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Chapter 231:

The clear, flowing voice stopped Cain and Icarus in their tracks. They looked at each other.

“Do you have money?” Icarus whispered.

Cain shrugged. “Do I look like someone with money?” he whispered back.

“What did you do with your salary back then?”

“You got your salary?”

Icarus tilted her head. Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t remember getting paid. She just didn’t realize it because Joshua handed her a giant bag of money. The truth was, none of that money went to Joshua’s vassals.

“Wow. Our master is a scammer after all,” Cain bemoaned.

“We’re basically homeless and penniless right now. We really need the family to protect our rights…”

“You’re stating the obvious.”

“So, you don’t have any personal savings?”

“No, nothing at all. I didn’t think I’d ever need the money.”

“I had my hopes up, but I really don’t think you’re ever going to get married now.”

“What are you on about?!”

“Who wants to marry a man with no money these days?”

“If I set my mind to it, I’ll have no problem making money! Is that all women are interested in?”

“Yeah, yeah… Keep telling yourself that.”

While Cain and Icarus’s voices continued to mount, Iceline stared at them from beneath the hem of her robe.

“Even if I don’t have money, I’ll still get married before you.” Cain looked pointedly at her body.

“What are you trying to say, you old bachelor?”

“E-Excuse me?”

“Now that I think about it, you should be the ‘Solo Knight,’ not the ‘First Knight.’ Add ‘incel[^n1]’ in there while we’re at it, you creep.”

“As if you have any experience!”

“It’s not that I can’t, it’s that I don’t want to. If I set my mind to—”

“Oh, where have I heard that before?”

Icarus glared at Cain with killer eyes. “Old man.”

“Poor.”

“Ignorant.”

“Stupid.”

“’I’ve never held a woman’s hand in my life.’”

“Forever alone, unidentifiable gender.”

“Ugh!” Icarus’s face was red with anger.

Cain stuck his chin up and shrugged. It felt like he’d won in some strange way.

“Even an emergency fund would be nice.”

“As you command.” Cain looked down and pulled a small leather pocket from his waist.

“You said you had no money!”

“Every man has his secrets.”

“True.” Icarus wore a wide smile on her face, despite her anger moments ago. It made Cain inexplicably nervous[^n2].

“This money will be very useful for the family.” Icarus suddenly produced an even bigger leather pouch and stuffed both wallets into a fist-sized pocket.

Cain’s jaw dropped. “Is that a subspace artifact?”

“As the saying goes, the more, the merrier. We can’t see the future, so we have to save up as much money as possible. You understand that, right? I’m so glad you’re willing to sacrifice yourself for the cause.”

…Looks like I need to give Icarus another name.

“Stingy.”

“Call it a woman’s touch.”

Cain clenched his fists in frustration.

“Hey…” Iceline’s charming voice broke their standoff. She smiled at them. “I have a lot of money.”

“Huh?”

“Eh?”

“I think we should be focusing on getting to Arcadia as soon as possible, don’t you?”

Their response was a silence stiff enough to cut with a knife.

There wasn’t a reason for them to argue in the first place—after the payoff from Iceline’s bets in Reinhardt, she had enough money to live like a queen for three generations.

Real masters don’t advertise their presence.

“Captain!”

The 400 knights of the 11th and 12th Battalions were waiting for Joshua.

“Congratulations on achieving your goals!”

“I was so surprised. I can’t believe you would say something like that in front of the proud central nobles…” Just thinking about it made Viper trail off. Cazes and Ranger were tearing up.

“What do we do? No one chose to stand with us, the idiots.”

“Who’s this boy?” Ranger peered at Ash.

“Oh, don’t worry about him,” Joshua replied. “More importantly, I think I owe you an apology first.” He bowed deeply.

“S-Sir! What are you doing?”

“I’m sorry for making such a decision without discussing it with anyone. For you, it must have come out of the blue.”

“That’s not what we were thinking!” Ranger protested. “Hey, who’s thinking like that?!” The big knight glared at the others.

“Is that a threat?” Joshua shook his head. “It was a unilateral decision by your ignorant commander. If you don’t agree with my choices, I will help you transfer to another battalion peacefully.”

“In that case, I’ll help as well.”

“Sir Valmont…?” Viper gaped.

Valmont dun Brown, captain of the much more prestigious 3rd Battalion, waved at them from atop the roof.

“I owe your master quite a debt, so I’ll give you a hand. I’m sure you won’t believe me, but my only request is another spar. How about it?”

Joshua nodded, drawing a chuckle from Valmont.

“Great.”

And that was that. Any worries they had were groundless.

“And if we stay?”

“We’ll follow you until the day we die! Even if you tell us to get lost.”

“Are you sure you aren’t going to throw us away because we’re out?” Ranger couldn’t suppress his smile.

“The Captain is our hero!”

“What a breath of fresh air!”

“The captains of the top battalions should’ve seen the dumb looks on their faces!”

“An order independent of the Imperial Knights? The other battalions are gonna die of stomach aches!”

The knights stuck their thumbs up, making Viper and Cazes laugh. All of them were in agreement.

“No one wants to leave, Captain,” Ranger informed Joshua.

Joshua was silent.

“Ah, is five years too long or too short? That was how long it took you to make your men obedient. Now it feels like gold wouldn’t even make them blink,” Valmont admired as he stood up. “Looks like you don’t have any problems. Enjoy your battles with your own people now.”

Joshua mulled over Valmont’s words once he was gone. Valmont had come for a reason, but he picked this moment in particular.

“…Now that everyone knows,” Viper ventured, “I have a question… What kind of knights did you have in mind, Captain?”

Instantly, the knights fell silent.

“Perhaps you haven’t come up with a name yet?”

“Ranger.” Cazes frowned.

Ranger smiled brightly. “Does it matter what the name is? Just call us the Knights of Ranger! Don’t rush, but don’t take it for granted either—I mean, take your time but put some thought into it!”

That was the crux of the issue. Whether they liked it or not, their order was real. From the point of view of the 11th and 12th Battalions, this felt like ditching a stable job for a very uncertain one.

“No, I’ve already thought this through.”

Joshua would never put over two hundred knights in an uncertain position on a whim. He’d been thinking about his own order of knights for a long time now.

Swallow has their Wyvern Knights, and Avalon has the First Sky Knight’s Order.

He felt excitement welling up when he saw the heat in the knights’ eyes.

He’d made another deal with Crevasse, one that was quite handy. There was nothing more effective at taming wild animals than the threat of a dragon.

“I’m really sorry, but I can’t say more right now. Will you still follow me, nonetheless?”

“But Captain, we asked you about the name of our order,” Ranger apologetically pressed him.

“The name?” Joshua slowly met eyes with each knight. “Crevasse, Frozen Nightmare of Earth.”

The newborn Crevasse Knights would be famous in the not-so-distant future for slicing through the wide expanses of the heavens.

[^n1]: Originally 모태솔로 (motaesollo, “person who has never had a romantic partner,” literally “single since birth”)

[^n2]: TL/N: hey author, I’ll smack you with my own twist in the story if you made Cain fall harder to Icarus without sailing the ship… *holds spearknight at gunpoint*