[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: New Horizons -That Person Now Returned- (4/9)
Title: New Horizons -That Person Now Returned- (4/9)
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,816
Summary: Not long after Grisia assumes the position of the 38th Sun Knight, he spots a familiar face among the crowds-Roland, who has become a royal knight captain after disappearing from Grisia's life. However, trouble brews among the palace. This time around, is it Grisia's turn to look after Roland?
Notes: A bit late today, but here it is~
Part 4
I sat by the side of the fountain, hood pulled over my head. It was quite a sunny day, so wearing a hood wasn't even all that strange. None of the passersby came to bother me, leaving me to enjoy the peaceful spray of the fountain, the water creating a slight mist as it cascaded down.
From what I had observed, a certain group of royal knights always passed through the plaza at this time. Roland never failed to patrol with them, responsible to a fault. I settled to wait, and as I had expected, the royal knights soon approached, the lobster red of their uniform announcing their presence even from a distance. At the front of the group was a rather young knight, but all the others were following him.
For once, Roland was nowhere to be seen, despite the fact that his entire squad was present.
Roland, I came here to meet you, not that try hard young knight over there!
I had prepared myself to cross paths with him only to be sent back to square one. How are you going to make up for all the wasted effort and mental preparation?
"Hele, what are our orders today?" one of the knights asked the try hard young knight at the front, whose name was... Hele? Heely? Heel? All right, from now on, I deem you "Foot." A whole foot is better than just a heel. So much easier to remember too.
Foot gestured around him and replied, "We're to patrol our usual routes and then return to training."
"So, just like when Captain Roland is here?" someone else asked.
"Yes, until Captain Roland returns from his mission, we will follow our usual routine," Foot answered.
What a group of diligent subordinates. If I were out on a mission, my platoon members would most definitely slack off. Sigh, just where did I go wrong with them? But thank you, Foot, you answered my question very well.
I stood up and dusted myself off. I would have to try again another day.
As the Sun Knight, I had my skin whitening routine down to an art. It was rather time consuming to mix the ingredients, apply the goop, and steam myself, but it could be relaxing-sometimes I even hummed to myself-as long as no one knocked on my door!
It's a curse, I'm telling you. A curse! I'm cursed to always get disturbed when I'm applying my facial masks, just like now.
"May Sun ask which brother has come to share the God of Light's murmurings with Sun tonight?" I asked, still hoping that they might decide to go away after all. I'd gone to the plaza several more times with no luck. Roland was still away on his mission. It was an awfully long mission that his subordinates seemed to know very little about.
While I had worn a cloak each time to the plaza, there was still no guarantee that my face hadn't caught some of that scorching sun, so this private facial mask time was of utter importance. Go away already, person at the door!
"Sun," the person said, and my annoyance disappeared immediately.
Just hearing that person say my name made my eyes shine. "Wait right there, dear brother. Sun will be right with you!"
Why was I so eager to wash this goop off when I normally hated to get interrupted? Well, let me tell you now that the person currently at my door was someone that I did not mind washing this green goop off for, as I had been waiting for his return this entire time! My personal baker was finally back! I could totally reapply my facial mask later. What Ice was bringing me was much more important.
"Brother Ice," I greeted with a genuine smile as I opened the door.
Ice gave me a nod, and as always, made no comment about the wait.
I stuck out my hand.
If this were Judgment, he'd be rolling his eyes at me or making some kind of remark, but Ice was too nice for that. He dropped a little bag into my waiting hand. I opened it as fast as I could and popped one of the chocolates right into my mouth.
So, so sweet!
"Dear Brother Ice, Sun is delighted to see your safe return from your mission," I said once the chocolate was gone. After all, it would not do for the Sun Knight to speak with chocolate still in his mouth. And next time, no more sending Ice out on away missions! I'm going to die from sugar deprivation like that! The rest of the Holy Temple had suffered in much the same way from missing their desserts and breads, but I doubted that anyone had suffered as much as I had. I think I even lost weight!
"My platoon and I are back," Ice reported, his single sentence kicking my brain into overdrive.
Sweets made my mind work so much better.
