The king's office was a luxurious room decorated in white, blue, and gold.
It's even bigger and has a higher ceiling than Commander Savvis' room, which I thought was extremely spacious.
The carpet in the room, the fireplace, display cabinet, office desk, and many other things were all priceless gems made of rare materials and elaborately decorated with gold and gold thread.
King Laurence, two dozen knights, half a dozen of his entourage, and several clowns were all present in the overwhelmingly glittering room.
Normally I would be teary-eyed at this point.
This was because it seemed like the king and his entourage were all lined up, and the composition was set up to snub the new knight.
I could understand why I hated Captain Cyril, who I met every time.
Perhaps, after the interview was over, the whole process was to comfort the knight who was cowering and unable to respond well to his words.
I swallowed a sigh and checked the layout of the room.
First, in the center of the room was a blue carpet that went straight up to the king.
Knights were placed at equal intervals along the left and right walls, all of them being knights of the First Order.
There were several stairs about four-fifths of the way from the room, and the king's entourage wearing glittering aristocratic clothes were waiting nearby.
And on the stairs, people dressed as clowns were sitting misbehaving.
Further up the stairs, there was a luxurious office desk, and the king, wearing a gorgeous outfit, was sitting on a chair looking down at me.
As planned, I walked past Commander Savvis and Captain Cyril, who had stopped, and I stopped a few steps before the stairs and bowed deeply.
"First of all, I'm Fia Ruud of the First Knight Order." (Fia)
Commander Savvis and Captain Cyril, who were positioned behind me, bowed in the same way.
After a few seconds, one of the aides standing by spoke up.
"Raise your head. I will give you the honor of seeing His Majesty the King's face."
When I looked up, my eyes met the king's gorgeous features.
King Laurence was a man of regal beauty, around 30 years old, with golden hair and blue eyes.
He was sitting deeply in a golden chair with his legs crossed, resting his chin on his hand as he looked at me with interest.
On top of her head was a glittering triple crown that shone as brightly as her hair.
No matter how you looked at him, he had the unmistakable appearance of a king.
I heard that the Commander and the King were brothers, but I didn't think they looked alike at all.
This was because Commander Savvis had black hair, dark eyes, and a calm beauty, while King Laurence was a gorgeous man with blonde hair and blue eyes.
Simplicity versus luxury.
It's not that one is better than the other, it's that they were completely different.
"Are you the last knight who came late?"
The voice that came out was warmer than I had imagined.
From the king's point of view, I thought it couldn't be helped if knights were nothing more than disposable shields, but apparently, he was not a master who treated knights roughly.
I thought he was Commander Savvis's older brother, but in reality, it's the other way around, and maybe it's because Commander Savvis was a fine knight that the King recognizes him as a knight.
"I've heard stories about you. You're the knight who clashed with Savvis at the initiation ceremony. You're smaller than I imagined, so if you were to exchange swords with Savvis, I'd think you'd be blown away in one go, but that wasn't actually the case. I wonder if my younger brother is being too kind."
The king asked me with an interested look while resting his chin on his hands.
I politely opened my mouth and answered only what needed to be answered.
"In the end, I was blown away and fell to the ground, so you are correct in saying that I don't have enough weight." (Fia)
The point of my answer was to only answer about me, and I didn't mention Commander Savvis even if he made a mistake.
This was because it would be disrespectful for me to comment on the King's younger brother, the Commander, so no matter how many questions the King asked, I had to casually avoid it.
When the king heard my answer, he raised one of his eyebrows.
"...Cyril, since you were the last one, you seem to have been well-educated. That's as solid an answer as Fabian, who I interviewed the other day."
When Fabian's name came up in the king's remarks, I was impressed that he was an excellent peer.
It must be rare for the king to remember after just one interview.
I only gave a speech as the representative at the induction ceremony.
However, unlike me who was impressed, when asked to speak, Captain Cyril answered calmly without showing any emotion.
"Thank you for your compliment. However, I have no intention of guiding the newly assigned knights to His Majesty." (Cyril)
Seeing Captain Cyril like that, King Laurence raised his hand in annoyance.
"Cyril, don't act like that. If you get into that mood, I won't be able to read your feelings either, so please be gentle. I'm not trying to bully your precious subordinate, but rather the knight who protects me. I'm just asking because I want to know in advance. Don't you think we can build a better relationship if we have a deeper mutual understanding?"
"Of course, that's what I want as well. Therefore, in order to prevent any misunderstandings from occurring and becoming irreparable, I will always accompany you as a coordinator." (Cyril)
Captain Cyril spoke smoothly with a cool expression, but every word of his words seemed to be mixed with a warning to the King, which made me wonder about the relationship between the two.
Well, since the King was the only one who stood out in power, I thought he had a clear relationship with everyone, including Commander Savvis and Captain Cyril, but apparently that's not the case.
It seemed that King Laurence, Commander Savvis, and Captain Cyril were closer than I expected.
As if to confirm my assumption, the King looked at Commander Savvis with amusement.
"I know that sounds harsh and makes me sad. But, Savvis, in that sense, it's been two years since you sat in on a meeting with me and the knights. I heard you went out of your way to meet Fia at the induction ceremony. It looks like you really like her."
Commander Savvis calmly accepted the King's teasing words.
"As Your Majesty said, Fia is probably my favorite. However, there is not a single knight in the knight order that I don't like." (Savvis)
"The Knights are as tight knit as ever. No matter what the reality is, they only say nice things on the outside, so I don't know what's going on inside. In reality, Fia here is so bad that I don't even know if that's why you came all the way to follow her, or if she's actually good and you like her. ...Cerulean, what do you think?" (King)
The one who responded to the king's call was one of the clowns who was sitting on the stairs in a sloppy posture.
He wore a hood with horse ears and bells, and full body tights with a flashy blue and white checkered pattern.
A tail grew from its buttocks and wore ornaments and bells on one ankle and waist.
He was dressed like a typical clown, but unlike the other clowns sitting around him, he was the only one who was very young.
Maybe he's about 10 years old. He seemed much younger than me.
I was thinking that he was a handsome boy with blonde hair and cerulean eyes, and a very beautiful face, when he let out a high-pitched voice typical of boys.
"Hee~, is it me~? Hmm~, Fia~ is bad! I guess? Ahahahahaha~"
When the clown called Cerulean started laughing, the two clowns around him also started laughing out loud.
Then, the three of us continued to laugh, as if we couldn't bear it.
Well, it looked like fun.
I was thinking so, I couldn't help but think...
"Hoo~? Why are you laughing, Fia~? You must be really stupid to laugh when someone made fun of you~."
I was immediately thrust into Cerulean.
The king chose Cerulean as the person to confirm his opinion―In addition to choosing a clown instead of the many aides and knights he had attended, he obviously chose the youngest clown on the spot—I was surprised to be nominated, but it made sense.
Cerulean was extremely talented in being able to react so quickly and accurately.
That's what I thought in my heart.