The first time I, Zachary Townsend, Captain of the Sixth Knight Order, saw Fia, was at the Knights' initiation ceremony.
As the induction ceremony was proceeding as usual, it was suddenly announced that Commander Savis would be participating in the demonstration match, and I remembered looking back at the host in surprise. At first, I thought the host might have said something wrong, but when I saw him staring at me with a pale face, I realized that it wasn't a mistake, and that Commander had set it up. Although the commander appeared to be an adult who followed rules and principles, he often got into mischief.
However, when I saw the little girl knight stepping forward, I couldn't help but wonder if Commander's playfulness had worked in a strange way.
…What does Commander intend to confirm with this young knight?
If she were facing Commander, she probably wouldn't even last a single hit, and her legs would be so stiff she wouldn't even be able to move properly. As expected, the young knight began to demonstrate a strange walking style in which she put out her right hand and right foot at the same time. If it had been one of my subordinate knights who showed this, it would have been hilarious, but when it's a young knight facing off against the commander, it made you feel pity for her.
As I watched with sympathy, Ardio, known as the "Ice Knight," and his younger brother Leon came running up to the young knight and began talking to her.
...Ah, is that the girl from Dolph?
Dolph, the vice-captain of the 14th Knight Order, had three children who were in the order. So, was she the fourth one? She was small and thin for a Dolph daughter. Unfortunately, she was not blessed with a good physique.
Being from a family of knights, she might have some skill with a sword, ...but with that physique, she wouldn't be able to withstand even a single blow against Commander.
Being with Commander is probably a once in a lifetime experience, I hope you'll think of it as a nice memory.
As I was thinking that, the young knight, Fia Ruud, announced herself and ran towards the commander.
...Wow, it's quite an accomplishment that her legs aren't shaking.
While I was admiring it, the Fia's speed suddenly increased about five meters in front of the commander. She unsheathed her sword with incredible speed and attacked Commander.
There was a heavy thud, and I could see Commander's whole body tensed up as he caught the blow.
——What's that sword? That's a very heavy sword.
As I watched in amazement, Fia began attacking one after another at Commander. Her speed increased rapidly, and the sound of each blow gained more weight over time. But what was really noteworthy was that Fia was concentrating her attacks on only one side of Commander.
——What, what are you aiming for?
As I watched the battle glaring, not understanding Fia's aim, it suddenly ended when Fia's sword was knocked away. The knights cheered at Commander's victory, but my eyes were drawn to Commander, who was biting his lip in frustration.
...What a shame. Commander Savis felt like he's lost.
As a result, Commander's match was declared invalid. It was later discovered that the sword Fia was using was a magic sword with some incredible powers attached to it, but the bigger question was why Fia was only attacking one side of Commander.
When questioned by the commander, Fia confessed that she had noticed the commander's injury to his leg from his movements and had attacked his weaker left side.
——We had an amazing newcomer. I shook my head in disbelief and looked at Fia Ruud again.
Only a short time had passed since Commander entered the venue. In just this short time, Fia had discovered the commander's old injury that no one else had noticed? Even if she was wielding the magic sword, how could she have faced such overwhelming strength as the commander without flinching? Was it possible to take into account Commander's injury, which had been detected just before, and incorporate it into the attack? In such a short amount of time? ——That's an impossible story.
But the most unlikely thing was that Fia, who had targeted the weak spot and attacked, lied to Commander with a suspicious straight face, saying it was "chivalry."
...This guy, lying to the commander. Wow, she's got a heart of steel.
That day, it was declared that Commander had learned the name Fia Ruud, and that name was deeply engraved in me as well.
The next time I met Fia was at a banquet.
That day, the knights of the Sixth Knight Order, of which I was its captain, had gone out to hunt monsters, and a free-for-all banquet was held to celebrate the meat of the monsters they had brought back. However, before the banquet could begin, she was summoned by Captain Cyril, the First Knight Order Captain.
Certainly, two new recruits from the First Knight Order had accompanied them that day as part of the training, but I wondered if something had gone wrong? Unfortunately, I was out on another matter until the very last moment of the banquet, so I didn't have time to hear from my subordinates. Without even grasping the situation, I headed to the dining hall together with the knights from the First Knight Order who had come to call me.
