Chapter 53

Hayle remained quiet for a few moments before mumbling under his breath about how he had actually said that Pietro was endearing- or something along those lines, as Delphina didn’t actually pay attention.

She was too busy wondering how she had ended up being a babysitter for the day, rather than anything else.

Looking around, there was a decently sized wooden box not too far away. Ignoring the two, she stepped over, dusted off the surface, and turned around to sit down. Making herself comfortable, she pointed at both Hayle and Pietro in turn.

“Don’t you two have something important to talk about?”

This prompted them to exchange glances; both were embarrassed about the situation that had arisen, but there were more urgent things to concentrate on now.

Widening his stance and crossing his arms, Hayle relaxed his posture before continuing to speak.

“That errand you sent me on was pretty interesting, Pietro. I think your sister might be right. Outside of the Knights, you seem pretty helpless.”

“Turns out the Hunters had been informed of a later time, seems like your Silverwraiths palmed off the work to a Knight from a different squad.”

Oh ouch. That wasn’t something anyone wanted to hear. Pietro probably trusted his squad with his life and left them to do such a simple, yet important task… Though it did concern Delphina, she thought she had won them over.

Perhaps they had just been so busy organising the Tournament, they had picked someone else that they trusted and ended up getting shafted?

It was either that or something more sinister; she truly hoped that wasn’t the case.

Pietro covered his face with both hands and let out a bellyful of insults, kicking the ground as he did so. Once he was done, he wiped his hands back into his hair, pushing away a few flyaway strands that had escaped his ponytail in the fuss.

Clearly feeling more composed, he turned to Delphina with a complicated expression on his face.

“Sister, I shouldn’t defend them, but I did say that they could defer the delivery to someone else if there wasn’t enough time. Getting the Hunters notified as soon as possible was of the utmost priority.”

“My Silverwraiths… Out of all the Knights, they alone know what our relationship was actually like. I trust them not to be involved in any of the other… Unsavoury incidents.”

Oh, sweet summer child, that just makes them even more suspicious.

An awkward smile spread across Delphina’s face, her eyes darting towards Hayle helplessly. He returned her gaze with a knowing nod. Coughing into his fist, he held his other hand out to her brother.

“Pietro, we should probably go see them to find out the truth. The Hunters said they didn’t recognise the Knight, but there is the potential that it was some low-ranking squire who felt pressured to pull the prank.”

“Squire?”

Delphina couldn’t help but interrupt; this was the first title she had heard beyond ‘Knight’.

Hayle looked at her with concern, before realisation spread across his features. Glancing at Pietro, he noticed the embarrassment that was once again colouring the man’s face.

Sighing helplessly at the situation, he moved over and shoved Pietro in her direction.

“Please just go talk to your sister… I’m not getting involved in your family drama any more. I’ve learnt my lesson…”

Shuddering slightly as he seemed to recall his behaviour from just that morning, Hayle moved to give them some privacy.

Pietro fidgeted with his hands before opting to place them behind his back.

“Uh, so regardless of their level, anyone under thirty can be considered a Squire rather than a Knight, but we tend to ignore that, especially if they’re already in the Upper or Elite category.”

Leaning back on her hands, she looked him up and down before replying.

“You know you should have mentioned that to me before we met with the Knights this morning, right? Or did you expect me to secretly know?”

Pietro dropped his head in defeat.

“No, sister, it was just such common knowledge to me- I just didn’t think you wouldn’t know.”

Delphina internally sighed. Technically, this one was on her; she should have thought more carefully about the hierarchical structure that was common in Knightages. But she had just taken things at face value and relied on the run-off knowledge from the Game.

She had relaxed just a tad too much, it seemed. Luckily, no one had noticed anything amiss with that question of hers.

Standing up from the box, she waved a hand in dismissal.

“Don’t worry about it. I should’ve looked into it before coming today, if anything, it was relatively arrogant of me to think I knew all that needed to be known- especially when there’s much to the Knights I haven’t been introduced to yet.”

Pietro’s eyes moved restlessly whilst she spoke, stepping forward when she moved to leave.

“Sister, no one expects you to know everything. Honestly, I don’t think there are many outside of the Knights who even know about the Squires. We all usually just get called ‘the Velasques Knights’ and that’s it.”

Delphina just quietly watched him for a moment; there was too much to explain as to why that wasn’t a suitable excuse… But perhaps she was leaning too much into perfectionism in her drive to remain seen as ‘Delphina’.

He was right, the original wouldn’t have even known half the things they’d already talked about today. So she simply nodded in reply.

********

The trio left in a hurry after that- a staff member had come running in distress and panic.

The Hunters had arrived at the arena behind schedule; even with Hayle’s intervention, they were pissed (and rightfully so). Mild chaos ensued, and the Silverwraiths were working hard to placate both sides, leaving them little time to find out what had caused the problem in the first place.

Delphina managed to settle the Hunters after having to send an icy glare to more than one unknown member or two. She hoped they didn’t take it personally.

Pietro followed suit, barking orders at every turn and successfully curbing the Knights’ restless attitude.

“By the God’s it’s like herding a flock of ducks.”

Standing as tall and strong as a pillar in front of their respective sections, both Delphina and Pietro were secretly sweating up a storm. The animosity between the Hunters and Knights was significantly more palpable now that they were all in close proximity to each other.

Clapping her hands together sharply, the Hunter’s eyes snapped back towards her, instead of glaring daggers at the nearby ‘enemies’.

“Right, we’re currently looking into who successfully hoodwinked the lot of you into arriving late and not being able to contribute to the Tournament arrangements.”

“Don’t worry, justice will be swift. But I do have to point out. Considering we work with the Information Department… Did not one of you notice something was off?”

The pregnant silence was back, storming around the place, throwing a middle finger vigorously at Delphina- almost all of the Hunters were doing their utmost to avoid Delphina’s gaze as it raked across them, akin to a fiery eye searching for stolen jewellery.

As she finally landed on those four troublemakers, she noticed that they were still looking towards the Knights.