[Legend of Sun Knight] fic: A Vice-Captain's Tale - Suggestion #7
Title: A Vice-Captain's Tale - Suggestion #7
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 2,493
Summary: The vice-captains of the Twelve Holy Knights never thought that their jobs would differ so vastly from their expectations. Tyler has really been missing out.
Notes: There's something about Metal that makes my word count explode... In other words, Lucathia has once more been unable to get to the point. I wanted chapters for this fic to be around 1k... Anyway, have some more of Tyler~.
Suggestion #6: Save Some Money
Suggestion #7: Jot Down Notes
The problem with acquiring enough leotards for the entire platoon was that it really wasn't going to be cheap. I did not often buy new clothes, so I didn't know of places I could get a discount for buying in bulk.
Maybe the store Vice-Captain Moon brought me to earlier might offer such a deal?
As I pondered whether or not I should ask Vice-Captain Moon for advice, maybe inquire about where he had gotten the leotard, I felt someone watching me once again. I was fairly certain it was yet another vice-captain that suddenly wanted my company.
Since when have I become so popular among the vice-captains?
In the past, they had always kept their distance. Although they called me by my name, it was more because they didn't know whether to call me Vice-Captain Hell or Knight-Captain Hell. Neither was quite right. So, instead of calling me either, I had always been "Tyler" to nearly everyone. It hadn't ever been because of a sense of closeness or anything of the like.
I turned and lowered my sword, thinking I would spot one of the other vice-captains, but surprisingly, there was no one behind me.
I looked this way and that. Still no one. However, when I returned to my drills, I felt the stare again. Whoever it is, they excel in stealth, but we hell knights are no pushovers in stealth either!
As I went through the motions of my drills, I was actually paying more attention to my surroundings. Listening didn't do me much good -- whoever it was must have silent feet and near inaudible breathing. I could only rely on detecting the person's reactions and feelings. No matter how good the person was at hiding their emotions, if they were not emotionless beings, some emotion would leak out.
There!
I felt it, a flash of killing intent. As I twisted to the side, something whistled past me, just a hair's breadth away. I darted my eyes in the direction of whatever had flown past me, intent on merely taking a glance before dashing the other way, toward the source, but this one glance froze me in my tracks.
A quivering knife was stuck in the training dummy, straight in the heart.
"Any slower and that would've been you. Have you been training at all?" came a voice from behind me, much closer than expected.
"Of course I have!" I protested as I whirled around and jumped backward to put some distance between us, immediately insulted. I'd dedicated everything to training!
The person who had thrown the knife was Vice-Captain Metal. He had a knowing smirk on his face. He walked forward to retrieve his knife. "I'm joking. I know you've been practicing hard. I don't think you even know what it means to rest. You should remember to rest once in awhile."
"There's no time to rest," I muttered. If I don't practice hard, how will I ever hope to even hold a candle to my captain?
Or wear a leotard?
Suddenly, I realized who was before me and what that meant. The Metal Knight Platoon, while they didn't wear leotards, always wore body-hugging clothes. Surely, the metal knights would know the secret to maintaining an excellent physique!
I moved closer and blurted while looking up at him, "Let me shadow you!"
He gave me a questioning look but shrugged it off immediately after. He reached out, hand pausing in midair, but eventually he clasped me on the shoulder. "I was just wondering how I could get you to come with me. You sure are obedient, Tyler!"
...Obedient?
As I had expected, the metal knights were truly excellent at stealth. Dressed in tight clothes, it was almost as if they melted into the corridors, hidden in the shadows. One blink, and they were already at the next corner.
After I had asked to shadow him, Vice-Captain Metal brought me to meet the rest of the Metal Knight Platoon. They were dressed just like him, in body-hugging clothes suitable for stealth. They had offered me a similar outfit, but I'd declined. Today, I was wearing my very down-to-earth training outfit and not the not-as-down-to-earth outfit given to me by Vice-Captain Moon. While I was indeed new to being a vice-captain, I was a hell knight through and through. It would not do for me to wear a metal knight uniform and potentially confuse people.
Following the metal knights was eye-opening. They were a fast bunch, their speed top notch and their actions clean and efficient. Even Vice-Captain Metal, who was the tallest out of all of us, was quick and nimble. He had divided the platoon into groups. I did my best to follow the group led by him, but I soon fell to the back.
