Arcadia's Ignoble Knight: The Sorceress' Knights Tournament

Chapter 27

After all of the speeches were given, dinner was served. Servants bearing platters of food came out from the large double-doors that led into the kitchen. There were all kinds of gourmet dishes. As a balanced meal was important for a warrior, the servants had made sure to prepare a mixture of meats and vegetables, all of which was served with a variety of sauces.

Elincia sat at a table reserved for the sorceresses and their knights. She sat between Lady Sylvia and Lady Erica. The two sorceresses were remarkably unpleasant toward each other, trading barbs and insults, but she was growing used to that.

Derek sat on the other side of the table, along with the other knights; a young man with a placid gaze garbed in a kimono, a boisterous redhead wearing a large grin, the ever stoic D'artagnan, and the dwarf whose name Elincia had learned was Dolten. They all looked so different. It was hard for her to believe that each one was a knight with enough strength to defeat a horde of enemies.

"So, what do you all think of the latest batch of knights?" asked the red-haired Alexander, his voice booming across the cafeteria. Elincia knew little about the man known as Alexander Macedon, except that he was a raucous man who enjoyed wine and battle a little too much—according to Lady Sylvia.

"I do not have enough information on them to determine their skill," the kimono-wearing man said. Elincia knew him as well. Kiriya Kirisaki, the famed samurai general, who was said to have slain an earth golem with a single slash of his katana. "That said, I sensed much promise in them. I believe that anyone of them could become an excellent sorceress's knight, given time and experience."

"Ha ha ha! Those were my thoughts exactly!" Alexander admitted.

"I am most interested in the young man with red hair," Hiksath said. He was a man of 20-something years, with shock white hair, gray eyes, and dark skin. If Elincia remembered correctly, he was Lady Aakarshaka Nueva's Knight.

"Isn't he the peasant that Sylvia allowed to enter this academy?" Hiksath's twin brother, Vash, asked. While Lady Sylvia remained surprisingly calm, Elincia gripped her fork so tightly her knuckles turned white.

"He is," Hiksath said. "I remember the meeting we all went to where her ladyship announced that he would be attending. It was quite the surprise."

"Gya ha ha ha!" Alexander laughed. "That's right! I was really surprised when she announced that a plebeian would be coming to school here! It was quite the shocker. I still sometimes wonder what she was thinking when she allowed him to attend this academy."

Elincia's lips thinned as she continued to listen to these knights talk about Caspian. She knew that a lot of his peers looked down on him because of his status, but she'd believed that those who'd become knights were beyond such pettiness. Was the stigma of not being a noble going to follow Caspian for the rest of his life?

"How can you people sit here and speak poorly about someone you don't even know?" she whispered, feeling the sting of water gathering in her eyes. Conversation around their table stopped.

"Pardon?" Kiriya asked in a calm voice.

"How can you sit here, talking badly about someone who you've never met before now?!" Standing up, Elincia slammed her hands onto the table. "None of you know the first thing about Caspian! Yet you're talking about him like he's dirt beneath your boots!"

"Now, now, little lady, none of us said anything bad about the kid." Alexander raised his hands as if to try and calm her down. "We were simply making conversation about a curious subject matter."

"You called him a peasant, a plebeian," Elincia said through grit teeth. She could feel her emotions slipping. Her mana was acting up, too. It felt like a storm was raging inside of her. "Just because Caspian doesn't come from nobility doesn't make him any less deserving than anyone else! He shouldn't have to be labeled with derogatory terms like that!"