The Bathrobe Knight: Volume 2 (25 page)

              “General Alex, the soldiers have reported excellent progress on all assignments,” Justin said, saluting Alex as soon as he finished stepping onto the deck.

              “At ease, Justin. When the Great Lord Darwin isn’t here, you can drop the formalities. They only hinder us by wasting time. Now, you said there was good news? There were no issues getting the supplies needed?” Alex asked, a little surprised that the sheer quantity of material they were buying hadn’t created an unmanageable spike in the price of the goods back at the market.

             
“None, sir. No issues at all,” Justin replied.

Did we buy them so quickly the merchants weren’t able to figure out what we were doing, or is it just that this town is so massive that the population of our entire Demon Race was nothing more than a drop in the bucket to them?

              “The prices on the commodities we needed stayed fixed, and the amount we required didn’t seem to phase their merchants,” Justin continued, seeing the expression of curiosity on Alex’s face.

              “That is great news.”
This is crazy.
Alex couldn’t help but be stunned by the news.
We just bought enough supplies for every person that we have to account for. Three hundred and forty two from Valcrest--including women and children, of course--three more that needed supplies from the White-Wings, as well as even more supplies for the lord and his two ladies. That’s a full soldier’s rations and supplies for three hundred and forty eight people, and Justin is saying he got it all with no haggling and at a fair price in less than two hours? I didn’t even give him a coin more than the old capital’s markets would have charged per unit.
“That will definitely put us ahead of schedule. When should we expect to have it all loaded in the craftsmen's quarters?”

              “It should arrive momentarily.”

              “Did the merchants send anyone with you to carry the supplies here?”

              “No. It was the three White-Wings that joined our ranks,” Justin explained. “Daniel specifically said he would load it up and bring it here for us.” Then, pausing a moment when he saw Alex’s mouth open slightly in surprise at the statement, added, “I didn’t think it would be an issue. If the Great Lord Darwin trusts him, can’t he handle this type of task?”

              “It’s not a matter of trust. It’s a matter of capability. How long do you think it will take three people to carry that many supplies across a town so heavily populated? Even if they use wagons drawn by animals, we still have to account for the very real possibility that one of the street urchins will pick stuff off the back unless they are being guarded,” Alex lectured. He didn’t understand why Justin would have just left them to come back and report.

              “Actually, the thing about that is . . .” Justin paused again, visibly working out how best to put his words together. “They are doing that weird thing Darwin does.”

             
More people with that weird ability,
Alex thought.
This is good. We’ll finally be able to test that secret magic’s limit.
“Justin, have we finished offloading all the gear and equipment we plundered from the corpses on the beach?”

              “No, sir, we’re only a tenth of the way into it at most.”

              “Excellent,” Alex said, turning away from Justin and back to the ledgers. “Excellent. Send them up here when they’re done. Also, is the new gear ready? Sal reported earlier that we should have five combat-ready versions within the first hour.”

              “I’ll check on that right away, General Alex,” Justin said, dismissing himself to take care of the work before Alex had time to say goodbye.

              As Alex stared at the ledger, he couldn’t help but glance over at the Captain’s quarters again. He had, on several occasions, believed the door to have moved on its own. It wouldn’t have surprised him one bit to learn that the Great Lord Darwin’s girl had gone in and out without anyone noticing.
We are fortunate to have such a charismatic leader,
Alex thought as he kept watching the door.
He has wooed such a beautiful ice princess on the one hand and seduced a great battle queen into bed on the other. How in the world does he have the time to also manage a kingdom? It’s like he never sleeps.

              After a few moments, he noticed the White-Wings make their way onto the deck too. “Alex,” Valerie said, trying to get his attention without realizing that Alex had been aware of them since they first stepped foot onto the craft. He may be parading around as a General now, but he had still spent over a decade hunting and tracking as a scout. “Darwin told us to report in with you. Sorry about not being here sooner, but we ran into Justin in the market, and he said we needed to carry a few things. Daniel is dropping them off now.”

             
Yeah, carry a few things in the same way bankers only lend out a few coins,
Alex looked her body up and down skeptically.
Where do they put it all?
“Great, we really appreciate the help. You have saved us an immense amount of time and effort.”

              “Whatever we can do for the cause, don’t hesitate to ask.”

              “Well, there are a few things, but before I ask anything of you, I have to know: did the Great Lord Darwin leave me any orders?” Alex asked, curious as to what his glorious commander was up to.

              “Nothing in particular, sir. He just said to make sure the preparations were ready for the move as soon as possible, and then he went off to take care of a quest,” Valerie answered, standing straighter and more at attention than most of the new soldier recruits drawn from the old Valcrest population.

              “Do you know any details on the quest?”

              “Oh, yes! He gave us the route and whereabouts of his destination so we could find him easily. If you have a map, I can show you,” she said, eyeing the maps on the table.

              “Please do,” he gestured to one of the larger maps of the area he had been able to collect.

“Well, from what I understand, he’s looking for a bandit population in these areas,” she said, thumbing a rough line from the city to a mountain clearing on the other side of the map. “It’s actually rather convenient since we’d have to pass through that region anyways to get to the dungeon you specified.”

              “Hmm, let’s get to the dungeon later. Do we have any intelligence on these bandits that he’s going to subdue?”

              “None, sir, but it’s Darwin, and he wasn’t alone,” Valerie said. “He was in a group of four, including Lady Kass. The two newcomers seemed pretty competent.”

              “Well, we’ll be able to catch up with them as soon as we have all the preparations ready.”

