When I was asked which captain I wanted to follow, I looked around again.
There were many chairs lined up around the round table, but not even half were filled.
There were probably chairs here for knight captains and the commander, but today it seemed that the only ones gathered there were captains working near the royal capital.
Besides Commander Savis, Quentin the fourth monster knight captain, and Zachary the Sixth Knight Order Captain, who were all standing around me, there were only four other knight captains sitting in chairs.
There were two familiar captains, Captain Cyril from the First Knight Order, and Captain Desmond from the Second Knight Order. There were two captains I was meeting for the first time, and judging from the color of the leather draped over their uniforms, the long-haired male knight was probably the Third Mage Knight Order Captain, Enoch, and the female knight was likely the Fifth Knight Order Captain, Clarissa, guarding the royal capital.
However, the moment I finally turned my gaze to the female knight captain, my eyes widened in shock. Among the tall, muscular knight captains, she was the only one who stood out.
Her pink hair flowed softly around her face and matches her pure white skin perfectly. Her large amber eyes sparkled like jewels, and her plump lips were the same pink color as her hair and were soft and supple. I was surprised that a high-ranking knight captain was such a beautiful girl, but what surprised me the most was the upper half of her body peeking out from under her uniform, which seemed to deny her appearance. Even Captain Desmond had several buttons undone from the top of his uniform, which was normally neatly fastened, and the top buttons of her shirt, which could be seen from underneath, were not fastened. And from there, you could see her amazing cleavage!
...Ah, no, rather than saying that the buttons were undone, it'd be more accurate to say that they couldn't be fastened.
Huh, what is this? She looks like a beautiful girl, but she has a voluptuous body. Isn't this the final form I'm aiming for...?
As if drawn in by something, I approached the Fifth Knight Order Captain. Wow, the closer I got the more I could smell it.
Then, from behind me came the panicked voice of Captain Zachary.
"Hey, Fia, don't be fooled! She is the most cruel, merciless, and strongest creature in the Knight Order, with a mind of steel! And yet, she takes advantage of her weak appearance to disguise herself as a weakling. That is unbecoming of a knight captain! And, in reality, she is not as young as she looks! ...In other words, she is definitely not old enough to be called a girl, as you mistakenly think!!" (Zachary)
"Zachary is right. Fia, that person is the 'Pink Female Praying Mantis'! It's a terrifying creature, with young knights falling victim to it all the time, even though it's clear that they will end up being eaten in the end. Not only young men, but even women should not go near it! You will be subject to a terrible, negative influence!!" (Cyril)
Captain Cyril also stood up and warned me.
Oh dear, how unseemly. Criticizing your fellow knight captain, was a sign of inferiority to a knight. To be honest, I was a bit sick of muscles and sweat. I definitely preferred something fluffy and smelling nice like this!
"I will follow the Fifth Knight Captain!" (Fia)
"No, it has nothing to do with you!!" (x3)
Everyone pointed this out to me, but I didn't care. I took the knight's bow to the Fifth Knight Captain and greeted her.
"I am _FIARUUDO_ of the First Knight Order. Please allow me to stand in the background during the captains conference." (Fia)
The Fifth Knight Captain, fluttered her long eyelashes and smiled softly, like a flower blooming.
"Well, I'm happy to hear that. I'm Captain Clarissa Abernethy of the Fifth Knight Order. Nice to meet you." (Clarissa)
Wow, even the beautiful girl's voice was cute. Her unique way of speaking with a bouncy ending was addictive.
The matter seemed to be settled with me taking a position behind Captain Clarissa, and everyone, including the commander, took their seats at the round table.
"Now then, we will now begin the knight captain conference."
The host declared the meeting has been opened.
Apparently, the Knight Captain Conference was held regularly, but this time it had been hastily convened to coincide with Captain Quentin's return to the castle. First, several routine matters such as this month's schedule for those above captain and the Knight Order's budget were dealt with, and then they moved on to the main topic, which was the reason for holding the meeting today.
"Now, regarding the capture of Black King." (Cyril)
Captain Cyril, who was asked to host the meeting, brought up a new topic.
