Chapter 66

"Senior, it looks like your hair has grown quite a bit."

One day after the Crow Knight Order had been reorganized, during a regular weekday after work, Christine casually spoke to Maxime. Maxime absentmindedly touched the long bangs that had grown out to the side.

"Has it?"

Now that she mentioned it, it had been quite a while since he last got his hair cut. Maxime looked at himself in a hallway mirror, assessing the length. His hair was long enough to partially cover his eyes. He figured he’d need to cut it soon.

Christine, standing beside him in the mirror’s reflection, reached up and gently touched the ends of his brown hair.

"Should I cut it for you? It’s been a while."

Maxime frowned slightly, as if contemplating, while quietly accepting her touch.

"Hmm... should you?"

"Don’t refuse. The vice-captain herself is offering to cut it for you."

Christine grinned playfully and gave his hair a light tug. Maxime couldn’t help but laugh and accepted her offer.

"Alright, let’s see your skills again after all this time."

"Leave it to me. Have I ever let you down?"

Christine, humming in high spirits, led the way to the vice-captain’s office. Maxime followed her slowly, watching her light steps. After entering the office, Christine took out an old cloth, shook it out with a flourish, and draped it around Maxime's neck as he sat in a chair.

"It’s been a while."

"Really has been."

Christine muttered as she lifted Maxime’s hair with her hands. The soft strands of his hair slipped through her pale fingers like sand. She produced a pair of scissors from somewhere and began snipping the air playfully.

"It’s been so long, I’m a little nervous."

"Didn’t you say you always cut your own hair? Don’t worry about it."

Christine continued to comb through Maxime’s hair with her fingers.

"...When was the first time you cut my hair?"

Christine smiled softly.

"I think it was shortly after I joined the order. A couple of years ago, maybe? Feels like two years."

"You surprised me back then, offering out of the blue to cut my hair."

As Maxime watched his hair fall to the floor with each snip of the scissors, he remembered that moment.

Autumn was so short that it might as well have been called a brief transition between summer and winter.@@novelbin@@

The sky still carried the remnants of the record-breaking heat from the past summer. It was a bright, unnervingly clear sky, without a single cloud. The training grounds were as empty as the sky itself. Maxime frowned as he noticed the overgrown weeds between the stones of the training ground. The knights who were supposed to be using and maintaining the grounds had left long ago to drink.

Maxime was the only one left. The captain had left as well, lazily dismissing them and disappearing. If the captain gave permission to leave, what could the vice-captain do to stop them? Maxime clutched his aching head. These damn idiots.

"Sigh."

He couldn't help but let out a sigh. It was 4 PM, and though the days were getting shorter, the sky was still bright. Maxime clasped his hands behind his back, pacing leisurely around the training grounds like an old man on a stroll.

How long had it been? About a year and a half?

Maxime mentally calculated the time that had passed. The past was ashes. He shook his head, trying not to dwell on complicated thoughts. Last summer, he'd taken Marion to the riverside. He could still picture her hesitant figure dipping her toes into the clear water.

"Pathetic."

Maxime often thought of himself and the knights that way. There wasn’t a single person who wasn’t pathetic. None of them had any real drive to move forward. They were a group of people trapped in the past, sacrificing the present for what was already gone.

Well, maybe there was one exception.

Maxime made a thoughtful noise. The new recruit, who hadn’t been around for long, probably hadn’t left yet. Birds chirped from the roof of the main building, where ivy crawled up the walls. Maxime stopped his aimless walk around the training grounds and headed toward the main building.

"Damn captain."

Maxime cursed the aging captain as he opened the door to the main building. Damn that captain, that useless bastard. Maxime grumbled like an old man. And as he entered, the first thing he saw was the familiar wrinkled face of that useless old man.

"What’s that you’re saying about the captain?"

Maxime, without even trying to come up with an excuse, grimaced back at the captain.

"Nothing at all."

Of course, the captain was well aware of Maxime’s complaints. But since he was nearing retirement, he had no intention of addressing Maxime's attitude. After all, he was leading a group of knights who had no real will to act as knights.

Besides, Maxime was one of the rare ones who actually handled the captain’s paperwork properly. His competence was enough for the captain to overlook any grumbling or curses thrown his way.

"Not off duty yet?"

Maxime asked with a hint of sarcasm. The captain chuckled, knowing full well the intent behind the question, and shrugged.

"I just got back from somewhere. Now I’m really heading out. Even the most useless knights don’t leave that early."

