While the sight of him eating with his orders while sitting on the ground was not an exception, it was still rare.
The squad continued to eat in silence. Reinhardt did not speak either; he was waiting for them to open up at their own pace and comfort.
After a while, the first one to speak was Rolan.
"Commander... I tried to help a family trapped under rubble, but... I wasn’t strong enough. Luckily, other knights arrived in ti; if not, I fear the outco would have been dire."
"I know we’re supposed to be knights and that we need to be level-headed at all tis, but when I saw the citizens on the verge of death, I panicked, and my healing skill started failing many tis," Gwen added, her hand that was holding a cup trembled.
Reinhardt nodded his head and then turned towards the boy, who was usually the most boisterous but had now turned mute.
"And you?"
Finally, on his urge, the boy let out the worry that was bothering him.
"Commander... I froze when the demon before hurt the mother and took the baby as hostage. I panicked and almost gave in to the demands of the demon." Kevin’s voice was barely more than a whisper.
He was ashad that if not for [Tiamat]’s tily voice waking him up, he might have buckled under the pressure.
Reinhardt ate his al; the fire of Yggdrasil burning in the campfire illuminated his figure.
"Do you know what most people think a knight’s life is?"
The squad could not reply because they all knew the answers they held within them were all wrong.
"To be a knight in shining armour. To record my na in the glorious annals of history. To beco a hero. To make my family proud or take revenge."
He spoke each sentence slowly, precisely grasping the motivation and goal of becoming a knight for everyone present here.
Reinhardt glanced at the crowd and chuckled. "An old friend of mine once taught that a knight’s life is not glory; it is not cheers or shining under the gazes of admiration. A knight’s life... is standing between a demon and a screaming child. It is arriving too late to save everyone, but refusing to let that break you. It is fear, regret, blood, pressure, and countless nights where you question if you did enough."
He was iterating the sa thing he was once told by Tollivar Stout, the knight whose ideals shaped Reinhardt the Divine Paladin.
"Tonight, all of you were afraid. You doubted yourselves. You felt powerless."
The squad drooped their heads, too ashad to face their commander.
"However, that in itself was a trial," Reinhardt spoke in a voice that carried a depth born from countless battles. He was not angry at them nor disappointed. Instead, he looked at them as if he understood their plight.
"It is good that you feel powerless because powerlessness is the seed of resolve. The fire that pushes you to train harder, the reminder that you must beco stronger than your fear. So what if you failed today? You can try again and again. Carry the helplessness you felt today. Do not run from it; do not bury it or let it break you."
The squad’s eyes widened; spirit once again reignited within them.
Seeing their change, Reinhardt smiled.
"Use every experience you gain today. The innocents your power alone couldn’t reach. The fear that paralysed you or every mont your legs froze. Rember them all. Train until those mories no longer haunt you, but sharpen you instead. Use them as fuel to grow stronger."
Having spoken to this point, his voice suddenly got louder, so much so that even others could hear him.
"Future knights of the Temple of Light, tell the Ninth Rule of Steel!"
The squad, with their spirit reignited, shouted, "Train until the soul screams! The knight’s body may break, but the spirit must never bend. Every scar is a lesson. Every!!"
Seeing the enthusiastic and full of energy youths in such a gloomy situation was enough to motivate and bring smiles to many people.
Even the commanders and high-ranking knights of other orders grinned, hearing their courage-filled shouts of oath.
"Good." Reinhardt nodded his head. "In the upcoming crusade, when the demons show their true faces again, you will not freeze, you will not crumble, and you will not fail. You will protect. Is that understood?"
The squad looked at him with admiration, but there was also sothing else, a fierce, growing determination.
"We will grow stronger and protect the innocent."
Reinhardt smiled faintly.
"That is all I ask." He then lifted the plate he brought and took a calm bite of bread. "Now eat. You won’t win any battles on an empty stomach."
Everyone obeyed. On that day, in that ruined plaza, beneath the glow of holy torches and the weight of exhaustion, the next generation of knights quietly lit their own inner flas.
.
.
The next morning of the capital was different from anything the citizens had ever witnessed. The sound of bells from the Solaris Tower rang across the entire capital as knights riding their horses marched out of the city in procession.
The First Great Holy Cleansing, a kingdom wide eradication of demonic corruption, officially began.
Never in Solaris’ thousand year history had every knight order been mobilised at once. Even the elders of the oldest families could not recall such a movent. It felt like the beginning of a new era... or the calm before a catastrophe.
Before setting out, as per the orders of the Queen, Reinhardt had provided every knight order with a piece of the divine tree’s branch.
The uses were the sa as the branch itself; the mont the piece is lit, it would create the flas of Yggdrasil. And when dipped into water, it would be turned into the waters of the Fairy Lake.
The commanders of each order kept the piece with themselves, guarding it as if it were a treasure of imnse value.
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