"The original plan was to have Black King in its infant form now, as this would be the perfect opportunity to capture it. As soon as we could pinpoint this king's location, we would assemble 300 knights, primarily from the Fourth and Sixth Monster Knight Orders, to respond. However, reports of sightings in Starry Forest suggest that this king is growing faster than we had anticipated. Quentin, what are your thoughts on this?" (Cyril)
"The plan has changed. From what I've heard, Black King is no longer an infant. If that's the case, it's impossible to capture it. In order not to disturb the surrounding ecosystem, it would be best for Black King to return to its territory, the Blackpeak Mountain, as soon as possible." (Quentin)
Hearing this, Captain Zachary, of the Sixth Knight Order, cried out in disappointment.
"I thought we'd finally be able to make a big catch, but this is boring. So? How many people are going to participate?" (Zachary)
Captain Quentin ran his long fingers through his hair thoughtfully.
"It would be bad to have too many of them. If the Black King identifies us as enemies, we might be attacked. Gathering enough people to suppress this king would just invite danger. We need enough people so that he doesn't recognize us as enemies... let's say, 15 from the Monster Knights and 35 from the Sixth Knights, perhaps?" (Quentin)
Captain Clarissa, the fifth knight of the royal capital's guard, interjected.
"Well, it's scary. Please make sure that the Black King doesn't wander off to the royal capital under any circumstances. If he puts my lovely citizens in danger, I'll be in a bad mood." (Clarissa)
"...We'll do our best." (Zachary)
Captain Zachary gave a short answer, then continued on.
"They say its memories don't settle immediately after being reborn, so maybe Black King became confused and wandered off to Starry Forest. Quentin, you brought back some stones from the cave and some parts of the body from Black King's lair, right? If you showed those to the Black King, maybe its confused memories will return, and he will return to his lair?" (Zachary)
"Let's give it a try." (Quentin)
Captain Quentin answered with his eyes downcast, but for just a moment he raised his gaze and looked at me.
——Understood, Captain Quentin.
When the knights were exploring the forest, a black dragon appeared, Captain Quentin threw a stone, and the black dragon flew off in the direction of its lair.
Looking at Zavilia through the gap in my neck, he was sleeping comfortably on my stomach. Hehe, he's a child. But I was sure Zavilia wouldn't object, right?
I smiled to show I understood, but Captain Cyril noticed and scolded me.
"Quentin, please stop giving our members sidelong glances during meetings. It's disrupting discipline." (Cyril)
"It was just a signal, Cyril. I asked Lady Fia if she could accompany us on our search for Black King, and you agreed. ...Ah! I only just met Lady Fia for the first time today, and yet we seem to be able to communicate with just our eyes. We've spent several times as much time together, and yet you're still there?" (Quentin)
Captain Quentin replied mockingly. For a moment, Captain Cyril narrowed his eyes with a smile.
Hey, I'm not a kid anymore, so stop attacking me and hitting back at me every time!
While I was wondering what to do about the tense atmosphere, Captain Clarissa burst out laughing happily.
"You're really popular, right, Fia-chan? But you need to make them wait even longer. The way you get restless and try to stop them shows they're not being patient enough. I have to tease them more and more, and push them to the point where they can't take it anymore." (Clarissa)
As Captain Clarissa looked between Captain Cyril and Captain Quentin with amusement, Captain Desmond sighed and said he couldn’t handle it anymore.
"See! It's always the woman who brings disaster." (Desmond)
"……………………" (Enoch)
Enoch The Third Mage Knight Captain remained silent.
Captain Zachary looked around and let out an exaggerated sigh.
"You guys are in the presence of Commander Savis. Leave it at that!" (Zachary)
Then, he glared at the captains, who were all silent, and then he spoke, "Well then."
"If there are no objections, we will depart tomorrow morning. I will pick 35 people from my order, and you, Quentin, choose 15 of yours. We both need to go out together. ...Now, does anyone have any objections?" (Zachary)
After waiting for a while and making sure that no one raised any objections, all the captains looked up at Commander Savis.
The commander nodded and spoke.
"That will be fine. ...Everyone, don't push yourself too hard." (Savis)
With Commander's approval, tomorrow's departure was a done deal.
In an instant, all the captains rose to their feet in perfect unison and placed their fists on the opposite shoulder. The knights standing behind them, including myself, followed suit.
The commander finally stood up and spoke in a booming voice, looking at us.
"All of heaven and earth are with the Nav Kingdom Black Dragon Knights." (Savis)
"All of heaven and earth are with the Nav Kingdom Black Dragon Knights!" (Everyone)
We all chanted along with the commander's voice, and he raised his hand in response before leaving.
——And so, the Knight Captain Conference came to an end.