The question was, what kind of "mission" had Roland been sent on? Now, while it was certainly not a big deal for a royal knight to be sent on a mission, that he had been sent without any of his subordinates was quite another matter altogether. Even the stingy Pope allowed Ice to bring his platoon with him on his mission. I could not imagine that the royal knights would be stingier than the Pope and would not allow Roland to bring at least a few of his subordinates with him. Knights worked in groups, after all, be they royal knights or holy knights.
Also, while I was certainly someone people liked to "impress" given that I was the Sun Knight, I was still not someone who would frighten the maids into a dusting frenzy, and neither was I someone who would make a maid tremble at the sight of me.
I collected Storm on my way to the palace, and we walked to investigate the palace training grounds under the cover of organizing our patrol routes with the royal knights for our next parade. They had several training grounds, some more remote than others. Storm's winks proved quite useful, as the maid we waylaid swooned and babbled easily about which training grounds Roland preferred. There's too big a discrepancy between Storm asking her and me asking her. What gives?
In any case, she led us to several training grounds, as it seemed that Roland liked to keep them guessing so that he could give the slip to his audience. Maybe I have influenced Roland after all... Roland, sneaky? It was unthinkable, really, of the Roland I'd known. Then again, it has been more than a decade since I last saw him. I can't really say I know him anymore, can I?
When we stopped at a fairly remote training ground, the maid looked all around us, checking that we were alone, before facing us and saying with a quiet voice, "I always come to watch him here."
She opened her mouth again but snapped it shut right away, looking every bit like she had something more to say to us but didn't dare to do so. I'd have wondered if she weren't a secret admirer of Roland's if not for that frightened look on her face, like she was afraid someone might jump out of the bushes and grab her for talking to us.
Storm noticed her hesitancy as well. I was right to bring him along, as he could cut straight to the point when I could not.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
She twisted her hands for several seconds before finally saying, "My friend..."
I smiled at her, encouraging her to continue. "The God of Light shines upon us today. There is no need for hesitancy in sharing your worries with Sun and his brother."
Whatever happens, the Church of the God of Light will back you up.
She nodded and said, "Sir Roland... when we came to watch him practice his sword, he took notice of my friend..."
Oh? Roland taking notice of a girl? Has he actually grown up to be a Casanova? Is the world coming to an end?
"She was limping." The maid immediately dispelled my guess about Roland with a whisper and twisted her hand some more. Twist, twist twist. "I can't believe I didn't notice."
First, a maid trying to cover her arms with her sleeves. Now, a maid that was limping. Either they were the very same unfortunate maid, or...
I shared a look with Storm. He gave me a nod. He would look into this some more. Storm was dependable and scary like that. If you wanted to uncover any deeply buried secrets, Storm was your man. It was definitely the height of foolishness to ever get on his bad side. Who wants to have all their secrets aired out in the open for people to laugh at? Definitely not me, not that I have any deep, dark secrets... that he can tell anyone about without implicating himself! But I won't put it past Storm to make people believe that I love apples to death or something! Bleh!
In any case, now that Storm was on it, the truth would definitely come to light.
"Is Sir Roland all right?" the maid blurted. "Is he... all because we..." She buried her face in her trembling hands.
Storm patted her on the back to console her. The world hadn't come to an end, but now I was sure something more sinister was going on. I let Storm murmur comforting words to her, something about how she and her friend could come to the Holy Temple for help, and how we would keep their identities anonymous, while my mind pondered through the possibilities.
See, like I'd said before, people usually don't pay much attention to the servants. When even a sword idiot like Roland took notice of his spectators, something had to be up. He had noticed something, and that something must be the reason for his disappearance.
Yes, disappearance.
He had been investigating something he shouldn't, the enemy much too powerful for a single royal knight to triumph over, captain or not.
I was pretty sure by now that he had not been sent on a mission. Even his subordinates had no idea what kind of "mission" he was on. While Roland could have gone off on his own on some undercover mission, what was wrong was happening right here in the palace, so where could he have traveled to? It didn't make sense.
He had taken notice, and because of that, someone had made him vanish.
I gripped my cape, for if I did not, I would probably be twisting my hands by now, just like what the maid was doing earlier.
Despite the warmth of the sun, I felt chilled.
to be continued
This entry was originally posted at https://lucathia.dreamwidth.org/363479.html. You can comment here or there.
