"Back! Everyone back!" Katrina commanded the moment she spotted the figure stepping through the "mirror." The creature surveyed its surroundings unhurriedly, clicking the pincers where its mouth should've been. And wouldn't you know it, Gera and I were the first to catch its eye — we were closest.

  The girl, clutching her bloody hand to her chest, stared in horror at this thing standing just four or five meters away. I was no better — swallowed up and crushed by its aura, unable to move.

  "Battle formation!" the paladin barked, and her soldiers, not missing a beat, readied themselves to fight. I think she was shouting something at us too, but the creature drowned out every other sound. Gera and I were trapped in a bubble of pure terror.

  "Circle of Light!" Katrina shouted again, and in the next instant a ring of blinding golden fire erupted around the monster. I felt my limbs unlock. "What are you standing there for? Get over here!"

  The monster wasn't about to let its prey escape that easily. First it tested the wall of golden flame with one pincer, then swung full force — and the barrier shattered into a thousand sparks on the first blow.

  The moment the barrier fell, we all felt the "pressure" radiating from the thing again. The brute zeroed in on Gera and me once more and hurled its massive blade.

  If not for my superhuman reflexes, Gera would've been cut clean in half. At the last second I scooped her up and leaped sideways. Meanwhile, Katrina fired off a Touch of Light, but it didn't seem to make the monster so much as flinch. I shuddered to think what kind of creature this was if even a high vampire made an effort to dodge that attack.

  "Run!" the paladin shouted, and Günther hurled an energy sphere at the thing. A massive explosion erupted behind us, something slammed hard into my back, but I didn't look.

  By then I'd reached the squad with Gera in my arms. It was maybe thirty meters — felt like an eternity. I wasn't remotely surprised that the magical explosion hadn't done much damage.

  "Archers!" Katrina commanded, and four soldiers loosed several rapid volleys of flaming arrows. Günther wasn't sitting idle either, hitting the beast with a pair of lightning bolts.

  Magic didn't do much to the monster, but the arrows clearly bothered it. With a sharp jerk, the creature flung its blade forward, aimed right at the squad. Thankfully, nobody was hit — everyone scattered in time, dodging the lethal strike.

  "Spread out!" the paladin continued commanding, casting another Touch of Light. It seemed to slightly blind the monster, which the archers exploited, continuing to pepper it with arrows. She didn't use the Circle of Light again, though. Günther wasn't idle either, attempting to bind the monster with earthen shackles.

  The squad was in no rush to engage in melee with this thing. The swordsmen kept their distance, dispersed so they wouldn't get caught by the chain-blade the monster was hurling with alarming skill and accuracy. Their main job was simply to distract it, keeping it away from the archers and the mage.

  "Aim for the eyes," Katrina commanded once more, using another paladin spell. Günther, meanwhile, had given up wasting energy on lightning and was now weaving earth-binding spells to restrict the monster's movement.

  It took me a moment to understand why the creature was limiting itself to throwing its sword — but now it clicked. From the instant it appeared, Günther had been restraining it over and over. The demon's strength was apparently immense, since it broke free fairly quickly each time, but our mage kept stopping it from reaching the squad.

  I set Gera down well away from the battlefield and was about to head back when she suddenly grabbed my sleeve.

  "You're bleeding." Her voice was strange — calm on the surface, but probably from shock. "Right here."

  Sure enough, glancing at the back of my shoulder, I saw bloodstains on my shirt. Must've been a rock fragment from the explosion.

  "It's nothing. Just a scratch," I told her and walked forward. She seemed to want to stop me again, but I was gone before she could say anything else.

  Finally, one of our archers landed a perfect shot in the creature's eye. And that's when the demon went berserk, letting out a scream so loud I had to cover my ears. I was pretty sure I'd go deaf if I didn't. Günther got caught by the sonic attack too, and he couldn't restrain the monster in time. The demon seized the opening instantly. But it didn't charge straight ahead — instead it leaped, so high that it landed right in the center of the squad.

