His Name is Aegeus: Chapter 1 – Another Day in the Same Place

Chapter 1 – Another Day in the Same Place

As I pace back and forth with Claude and keep watch outside the walls of our city, I begin to notice a slight tapping sound that seems to originate from above me. It’s not raining, is it? No, it can’t be on this sunny day. It isn’t until I see a small piece of fruit falling past my face that I look up at the walls to see my fiancée, Felicite, standing on the walls with a fruit basket in her arms. Both she and Claude laugh as I take off my helmet to see all the fruit in it that she’s dropped into its crevices.

“You knew this was happening and didn’t say anything?” I ask Claude.

“Yep. I was wondering how long it would take you to notice,” Claude says.

“This helmet is thick so of course it’s not immediately noticeable.”

“That’s not the only thing that’s thick,” Felicite says as she smiles and knocks on her head.

“You better get down from there before Commander Maxime catches you.”

“He already knows I’m up here.”

“That’s right,” the commander says. He walks as if marching among soldiers and his colorful cloak and armor seem to shine as if they were a source of light. “I was testing you to see how well you were paying attention. I do have to admit that the helmet’s thickness wouldn’t make it obvious something was hitting you so I’ll say that you did fine, Aegeus.”

“Thank you, sir,” I say while bowing.

Commander Maxime turns to Felicite and says, “Thank you for your help in this test, madame. Now, say goodbye to your fiancé so you don’t distract him further.”

“Okay,” Felicite says before looking down at us from the walls, “I’ll see you back home! I hope you’ll enjoy the snack I gave you!”

The commander and Felicite walk away from the railing of the wall while speaking to one another. Claude walks over and takes one of the apples that dropped into the crevices of my helmet and starts eating it.

“I wish my wife brought fruits to us every now and then like your fiancée does,” Claude says.

“How is Jacqui and your kids doing?” I ask while eating the grapes.

“They’re doing fine. You should hurry up and have kids of your own so they can go to the same school together. I’m sure Jacqui would love to teach them as well.”

“Yeah.” Looking up at the walls and towering buildings, I can’t help but be amazed by them, which I admit to Claude when he asks why I’m looking up.

“You see the same walls and buildings every day. They lose the luster of beauty after a while, at least for me they do. If anything, looking at the walls reminds me how mundane our jobs are.”

“What do you mean? Our jobs are important.”

“In some small way, but we have archers and other guards patrolling the other parts of the walls and gates. Also, these walls and buildings are the strongest in the world. There’s no magical spell or projectile that can easily break them without incredible effort.”

I can’t argue with what Claude is saying. These buildings and walls are bulky and shield-like much like the armor we’re wearing. Our kingdom of Equus is second to none in terms of constructing buildings and having impenetrable defenses because of our army. In terms of armor, despite it being bulky, heavy, and taking some getting used to, it’s not easily pierced and is more mobile than it appears. Just remembering the training we had to go through mentally brings back the tiredness I felt when we had to run in it day after day so we could get used to it.

Our training with weapons was simpler but just as hard, especially for me. Wielding two heavy shields at the same time is awkward and it took me about a month to get used to them, which is apparently the average time it takes. As for Claude and the spear that he wields, he’s told me that it’s like trying to fight by using a person as a weapon. Neither he nor I know how the Assault Knights can wield two at the same time. Speaking of which, the Assault Knights is a military branch that Claude aspires to be a part of that he speaks of pretty much every day. Today, he doesn’t speak of them until later this afternoon when a messenger, Conte, delivers our daily news.

“Thanks again, Conte,” I say.

“Do you ever tire of running around the city delivering news? It seems like a waste of military training if all you do is run around,” Claude says.

“It hasn’t gotten old for me. I keep in shape and talk to all sorts of people throughout the city. Now, if you fellas don’t mind, I’ll be heading over to the other side to deliver the news,” Conte says before running off in the blink of an eye.

“It was great to hear of the army’s continued victories across the land,” I say.

“It was. Another few groups of rogue orcs, beastmen, and bandits were wiped out while the line was held against the savage ratmen. I wonder when we’ll get to see some action,” Claude says.

“You don’t mean that. If we’re blessed enough, we won’t have to kill anyone for our entire lives.”

