CHAPTER 12: BLACK KNIGHT FORCES
Several days passed,
Ignacia went to the royal palace to report her duty as a vice commander of Black Knight Forces for the first day. She walked to the office of Black Knight Forces to meet Commander Marcus Accuratio, the uncle of Count Accuratio, and he was in 'Magus' attribute.
The armed forces of Mirarus Empire.
'Black Knight Forces', the Mirarus Empire's fighting force, the armed force that fight in war, and exterminate the monsters including demons. There are 3 squads in Black Knight Forces; black mage squad, white mage squad, and armed squad.
'Royal Knight Army', the armed force that protect The Royal Family and guarding The Royal Palaces. There are 3 squads in Royal Knight Army; first squad has duty to protect The Emperor and the royal palaces, second squad has duty protect The Empress, The Queen Consorts, Princes, and Princesses, and third squad has duty to protect the people in the capital, solve the crime, and catch people who have committed a crime.
'Knock' 'Knock'
"Come in," said Marcus, a commander-in-chief, a man who was in his fifties, he has white hair, and green eyes.
Ignacia went inside the office, then said, "Ignacia De Virtusarium report for the duty as a vice commander, Commander Marcus" She handed a letter which she got from The Emperor to him.
"I heard about you from His Majesty. This is Laurentia Gnaritas. She's our aide," Marcus said.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Vice Commander" said Laurentia, a woman who was in her late twenties, she has long red hair, tie up neatly, and light blue eyes.
"It's nice to meet you too, Aide Laurentia" Ignacia said.
"Call all the captains here," Marcus told Laurentia.
"Yes, Commander" Laurentia said and left.
"I will introduce you to all the captains in Black Knight Forces. They might look down on you because of your age. You'd better prove yourself to them," Marcus said.
"Yes, Commander" Ignacia said.
After a while, Laurentia came back with the 3 of captains.
"This is Ignacia De Virtusarium. She's Vice Commander," Marcus said, "this is Lorenzo Valoris, Captain of black mage squad, this is Felicia Eridanus, Captain of white mage squad, and this is Quince, Captain of armed squad."
Ignacia used 'The Eye of Truth' to check their minds.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Vice Commander" said Lorenzo, a man who was in his early twenties, he has short black hair, and green eyes.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Vice Commander" said Felicia, a woman who was in her late twenties, she has light blue hair, and light blue eyes. She was pretty and looks so friendly.
"It's a pleasure to meet you, Vice Commander" said Quince, a man who was in his middle twenties, he has brown skinhead, brown eyes, and muscled body. He was tall and fierce.
"It's nice to meet you all, Captains" Ignacia said.
"Captain Quince show Vice Commander the training ground," Marcus said.
"Yes, Commander" Quince said.
"You may leave," Marcus told Lorenzo and Felicia.
Quince led Ignacia to the training ground. The knights of armed squad were training swordsmanship by having mock fights.
"Would you like to have a mock fight with me, Vice Commander" Quince asked.
"Yes," Ignacia said. She recalled the words from Marcus that she should prove herself to all the captains.
All the knights in the training ground started to look and surround the area where Ignacia and Quince were preparing for fighting.
Ignacia was on guard.
Quince attacked first, he hit her fast and forcefully.
Ignacia was blocking his attacks while finding his open area.
Quince continued to attack her harder, he aimed to finish the fight soon.
Ignacia learned his tactic and saw his open area. She deceived him into thinking she will block his attack but quickly changed to dodge his attack instead, then flipped sword to attack his neck. She stopped before her sword hit his neck for real.
Quince was surprised but admitted his defeat and said, "I surrender, Vice Commander"
"Oh, is she the new vice commander," a black knight said.
"She could win our captain easily even though she is a young woman," another black knight said, surprisingly.
"This is Vice Commander Ignacia De Virtusarium," Quince introduced Ignacia to the black knights.
"Vice Commander," All the black knights said and bowed at Ignacia.
"You can continue with your training," Ignacia told the black knights.
"There are total of 15,000 black knights in armed squads, 6,000 knights are guarding the border near Tempestas Forest, 6,000 knights are guarding the border near Pinus Forest, and 3,000 knights standby here for emergency case. We rotated them every 6 months. And I went to the borders every 2 months,"
"I see. Tell me when you plan to go to the border, Captain" Ignacia said.
"Yes, Vice Commander" Quince said.
★★★
A few days passed,
Ignacia went to observe black mage squad. She found that everyone were nobles and they did not train themselves like armed squad.
"Vice Commander," Lorenzo greeted her. He did not welcome her but he must conceal his emotion.
"Why didn't I see black mages having a training, Captain?" Ignacia asked.
"As you are well aware, we are in 'Magus' attribute. We can use magic power as we want without training, Vice Commander" Lorenzo said with a smirk.
"If so, gather everyone at the training field," Ignacia said.
"Yes, Vice Commander" said Lorenzo annoyingly.
After a while, Lorenzo gathered all the black mages at the training field. There were 100 of them in total.
"I heard that everyone here can fight without training. So, I want to test and evaluate your skills," Ignacia said.
All the black mages were in uproar. Some were annoyed, some looked down on Ignacia.
"What can we get after we passed the test, Vice Commander?" One of black mages said with a smirk.
"You can get what you want if you won against me. If you lost, you must have a daily training or choose to resign from black mage squad," Ignacia said.
"What if we want your position, Vice Commander?" One of black mages said with a smirk.
