I had no clue why the Order had dragged me all the way here.
Honestly, I wasn’t even sure if they had a purpose at all.
They just stood there, scanning me like I was some human buffet, and the Captain of the Guard next to me seemed more interested in giving a running commentary about the knights than actually doing anything.
Eventually, it seemed like even the Captain ran out of things to say because he started lecturing me about how important it is to take care of your sword.
Yawn…
How long did I stand there, you ask? Well, just when I thought it might go on forever, I caught a glimpse of Seria sprinting towards us, which made the Captain perk up like he’d just seen a stray cat.
“Princess! What brings you here?”
“What do you think? I came to get Rudion! Stop bothering him and let him go!”
“Ahaha, bother? Whatever do you mean? We were just trying to see if this fellow was suitable for the Princess…”
“Enough excuses! My father summoned him, so let him go already.”
With Seria’s hand gently pulling me away, I managed to escape. I felt the intense gazes from behind me but didn’t dare look back; everyone was probably thinking the same thing:
“I wish the Princess would drag me around instead.”
“Hey, idiot! Keep that to yourself!”
Right? At this point, shouldn’t the Royal Guard just change their name to ‘Seria’s Fan Club’?
It turns out Seria wasn’t lying about her father calling for me. She whisked me away straight to where the Emperor was.
There, in front of an ornate door, two knights stood at attention, and the moment they saw Seria, they silently stepped aside to open the door.
Creeeak…
What was that chill seeping through the crack? Shivers Was it a bad vibe?
As the door swung wide open, I spotted the throne at the far end of the grand hall, and there sat the Emperor himself. Seria led me right up to him.
Countless pairs of eyes, belonging to knights guarding the room, focused on me, but having just endured the Order’s scrutiny, I felt strangely unfazed.
Standing in front of the Emperor, of course, I knew I had to greet him first.
“I stand before the sun of the Empire.”
I didn’t know much about royal etiquette, but I threw out a respectful greeting I’d seen somewhere. Seria gave me a somewhat surprised look.
What’s up? I can be polite too, you know!
But the great Emperor didn’t appear pleased with my greeting. Nah, not really; he just seemed displeased with me in general.
“Lift your head.”
Keeping my overly respectful posture, I raised my head and met his gaze.
With golden hair like Seria’s and piercing blue eyes, it was clear he was her father.
As the Emperor of the Rubetia Empire, he looked quite youthful for his age, though his actions screamed “old man.”
But hey, I better not underestimate him just because he seems like a goofy uncle.
He ranked highly in strength, not top tier in the world view but certainly strong enough to be considered a powerhouse.
Throw him in the middle of a battlefield, and he’d walk away unscathed.
Not to mention, he was skilled in various matters. Though he had a strong doting-dad vibe going on, he definitely lived up to the title of ‘Emperor.’
It makes perfect sense that he would dote on Seria, his little princess, especially given that she was his only daughter born after three sons. How could he not adore her?
So, I was mentally prepared for whatever he had to say.
Even though I had no romantic experience, I could certainly understand a father’s love for his late-in-life daughter.
The Emperor scrutinized me slowly before asking,
“I’ve heard that the two of you are inseparable?”
“…Yes, that’s correct.”
I answered honestly, knowing that lying would get me nowhere.
The Emperor scrunched his brow, unable to hide his expression of dissatisfaction.
“Execution! Take him away and prepare for an execution immediately!”
“Whaaat?”
He just sentenced me to death on the spot!
Clatter, clatter With the Emperor’s words, numerous knights around began to surround me methodically.
In the midst of them, I spotted the captain of the Royal Guard and the Captain of the Order readying themselves.
I guess they were just hanging around, waiting for the show to begin!
Heavy lolling sigh The atmosphere didn’t seem heavy, so they probably weren’t really going to execute me or anything.
Still, I didn’t want to be dragged off like this, so I quickly called out for Seria’s help, but then…
“I just promised my dad earlier that I wouldn’t interfere. Please, just hang in there a little while longer. Sorry?”
What I got back was nothing but a chilling betrayal!
Was the Captain dragging me away just to buy time for the Emperor to negotiate with Seria?
Regardless, Seria’s betrayal was shocking.