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,816
Summary: Not long after Grisia assumes the position of the 38th Sun Knight, he spots a familiar face among the crowds-Roland, who has become a royal knight captain after disappearing from Grisia's life. However, trouble brews among the palace. This time around, is it Grisia's turn to look after Roland?
Notes: A bit late today, but here it is~
Part 4
I sat by the side of the fountain, hood pulled over my head. It was quite a sunny day, so wearing a hood wasn't even all that strange. None of the passersby came to bother me, leaving me to enjoy the peaceful spray of the fountain, the water creating a slight mist as it cascaded down.
From what I had observed, a certain group of royal knights always passed through the plaza at this time. Roland never failed to patrol with them, responsible to a fault. I settled to wait, and as I had expected, the royal knights soon approached, the lobster red of their uniform announcing their presence even from a distance. At the front of the group was a rather young knight, but all the others were following him.
For once, Roland was nowhere to be seen, despite the fact that his entire squad was present.
Roland, I came here to meet you, not that try hard young knight over there!
I had prepared myself to cross paths with him only to be sent back to square one. How are you going to make up for all the wasted effort and mental preparation?
"Hele, what are our orders today?" one of the knights asked the try hard young knight at the front, whose name was... Hele? Heely? Heel? All right, from now on, I deem you "Foot." A whole foot is better than just a heel. So much easier to remember too.
Foot gestured around him and replied, "We're to patrol our usual routes and then return to training."
"So, just like when Captain Roland is here?" someone else asked.
"Yes, until Captain Roland returns from his mission, we will follow our usual routine," Foot answered.
What a group of diligent subordinates. If I were out on a mission, my platoon members would most definitely slack off. Sigh, just where did I go wrong with them? But thank you, Foot, you answered my question very well.
I stood up and dusted myself off. I would have to try again another day.
As the Sun Knight, I had my skin whitening routine down to an art. It was rather time consuming to mix the ingredients, apply the goop, and steam myself, but it could be relaxing-sometimes I even hummed to myself-as long as no one knocked on my door!
It's a curse, I'm telling you. A curse! I'm cursed to always get disturbed when I'm applying my facial masks, just like now.
"May Sun ask which brother has come to share the God of Light's murmurings with Sun tonight?" I asked, still hoping that they might decide to go away after all. I'd gone to the plaza several more times with no luck. Roland was still away on his mission. It was an awfully long mission that his subordinates seemed to know very little about.
While I had worn a cloak each time to the plaza, there was still no guarantee that my face hadn't caught some of that scorching sun, so this private facial mask time was of utter importance. Go away already, person at the door!
"Sun," the person said, and my annoyance disappeared immediately.
Just hearing that person say my name made my eyes shine. "Wait right there, dear brother. Sun will be right with you!"
Why was I so eager to wash this goop off when I normally hated to get interrupted? Well, let me tell you now that the person currently at my door was someone that I did not mind washing this green goop off for, as I had been waiting for his return this entire time! My personal baker was finally back! I could totally reapply my facial mask later. What Ice was bringing me was much more important.
"Brother Ice," I greeted with a genuine smile as I opened the door.
Ice gave me a nod, and as always, made no comment about the wait.
I stuck out my hand.
If this were Judgment, he'd be rolling his eyes at me or making some kind of remark, but Ice was too nice for that. He dropped a little bag into my waiting hand. I opened it as fast as I could and popped one of the chocolates right into my mouth.
So, so sweet!
"Dear Brother Ice, Sun is delighted to see your safe return from your mission," I said once the chocolate was gone. After all, it would not do for the Sun Knight to speak with chocolate still in his mouth. And next time, no more sending Ice out on away missions! I'm going to die from sugar deprivation like that! The rest of the Holy Temple had suffered in much the same way from missing their desserts and breads, but I doubted that anyone had suffered as much as I had. I think I even lost weight!
"My platoon and I are back," Ice reported, his single sentence kicking my brain into overdrive.
Sweets made my mind work so much better.
