I lightly bowed my head at the leader’s high praise.

“Thank you.”

“Could you draw five more copies of the same map? It would be good to give one to each of the other members.”

“Of course, it’s possible. Please wait a moment.”

Since it was rare for him to praise others this much, I didn’t feel bad about it.

I immediately drew 5 more maps on the spot and distributed them to the other members.

Karl and Elma, who received the maps, exclaimed in admiration one after another.

“This is quite detailed, isn’t it? Did you really just use your intuition to figure out the island’s terrain and draw it in such detail?”

“My goodness… At this level, isn’t this also an ability? Like an exploration ability or something. How is this possible?”

Following Karl and Elma’s admiration, Oscar spoke next.

“It’s impressive! It’s amazing that you detected the island’s terrain in such detail, and your drawing skills are also excellent!”

As soon as Oscar expressed his admiration with sparkling sky-blue eyes, this time Maximilian grumbled with his usual tired face.

“But can we be sure this map is really accurate? If it’s a wrong map…”

It was the first negative reaction, but I wasn’t particularly bothered.

Maximilian was known for having many complaints even within the knights’ order.

What bothered me more was Caroline’s reaction.

“I won’t look at the map. I’ve seen many people die relying on inaccurate information.”

Caroline, with her striking high-tied long red hair.

Caroline had often strangely opposed my opinions before.

Could she be feeling jealous that I, of the same age and gender, held a higher position than her?

Anyway, as the vice-captain, I couldn’t just overlook Caroline’s attitude, so I left a comment.

“Yes, relying on inaccurate information is dangerous. But that’s only when the information is actually inaccurate.”

“…”

“My senses are accurate and keen enough to have pinpointed the monsters’ locations several times. So it’s better to put aside any worries about that map being wrong.”

After I said that, Caroline put the map away in her pocket with a slightly distorted face.

Seeing Caroline finally quieting down, I let out a small sigh.

I was already feeling tired.

If discipline had been properly maintained, an ordinary member like Caroline wouldn’t have grumbled like this in front of me, the vice-captain, but unfortunately, the Silver Knights’ Order wasn’t like that.

It was because the ‘awakened ones’ who made up our knights’ order were excessively high-quality personnel.

Awakened ones who had properly awakened their abilities were so rare in the empire that they could be counted on one’s fingers, and it was equally difficult to replace them easily.

Because of that, even if Caroline or other members acted somewhat arrogantly, we couldn’t casually discipline them or enforce strict military discipline.

Still, fortunately, I could guarantee that there wouldn’t be any embarrassment due to the map being wrong.

After all, I had accurately remembered even the shape of the river and drawn it exactly.

“Let’s start moving.”

Just then, the captain said that and began leading us towards the direction of the river.

We also quietly followed behind him.

Of course, I continued to relay information to the captain from time to time as we went.

“There’s a swamp right ahead. I’ll freeze the ground solid, so let’s all pass over it together.”

Hearing my words, the captain pressed the ground in front of him with his foot and replied.

“Indeed, the ground starts getting softer from here. If we had walked further, we would have lost a lot of energy due to the swamp.”

Elma, who was listening, chimed in from the side.

“At this point, I’m starting to wonder if the vice-captain really hasn’t awakened a second ability.”

“I wish I could awaken a second ability too. Anyway, I need to freeze the ground, so everyone please step back for a moment. Captain, please step back as well.”

I moved all the members back and walked to where the swamp began.

Then I froze the ground to make it solid.

Even when I jumped lightly on top, it didn’t sink, so this level of freezing seemed sufficient.

Afterwards, the group was able to safely cross the swamp by carefully walking over it.

As expected, having been here once before was a great help.

If I hadn’t come here in advance before the regression, I wouldn’t have known there was a swamp here.

In fact, when I first visited, I had lost a lot of energy due to the swamp.

Thanks to that past experience, we safely passed one obstacle and arrived at the riverbank much faster than expected.

“Here it is, the river drawn on the map.”

Hearing my explanation, the captain examined the map.

After looking at the river and the surrounding terrain, he nodded.

“The map was accurate.”

Hearing those words from the captain, Caroline pretended to be distracted.

She seemed to have become embarrassed, recalling how she had said earlier that my map was inaccurate.

Then the captain looked at me and asked.

“Can you sense if there are monsters living under the river as well?”

“Yes, I can sense them. There are a few monsters, but they’re not very dangerous ones. However, it’s late now, so we should wait until tomorrow and cross the river when the sun rises.”

“Impressive. You even know the danger level of the monsters you’ve detected.”

Since I had been providing a lot of useful information from before, the captain now seemed to trust most of what I said.

He nodded at me as if to say well done, and then ordered the members.

“Prepare for camping. We’ll stay here for a day and cross the river tomorrow.”

“Yes!”

Afterwards, we entered a cave a little away from the riverbank and prepared to camp.

Of course, I had also informed them about the location of that cave.

Even when I told them there was a nearby cave where we could safely camp, the members were surprised.

They asked if I really hadn’t awakened a secondary ability, suggesting we should test my abilities again.

After such a commotion, we finished preparing for camp and finished dinner.

Currently, I was heading towards the riverbank, momentarily separated from the other members.

I was thinking of taking a stroll around there to aid digestion.

As far as I remembered, the monsters living under the river weren’t very dangerous, and moreover, they only stayed in the deep parts, so it was fine to just walk along the riverbank briefly.

Although I had to keep an eye out to divert the monsters from the members, I was quite fatigued from doing that all day long.

So I was planning to rest alone for a bit and then return, but it seemed I wasn’t the only one with such thoughts.

“Captain, were you here?”

The captain, who had arrived at the riverbank and sat down before me, turned to look at me upon hearing my words.

His face, bathed in moonlight, looked particularly white and radiant.

Just like a white marble statue.

I looked at that face, which seemed as if carved meticulously by God, for a moment before bowing my head.

“I’m sorry if I disturbed your rest. I’ll go somewhere else.”

“No. You didn’t disturb me. Since you’re here, let’s talk.”

Instead of telling me to leave, he patted the spot beside him with his hand.

As there was no particular reason to refuse, I willingly went and sat next to him.

Sitting there, the beautiful view of the river sprinkled with moonlight came into full view.

It was while I was quietly taking in that scene that the captain suddenly spoke.

“You were really amazing today.”

I, who had been absentmindedly gazing at the flowing river, immediately looked at the captain.

The captain was still staring towards the river.

Without looking at me, he quietly continued speaking.

“It’s all thanks to you that we were able to come this far without getting lost.”

“You’re too kind.”

“No need to be humble. You really showed great performance. It makes my past doubts about you seem foolish.”

Sensing a trace of self-reproach in his words, I immediately responded to him.

“It’s alright even if you doubted me, Captain. It was a situation where you couldn’t help but do so.”

If I had been in the captain’s position, wouldn’t I have doubted myself the same way?

A knight inserted by the influence of the emperor who detests the captain terribly… Anyone would find such an existence suspicious.

I must have been like a thorn in the captain’s side, an irritating presence.

“It’s fine even if you doubt me more. I’ll work harder to make you trust me.”

“No.”

Shaking his head firmly, he finally looked straight at me.

With my image fully captured in his golden eyes, the captain emphasized:

“I don’t doubt you anymore.”

“…”

“I trust you.”

I didn’t know before that having someone trust me could be such a sweet thing.

The captain, who had openly declared that he didn’t trust me and was doubting me, was now showing firm trust in me.

Barely suppressing the welling emotion, I asked him:

“Even if I danced with His Majesty the Emperor?”