…Not really, though. I totally expected it; I’ll just pretend to be shocked for a bit. Just imagining the teasing is already amusing.
Anyway, without anyone’s help, I could only let myself be led away like a lost puppy.
I clearly underestimated the love a father holds for his daughter. I thought that was a frivolous assumption as I walked dully along.
The place they dragged me to was back to the Royal Guard, specifically to their training ground, which looked vast enough to fit a few soccer fields.
“Go stand in the center over there.”
I obediently followed the Order Captain’s instruction.
I really shouldn’t mess with him. Right now, there are only a handful of people that can beat the Order Captain.
I figured I had a good idea of what they planned for me, so I wasn’t too nervous or confused.
“Draw the sword at your waist. Oh, don’t worry, we’ll be using training swords. Just think of it as stretching.”
From the Captain’s following words, it became clear I was right.
To elaborate, the Order has a document somewhere titled ‘Conditions for a Man Suitable for the Princess.’
I won’t get into how to find it since it’s a bit long, but one of the obvious conditions is being strong!
Surely, they didn’t expect much from a first-year student, but this was probably a way to figure out my abilities.
In other words, if I can’t even handle this, they expect me to bow out gracefully.
“Then according to our agreement, you shall be the one to face him.”
“Wait, me? I’m just a first-year!”
“Exactly! That’s why you should step up!”
“My bad, but if I get hurt, it’s not my fault.”
As I drew my sword, one knight stepped forward with a wooden sword in hand.
It seemed like he was prepared, given that he wasn’t clad in armor but normal clothes like everyone else. This meant he was confident I couldn’t hit him accidentally.
Now, I don’t know who exactly was stepping up as my opponent since there were so many knights, and they didn’t each get individual introductions, but whoever the Order Captain chose must be formidable.
Even if they weren’t top-tier, I figured they’d at least be on par with a rather strong vice-president of the student council.
Well… when a student faces off against an active knight, it might seem distorted at first, but it only highlights how impressive the student council is.
Unfortunately, this world is filled with talent and power inflation, so it can’t be helped.
Honestly, outside of the leaders, I bet our student council president Alkiné would have handled it just fine.
I digress, but still, as a skilled knight, the chances of him accidentally losing control of his strength were slim.
That’s why he can afford to be here to test me.
“Now, I hear you’re quite skilled. Show me just how good you are!”
They pulled me here against my will, but it didn’t seem like they wanted to intentionally bully me.
…Well, maybe they did plan to bully me a little, but it was more about seeing my skills first. Probably.
“Let’s have a fair match.”
Since there was no avoiding this, I decided to just go with the flow.
Just as I assumed my stance, suddenly a familiar face popped out from the crowd of knights.
“Rudion! I came to watch!”
“Seria?”
“Princess?!”
Even the knights that had dragged me there looked totally shell-shocked by Seria’s surprise appearance.
I mean, they secretly brought me here to assess my skills, intending to throw in some digs about how unworthy I was for Seria, but with her showing up, that all flew out the window!
The Order Captain, who clearly didn’t expect her to come, rushed over to explain the situation, but what he told her seems to have caught her off guard.
“Wait, there’s really no need for that. Just let loose and go all out!”
…Seria? Thanks for believing in me, but aren’t those words a little too reckless?
I mean, these knights take their pride seriously! Such words could easily bruise their egos.
“Haha! Since the Princess said so, there’s no reason for us to hold back! Did you hear that! Go all out!”
“That was my plan anyway!”
After her words, the knights suddenly seemed to lose all sanity that they had just seconds before.
The most absurd part? They weren’t angry; they just completely lost their wits.
Had they been offended and lost their pride, they might have gotten mad, but losing their composure means…
“Our intelligent, rational, calculating, and always honest Princess would say that?!”
“Seems like the Princess is completely smitten with this guy—let’s break that spell!”
Ugh, it’s all Seria’s fault again!
“How could you tarnish our dear Princess’s innocent observation? Prepare yourself!”
As one knight charged at me with zeal, he had completely lost any pretense of tempering his strength. His wooden sword radiated a dangerous aura, showing he had no intention of holding back at all.
Great! I’m really going to lose my mind! They’re not playing fair!!
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