The eyes looking at Mister Sadnid don’t look nice. The elves were never harmed directly by the knights from Migha, so they just look at him with suspicion, but beast people and the people that Phyto called here all look at him very harshly.
But even though he’s being looked at like this, and he doesn’t have any friends here, Mister Sadnid doesn’t face down. I think he’s really strong.
What if it was me? What if I did something terrible and I was standing here alone while people looked at me like this? I think you have to be really strong to face forward in a situation like this, when you could even be killed.
He doesn’t look away, faces what he’s done, and accepts everyone’s hatred.
I still have mixed feelings, but when I look at this display of strength, I can’t help but admire him a little.
I look at Gaius. I’m worried about him. He doesn’t have his usual kind smile, he’s just looking straight at Mister Sadnid.
…Gaius said he couldn’t forgive them. How does he see Mister Sadnid, with these emotions in his heart? If Gaius… No, not just Gaius, if anyone tries to attack and kill Mister Sadnid, we have to stop them. That’s why I brought the gryphons, Freinet, and Doanea with me.
It’s with this determination in my heart that I’m going to follow Mister Sadnid’s instructions too.
By the way, most weapons we have are ones we brought from the wolf beast people’s village. Miss Lan and Mister Dongu have been looking for ore nearby ever since we got here, but they haven’t found anything yet. They said they’d try to make things with it if they do find it, but this means that everything in this village is made out of wood.
Mister Sadnid is using a wooden sword to teach us.
I can’t really swing it without using physical strengthening magic, but Kayu and the others are beast people, so they swing them like they’re not heavy at all.
The elves look like they’re having an even harder time than me. They use magic, so they don’t need to swing weapons, but they decided to join us because they said they want to train their bodies, and they’re concerned about beast people too.
They don’t say it outright, but I can see them peeking over at everyone else, and the spirits contracted to them are all near beast people and Phyto’s people, so it’s clear that they’re worried.
Mister Sadnid is just as good with a sword as you’d expect from a knight, and he’s a good instructor too.
“It would be easier if you swing it like this.”
“And in that case you…”
Mister Sadnid’s instructs us carefully and in a way that’s easy for us to understand. He looks at everyone individually, and he’s ready to give everyone instructions because he’s paying attention.
Since knights like him can’t do much here, he probably hasn’t seen most people gathered here, but he still tries to remember everyone’s names. He speaks to everyone individually, and makes sure to pay attention to us kids too.
I feel like I’m learning a lot about him in this short time.
The first coaching session ends up being a lot more peaceful than I was expecting. Everyone looks him in the eyes, but hold back their hatred, and he does his best to carefully instruct everyone.
I can see some people looking at him like they’re thinking ‘is that really a knight from Migha’.
I hope this confusion leads them to improve their relationship.
All other sessions are conducted by Mister Sadnid too, probably to focus on improving people’s relationship with one person in particular first.
Miss Lan says he’s like the leader of the knights that came here, so he’s like they’re representative. She says it’s better to do it slowly like this than having more knights here and risking something bad happening.
It looks like his coaching is having an effect. Some people have softened their attitude after getting to know him a little better, but some still look at him with a sharp look in their eyes. It’s not a simple issue to fix.
Gaius’ eyes still look cold. I want him to smile, but I know that wanting someone to smile and trying to force it aren’t the same thing. All I can do is stay with him when he’s looking like that, even when we’re not training.
I don’t really know what’s the right thing to do. Should I talk to him about it? Should I leave him be? What’s better for Gaius? But still, I think he’ll come talk to me if he feels he can’t hold it back anymore.
This continues for a while, until one day…
“How about we do a mock battle today?”
Asks Mister Sadnid, and Gaius is the first to volunteer.
—Girl, and boy and knight – Part two
(The miko takes part in the knight’s coaching sessions, and is worried about the beast boy.)
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