“The vice commander pounced on the commander.”

“What?”

The surroundings became quiet as if cold water had been poured. Jane tilted her head, seemingly not understanding his words.

“What are you talking about? Are you saying the vice commander attacked the commander?”

“That’s not what I mean.”

“Then what do you… wait, pounced? No way.”

“Yes.”

As James nodded, the knights began to stir like waves.

“That’s impossible. What insolent nonsense is this!”

One of the First Knight Division members at the front brought his sword close to James’s neck, as if ready to behead him. Though he thought it was nonsense, his eyes trembled with shock.

“I saw it with my own eyes!”

“James, you know very well that the vice commander isn’t the type of woman who would pounce on men like that. What absurd story is this?”

“Our commander isn’t the type of man who would be pounced on by a woman either!”

“I couldn’t believe it even after seeing it. But the commander was lying face down on the floor, and the vice commander was crouched in front of him, smiling.”

Gasps could be heard from all around. The commander at the vice commander’s feet? This was an unheard-of story.

Then someone stabbed their sword into the ground and shouted,

“Our commander wouldn’t even blink if a hundred beauties were brought before him! There’s no way he would be pounced on by a mere Northern knight!”

A mere Northern knight? Lea wasn’t someone who should be called “mere.” Had she been born in the Empire rather than the North, her name would have been widely known long ago.

Jane flared up and said,

“A mere Northern knight? Our vice commander is different from those capital beauties! Whether in appearance or ability, she excels in every aspect. That’s why the commander must have fallen for her.”

The Northern Knight Division members supported her words with shouts of “Right! Right!”

The atmosphere was even more tense than before. Everyone had drawn their swords and raised their voices, making it feel even more savage.

Tom gulped. It was clear that if left alone, a major brawl would break out, and it wouldn’t end until someone was bloodied. He thought he should inform either the commander or the vice commander. Only they could stop this. So he quietly slipped away while the others were about to draw their swords.

The knights continued their argument, not even noticing Tom’s disappearance.

The topics were how uninterested Allen was in women, and how attractive Lea was.

“Our commander is married to his sword!”

“Our vice commander has made many men cry in the past.”

In reality, Lea had a record of beating to a pulp anyone who laid hands on her, making them cry.

“Our commander is the type who would just shrug even if he saw an adult magazine.”

In truth, the adult magazines in the capital weren’t that explicit. While underground publications with shocking content did circulate, the adult magazines that knights could publicly obtain were only rated 17+. That’s exactly what Allen had confiscated from the knights.

In comparison, Lea’s fantasies were at least 19+ and often ventured into 39+ territory.

It was only natural that Allen, with no immunity, would collapse holding his own thing.

Unaware of this, the First Division focused on defending their strange pride.

“At that rate, isn’t he practically impotent?”

Allen was gradually becoming impotent. The level of adult magazines in the North was similar to Lea’s fantasies. The Northern knights thought that anyone who could look at those without reacting must be asexual.

“What, our commander is impotent? You’ve got mouths just to spew nonsense.”

“You said with your own mouths that your commander isn’t interested in women!”

“We said he’s not interested in women, not that he’s impotent!”

“Then what, is he gay?”

“What, gay? I’d rather he be impotent.”

“Hey, what’s wrong with being gay? Being gay is better than being impotent.”

“Being gay is a matter of preference, being impotent is sad, don’t you know?”

“Why are you fighting among yourselves?”

It was utter chaos. There was no answer to the debate that flowed with their stream of consciousness. The First Knight Division felt guilty for trying to protect Allen’s honor only to tarnish it instead, and continued to spout nonsense. James, not having expected his comment to cause such an uproar, tried to intervene again to somehow resolve the situation.

“Wait, wait. The commander is neither impotent nor gay. I saw clearly with my own two eyes. The commander was holding his groin under the vice commander.”

But his somewhat inadequate explanation only made the knight division even more raucous. The knights were shocked.

