The relative quiet of the Castle Barracks as broken by the sharp, loud cacophony of steel on steel...It's sound reverberating off of the walls and making the usually peaceful and quiet chamber resemble something more like a battlefield...A sharp contrast to what the place was usually like...

However, oddly enough...Miles liked it, in the past few weeks that he had been living in the castle he had embraced the sparring as a part of his life and had embraced it...He had made some improvements...Notably in his patience and reservedness...While still pretty much an average duellist for a boy of his age and skill, he at least was on the right track at least...

This was proven when Miles was able to block a blow from Sonic's longsword with his shield (Only doing so by a hair's breadth to be frank...however in his eyes it still was a decent enough evasion from injury) before responding with a quick jab with the tip of his falchion...However the quick attempt at a response was merely batted aside by Sonic's longsword, all before the hedgehog hammered the pommel of the blade into the boy's ribs, making him double over in pain before pressing the blunted tip of the sword against Miles's neck,

"Dead yet again kid! And that's your final round for today...Go put your stuff on the rack and I'll take you to the castle library."

The fox merely grumbled irritably in response to the hedgehog's words...Walking over to the weapon stands and placing his shield and falchion back in their spots...His two tails drooping as well as his ears.

"Yes sir..." He mumbled under his breath...Walking away from the rack and past the knight towards the barrack doors, the Knight was taken aback by the behaviour of the boy, however he merely dismissed it as the childish behaviour of being a sore loser...It was normal for a boy of his age to feel that way...That urge to win and be the best as something...However there definitely was something a tad off about the boy, he didn't seem to let go of the irritation...Rather, he merely bottled it up and didn't mention it...However it wasn't much of a time to talk to him about it...He needed to continue with his training...

...

Miles's irritation bubbled within him like the magma in a volcano as he slammed down the same history book that he had been working his way through for the past few weeks... Vitalis Orderic's sizeable tone compromising the lengthy history of warfare within the kingdom of Acorn as well as many of the knights that had served the kingdom...

He opened the book to around the last couple hundred pages and began to read... His mind shutting out the room around him as well as the wider world and every single sense...Such as hearing and sight...All that mattered now was the small, neat black handwriting on the yellowish parchment that made up the pages...

It was meant to make the boy feel better, to bring up his spirits once again by reading about some long dead knight and their heroic actions...So at the very least he could try and learn from them...He was frustrated by his seeming lack of progress...And even though Sonic constantly told him that he was improving and his performance in sparring showing otherwise...He wasn't learning nearly as quickly as he liked...If he was going to become a knight...A true knight, then he needed to learn as quickly as possible so he could go out and help people.

However...This book couldn't even do that, it wasn't like it wasn't a useful source...It was far from that, it was a brilliant historical account that Miles would definitely frequently revisit to make sure the knowledge stuck in bis mind...And yet at the same time...That knowledge was hard to swallow...

Time and time again, he would uncover records of so called "Knights" engaged in utterly barbarous activities: Slaughtering unarmed civilians, pillaging defenceless communities, hamlets and villages, prosecuting those unlike themselves...And among them were crimes so vile, it made his face turn stony grey and the bile begin to rise up from his stomach...

Why would they do this to defenceless and innocent people? Why were there so many atrocities? It seemed like for every good knight, there were at least five or six bad ones! Why would the crown freely knight such...such monsters? Some of them who were still living even had titles! Lands and castles that they lorded over! Meaning that the folk they looked over had to merely endure their tyranny and had no option but to take it...Knights were meant to be heroes...

Miles could feel his heart sink even more as he turned one page of the tome...His eyes falling upon the stomach-churning story of one Sir Raynald de Leoncour, a particularly vicious knight who at present was serving as an attack dog for one of the many lords in the Kingdom...One Lord Amadeus Prower of Blackwater Keep...According to Orderic's writing...Leoncour would take pleasure in butchering his fellow knights during tourneys, often aiming for the neck with his lance and murdering his way through melees through his sheer skill and savagery...