They stopped at the next corner, which gave me enough time to catch up. For some reason, they had all chosen to flatten themselves against the wall. I could only follow suit. Perhaps this was another part of their training.
Vice-Captain Metal peered out around the corner, and then he held a hand up, probably indicating for us to keep still. I heard voices drifting from afar.
Ah, so they're practicing to see if they can avoid detection? Truly admirable.
"Are you using your brain at all?" someone berated. "How could you mix up the Judgment Knight's and the Moon Knight's uniform?"
"But, it had a moon symbol on it..."
"Anyone with eyes can see that it must be the Moon Knight's clothes then!"
"But the Judgment Knight has a moon on his forehead..."
"Are you an idiot?!"
"But, but, it's true! The Judgment Knight has a moon on his forehead! Unless he mistakenly put the symbol there..."
Beside me, the metal knights were suddenly all holding something in their hands. Don't tell me they're feeling insulted on Knight-Captain Judgment's behalf?
I seemed to recall that Knight-Captain Metal was indeed extremely loyal to Knight-Captain Judgment. Perhaps the Metal Knight Platoon was just as dedicated to following Knight-Captain Judgment as their captain was.
Just as I thought I should step forward to prevent the metal knights from harming the maids responsible for our laundry, something got shoved in my hands. Like the time when Vice-Captain Cloud had shoved a rag at me, I looked down and was immediately confused.
Is this... a piece of parchment?
I looked up, trying to make sense of what I was holding, only to realize that the metal knights were all holding something white in their hands -- pieces of parchment. Their vice-captain was even holding a leather bound notebook.
"Sixty points," one of the metal knights said and scribbled something on his parchment.
"Nah, that's at most forty points."
"Fifty points then!" another person said and jotted something down.
"'Are you using your brain at all...'" Vice-Captain Metal muttered. At first, I thought he was insulting the other metal knights, but then he said, "What if we change that to, 'Do you have anything in that head of yours,' or 'Your head must be filled with s***'?"
"Seventy points!" the metal knights chorused.
Vice-Captain Metal gave a nod and wrote something down.
Then, he glanced at me and said, "Don't forget to write."
I was so bewildered by their actions that I had nearly forgotten that I too had a piece of parchment in my hand. I looked down at it. When Vice-Captain Metal realized that I didn't have anything to write with, he even passed a quill over.
What am I supposed to write?
We soon moved on, and the same thing happened more than once where we would hide and everyone else would write things down, but I still didn't know what I was supposed to write. I watched, growing more and more bewildered by what I was witnessing. Just where are they stashing those pieces of parchment? Where has their vice-captain's notebook disappeared to?
Their outfits didn't seem like they could hide much.
At first, I had been so caught up by the parchment and quill given to me that I hadn't seen the moment they'd put everything away. Then, it was because their movements were too quick and well practiced that I still wasn't able to figure it out. Looking at them now, I would never have known that they were carrying parchment and quills on them, not to mention an actual notebook in the case of their vice-captain.
As we rounded another corner, this one leading us to the courtyard, I found myself hiding behind a pillar. The metal knights motioned for me to flatten myself against the pillar some more, so I did the best I could. They had each taken a pillar too.
Once again, we overheard a conversation. At first, the metal knights merely listened, but when the voices grew shrill and I even heard something rude about someone's mother being so draconic that looking at her for more than three seconds would directly send someone on an early meeting with the God of Light, multiple quills and pieces of parchment appeared out of nowhere. Again, they had been too fast for me to see just where they had taken them out from!
Then came the furious scritch scratch of quills across parchment.
"Seventy-five points."
"No, that has to be at least eighty points!"
"No way! That wasn't classy at all. Sixty-eight points."
Vice-Captain Metal's quill never stopped moving as the other metal knights argued. Once he blew on his notebook and shut it, we continued on our way. I had... somewhat gotten used to it. No doubt we would stop and hide in some other place while listening in on some other conversation.
All without getting detected.
I could not help but admit that the metal knights were truly experts at stealth. I still had much to learn.
I also didn't know just how foul-mouthed many of our servants and maids are when they think no one is listening!
When Vice-Captain Metal held up his hand once more, we immediately stopped and took our places. I huddled next to a large pot, making sure no parts of my clothes stuck out. I thought perhaps there was another conversation Vice-Captain Metal wanted us to hear.
