The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)

LEO

I woke up early, for a change, which I hadn’t done for a long time since I had been staying in my special room. Somehow, being out here in the lodge, I found myself waking up almost as soon as the sun had fully risen, like I used to back home.

I thought we’d be spending the night chatting away in our room, and I didn’t know if the others did, but I pretty much just fell asleep straight away as soon as I lay down. I didn’t dream either, just pure, blissful deep sleep.

When I woke up, I saw that Dimitri and Thomas were still sleeping, but Marius’s bed was empty. Knowing him, I figured he’d be outside doing some sort of morning training, so I headed downstairs. It seemed all the girls were still asleep as well, so I tiptoed my way out and closed the door behind me quietly.

Then, as soon as I set foot outside, I saw Marius practicing various sword stances. I had a vague feeling that somehow I’d seen the scene before, as if in a dream that I couldn’t quite recall, but I didn’t think much of it and approached him.

"Good morning, Marius," I said first, making sure that I didn’t end up accidentally surprising him and earning myself a sword pointing at my throat again.

Marius stopped, put his sword into the sheath carefully, and said,

"Good morning, Skylark."

"You do this every morning?" I asked him.

He seemed a little surprised, then thought for a moment, but eventually just said,

"Yes."

"Maybe you’d be better off practicing singing instead!" I joked, remembering the night before.

Marius laughed, clearly not embarrassed anymore about his horrible singing. I liked that he was getting a little shameless.

"Why did you wake up so early?" he asked me this time.

"I tend to wake up when the sun rises. It’s just what we do in Erdville," I said.

"I see. You are diligent people."

"Yeah, everyone works hard," I said proudly.

"You said something about wanting to become a Royal Knight because you wanted to earn money, too," Marius said.

"Yeah."

"I... never thought about what I should do to earn money," he said.

"I’m not surprised."

"And Isabelle was very interested in the business side of things last night too," Marius added.

I didn’t really know what to say about that.

"Tell me, Skylark. If you didn’t have to work for money, what would you want to do?" he asked me.

I gave it some thought, and I realized I still wasn’t sure what I really wanted to do. Had I stayed in Erdville, I would probably have worked on the farm. Or if I could have learned some skills, like carpentry or blacksmithing, I could have worked in a workshop like my Dad. It wouldn’t have been too bad, and I had nothing against it, but—

"I... am not quite sure, but I think I would still have liked to join the Academy," I said.

"Why join the Academy if you don’t intend to become a Royal Knight?" he asked me, puzzled.

"You know, I got to make new friends, and come here as well. We had a lot of fun, right?"

Marius slowly nodded and said,

"I won’t deny that."

Feeling that it was a little awkward to just stand around and talk, I walked over to a nearby rock and sat on it, and asked Marius,

"How about you? Why do you want to become a Royal Knight? It’s not like you need a job... I think?"

"Because it is an honor to serve the Empire."

"Don’t you want to also have some... fun? Have you thought about doing anything else?"

"’Fun’ isn’t something that I actually look for," he said.

"That’s so weird, Marius, hah," I said without thinking much, but somehow, Marius seemed to take it very seriously. His expression changed to something I couldn’t quite read, then he seemed hesitant, as if he wanted to say something but didn’t feel comfortable saying it.

"Gees, I’m sorry. I didn’t mean it in a bad way!" I tried to clarify.

"No, that’s not it," Marius said, shaking his head.

He then took a deep breath, looked unusually nervous, then clenched his fists and said,

"But it’s been enjoyable getting acquainted with you, Skylark!" he said all of a sudden, in a voice that was a little too loud.

"O... okay... me too...?" I blurted out.

"Of course—I... don’t mean just you. I meant the others too," Marius said.

"O—of course, me too!"

"And everything else the Academy has to offer, physical training, history classes, magic theory, and NOT JUST the survival mission and making shelters with Sombre trees," Marius said rather quickly.

"Yeah! But... THAT was one of the most fun things we have done at the Academy, though, heh!"

"It—it was. Just ONE of the most... ’fun’ things."

Then the conversation stopped.

I just sat on the rock, while Marius stood in front of me, looking at me and then looking away, looking at me and then looking away.

We stayed like that for a long while, but Marius’s eyes wandered less and less. Without agreeing to do so, we ended up just staring at the lake together, admiring how the sunlight reflected off the clear water. A fish jumped out of the water every now and then, and every time it did, I said, "Marius, did you see that?" And he said "yes" without fail. I liked that he was attentive like that and didn’t miss what I saw. Sitting here almost felt like being back in Erdville—very soothing.

And that reminded me,

"Marius, you said you would come to Erdville someday, right?" I asked him.

"I did, yes."

"Davi holds the record for skipping a stone eleven times across the water. You’ll have to practice a lot," I said.

That lit a fire in his eyes instantly.

"I shall not lose," he said.

Still so serious, always trying to do his best.

It made me smile inside.

I liked that about him.

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