“Yes. I know the seal’s supposedly good for another five years, but to be upfront with you, I don’t trust magic. I always have a redundancy plan in place in case the magic either fails or doesn’t fully do as promised. Too many bad experiences. I’d rather have a second and third line of defense against any possible danger.”
“Hence your bringing two court mages?”
“Yup. They’re putting a secondary seal up. I’ll have others come up as well to form a more permanent sentry, to serve side by side with the knights.”
Captain Rowan’s brow creased. “Just how many bad experiences have you had?”
“Too many,” I said with a groan. “Far too many. No more.”
“I’ll keep that in mind for the future, when you ask me to do something.”
“Please and thank you.” Captain Rowan had, by far, been more open with me now than he had been in my first life. I wondered why? I’d ask something rude and impertinent and see how he took it. For some reason, I bet he’d be happy. “So how many drinks will it take before you start being truly rude to me?”
His eyes twinkled, crow’s feet crinkling up. “One.”
I knew for a fact he wasn’t a lightweight, so this made me laugh. “We’ll test that tonight when we stop. For my knowledge, who’s a lightweight?”
Captain Rowan answered loudly enough some of the knights riding behind us could hear him, which resulted in squawks of dismay, denials, and more than a few stories told to make a point.
It became the sort of atmosphere I encouraged on long journeys. A long trip always went better with stories and laughter to make the time pass.
I didn’t get to speak with the three knights in question until later in the evening, when we stopped at an inn. Captain Rowan picked a good one for us, a nice building three stories tall, the stone stoop leading in worn into a dip with age. This place had been here a long time, but it was lovingly maintained.
I sat with everyone in the tap room, and we had a rather large party. Only Edwin had come with me from the secretarial staff, and he sat to my right at the table, but with the knights, porters, maids, and court mages, we came to a total of twenty people. I treated them all equally, having to escort one young maid to the table to sit with the rest of us; she seemed overwhelmed to be sitting at a table with royalty. I didn’t stand for such nonsense.I wasn’t any more noble than all of them. I wanted to be treated as a boss and friend, not as some otherworldly being who they supposedly must worship.
I made sure to sit near Sir Lanslet, Dame Remfrey, and Sir Abel. Our drinks arrived first, we all put in our food orders, and then we had nothing to do but chat and wait. Perfect.
Angling a bit to the left, I caught Sir Abel’s attention first. “Sir Abel. Captain Rowan tells me you, Sir Lanslet, and Dame Remfrey are all from the north?”
“Uh, yes, Your Highness.” Sir Abel seemed startled to be suddenly called out but rallied immediately. “In fact, Lanslet and I are cousins and come from Berengar.”
“Huh. Dame Remfrey, what about you?”
“Next town over.” She smiled fondly. “Wood’s Cross. It’s a timber farm and logging community. Most of the wood made into ships comes from there, as they pride themselves on straight trees.”
“I’m learning something new.” Indeed I was; the whole area had been decimated before I’d fought the Demon King. I’d had no idea so much lumber for the shipping business came from there. “All right, I must ask, would you like to be stationed in your hometown?”
All three lit up.
“I’d love to!” Dame Remfrey was akin to a child given an unexpected present. “Permanently?”
“That’s up to you.” I shrugged. “I can also do a rotation where you switch off with some other knight every six months but still stay on my roster, allowing you the opportunity to continue to advance your careers.”
All three shared a long look as if silently conferring with each other.
“I think I’d prefer that, Your Highness,” Sir Lanslet admitted. “I left home because there’s no good career opportunities, andI don’t want to languish the rest of my career there. That said, when I get closer to retirement, I’ll be happy to be stationed there permanently.”
“I completely understand. Dame Remfrey, Sir Abel?”
“Same,” Sir Abel said. “I’d love to be switched out every six months, be home more. My mother’s knees aren’t doing well, and she needs more help at home.”
“Then you’ll be home more,” I promised him.
Dame Remfrey’s tone was rock solid. “I’m game as well for the rotation, Your Highness.”
“Very good. Captain Rowan, I trust you to work out the schedule for them.”
Captain Rowan was already scribbling in his little black book he lugged everywhere. “Consider it done, Your Highness. I do need three more so we can have a clean rotation of two knights at all times.”
