Five days later, a monster subjugation notice appeared on the bulletin board of the main building.
This year's target was the White Raven Gorge, in the northern part of the continent.
The Celestial Knights moved to subjugate monsters on request.
Depending on the scale and nature of the threat, they dispatched teams composed of Giosa owners, formal knights, junior knights, and cadets serving as provisional squires.
But every spring, they also selected areas where outbreaks had grown severe enough that other nations couldn't manage them and conducted subjugations regardless of whether a request had come in. It was a duty that traced back to their origins as apostles of the Divine Sword, and it served a practical purpose too: a demonstration of what the Celestial Knights were capable of.
Monsters arose spontaneously and multiplied at a rate no ordinary creature could match. Scholars debated the mechanics of their origin; ordinary people only knew that wherever something unsettling took root - grief, violent death, lingering malice - monsters followed.
The White Raven Gorge had been a battlefield the previous summer.
Located near the borders of the small northern kingdoms, it had been used for ambush operations, and many soldiers had died there in terrible ways. A place where many die in agony becomes a nest for monsters almost inevitably.
The White Raven Gorge was no exception.
The subjugation force included the Knight Commander, three Giosa owners, approximately twenty formal knights (all Masters), around seventy junior knights, eight squires, thirty upper-year cadets, and the top three freshmen. In raw numbers, they were small - but in combat power, they could rival a small nation's army.
"Bigger than usual, isn't it?"
"The gorge must be in bad shape."
"I heard the Vice-Commander expanded the deployment. Something about orders from the Commander."
"More overall - but the same number of cadets as last year?"
"Too dangerous with more. More cadets means more people to protect."
"With this many junior knights, we'll be doing support work. How many will each cadet end up managing?"
"Don't want to go? I'll take your spot."
"Are you out of your mind? Why would I miss this?"
A cluster of cadets chattered around the board. Echi, just out of the dining hall, read the notice. Three first-year names were printed at the bottom.
Echinacea Roaz. Alice Winterbell. Michael von Franz Almari.
Among the freshmen who had placed first, second, and third, only Echi had kept her original rank. She glanced at Alice, who had been eating with her.
"…Weren't you going to focus on your sword for a while? Stop caring about rank?"
"I challenged the second-ranked cadet two days ago. I didn't want to miss the combat experience."
Alice answered without much inflection. Echi let out a dry laugh.
She had genuinely hoped Alice wouldn't be on this list. The subjugation was going to be dangerous. Her eyes moved down the rest of the names.
'Squire Baraha Islaf. As expected. And Senior Fatima's name is here too. And names I'm less pleased to see.'
Ian Pelletro was on the list. Brad von Fohm was not - the top thirty from years two and three excluded him by simple merit. Small mercies.
She looked at each familiar name slowly.
[Master, let's quietly kill Ian during the subjugation. It'll be chaotic, no one will notice, we'll get some blood, and that annoyance will be gone. Good idea, right?]
ValderGiosa whispered with relish. Echi didn't respond. No matter what Ian was, she had no intention of killing someone who hadn't committed any concrete crime simply to manage her frustration.
Give the sword even one exception and she risked being dragged back toward what she used to be.
She was not going back there.
'More importantly - I need to watch.'
She would keep her eyes on the people she knew, including Baraha.
Make sure no one died. And observe how the Giosa owners behaved.
'Dietrich Sarua is still a junior knight. He'll become a Giosa owner within three years - but right now, he isn't one.'
That left three Giosa owners.
'Baron Tillius. Teresa von Franz Almari. And Yurien.'
If any of the three retained memories of the erased past, the monster subjugation was her chance to find out. And as for Yurien - she hoped, very sincerely, that he remembered nothing.
With that wish she left the board.
Departure was set for May 10th. Nine days away.
* * *
On May 10th, 1629, the Celestial Knights' subjugation force departed for the White Raven Gorge.
They traveled north by mana train - the Knights had reserved the entire train. From the nearest station, they switched to horses and wagons. Two days after departure, on the evening of May 12th, they reached the gorge entrance and began setting up their base camp.
Every cadet except the squires was assigned to support specific knights. Alice and Michael, as first-year cadets, were each assigned to assist three junior knights. Echinacea was assigned to assist one person only: Yurien de Harden Kyrie.
"It makes sense - your probation period ends in eight days."
Baraha appeared and lifted the bag she had been carrying.
"You don't have to do that."
"We're heading the same way. I missed the freshman ranking competition. I heard about it, though."
He walked ahead. She fell into step behind him.
Unlike the squires, the cadets had tents near the junior knights' area.
Squires had personal tents directly beside their assigned lords.
