My Childhood Friend Told Me to Go Marry the Most Beautiful Woman in the Kingdom, So I Seriously Started Improving Myself—and Somehow Ended Up Making Women Fall Hard - Chapter 12: The Results of Action—and…

Chapter 12: The Results of Action—and…

I spoke up to the marshal, and I spoke to the Second Knight Order.

Looking back, I felt angry in my own way at the state of the commander’s office—and maybe I went a bit too far.

But as long as the commander herself didn’t know, there shouldn’t be a problem.

Standing in front of the commander’s office door, I slowly let out a breath.

My chest felt restless.

What kind of result had my actions led to…?

I knocked and opened the door.

“Excuse me.”

What I saw inside was a clean office.

The desk existed as a desk. The floor was visible. The chair could be pulled out normally.

There were no teetering mountains of paper by the window.

The documents that had once piled up were now neatly organized into just a few bundles.

And all of them were things the Second Knight Order Commander actually needed to see.

Reports. Approvals. Unit operations. Training plans. Equipment updates. Deployment requests.

Only her real work remained.

Commander Adelheid stood there as usual with her arms crossed—but her eyes wavered slightly.

“…Hort.”

“Yes?”

“…There aren’t many documents.”

“It’s the result of your hard work, Commander.”

As if it were nothing unusual, I brewed tea as always and placed it on the desk.

“Is that so? Even though no matter how much I worked every day, it never helped?”

“Yes. You cleared out that big pile a few days ago, didn’t you?”

“That was because you took the larger stack somewhere, wasn’t it?”

The commander tapped the edge of the desk with her finger.

The papers didn’t collapse.

Normally, a pile would’ve toppled over and scattered onto the floor.

“There used to be a mountain of documents right here! It was hell—my constant hell!”

“That hell probably went back where it belongs.”

“That makes no sense!”

It couldn’t make sense to her.

So I calmly pulled the documents closer.

“Let’s get through today’s work. It looks like we’ll finish by noon.”

“By noon?! There used to be a whole month’s worth piled up!”

“Today you have two choices. Do you work, or do you scream?”

“I’ll scream!”

“Then scream while you work afterward.”

“Uuuugh! Hort, you really are a demon!”

It was the same back-and-forth as always—but today felt different.

The commander was actually getting work done.

Reading documents. Making decisions. Stamping approvals. Giving orders.

Not dumped busywork—but the real duties she was meant to handle as commander.

The crease between her brows slowly softened.

Watching that, I let out a quiet breath inside my chest.

It seemed I’d managed to stop the work that had been unfairly dumped on her.

♢

We finished the paperwork by noon.

The commander lifted her face from the desk.

“…It’s done.”

“It is. I’ll make you another cup of tea.”

“…Yes, please!”

The commander looked at the document shelves as if she were seeing something impossible—then turned her eyes to me.

“…We have time left.”

“We do. It’s still early for lunch.”

“So… what now?”

“Please do your work as commander. Normally, training knights and coordinating command within the order are part of that job too.”

“…Right.”

The commander’s eyes sharpened.

“Training, then.”

“Yes.”

She stood up.

The movements as she put on her armor felt lighter than usual.

The strength that had been buried under paperwork was now filling her with the joy of swinging a sword.

We left her office and headed to the training grounds.

The air there felt different.

There were voices.

“Let’s go!”

“One more time!”

“Don’t break formation!”

Until now, the Second Knight Order had felt weighed down.

Or lazy.

But today, each knight’s face was filled with determination—and the commander stood firm, sword planted in the ground, giving sharp instructions.

Even so, the distance between her and the knights still felt hard to cross.

That was a problem between the commander and the Second Knight Order.

If I stepped in, I’d only get in the way.

But the ones who broke that distance—Were the knights themselves.

“Commander! Could you check this step-in for me?”

“Commander, shall we tighten the spear line spacing a bit?”

“Commander, is this signal for rotation okay?”

The knights were calling out to her—naturally, without hesitation.

Commander Adelheid looked surprised, but she answered each one with serious eyes.

“Good. Do it.”

“That’s fine—but go lower.”

“Next, I’ll show you myself.”

Every time Commander Adelheid moved, all eyes gathered on her.

Not the kind of gaze that silenced others through pressure.

The kind of gaze that relied on her.

Her expression softened just a little.

She probably didn’t notice it herself—but the corners of her mouth had relaxed.

Standing at the edge of the training ground, I tightened my grip on my sword and felt a warm heat spread through my chest.

…This was the commander’s place. Not buried under mountains of paperwork.

♢

Just before noon, the commander was standing in front of the line of trainees.

“Alright, second round. You—step forward!”

The trainee who was called straightened his back, clearly pleased.

The commander trained him personally.

Steel clashed.

The trainee was knocked back.

But he was smiling.

Frustrated—but smiling.

He stood up again.

Until now, that kind of special time had been only mine.

Now, it was being given to all the trainees.

“Good. You’ll grow.”

With just that one line, the trainee’s face lit up.

…The commander was naturally good at praising people.

I watched from a secretary-like position, keeping an eye on her.

That was when knights wearing a different order’s cloaks appeared at the training grounds.

Their way of walking in formation was different from the Second Knight Order.

Cloaks of the Third Knight Order.

Three of them walked straight toward us.

The man in front deliberately swept his gaze around, twisting his mouth into a grin.

The moment I saw that face, a bad feeling settled in my gut.

Standing beside the commander, I tightened my grip on my sword.

So they’d come.

There was only one reason to deliberately step into the Second Knight Order now—now that the air here had begun to change.

The commander noticed them.

“…Are you from the Third Knight Order?”

Her red eyes narrowed.

The man from the Third Order grinned wider.

“Excuse me, Commander of the Second Knight Order. There’s something I’d like to confirm.”

He wore a slimy smile as his eyes dropped—rudely—to the commander’s chest.

Polite words. Proper manners. And a gaze that clearly looked down on her.

I almost stepped in front of the commander—then stopped myself.

…Right now, what needed protecting was her authority.

If I jumped in as a shield on my own, it would only make Commander Adelheid look weak.

So I took just half a step.

Standing beside her. Slightly behind. Close enough to move at any moment.

And it wasn’t just me.

The trainees who had been taught by the commander.

And the Second Knight Order knights, who had heard the Third Knight Order had arrived, began to gather.

The commander’s voice dropped low.

“State your business.”

The air of the Third Knight Order seeped into the training grounds.

The voices that had been echoing just moments ago faded.

The knights of the Second Knight Order slowly turned their eyes toward us.

Shields lined up.

Inside my chest, I smiled quietly.