Ian smiled with practiced ease, sharp-featured, but approachable, naturally sociable. She could see why he held the position. Echi let out a quiet breath.
"So, what makes you think recruitment will be especially fierce this year?"
"Ahem."
Ian cleared his throat. The cadets nearby had been subtly tuning in to their conversation, the new student with a dress and the cadet representative, sitting together in the dining hall, were conspicuous.
Under their gazes, he looked her over once more and delivered it plainly.
"First-year Echinacea Roaz - squire designation."
The noise in the dining hall cut out. A beat of charged silence, then voices erupted from every direction.
"Squire? A freshman as a squire?"
"…What happened?"
"Ian! You're joking, right?"
"Senior, what's going on?"
Some came closer. Ian smiled with the sheepishness of a man who had expected exactly this.
"It'll be posted on the main building board soon."
"Posted, so it's actually a squire designation?"
"A temporary one, surely. It can't be permanent."
"Is it real, Senior? There hasn't been a new squire in two years... "
The stares that fixed on Echi were sharper than before. She gaped, momentarily at a loss.
Squire designations were not common. Knights were encouraged to have squires but not required to, and most routine duties were handled by cadets on rotation. To designate someone as a squire was, in effect, to take on a personal disciple.
Echi had never intended to become one. A squire meant a close, sustained relationship with a knight - exactly what she needed to avoid.
Her plan had been to distinguish herself, earn her knighthood, and advance to Master as quickly as possible. Her plan had been to distinguish herself, earn her knighthood, and advance to Master as quickly as possible.
But a squire on her first day? Her teeth came together. She kept her voice even.
"Who is it?"
Who could possibly have named her a squire without ever having spoken to her? No one had so much as exchanged names with her since the exam until now. Unless one of the Giosa owners had recognized her - but if they had, they would have moved to arrest or confront her, not make her their squire.
A cascade of possibilities ran through her mind in an instant. The cadets all turned to Ian at her question. He took that attention without flinching.
"Sir Yurien de Harden Kyrier."
A silence fell that dwarfed the last.
It was not a name anyone had expected to hear. Giosa owner. Wielder of the holy sword RanGiosa. Commander of the Celestial Knights Order. He had reached Master at twenty-three, unseated the previous commander at twenty-four, and in four years since had never once designated anyone - not even as a temporary squire.
A cadet broke the silence in a trembling voice. "Ian. You're joking."
"Go check the board."
Ian shrugged and turned to Echi. She was frozen, exactly as though time had stopped.
He set a rolled parchment in front of her and spoke calmly. "Appointment letter. One-month probationary period, with formal placement following. Preliminary squire training will be conducted by me during the probation. Report to the fourth training ground east of the main building at nine tomorrow morning. Any questions?"
"..."
She looked down at the scroll. High-quality parchment, sealed with red wax - the unmistakable seal of the Celestial Order. Her thoughts felt as though they might crack apart from the pressure.
"I'll take that as no."
Ian rose and added as he turned to leave: "Oh - you mentioned a duel at sunset today? Seventh training ground, behind the women's dormitory? Alice told me. I've accepted the witness invitation, so I'll see you then. Enjoy your meal."
That brought her back. Echi shot to her feet and seized the scroll on instinct.
She vanished from the dining hall so fast that the room erupted in noise behind her - squire, freshman, commander, duel, all mixed together in a wave of overlapping voices, spreading through the academy like fire.
She made it to her room at something close to a sprint. Alice was not there. She locked the door and sank to the floor. With shaking hands, she broke the wax seal.
The appointment letter. Dark blue ink, neat handwriting.
«Appointment Letter.
Academy freshman Echinacea Roaz.
The above student is hereby appointed as squire to Knight Yurien de Harden Kyrier.
April 18th, 1629.»
No matter how many times she read it, the content didn't change. She tossed it aside.
[That's Yurien — RanGiosa's owner, right? Do you think he recognized you? But if he knew, wouldn't he come to kill you? Why make you his squire? What do you think, master?]
