Chapter 7: The Night Shift
The sun was just starting to light up the sky when Shezu heard the thumping on his door. It was a thunderous BOOM! BOOM! BOOM! Shezu's eyes cracked open.
"Come on recruit, up and at'em!"
Despite his grogginess, the young man could definitely tell that the voice belonged to Leopold.
"Ugh, I don't think even the roosters are up at this hour," Shezu thought to himself.
Dragging himself out of bed, he slipped on an outfit of a brown shirt, black pants and shoes. He also made sure his pen-tail's was fed and his cage was clean. After checking all those off his to do list, he headed out the door, making sure it was locked behind him. From what he saw, the members of the squad were all heading out of their rooms and streaming into the dining hall. As such, Shezu followed the crowd. This, in hindsight, was not a good idea, as the crowd seemed to clog up at the main entrance. But once someone got through the wall of people, it was usually smooth. Seeing what was through the doors, Shezu saw a mass of people going about. There were at least forty or fifty members in there. Of course, with so many people trying to get their breakfast at once, it was a bit of a struggle for the newest member to get his. Some people had plates with egg and steaming ham on them, while other looked like they already eaten and were just waiting around. In the end, Shezu settled for just snatching an apple off the nearest fruit basket and munching on it.
"Note to self, remember to try to wake up earlier to get ahead of the crowd."
As everyone found their seats, the captain Fuegoleon himself came to the the very head of the dining hall.
"Alright everyone, I'm going to be giving you your assignments for the day!"
Pulling out a piece of slate, he started listing off all the member and what their job for the day would be. Some were given solo missions, while others were grouped together on larger tasks. As each of the Knights were given their tasks, they got up and left.
"Leopold! You are to show our newest recruit Shezu here what his duties for the day will be. Then, you are to report back to me."
After he said the words, both Leo and Shezu got up and walked to meet each other outside the dining hall.
"So...what's my assignment for the day?"
"Heh, just follow me recruit."
Both of the Knights went around the dining hall to the back of it. Behind the hall was a large shed with a water pump on the side. Leopold opened the doors to it and started to rummage around inside. When he finished, he came out with a mop, a bucket, and a brush.
"Here you go," Leopold said, handing off the cleaning items to Shezu, "make sure you get every spot and dish inside the dining hall."
Dear Mom and Dad, I'm happy to write that my days at the Crimson Lions are going well. While I'm still the newcomer to the group, It seems like I'm starting to be accepted...albeit slowly. The work I do here gives me a sense of purpose, and helps me keep going forward. I hope things are going well back home, and that you two are managing to take care of yourselves. I'll try my best to find out when I can come visit you guys, but with how busy I am, it seems it might not be for a while.
Sincerely, Shezu.
Fow the past week, all Shezu knew was cleaning. Morning, noon, and night, he would be tasked with cleaning the dining hall. Scrubbing away jam stains, picking the crumbs off the floor, making sure not a single dish was left. These were all things he was responsible for doing. Not only that, but he was also responsible for maintaining both the bathhouse and training field. Noon and night, he would have to clear the water in the bath house in order to make sure no mold would grow. On the training field, he would have to restuff the dummies, or in most cases, get a new dummy altogether, since some would get incinerated entirely. They had an entire storehouse of training dummies, right next to the broom holder for the mages to use for flight. When he wasn't doing that, Shezu would often be responsible for clearing out weeds, sweeping up leaves, or polishing the front gate. This left him with little free time naturally, all of which he spent reading the books he brought from home. Until one day, during the usual morning meeting.
"Leopold! You are to bring the new recruit Shezu with you and patrol the area around Liefern graveyard. There have been reports of graverobbers raiding graveyards in the outer realm. It's believed that that graveyard will be next. Take time to prepare."
Shezu honestly couldn't believe it...his first mission. He was in such excitement that he didn't notice Leopold walking up to him.
"Oye, recruit."
This snapped Shezu out of his daze.
"Uh, yes...sir?"
"You've got five minute to prepare, after that, meet me out at the front gate with a broom."
"Err, yes sir."
With that, Shezu made a beeline for his room. There was still only a bed in it, so he didn't have a lot of tools at his disposal. Scrounging what he could, he fished out a pouch of coins.
"Well, this is my emergency money just in case...but eh, I might get hungry."
Stuffing the pouch in his pocket, he then made sure his grimoire was fastened on tight, that he had a full water pouch handy, and then he was out the door. Stopping by the broom holder next to the training dummy storage house, he then headed straight to the front entrance, where Leopold was waiting for him.
"Got what you need?" Leo said in a neutral voice.
"Uh, yeah."
"Heh, then let's go."
Leopold spoke his name to the door, and thus, it opened up. However, as soon as they were both past the gate, Shezu noticed something.
"Hey, uh, sir? Where's your broom?"
Leopold just gave a devilish smile and replied, "Heh, don't need one."
As soon as he finished the sentence, fire started to swirl around him, forming together into a large fire lion.
"Try and keep up recruit!"
With that, Leo shot off. His mount raced through the streets, twisted around corners, and even climbed over some buildings until it was into the forest. This made Shezu recall the time Fuegoleon saved him and his underling, also riding in on his own fire lion. The only difference between the two was the size of the mane.
"Huh, guess they really are brothers."
Mounting his broomstick, Shezu began to fly through the air, making sure that the brother was within eye-shot so that he could follow behind him.
