A Katarina Interlude

Katarina was confused when Maria got back to their rooms after she did. The blonde had a slightly annoyed look on her face, and she was still wearing the same clothes they'd spared in. She was wearing the same sweat too, as far as Katarina could tell. She was a farmer, she had a wealth of experience on being able to tell if people were still wearing the same sweat she'd last smelled on them.

"Lady Maria?" Katarina said, because she wasn't needing to be squirely at the moment. "I thought you'd already gone to dinner."

"… I had a small errand to run that unfortunately took me far," Maria said. She glanced over at the formal armor Katarina was wearing again. After a week of washing, the blood had all finally come off—mostly, there was a little spot in the wrist that was stubbornly staying like a weed that refused to be uprooted—and her lips pressed together for a moment, giving Katarina horrible 'mother is about to scold me' flashbacks before it went away. "There is no need for that, my squire. Our discussion is likely to be lengthy and not something to be held in public. Lasciel, would it be possible for you to go down and retrieve dinner for us?" For some reason, Maria glanced at Katarina again. "You might need assistance bringing enough food."

"If you don't need me Lady Katarina, I am willing to assist Lasciel in retrieving the food from the kitchen," Anne said.

Ah, right, all the maids and Shana had to eat too. "Sure, Anne! I can get changed out on my own."

"That would me most appreciated ste—Anne," Maria said, and there was a strange look on her face as she sounded awkward. "I will only be a moment, my squire. Then we will speak before the food arrives."

Maria began disarming, even as Katarina started to undo all the belts and clasps and things she'd just put on. The blonde had already removed her swords, guns, throwing knives, and all the other stuff she was carrying, and had put her leather coat on her armor stand by the time Katarina finally managed to get her breastplate off. The farmer politely looked away as Maria went on to strip completely—Maria kind of had a 'just us girls here' attitude about clothes—before disappearing into the bathroom with Sadako.

Katarina should warn Rafael about her. She kept giving Maria 'fucky-fucky' eyes, although the blonde didn't seem to notice. Which… wasn't anything new, but was still concerning.

She wasn't going to let Rafael's route bad-end!

"My squire, I'm not sure if you've noticed, but Sorcier will soon be at war with La Sable."

Katarina stared at her, confused. "Eh? We will? Why?" Everyone had been getting along so well! She'd had to with Mircalla just this morning and the woman hadn't said anything about war, just more trash talk about how she really didn't' like their president.

For some reason, Maria nodded. "That Sorcier would declare war on La Sable is a natural consequence of the fact they attacked the International Assembly and slew both citizens of Sorcier and nobles from other nations who were in attendance."

"…ah…. right…" She'd been not thinking about that.

Maria nodded. "Right. Because of those events, Sorcier and its allies will have no choice but to go to war with La Sable. As such, I must ask you if you want to stop being my squire."

Katarina instantly threw herself as Maria's feet, going full dogeza with her forehead to the carpet. "No! Don't kick me out! I swear I'll do better! I'll keep my armor clean, by tomorrow that last blood stain will be gone, I promise!"

"… my squire, did you actually hear the question?"

Well, honestly, Katarina had just heard 'stop being my squire' and figured that Maria had gotten tired of her and was tossing her aside.

"My squire, it's not like you're some pretty commoner a Marchioness saw, decided to bring home, and is now being discarded because her desires have been satisfied. I asked if you wanted to stop being my squire."

Wait, how was Maria reading her mind? Was this the power of Light Magic?

She heard Maria sigh for some reason. "My squire, you've been talking out loud all this time. Whatever thoughts you had, they were not private because they made their way out of your mouth. So no, this is not the power of Light Magic. This is the power of listening when someone is talking."

Katarina felt like she was being scolded somehow, but she didn't know why…

Maria sighed. "My squire, get up from that groveling pose sit down, and properly listen to my question." When Katarina had finally seated herself again, wringing her hands nervously—she wished she had a pillow—Maria spoke again, her words coming out slow. "My squire… do you… want to stop being my squire?"

"No," Katarina said immediately. "I like being your squire. You're a way better teacher than the ones at the Academy!. Ah, but don't tell them I said that, it will hurt their feelings. "

"While I am gladdened by your sentiment, I do not believe you have completely considered the implications of this state of affairs. As a lowly knight, I will likely be called to march to war, and as my squire you will be required to accompany me." Maria paused, and took a deep breath. "My squire, I know well how hard you have worked. I have watched you fight your own inclinations. I've seen you persist through difficulties. You have done everything I have asked of you, and have exceeded my expectations more than once." Eh? When had she done that? "I do not doubt your skills with a sword, and while you have had difficulty in parrying, you have persisted in learning as I have asked you. In a few years, I have no doubt you would be a fine knight. However…"

Katarina winced. She had been hoping that this wasn't going where she had thought it would. She wanted to open her mouth a protest, but Maria's serious expression stopped her.

