The Perfect Knight and the Illusionist (BL)

LEO

The clock tower, which I was told was present in every central square in every district of the capital, rang six o’clock.

We—all the students from the Academy—were assembled at our initial setup point, with Lieutenant Gerlsbeck giving a speech.

According to him—

"Everyone has done a fantastic job today."

Apparently.

But I couldn’t quite agree. I learned that getting praised felt wonderful, but I also learned today that getting praised for reasons I wasn’t sure about felt... heavy.

"An unexpected event occurred, but it was resolved amicably, with a great result."

I knew what that unexpected event was, and I couldn’t say that how it was ’resolved’ was ’amicable.’ And the ’result’ made my stomach turn every time I thought about it again.

"The festival has been a massive success with only minimal—and necessary—disruption."

Success...

Was it?

"As a reward, you will be given the evening off to freely enjoy the festival while the Royal Knights who came to carry out other operations earlier will assume the patrol and supervision duties."

There was a loud cheer and applause as Lieutenant Gerlsbeck finished his speech, but one word rang with an echo in my empty head.

Reward.

Reward for getting a circus magician hooded and carried away to God knows where.

I felt nauseous and my stomach turned again. If I had been able to get and eat that candy fruit from the stall that disappeared, I might have puked it out.

"Hey, Leo. You want to go around and check out what to have for dinner?" Thomas asked me.

"I... don’t really feel like eating," I said.

"Huh? YOU? Skipping dinner?!"

Thomas was quite surprised.

He probably thought I was a glutton to be reacting like this, but well, to be fair, I probably had been one since I came to the capital because the food here was so good (except for a few things where the Erdville ones were better).

But even all the nice tastes of the capital didn’t quite appeal to me now.

"Janice and I are going to watch some music performances in half an hour. We’ll probably grab some pastries to eat quickly and go watch that," Beatrice said, with Janice standing next to her with twinkling eyes and asking me,

"Would you like to come with us?"

I wasn’t in the mood for any music either.

"Thank you, but... no," I said.

"Leo, mate, you should come with us and cheer me on for the hammer challenge. I will ring that bell for sure, haha—" Dimitri said. Briant and Alexis stood next to him with faces that said, ’we will entertain him for a few minutes, then we are going to do something more fun, so come with us.’

"I’m sorry, Dimitri... but I think I will pass."

It was then that everyone, now standing in a circle around me, asked almost at the same time,

"Are you okay, Leo?"

I didn’t know how to say I wasn’t feeling good.

I didn’t want people to worry about me, and I also didn’t know how to answer any follow-up questions if they asked me why.

Then I saw, in the distance, Mario talking to Sergeant Becker.

Then I knew—although I didn’t know what to say—I needed to go talk to him.

"Sorry, guys. But I’ll go and check something with Mario, if that’s okay..."

Isabelle was the one to quickly tell me—

"Sure, Leo. Don’t worry about us for now," and then she looked around at everyone and said, "We’ll all catch up again at the square later anyway, right?"

"I suppose it’s alright, then," Thomas said, shrugging.

"Thanks, guys..." I said and walked toward Mario, who seemed to have finished talking to the Sergeant just before I got to him.

I stopped a few steps away from him.

He turned to face me, and I looked at him as well.

There was a shade of worry and sadness on Mario’s face.

I probably looked similar too.

"Skylark," he said, finally, after at least ten seconds had passed between us without a word.

"Yeah... Mario," I responded.

"Do you want to... go for a walk?" he asked in a strained voice.

I was glad he asked me first.

"Sure."

That was all I said, though.

After that, we walked slowly toward the festival square. There were so many things I wanted to ask him, but I didn’t. The image of the man, whom I was certain was the magician, getting carried away forcefully was burned into my mind, and it kept on burning.

And Mario was there, right in front of the pack, clearing the way.

It saddened me.

"Skylark," Mario broke the silence finally, saying, "in the festival square earlier—"

"Mario, please stop," I said, the words coming out before I realized what I was saying.

Mario went quiet immediately, and I regretted it.

It was one chance for us to talk things through, but I stopped him.

Why...?

Then, when we arrived at the festival square, just as Lieutenant Gerlsbeck had said, it seemed the festival was a ’success.’ The square was more packed than it had been in the afternoon. There were more people singing, dancing, drinking—just enjoying themselves.

"We are not allowed to drink alcohol, Skylark. If that’s what you were thinking," Mario said, just blurting it out.

"I wasn’t going to..." I said.

"You are right. Why did I say that..."

It seemed Mario wasn’t in full control of what he was saying either.

"What would you like to do first?" he asked me again, this time a little more sensibly. But it was a question I wanted to ask him instead.

"How about you?"

Mario thought about it for a moment and said,

"I don’t really know how to enjoy a festival, but I suppose we need to eat something first. All the food might be gone if we leave it till later. Although I did bring some rations."

"Heck, no. I’m not eating THAT at a festival," I shot back, then laughed at the silliness of the idea, which I think Mario realized too, albeit with a bit of delay.

"Then what do you normally eat at a festival?" Mario asked me again, his voice genuinely curious.

"Well, candy fruits are a thing in the South, but they don’t have them here now. But I’m sure they have skewers. Those are also popular," I said.

"Let’s go find them, then," Mario said, then began to scan the area.

"It must be over there, Mario. Where the smoke is rising."

I pointed in the direction.

"Oh, how do you know that?"

"Erm... because skewers are grilled directly over flames. That’s what gives them the smoky taste."

"You... seem to know a lot," Mario said, impressed.

How this guy could be so good at some things and still not have basic common knowledge still surprised me at times.

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