The pair arrived at Liefern just as the sun was setting, making a few stops on the way to eat and go to the bathroom. It was a small little village, even smaller than the village Shezu came from. The Kingdom of Clover was divided into three realms. The noble realm, the common realm, and the outer realm. It was the realm where Leopold and Shezu were where peasants lived, the poorest citizens of the clover kingdom. It showed, as the people there wore dirty clothes with holes in them, as if they were the only clothes they had. Both Magic Knights walked through the streets of the village until they finally saw the graveyard come into view. What marked it was the giant church that rose up above all the tombstones. Shezu and Leopold got even closer to the graveyard, until Leo stopped and started to look around. He finally pointed to a hill that overlooked the area they were supposed to patrol.
"There, we'll stake out the place from there."
The graveyard itself was honestly quite modest. Just rows and rows of tombstones in an open field. As the sun started to set, casting everything into shadow, the pair of Knights settled down. They both laid on their bellies and watched the graveyard like hawks. Though focused on his task, Shezu tried to break the awkward silence that was between them the whole trip.
"So...uh, what made the captain think that this was the next target...sir?"
"Well recruit, there have been a string of grave robbing incidents lately. What's odd about them is that they have all taken place in the outer realm. Probably where no one would notice, or no one strong enough to stop them at least."
"Well sure, but why here sir?"
"To be honest recruit, this is only one in a handful of places where they could strike. The captain put a bunch of other Magic Knights at different locations, just in case."
"...you know, my name isn't recruit, it's actually…"
"In any case, we just need to be stationed here, just for a couple of nights. Until then, we'll be like lions ourselves, and wait in ambush until our prey arrives."
"...you know sir, from what I read about lions, it's actually the females that go hunting, not the…"
"Quiet recruit! We need to be vigilant."
"...I told you, my name isn't recruit," Shezu muttered under his breath.
Shezu's eyes were starting to drop as he continued to watch over the graveyard, looking out for any signs of suspicious movement. Leopold was asleep right next to them, as they both agreed taking shifts would be more beneficial to them. At the moment, all Shezu could think to himself was, "thank goodness that I ate and went to the bathroom before I got here."
But just as he finished that thought, he noticed movement down below him. There were a couple or so lanterns down there, and the light form them showed at least half a dozen people. Shaking his partner, he tried to wake him back up.
"Hey Leo. Leo! Get up."
Leopold stopped snoring, snapping himself awake.
"Huh! Wha-what's happening?!"
"Down there," pointed Shezu, gesturing toward the moving figures. Leo took notice, and immediately sprang into action.
"Come on, let's take a closer look."
He moved forward and started to slide down the hill, Shezu following after him. As they both moved closer, they could hear the sound of shovels scraping against dirt, and the mumbiling of voices.
"Errr, why do we have to be on corpse picking duty?!"
"Oh shut up and just finish up. The sooner we get done, the sooner we can leave."
From the sounds of it, it was a man and a woman. The man was complaining about the work, while the women was the one telling him to suck it up. The pair was right in front of Shezu and Leopold, one was in a hole in front of a gravestone while the other was holding a lantern above him, giving her partner light to see. Not only that, but there were multiple pairs of graverobbers, one digging a hole, while a few others were holding lanterns, giving light. Given all the evidence, Leopold was sure they caught their culprits. He sprang forward, shouting at the top of his lungs, "stop right there!"
Everyone in the graveyard turned to the voice. Leopold brought out his grimoire, and flames started to come out of his hands, both providing light that showed everyone in the area, and to also show that he was ready for a fight.
"So, you're the ones pillaging our graveyards! Give up now, and I won't burn you too badly."
Shezu, meanwhile, was just looking on from where Leopold was formerly hiding.
"Dang it, why'd he have to go and charge in like that! Well, we saw the priest leave for his house for the night, so he should be out of harm's way. So, might as well…"
The new Magic Knight followed his companions example, and sprang forward behind, also bringing out his grimoire for battle.
All the robbers there froze, but only for a moment, as the man in the hole in front of them started to chuckle.
"Well, well, well, Magic Knights! Heh, and here I thought that this job would be boring."
The man digging the hole practically jumped out of it.
"Eh well, I guess it was inevitable," spoke his female companion in an uncaring tone, "when you grave rob dozens of graves, someone's bound to catch on."
Judging from the man's tone of voice and behavior, he wasn't planning on surrendering anytime soon. Not only that, but oddly enough, his fellow companions at the other graves continued digging. It was as if they didn't even notice that Shezu and Leopold was there. As the man continued to advance on the pair of Knights, he removed the brown cloak that covered his body. He had dark red hair, a strong square jaw, blue eyes, arm hair, and a very muscular body. His clothes were black boots, dark blue pants, and a purple shirt.
"So, am I correct in assuming that you will take care of this," spoke the female once again.
"Yep, pretty much," the male partner spoke, with a grin on his face.
The woman sighed, and said, "very well, then I guess I'll just finish up here. Don't take too long Muskel, or we'll both leave, whether you want to or not."
"Eh, don't worry about it Heu, this won't even take a moment."
"Muskel, and Heu. At least we have some names," Shezu thought. Just as Heu was leaving, one of the figures in the black cloaks came up and grabbed her lantern for her. Just as the light passed over the cloaked figures face, Shezu swore that he saw no face at all, just…
"Is that, straw…?"
But Shezu quickly threw the thought out of his mind, ne needed to focus on the man in front of him.
"Now then Magic Knights...," Muskel said, as his grimoire started to float in front of him, glowing with mana. Both Shezu and Leopold got ready, squatting down and preparing to do battle
"...please do try to put up a fight, otherwise the only thing I'll die from will be boredom."
Notes: Another chapter done! Next chapter, get ready for some action! By the way, for anyone wondering what a pen-tail looks like just look up an image for a white-throated needletail and you'll have a pretty good visual. Until next time.