  "Back! Retreat!" Katrina shouted, then rushed at the demon. Looked like melee was unavoidable now.

  I followed her example, though I knew it was stupid. But as a halfblood, I had better odds of surviving a direct clash with something like this than a regular soldier. Which the demon promptly demonstrated. Finding itself surrounded by humans, it snatched a soldier who hadn't retreated fast enough with its pincer and literally tore his head off.

  Günther hit the demon with lightning, not daring to use the bomb-spell, but the electrical discharge just crackled across the monster and dissipated without doing real damage. And before, those same lightning bolts had been at least slightly effective. Was it developing resistance? Watching this, I was starting to lose faith in magic.

  Katrina, meanwhile, circled behind the creature, jumped, and drove her blade between its shoulder blades. Howling yet again, it spun in place, throwing the woman off. She landed on her feet with surprising grace, but almost immediately had to jump back, dodging a swipe from the demon's pincer.

  Günther tried the earth shackles again, but the monster seemed to have figured out who was causing it so much trouble and hurled its blade at the mage. Good thing I was nearby — at the last instant I managed to yank him aside, and the flying weapon sailed past harmlessly.

  "Thanks," Günther said, slightly dazed, getting to his feet almost immediately and resuming his spellwork. This time it worked. Stone slabs once again clamped around the monster's legs, trying to suck its limbs into the ground. While the demon struggled to free itself, Torig rushed to one leg and Katrina to the other, and they struck simultaneously. Katrina's sword bit deep into the flesh, but Torig had less luck — he only scratched the creature's armor.

  The beast lashed out with its sword at devastating speed. Torig couldn't dodge. All he managed was to try blocking, but the impact sent him flying about ten meters backward. Its next opponent was Katrina, and she didn't just dodge the pincer strike — she counterattacked. She really was a master swordswoman. I wondered who'd taught her.

  The archers, having retreated to a safe distance, resumed peppering the monster with arrows, though now with greater caution to avoid hitting allies. The other warriors weren't rushing into melee either. And I thought that was the right call — there were only about ten combat-capable soldiers left, and they weren't eager to die in an unwinnable fight. They trusted their commander. If Katrina ordered a retreat, then that's what they'd do.

  Watching the fight from the sidelines, I started to notice something. This monster, despite its considerable speed, wasn't consistently fast. Strangely enough, even though its attacks were quick, it was actually rather clumsy overall. Its swings were quite predictable despite their speed — I'd already watched it swing that blade multiple times and it always did it the same way. Not to mention one of its eyes now had an arrow sticking out of it, creating a sizable blind spot that would be criminal not to exploit.

  Another useful halfblood trait — we can shove fear and shock to the back of our minds, same as pain. Otherwise, no sane person would attempt what I was about to do. Nevertheless, I charged forward and, while the demon was occupied with Katrina, swung with everything I had at the same spot Torig had struck.

  The result was pretty good. The elven blade, despite some resistance, punched through the monster's armor and sank into flesh. Roaring, the brute swung its long sword and nearly cut me in half. From the outside it probably looked somewhat comical — I simply let go of the sword and jerked my hands back, and the next instant the blade whizzed past right in front of my nose.

  "Nice one!" I heard approving shouts from some of the soldiers, but I had no time for that. Instead, I grabbed my sword again and, before the creature could manage another swing, drove a second strike into the same spot. I was slightly off-angle, but the blade still penetrated much deeper than before.

  I must've damaged something critical, because the demon howled again and then dropped to one knee. Katrina, as if she'd been waiting for exactly that, leaped in and slashed the thing across the neck. Blood immediately gushed from the wound. The demon tried to cover it with its pincer while wildly swinging its sword. All the paladin and I could do was back off and wait for the giant's frenzy to subside.

  "Not bad, Max," she said, approaching. "I'll distract it. Can you climb onto its back and strike the base of the skull? That should be its weak point."

