Chapter 11
A few days ago, on the day an anomaly occurred in the beginner undead dungeon and a skeletal rider appeared.
The instructors who arrived to clear the way to the exit, along with the cadets who arrived late, saw a light illuminating the crossroads like the sun. They murmured in dazed voices.
“That’s the skeletal rider.”
“Why is a monster that strong in a beginner dungeon…?!”
“Th-that light… That sword…!”
“Could it be…!”
“It has the exact same power as the legend—?!”
“There’s no doubt! This is the power of the Sun God!”
“The light of the Sacred Sword!”
-The light of the Sacred Sword Dannan…!
A legend no one in the Southern Continent could possibly be unfamiliar with.
They watched the skeletal rider vanish in the dazzling light. The cadet who had defeated the monster was Arti. He stood proudly, holding a sword that shone like the sun.
Anyone could see that he was a ‘Hero.’
“That commoner has the Sacred Sword?”
“It can’t be true…?”
“Has a descendant of Hero Aruen really appeared after 500 years?!”
And beside the Hero stood two girls, one blonde and one silver-haired. Princess Lydia and Saintess Aria… They were the most beautiful and noble young women in the Kingdom of Gallia and the Holy Theocracy.
Princess Lydia smiled beside Arti. Her cadet training uniform was dirty, but her smile seemed to shine like sunlight breaking through dark clouds.
-Well done, Arti.
The male cadets gaped at the sight.
“?!”
“?!”
“?!”
The ‘Golden Princess’ of the Kingdom of Gallia was smiling…!
The cadets from the Swordsmanship and Divine Studies Departments were all thrown into an uproar.
“Could it be that the Saintess holding a commoner’s hand in the cafeteria was…?”
“He’s the one who’s been hanging around Her Highness every morning, too—!”
So it wasn’t a coincidence that he’d caught the attention of two noble ladies…
“What a lucky bastard…!”
And there was something else drawing their attention.
The cadets lying unconscious.
“Look over there! It’s Mave!”
“Why are those guys sprawled out?”
Those guys were way ahead of us.
“Could they have been wiped out by the skeletal rider?”
“And that commoner defeated it…?”
“….”
An unbelievable, flawless performance.
Arti had even rescued the cadets who’d challenged the skeletal rider first, lost, and passed out. Now he stood holding the shining Sacred Sword, surrounded by noble young women.
The cadets couldn’t believe their eyes.
“….”
“….”
“….”
-That commoner named Arti, from a farming village in the Kingdom of Gallia, is stronger than Mave, the strongest first-year in the Swordsmanship Department…?
-But Mave was a trainee knight from the Royal Knights, even if she was a commoner…?
-A guy who used to dig in the dirt for a living.
-That guy’s a Hero…?
-No. It can’t be true.
-He just got lucky and picked up a sword.
-It has to be that…
Amid the confusion, Instructor Zach handled the aftermath. The assistants carried the unconscious cadets on their backs, while the instructor led Arti and his companions away.
Beside Arti and the others, Instructor Zach announced,
“That concludes the training! Everyone, leave the dungeon and return to the academy!”
“….”
“….”
“….”
The cadets filed out, their trembling eyes fixed on Arti.
-Is that commoner really a Hero…?
*
Night had fallen.
Mave struggled to open her eyes in the academy infirmary. Her black hair stuck out in every direction, and her firm, tall body was as weary as it would be the morning after a grueling training session.
“Ugh. Wh-where…? The infirmary? I was….”
She was certainly lying on a white bed,
but everything from her shoulders to her back throbbed.
“Ugh….”
Mave clutched her head and tried to remember.
The final crossroads of the undead dungeon,
where she had been fighting the skeletal rider.
At first, she’d managed to face the skeletal rider alone. But wave after wave of skeletons had gradually beaten her back, landing blow after blow. The nobles she’d sworn to protect had been forcibly locked in cages.
Mave had been left alone in the midst of it all.
And then—
“…I lost.”
Mave covered her face with her hands, overwhelmed with self-loathing. Then she remembered the blue ghostfire and the skeletons’ laughter, as if they were mocking her.
“….”
But the fact that she’d survived despite losing on the battlefield—
“Instructor Zach… was it you who saved me…?”
Of course.
A hero of the Kingdom of Gallia….