What a horrible sounding man...What manner of lord would choose to hire such a beast? He could understand if the warrior reserved his savagery for his enemies...but, from what the account suggested...It seemed like Leoncour didn't even need an excuse to butcher...He seemed to LIKE killing...If there was one knight in the realm he didn't wish to encounter, it would be him...

He heard the door to the castle library opened and in strode Cream...her eyes red and puffy with tears...with her left one enveloped in a huge, swollen, purplish blob that almost covered it entirely...

"Cream?! By Chaos what happened to you?!" He cried with worry, the rabbit merely kept sobbing and threw herself at him, burying her face into his shoulder.

"I-I-It was my fault! I d-d-dropped one of Sir Douglas's vases...I s-should have been more careful..." She wept, her eyes a fountain of tears...Which only seemed to worsen her extremely nasty looking black eye...

He hugged her back, hoping to calm the poor girl and letting her cry into his shoulder, hopefully meaning that she would eventually calm down and be able to explain the full story of everything that had happened to her...

The girl just kept sobbing and shaking violently as she completely broke down in the arms of her only friend...And while he could only really hug back and give an occasional stroke of her back, she could feel herself slowly begin to calm down...

It took at least eight minutes for her to be in a state to be able to talk to him properly, however...When she was in such a state as to be able to speak to him...She pulled away, her eyes still red and puffy...However with less tears streaking down her face,

"Okay...are you feeling better Cream?" Miles asked, his worry for his friend on full display for the girl to see,

The rabbit merely nodded in response and in a very low and rather hoarse voice, she croaked out a simple, "Yes." in reply...

"Okay...Well, can you tell me what happened to you? I know you said you dropped something belonging to Douglas...Was he responsible for this?"

"Y-yes...I-I was ordered to come into his chambers to clean them...And w-when I w-was moving a vase...I-I slipped and dropped it...H-He came over grabbed me and started screaming at me...And t-then he punched me...He punched me h-harder than he had ever hit me before..."

The fox's ears flattened against his skull as he felt shocked, disgust and blood boiling rage begin to burn within him like the flame in an oil lamp...Or the glowing hot coals of a fireplace...This was utterly disgusting...The girl had been severely injured for an accident that wasn't her fault? This was absolutely inane! Why were scum like this being knighted and allowed positions of power?! Couldn't the crown see that these people were utterly deplorable, and their actions harmed the reputation of the realm and the nobility! Was Nigel unaware of the people he was granting land and influence too? Or even worse, was he aware and just wilfully ignorant of it?

He gave Cream a hug and sat her down on the chair next to his, saying in a sympathetic tone to the girl,

"Stay here for a while, I think it'll do us both some good."

Cream nodded meekly in response, sitting down next to him, wiping her good eye with one hand...peering down at the book with him...Her expression seemingly unfazed by all of the atrocities they read on the paper that made Miles feel ill...And he could understand why...From what he knew about her, she had only every had any proper experience with a vicious bully like Douglas...It didn't surprise her that many of the knight's in the tome were sick and evil people...

They both sat there reading for...Quite a long time, well over 3 hours...And yet not a word was spoken between the two...The only sounds within the library being the gentle pitter-patter of the rain outside as it made contact with the glass of the windows...The low sound of Cream sniffling and the sound of the pages of the book turning.

However, unfortunately for the pair...They were interrupted in their reading when the door to the library burst open and a loud, obnoxious and brash voice called to Miles,

"FOX! I WISH TO SPEAK WITH YOU!"

Both of the children turned and lo and behold, standing in the doorway was the fat, obnoxious, bombastic and supercilious figure of Baron Ivo Robotnik...His face like a pink ham that had grown a bushy moustache ...

Miles let out a small groan to himself...What the hell was this fat bastard doing here? What the hell did he want with him?! He was trying to not only learn a bit more about the kingdom's history and what it took to become a knight...But also to try and cheer Cream up!

With an irritated huff, he stood up whispered to the girl,

"I'll be back in a minute just stay here."

Before he got up from his seat and walked towards the fat man, his plump form slipping out of the doorway and the heavy sound of his footsteps reverberating down the corridor...

