Chapter 101: Noonwraith
Chapter 101: Noonwraith
Watching Fringilla’s retreating figure fly off like the wind, a smile played on Banu’s lips. The number of smiles on her face today probably outnumbered those of an entire month prior.
Lothar’s footsteps sounded behind Banu. "Where’s Fringilla?"
"Gone out to play. No need to worry about her."
"Mm." Lothar replied, somewhat distractedly. He was still considering the list of candidates for knighthood.
In this last battle, Ryan and Moder had made significant contributions and definitely deserved promotion. Furthermore, Ulm and Andreas, those two outstanding Winged Hussars, could also be considered for advancement to knighthood.
However, there were also several squires in the Knightly Order who had fought bravely and whose knights had fallen in battle. Lothar was contemplating whether to recruit them under his command, to make them truly his own men—meaning, when the opportunity arose, to transform them into Winged Hussars.
"Let’s go find her," Banu said, pointing to a nearby street.
The war didn’t seem to have affected this city much. Greeks, Germans, Arabs... people streamed endlessly through it. A faint scent of spices and cooked food wafted through the air.
Some sergeants of the Royal Knights, wearing their red and white surcoats, had already been drawn over and were soon haggling prices with the "wandering orioles" who had arrived by ship from the Continent.
Alcohol and women were vital treasures for extinguishing the traumas of war. Lothar, constrained by his public image, lacked this latter component, a deficiency naturally made up for by these Crusader sergeants whose purses were now bulging from their recent war spoils.
But the direction Banu pointed was, remarkably, the exact opposite of where Fringilla had gone. A faint smile on her lips, she said, "Let’s take this opportunity to go shopping. I’ve served you for so long, yet you’ve never given me a gift."