Wasn’t this the same captain who had lazily given permission to leave earlier? Maxime felt a headache coming on.

"Oh, here’s the quarterly budget file."

The captain handed Maxime a file. Maxime accepted it, glaring at the captain as if to say, What are you up to now?

"I think there’s a way to squeeze a little more from the maintenance budget."

It was the usual talk of embezzlement. Maxime let out a tired sigh.

"We’re running out of practice swords for training, captain. We’re already struggling because we don’t even have enough scarecrows..."

The captain narrowed his eyes at Maxime.

"Why do you need more training equipment if you don’t actually conduct training? If you want to train on your own, just replenish enough for that."

The captain clicked his tongue. A vein bulged on Maxime’s temple. You could practically hear the tension crackle in the air. The captain, as if unfazed by Maxime’s reaction, continued shaking his head and speaking.

"You’re too stubborn. I don’t know if it’s that you’re inflexible, or just oblivious, but why don’t you just take advantage of the situation and pocket something for yourself?"

Maxime felt drained as he listened to the captain's words. He didn't even have the energy to be angry anymore. Over the past few months, Maxime had learned that getting angry was pointless.

"Maybe it’s because you’re still new in the position..."

The captain had that typical old-man expression, like he knew everything about the world.

"No matter what you’ve been through, you're still the vice-captain of this useless knight order now."

The captain nonchalantly called the knight order "useless," even though he was the one leading it.

"Accept reality, Maxime. Most of the knights here are living in the past. You might as well be like me—wake up and take what you can..."

The captain patted Maxime on the shoulder and left. Maxime scowled as he looked down at the file in his hands. He resisted the urge to throw the useless papers into the trash and instead headed toward the vice-captain’s office.

"Exhausting."

He muttered to himself as he grabbed the door handle.

"...Huh."

Maxime tilted his head in confusion, sensing someone’s presence in the office. Who would be in his office? He scratched his head with the hand holding the file and opened the door.

"You’re..."

He found himself face-to-face with an unexpected figure in the office, eyes widening in surprise.

It was the new recruit who hadn’t been around for long. Her flowing golden hair and sparkling green eyes were striking. Especially those eyes—they were the vibrant green of a summer forest.

Was she a mage? Maxime still didn’t understand why someone of her caliber had joined this knight order. He hadn’t had many chances to interact with her, save for a few formal greetings since her arrival. Her name was...

"Christine Watson, right? The mage."

The mage nodded, a faint smile on her lips.

"Yes, vice-captain. I was asked to leave this here in your office."

Christine held up a file. Maxime sighed deeply at the sight of yet more paperwork.

"Great... and what’s that?"

The file in Maxime's hand suddenly felt even heavier. Christine, noticing his sour expression, hesitated before placing the file on the desk.

"They said it’s personnel-related paperwork, already approved. You just need to review it."

Maxime wasn’t sure whether to be relieved or irritated that there was more paperwork to deal with. He tapped his head with the file in frustration.

"Got it. Thanks."

Maxime walked over to his desk, glancing at the file Christine had left. Judging by the paperwork, someone had messed up again, and it seemed like it wasn’t just one person. The thought of even more troublemakers joining this already unruly knight order didn’t bode well for the future.

With a heavy thud, Maxime dropped the file onto the desk.

Well, there’s nothing to do after work anyway, he thought. Might as well finish this paperwork.

Maxime sat back in his chair, taking a deep breath. The musty smell of the vice-captain’s office wasn’t exactly pleasant.

"You’ve done enough, you can head home now. Everyone else has already left, but here I am, still making the new recruit handle all these tasks..."

Maxime spoke absentmindedly to Christine, his eyes still on the papers. Christine gave a small laugh as he continued working.

"...You have a lot of work, don’t you?" she asked.

"Yeah, more than I expected," he replied with a tired voice.

"I could help."

Maxime’s head shot up. It was the first time since he’d been assigned here that anyone had offered to help him. He eagerly latched onto the lifeline Christine was offering.

"Really?"

Christine, surprised by his sudden reaction, leaned back slightly. Normally, Maxime would insist on doing the work alone and sending others home, but recently, the amount of useless paperwork had become overwhelming.

"Would you... help me out a bit?"

Realizing how quickly he’d jumped at the offer, Maxime cleared his throat and softened his tone.

"...Sure."

Christine rolled up her sleeves, mentioning that she had experience handling paperwork for a long time back at the mage tower. Maxime handed her a portion of the accounting paperwork to go over.

