She knew there was bound to be a vast gap in skill between herself and her teacher, since she was a full twenty-two years younger and still nothing more than an unordained trainee knight.

But every time she watched her teacher channel sacred power freely and without apparent effort, Taniel was plagued by impatience.

She was itching to catch up as quickly as possible to her teacher, acknowledged as the strongest in the order.

‘Teacher told me that if I train hard enough, I’ll catch up to her before long…’

Mirha even smiled and said, watching Taniel grow day by day, that her student would far surpass her teacher. But when would that day come? Would it ever come at all?

‘I can’t even imagine surpassing Teacher.’

I’m still just a trainee knight. My innate sacred power is strong, but truly, that’s all.

Having strong innate sacred power wasn’t really something to boast about in the Elapha Order anyway. Because everyone here was the same. You couldn’t apply to the order without sacred power.

The Holy Nation of Alphernia, governed by the Church that inherited the will of God and the sacred families. The Elapha Order of Knights that protected that holy nation. Sacred power was a requirement to enter the order.

Of course, even among those born with sacred power, the concentration of that power and the ability to wield it varied enormously from person to person. That was a matter of a different kind of talent and countless hours of effort.

And Mirha Elapha, subtly looked down upon from the start by other knights for her commoner origins, possessed both that talent and that effort.

“Taniel, come in.”

Mirha stepped through the door of her quarters and called over her shoulder. Taniel entered, and the door closed behind her.

Taniel stood still in the entryway for a moment and swept her gaze over the full knight’s quarters: a living area, a bedroom, a bathroom, and a balcony.

This was Taniel’s home too. The rule was that a full knight’s direct student lived in the small adjoining room attached to the teacher’s quarters, attending to the teacher and receiving instruction close at hand.

Mirha went straight to the bedroom, set the child she carried carefully down on the bed, and knelt on one knee to meet the child at eye level.

“Are you all right?”

Mirha asked gently. The blanket slipped, revealing the child’s face. A small, thin boy.

Taniel followed Mirha inside. She stood at a slight distance and studied the boy carefully. His pallid complexion and bony neck were, even to Taniel’s eyes, clear evidence of hardship.

‘He’s beautiful.’

Yet even all that pallor and boniness couldn’t conceal the boy’s most striking feature. The child was beautiful. Enough to make Taniel quietly marvel.

His hair, dark as a night sky, was a tangled mess, but it was thick and full. His straight nose and rounded eyes were as delicate as something painted with a brush. Each individual eyelash looked long and soft.

Taniel drifted closer, drawn in without realizing it. The boy sensed the girl’s intense gaze and went even paler, pulling his shoulders in. Taniel caught his fear and stopped.

“This is Taniel, my student. She won’t hurt you. You don’t need to be afraid.”

Mirha, noticing the boy’s fear as well, soothed him gently. The boy, his eyes made all the larger by his gaunt face, stared at Mirha, then slowly released some of his tension and gave a quiet nod.

Watching the boy be wary of her like she was a ghost while behaving like a tame cat with her teacher, Taniel felt more pity than offense.

What kind of life had this boy lived, to be so frightened of a girl not much bigger than himself?

Still, he seemed to have opened his heart to Mirha on the way here, because the boy leaned entirely on the much larger adult’s presence without fear.

Taniel grew more and more curious about the boy. She wanted to ask her teacher when and where and how she came to find him and bring him back. But there was no time for that now.

“Taniel, I have a favor to ask. Would you stay here tonight and look after this child? Have the two of you sleep in the bed together.”

“What? Me?”

“Yes. I have to go report to the Senate right now. I don’t know when I’ll be back.”

“But I… Yes, Teacher. Understood.”

Taniel stumbled over her words in surprise, then recalled her training and answered with composure. A student does not talk back to their teacher. That was the order’s rule.

“Don’t overthink it. Just keep an eye on him. If he talks to you, answer him. If he says he’s tired, let him sleep. If he says he’s hungry, give him food. There’s something to eat in the kitchen, so just take care of him.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

Mirha explained kindly, and Taniel straightened her back and nodded with vigor. She didn’t want to disappoint her respected teacher.

