Chapter Text
“For all of you, silence is key. Not being seen is key. You are to be the shadow that trails your target around, not a person. A person makes mistakes. You do not. Am I clear?” Throughout the room, ten small heads nodded. “Alright. Then let’s begin.”
+
Langa gasped awake, suddenly acutely aware of the mattress underneath him. They didn’t have those back home–at least, not where he grew up. Here at the academy, they did. He had to remind himself of that.
He wasn’t there anymore. He had been sent to Nilum, training as a knight. For the last two years he’d been doing just that, and today he’d be headed to the castle. A planted mole. It was pure luck that he was chosen to be taken to the castle, at least according to his letters. In truth, Langa had worked harder here than he ever did back home. The motivation to not get sent back, to make sure he was useful far away from anywhere back there, there’d been no other option.
+
The ride to the capital wasn’t all that long, the academy was only a few towns away. Within two days, Langa and two other chosen trainees, now official knights, would serve under the Queen herself. He wasn’t all that close with the others, the competitive air was enough to make them somewhat distant, but Langa tended to act alone regardless. When they officially began serving her Highness, things like that would have to go. They needed to trust him. Langa needed them to believe he trusted them, too.
“I’m Miya Chinen by the way,” one of them spoke up. He was sitting across from Langa, black hair and green eyes shining. Langa had similar black hair, but only as long as he’d been at the academy. Blue and any lighter colored hair was all too conspicuous in this country, so he had to dye it. “I don’t think we’ve ever spoken.”
“No,” a pause, “and I’m Langa Hasegawa.”
“Well, Langa, guess we’re gonna get to know you now. This is Hiromi Higa,” he gestured to the man slightly older than Langa, sporting orange hair, “though he likes to be called Shadow.” Langa almost flinched. Almost.
“Hey! You didn’t need to tell him that.” The guy looked slightly embarrassed, which was strange considering the guy was covered in muscle, more than Langa or Miya at least.
“Oh, but it’s true, isn’t it? Wanted to act cool for that one girl.” Miya was smiling now, leaning over to tease him.
“Stop! You know what–” Hiromi was listening across now, too when-
“It’s okay. I don’t mind, Shadow.” Langa did mind, just a little, but not for any reason they knew. But he still needed to make bridges, so here he was. He had to attempt to keep a conversation going. “How long have you two been friends?”
“Eh, kind of a while? We grew up in the same village. The slime even waited for me to come of age before joining training.” Miya answered, now relaxing again. “We were the only ones really interested in knighthood, so it made sense.”
A short silence before Langa cleared his throat. “Ah, and you both made it to the castle. Your village must be proud.”
“Sure, but mostly worried. Usual stuff.” Shadow this time. Langa only nodded, not knowing where to take the conversation from there. Luckily, he didn’t need to. They had already arrived at the castle.
They weren’t all that close, since the cobblestoned road only led up so close. From here they’d have to walk past patches of small bushes and rock. Beyond that, the stone castle. It wasn’t very tall, only two stories, but it expanded so far out. There were some towers, but Langa saw a lot of connecting corridors with no windows. Even as far as they were currently, he could still make out people walking. It all felt incredibly ... airy, and light.
Beyond the castle, however, was the even more shocking sight of the surrounding forest. There was so much green. Even the castle was covered in vines criss-crossing and climbing, but none of that compared to the forest itself. He’d have to report that back. If Luiven were to ever, hypothetically, come to the castle, the way they’d come would be the only option. Eyes finally pulling away from the castle, Langa saw the silhouette of a man waiting for them.
Folding fan tight in hand, the man had pink hair and was dressed in a kimono. Once they all stepped out he introduced himself.
“Hello. You must all be the new knights. I’m Kaoru Sakurayashiki, Queen Masae’s advisor. You’ll be reporting directly to Commander Kojiro Nanjo, who has yet to show up.” A slight eye twitch. “Please follow me.”
He led them through the winding path of bushes, up a staircase, around the sides, and finally, through the entrance.
“You will be staying in the Keep with the other knights, and you’ll report to Commander Nanjo daily. You’ll get your orders from him as well.” Sakurayashiki was taking them to where Langa assumed the Keep was, but Langa would be lying if he said he wasn’t slightly distracted. The inside of the palace was just as impressive as the outside it would seem, the hallways alone having arched domes and white stone inlaid. He would remember the way, because he’d been trained to remember these kinds of details, but even still.
“Is Commander Nanjo always late?” Miya was the first to speak up, collectively shifting three pairs of eyes back to Sakurayashiki. He was just about to answer before another man came bounding down the adjacent corridor.
“No! I am not. I did not expect you all to get here so fast.” a sheepish smile. “Pleasure to meet you all.” The commander had dark green hair, tan skin, and a build that easily put Shadow to shame. He was dressed in standard knight uniform from the waist down, but above that he had on only his padding, but even with that, half his chest was revealed. Next to Sakurayashiki, they seemed like complete opposites.
“Right. Well, I’ll be leaving you in the care of the commander. He should help you finish the rest of the tour.”
“Ah, wait, Cherry, don’t be mad– I’ll make it up to you!” Nanjo yelled across the hall, the pink haired man already walking away.
“Cherry?” Langa asked. Was it common in Nilum to have code names? He hadn’t been taught that.
“Just a nickname, less formal that way. Speaking of, I’d prefer it if you called me either Commander or Joe. Saying Commander Nanjo all the time is a bit much.” He was smiling at them now, down, since he had a solid ten centimeters on all of them, more so Miya, who Langa was surprised to find was rather short. “Come on, I’ll show you where you’ll be sleeping.”
+
The knight’s sleeping quarters turned out to be directly underneath the great hall, in the basement. It was stacked in a way that storage and worker rooms were in the basement, the royal’s rooms on the second floor, and everything else on ground level. It might not have worked if the castle didn’t expand outward so much. Langa had yet to see any of the royals yet, now he knew why.
The wing set aside for knights had at least three halls, and five rooms containing three beds in each. Majority of those weren’t getting used. Nilum was at peace currently, had been for years, and so the castle only kept around fifteen knights at a time. Even so, they kept all the knights to a single corridor. He, Shadow and Miya ended up all in one room. The rooms were big enough that if more beds needed to be brought in, they could be, so it wasn’t cramped.
The uniforms were simple enough, padding, chainmail, and light armor, just the breastplate and shoulders. Given how Langa had seen the commander– or Joe, barely in that, he figured it wasn’t that much of a requirement. Still, he decided to keep on the hood the Nilum uniform came with. It was light enough to not be a bother, but still covered his hair. He might even be able to stop dying his hair if he kept it on.
By the end of the day, he was fully a knight of the palace.