“U-u-u-under her?”

“Our commander under the vice commander? Doing that?”

Not just pounced on, but properly pounced on! While the shocked First Knight Division members were about to argue that their superior couldn’t possibly be like that, those who had watched Allen and Lea from a distance while guarding the border yesterday delivered the final blow.

“Come to think of it, the commander staggered as soon as he saw the vice commander yesterday.”

“His gait was strange too, wasn’t it?”

“His face was so red, I thought he might be sick.”

“He was excited after seeing the vice commander.”

“If someone who’s fine with adult magazines reacts that way to the vice commander…”

They each fell into their own thoughts before reaching one conclusion. Even the First Division members, having seen Allen groaning in front of Lea during the morning assembly, could only mutter “No way, no way” without being able to say anything else.

And Jane directly voiced what everyone was only thinking.

“The commander’s body only responds to the vice commander?”

A cool breeze blew through the entire knight division. Jane, still full of confidence, drove the point home once more.

“The real power was the vice commander all along.”

The First Division couldn’t say anything in response.

Lea, who had been brought running by Tom who had caught up with her belatedly, blinked her eyes as she read the strange atmosphere among the knights.

The original First Division looked at Lea and then all bowed their heads. The one who had stood at the forefront facing Jane represented them, holding back tears as he spoke to her.

“Vice Commander…. Please take good care of our commander.”

“…… ? Sure.”

Not knowing what had happened while she was away, Lea nodded blankly.

Tom had clearly told her. The knights were in a state where they were desperate to kill each other. So please come with him. But looking at the atmosphere of the knight division now, it didn’t seem that way at all. So Lea received salutes from the original First Knight Division with a sense of bewilderment.

She wondered what had happened, but thought it best to let it go. From what she could see, the two factions seemed to have reconciled, so Lea decided to overlook the matter.

The knights’ pupils trembled at her nonchalant response. To show such a twist with that saintly face. They say people with normal exteriors are often more extreme inside. This seemed to be exactly such a case.

Meanwhile, Tom couldn’t adapt to the atmosphere that was completely different from before. Seeing that everyone was uninjured, there definitely hadn’t been a physical fight, but strangely, the Northern Knight Division members were shrugging their shoulders, looking like they had won some kind of victory.

Unable to contain his curiosity, Tom nudged Jane’s elbow who was nearby.

“What happened?”

Jane wiped under her nose and stretched the corners of her mouth. Then she put her hand on Tom’s shoulder and answered.

“The First Division finally acknowledged it. That our vice commander is the real power.”

“No, why suddenly?”

How could those who had been so proud suddenly do this? Tom couldn’t understand her words. Jane whispered to him quietly, with the air of giving a special explanation.

“The commander, as it turns out, can’t live without our vice commander.”

“What?”

Tom jerked his body like someone who had received a great shock. The relationship between the commander and vice commander was like that. A sticky romance between the hero who saved the North and the knight who silently protected the North was being written in his head.

Lea briefly examined Tom’s changed expression. It seemed he had heard something from Jane. She didn’t particularly care to ask what it was.

She turned to return to the training ground. Having come after making Allen cry in her arms for the 99th time in her mind, she wanted to quickly grab a wooden sword and continue her imagination to complete the 100th time.

When holding a wooden sword, she often thought that the feeling of touching something hard might be just like touching a man’s thing. Perhaps because of that, she wanted to imagine doing it with Allen while swinging that wooden sword. Maybe she was a bit impatient.

“Um, Vice Commander. How is the commander’s condition right now?”

When a knight hesitantly asked a question, Lea quickly answered with the first thing that came to mind.

“He’s in an extremely tired state.”

“E-extremely, I see.”

The knight’s face turned red. He had asked out of concern for the body and mind of the commander who had been pounced on by Lea, but when Lea answered with dull eyes like that, he felt even more embarrassed.