—————————————————————–
Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Simzy
—————————————————————–
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
“Hey, Commander’s son. What are you going to do?”
Karl, who had been lounging on his bunk, idly entertaining the thought that a life of leisure wouldn’t be so bad, was addressed by the Trash Chief. He tilted his head slightly to look at the bulky, ex-space mercenary chief and drawled, “I dunno…”
“Gotta do something interesting. It’s a one-way trip, life. Kinda sucks to live it like shit, right?”
Then, the Pig, who was sprawled on the next bunk, munching on snacks, spoke up.
“Do that, that. A knight. Suits you perfectly, dude. You’ve got the looks.”
“Yeah, become a successful knight from the training camp and introduce us to some knight ladies. …Fucking hell, that knight bitch in the Sun Knights is sooo damn fine. Does a pussy like that even exist?”
Hearing that, the Rat snickered.
“Fucking hell, you know how the bathroom reeked of cum yesterday? Everyone probably jerked off at least once.”
The Trash Chief waved his hand dismissively.
“Man, but I can’t get it up for someone too pretty. It’s like, there’s no sense of reality. Needs a bit of human touch, don’t you think?”
“Bullshit. Making excuses for not being able to get any.”
The Pig chuckled derisively, and the Trash Chief retorted,
“As if a pig like you could even get a girl to spread her legs.”
“I’ve already had a truckload of women.”
“Bullshit. Not women, female pigs, maybe.”
“Asshole.”
The squad leader ignored the Pig and turned his attention back to Karl.
“Anyway, become a knight and introduce us to some women. Fucking hell, some hot ones. Let’s improve our lot with our dicks.”
“But with the Commander’s son’s status, you could probably get ahead with just your dick, right?”
“If I were a woman, I’d spread ’em for you, kehehe.”
“Fuck, imagining that makes me wanna puke. Ugh.”
Karl was lost in thought, ignoring his squadmates’ banter.
Actually, he wanted to do nothing but laze around and poke pussies, but that would land him straight in jail, so he had to do something.
Wasn’t there something interesting?
Since he refused to go somewhere completely unfamiliar and bust his ass, he had to at least go through the knight course. There were many familiar faces there, so he might even get some preferential treatment.
The problem was what came next. A knight, sure, but what kind of knight?
In short, each knight order had its own characteristics.
They were generally divided into three categories:
Guard Corps, Combat Corps, and Military Intelligence Corps.
Of course, all knight orders performed all three duties in their assigned areas, but they still had specific responsibilities. Like the Sun Knights being in charge of the Imperial Emperor’s protection and Earth’s defense.
Karl was particularly interested in the Military Intelligence Corps. Taking on secret missions and covertly screwing over the enemy, you know? Uncovering the corruption of the Imperial nobles, finding criminals, and getting treated to sex! At least it would be better than living a boring knight’s life.
Anyway, if he just killed time like that, his father would eventually tell him to crawl back into the spaceship.
Blackmailing corrupt noble daughters for sex would be fun, coercing fleeing space criminals into sex would be thrilling, deflowering virgin daughters offered up by his brown-nosing father…
Lost in such fantasies, Karl yawned widely, his mouth agape.
In just two weeks, training camp would be over. He had been apprehensive about how he would spend half a year there, but it felt like it had passed faster than he thought. Of course, that didn’t mean he had grown fond of this shitty place. He wanted to escape right this instant.
As he was pondering these thoughts, the duty NCO shouted from the hallway, “Evening roll call in thirtyyy minutes!” The lounging squad members quietly cursed, “Ah, fuck,” and got up to tidy their bunks and lockers.
After they finished tidying up and chatting, the 5th Squad instructor came in and told them to prepare for roll call. The squad leader stood in the middle of the barracks, while the others sat on the edges of their bunks, waiting for the duty officer.
Soon, the smiling duty officer in casual attire entered the barracks, saying, “Alright, everyone have a good day? Yeah, yeah, tomorrow’s Sunday, so everyone have a good weekend. Yeah, yeah, uh, good work.”
Evening roll call was quickly over, and the squad members all lay down.
“Lights out.”
With a click, Karl’s view of the zigzag-patterned ceiling went dark.