  "I'll try," I nodded.

  Satisfied with the answer, she stepped forward and blasted it with a Touch of Light, drawing the monster's attention. The archers ceased fire, and Günther concentrated on holding the demon as tightly as possible. But it was obvious he was running on fumes. The mage looked like he could barely stand.

  The demon spotted the paladin distracting it with her Light spell and responded with a horizontal sword swing, which she jumped over like a true acrobat. I was amazed by her grace once again — and she was wearing actual armor weighing around thirty kilos! I wasn't sure I could pull that off despite my superhuman abilities.

  While the golden-haired beauty held the creature's attention, I crept up from behind and, waiting for the right moment, reached its back in two jumps. The problem was that despite its injured legs, the demon kept trying to stand, simultaneously swinging its sword. Perched on its back, I drove the blade with all my might into the gap between the plates at the base of its skull. The thing didn't even manage a growl — it just collapsed instantly, and momentum sent me flying forward, tumbling across the ground.

  Nobody rushed to help me up. Fine, I'd manage. Instead of offering a hand, my comrades-in-arms headed for the demon and started… dismembering it. But first, Katrina severed the creature's head with a couple of strikes.

  Realizing it was over, I tiredly dropped to the ground and drove my sword into the dirt beside me. Nobody was paying attention to me — everyone was busy with their own tasks. Günther, clearly running on his last reserves, sat down like me for a couple of minutes, drank a potion, then went to tend the wounded.

  Someone noticed the captive dark mage had escaped, but Katrina immediately dispatched two warriors in pursuit. After overseeing the treatment of the wounded, she walked over to Gera, gave her a cold look, and said: "Girz's blood is on your conscience." The girl-squire went even paler. I expected Katrina to slap her or something, but sometimes words cut far deeper. Then Katrina came over to me, sat down, and silently produced a flask. She took a couple of swallows and held it out to me.

  "Kha… pfft…" I grimaced, tasting something brutally strong. But even that proof couldn't penetrate my vampiric metabolism. "I'll pass."

  "Your loss," she shrugged and took another sip before returning the flask to her belt. "Not bad, Maximilian. Not bad at all."

  "What was that thing, exactly?"

  "A demon. An executioner demon — extremely nasty creature you don't want to encounter. It can be killed, but you need at least four genuinely skilled warriors. And in my squad, only Torig is a decent swordsman."

  "Why didn't magic work on it?"

  "High resistance," she said with a grimace. "Even Light attacks deal maybe a hundredth of the damage. We were lucky Günther knows a couple of earth spells — otherwise it would've been much worse, and we wouldn't have gotten off with just one casualty."

  "I thought you'd have something to say to me too about what happened."

  "Would there be a point?" She looked me in the eye. "Gera made the mistake, not you."

  "So what happens to her? Kicking her out?"

  "Nothing," she answered coldly. "Let her live with it. If she wants to be a commander someday, she'll have to go through this. Learning that your decisions can cost people their lives."

  "I'll remember not to touch strange objects belonging to cultists in the future," I promised.

  "Bad year," she said, biting her lower lip. "I've lost seven people this year. The two years before that, I hadn't lost anyone."

  "Don't blame yourself. You did everything right," I tried to encourage my commander, but she clearly didn't need it. With a toss of her hair, she stood and looked down at me.

  "We are the Order of the Swallow, Max. Losses are inevitable when we fight demons. All we can do is minimize them. No more, no less. I think you'll understand that yourself soon enough."

  With that, she walked away, leaving me alone. Meanwhile, Günther finally got to Gera and her bloody hand. The girl resisted, weighed down by guilt, but the commander delivered a solid slap across her face, and all objections instantly vanished.

  "Finally…" the mage sighed with relief, sitting down where Katrina had just been. He looked truly terrible — like someone who hadn't eaten or slept in days. Right now, Günther looked like an old man. "Thanks again, by the way."