"… you have not even been my squire for a year. All your training has so far been in controlled conditions, and has consisted of weapons drills. We have not yet even started on your training on ranged weapons such as bows, crossbows, and throwing knives, nor have we gone out hunting to test you against wild dogs, bears, ogres, deer, wild boars, giant crabs, wild drakes or anything else that might be a danger to people." Wait, Maria was saying a lot of scary things there! "Compared to your peers who have been training for longer than you, you are woefully unprepared for true combat. That you performed well during the attack previously is a testament to your skills with the sword, but make no mistake. Those were under ideal conditions. You were facing exactly the kind of opponents your skills were ideally suited for, and we had numbers on our side. In war, we will not always be so advantaged. We will be outnumbered. We will be exhausted. We will be ambushed and ganked. We could die, and there is no guarantee that we would rise again."

Maria was silent for a moment. "Thus, I ask you again: do you still wish to be my squire? If you choose to end your squireship with me, you would be spared having to go to war. You may return to the Claes estate, maintaining your farm and helping keep peoples' spirits up. You will be safe, and out of danger."

Her mouth was already opening to repeat that she wanted to stay as Maria's squire, but that last made Katarina pause a little. Safe… out of danger… "What about you, though?"

"I will do my duty as a knight," Maria said. "I will go to war with blades in hand, and do battle where my king needs me."

"Where it's unsafe and dangerous."

"Yes. That's part of what a knight does."

"And you can't just quit being a knight, right?"

"I could," Maria said. "But I will not. I do not know why I was knighted, but the king charged me to be worthy of the title, and so I shall. To run at the mere possibility of danger—" Maria made a face like a normie looking at hardcore yaoi stuff, the kind with wieners fatter than arms and long enough to reach their neck that even Katarina wouldn't touch, even if it was princest smut, "—no worthy knight would do such a thing."

Katarina took a moment to make sure her mouth was closed and staying closed before she started thinking.

Why was this pure heroine so dense? Sure, that was the style these days, make the heroine humble by making them really dense about how awesome they were, but still! One of these days, someone had to tell her that reason she was knighted—besides doing a bunch of heroic stuff like capturing bandits, healing people, finding people trying to do dark magic, and saving children—was because she could say things like that and actually mean it!

…

But that wasn't going to be Katarina, because the gap moe was so cute!

"My squire, why are you covering your mouth with your hand?"

"So you can't—" Katarina paused and took off her hand. "So you can't read my mind."

Maria paused a moment. "I see… a sensible precaution for you. I will not inquire what unflattering thought about me you did not want me to… read from your mind. However, I must have your answer, my squire. Will you be leaving my service?"

Ah, right! "No," Katarina said. There had never been a doubt in her mind. "I don't want to leave. I'm going to keep being your squire."

Maria stared at her intently. "Even if doing so will require you to go into danger at my side?"

"If I don't, you'll have to do dangerous things alone. That'll be even more dangerous. Nope, I'm staying."

There was another stare. "Why?"

"Because I want to be a knight," Katarina said, letting herself smile. "And a knight who I think is really cool and amazing and the best says that running away and quitting just because things get dangerous isn't something a knight would do. So I can't quit."

Ooh, Maria was blushing! Sure, she was doing that 'not moving her face' thing, but her cheeks were totally going red! "Besides, I'm a duke's daughter, you know. That means I'm a noble, so my responsibility is to protect people. And even though that knight who is really cool and amazing and the best is really cool and amazing and the best… I still outrank her. That means it's my responsibility to protect her. And I can't do that if I quit being her squire."

"You think this knight needs your protection?" Maria said. She was making a stern face, but it was completely ruined by how she was still blushing.

"Nope! My really cool and amazing and the best knight can protect herself," Katarina said cheerfully. "But that doesn't matter, because I have a responsibility. I'm going to protect her. I'm going to protect all the people who love her from being sad by doing my best to not let anything happen to her. Because I want to be a knight, the kind of knight that can protect a little girl's dessert. And their mamas."

Maria was quiet—and blushing, hah!—for a long time. Then she nodded. "I see. Then I will not disgrace myself or you again by asking any further… my squire."

The next day, Maria stared blankly at the king and wished she had tried a little harder to dissuade her squire(!-!-!-!).