Title: A Vice-Captain's Tale - Epilogue
Fandom: The Legend of Sun Knight
Words: 1,580
Summary: The vice-captains of the Twelve Holy Knights never thought that their jobs would differ so vastly from their expectations. Tyler has really been missing out.
Notes: The epilogue is finally here~ /wipes tears. Beware of talking heads in this chapter. :'D

Epilogue: ...Is A Great Vice-Captain

At a certain tavern in Leaf Bud City, a group of men sat down and ordered drinks. The men sitting around the table were the vice-captains of the Twelve Holy Knights. Like always, they counted the number of people present to see if they had all arrived.

"...Eight, nine, ten, eleven, twelve... No way!" Vice-Captain Stone shouted and pointed. He slapped the shoulder of the person next to him and shook him back and forth. "Look guys! Isn't that Tyler walking through the door? Wow, we're awesome, aren't we? We really did get him to come here. Imagine that, his first ever outing with us—"

Adair smiled and pried his fellow vice-captain's hand off his shoulder, kindly returning it to its owner's side. "Now, we really are twelve in number." He spoke up a bit louder to catch Tyler's attention. "Hey there, Tyler. Feel free to sit anywhere. We've already ordered for everyone, but we can still call the server back."

"That's fine. I'll just have what everyone else is having," Tyler said. He gave Vice-Captain Metal a nod, taking the seat that he had pulled out for him.

As they waited for the drinks to be brought over, everyone turned their eyes on the newcomer. For a moment, there was an awkward silence, as Tyler seemed to have no intention to speak up even with so many pairs of eyes on him.

Finally, Vice-Captain Storm, who always liked taking the initiative, grinned and asked, "So, Tyler, got a girlfriend yet?" Just like that, the silence was broken.

"No!" came Tyler's offended answer and an accompanying frown. Likely, he would have preferred to have the awkward silence back than to participate in this particular conversation. "Just how unprofessional do you think I am?"

With his hands held over his heart, Vice-Captain Storm lamented, "I'm hurt, Tyler! After all, I have a girlfriend. Are you calling me unprofessional? To think you think so little of me..."

"It is unprofessional," Vice-Captain Judgment said. "I've told you many times that you should focus on your duties more than dating your girlfriend."

"But dating her is part of my duties," was the answer he gave. Several of the other vice-captains gave him strange looks, excluding, however, one vice-captain who was dressed particularly well.

"Come on! Don't you believe me? Tyler, back me up here. You've seen how it is. Tell them the importance of having a girlfriend!"

Tyler merely frowned some more. "Why are you asking me for backup? I agree with Vice-Captain Judgment. Your top priority should be your duties."

Vice-Captain Storm's mouth dropped open.

"What?" asked Tyler.

"Tyler! I went out of my way to help you out, and this is how you repay me?"

"I don't recall being helped..."

"Tyler!"

"I mean it. Why would I ever want a girlfriend, and if I did get one, why would I have her yell at my captain? It makes no sense. As a suggestion for serving my captain, it was no use at all."

Vice-Captain Storm deflated and slumped in his chair.

Several of the other vice-captains grinned and glanced at each other. One chuckled but quickly coughed to hide his laugh.

"So Tyler," Vice-Captain Blaze spoke up loudly to catch his attention, "what suggestion did you find the most useful?"

Tyler mused, "The most useful suggestion? Well, like I told Adair, my captain doesn't spend much money. Making extra money isn't all that helpful for him."

Vice-Captain Leaf frowned.

"He doesn't even give a second glance at girls either."

Vice-Captain Storm sighed dramatically, while Vice-Captain Moon and Vice-Captain Earth both looked dejected.

"He doesn't care about baths."

Vice-Captain Judgment shook his head at that, muttering under his breath about the importance of personal hygiene.

When Tyler paused, the remaining vice-captains all glanced his way. Five of them were already out of the running. One of the remaining ones asked, "Anyone else to shoot down? Was there any suggestion you found useful?"

"Has to be mine, right?" Vice-Captain Blaze asked hopefully.

"I bet it's mine!" Vice-Captain Stone chimed in.

Before Vice-Captain Stone could ramble further, Tyler said, "But I don't even know what your suggestion was."

"What? How could that be? We even went on a mission together! I'm one hundred percent certain that you and I spent the longest time together while I was showing you the ropes, so of course you must have learned the most from me—"

"No, I didn't. Really, I mean it," Tyler said.

Vice-Captain Stone deflated and slumped in his chair, much like what his fellow vice-captain had done not too long ago.

To the side, Vice-Captain Ice merely stared at Tyler, a silent question of, Was my suggestion useful? Unfortunately, Tyler still wasn't very skilled at reading Vice-Captain Ice's expressions.