  "Come on," I waved him off. "We're a team, aren't we?"

  "Well said, Maximilian. Well said indeed. But I can now proudly declare that you've been baptized by fire!" He clapped me on the shoulder.

  "Doesn't the vampire encounter count?" I asked, surprised.

  "Well, I didn't see any vampires. Neither did they," the man gestured at the other fighters recovering from the battle. "But just now, they watched you kill an executioner demon, and believe me — in our circles, that counts for a lot."

  Despite his words, I didn't feel any surge of pride or energy. Just exhaustion. I wanted to get back and bury my face in my mattress and pass out.

  "Just give me the bonus. That'll do," I told him. "They haven't even paid me the first one yet."

  "What a mercenary young man," he chuckled approvingly, clapping my shoulder again. "You'll get your bonus. You'll get it."

  "How are the others?"

  "Torig took a beating — broken arm, internal organ damage, but he'll live. I gave him a couple of potions and cast a healing spell. He'll be bedridden for a couple of days, then good as new — though full use of the arm won't come back for about a week. Gera got off easier — just lost a finger joint. Also gave her a potion and cast a regeneration spell. It'll grow back in a week or two."

  You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

  "How convenient. In my world, we can't regrow limbs."

  "If you ever lose an arm or a leg, come see me. I'll do what I can."

  "I'd rather you teach me magic properly, instead of from that lousy book. If Lady Katrina hadn't given me a couple of tips, I wouldn't have gotten anywhere — my 'mana reservoir' wasn't formed, and that book was written for people who'd already formed one."

  "Heh…" The mage made an odd sound and shook his head. "Fine, fine. I do owe you. I'll help you out, just let me recover first. We'll probably have a celebration tomorrow, and after that I'll give you a couple of real lessons. Fair warning, though — I'm not much of a teacher."

  "A celebration? What's there to celebrate?" I was surprised, given that someone had just died.

  "It's tradition. After a successful hunt, we celebrate. Especially when there are losses. Probably hard to explain to someone from another world, but the celebration is also how we honor our fallen brothers."

  "No, I get it," I nodded. "In some cultures back in my world, wakes really do look like celebrations. So I'm not surprised. I was more surprised to learn that in one culture, they actually dig up the dead and parade them through the streets as if they're still alive."

  "Sounds like you've got a lot of necromancers over there…"

  "No," I smirked slightly. "Just a strange custom."

  At that moment, the warriors sent after the fleeing dark mage returned. As predicted, he hadn't gotten far. The knights caught up quickly and dragged him back. Judging by his appearance, he'd "stumbled" a couple of times along the way. Clumsy fellow!

  "So — done running?" Katrina smirked, approaching the prisoner. He tried to spit at her, but the soldier standing next to him quickly put a stop to that with a fist. "You summoned one hell of a creature, I'll give you that. But what did you need it for? Executioners aren't exactly easy to control."

  The prisoner said nothing. Just clenched his teeth and looked away.

  "Don't want to talk? Your right." The paladin shrugged. "Otherwise they'd just hang you. But if you'd prefer a chat with our interrogators, that's your call."

  Katrina gave her people about half an hour to rest, with strict orders not to touch anything without permission. Günther, having recovered some strength, set about examining the strange skull that had bitten off part of Gera's finger. And it turned out to be quite a spectacle. He didn't rush to handle the artifact directly. First, he constructed magical diagrams above it, which frequently flared up and dissolved in showers of sparks.

  The soldiers, however, treated this spectacle as routine and didn't even glance that way. They just rested and chatted. Only Gera sat alone off to the side, trying not to attract anyone's attention. I didn't want to imagine what she was feeling right now. She'd fought so hard to get here, and on her very first combat mission, she'd put the entire squad in the path of a powerful demon.

  Sighing, I got to my feet and walked over to her. I wanted to cheer her up a little, even though our relationship was far from ideal.

