NOVEL NEXT Chapter 28.1
28.1. Long Vacation 1
“Huh? A vacation…?”
“Yes…”
This conversation was brought up to Nord just before summer began. It was about half a year since Nord had joined the Iron Dragon Knights. He had grown accustomed to his role as a trainee dragon knight and had shown impressive progress. The day after his instructor told him, “You’re ready to move on to the next stage,” the conversation took place. The instructor, sitting at a wooden desk in the barracks, began speaking to Nord, who was standing before him.
“Actually, there’s been talk of a large-scale joint exercise…”
“A joint exercise, you say?”
According to his instructor, although still in the planning stages, a large-scale exercise involving the Eastern Knights, the Hamill Kingdom Knights, and the Iron Dragon Knights was being discussed. Local knight orders are made up of nobles from each region, typically centered around the great nobles of the area. The soldiers are provided by the nobles, but compared to the Hamill Kingdom Knights, the ratio of commoners to knights is much higher. This is because unless the lord is very powerful, they cannot hire a large number of vassal knights. Instead, they provide soldiers by imposing military service on the people of the land. Naturally, commoners with minimal training are much weaker in combat than knights who are professional soldiers. So, what is the role of these local knight orders? Their role is to delay the enemy until the central Hamill Kingdom Knights arrive if the region is invaded.
Local knight orders also perform duties such as guarding highways or hunting monsters, but moving troops incurs significant costs, and if a battle ensues, there will naturally be casualties. These casualties mainly involve commoners, but once their military service is over, they return to their civilian duties as farmers and laborers. If young men or able-bodied men are lost to military service, it becomes a heavy blow to the village or town, and ultimately to the lord who governs it. Thus, aside from guarding important highways, local knight orders are reluctant to mobilize, and in cases of monster or bandit attacks, they prefer to hire adventurers to resolve the issues. This is the typical peace-time scene in the Hamill Kingdom.
However, as a result, the knight orders spend years without gaining any real combat experience, and the already weak local knight orders grow even more inexperienced. If the kingdom is invaded and they are easily crushed, the defense strategy of having the local knight orders delay the enemy becomes ineffective. The outcome of a battlefield without defenders is not hard to predict. For this reason, the Hamill Kingdom conducts annual training to improve the skill of local knight orders and their cooperation with central knight orders, but this year’s exercise would be much larger than usual.
Training requires meticulous planning and takes time to prepare. Additionally, this exercise would be long due to the travel involved. The Iron Dragon Knights, to which Nord belongs, would obviously be participating as well. As part of their specialized corps, the dragon knights can ride flying dragons and soar through the sky. They are versatile soldiers capable of reconnaissance, reinforcements, and assaulting enemy territory. Even with a small number, they are a formidable force, and in the event of an invasion, they are always sent as the first wave of reinforcements.
Therefore, the Iron Dragon Knights have been scheduled to participate in the exercises every year. The problem is:
“You still can’t ride a flying dragon.”
Yes, although Nord was a dragon knight, he had not yet earned the title of a full-fledged knight. Though his skills were inferior to those of a full knight, Nord had shown remarkable growth after six months of rigorous training. Moreover, since the purpose of the exercise was to train unskilled soldiers and knights, Nord should have been encouraged to participate. The reason he wasn’t was simple.
The instructor glanced at Nord, prompting him to look in the same direction. There, sitting on the floor, was a young flying dragon with dark green scales.
“Kyuu?”
The young flying dragon, curled up with its front limbs tucked under its head as a pillow, noticed their gaze and lifted its head curiously. This young dragon, Newt, had grown considerably. Its body had increased in size, and its length, including the tail, now surpassed Nord’s height. Though its legs were still short enough that its neck, when extended, only reached about Nord’s abdomen, considering it had only been the size of an egg—about the size of Nord’s head—half a year ago, this was an impressive growth rate. However, despite its size, Newt was still a child. Even though it had grown, it was still far from large enough to carry a rider. A dragon knight’s role is defined by their ability to fly freely through the skies on their dragon. Though Nord had made progress in training Newt, showing mental growth by sitting and waiting on the floor, the dragon’s back was still too small for him to ride, and its wings were not strong enough to lift him.
It seemed that Nord still had a long way to go before he could operate as a full-fledged dragon knight.
“I see, I understand. So, how long will this last?”
“Though it’s still undecided, I’ll be participating as well… and there’s been a suggestion that you take a long-term break.”
The instructor paused, clasped his hands on the desk, and then continued.
“Two months.”
“Two months!”
Nord was surprised at how long the break would be, longer than he had expected. It must be a very large-scale exercise. Echoing the words in surprise, Nord was met with the instructor’s explanation.
“My family is in the east… so, due to that, I’ll be gone for a while.”
“Consider it a summer vacation,” the instructor added. Hearing this, Nord immediately began thinking about how to spend his time off.
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