"You’re the first person who’s ever offered to help," he said with a hopeful look. Christine smiled meaningfully as she took the papers and began reading.

The two of them worked silently for a while. Outside the window, the autumn sunset bathed the sky in warm colors. The sound of pages turning blended well with the quiet scene.

"How did you end up joining the knight order?"

Maxime didn’t know that Christine had once been called a genius at the mage tower. He was simply curious as to why a mage had joined this order, which didn’t even see any real action. Christine met his gaze. For some reason, Maxime found it difficult to look away from her deep green eyes.

"I got into a fight with someone higher up, so I left the mage tower."

Christine spoke with the same tone someone might use to say they argued with their boyfriend before heading to work. There was only a hint of irritation in her voice, no other emotions.

"...I see."

Christine smiled faintly. Maxime decided not to pry further into her personal matters.

Thanks to Christine’s help, they finished reviewing the documents sooner than expected. Not only had Maxime worked diligently, but Christine had proven to be a highly efficient assistant.

"Thanks a lot, Christine."

"No, vice-captain, you’re the one who worked hard."

As the sun set, the sky took on the colors of autumn mountains. Maxime stretched to relieve his stiff body.

"Let me treat you to dinner. Want to grab something to eat?"

Christine blinked in surprise at the unexpected offer, then slowly nodded.

"Sure... let’s have dinner."

"Alright."

As Maxime stood up, he absentmindedly ran a hand through his hair, which had gotten in the way.

"My hair’s gotten really long."

He had cut it short at the start of summer, but now, in autumn, it had grown quite a bit. Maxime muttered under his breath, annoyed at the thought of having to get it cut.

"I really don’t feel like cutting it..."

Christine watched him closely.

"Shall we go?" he asked.

"Um, vice-captain."

Christine called out to him.

"What is it?"

She narrowed her eyes slightly, looking at Maxime’s hair.

"If you don’t mind, I could cut your hair right now."

Maxime raised an eyebrow, surprised by the offer.

"You know how to cut hair?"

Christine smiled brightly.

"I’m pretty good at it."

Maxime glanced out the window at the setting sun, then back at Christine, who was smiling at him. He figured he had time for a quick haircut before dinner.

Sensing his curiosity outweighing his hesitation, Maxime nodded.

"Alright... cut my hair, and then we’ll go eat."

The preparations were surprisingly simple. Before he knew it, Maxime was sitting in the office chair, draped in an old cloth that Christine had found in the storage room. She had also dug up a pair of rusty scissors, which she cleaned and restored with magic. Now, she was snipping the air to test them.

"Alright, let’s begin."

Christine’s voice was cheerful as she started cutting Maxime’s hair. Just as her fingers were about to touch his hair, Maxime began to regret letting her do it.

"...Wait—"

But her touch was unexpectedly soft and confident. Snip, snip. Christine cut Maxime’s hair with precision, as though she knew exactly what she was doing. Maxime was inwardly surprised at how smoothly it was going.

"You’re good at this..."

Maxime remarked, glancing at Christine, who smiled as she worked.

"I always trim my own hair."

Christine continued to snip away, carefully shaping his hair.

"And... I grew up in an orphanage, so I used to cut the kids’ hair there. I’m pretty used to cutting other people’s hair."

Maxime found himself intrigued by Christine’s candid explanation.

"Is that so."

Snip, snip.

Even after she was done, Christine kept adjusting small details here and there, making sure everything was just right.

"All done, vice-captain."

The haircut Christine had given him turned out surprisingly neat and well-shaped.

"Wow... impressive. Thanks, Christine."

Maxime admired his new haircut in the mirror, running his hand through his hair. Behind him, Christine, hidden from his view, wore a sad smile. It was a smile of atonement, blooming like a daffodil in the mist.

"You’re welcome, vice-captain."

"Looks just like before."

Maxime touched his freshly cut hair, sounding both impressed and nostalgic. Christine beamed proudly.

"See, I told you, senior."

"Though your attitude has gotten a bit more cocky."

Christine puffed her cheeks slightly in protest.

"How dare you..."

"Alright, alright."

Christine playfully tousled Maxime’s freshly cut hair, annoyed that he interrupted her.

"Ouch! Hey, I just got it cut!"

"Go wash your hair, senior."

Maxime chuckled, and Christine laughed along with him. It was a fleeting moment of their everyday life, one that might never come again.