  "Hey, how are you?" I asked.

  "Fine," the girl answered, not even looking my way.

  "Anyone can make a mistake. You didn't know what would happen." These words fell into a void. She didn't answer, didn't look. "Are you hearing me?"

  "Just go away," she whispered. After standing there a moment, I decided that maybe this was the right call — let her be alone. We weren't close enough for me to try comforting a girl who didn't want comfort.

  Despite attempts to get the dark mage talking, he kept his mouth shut. Günther, meanwhile, finished with the skull, removed it from the altar, and stowed it in a sack.

  "Well? What were they planning?" Katrina asked her deputy immediately.

  "Hard to say. It was definitely a summoning. But they weren't summoning an executioner — they were calling a specific demon."

  "But you can't tell which one?" the paladin guessed at once.

  "I can't," he nodded. "If the girl hadn't lost her finger, maybe I could've. But after the executioner's summoning, most of the weave patterns burned out."

  "Fine. Let the interrogators crack him. We did our job."

  After that, Katrina ordered the squad to pack up and head back to base. The return was agonizingly slow, though. The squad was spent, and the half-hour rest clearly hadn't been enough. On the bright side, I received a couple of compliments from other warriors along the way. Even Torig said I could turn out to be a decent knight and possibly a future paladin.

  I didn't want to burst his bubble — a "creature of darkness" like me probably couldn't become a warrior of light — so I just smiled and nodded.

  Our triumphant return came just after noon — we simply couldn't ride any faster. But quite a crowd was waiting for us, and strangely, besides the recruits, there were other people. Our squad even slowed down at one point.

  But as we rode closer to the gates, we noticed they bore the crests of the Order of the Swallow, which made many of us exhale in relief. The knights were led by an elderly man with close-cropped gray hair. Clean-shaven, with an elongated scar on his cheek. But his eyes — cold and dead — that I didn't like. This man could cure the worst constipation with a single glance.

  His escort consisted of seriously imposing warriors. Their armor and weapons were clearly a cut above ours. One look was enough to understand — this was some kind of elite Order of the Swallow unit.

  "G-Grandfather?!" Katrina exclaimed, leaping from her horse.

  "My dear," the old man smiled, then embraced the paladin. That smile gave me chills.

  "What are you doing here?!"

  "We're here about the vampires you stumbled across."

  It was astonishing — I'd never seen Katrina like this before. Next to this old man, she seemed like a completely ordinary girl, not the captain of a knightly order. But I couldn't watch for long, as the paladin ordered everyone to disperse. The happy soldiers headed for their bunks, and the commander herself disappeared into the manor with the elderly knight.

  I was a little curious about what they were discussing, but I was too exhausted. So I just headed for my closet to collapse onto my mattress and pass out. But halfway there, Rol intercepted me and started pestering me with questions about what had happened. And when he learned we'd fought an executioner demon, the kid completely lost it. He wanted to know everything.

  "Just tell me who that old man leading the new squad was," I cut through his flood of questions.

  "You mean Lucius de Shinro?" The kid stared at me in surprise.

  "Probably. Who is he?"

  "A living legend! Accomplished an incredible amount in his lifetime. And apparently — he's like you."

  "Like me?" I didn't follow.

  "A Chosen of the Tower! Arrived here at around your age and became one of the most influential people in Trilor."

  "Impressive," I answered tiredly. Maybe in other circumstances that would've surprised or intrigued me, but I was too exhausted. And I think I'd already heard a couple of times that her grandfather was a Chosen. So what? He probably wasn't from my world. From what I'd gathered, there were plenty of worlds out there.

  Eventually, Rol left me alone, letting me reach my room in peace. Gera had already gone to sleep, curled in a ball.

  Sadly, a proper nap wasn't in the cards. Someone shook me awake after maybe an hour or two.

  "Come on. The Lord Commander wants to see you," said a soldier I didn't recognize, then rather insistently escorted me to a room on the first floor.

