The saints riding in the carriage introduced themselves as Anna, Melody, and Katie. Anna was 18 years old, had burgundy hair and was from the East, Melody was 22 years old, had brown hair and was from the West, and Katie was 25 years old, had burgundy hair and was from the South.
All three of them seemed to be quite talkative and kept talking throughout the ride in the carriage. At first, each of them told us how they came to participate in the selection committee, but before we knew it, the conversation shifted to the ranking of the Saints that would take place on the final day.
"If she gets first place, she'll become the king's wife, right? But he has a reputation for hating women, so I think it'll be hard to become the wife of such a man."
Since there had been no public announcement that Cerulean would soon abdicate the throne to Commander Savis, the Saints seem to assume that the new First-ranked Saint would marry the King.
Or rather, seeing the three Saints grimacing at the thought of marrying the King, I was surprised to see that there were Saints who didn't want to become First-ranked Saint.
Up until now, I had only known about Priscilla and Rose of the saints participating in the selection meeting, so I assumed that all of them wanted to become First-ranked Saint. However, it seemed that there were some Saints who didn't like the perks that come with becoming a First-ranked Saint.
The "King" they were referring to was likely the Doppelganger, but I felt that Cerulean was insulted and grimaced, while Anna continued, while resting her chin on her hand.
"If the other person was a beautiful woman I could give up, but if I were to lose to a muscular man for the king, I'd never recover."
Although it's an impossible analogy to actually happen, I nodded in agreement that it would certainly make you lose confidence. Meanwhile, Melody took over the conversation.
"Then, the second-rank saint's is the king's younger brother, right? I saw him at the opening ceremony, and he was incredibly impressive. As the head of the knights, he has an intimidating presence, and it seems like it would be nerve-wracking to be around him. He has an incredibly good-looking face, and is tall and good-looking, but he's someone you should admire from afar, not someone to marry. He never talks about unnecessary things and never smiles, so it seems like it would be difficult to live with him."
Ah, from my perspective as a knight who knows the inside story, Commander Savis was extremely reliable and charming, but if you were to judge him only by what you could see from the outside, he might come across as strict. As the king's younger brother, it would not be unusual for him to hold the figurehead position of Commander, but Commander Savis was a hardened knight, so he probably came across as intimidating at first glance.
Finally, Katie spoke up, as if to summarized everyone's opinions.
"It seems that saints ranked 3rd or lower will marry nobles, so it's easier than marrying into royalty! But if I may say what I want, it would be difficult for a high-ranking saint because to marry a high-ranking noble. I think around 10th place would be best." (Katie)
Hmm, these saints are amazing in some ways, right?
Although there might be an assumed ranking within the church, she had no interest in what her position as a saint was, only in the incidental matter of marriage. And after taking into consideration the marriage partner, it was decided that Commander Savis would not be "easy."
However, for me, who was come here to find a saint perfect for Commander Savis, that's a problem.
Hahaha, maybe this is my moment to show off the awesomeness of Commander Savis.
"Thank you for your kind words, but I think Commander Savis is really wonderful! As Melody said, he's handsome, and strong, so I'm sure he'll protect you from any villains. Also, I think it's better to be a serious guy than to charm a lot of women. He's quiet and it's hard to tell what he's thinking, but depending on how you look at it, he's mysterious." (Fia)
After hearing what I said, the three of them were quiet for a moment, then tilted their heads as if thinking.
"Isn't the word Fia made up mostly of delusion?"
"The only thing you can see is that the prince is a good-looking guy."
"The only part of him that is exposed from his clothes is his face. The Commander of the Knights is probably an honorary position given to the King's younger brother, so he doesn't actually train his body, and I think he would look weak if he were naked."
"Commander Savis looks poor when he takes it off!!"
On the contrary, I'd like to see a Commander like that.
"No no, Commander Savis has a reputation for being amazing when he takes his clothes off! Apparently, he has an amazing six pack." (Fia)
There's no way to be wrong because Captain Zachary always shared information about Commander Savis's muscles.
Despite my insistence, Anna looked at me suspiciously.
"I think 99% of the information about the merits of the royal family is false. The king's younger brother is a good-looking guy, so I understand the desire to dream of what he would look like when he took his clothes off, but I think that's impossible. To begin with, it seems that the royal family is full of selfish, self-centered, and difficult-to-deal types, you know."
"No, no, no, that's Cer... maybe that might be true for the King, but it doesn't apply to Commander Savis. The Commander is a considerate and fair person. When he eats with his subordinates, he has the consideration to wear civilian clothes instead of knight uniform so as not to intimidate them." (Fia)
Well, this was just my complete speculation.
"Oh, that's surprising! You never seemed like the type to be considerate of others, but I guess that's just how he is, right?" (Melody)
Melody asked in shock.
That was why I was going to say this now.
"That's right! He's very ambitious and smart, so it's fun to talk to him. He's also playful, so it's fun to be with him, you know." (Fia)
When dealing with the head of the Knights, words like "interesting" or "fun" might not be appropriate. Therefore, although it felt like a bit of lip service, I was confident that it was generally not a lie.
"You can't tell from a first impression, can you?"