"You can get it if you really won me," Ignacia said, "ah, I will give you more chance to win me easier. Group for 5 people. I will fight with you 1 to 5," Ignacia said.
All the black mages looked at each other surprisingly. They grouped each other as Ignacia said, eagerly.
"Attack me when you are ready," Ignacia said.
One group of the black mages started to attack Ignacia, some activated 'Fire Magic', some activated 'Storm Magic', some activated 'Earth Magic' to attack her.
Ignacia activated 'Wind Magic' on Katana Sword and slashed all of their attacks with one slash. All of their magic powers could not reach to her.
"What are you doing? Is this all you have?" Ignacia asked.
They attacked her again and again but the results were same.
Ignacia slashed their magic powers and knocked them out one by one. She hit the black mages who looked down on her hard. She used only some of her magic power with swords fighting skills to defeat them.
"Next," Ignacia said.
All the black mages could not succeed in attack Ignacia even once. Some of them were afraid that they might get knocked out. They chose to surrender before they were hit.
Lorenzo was in shock after he saw Ignacia defeating all the black mages without using much of her magic power.
"You next, Captain" Ignacia said.
Lorenzo activated the combination of 'Fire Magic' and 'Water Magic' to attack Ignacia.
Ignacia slashed his magic power, then activated the real 'Fire Magic' to attack him.
Lorenzo teleported to dodge her attack and activated 'Storm Magic' to attack her.
Ignacia slashed his magic power, then activated 'Lightning Magic' to hit him while observing him. She predicted his next movements, then controlled her power to hit him closely.
The lightning struck next to him, damaging his sleeve.
Lorenzo realized that Ignacia intended to attack him with the close hit. He admitted his defeat and said, "I surrender, Vice Commander"
there were the true words popped up in Ignacia's mind.
"I hope to see the better performance from all the black mages, Captain" Ignacia said.
"Yes, Vice Commander" Lorenzo said, obediently. He came to realize why she got the position of vice commander.
Ignacia went to observe white mage squad. She saw everyone working their jobs, some researching, some making potions.
"What bring you here, Vice Commander," said Felicia nicely.
"I would like to see white mage squad," Ignacia said.
"I will show you our daily work," said Felicia nicely.
"Thank you," Ignacia said and followed her.
"Normally, we make healing potions to supply the black knight forces and the royal palaces," Felicia said.
"Am I right in thinking that white mages are in Sanctitas and Sapiens attributes?" Ignacia asked.
"Yes, you're right, Vice Commander. The white mages in our squad are mostly in Sapiens due to the numbers of Sanctitas are low. That's why we have to make healing potions just in case," Felicia said.
"How many people who are in Sanctitas here?" Ignacia asked.
"There are 15 people in white mage squad," Felicia said.
"Do the white mages who are in Sanctitas join the team to exterminate the monsters?" Ignacia asked.
"Yes, I assigned 5 - 10 people to join the team every time, up to the situation, Vice Commander" Felicia said.
"Good," Ignacia said and left.
In the evening, Ignacia went back to Virtusarium Manor.
"You have a letter, Lady Ignacia" Pervis said and handed a letter to her.
"Who sent it?" Ignacia asked.
"A man named Benito sent it. He said you know him, Lady Ignacia" Pervis said.
Ignacia opened the letter.
[Madam would like to invite you to have a dinner with her on Friday night / Benito]
Ignacia handed a letter to Pervis and said, "Tell him I will be there around 8 p.m."
"Yes, Lady Ignacia" Pervis said and left.
★★★
On Friday night, Ignacia went to The Fama Guild.
"You're here, Lady Ignacia. Oh, I have to call you Vice Commander, right?" said Benito nicely.
"You can call me the same," said Ignacia nicely.
Benito led her to a private dining room.
"You came. How have you been, Lady Ignacia?" Theodora said.
"Well, I'm a bit busy. What about you?" Ignacia said.
"I've been good. Anyway, congratulation! I heard you became a vice commander of black knight forces," said Theodora nicely.
"Thank you," Ignacia said.
"You look more handsome," said Theodora amusingly.
"Is there anything you want to tell me?" Ignacia asked.
"Well, I will get straight to the point. Did you remember the task you did 4 years ago?" Theodora asked.
"Yes," Ignacia said.
"There were no movement from the demon queen since then but there are strange things happening recently. Many monsters are increasing dramatically in Pinus Forest. I think this information might be helpful to you," said Theodora smilingly.
"Thank you. I will look into it," Ignacia said and asked, "anyway, did you know anything suspicious about Count Fortuna and his daughter? Why Lady Margaret is in relationship with The Crown Prince, although she knew that The Crown Price have fiancée?"
"Hmm…why did you take interest in this kind of information?" Theodora asked.
"Well, I'm a friend of Princess Estella," Ignacia said.
"Is that so?" Theodora asked, curiously. She sensed something from her.
"Yes," said Ignacia calmly.
"Count Fortuna had found magic stone mine in his land 3 years ago. He can make a fortune out of that mine. I think it might be his ambition to become more powerful. He looks so polite and humble but it's just an act of covering himself. I knew that he's very greedy for power. He showed his true colors sometime but mostly to people who have no advantage for him. His daughter might be the same," said Theodora, she smiled a smile of a woman who see through everything.
"I see," Ignacia said.
"Do you want me to get any further information?" Theodora asked her nicely.
"No, I think I got enough information for now," Ignacia said.
Ignacia had dinner with Theodora, then went back to Virtusarium Manor.
★★★