I Will Be the Greatest Knight-Chapter 468: Learning the Same Lessons

While Irene knew it wasn’t wise to reach blindly into a hole, it was a risk she was going to take to rescue the apprentices she was presiding over that night.

They had been given a little bit of leeway in their scouting—no longer forced to stay on the wall segment, considering the construction going on in that area of the valley. However, Irene learned that if she gave a little, they would take a lot.

Even though she had explained the rules for their night watch before it even began, a couple of days before, she realized she needed to be a bit firmer with the boundaries. At least with this lesson learned, they were likely to no longer wander where they weren’t supposed to.

There wasn’t time to communicate her thoughts because of the goblins still attacking William’s legs. Irene pushed the apprentice away from the creatures and began attacking them relentlessly until they were sure not to stand up again.

"Dame, the ground is moving!" Finn, the other apprentice, called.

"Stay close to William. I don’t want him moving until we can patch up those wounds," Irene ordered. "I’ll handle what I can. What I can’t manage myself, you will have to take on."

During moments on the field where the knights and apprentices were truly having to fight for their lives to defend the duchy, natural hierarchy would sort itself out. The ranks reflected the skills of everyone involved.

As Irene brandished her sword again after wiping the goblin blood on the grass, there was an electrifying presence in the air that made the apprentices realize why she was, in fact, the third in command. There wasn’t a bit of fear in her actions as a few larger goblins freed themselves from the collapsed earth. She didn’t unfairly attack them, but rather waited until they could attack her so she could formulate a plan.

There was one that rushed her without any thought. Ones like that were the easiest to handle because they did little to protect themselves, and she found her sword slicing through its pathetic attempt at attacking her as she severed its arms down to its elbows and then sent one slice through its stomach.

She kicked it to the side.

The next two were a bit trickier. She only got one slice on the face of one before having to kick it down and handle the last one. That could be the apprentices’ to handle.

The third actually had a sharp mace, which she was worried about being hit by.

Irene blocked its downward slash and pushed it backwards. However, since goblins weren’t the most pointed in their actions, it began spinning in a circle with the weapon.

At that point, her only option was to crouch on the ground and stab the monster in its legs so she would miss the swinging weapon and also take it out of the fight. Once there was no more risk of being beaten by metal spikes, she finished the job by piercing the beast in its supposed heart—although she still wasn’t sure if the monsters even had internal organs because each time they were stabbed, everything pouring out of them looked the same.

There was only one final goblin that came out of the collapsed cavern. It was easiest by far to take care of, even though it was the largest, because it moved slowly and carried only a dull stick to fight.

By the time Irene was sure that there was nothing else coming from the collapsed hole, she unclenched her jaw and relaxed her grip on her sword. A sigh escaped her lips as she tried to calm the thrill that rushed through her body whenever she faced monsters.

"Help me cover this," Irene directed, but when she saw the youngest apprentice starting to stand up, she insisted he not participate. "William, stay put."

"Yes, dame," William responded, bowing his head as shame struck him.

All they could do was push small boulders and a few logs into the hole in hopes that it would be too heavy for anything else to escape in case there was more they weren’t seeing. For now, Irene would save it and report it to Felix and Henry later on.

"We must get a fire going so that we can burn these bodies," she explained. "Death looms over this valley within the foothills after what went on here during the war."

Seeing goblins eating an ogre carcass still stuck out in her head at times. There were some things she would never get answers for because they were merely trying to survive at one point.

"I’ll collect wood," Finn insisted, and at Irene’s nod, he took off.

She then got a kit full of bandages and salves that she brought to William, who remained seated on the ground and undoubtedly full of shame as he kept his eyes cast downward.

"Let me take a look at your leg," she said to the apprentice.

As she crouched in front of him, she glanced away from his leg. He seemed so insistent on keeping his eyes from hers.

"Are you in pain?" she wondered.

"Not as much as I am ashamed," he admitted. "I also lost my boot."

She tended to his leg as she spoke. "You will never make the mistake again of pushing the boundaries of what a knight has put out for you, that much is for certain."

"Yes, dame," he agreed instantly, hoping her view of him hadn’t changed, and she still found him reliable as an apprentice. He felt childish.

"A while back, I lost something even worse and harder to replace than a boot," she admitted. "A shin plate my father had forged for me is somewhere in the mountains to this day."

"You?" William asked in disbelief.

"Apprentices are allowed to make mistakes, but I was already a knight," she explained with a smile. "Mistakes happen. It is nothing to be ashamed of."

She wouldn’t voice that it wasn’t her fault she lost it in the first place, but he didn’t need to know. All Irene wanted was for him to see that it wasn’t the end of the world.

"It’s going to sting a bit," she continued, having wiped the blood from his leg and pushed aside his pant leg.

William braced for the pain as she spread it across the few deep puncture wounds he had. He seemed to be holding his breath until the leg was fully wrapped and taken care of. He would have to see Siverly later for further healing.

By that point, the other apprentice was returning. Irene turned to William and stood up before offering her hand. It was time he got back to work.

She felt that the lesson he had learned was better than a lecture for now.

The sun would soon kiss the horizon anyway. It was nearing time to go to bed.