_KEITIE_ shook her head in disbelief. Realizing that this was my key point, I decided to share my special story.
"Commander is even more generous and considerate! Once, one of the knights gave Commander an old sword that was stored in his armory. In return, he had a sword made to match the expensive sword that Commander used, and bestowed it on one of his subordinates."
Of course, in this case "One of the knights" referred to me. The sword stored in my home's armory had been enchanted with a special method, making it a rare and powerful sword—but the new sword I received was the price, and I was not lying.
Perhaps because I had told them all the Commander Savis special stories I could think of, the three of them looked at me with admiration. So I was happy that the greatness of Commander Savis had finally been conveyed, but—
"Fia, you really know a lot about the prince's younger brother! I'm impressed by how you can keep coming up with information about him!!"
"What?! You weren't impressed by Commander Savis's greatness, you were impressed by me?" (Fia)
Being told something unexpected made me look shocked and my eyes widened.
That's strange. I've given you loads of great recommendations from Commander Savis, so why are you focusing on me for sharing them and not on the information itself?
While I tilted my head, Melody and _KEITIE_ took over the conversation.
"I heard that the prince's brother, Savis, had a secret fan club, and all the members were male knights."
"That's the basic rule, but there are special slots for selected female members. Hehe, Fia participates in the selection committee through the King's recommendation slot, so I think she used the King's connections to become a special female member."
She continued, "Because he's the king's younger brother, they're brothers after all, right? So, he had good connections." Then the three of them asked curiously.
"Could it be that your favorite is His Highness the King's Younger Brother?"
Thinking that the favorite had come up again, I gave the familiar answer.
"Yes, that's right! My favorite is Commander Savis!!" (Fia)
For some reason, the three of them suddenly had their eyes shining brightly.
"Well, so that's it, huh! It's true that he looks really cool, right?!"
"But that doesn't mean women will flock to him. He's also a member of royalty, so he should be incredibly popular with women who like that type of guy, so it won't be easy."
"But no matter how many women approach you, you don’t seem like the type to be moved, so I guess it’ll be fine. Haha, in this case, Fia will have to knock either Saint Priscilla or Saint Rose out of the running and take second place, right?!"
For some reason, I was asked to be Commander Savis's partner, so I quickly refused.
"Huh? That would be too much of an honor, so no thanks! I'm prepared to not even be ranked at all!!" (Fia)
In fact, I planned to drop out before the rankings were even decided, did I?
"Fia, you have such red hair and yet you're so humble! I really like girls like you who watch over others from afar."
"I understand, the self-confident Saint Priscilla and the arrogant Saint Rose who uses the authority of Queen Dowager as a shield are both arrogant, so I want you to do her best, Fia, okay?"
"Yeah, I like Cinderella romance too." (Fia)
Looking at the three of them getting excited, I smiled and said they looked like they were having fun, but then I suddenly realized something.
...Huh? Now that I think about it, Captain Cyril said that he would make sure that no one other than Rose would see me using Sacred Stone, right?
He left it all up to me, but I was starting to feel like in order to carry it out, I shouldn't get on friendly terms with the Saints.
Could it be that the veil worn at the opening ceremony of the selection meeting was not to ward off the Captain Knights, but to ward off the saints?
Come to think of it, Captain Cyril told me to "make sure you wear it the entire selection meeting," and it wasn't limited to "at the opening ceremony of the selection meeting."
In other words, should I have avoided making friends with the Saints and stayed away from them, wearing my veil throughout the selection meeting?
"If that's the case, then Captain Cyril's explanation is lacking, right?" (Fia)
I muttered under my breath and held my head in my hands.
Ah, Captain has a knack for knowing everything, so he assumes others are the same and neglects to explain things to them. I wonder if that bad habit came out here.
But unless I got along with the Saints, I'd never know who's a good fit for Commander Savis. No, it was me who suggested it, "I'll find a saint that Commander Savis will fall in love with at first sight," and maybe Captain Cyril was the one who tried to stop me.
Ugh, I feel more and more like I should have kept the veil on. But it would be extremely rude to the Saints to show me their healing magic, but not show them any of my own, right?
The selection meeting was a rare opportunity for excellent saints to gather in one place, so I think it should be an opportunity for them to use magic together and learn from each other. If anything happened, I could just blame it on the Sacred Stone. Considering that I had never met them before and that it was likely that I would rarely be able to meet them anyway, I doubt that I would ever see the Saints again after the selection meeting.
Either way, it's too late to tell me to wear a veil now, right?
Thinking this, I got off the carriage, where Captain Cyril and Captain Curtis were waiting for me. The two of them had a look of competence on their faces, but the moment they saw me they looked startled and took a step back.
"Fia!" (Cyril)
"Lady Fi!" (Curtis)
Well, if someone called your name as if they knew you when you're pretending to meet them for the first time, you must be really nervous, right? From their attitude, I knew that keeping the veil on had been the right decision.
Author's Note
Volume 9 of the comic was released today!
Most of the stories are original to the book and are not available on the web.
It's a really fun volume with the Sutherland after story, the Arteaga Empire Side Story, and the start of the Blackpeak Mountain story, so I hope you'll pick it up. Thank you.