The question was, what kind of "mission" had Roland been sent on? Now, while it was certainly not a big deal for a royal knight to be sent on a mission, that he had been sent without any of his subordinates was quite another matter altogether. Even the stingy Pope allowed Ice to bring his platoon with him on his mission. I could not imagine that the royal knights would be stingier than the Pope and would not allow Roland to bring at least a few of his subordinates with him. Knights worked in groups, after all, be they royal knights or holy knights.
Also, while I was certainly someone people liked to "impress" given that I was the Sun Knight, I was still not someone who would frighten the maids into a dusting frenzy, and neither was I someone who would make a maid tremble at the sight of me.
I collected Storm on my way to the palace, and we walked to investigate the palace training grounds under the cover of organizing our patrol routes with the royal knights for our next parade. They had several training grounds, some more remote than others. Storm's winks proved quite useful, as the maid we waylaid swooned and babbled easily about which training grounds Roland preferred. There's too big a discrepancy between Storm asking her and me asking her. What gives?
In any case, she led us to several training grounds, as it seemed that Roland liked to keep them guessing so that he could give the slip to his audience. Maybe I have influenced Roland after all... Roland, sneaky? It was unthinkable, really, of the Roland I'd known. Then again, it has been more than a decade since I last saw him. I can't really say I know him anymore, can I?
When we stopped at a fairly remote training ground, the maid looked all around us, checking that we were alone, before facing us and saying with a quiet voice, "I always come to watch him here."
She opened her mouth again but snapped it shut right away, looking every bit like she had something more to say to us but didn't dare to do so. I'd have wondered if she weren't a secret admirer of Roland's if not for that frightened look on her face, like she was afraid someone might jump out of the bushes and grab her for talking to us.
Storm noticed her hesitancy as well. I was right to bring him along, as he could cut straight to the point when I could not.
"What's the matter?" he asked.
She twisted her hands for several seconds before finally saying, "My friend..."
I smiled at her, encouraging her to continue. "The God of Light shines upon us today. There is no need for hesitancy in sharing your worries with Sun and his brother."
Whatever happens, the Church of the God of Light will back you up.
She nodded and said, "Sir Roland... when we came to watch him practice his sword, he took notice of my friend..."
Oh? Roland taking notice of a girl? Has he actually grown up to be a Casanova? Is the world coming to an end?
"She was limping." The maid immediately dispelled my guess about Roland with a whisper and twisted her hand some more. Twist, twist twist. "I can't believe I didn't notice."
First, a maid trying to cover her arms with her sleeves. Now, a maid that was limping. Either they were the very same unfortunate maid, or...
I shared a look with Storm. He gave me a nod. He would look into this some more. Storm was dependable and scary like that. If you wanted to uncover any deeply buried secrets, Storm was your man. It was definitely the height of foolishness to ever get on his bad side. Who wants to have all their secrets aired out in the open for people to laugh at? Definitely not me, not that I have any deep, dark secrets... that he can tell anyone about without implicating himself! But I won't put it past Storm to make people believe that I love apples to death or something! Bleh!
In any case, now that Storm was on it, the truth would definitely come to light.
"Is Sir Roland all right?" the maid blurted. "Is he... all because we..." She buried her face in her trembling hands.
Storm patted her on the back to console her. The world hadn't come to an end, but now I was sure something more sinister was going on. I let Storm murmur comforting words to her, something about how she and her friend could come to the Holy Temple for help, and how we would keep their identities anonymous, while my mind pondered through the possibilities.
See, like I'd said before, people usually don't pay much attention to the servants. When even a sword idiot like Roland took notice of his spectators, something had to be up. He had noticed something, and that something must be the reason for his disappearance.
Yes, disappearance.
He had been investigating something he shouldn't, the enemy much too powerful for a single royal knight to triumph over, captain or not.
I was pretty sure by now that he had not been sent on a mission. Even his subordinates had no idea what kind of "mission" he was on. While Roland could have gone off on his own on some undercover mission, what was wrong was happening right here in the palace, so where could he have traveled to? It didn't make sense.
He had taken notice, and because of that, someone had made him vanish.
I gripped my cape, for if I did not, I would probably be twisting my hands by now, just like what the maid was doing earlier.
Despite the warmth of the sun, I felt chilled.
to be continued
This entry was originally posted at https://lucathia.dreamwidth.org/363479.html. You can comment here or there.