She couldn't process what the sword was saying.
Images of Yurien crowded in unbidden. The man lowering his white sword. His face, startled by her tears. His voice, saying he would give her a chance. His blue eyes, watching from behind an iron gate. His eyes, meeting hers in the ruins of Azenka, surrounded by the smell of blood.
What she felt for him defied simple description. It could have become love, she thought. She had been gathering words to say to him - things she wanted him to hear when this was over. Her chest had been warming toward him in a way she recognized, even then.
But what she had done was too terrible for that warmth to survive. She couldn't bear to love him.
She could still see it - his eyes, like a shattered mirror, in the moment he died at her hands. The sharp guilt, the grief that had never fully gone away. Every other feeling she might have had was buried beneath it.
She had killed countless people, including many she loved, under the influence of the cursed sword. She felt guilt toward all of them - and toward most of them, she also had a defense. She hadn't done it willingly. It was the sword.
But she couldn't say that to Yurien. He had believed in the Echinacea inside - not the sword, not its shell, but her. And she had betrayed that belief.
'It wasn't only the sword's influence. I was the one who broke his trust. I failed him. I couldn't hold on.'
She sat with her head pressed into her knees. Why had he named her as his squire?
Was it her exam score? Her performance against the junior knight in the second round? Had that knight said something? Or - did he actually remember? But that couldn't be it. If he remembered, he would have come with the other Giosa owners. Not offered her a squire appointment.
The man who had given her a second chance, and died for it. If he had another chance now, he would not hesitate to cut her down.
She was certain of that.
That was why she wanted to see him but had no intention of meeting him.
And yet. A squire. She would have to stay at his side.
She couldn't move for a long time.
The demonic sword made a few attempts at commentary, and when she didn't respond, it went quiet.
The sun moved. The window went golden. Echi finally stood.
She picked up the longsword from the corner of the room, the only unglamorous object among her belongings, a cheap sword bought in Azenka because she couldn't wear a proper one with her dresses.
She took it by the scabbard and walked to the seventh training ground behind the dormitory.
Every cadet she passed flinched at her appearance and then whispered to the person beside them. The word "squire" reached her ears more than once.
The crowd gathered around the training ground was enormous.
The seventh ground were enormous, hedge-bordered, with a few training dummies, meant for individual warm-ups. There was space for a duel, but not for spectators. Cadets were crammed together outside the hedge and around the dummies, and she suspected most of the academy was there.
Not only was this a duel between the first- and second-ranked freshmen on their very first day - one of them had just been named the commander's squire. Even cadets with no interest in duels had come.
The inevitable result of Ian Pelletro announcing the time and place in a packed dining hall.
The crowd parted as she approached. Echi walked into the training ground with a blank face.
Alice Winterbell was already there, expression strained in a way that said she had heard about the squire appointment.
"Welcome, Echinacea."
Ian Pelletro greeted her with an easy smile. Echi gave a single nod and took her position opposite Alice.
"No reason to Alice, shall we begin? Alice, as the challenger, you'll go first."
Both agreed. Ian clapped his hands once between them, drawing the attention of the watching cadets.
"Divine year 1629, April 18th, late afternoon. Under the witness of Ian Pecadets, cadet Echinacea Roaz and cadet Alice Winterbell begin the conversation of the sword. To the victor: mercy and forbearance. To the defeated: acceptance and humility. To the sword: honor and righteousness. Ar Sebatiem."
The formal declaration had its origins in the Celestial Knights' tradition of venerating KairosGiosa as divine proof, religious roots that still ran through Celestial culture. Ar Sebatiem, an archaic phrase meaning may God be glorified, was common in priestly speech as well.
As the words settled, Alice drew her sword. The silver blade caught the light like a polished mirror.
A fine weapon, carefully maintained, consistently honed.
Alice raised it in front of her body: blade straight, guard brought close to her lips as if brushing them, then lowered to the right. It was a formal, imperial mirror, precise and dignified.