The Results Are In

Ten days later, the results of the Knights' entrance exam were announced.

I nervously peered at the list of successful applicants. When I found my number, a sigh of relief escaped from the bottom of my heart.

It wasn't until the day after the exam that I belatedly remembered they'd said the third-stage exam would be judged not by whether you won or lost, but by how you fought.

I was worried that my fighting style might be seen as underhanded, and that I'd fail for not upholding the code of chivalry.

Having fought in many real battles in my previous life, I'd always thought survival was all that mattered. I'd never considered how I won, but I vowed to give it some thought from now on.

To begin with, I'd enchanted the sword and magic stone myself, so I'd thought of the sword's power as my own. But now that I thought about it calmly, I'd won the third-stage exam through the sword's effects alone. My own skill had nothing to do with it...

I let out a dry laugh and stopped in front of the order assignment chart.

The assignments were announced along with the exam results, but all the aspiring knights were so tall they made excellent obstacles. I couldn't see a thing on the chart.

With no other choice, I stepped aside to wait for the crowd to thin out. Someone called out to me.

"Good afternoon."

I turned around and saw the silver-haired hottie from my F group at the Knights' entrance exam.

"You came to check the order assignment chart, so I take it you passed too?"

He smiled brightly as he said that and held out his right hand.

Wow, he sparkles at every turn. He really does look like a prince.

"May I introduce myself? I'm Fabian, the heir to the Wainer marquessate. I'm seventeen."

"...Huh?"

...D-did he say marquessate?

That's one of the highest noble ranks, with only about ten people in this country, right?

And he said he's the heir. Wait, does that mean he's the next marquis?

"...Wait, aren't marquises some kind of urban legend? Do they really exist?"

In my previous life, I was a princess, but I either stayed cooped up in the castle or went out to hunt monsters, so I hadn't met many nobles. In this life, the gap in our social standing was so great that I'd never had the chance to meet one.

At my startled question, he burst out laughing, as if he couldn't help himself.

"My father is the actual marquis, but I can assure you he's neither a ghost nor a monster."

"Oh, uh, that's not what I meant. I'm Fia, second daughter of the Ludo knightly family. I'm fifteen."

"Right. There was only one successful female applicant whose name started with F, so I thought you must be Fia. May I call you Fia? And I'd be happy if you called me Fab."

"Huh? Um..."

"I've been looking for you because I wanted to thank you. Thank you for picking up my sword during the third-stage exam. I'd hurt my arm during the test, but when I gripped the sword you handed me, the pain vanished as if by magic."

"Huh..."

Fabian gently took my stiff right hand between both of his and gazed at me earnestly.

...Right, he hasn't realized I used healing magic on him, has he?

Well, of course not. Saints aren't exactly people you run into every day. And it's not as if one would be in the Knights, of all places. He must think the pain went away by chance...

I looked at his right arm, the one he'd injured, and was astonished.

What?! His broken arm has healed completely in just ten days!

"Um... You said you'd injured your arm, but it's all healed now, isn't it?"

"Yeah. It wouldn't look good for a rookie to join with a broken arm, so I downed a ton of healing potions, writhed in agony, and had a Saint cast healing magic as the finishing touch."

I'd heard that it was difficult for people outside the Knights to get help from a Saint.

Thinking that the Wainer family must have quite a lot of influence, I began to wonder how he'd injured himself in the first place.

He seemed to read the question on my face and explained with an awkward smile.

"My cat jumped from the fourth-floor balcony onto a tree and got stuck there. I climbed up to rescue it, and managed to grab the cat, but then I lost my balance and fell out of the tree. That's how I broke my arm."

"Oh..."

I thought he was a sparkling prince, the perfect picture of a man, but he's actually kind of a klutz...

"That happened on the day of the entrance exam for graduates of the Knight Training Academy. I had to give up on taking the exam that day, so I retook it as a general applicant. At the time, I thought it was terribly unlucky, but meeting you made it all worth it. I guess I was lucky after all."

"Eep..."

This is bad, this is bad. He's one of those flirts you hear about among nobles.

As I stiffened my smile and began to edge away, Fabian grabbed my arm and dropped a bombshell with a smile.

"Fia, you've been assigned to the First Knight Order. So have I."

"...........................Huh?"

The First Knight Order??

That can't be right.

There are twenty Knight Orders, but the First Knight Order is a super-elite group. It's not the kind of place that would ever assign a rookie.

"I hear the First Knight Order, which protects the royal family, and the Second Knight Order, which guards the royal palace, usually only take knights who've served for at least ten years. Apparently, it's the first time in recorded history that rookies have been assigned there. And it looks like the two of us are the only ones this time."

I froze as Fabian explained with a bright smile.

"The Third Mage Knight Order, where mages serve, and the Fourth Monster Knight Order, where monster tamers serve, are special units, so they're exceptions. But it seems rookies have been assigned to all the others: the Fifth Knight Order, which guards the capital; the Sixth through Tenth, which hunt monsters; and the Eleventh through Twentieth, which guard the borders."

"..."

I no longer had the energy even to respond. The same thought kept going around and around in my head.

If they're royalty, then they must be descended from one of the three brothers who left me to die in my previous life...

Aaaah! And now I have to protect them with all my might...

Can I do it? What if I get sick of it and leave them to die?

"...Fia?"

"Oh, um, I was just wondering who the members of the royal family are..."

I made something up to cover myself, and Fabian kindly explained.

"There are only two members of the royal family at present: His Majesty the King and His Royal Highness the King's younger brother. His Majesty has publicly stated this himself, so I can tell you that he's apparently incapable of loving women. He's publicly declared that the King's younger brother will be the next heir."

"W-wha...?"

Taken aback by the unexpected news, I blinked in confusion.

"And, as you may already know, His Royal Highness the King's younger brother is the Commander-in-Chief of the Knights, overseeing all twenty orders."

"The Commander-in-Chief?!"

"...You didn't know, did you?"

No, of course I knew the rumors about the Commander-in-Chief, who'd supposedly half-killed every single order's captain and become something of a living legend. I just hadn't known he was royalty.

"I've spent the fifteen years since I was born without ever setting foot outside our rural domain. Somewhere along the way, I've become a spectacularly uninformed country bumpkin..."

Fabian looked at me as I murmured dejectedly, tilted his head a little in puzzlement, and added some more information.

"He should give a greeting at tomorrow's induction ceremony, so you'll get a good long look at him. He's a perfect example of how seeing is believing. Now, let's go pick up our Knights' uniforms. The insignia on the collars differ by order, so we must be sure to get the right ones. And we should turn in early tonight to be ready for tomorrow."

Fabian practically dragged me all the way to the uniform distribution office. As I told them which order I was supposed to join, I realized I hadn't checked the assignment chart myself.

...W-wait, I'm really supposed to be in the First Knight Order, right?

I had a strong feeling that Fabian might have made a huge mistake.

Aaaah! I don't want to show up at my assigned order only to be told I'm in the wrong place and sent away!