The 13th unit of the Westa Knight Order

“Wake up!” somebody shook me.

I opened my eyes and saw a blond guy standing at the side of my bed. The sun wasn’t up and I was already awake. My new life in another world was too different from my daily routine.

“Morning”, the blond guy greeted.

His name was Temma Kishido, my roommate in the 13th unit’s barracks and the vice-captain of the unit. Temma was one of the few people who knew about my situation and helped me out.

When Noel suggested that I should become part of her unit, I had no choice but to accept. She then bargained with her superiors for me to join. After knowing about my situation and deliberating, they decided to hold a test for me to decide what position I would have.

Temma helped me in my studies and taught me basic swordsmanship. Good thing that math and science were almost the same in both worlds. It was also convenient that I could read their language. For some reason, their language was already registered in my brain. Could it be one of the effects of being summoned?

I learned that this world was a fantasy world. Different races such as elves and dwarves coexist together and magic thrived along with science. That’s the reason why things look modern and medieval at the same time. For example, the architecture in this world resembled those of medieval times but the clothes were surprisingly modern-looking. There were also modern appliances like televisions and refrigerators. The only difference was they were integrated with magic.

There was actually a field of study known as Magical Science in this world. The difference between science and magic was simple. Science used the natural laws of the world to create a phenomenon. For example, they used the effects of friction to produce heat. Magic interfered with the laws of the world to create a miracle. A mage could produce fire without adhering to the natural laws.

Both of them had advantages depending on the situation. Science could produce events without the use of mana and extra effort from the user while magic could produce events without completing all of the conditions. For example, one could light a match by rubbing it and produce fire using science. But in a situation where one doesn’t have a match, one could use his/her mana to produce fire from nothing. Magical Science combined magic and science to create a phenomenon in the most efficient manner.

Anyways, I somehow passed my test. Apparently, my high school level education was already college level in this world. Citizens weren’t necessarily required to go to school since they could just become adventurers and hunt monsters for money. My algebra and pre-calculus knowledge were already on par with scholars in specialized colleges. The things they teach in the high schools of this world were just general knowledge.

That was why when I scored high on the test, I became the Administrative Officer of the 13th unit. Basically, my job was to handle the paperwork of the unit.

It wasn’t that much of an inconvenience. All I had to do was to make sure that the expenses were properly accounted for and read the individual reports of each knight. When I first entered the captain’s office, there was a huge stack of unread reports. As an administrative officer, it was my job to sort out the reports and make sure that the expenses stayed within the budget.

“You’re open!” Temma hit my head with a wooden sword.

Before I could begin my day as an administrative officer, I was required to undergo daily combat training. Despite being a guy assigned to do paperwork, I was still a knight. Knights were expected to fight.

At first, I thought being a knight would mean that I would be somehow a warrior that was recognized by a royal family and would render my services to them. That wasn’t the case. Knights were more of a civil servant like police officers. One could become a knight by going to the Knight’s Academy. I was just a special case since I didn’t have any jobs.

“You said your world is peaceful and has no monsters. Then how come you have fighting experience?” Temma asked.

“Let’s just say I got into fights often”, I answered.

I was a former delinquent and had a fair share of fighting. It wasn’t that I liked fighting or anything but I was good at it. I even went toe-to-toe with a group of thugs and won, not that I was proud of it.

“The speed of your improvement is amazing. It’s like your calling is to be on the battlefield or something.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Compared to our first match, you have less obvious openings and I have to get a bit serious to land a hit on you.”

I don’t know if he was just trying to boost my confidence but I gotta admit, I’ve gotten the basics of fighting. It was a mistake to copy what I saw in movies. The lesser movements you made, the better your swordsmanship was. At least that’s what I noticed from Temma’s fighting style.

After training for an hour and taking a quick shower, I headed to the Captain’s Office.

“Mikage!! Help me out here!” Captain Noel said when she saw me enter.

“Captain Noel... I told you already, I already did my job in simplifying those reports and paperwork that needs your approval”, I told her.

“But look at this stack! This is inhumane!” she complained as she showed me a tall stack of papers piled up on her desk.

“Yeah. We’re months behind in paperwork because you barely do administrative work. If we’re comparing workloads, then I win by a large margin”, I countered as I pointed at my larger stack of papers.

Seriously... Captain Noel was such a musclehead. According to Temma, she was one of the strongest knights in Westa’s Knight Order. That’s why she commanded an entire unit at a young age. The problem was that while she was a powerful ally in the battlefield, she was completely useless when it came to paperwork.

I went to my desk and started sorting out the papers. My task for today was compiling the reports of each knight for the past months and see if there were any incidents that needed a follow-up investigation.

Most of the reports were “Everything was normal” or that there was a problem involving a lost child. That was why I could easily sort them to the folder where nothing needed to be done. There were some cases like a certain building being structurally dangerous but still a home for a family and some robbery cases solved with the help of a detective. I would then compile those reports and send them to Captain Noel so that she would decide what could be done.

Although I was 100% sure that the job would fall on Temma since he was the vice captain. Noel would often try to make excuses to get out of the room but I was forcing her to go over the reports. She would grumble about how the words and numbers were hurting her brain but I wouldn’t pay it no heed. Temma was happy by the change that I brought in the unit even if I was only there for a week. How did the unit survive when the captain didn’t do any paperwork?

“Captain!” Temma suddenly barged into the room while looking extremely anxious.

“What’s wrong?” Captain Noel asked.

“It’s her! She sent another notice!”

Captain Noel was a cheerful and relaxed girl. Seeing her scowl was rare for me.

“Another one huh? This time, we’ll catch her!” Noel declared.

“Ummm... What’s going on?” I asked.

“Oh yeah. You’re new in this world so you don’t know. A thief is coming to steal an important treasure”, Temma answered.

“And how did you know about the planned robbery?”

“This is her style. She would send out provocative messages and even tell us to tighten the security before she steals the treasure”, Noel said.

“Who is she?”

“The phantom thief, Spade Echo”, Noel and Temma told me in unison.