However, I instead found Vice-Captain Metal approaching the trees in the courtyard. He craned his neck and said, "Report."
If not for his actions, I would never have realized that there were several metal knights hiding in the trees.
They jumped down. Then, one-by-one, they handed Vice-Captain Metal... parchment?
He looked at each piece of parchment, nodding as he did so. "Good work."
The metal knights all preened.
It seemed that the other metal knights had been doing the same thing as us.
Vice-Captain Metal then began collecting the parchment from the metal knights that had been going around the Holy Temple with him. When he came around to me, I only had a blank piece of parchment to give him, and it was even somewhat wrinkled.
He peered at it, turned it over, saw that it was indeed blank on both sides, and handed it back to me. I thought that he might be disappointed, but all he said was, "I guess you'd need to write different things down than the notes we take, huh?"
So all of that was... note-taking? What are they taking notes for?
He reached out. Like earlier, his hand froze in midair. I blinked. Eventually, he patted me on the shoulder.
At the next corner, I looked at my blank piece of parchment.
I really should write something down.
When we stopped once again, I was prepared to start taking notes, perhaps on how the metal knights regulated their breathing or just how they managed to carry around parchment and quills while wearing body-hugging clothes -- that would solve one of my dilemmas regarding wearing leotards -- when I realized that Vice-Captain Metal had not opted to hide this time.
I took a step forward and looked around the corner.
Knight-Captain Metal was currently leaning against the wall. He was tossing one of his knives, but instead of grabbing his knife by the hilt, he grabbed it by the blade whenever it came down from its time in the air. If he weren't careful, he could accidentally cut himself.
His vice-captain walked right up to him.
"Captain," he greeted.
As Knight-Captain Metal snatched the knife out of the air and rubbed his finger along the edge of the blade, he chided, "Finally decided to show up? Any later, and the sun would be down!"
"Fifty points," Vice-Captain Metal suddenly said.
"Only fifty points?" muttered his captain. "I ran it through my head so many times too!"
Vice-Captain Metal reached out, just like how he had reached out to pat me on the shoulder. However, this time, he didn't freeze, and he didn't seem like he had any intention of patting his captain on the shoulder.
Instead, he ruffled his captain's hair.
Just how daring was he?!
"Hey, cut it out, you bastard! What kind of vice-captain are you?" Knight-Captain Metal knocked his vice-captain's hand away. He had a scowl on his face as he tried to smooth his hair down.
"Much better. Eighty-five points."
What kind of vice-captain are you?
Those were definitely words no vice-captain would ever want to hear. Even I was starting to understand, I think. But it was no wonder his captain had said it to him! I would never dare ruffle my captain's hair. I couldn't even imagine it.
"I was only speaking the truth," muttered Knight-Captain Metal.
"Yes, yes, Captain, I know. You're welcome."
...You're welcome?
Then, I watched as vice-captain and captain flipped through the leather bound notebook my fellow vice-captain had been writing in. Perhaps the notes had all been for his captain. He was a good vice-captain, truly thoughtful, minus the part where he seemed to like ruffling people's hair. But seeing them going over the notebook together made me think that maybe his captain had already forgiven him. They seemed very close.
I looked down once more at the blank parchment in my hand. Vice-Captain Metal's idea of taking notes for his captain truly wasn't bad. While I did not know if I could adapt their methods of training in stealth, at least I'd learned that note-taking was worthwhile.
And there were even ways to stash paper and quill away while wearing body-hugging clothes!
Some time later, I happened to come across Knight-Captain Metal while he was berating one of his platoon members. I did not like to admit it, but I found that my first reaction was to flatten myself against the wall so that I would not be detected. I have truly strayed from the way of a knight.
"Do you have anything in that head of yours?" he yelled. "How could you mix up the bandits' tracks with fake tracks?"
"I'm sorry, Captain."
"Sorry doesn't cut it! Anyone with eyes can see that the bandit escaped the other way!"
"But the tracks looked so real..."
"Are you an idiot? Did your mom drop you on your head while you were growing up? Of course they would make it look real!"
For some reason, the conversation sounded oddly familiar.