No matter how strong Mave was among the trainee knights, she was still only strong among rookies. She was weaker than Instructor Zach, a war hero who had distinguished himself in the Northern War and was even being considered as the next training advisor to the Royal Knights.
So she could accept that.
“….”
Once Mave had pieced together what happened, she let out a deep sigh.
Then she pulled up the blanket that smelled of herbs and curled up beneath it. Her tall, well-proportioned body seemed to shrink into something pitiful.
‘…Instructor Zach will probably call me unfit to be a warrior and give me a thorough scolding next class. The nobles will curse me for being an inadequate protector. And my comrades in the knights will look down on me as a woman again.’
“….”
She wasn’t despairing.
If anything, it was familiar.
Mave’s life had been a constant struggle to prove her strength, after all.
She closed her eyes and tried to sleep, determined to throw herself into training again the next morning. It was only a few days later that she learned the truth.
“W-what…?”
Mave stared at her fellow trainee knight with trembling eyes.
He told her the rumor in an excited voice. Plenty of cadets were still skeptical, but it had spread among those who firmly believed in the Hero’s legend—especially cadets from the Kingdom of Gallia.
“That commoner! That Arti guy from some farming village awakened the Sacred Sword and became a Hero…! And he rescued you and all the nobles who’d been defeated by the skeletal rider, then received praise from Her Highness!”
“….”
“I heard the Holy Theocracy is planning to send a delegation soon to test whether the Sacred Sword is real—”
“….”
After that, Mave could no longer hear him. Her ears had gone numb.
He had rescued the nobles and received praise from royalty.
Just like a knight….
“….”
Then her fellow trainee knight said,
Now,
that guy was the strongest among the first-years.
“….”
They were both commoners, but
Mave was a trainee knight of the Royal Knights.
Arti was an ordinary country bumpkin who’d come up from a village.
The two of them shouldn’t even be compared.
“I’m… weaker than him…? And he’s the one who saved me…?”
As if she were
some delicate noble girl.
“….”
Mave’s head began to spin.
“….”
No.
That’s ridiculous.
Something has to be wrong.
‘I’ll see for myself. It was just one defeat. It must’ve been luck. The Sacred Sword, Her Highness’s and the Saintess’s interest in him—it was all just good luck….’
Mave steeled herself. She had always proven herself on her own. So this time, too, she would prove herself.
“…I challenge that guy to a duel!”
She would surely
be able to prove it.
But.
“….”
The fact that he had saved her made her heart pound strangely. Was it shame? Or anger?
Or perhaps…
“I’ll see for myself.”
*
Early one morning, while Lydia and Arti were training and Aria watched, the unwelcome guest finally showed up.
“Arti—!”
Mave shouted, her face slightly red. She knew it was unreasonable to show up out of nowhere and make demands.
“Pick up your sword! If you’re a man, prove yourself!”
“….”
“….”
“….”
Mave trembled slightly, Arti looked bewildered, and Aria glanced between them, her face quickly turning glum.
“….”
Lydia looked at her and had a sudden realization.
‘This isn’t just a matter of competitiveness and pride.’
Perhaps it was
a rather troublesome emotion…
Maybe it was an emotion that could lead to a ‘love triangle.’ It was also the sort of feeling Mave often showed in the original adult game, usually with some variation of ‘Kuh, kill me!’
In short,
it was the first stirrings of love from a stubborn female knight.
Lydia shook her head.
“Good grief….”
‘Arti’s making rapid progress down the pure-love route with Aria, and now a heroine from another route is stepping in to challenge her.’
Lydia looked at Aria.
As expected, Aria was approaching with quick, small steps, looking uneasy. She, too, seemed to have realized Mave hadn’t come merely out of hostility. And that it was a kind of ‘interest.’
Aria murmured anxiously. Anyone could see the jealousy on her face.
“Lies….”
The only one looking thoroughly annoyed was Arti. He let out a deep sigh and scratched his head, clearly wanting to get this over with as quickly as possible.
“Good grief.”
Lydia gave Arti a disapproving look.
“….”
‘What a hopeless man. He doesn’t even realize the girl he’s flirting with is feeling anxious….’
Lydia stopped to think, then shook her head. It wasn’t as if she was in any position to criticize Arti.
‘…I wouldn’t have noticed the awkwardness if I hadn’t known the original story and been reborn as a woman. I should have understood by now that men and women can see things differently.’
