Was it because I had drunk alcohol for the first time in a while?
Even as dawn approached, I could not fall asleep.
The sun was already high in the sky.
Before long, I realized that the area outside the estate was unusually noisy.
“…?”
I pulled open the curtains and looked outside.
Then I understood why.
Burly men in armor stood in neat rows before the estate’s main gate.
I could also see the Vice Commander of the Knight Order standing imposingly in front of them.
‘Come to think of it, was that today?’
Today was the day the Kalsburg Family selected Personal Knights for its children.
I figured there would be a familiar face among the applicants, so I scanned the crowd.
Apparently, even armor could not conceal her beauty. Several people around her kept sneaking glances in her direction.
Following their gazes, I found Claire standing calmly in the middle.
“Whew….”
Looking more closely, I saw her slowly closing and opening her eyes as she took deep breaths.
So she was not completely free of nerves after all.
‘Good thing I said something beforehand.’
Henrik, the Vice Commander responsible for the knight selection, was not the type to act on his own initiative.
If I had left things alone, Claire, a commoner, would never even have been allowed to stand here because of tradition.
“All right. From this point onward, everyone will follow me.”
At the Vice Commander’s order, the trainees moved in perfect order.
At the same time, I got out of bed and dressed.
I chose something with a hood capable of covering roughly half my face.
When I opened the door and stepped outside, Alina, my Personal Maid, was standing there as though she had just arrived.
“Young Master Allen? Where are you going so early in the morning?”
“To watch some fights.”
“Pardon?”
I went straight downstairs and headed toward the Training Ground in the rear courtyard.
The Knight Trainees were lined up along one side of the Training Ground.
Following the instructions of several maids, they were drawing lots one by one.
Another maid checked the lots and filled out the tournament bracket.
Just as expected, it was a tournament format.
“Sir Henrik. You’ve been working hard since early this morning.”
When I greeted Henrik, the plain-faced Vice Commander looked at me in confusion.
“Yes. Good morning, Young Master Allen. What brings you to the Training Ground all of a sudden?”
“These are candidates for my own Personal Knight, after all. It would be strange for me to show no interest. I also thought I might broaden my understanding of sparring while I was here.”
“Hmm. An admirable attitude. Jason, bring Young Master Allen a chair.”
“…Yes.”
After I sat and waited for a while, the matches began across the Training Ground, which had been divided into four sections.
CLANG!
The sound of swords colliding rang loudly enough to shake the Training Ground.
Most of the matches were so evenly matched that they were almost boring.
They were all Knight Trainees, so their skill levels were not particularly remarkable.
There were, however, two people who stood out.
One was naturally Claire, the top graduate of the Knight Academy.
The other was a man wielding a rapier.
“Sir Henrik. What did you say that man’s name was?”
“He is Amelot of the Santos Baronial House.”
“He fights fairly well. Have you heard of him before?”
“I know of the Santos Family itself. But this is the first time I have heard the name Amelot.”
The Santos Baronial House was located at the far southern edge of the Empire.
Had there really been someone that skilled in the family?
Well, there were so many characters in the game that there was no way I could know every single one.
“It seems we are nearly finished.”
At last, the end of the eight-hour tournament approached.
Just as expected, Claire and Amelot met in the finals.
Compared to Claire, who carried an enormous greatsword, Amelot looked almost fragile with his slender rapier.
WHOOSH!
Claire wielded the greatsword as freely as though it were a third arm.
Amelot frowned at the force of the wind pressure and retreated.
“…Tch.”
He continued stepping backward beneath Claire’s relentless attacks.
Apparently sensing victory, Claire prepared her final strike.
At that moment—
“!?”
Amelot’s rapier shot forward like a starving serpent.
SWISH!
“Ugh…!”
Claire hurriedly twisted her body, and the rapier grazed her cheek.
Before the drop of blood could even fall from the blade, mana erupted once again.
[Amelot Santos activates the Skill ‘Serpent Strike’.]
The thrust named after a serpent’s attack shot toward Claire’s neck.
Apparently recognizing the danger of an attack capable of piercing even armor, Claire leaped backward to create distance.
SWISH!
The rapier closed that distance as though refusing to allow her to escape.
Just before the serpent’s fang pierced between her brows, Claire’s greatsword moved at an abnormal speed.
[Claire activates the Skill ‘Heavy Strike’.]
CLANG!
The rapier flew through the air and landed on the ground.
Claire’s greatsword was already resting against Amelot’s neck.
“Well now, I’ve lost.”
Amelot raised both hands theatrically in surrender.
Unlike him, who showed no disappointment whatsoever, Claire hardly looked satisfied despite being the victor.
‘Amelot….’
Aside from his delicate appearance, there was nothing knightly about him.
If attacks to the neck had been allowed to land, that thrust could very well have taken Claire’s life.
There might not have been any rules prohibiting it, but the attack had still been unusually blatant.
‘What the hell is this guy?’
A knight’s swordsmanship was fundamentally focused on protection.
That was only natural.
A knight’s duty was to protect their master.
Amelot’s swordsmanship, however, seemed focused on killing people.
