I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 254: The Healing Tower

Arthur subtly watched Irene’s fingers tighten around the reins she held onto. He knew that if she wasn’t wearing riding gloves, her knuckles would likely be white.

As much as he wanted to reach over and squeeze her hand so she would release her grasp a bit, he knew that these feelings were necessary. Going back into the knighthood as she was wouldn’t be easy. Others’ perception of her might be skewed.

However, he had seen how hard she had trained and knew that she could fend off just about anyone. It was likely someone would catch her off guard.

Since the knighthood was full of men who supported her, that was what mattered the most.

"Let’s press on," Arthur gently urged his daughter.

She complied right away.

Irene was happy to be on horseback because her legs suddenly felt weak when the reality of what she was about to do struck her, with the tower finally in view.

For some reason, facing Felix was going to be the hardest for her. She wasn’t even sure if he got her note because there was never a response. However, she also knew that on the battlefield, things got lost quite often. She had witnessed piles of letters ruined by mud and water. In those times, all that could be recovered were the outer labels. Sometimes it was enough for the knights in battle to see that someone had at least tried to reach them even if the contents were completely lost.

She hoped it was something like that, and it wasn’t that her final remaining friend no longer saw her as something worth bothering with.

As they rounded the southern end, which would bring them to the front of the Duke’s Tower, they couldn’t help but notice as their eyes drifted over to the wall segment, where there was still evident scarring of the Earth. It was obvious where they constantly worked, battled, and lived. She wondered if grass would ever grow and cover that area. With that, she hoped the memories of such an awful time also ceased.

The ancient wall segment, which was once a symbol of a long-passed country that was taken over by monsters, represented what they finally accomplished so that the monsters wouldn’t win that time. All that was there to do now was rebuild and keep going forward.

Everyone hoped that something awful such as that would never happen again.

There were a few theories about the outcome of the battle, and Irene couldn’t wait to hear from the others the verdict on everything.

Irene and her father directed themselves north once more until they were at what was left of the collapsed stables.

Her heart clenched as she looked upon what was left. It was even worse than when she saw the collapsed stable the first time. Now it was completely flattened, but there was evidence of rebuilding.

An apprentice approached her and, despite his shaggy, dirty blonde hair, she recognized Bren. How strange it was that they were now on the same level until the knighting ceremony would take place.

Immediately, the two red heads dismounted their horses and walked towards the now apprentice who was approaching with his gloved hands held outward, signifying that he would take care of their horses for them.

As they walked further into the practice area, they saw that a temporary lean-to structure to keep the horses out of the weather if they were cold had been set up, and a pen had been erected around it. It wasn’t a permanent structure, obviously, but it was what they had to work with for now.

Bren saw their eyes go to the structure.

"Under the direction of Commander Lothian, we have a few additions that will help us for now," he explained.

"When did the Knights of Hydrogia leave?" Irene asked, stepping out from the other side of her horse, which was obscuring her from the apprentice.

Bren recognized her voice, but the girl he saw standing in front of him caused his eyes to widen.

"I-Iro?" he asked in disbelief.

"Well, it’s Irene," she admitted guiltily, "But you can refer to me as Iro if that’s what’s comfortable." freeweɓnovel-cøm

"No," Bren vehemently disagreed. "I think Irene suits you a lot more."

"Perfect," the girl responded with a smile, even though her question hadn’t been answered.

It seemed that there wouldn’t be time for answers to her questions while so many needed answers about her.

After the apprentice took their horses away, father and daughter walked up the center of the practice yard.

"These windows were all broken," Irene uttered in disbelief. "It must have cost so much to fix all of this."

"With pockets as deep as Commander Lothian, I wouldn’t worry so much about that," Arthur assured Irene with a light laugh.

They continued further until they were able to enter the Duke’s Tower from the back and freshly repaired doors.

Irene’s eyes immediately went to the floor. There was obvious evidence of the old compared to the new stones. Where there was once a massive collapse was repaired beautifully with newer stones that still somehow surprisingly matched.

It didn’t stop her from feeling somewhat nervous as she walked over the stone, but seeing that it was late afternoon and all the voices were coming from the dining hall, that was the direction they all went.

The last time she saw the place was through broken windows. However, now she didn’t even see a sign that there were goblin nests or broken furniture covering the place.

While the tables and chairs that had been built and placed there for the time being weren’t very ornate or fancy by any means, they were still far better than the nightmare the Duke’s Tower had fallen to.

Even though at first her focus was on the dining hall itself and not on the people inside, others had noticed her before she could notice them.

She finally realized people were staring at her, and her head snapped to attention as her father touched her shoulder to bring her focus elsewhere.

No one was speaking to her, but they were certainly staring. She wanted to put a hand on her face to see if there was something on it, but she managed to resist a moment of weakness in front of a room full of war-weathered men.

It was Sir Gunnar who was brave enough to walk forward first. When he met his apprentice, he placed a hand on her shoulder.

"I’m so relieved to see that the color has returned to your face," he gushed in relief. However, since it seemed that the others were suddenly afraid of Irene, he turned towards the room and narrowed his eyes as if to say they needed to react. "Isn’t it wonderful to see her in one piece?"

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