The fox rushed after him, jogging out of the door and heading down the narrow corridor the pompous baron was walking down...Rushing over so that he was right next to him as they walked,

"What is it you want of me Robotnik? I was in the middle of my studies, so this better be an important situation."

"Mind your tongue boy! I will not tolerate your rudeness...Especially when we will be having guests in our court in a week's time."

Miles looked up at the plump lord, a look of confusion and surprise plastered upon his face,

"Visitors? What visitors? King Nigel never mentioned anything to the castle at dinner last night, Or at any point today!"

The baron scoffed, crossing his arms as he did so,

"The identities of our guests are strictly confidential as King Nigel does not want to sow distrust and even fear within the royal court. What he does want however is for every man, woman and child in the castle to look their best for when the guests arrive next week...So make sure you are on your best behaviour...At least the best that you are capable of street urchin..."

Miles grimaced slightly; he could feel the raw malevolence oozing from the insult...Despite the sickly smile the Baron had put on, most likely to try and make him believe the jab to be nothing more than a mere jest...

However, the squire did decide to swallow his distaste at the insult and instead looked up at the baron and asked rather curiously,

"Ummmm...Baron Robotnik?"

"What?"

"Ever since I started learning the history of the kingdom...As well as the records of knights...I've started to feel...Less enthusiastic about becoming a knight...Considering the actions of those who have had that title before...I just wanted to ask you, since you are in the royal court...Why would the crown willingly knight such...horrible people?"

The baron, merely laughed in response...it was a cold and cruel laugh that was filled with no warmth or comradery...Instead it was filled with enough poison to kill ten men...

"So, you've finally realised how little the Crown cares do you?"

"What do you mean the Crown doesn't care? Nigel was willing to take me in when I was a homeless and filthy street rat! That would at least suggest that he has a heart!"

"Bah! He only let you become a squire because he could do with another future protector, he doesn't really give two gold crowns about you!"

Miles could feel both a horrible, cold feeling spread through his limbs, however in his hear...He could feel his anger and frustration begin to burn like a caged star...

"No! You're lying, you must be! Besides, isn't it treason to speak ill of the king like that?"

"Hah! Treason! Paying with my life just because I see and speak of the king for what he really is? What a noble and benevolent law...I know this is a tough truth to swallow boy...But King Nigel is an incompetent oaf...His father was an incompetent oaf and so was his grandfather! And it is their lavish lifestyles and parties that are the reason that so many are out on the streets and homeless! It is their brazen spending of the common folk's money that is the reason why the Kingdom has to rely on foreign imports and loans from lords outside of the Capital...So tell me...Miles...Does that sound like a good ruler to you? Do you really want THAT man to Knight you?"

The fox froze, dead in his tracks...It felt like the blood in his veins trued to ice, his chest tighter than a hangman's noose and his brain short circuiting...trying to process the information that the Baron had just spouted at him...

The cogs in his mind turned like clockwork...Desperately searching for any information or reply he could make that would prove the Master of Coin's words to be false...But...He couldn't find any! There was nothing he could do or say that would seem like a valid form of ammunition to shoot down what the Baron was saying...

"What? Got nothing to say...Boy? Finally realising that this Kingdom's ruler isn't some benevolent saviour of the weak, the poor and the broken? Well...I'm afraid the truth hurts..."

Miles only stood there, his face pale and his small form shaking like he was dying of cold...They both stood there for at least a minute...All before the fox let out a small croak and whispered,

"I've got to go back to studying...Excuse me..."

The small fox turned his heel and stated to march bac towards the library...Hearing the Baron cruelly laughing as he did so...And when he got back to the chamber...He slammed the door behind him, causing dust that had been gathering on the ancient iron-studded, oaken door...

"Cream?..." He called as he turned to shut the door behind him,hoping to find his friend so that he could at least try and remove the horrible thoughts from his mind...And yet there was no reply in response...

"Cream? Can you hear me?"

He turned around ...Gazing in the table where they had been sat reading together only minutes ago...And yet...All he saw was the open history book and two empty seats...Cream was gone, and he...was alone...