Everything about him reminded me of a snake.
“We have our victor! The final winner is Sir Claire, a Knight Trainee from the capital!”
The match ended with Sir Henrik’s booming declaration.
At some point, Gilbert had apparently crawled out of his room and taken a place beside me.
“Not bad.”
“What are you talking about?”
“That female knight. She is strong and beautiful. A noble’s knight should possess that kind of dignity.”
Gilbert was already acting as though she would become his knight.
The tournament winner was granted the right to personally choose which master they would swear loyalty to.
He probably assumed Claire would naturally choose him.
Well, he was free to dream.
After that, I became busy preparing as well.
Apparently, the appointment ceremony for a Personal Knight was a much grander event than I had expected.
Normally, I would have hated such troublesome formalities.
This time, however, I was looking forward to it a little.
After all, Claire probably had no idea that I was Allen Kalsburg.
The tournament that had continued for eight long hours finally came to an end.
Under normal circumstances, Claire herself would have been immersed in the joy of victory.
But the people surrounding her gave her no opportunity to enjoy it.
“Congratulations on your victory. My introduction comes rather late. I am Sern Gorden, the second son of the Gorden Baronial House.”
“My, to think such a beautiful woman was my junior at the academy. This is the happiest news I’ve heard all year! I am the eldest son of the Belpher Family.”
The men she had exchanged blows with earlier began approaching her one after another.
Every one of them introduced their family before themselves.
They smiled pleasantly, showing no frustration whatsoever over having lost.
Claire was beginning to wonder whether they had truly come here to become knights.
“You all worked very hard. Thank you.”
In the end, all Claire offered them were simple formalities.
Their own words to her were merely formalities as well.
Curiously, the moment these nobles learned she was a commoner, the look in their eyes changed.
At first, they had looked at her as another human being.
Then they began looking at her as though she were some valuable object.
“…….”
Claire suddenly recalled what had happened not long ago.
Her first and last attempt at entering the Labyrinth.
She had lost three companions there.
For reasons so ugly that she could hardly speak of them to anyone.
‘But….’
Not every memory was terrible.
There had also been an Adventurer named Allen whom she met there.
An unexpected bond had formed between them.
“…….”
She remembered Allen’s cold, quiet eyes.
The first time she saw them, she had somehow felt reassured.
Those eyes seemed cold, yet they had remained unwavering until the very end.
It was precisely because the suggestion had come from him that she had traveled all the way to this distant northern land.
‘The Kalsburg Family….’
It was an ancient family known as the ruler of the North.
She still could hardly believe that she might become one of its knights.
‘The appointment ceremony should begin soon….’
As the tournament victor, she had been granted the honor of choosing one of the Kalsburg Family’s three sons and swearing loyalty to him.
Amelot would follow her, and then Paul, the man who had advanced by receiving a bye.
“So which lord do you intend to serve? Lord Gilbert, I assume?”
“Wouldn’t that be the obvious choice? I heard the Succession Battle is going to be held again.”
Everyone predicted that Claire would become Gilbert’s knight.
For a knight, that would have been the natural choice.
Allen Kalsburg might currently be the Heir, but the first Succession Battle had been little more than a half-measure because mana had been restricted.
Rumors already said another Succession Battle would eventually be held.
From that perspective, Gilbert was certainly the obvious choice.
‘But….’
Claire intended to become Allen Kalsburg’s knight.
For no other reason than the recommendation made by the Adventurer Allen.
This was a decision she had made because she trusted Allen’s judgment.
‘I wonder what kind of person he is.’
Her thoughts ended there.
Before she knew it, she was inside the estate’s luxurious banquet hall.
An extravagant chandelier hung overhead, and dignified furnishings filled the room.
The emblem of the Kalsburg Family could be seen throughout the hall.
At the brightest point in the room, Claire knelt on the red carpet with her head bowed.
Maids, knights, and nobles were all watching her.
STEP.
The firm sound of approaching footsteps rang out.
“Allen Kalsburg, eldest son of the Kalsburg Family, is entering.”
The footsteps drew closer from the far end of the hall.
There was no hesitation in them.
At the same time, Claire’s heartbeat grew louder.
Becoming a knight who protected someone.
This was the moment she had wished for all her life.
“Sir Claire. I am Allen Kalsburg.”
A young man’s voice came from directly before her.
She wanted to raise her head, but forced herself to remain still.
A sword glittering beneath the light brushed across her left shoulder, then her right.
“From this moment onward, I appoint you as a Knight of the Kalsburg Family. Furthermore, I appoint you as the sword that shall protect me, Allen Kalsburg.”
He then offered the sword to her.
Without raising her head, Claire lifted both hands and received it.
After fastening it at her waist, she lightly kissed the back of his extended hand.
With that, every procedure of the appointment ceremony was complete.
“Raise your head.”
At last, she had been granted permission to look upon her new master.
Claire opened her eyes and raised her head.
And then her mind went completely blank.
“…Young Master Allen?”
The words escaped her lips before she even realized it.
The familiar face of her benefactor, the Adventurer Allen, was looking down at her.
“It’s been a while.”
He was grinning at her.