From the corridor connecting the quarters and the training ground, a group of knights slowly emerged and locked eyes with me.

Uncombed hair, wrinkled clothes, untied shoelaces.

A pitiful sight. By no means did they resemble honorable knights.

They looked more like three stubborn horses.

I flicked my chin towards them.

Despite their unruly behavior, the knights couldn’t ignore a summons from the Empress and cautiously approached.

I stared at them intently and then pointed sharply downwards, commanding:

“Kneel.”

Thud!

Despite reeking of alcohol, their minds were clear enough, as the knights quickly rushed to kneel before me without hesitation.

There seemed to be some hope for rehabilitation.

‘Huh? This feels familiar.’

‘Why am I receiving discipline…? Is this a dream?’

‘Wait, the Empress is giving us discipline???’

But the three knights weren’t fully lucid. Their bodies had just instinctively reacted.

Although now merely drunkards, these were men who had once passed the difficult entry tests to join Valkyrie.

The rigorous training they had endured for years was still ingrained in them.

So, this was a case of ‘react first, think later.’

They exchanged bewildered glances.

‘Hey, isn’t that Empress holding something that looks like a staff?’

‘Does it look like a staff to you? It’s a wooden sword.’

‘But why is the Empress holding a wooden sword?’

Their names were Chedep, Giovanni, and Shoppen.

All three were commoners, 27 years old, and even shared similar heights and lean physiques.

Now, all three had begun to develop beer bellies – something that could have been different.

Anyway, they had much in common and were close friends, so they communicated well with just glances.

‘But the Empress, she seems to know a bit about giving discipline?’

‘Right, right. I thought the same. When she said ‘kneel’ earlier, didn’t it seem like she omitted the word ‘head’ in front?’

‘Just shut up, both of you.’

Shoppen was the most perceptive of the three. Chedep and Giovanni were too mood-driven and giggly, not fully grasping the gravity of the situation.
“The Empress, who was frail and confined indoors, has come to visit us. Why?”

Shoppen’s head was throbbing, but he diligently continued his train of thought.

‘It must be because of the upcoming imperial summit banquet. But if it were for that, she would have contacted the Imperial Guard first… Ah! She got snubbed!’

Despite feeling nauseous from the hangover, Shoppen was getting closer to the answer.

Meanwhile, several more knights, who had been lounging around, were caught and made to kneel along with the others. It was a sorry sight.

‘The Empress and the Emperor aren’t on good terms, so she couldn’t call the Crusade for protection. We were the only option left. It’s a simple process of elimination.’

She must have heard that we, the trash, were just laughing and drinking ourselves to sleep. So she came herself.

With a wooden sword, not a cudgel!

‘Shoppen is the toughest among us, so let’s have him get hit first. She’ll probably stop when she gets tired.’

Even in this situation, Shoppen was calculating his advantage.

“Empress, how… hic! Have you come…?”

That’s when the still-drunk captain of Valkyrie was dragged out by the scruff of his neck by Derrick Noert.

Behind him, half-awake knights waddled out like a line of ducklings.

The knights who had already knelt down, including Shoppen, all had the same thought.

‘Ah, we’re done for.’

Not literally getting their heads chopped off, but they were certainly going to be kicked out of the Royal Knight Order together.

It was a known fact that the ministers advocated daily for the dissolution of Valkyrie and the formation of a new knight order.

A sad truth, but it was a foregone conclusion.

With an important diplomatic event with the Desert Empire on the horizon, they were just not being disturbed for the time being. Likely after the summit, Valkyrie would fade into history.

‘Before we disappear, we’ll get scolded by the Empress. Quite a rare experience.’

Shoppen chuckled to himself.

Deep down, he still harbored a faint hope that Valkyrie might revive someday.

The other knights felt the same.

That’s why they had stayed here, barely managing any proper training.

It wasn’t that they didn’t, but that they couldn’t.

That was an important distinction.

Initially, even after the captain was executed and the vice-captain expelled, they tried to continue training.

But seeing how the Emperor’s faction nobles freaked out even when they showed up at the training ground, accusing them of harboring treason, they just couldn’t muster the strength.

They couldn’t risk getting executed.

“Heh…”

Shoppen forced a laugh and then dropped his head.

A wave of misery swept over him.

But about 10 seconds later, the laughter ceased.

“Eh?”

“Oh dear, seems everyone’s ears are plugged.”

The Empress clicked her tongue softly.

Then she repeated the unbelievable statement.

“From tomorrow, I will be training with you all. Assemble here at six in the morning. Once you all become decent knights, I’ll address you as ‘Sir.'”