“Vice-Captain?” Shafir looked up from where he was lounging on the couch of the office toward the young squire, who was halfway through the door. Shafir couldn’t recall if the squire had knocked. Perhaps he was too deep in thought or was getting tired. He hoped he hadn’t nodded off while he lay down. He hadn’t been sleeping well lately… Well, if it wasn’t loud enough to wake him, then the scrawny youth hadn’t knocked hard. Also! Who taught kids manners these days? Only addressing one person in the room and not both of them. Worst off, the kid didn’t even greet Eliqinor first, who was Shafir’s superior. Maybe he had to go down to the training barracks and give them a piece of his mind…

“V-Vice-Captain?” The squire fidgeted in front of Shafir and the man sat up so he could give the younger one his full attention. Shafir tilted his head, which only made the squire shake like a leaf. It was nice for the young ones to know their place and while he would rather the kid not fear him, he would not torture him much more. The squire looked away and pulled out a letter from his pocket. He unfurled it and looked down to read. 

“Well, are you going to read it, or shall I?” Shafir would admit he wasn’t always an asshole, just most of the time. The squire seemed relieved and straightened up. The young elf handed the notice to Shafir, and he made quick work of looking it over. A groan left his mouth and made the squire jump. Honestly, Shafir loved his job, but this was not the shit he wanted to deal with. Why couldn’t they just send some lower knights who could handle simple jobs like this, though he knew this wasn’t that simple? “You are excused.” 

The squire ran off as soon as Shafir waved his hand, letting him know he was free to go. The door swung close behind him, and Shafir felt the urge to yell at the squire. Children seem to have no manners these days. Shafir turned his attention back to the letter and slumped back down with an audible thud. Letters like these… It was as if they did not see him as the Vice-Captain of the knights but more like an errand boy. The Empress sure knew how to annoy him, he hated to say it, but he would much rather be held up in this tiny ass office doing paperwork all day.

“What is it?” Shafir had almost forgotten that Eliqinor had been there in the room with him. While he was often a thorn in Shafir’s side, he got swallowed up in his work when he had a lot to do. Judging from the pile of paperwork, Eliqinor was probably looking over the monthly mission reports. When Eliqinor looked up from his paperwork, Shafir had to restrain a laugh he had built up inside. His hair was a mess, having been tousled from Eliqinor, running his fingers through it when he got frustrated at a certain report. Sometimes Shafir wanted to open his mouth and tell him if he kept doing that, it’d make him bald. Though he decided against it. If Eliqinor went bald at a young age over stress, Shafir would have had more things to make fun of him with. 

“Seems some bandits are running around. Doing the usual and causing stress to the farmers.” Eliqinor nodded and moved some of his paperwork around. Shafir noticed that the pile was most definitely shorter on one side compared to what it was a couple of hours ago, and the dark bags under Eliqinor’s eyes made Shafir sigh. Seemed like the idiot had been too busy buried in work lately to sleep properly. It wasn’t uncommon that Eliqinor was here before he was in the morning and still here after Shafir left for the night. Maybe he should say something? Ah, actually, that would just start a fight. 

“Send one of the squad commanders to do it. It should be easy for them.” Shafir grabbed his sword and stood up. He probably could push it off on one subordinate if it had been an actual mission. He didn’t exactly want Eliqinor to know that the bandit problem was just a way for the Empress for Shafir to see her so she could run him on some stupid errand. They had known each other long enough, and he worked for her at one point, so he at least knew what her code words meant. He just hoped it wasn’t something stupid again.