…Dad’s gonna nag me again about becoming a knight… Well, fuck, what can I do? Being a knight is a hundred times better than being a boring navigator.
Of course, some might think it was great to sit back in the navigation room, patting the firm buttocks of a female officer and enjoying a leisurely navigation life, but that was too devoid of fun and thrills. If he could be a complete bum, that would be different, but having to work while enduring that kind of romance-less, closed-off space was too much of a waste of his young life.
And, strangely, Karl didn’t get along with the bookworm bastards who sat at their desks all day, every day, just studying. The difference in administrative and practical experience—that was, in fact, the most decisive reason.
…But then again, those kinds of girls don’t usually spread their legs easily.
But that didn’t mean the knights were easy either. Whether knights or navigators, they all had such strong pride that even if you tried to charm them with your looks, they wouldn’t easily give in. Just look at Alisa, for example. …Of course, there are always exceptions everywhere.
…Yeah, this time, let’s live like a completely selfish asshole. Not like before. …What’s the point of living like that? Everything ends when you die….
Karl sighed deeply and closed his eyes.
Nothing in this world is eternal.
Just like the universe itself will eventually disappear into eternal darkness—.
A week before graduation, Karl submitted his specialty preference form, writing down “Knighthood” in the main category and “Intelligence Unit” in the detailed section. He couldn’t guarantee it would work out, but as the top student in the training camp, he figured he’d probably get what he asked for. Surely, in this vast universe, there’s at least one such position available.
Of course, he wouldn’t be formally inducted right away. He’d have to serve as a probationary knight for a period determined by the Knighthood. It was usually six months, but depending on the Knighthood, it could be one or even two years. Incidentally, the probationary period for the Solar Knights was two years.
If the internal assessment determined that a knight could faithfully perform their duties, they could be inducted even before their probationary period ended. In short, they’d try you out, and if you were good, they’d keep you, and if not, they’d spit you out.
Since they could freely utilize skilled and obedient personnel for practically no pay, there wasn’t much to lose for the Knighthoods. That’s why they generously offered these seemingly fair opportunities and even recruited informally from the training camps.
Three days after submitting his preference form—
As expected, Karl received news that he had been selected as a probationary knight for the “Curble Knighthood.” He’d never even heard of this Knighthood during his long service in the Imperial Army. …It probably wasn’t a central Knighthood, but one located somewhere on the periphery.
Karl heard a rumor that Alisa had also been provisionally inducted into a Knighthood. And the name of that Knighthood was the same as his.
…What? How could this be?
He hadn’t specifically written down the Knighthood’s name, just the specialty, so the fact that both of them ended up in the same place could be interpreted in two ways.
One, it was a coincidence. Two, someone intervened.
Karl considered the latter more likely. It wasn’t that the former was impossible, but he didn’t believe much in coincidences. They tended to dull one’s vigilance.
Who could it be?
No one immediately came to mind. He didn’t think his father would do such a thing. …The most suspicious person was, as always, Ellis. Only she knew the general nature of Karl and Alisa’s relationship.
…Seriously, she’s still as meddlesome as ever.
She must have remembered his joking remarks about them being close and pulled some strings behind the scenes to get them into the same Knighthood.
Of course, Karl wasn’t the type to make a fuss about it, so he just accepted it. Being in the same Knighthood wouldn’t be all that helpful for either of them, anyway. They were both just probationary knights.
Alisa seemed unaware that Karl had become a probationary knight, let alone that they were in the same Knighthood. He planned to keep it a secret until the last minute. It would make for a rather amusing scene. She’d probably look at him with disgust, thinking, “With the likes of you?”
She was surprisingly fun to tease.
Thinking about it again, joining the same Knighthood could be quite entertaining. Though she’d absolutely hate it.
Karl exhaled slowly and looked up at the dull-colored sky. The blue sky one saw on Earth couldn’t be found on Hel-Lugal. That’s probably why they built a prison on this godforsaken place and threw all the criminals in there. To deny them the pleasure of even seeing such a beautiful sky.
…Someday, when I’m really old, will I ever miss this dreadful place?
Lost in thought for the first time in a while, he chuckled softly and dismissed the idea.
No, he doubted he would ever miss the training camp.
◇◇◇◆◇◇◇