The Seventh Suggestion for Serving Your Captain: Jot Down Notes (So Your Captain Will Know What to Do)
to be continued
Suggestion #8: Speak Your Mind
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 2,493
Summary: The vice-captains of the Twelve Holy Knights never thought that their jobs would differ so vastly from their expectations. Tyler has really been missing out.
Notes: There's something about Metal that makes my word count explode... In other words, Lucathia has once more been unable to get to the point. I wanted chapters for this fic to be around 1k... Anyway, have some more of Tyler~.
Suggestion #6: Save Some Money
Suggestion #7: Jot Down Notes
The problem with acquiring enough leotards for the entire platoon was that it really wasn't going to be cheap. I did not often buy new clothes, so I didn't know of places I could get a discount for buying in bulk.
Maybe the store Vice-Captain Moon brought me to earlier might offer such a deal?
As I pondered whether or not I should ask Vice-Captain Moon for advice, maybe inquire about where he had gotten the leotard, I felt someone watching me once again. I was fairly certain it was yet another vice-captain that suddenly wanted my company.
Since when have I become so popular among the vice-captains?
In the past, they had always kept their distance. Although they called me by my name, it was more because they didn't know whether to call me Vice-Captain Hell or Knight-Captain Hell. Neither was quite right. So, instead of calling me either, I had always been "Tyler" to nearly everyone. It hadn't ever been because of a sense of closeness or anything of the like.
I turned and lowered my sword, thinking I would spot one of the other vice-captains, but surprisingly, there was no one behind me.
I looked this way and that. Still no one. However, when I returned to my drills, I felt the stare again. Whoever it is, they excel in stealth, but we hell knights are no pushovers in stealth either!
As I went through the motions of my drills, I was actually paying more attention to my surroundings. Listening didn't do me much good -- whoever it was must have silent feet and near inaudible breathing. I could only rely on detecting the person's reactions and feelings. No matter how good the person was at hiding their emotions, if they were not emotionless beings, some emotion would leak out.
There!
I felt it, a flash of killing intent. As I twisted to the side, something whistled past me, just a hair's breadth away. I darted my eyes in the direction of whatever had flown past me, intent on merely taking a glance before dashing the other way, toward the source, but this one glance froze me in my tracks.
A quivering knife was stuck in the training dummy, straight in the heart.
"Any slower and that would've been you. Have you been training at all?" came a voice from behind me, much closer than expected.
"Of course I have!" I protested as I whirled around and jumped backward to put some distance between us, immediately insulted. I'd dedicated everything to training!
The person who had thrown the knife was Vice-Captain Metal. He had a knowing smirk on his face. He walked forward to retrieve his knife. "I'm joking. I know you've been practicing hard. I don't think you even know what it means to rest. You should remember to rest once in awhile."
"There's no time to rest," I muttered. If I don't practice hard, how will I ever hope to even hold a candle to my captain?
Or wear a leotard?
Suddenly, I realized who was before me and what that meant. The Metal Knight Platoon, while they didn't wear leotards, always wore body-hugging clothes. Surely, the metal knights would know the secret to maintaining an excellent physique!
I moved closer and blurted while looking up at him, "Let me shadow you!"
He gave me a questioning look but shrugged it off immediately after. He reached out, hand pausing in midair, but eventually he clasped me on the shoulder. "I was just wondering how I could get you to come with me. You sure are obedient, Tyler!"
...Obedient?
As I had expected, the metal knights were truly excellent at stealth. Dressed in tight clothes, it was almost as if they melted into the corridors, hidden in the shadows. One blink, and they were already at the next corner.
After I had asked to shadow him, Vice-Captain Metal brought me to meet the rest of the Metal Knight Platoon. They were dressed just like him, in body-hugging clothes suitable for stealth. They had offered me a similar outfit, but I'd declined. Today, I was wearing my very down-to-earth training outfit and not the not-as-down-to-earth outfit given to me by Vice-Captain Moon. While I was indeed new to being a vice-captain, I was a hell knight through and through. It would not do for me to wear a metal knight uniform and potentially confuse people.
Following the metal knights was eye-opening. They were a fast bunch, their speed top notch and their actions clean and efficient. Even Vice-Captain Metal, who was the tallest out of all of us, was quick and nimble. He had divided the platoon into groups. I did my best to follow the group led by him, but I soon fell to the back.