When we arrived at the dining room, we were shown to a private room that had been separated off from the rest of the room. Looking around, I saw the knights of the Sixth Knight Order who had set out on the subjugation mission today standing up, and facing them were Cyril, with an ominous smile on his face, and Commander Savis, whose expression was unreadable. ...This was not a simple matter. To put it bluntly, it was troublesome. Watching the expressions of my knights, I walked up to Commander and Cyril.
Cyril smiled stiffly and looked me straight in the eye. "I apologize for calling you all here. Today, we have gathered here to praise the knights for their heroic efforts in defeating the monsters." (Cyril)
...That's a lie.
I looked around at my subordinates, looking at Cyril's stiff smile.
...What did you guys do? The head of the knight captains couldn't be angrier than this.
Before I could hear an answer, two knights entered through the entrance. One of them was Fia.
...I see. FIIA was one of the new knights who accompanied our group on their monster extermination today.
Cyril made all the knights present, including Fia, sat in chairs. Then, he stood in a position looking down on the seated knights, so I silently stood nearby. The commander stood back a little, apparently to watch over the proceedings. Having the commander present made it even more extraordinary. I folded my arms, turned to face the knights, and decided to wait and see how things would turn out.
Here's Cyril's story. A monster that dwelled in the abyss appeared for today's subjugation. Despite that, their skill in cornering the monsters without a single death was amazing and should be commended.———but. When Cyril happened to be there, it was not the experienced knights of the Sixth Knight Order who were leading the monster extermination, but Fia, a rookie knight of the First Knight Order. Why? What was he thinking?
With his sharp, icy voice and a smile as frozen as Demon King's, Cyril drove his subordinates into a corner. It was clear to everyone that Cyril was feeling the utmost anger.
I closed my eyes for a moment and let out a small sigh to calm myself down. Then I opened my eyes and glared at my subordinates.
…What on earth are you guys doing?
However, my wise subordinates all kept silent and did not speak out, so I had no way to intervene due to lack of information. The only one to speak was Fia, who was named by Cyril.
Although I was listening intently, trying to understand the situation, I couldn't understand a word Fia was saying. This was because Fia claimed that she had led the extermination of a monster that dwelled in the Abyss that she had never seen before, relying only on the knowledge from her encyclopedia and experiences she had had in a dream.
——There's no way that's possible. Facing a monster that she's seeing for the first time and that was also endemic to that forest, she calmly and collectedly observed the monster's movements and cornered it without making a single mistake, despite clearly lacking in strength?
——That's absolutely impossible. If it were that easy, everyone would have quickly become capable commanders, and the monsters in the forest would have been wiped out long ago.
While I was shocked and astonished by Fia's statement, Fia continued, saying that the time she spent facing the monster—that is, in just a short time, she was able to discern the characteristics of the monster she saw for the first time and measure the life force and remaining life force of the individual. Fia explained how to measure life force, but... hahaha, that method would require defeating hundreds, thousands, even tens of thousands of monsters to master. That's impossible.
Who was this new knight? Among the knights, there was one who was different.
But what shocked me the most was when Fia bit Cyril. As Cyril threatened the knights with a Demon King-like smile, the natural result was that everyone turned pale and looked down in gloomy moods, but Fia raised her head firmly, looked at Cyril, and declared that hands were for grabbing delicious meat and wine.
...This guy is amazing. In front of the commander, she challenges the leader of the knight captains.
Although I had become interested in Fia again as a knight—I thought that there were some parts of that night that I should forget.
I remembered Fia's belly being as bloated as a three-year-old's.
She lamented that even though she trained as a knight every day, she wasn't building any muscle. When asked what I should do, for the first time in that entire banquet I was at a loss for an answer. And I deeply reflected on my life up until that point.——Fia was right. It's a blessed life to be able to complain about a four-pack, when there were things in this world that were just as unmanageable as Fia's stomach.
From that day on, I stopped complaining about my abs. At the same time, as one who followed the correct path of chivalry, I decided to clear my memories of Fia's stomach.
Author's Note (Preface)
The book was released today. I hope you enjoy it.
Some stores were offering a special SS bonus, but it seems that some stores have already sold out, so I apologize to those who were looking forward to it.