Mirha turned back to the boy. With the gentle touch of a caring adult, she smoothed the child’s tangled hair and tucked the blanket carefully around him. The boy accepted her touch in silence.

“Wait here. If you’re tired, lie down and sleep. If you’re hungry, ask my student for food. All right?”

Fear slowly spread across the boy’s eyes. He looked up at Mirha with a desperate gaze. His eyes seemed to plead with her not to go. Mirha smiled with a pained look.

“I’m not leaving you behind. I will come back, without fail. And Taniel is my precious student. She is like another part of me. She’ll take good care of you, so don’t be too frightened.”

Hearing her beloved teacher say she was like another part of her, Taniel straightened her back even further with pride.

“Then I’ll be back soon. Trust me and wait. Rest well, child with no name.”

Mirha pressed a light kiss to the boy’s forehead and stood. She turned to Taniel.

“I’m leaving him in your hands, Taniel.”

“Yes, Teacher.”

Mirha left again. Taniel watched her teacher’s retreating figure until it disappeared completely, then turned to the boy with kind eyes.

“Hello. I’m Taniel. I’m the student of Dame Mirha Elapha, the knight who brought you here. It’s nice to meet you.”

Even at the girl’s cheerful greeting, the boy didn’t answer. Taniel wasn’t hurt by his continued silence. Since even Mirha didn’t know the child’s name, it was likely the boy couldn’t speak.

‘Is it psychological? Or did he injure his vocal cords?’

Mirha went to the underworld’s slave auction on an undercover assignment and came back with the boy. The child must have been one of the items up for auction. It wouldn’t be surprising at all if he lost his voice from psychological trauma.

“Don’t worry. I’ll protect you.”

Taniel made a promise. Out of pity for the boy, thin as a bare branch, and out of a desire to carry out what her teacher entrusted to her. With a somewhat reckless heart, she made a vow she might not be able to keep.

“Teacher told me to look after you. So I’ll protect you even if it costs me my life. You can trust me and my teacher.”

All of eleven years old herself, a trainee knight without formal ordination, and yet she made that bold pledge. With the conviction that she would keep it without fail.

The nameless boy didn’t answer. He only looked at Taniel with eyes as blue as a midwinter lake, quietly, without a word.

It was the first meeting between a girl who dreamed of becoming a knight and a boy who didn’t yet have a name.

* * *

The Holy Nation of Alphernia was an aristocracy.

Not a monarchy ruled by a king, not a republic governed by elected representatives, but a nation where a small privileged class decided and carried out the country’s policies through deliberation and vote.

The privileged class here referred to the clergy of the Church and the nobles of the sacred families.

The seven heroes and one prophet who ended the age of chaos long ago and founded Alphernia were the origin of the Senate that governed the country today.

The prophet formed the Church, and each of the seven heroes formed one sacred family. From that, the framework of a system governed by the Church and seven sacred families took shape.

The Senate, composed of clergy and nobles, gathered children born with sacred power and established the order of knights responsible for the holy nation’s security. The order’s name was Elapha. It meant “those who dedicate.”

The holy nation, which enjoyed over a thousand years of peace, recently began to creak at its edges, and the order grew far busier than before.

Criminal organizations sprouted like poisonous mushrooms across the land. The reach of the slums and the underworld expanded. So-called revolutionary factions, opposed to the Church and resentful of the nobles, stirred up unrest.

When illegal slave auctions in the underworld, buying and selling people like goods, were uncovered, the order immediately assembled an investigative unit and dispatched it to the scene.

Mirha Elapha was one of the unit’s members. People said it was only natural that the most skilled knight in the order be assigned to deal with criminals, but others whispered differently.

[She’s fallen out of favor. She’s the most skilled in the order but came from the slums, so of course factions jealous of her emerged. Didn’t everyone have plenty to say about a low-born knight being put in charge of training a girl from a sacred family?]