They stopped at the next corner, which gave me enough time to catch up. For some reason, they had all chosen to flatten themselves against the wall. I could only follow suit. Perhaps this was another part of their training.
Vice-Captain Metal peered out around the corner, and then he held a hand up, probably indicating for us to keep still. I heard voices drifting from afar.
Ah, so they're practicing to see if they can avoid detection? Truly admirable.
"Are you using your brain at all?" someone berated. "How could you mix up the Judgment Knight's and the Moon Knight's uniform?"
"But, it had a moon symbol on it..."
"Anyone with eyes can see that it must be the Moon Knight's clothes then!"
"But the Judgment Knight has a moon on his forehead..."
"Are you an idiot?!"
"But, but, it's true! The Judgment Knight has a moon on his forehead! Unless he mistakenly put the symbol there..."
Beside me, the metal knights were suddenly all holding something in their hands. Don't tell me they're feeling insulted on Knight-Captain Judgment's behalf?
I seemed to recall that Knight-Captain Metal was indeed extremely loyal to Knight-Captain Judgment. Perhaps the Metal Knight Platoon was just as dedicated to following Knight-Captain Judgment as their captain was.
Just as I thought I should step forward to prevent the metal knights from harming the maids responsible for our laundry, something got shoved in my hands. Like the time when Vice-Captain Cloud had shoved a rag at me, I looked down and was immediately confused.
Is this... a piece of parchment?
I looked up, trying to make sense of what I was holding, only to realize that the metal knights were all holding something white in their hands -- pieces of parchment. Their vice-captain was even holding a leather bound notebook.
"Sixty points," one of the metal knights said and scribbled something on his parchment.
"Nah, that's at most forty points."
"Fifty points then!" another person said and jotted something down.
"'Are you using your brain at all...'" Vice-Captain Metal muttered. At first, I thought he was insulting the other metal knights, but then he said, "What if we change that to, 'Do you have anything in that head of yours,' or 'Your head must be filled with s***'?"
"Seventy points!" the metal knights chorused.
Vice-Captain Metal gave a nod and wrote something down.
Then, he glanced at me and said, "Don't forget to write."
I was so bewildered by their actions that I had nearly forgotten that I too had a piece of parchment in my hand. I looked down at it. When Vice-Captain Metal realized that I didn't have anything to write with, he even passed a quill over.
What am I supposed to write?
We soon moved on, and the same thing happened more than once where we would hide and everyone else would write things down, but I still didn't know what I was supposed to write. I watched, growing more and more bewildered by what I was witnessing. Just where are they stashing those pieces of parchment? Where has their vice-captain's notebook disappeared to?
Their outfits didn't seem like they could hide much.
At first, I had been so caught up by the parchment and quill given to me that I hadn't seen the moment they'd put everything away. Then, it was because their movements were too quick and well practiced that I still wasn't able to figure it out. Looking at them now, I would never have known that they were carrying parchment and quills on them, not to mention an actual notebook in the case of their vice-captain.
As we rounded another corner, this one leading us to the courtyard, I found myself hiding behind a pillar. The metal knights motioned for me to flatten myself against the pillar some more, so I did the best I could. They had each taken a pillar too.
Once again, we overheard a conversation. At first, the metal knights merely listened, but when the voices grew shrill and I even heard something rude about someone's mother being so draconic that looking at her for more than three seconds would directly send someone on an early meeting with the God of Light, multiple quills and pieces of parchment appeared out of nowhere. Again, they had been too fast for me to see just where they had taken them out from!
Then came the furious scritch scratch of quills across parchment.
"Seventy-five points."
"No, that has to be at least eighty points!"
"No way! That wasn't classy at all. Sixty-eight points."
Vice-Captain Metal's quill never stopped moving as the other metal knights argued. Once he blew on his notebook and shut it, we continued on our way. I had... somewhat gotten used to it. No doubt we would stop and hide in some other place while listening in on some other conversation.
All without getting detected.
I could not help but admit that the metal knights were truly experts at stealth. I still had much to learn.
I also didn't know just how foul-mouthed many of our servants and maids are when they think no one is listening!
When Vice-Captain Metal held up his hand once more, we immediately stopped and took our places. I huddled next to a large pot, making sure no parts of my clothes stuck out. I thought perhaps there was another conversation Vice-Captain Metal wanted us to hear.