  "Have a seat," the old man said, sipping a drink. Judging by the smell, it was something like tea.

  This time he wasn't in armor but regular clothing of very fine quality. On his left hand I noticed a large ring with a ruby so huge I nearly whistled. No one else was in the room, and I couldn't yet decide whether that was a good sign or not.

  "I'm Lucius de Shinro, one of the ten Lord Commanders of the Order of the Swallow," the man introduced himself. "And you, I take it, are Maximilian Gothard, Chosen of the Tower. Convicted for assaulting guards, serving your sentence as a recruit in our Order."

  "That's right," I confirmed, sitting across from him and immediately feeling uncomfortable. Under the gaze of those cold eyes, it felt like my insides were turning over.

  "First, I want to thank you for saving my granddaughter," he said, softening slightly as he set his cup on the table. "She means a great deal to me, and I wouldn't want anything to happen to her."

  "Then why did you let her become a knight?" I pointed out, quite fairly — and immediately regretted it, because the look he gave me was extremely unfriendly. I swallowed nervously.

  "Because she wanted it herself. It's her life and her choice. All I can do is lend a hand in difficult moments," the old man answered after a brief pause. "But I don't want to discuss my family. Let's talk about you and what happened during the vampire attack."

  This wasn't a shocking or problematic topic — Katrina and I had gone over everything long ago. So all I had to do was retell it in detail.

  "I see," the man hmm'd when I finished. "You're a lucky man, Maximilian Gothard, to survive an encounter with a high vampire."

  "Just lucky. Their goal wasn't killing — it was the contraband."

  "That's exactly what interests me. Can you tell me a bit about what happened earlier? How you met the sorceress and found the gemstones."

  This time I had to go all the way back to how I'd arrived in this world. The old man listened attentively, and I couldn't tell whether he believed me or not. His face was stone, his gaze icy and seemingly penetrating right through me.

  Just as I was finishing, the door burst open and Katrina walked in. She gave us both a displeased look, pursed her lips in a rather adorable way, and furrowed her brows. I never imagined she was capable of making that expression. Terribly cute.

  "Grandfather! Your old habits again?! I thought I made it very clear — you are not interrogating my squire."

  "Interrogating? Is that what this is?" The old man feigned surprise. "This young man and I were simply having a peaceful chat. Nothing more. Isn't that right?" He glanced at me at that moment, and the look was such that if I'd been an ordinary human, I definitely would've soiled myself.

  "R-right…" I swallowed nervously, hunching my shoulders. Something told me that if this old man ever found out exactly what I'd done to his granddaughter, nothing good awaited me.

  "Oh please," the beauty scoffed, sitting down next to me and crossing her arms. "As if I don't know you."

  "If I truly wanted to interrogate him, we wouldn't be having this conversation in such comfortable surroundings. And certainly not over a cup of del'ghia."

  "The setting is irrelevant," she shook her golden head. "You can fool someone else."

  "Fine, fine," the old man sighed. "But I wasn't pressuring him. Just clarifying a few details that raised some doubts."

  "Clarified?"

  "Well, there are a couple of inconsistencies that caught my interest, but nothing critical to the investigation so far. Given more time, I'd get to the bottom of it."

  "Any thoughts on where the smuggled gemstones came from, or why vampires wanted them?" Katrina changed the subject, and I exhaled in relief. This old man was too sharp and meticulous — the last thing I wanted was him digging into my affairs.

  "No," he shook his head. "Some vague hunches, nothing more."

  "Don't want to share?" Katrina guessed.

  "Not yet. Could be premature conclusions," he said, taking a couple more sips of his drink. "Interesting squire you've picked. Just as pretty as the last one. Though that one was an open book — this one's harder to read. A Chosen of the Tower, just like me. And he lies a lot, even if he does it rather convincingly."

  At those words, Katrina sighed heavily and shook her head.

  "Grandfather, you never change."