"What about my suggestion?" Vice-Captain Cloud asked quietly.

Tyler thought for a moment and then shrugged. "My captain doesn't need hiding places, but you gave me a great idea about keeping his work environment clean. Thank you. I aspire to be as diligent as you."

Vice-Captain Cloud beamed.

Someone murmured, "Point for Luchi?"

"Nah, that wasn't exactly a completely positive answer. Gotta wait for the rest of the evaluations," someone else whispered.

Vice-Captain Blaze raised his hand. "Me, me! What about me?"

"Please ask your captain to stop kicking my door."

"What?!!"

Meanwhile, Vice-Captain Ice continued staring relentlessly at Tyler, who continued to repeatedly miss his silent question. Taking pity on his fellow vice-captain, Adair said, "What about any suggestions relating to food?"

While Adair wasn't certain of the details of Vice-Captain Ice's suggestion, he had a fairly good guess.

Tyler frowned. "Food? My captain cares little for that."

Vice-Captain Ice froze. Tyler didn't even notice. If he did, he didn't react to it.

Tyler mused some more, "If I really have to say what suggestions were useful..."

He reached into his pocket and took out a piece of parchment. When he unfolded it, black scribbles could be seen all over. He held it up and said to Vice-Captain Metal, "Taking notes has been invaluable for me to serve my captain. Thanks."

Vice-Captain Metal grinned.

Several of the other vice-captains groaned, much to Tyler's confusion. Some of them reached into their pockets, but Vice-Captain Earth hurriedly blurted, "W-Wait! What about my suggestion?"

Tyler gave Vice-Captain Earth a nod and said, "Small gifts were a great way for my platoon to bond."

Vice-Captain Earth frowned. "That's not quite what I s-suggested, but I think this means that I still did better than the others?"

Tyler, who was wearing the outfit that Vice-Captain Moon had bought for him, gestured at his own clothing and said to Vice-Captain Moon, "I must thank you as well. You also gave me a great idea to make my captain feel welcomed."

"Huh?" Vice-Captain Moon blinked. "Wait, so I was still in the running? I'd already counted myself out..."

"What's the idea?" Vice-Captain Storm asked.

"You'll see," was all Tyler said.

Vice-Captain Storm frowned. "But I want to know!"

However, Tyler kept his mouth shut, refusing to say anything more. He could be just as stubborn as his captain.

Vice-Captain Moon shrugged. "Hey, I'm glad he got something out of my suggestion. I'll let him surprise me. I bet it's going to be good! He got it out of my suggestion, after all! But in the end, I have to admit that Vice-Captain Metal's suggestion was the one he found the most useful. Pay up, everyone!"

After that, several reached into their pockets once again, now, however, with the additional exception of Vice-Captain Earth and Moon. They pulled out several ducats and piled the ducats in front of the "winner," Vice-Captain Metal.

Tyler blinked slowly. "...You guys bet on this?"

"Of course!"

"I should be more surprised than this, but I'm not."

"Hey, you haven't said anything about Adair's suggestion yet," Vice-Captain Metal pointed out.

"Adair's suggestion?" Tyler gave it some thought and said, "He helped me figure out what I could do for my captain, so if I had to say whether his suggestion was useful or not, I would have to say that it was useful. Even though he didn't exactly give me a concrete suggestion, he helped me think more creatively."

Adair shrugged. "Sounds like the clear winner is still Vice-Captain Metal."

"To think we'd see the day that someone wins over Adair!"

The vice-captains nodded, no longer feeling as bad about "losing."

"But I can't believe the winning suggestion was note taking, of all things. That's so boring!"

Soon after, the barmaids brought the wine over, without forgetting to steal several glances at the many vice-captains as they served the wine. Vice-Captain Metal paid for the drinks with his winnings, with several ducats left over for his own pockets.

Adair raised a glass and said, "To Tyler, for being a full-fledged vice-captain!"

Everyone raised their glasses. "To Tyler, for knowing what it means to be a vice-captain!"

Tyler, although surprised by their toast, realized rather happily that he hadn't needed to pay a single ducat for their drinks today, since he hadn't been a part of them when they had come up with their silly plan to get him involved. As for getting involved, he supposed he would not mind sparing a day or two to come hang out with them again... as long as they stopped interrupting him during his usual training sessions.

Thus, he raised his glass, joining the rest of the vice-captains.

to be continued

There's only 1 part left after this, the "Extra!" It'll be a few short scenes woven together, including what's been hinted at forever, as well as some more Hell Knight Platoon interactions. Look forward to it~. If there's any particular scene you hope will make it in, let me know. :D