardass from before stepped forward. He was a stout man with a rotund body, looking like he would collapse after running for a couple of seconds.

“Lieutenant Ameda, Fletcher Family Knights First Command Lieutenant,” the other introduced himself. He was quite lanky, with strangely long limbs and legs. He almost seemed like an elf, which raised the question of whether or not there were elves in this world. Theo hadn’t heard of them before. A fantasy world has to have them, no?

“I welcome you to our outpost, Lieutenants,” Theo opened the conversation. “I would like to first debrief you on our situation…”

He started explaining their forces, fortifications, what they had faced so far, and the estimation of the next wave. Of course, it wasn’t an estimation but the time limit provided by the system.

The lieutenants were silent all the way through, only speaking when necessary. They also didn’t show any emotions other than that time when Theo was explaining their forces. Hearing them have so many second-rate and first-rate warriors must have surprised the three.

“Your intel matches with ours, Sir Mage.” Lieutenant Valerius nodded. “The bandits in the surrounding 50 kilometers have been restless and are constantly mustering troops for an assault. We are assuming that this place is their target.”

“Mhm,” Theo nodded. “That’s what we thought of too. Also, there is a non-zero chance that the enemy has a master-rate warrior.”

His words dropped like a bomb into the room. The knight lieutenants looked at each other with bitter expressions before Valerius decided to ask.

“Sir Mage, would you be able to tell us where this piece of information originates from?”

Theo quickly explained Tatsuya’s guess and their reasoning without really touching upon his system, simply stating that he had a strong premonition. It was quite well-known that Tatsuya and his people were abnormals, The Knights were quite indifferent to Theo being one too.

“Hmm… Indeed, the reasoning holds.”

“By the King’s will shall he be smitten. I shall abide here and fight unto the bitter end,” Lieutenant Ceman added, fervor practically bleeding from his eyes.

“The Fletcher Family will aid too.”

“I was sent here by The King of Vandreth so that the realm does not hurt from some bandit scum,” Lieutenant Valerius patted his chestplate. “I shall fight.”

Before Theo could interject, Valerius continued.

“I assume Sir Mage is the leader of this outpost. As reinforcements, we can only follow your arrangements. We have received reports of your previous battles. You managed to repel many bandits without much harm done to your people. Am I correct to assume we can trust you?”

Holy shit! There was something like this? Theo rejoiced in his head. He had been worrying about whether or not these hard asses would start ordering them around, but it seemed The Knights weren’t quite idiots.

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“You can trust my people and me,” Theo nodded with a slight smile. “For now, get yourself familiar with the layout of the base. I will call for a debriefing later on.”

The Lieutenants nodded and left quickly. Theo and the others were left alone in the HQ tent.

“Do we trust them?” Satou asked. Theo crossed his arms.

“Maybe. Can the Network dig up some information on them? We should also ask the nearby knight companies for confirmation. If everything seems okay, we can proceed with including them in the contingency plan. Even if they refuse to face The Eviscerator head on, them handling the rest of the enemy forces will be plenty enough,” Theo said.

“I will handle contacting The Network,” Tatsuya nodded with his arms crossed. Seeing that, Satou continued.

“Then I will leave as quickly as possible and handle asking the other Knight Companies.”

The two quickly disappeared, leaving only Theo and Emma behind. When he turned to look at the girl, Theo noticed that she was giving him a weird look.

“If things come down to it, I will escape with Long Tian,” She said. Theo’s brows rose. What was she talking about out of nowhere?

“Good.”

“‘Good‘? Is that it? I expected you to beg me to stay,” Emma responded while crossing her arms.

“I don’t really care,” Theo shook his head. “I didn’t expect you to help us at all, from the start. Not to mention, you protecting Long Tian isn’t a bad outcome. And I mean it. Thank you.”

“…Insolent bastard,” she said with a deadpan expression. Theo smiled wryly in response. Emma seemed conflicted about something Theo couldn’t quite put a finger on. “If we survive… When we survive. I will ask you for a favor.”

“Then I will try to help,” Theo nodded.

“Really? What if I ask for something outrageous?”