              Alex stared at the map, looking at the location where Darwin had gone. He wanted to go with him, be part of the adventure again. It had been a thrill when they had worked their way through the forests and across the hellish beach battle. Darwin had done the brunt of it alone or with only Kass, and now he had gone off with two new people and left him to pick up the slack.
No, someone needs to defend the fort,
he thought.
There is no job more important to the cause and survival of our people than the one I am doing now, and there is none more fit to my charge.

“You said there were some things we could do to help?” Valerie interrupted his thoughts.

“Yes, there actually are, but Justin will have to show you to them,” he said.

Justin, appearing as if summoned, showed up holding five prototypes of the new gear that had been specially designed for the Demons.

“Speak of the Devil, and there you are,” Alex said to Justin, only realizing after he had said it that ‘speak of the Devil’ might be ironically appropriate when referring to Demons. “I need you to take Valerie and her group to the storage hold and have them load up the excess loot. See if they can’t sell it off at the market.”

“General, if it’s not too much to ask,” Justin said as he looked at the five new items, “perhaps we could have them wait a minute. This will be the first time anyone tries these on. Don’t you think the new members should see it?”

Alex looked at the new equipment with a big grin. “No, everyone who can should see this. Go gather up everyone who isn’t too busy working. Let’s show them what they have to look forward to.”

Valerie looked at the gear with a lopsided frown. She muttered something under her breath, but Alex couldn’t make it out. Alex saw the look and immediately dismissed it.
She just thinks that our craftsmen can’t make a version for her too. She shouldn’t worry so much. She’s one of us now.

“Actually, sir, almost everyone is working hard right now. If we pause for this, it might set us back half an hour at the very least. I suggest we just test it out ourselves. Everyone will have the honor of using it anyway. They will be able to celebrate the craftsmen’s hard work then,” Justin advised.

He’s right. If we get too caught up in every triumphant moment, the cause will be hurt. We can’t forget why we are doing what we are doing.
“Very well. Justin, would you do the honors then and dawn the new uniform?”

Justin’s face lit up excitedly. It wasn’t often that people made Justin Yoo smile, but now it was like he had been given the finest slice of rump roast with the tallest glass of mead. “Thank you, sir. It would be my pleasure,” he said, placing all but one of the uniforms down on the table before quickly leaving to find a room where he could change.

“He’s . . . He’s really enthusiastic, isn’t he?” Valerie noted as the trail of dust left by Justin began to disappear and slowly fade.

“He’ll be the first one to wear our colors. Why wouldn’t he be?” Alex looked at her curiously.
She still doesn’t understand that we’ll be able to make her one too, does she?

As Justin reemerged from his private quarters, sporting the glorious new apparel of the StormGuard Alliance, Alex felt his chest swell with pride. He had wanted to be the first one to try it on, but he knew that if the man in charge took that honor, it would hurt morale. ‘A superior should never eat before his subordinates’ was a lesson he had come to understand better as he worked under the Great Lord Darwin, who constantly spurned honors and was the first to accept burdens. He was the type of dedicated and hardworking leader Alex knew he needed to become.

“Wow,” Valerie said as she looked at Justin. “That’s just . . . Yeah . . .”

“Indeed,” Alex nodded. “It’s not the finest work of craftsmanship out there, but it’s definitely high quality and made from great materials. Justin, how does it feel?”

“General Alex, it feels . . . It feels very freeing. It doesn’t restrict movement in the least. It’s like I’m wearing nothing at all, but I’m still very protected,” he listed off the benefits. “Also, how do I look?”

“You look like the finest soldier in all the lands, Justin. It suits you perfectly,” Alex said, still nodding. “A fine soldier indeed.”

“It’s a . . . It’s not armor, is it? It’s a bathrobe, right?” Valerie said. Alex noted that she was still clearly having trouble forming words because of how impressed she was.

“A bathrobe? I don’t know what you’re talking about. This is armor modeled after the finest armor in the lands. It’s the armor of our Great Lord Darwin. Nothing less would satisfy him; and, as such, we should emulate him and be satisfied with nothing less either.”

“Nothing less would satisfy him?” Daniel asked as he returned to the deck from below. “You mean he tried on things before the bathrobe?”

“Oh, yes. He tried on a myriad of different outfits when he first came to the humble town of Valcrest as a simple vagabond,” Alex began.

“So, out of all the possible different types of armor available in an entire town, he went with a bathrobe?” Valerie’s confusion was hard for Alex to understand.

“Of course. You can’t look at that and tell me it’s not the spitting image of glory,” Alex said, looking back at the gear. The bathrobe was solid black, not white, but in the same design as Darwin’s. On the back, however, there was a large red symbol: two crossed swords in front of a large spoon. There was debate on whether or not to include the piece of silverware, but no one could possibly think about their Great Lord Darwin without also remembering the spoon on his robe. That particular bit of cutlery was the symbol that he had worn for as long as anyone could remember.

“I have to admit . . . it actually looks pretty cool,” Daniel said as he stared at the uniform. “You think they come with wing holes?”

“What? You want to wear one too?” Valerie asked.

Valerie, there will be enough for everyone. You don’t have to take them from your friends. You shouldn’t be so greedy,
Alex thought, shaking his head. “We plan to have them prepared for you as well, but these were just trial runs, so they are the standard versions. Apologies.”

“No need. That looks awesome. Can I get one too? Do we need to pay for them?” Mclean said this time, clasping Daniel’s shoulder. “Can you imagine how cool a group fight is going to be with us all wearing those?”

“I know. I bet Darwin is going to laugh his head off when he sees these. It’ll make his day,” Daniel said, the two of them still looking at Justin as he slowly turned to make sure everyone could see the design perfectly.