At any rate.
What mattered wasn’t scolding the oblivious Arti; it was coming up with a solution.
Lydia quickly turned it over in her mind.
“….”
The no-romance route was thoroughly blocked off.
It was only a matter of time before Arti and Aria got together. Since the battle with the skeletal rider, they’d been intensely aware of each other and were following a path of pure romance. And that was before he’d had time to slowly get to know the other heroines.
‘…That’s why I let the two of them take their time becoming aware of their relationship. I’d planned to approach the strong-willed Mave and Morgan after a suitable amount of time had passed.’
But now Mave had been added to the mix. She was blushing and fuming, making it more obvious than anyone that ‘I’m thinking about you!’
Mave crossed her arms and shouted,
“Arti! Aren’t you going to answer me already?!”
“Haaah… Why are you doing this to me, anyway?”
“Hero….”
“….”
At this rate…
it could turn into a love triangle.
The battle against the ‘Black Temple’ was still a long way off. Lydia had no desire to see the Hero and his heroines mentally shattered by a lovers’ quarrel before then.
‘I can’t have the people I’m counting on for the future falling apart over romance…. There’s no time to raise them steadily and build their loyalty.’
Should she go with a harem route after all?
Give Arti a harem….
A loyal subordinate
deserved a reward. It was only fitting for a ruler to provide one.
“….”
…No, that was blocked off, too.
Maybe from the moment this world became reality.
‘The original game’s harem route was basically fan service—something they brushed over with the ridiculous line, [Anyway, the heroines all agreed.] Unlike the game’s hand-waving, in reality, people actually feel jealousy, so that would be suicide.’
Wasn’t Aria biting her lip right now?
This world was abnormal, but it wasn’t a game.
These people had feelings, and sometimes they got jealous.
So the headache-inducing harem was out.
Lydia had no intention of becoming a kindergarten teacher, managing the feelings of three harem members. Besides, there was a limit to how much of her attention she could give Arti.
‘In that case, for now…’
Lydia finished her calculations and approached Mave. The trainee knight of the Royal Knights of Gallia jumped in surprise and gave her a formal salute.
“Y-Your Highness…!”
“That’s enough. At the academy, call me Lydia.”
“But….”
“Arti and Aria are already doing so as well. Isn’t that right, Aria?”
Aria jumped, taken by surprise. She hadn’t expected the conversation to suddenly turn to her.
“Yes…?”
“You, who are ‘close friends’ with Arti, call me Lydia as well, don’t you?”
“!”
Aria’s face turned a little red.
“C-close friends…?! Um, uh… y-yes, I suppose so?”
“That’s right. ‘Aria and Arti’ are close friends.”
“Yes…”
She’d never actually called the princess by her name, but Aria felt strangely happy to be mentioned alongside Arti.
Mave hesitated, then finally said,
“…Understood. Lady Lydia.”
“Good, Mave.”
“D-did you know my name?”
“Of course. You’re the top student who came first in the Swordsmanship Department’s fearsome first training session. More people than you might think have their eye on you.”
“…I-I see.”
“Did you come here after hearing that Arti defeated the skeletal rider?”
“Yes….”
“Impressive. To hear the name of someone strong and challenge them instead of running away—that’s a knightly virtue.”
“…Thank you.”
Mave swept her black hair behind her ear, pretending not to care even as she was clearly pleased. The feelings that had seemed about to explode were settling down.
Lydia was satisfied.
‘That’s got Aria and Mave’s feelings to calm down a notch.’
The chaotic romantic-comedy atmosphere that had taken over the place had faded somewhat, leaving only an awkward tension as everyone tried to compose themselves.
Lydia looked at Arti, who’d been staring blankly from the corner.
“Arti, since things have come to this, let’s put you through a real fight.”
“Huh?”
“It’s a rare opportunity for the top cadet in the Swordsmanship Department to come looking for you. Fighting someone this strong should be a great help in a battle between people, too.”
“Strong…! Come to think of it, she grabbed the flag incredibly quickly in our first class, too.”
Arti took another look at Mave.
“!”
Mave abruptly composed herself, putting on a solemn expression. As Lydia kept building her up, Mave seemed to grow calmer, despite how awkwardly she’d approached them.
Lydia watched Arti and Mave looking at each other and nodded.
‘…Good. Her status has been downgraded from potential love interest to rival.’