However, I instead found Vice-Captain Metal approaching the trees in the courtyard. He craned his neck and said, "Report."
If not for his actions, I would never have realized that there were several metal knights hiding in the trees.
They jumped down. Then, one-by-one, they handed Vice-Captain Metal... parchment?
He looked at each piece of parchment, nodding as he did so. "Good work."
The metal knights all preened.
It seemed that the other metal knights had been doing the same thing as us.
Vice-Captain Metal then began collecting the parchment from the metal knights that had been going around the Holy Temple with him. When he came around to me, I only had a blank piece of parchment to give him, and it was even somewhat wrinkled.
He peered at it, turned it over, saw that it was indeed blank on both sides, and handed it back to me. I thought that he might be disappointed, but all he said was, "I guess you'd need to write different things down than the notes we take, huh?"
So all of that was... note-taking? What are they taking notes for?
He reached out. Like earlier, his hand froze in midair. I blinked. Eventually, he patted me on the shoulder.
At the next corner, I looked at my blank piece of parchment.
I really should write something down.
When we stopped once again, I was prepared to start taking notes, perhaps on how the metal knights regulated their breathing or just how they managed to carry around parchment and quills while wearing body-hugging clothes -- that would solve one of my dilemmas regarding wearing leotards -- when I realized that Vice-Captain Metal had not opted to hide this time.
I took a step forward and looked around the corner.
Knight-Captain Metal was currently leaning against the wall. He was tossing one of his knives, but instead of grabbing his knife by the hilt, he grabbed it by the blade whenever it came down from its time in the air. If he weren't careful, he could accidentally cut himself.
His vice-captain walked right up to him.
"Captain," he greeted.
As Knight-Captain Metal snatched the knife out of the air and rubbed his finger along the edge of the blade, he chided, "Finally decided to show up? Any later, and the sun would be down!"
"Fifty points," Vice-Captain Metal suddenly said.
"Only fifty points?" muttered his captain. "I ran it through my head so many times too!"
Vice-Captain Metal reached out, just like how he had reached out to pat me on the shoulder. However, this time, he didn't freeze, and he didn't seem like he had any intention of patting his captain on the shoulder.
Instead, he ruffled his captain's hair.
Just how daring was he?!
"Hey, cut it out, you bastard! What kind of vice-captain are you?" Knight-Captain Metal knocked his vice-captain's hand away. He had a scowl on his face as he tried to smooth his hair down.
"Much better. Eighty-five points."
What kind of vice-captain are you?
Those were definitely words no vice-captain would ever want to hear. Even I was starting to understand, I think. But it was no wonder his captain had said it to him! I would never dare ruffle my captain's hair. I couldn't even imagine it.
"I was only speaking the truth," muttered Knight-Captain Metal.
"Yes, yes, Captain, I know. You're welcome."
...You're welcome?
Then, I watched as vice-captain and captain flipped through the leather bound notebook my fellow vice-captain had been writing in. Perhaps the notes had all been for his captain. He was a good vice-captain, truly thoughtful, minus the part where he seemed to like ruffling people's hair. But seeing them going over the notebook together made me think that maybe his captain had already forgiven him. They seemed very close.
I looked down once more at the blank parchment in my hand. Vice-Captain Metal's idea of taking notes for his captain truly wasn't bad. While I did not know if I could adapt their methods of training in stealth, at least I'd learned that note-taking was worthwhile.
And there were even ways to stash paper and quill away while wearing body-hugging clothes!
Some time later, I happened to come across Knight-Captain Metal while he was berating one of his platoon members. I did not like to admit it, but I found that my first reaction was to flatten myself against the wall so that I would not be detected. I have truly strayed from the way of a knight.
"Do you have anything in that head of yours?" he yelled. "How could you mix up the bandits' tracks with fake tracks?"
"I'm sorry, Captain."
"Sorry doesn't cut it! Anyone with eyes can see that the bandit escaped the other way!"
"But the tracks looked so real..."
"Are you an idiot? Did your mom drop you on your head while you were growing up? Of course they would make it look real!"
For some reason, the conversation sounded oddly familiar.
The Seventh Suggestion for Serving Your Captain: Jot Down Notes (So Your Captain Will Know What to Do)
to be continued
Suggestion #8: Speak Your Mind