  "I just don't want my granddaughter harboring a snake that might cause serious trouble down the line."

  This conversation was making me profoundly uncomfortable. Thank god Katrina knew my secret and would probably let the old man's words go in one ear and out the other. But still, words like that from someone with his influence didn't bode well for me. As far as I could tell, he wasn't a minor figure in the Order and could make my life very difficult in the future.

  "I'm a grown woman and perfectly capable of deciding whom to trust," Katrina answered, maintaining her composure.

  "Of course, of course."

  "What was your world like?" A painfully forced attempt at changing the subject on my part, but strangely, it worked. The old man looked at me with interest, then smirked and answered.

  "Not like this one. My home world was far worse. Long ago, our ancestors started a massive war that destroyed civilization. I had to survive, risk my skin for a scrap of bread. When I ended up here, this place seemed like the best thing that could've happened to me."

  "So you're happy you came here?" I asked.

  "Happy?" Katrina's grandfather seemed surprised. "Very happy. Looking back at my homeland now, I remember my youth as a nightmare. But here I found my place and people dear to me." At that, the old man's gaze shifted to the girl, and I genuinely saw love in his eyes — though before, it had seemed like those cold eyes were incapable of expressing such emotions. "Did I answer your question?"

  "More or less," I nodded.

  "I understand what you're feeling right now. I went through it. But I want to warn you about something upfront. Don't start thinking of yourself as 'chosen' or anything of the sort, the way many Chosen do. The higher powers simply give you an opportunity to unlock your true potential. Whether you seize that opportunity is up to you. But the main thing is not to overestimate your abilities, or you'll die. In my lifetime, I've seen enough young men and women like you who thought they were special, only to find an early grave."

  "I'll remember that."

  "Good," he smiled, which sent a wave of goosebumps across my skin. "Alright, you're free to go."

  Hearing this, I immediately stood, bowed, and hastily left the room.

  That old man frightens me — as strange as that sounds. I'm supposedly a half-vampire who can control his emotions, but being near this man makes my knees shake. Absolutely terrifying.

  Of all people, it had to be him assigned to deal with the vampires. Although, maybe that was actually a good thing? He clearly listened to his granddaughter's opinion, and she, knowing the truth, would try to protect me. Honestly, I couldn't tell if I was lucky or the opposite. Hard to say.

  "Max, stop!" came my "mistress's" voice from behind, and I sighed, stopped, and turned toward the girl. "What were you planning to do?"

  "Go to sleep." The little bit I'd slept clearly wasn't enough for proper rest.

  "Canceled. Go to the courtyard, get your sword, and wait for me."

  "What? No…"

  "Would you like ten strikes with a rod for insubordination?" she asked in a tone that made it crystal clear Katrina wasn't joking. I'd already been beaten once.

  "No… Fine… I'm going."

  And so, sleep-deprived, I arrived at the back courtyard, where I sat for a good half hour waiting for the paladin. Even managed to doze off a little.

  "Up," she said in her command voice. "Today you're practicing a different strike."

  The previous one had been horizontal; this was vertical. And this one gave me trouble. I couldn't get it right. Katrina kept huffing and saying I was swinging the sword like a club. Somewhere around the thirtieth attempt, I finally managed a proper one.

  "That'll do," she said with a sweet yawn. "Now repeat the first strike two hundred times, then the new one seven hundred times. After that, alternate them back and forth to create a combo."

  "What?!" I nearly dropped the sword. I'd take the rod strikes over repeating what happened the night before last. At least those wounds would heal in a day, and I could suppress the pain.

  "Come on, come on," Katrina insisted. "I'll send someone to make sure you stay on track."

  "Can I join in too?" asked Rol, who appeared the moment Katrina went back inside.

  "Sure, go ahead," I shrugged.

  Unlike me, the kid used a wooden training sword, trying to match my swings exactly. He didn't last long, though — after about a hundred he was gassed. And when he learned how many I had to do, his jaw literally dropped.

