Greatest Alchemist? Chapter 685

Birth of Knight Commander Galahad

「Eh, you want to observe the knights’ training? Of course, that’s fine.」
「Ohh, much obliged, Iruma-dono.」

Several days had passed since Galahad-san moved here, and for some reason, he made a request to observe the knights’ training.

It would be great if someone like Galahad-san became a knight captain[1], but it’s not really something I could just ask of him.
I heard that Galahad-san chose to move here because retiring and staying at the capital would put undue pressure on his son.

Asking someone who had just retired from the leader position to take a similar one again was difficult.

In the training field, each order was conducting their own training.

「Iruma-dono, the Sanctuary has three orders?」
「No, the headquarters of Undine’s Water Spirit Knights is by the seaside, so we have four in total.」
「Undine-sama’s Water Spirit Knights? Could it be, the three knight orders here are……」
「Yes. Salamander’s Fire Spirit Knights. Sylph’s Wind Sprit Knights. Gnome’s Earth Spirit Knights. As you can see, the Fire Spirit Knights comprise of Humans and Beastkin, the Wind Spirit Knights are Elves, and Earth Spirit Knights are Dwarves, while the Water Spirit Knights are Mermaids.」
「My word………」

Galahad-san’s eyes widened in astonishment.

I can’t tell him this was made on the whim of the Great Spirits.

「……hm? Iruma-dono, is that not the Lion’s Fang?」
「Yes. Heath-san and others had immigrated to the Sanctuary with their families, and are being considered the future leaders of the Fire Spirit Knights.」

As expected of the high ranking adventurer party 『Lion’s Fang』 Even Galahad-san knows them.

「Unlike the other orders, the Fire Spirit Knights consists of only young men with no experience as knights, so we invited Heath-san and his team to join. I’ve known them for a long time as well, so I had an understanding of their character.」
「…………」

Galahad-san shut his eyes, seemingly deep in thought about something, when, suddenly, he opened his eyes and began speaking.

「Iruma-dono! Please include me in the ranks of the knights!」
「Eh!?」

This was an offer that I really welcome.

◇

Guided by Iruma-dono, we arrived at a neatly maintained training ground, where knights were practicing diligently.

It was then that I noticed the differences in the armor each had worn. Moreover, there were three headquarter-like buildings, and three different banners hoisted high.

When I asked Iruma-dono about it, there was actually a total of four divisions.

However, that was not the problem.

The establishment of these knight orders was the will of the Great Spirits themselves, is it not? The Sanctuary Knight Order…… it could be said that this organization would protect the order of this world.

I am well over my fifties, feeling the surge of blood within me, how thrilling.

Watching their training in great detail, I noticed that the knights were highly skilled. In terms of level, are they higher than even me? Of course levels alone do not equate to strength, but nonetheless, they were still well trained.

The only drawback seemed to be their lack of experience. But if there are no veteran knights, that was but an inevitability.

Among those wearing the armor of the Fire Spirit Knights, I saw some familiar faces. They were the members of one of Valkyra Kingdom’s top adventurer parties 『Lion’s Fang』.

Apparently, they’ve retired as adventurers, moved to the Sanctuary and joined the Knight Order.

In the Fire Spirit Knights was primarily filled with youths, the experienced members of the 『Lion’s Fang』 were certainly candidates for leadership.

However, they needed someone to coach and lead them.

The moment I thought that, I couldn’t stand still, and the next moment, the words flowed out of my mouth.

「Iruma-dono! Please include me in the ranks of the knights!」
「Eh!?」

Iruma-dono was surprised by the sudden offer.

Of course he would be. I had only just resigned as the knight commander and moved away from the Royal Capital.

Even so, I believe this was my destiny.

His Majesty and the Prime Minister had tried persuading me to continue working for another ten years at minimum, but with the generational handover, they too must have realized that now was the only time to pass it to my son.

I refrained from staying in the Royal Capital and decided to move to the Sanctuary.
In hindsight, if the Great Spirits had chosen to not accept me, I wouldn’t have been able to move, so I suppose I was too brash.

Well, Iruma-dono and I aren’t strangers, and we’ve even fought a war together. As such, I wasn’t particularly worried about the immigration.

Then I encountered the knight order established by the Great Spirits in the Sanctuary.

If this wasn’t destiny, what is?

「I would be delighted if you are able to serve as both the captain of the Fire Spirit Knights and the commander of all four orders. Would you be willing to do so?」
「Yes, I will train Heath to become the captain of the Fire Spirit Knights. I accept the position of commander of the Sanctuary Knights.」
「Thank you very much. Let me introduce you to everyone.」

Shaking Iruma-dono’s hand firmly, we then headed to the knight orders headquarters.

How truly fortunate I am to be entrusted a duty worth laying my life on the line for.

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Footnotes:
1.  騎士団長 – literally means leader of the knight order, so I originally translated it to Knight Commander in other countries’ knight orders, but wondered if a commander was such a grand scale considering how small the Sanctuary Knight Order was. So each order has a captain instead. [↩]