Echi was no exception. Her tent had been placed right beside the Knight Commander's. She was being treated as a full squire already.
Since no servants had come on the subjugation, the squires handled tent setup themselves. The junior knights set up alongside the cadets. The formal knights had gone directly to a meeting as soon as they arrived.
With the sun already down, everything was done by torchlight.
People moved busily in every direction. Echi and Baraha weaved through the crowd.
She had dressed practically for the journey - a simple navy dress, minimal frills, something close to a one-piece. A small velvet hat in the same navy, gemstone-trimmed with short mesh lace. The gloves were thin leather rather than silk, though still embroidered.
Simple by her usual standards. Still conspicuous here.
Several junior knights whistled as she passed.
"Is that Baraha's lover?"
"That's the 'Lady' from the Academy. Haven't you heard?"
"Ah, the one the Commander named as squire? I thought that was a rumor, but she really is a noble lady."
"Skills are one thing - but battlefield experience is different. She'll probably faint the moment she sees a monster."
Their murmurs trailed after her. She paid them no attention. She had considerably more pressing concerns.
While on the move, she'd been with the cadet group and hadn't needed to face the Giosa owners directly.
Starting now, that would change.
She was tense. Extra care in her makeup today, and the veil on her hat — but tension lingered regardless.
Without quite noticing, she pressed a hand firmly against the brim.
They passed the junior knights' area and arrived at the center of the knights' tents being erected. Baraha set down her bag.
"Your tent goes here. The Commander's will be set up in this spot. I'll help you."
"You don't need to - you have your own tent to set up."
"It'll take me thirty minutes."
"Really, Senior, I can—"
"I'll be fast."
He shrugged and lifted the center pole. Before she could stop him, he had started.
Nearby cadets and junior knights glanced over and began murmuring, just quietly enough that only Echi heard.
"She really is a proper lady. Doesn't want to do the rough work herself. Getting someone else to do it. A lady is a lady."
She had expected exactly this. It was genuinely kind of Baraha, and she knew it - which made it hard to stop. She had long since stopped caring about her own reputation.
Still. Echi sighed quietly and pulled out the tent fabric to help him.
They leveled the ground, raised the pole, spread the carpet, covered the frame, arranged the folding furniture inside. In very little time, the tent was set. Baraha was efficient.
Then they started on hers. But a familiar voice interrupted.
"Fiery battlefield romance? How heartwarming."
"I'm helping a junior, Sir Dietrich."
Baraha frowned.
A man with vivid red hair and a cleanly handsome face was approaching with an unhurried swagger. A very familiar face.
The moment she saw him, Echi's hand moved automatically toward her hat brim and then slowly released it.
Dietrich Sarua.
The Giosa owner who had tried to flee, blocked by Teresa, before Echinacea hunted him down through a night forest. Her memory of that pursuit was horrifyingly vivid, shadows, ragged breath, screaming, the smell of blood on top of blood.
But in 1629, Dietrich Sarua was not a Giosa owner. He was a junior knight, not yet a Master. If he had awakened his Giosa as Echi had, he would have come back with it, and unlike ValderGiosa, Dietrich's LemminGiosa was a known sword with a known location. He could not have kept it secret.
'He has no memories of the erased past.'
She lifted her head and let her hand fall from the hat brim. Their eyes met through her veil.
Dietrich's red eyes curved with easy amusement.
"Such a pretty little lady. She's your lover, isn't she, Baraha?"
"She is not my lover. How many times do I have to say it?"
"Right, right. Not a lover yet. Keep at it, man."
He grinned and clapped Baraha on the back. Baraha shoved the arm off with a scowl.
"Stop joking, Sir Dietrich."
"If she's not your lover and you're not trying to become one, then why are you pitching her tent?"
"Is it wrong to help a junior I care about?"
"Oh, it kind of is. Depending on the situation."
"…What?"
Dietrich glanced at Echi, then hooked an arm around Baraha's neck and pulled him down.
"Think about how it looks. If you actually care about your junior, you should be more thoughtful about it."
Baraha's expression went blank. Dietrich ruffled his hair into a mess before letting him go, then sauntered over to Echi with his hands in his pockets.
"Cadet Echinacea Roaz. You follow what I'm getting at?"
"If you're concerned about my reputation, I appreciate it. But it's fine, Senior Dietrich."
"Figured you'd say that. You didn't ask Baraha for help, did you?"
"I didn't refuse his offer. That's more or less the same thing."
He scanned her from head to toe with a look that was more measuring than anything else.
"Fair enough. But you.. "
"If it's about the outfit .."
"Nah, I'm not bothered by that. Want to know why?"