  By then my supervisor had arrived. It was Nel, the youngest member of the squad. He'd finished his recruit training a year ago and now served as a full member.

  To entertain himself, he decided to show Rol a couple of techniques. Why only Rol? Because I had to complete Katrina's assignment. I would've actually loved to learn a few moves, but not through the paladin's sadistic methods.

  The next day was busy, since the evening was to bring a celebration in honor of the successful operation. Everyone was involved in the preparations, including me. Gera helped in the kitchen with cooking, while I first helped build benches and tables, then rode out with several soldiers to buy barrels of wine. And these were serious barrels — five of them, about a hundred liters each.

  Fortunately, we didn't have to haul them by hand — we got a cart and two horses. But loading them on and off the cart had to be done manually. Rol participated too, and ended up straining his back. He had to see Günther for help afterward.

  "You amaze me, Max," Rol said after that. "You pushed yourself that hard yesterday and still look fresh. Meanwhile my arms are falling off."

  I just shrugged. What was there to say?

  Preparations wrapped up close to sunset, and Günther immediately hung magical lights above each table. The celebration itself was held outdoors, since there was quite a crowd. The Lord Commander's squad had also stayed after some light persuasion from Katrina. I found that a bit odd — shouldn't they be pursuing the vampires? — but I kept out of it. They probably had their reasons.

  The celebration went beautifully. Soldiers drank and ate heartily, telling stories. Rol sat there with his ears perked, dreaming of someday performing similar feats. I just sat quietly and ate, occasionally glancing at the lovely Katrina seated at the head of the table. Today she wasn't in armor but casual clothes that showed off her figure rather nicely. Though in my opinion, her dress desperately needed a neckline.

  Gera, meanwhile, sat alone at the far end of the table, and nobody was paying her any attention. At one point I couldn't take it and tried to cheer her up, only to be completely ignored.

  But when I got up to leave, she suddenly grabbed my sleeve and seemed about to say something — then changed her mind at the last second.

  "Never mind. Go. We'll talk later."

  And I went. If she wanted to patch things up, I was open to it. But I wasn't going to keep smashing through a wall of thorns just to get another dismissive glare.

  Notably, Katrina gave a speech in which she officially commended me for helping kill the executioner demon. After which I once again received congratulations from my squadmates.

  I realized with some surprise that, slowly but surely, I was fitting in. I felt almost comfortable among these warriors. There was something here that I suppose you'd call a brotherhood of arms — people treating each other as brothers. The kind who'll cover your back during a fight with a demon.

  And I was becoming part of this brotherhood. Maybe it really wasn't so bad after all.

  The party was fantastic, and Günther surprised everyone with a magical fireworks display. It was quite beautiful. Rol was beside himself with joy like a kid — he'd probably never seen anything like it, unlike me.

  I returned to my closet full and happy, ready to crash. I'd barely fallen asleep, it seemed, when persistent knocking hit the door, and without waiting for an answer, it swung open and Rol barged in.

  "Max!"

  "Why are you yelling?" I grumbled irritably.

  "Full assembly downstairs."

  "Something happen?"

  "Sort of…" he answered uncertainly. "We need to get to the others. Now."

  And sure enough, warriors were already forming up downstairs. They were a sight — some had been drinking last night like they were trying to drink themselves to death. No surprise that everyone had brutal hangovers, and Günther didn't have enough anti-hangover potions to go around. Katrina, however, looked stunning as always. Her grandfather stood slightly behind her, arms crossed, carefully examining everyone present. When the gaze of those deathly cold eyes landed on me, I involuntarily shuddered.

  "Is everyone assembled?" she asked the Lord Commander.

  "All of mine — yes."

  "Wonderful." Then she took a step forward and said loudly: "Last night, a murder was committed in this house. One of Lord de Shinro's warriors was killed, and since it occurred within these walls, the killer is most likely among us."