Fanilly dismounted her white mare shortly before the knights arrived at the ruins, coming to a halt just as they reached the overlook. From this vantage point, the group was able to see over the ruins of Old Falthier. It had once been a castle of some renown, but that had been a long time ago. Now, what sat in the forest was crumbling grey walls, overgrown with moss and vines. And indeed, from here, it was clear there were a great deal of orcs positioned in the ruins. Several were guarding various entrances, while others milled about inside. There was no sign of the 'Dark Lady' or anything that could have been associated with her, but there were indeed parts of the ruins that could not be seen from this position. It was possible she was lurking somewhere in there.

"See? It's just like Feeree said!" Kopuro declared, nodding as she stood on a small rock, arms folded, "Even [i]she[/i] can be reliable, sometimes!"

"It's not only sometimes..." Feeree half-heartedly protested, but it seemed as if this was something she was used to.

Fanilly narrowed her blue eyes slightly.

There was a lot of orcs, but they had defeated plenty previously. As intimidating as they could be, they were mostly untrained and savage, making up for skill with aggression and numbers. Their ability to slay orcs in great numbers had already been proven, by this point. But The presence of such a powerful mage meant it was for the best for them to be cautious.

It was best to disable and kill the orcs as quickly as possible.

"... We'll begin by flanking them and entering from the East and West entrances. Sir Tiral and myself will enter from the East, and Sir Tyaethe and Sir Indrau will enter from the west. Upon our entry, Sir Tiral will use a spell to freeze a wide area of the ground and disable the orcs. At least, as many as possible. This will allow us to kill them more quickly and, ideally, reach the Dark Lady before she has a chance to mount a counterattack."

[hr]

The children were now rather giggly, to say the least. The fact that someone like the Captain of the Iron Rose Knights had once been frightened of a deer was something they couldn't help but be amused by, even in the aftermath of the ferocious battle that had proven just what kind of force the knights were. A few of them, however, were heartened at this. Did that mean that any one of them could become a great knight, if someone who had lost a fight with a deer could become someone like the captain?

One girl, with short, messy brown hair, large green eyes, and freckles raised her hand into the air.

"Hey, hey!" she declared, "Does that mean I can be a knight too?! I'd definitely win against a deer, so if she can be captain I can be a knight!"

"Yeah!" declared a boy with black hair and a somewhat darker complexion, perhaps due to days out in the sun, "I wanna be a knight too!"

Soon, there were a large number of children clamoring for knighthood.

On top of that, another girl had appeared from nearby.

She wore a pointed travelling hat, and had bright green eyes and pale skin, with long, black hair.

"... Hello! Sir Knights?" she said, a little awkwardly. It seemed like she knew the knights had duties to attend to. But, then again, from her perspective it did look as if the knights were spending their time entertaining a bunch of children... "My friend Mae, she can't find her puppy, so... if you're not busy... she didn't want to ask herself..."

It was clear what she was asking. Perhaps Mae's parents were working to reinforce the walls and had been unable to look for her puppy. Something about this girl might have seemed oddly familiar, but there was likely nothing special about that, right?

[@TheFake][@PKMNB0Y][@Raineh Daze][@Noodles][@Crimson Paladin]