“That’s an unrealistic hope to have. You know that this world lives in constant conflict and we’ll probably never know peace until the Lord Jesus comes back. Besides, our training would go to waste if we never fought. I need some action to happen so I can prove myself to our superiors so I can become an Assault Knight.”

“The Church has plenty of soldiers from kingdoms like Leo, Serpentis, and Noctua to draw from, and let’s not forget Bernhard and the three southern kingdoms. Why can’t you be happy with the position you have?”

“Because I want to do more than just stand around all day guarding the gates. You know that and I’m sure you want the same as well. If anything, don’t you want to be an inner city guard so you can see Felicite more?”

“I guess.”

“Then my point’s proven. Here’s hoping that God will challenge us in some way so we can get where we want to be.”

We should be challenged so we can get to where God wants us to be, but I won’t argue any further since I know I’ll be wasting my breath. Once the night shift comes over to take our place, we say our goodbyes to one another and head home where I talk to Felicite and my family about another mundane day on the job.

“You’re more like Claude than you think,” Felicite says.

“What makes you say that?” I ask.

“You’re bored of being a gate guard as well. I can hear it in your voice and how you talk about what happened today.”

 “It can be boring, but it’s the role I feel that God wants me to play, so I don’t mind it that much.” Felicite gives me a look of disbelief with one eyebrow raised and a smirk on her face. “What?”

“You know what. It’s okay to admit your grievances with your job and want more than you have. I’m sure you’ll get a promotion or a new job in time if God wills it.”

I smile and nod in response. Am I that transparent? Well, I was never a bright person anyway. I don’t want to be ungrateful for what I have and do, but I can’t help the inner feeling of wanting to do more with my life. Whereas Claude wants to be an Assault Knight, I feel that being a guard in the city would be better for me. Still, I’m fine with just leaving it in God’s hands.

After waking up the next day, I eat and do some chores around the house before armoring up and heading to the gate where I see Claude already waiting for me. He thinks that showing up earlier would earn him recognition and help him get his promotion earlier, but I’m pretty sure it won’t since it was never mentioned as something that would. We go about our job like usual while making small talk here and there about the weather and how our family is doing until we start hearing the sound of a deep horn that signals to us of an incoming beastman attack.

Sure enough, Conte comes to us and says, “The north side of the city is under attack by beastmen and our watchers say we got more coming in from all sides! Defend the gates while our Assault Knights mobilize!”

Conte then runs off while yelling his message and the warning of the attack.

“Thanks be to God! My prayers have finally been answered,” Claude says while loosening up his arms and preparing for a fight.

I don’t comment on Claude’s bloodlust to fight and instead keep my attention to what’s in front of me. The outside of the city is a fairly barren field with a paved road that leads to the gate. Further ahead on the horizon is a forest and not much else besides a stray bush or tree. The position of the city is advantageous as there’s no cover for the attackers to hide behind and no way for them to sneak into it without being in sight of the watchers. Looking above me, I see hundreds of archers lined up and ready to rain down their barrage of arrows. As I look back down and forward, I see a large group of beastmen running towards us with clubs, hammers, and greatswords.

I can feel myself shrink back, but I hold my feet in place as the ground shakes from the approaching enemy force. Once they get closer, the archers unleash their barrage upon the horde killing many in the process. They keep firing barrages until the gates behind us open and the Assault Knights run out to meet the enemy and keep a few to help Claude and I defend the gate. By the end of the battle, Claude and I managed to kill only a few of the injured beastmen that made it to us, but we didn’t have to fight too much.

Despite this, Commander Maxime thanks us for our help and tells us, “The promotion that I know you two are waiting for is getting closer because of your bravery today.”

The gate guards and the Assault Knights are given free lunch and dinner the next day from the best chefs in the city. While eating, I notice that Claude’s been weirdly staring into his food as he’s sleep-eating.

“Is something the matter with it?” I ask.

“No, there’s nothing wrong with the food. Actually, it’s some of the best that I’ve had in a while and made me realize we haven’t gone out with our families to eat with one another since the last holiday,” Claude says.

“So, what’s the matter? I thought you’d be happier after what happened today. You got what you wanted, didn’t you?”

“Kind of. Not really. There wasn’t enough combat to prove ourselves so it’s only a small step in the right direction, but you’re right. I did get what I wanted and should appreciate it.” Claude raises his glass. “To our bright future!”

After drinking and eating, we say goodbye to one another and head back home to rest up for another day of work just like usual.