Author's Note
[Introduction]
The third volume of the novel was released today. We hope you enjoy it!
[Thank you]
The third volume of the novel was ranked number one in the light novel category of the Kindle Store. I was so surprised that I looked at it over and over again. Thank you to everyone who picked up a copy.
"Chubby Savior"
That was the nickname given to the new knight, Fia, by the members of the Sixth Knight Order, of which I was its captain.
I remembered hearing that completely absurd nickname and feeling sorry for Fia, thinking it was horrible to be called something like that. But the "savior" part wasn't bad.
Thinking this, I asked the members in detail about the origin of the name, but everyone simply said, "The Sixth Knights were saved by Fia." Perhaps the members were helped by Fia when defeating Flower-horned Deer. However, it was shameful that veteran knights had been saved by a rookie. I understood why the knights were so tight-lipped, so I didn't pursue the matter any further.
However―――The "Chubby" part was just terrible as a nickname.
I still remembered seeing Fia's protruding belly at a banquet the other day and thinking how horrible it was. But there must be plenty of room for improvement with that belly. Or rather, there must be nothing but room for improvement.
Maybe Fia had no abs whatsoever. That belly was made entirely of fat and was not functioning as a wall to hold down its circumference. In other words, the most urgent task for Fia was to build abdominal muscles around the stomach. Also to give up that nickname.
—— As I was thinking this while walking through the castle, I suddenly saw Fia walking towards me from the other side of the corridor.
"Fia, come here for a second!" (Zachary)
When I called out to her, she came running over happily.
I stretched out one arm and looked down at Fia.
"Fia, hang from this arm and look at it, and then pull yourself up until your chin is at arm's height." (Zachary)
...First, let's understand the current situation. It will be necessary to determine how much muscle mass Fia has and what she can do.
Hearing what I said, Fia looked amused and immediately began the challenge. She stretched out both her arms and grabbed onto mine—but time just continued to pass like that.
I looked into her face to see what she was doing, and heard a small noise coming from between his clenched teeth, "Grrr...," and both her arms were trembling.
"What?" (Zachary)
Shocked, I looked closely and saw that her face was bright red as if she was straining, and she was breathing heavily.
"Oh, hey, Fia, what on earth are you doing!" (Zachary)
"Of course, I'm pulling myself up..." (Fia)
"No, you can't!!" (Zachary)
"Well, they say a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step..." (Fia)
"But if this is the first step, there's no way you'll reach your goal!" (Zachary)
Hey, wait a second. Fia is a member of the First Knights, right? Only the elite with the right mind, technique, and body were assigned to the First Knights, right?
"Fia, you've got to be kidding me! Is this really your true strength?" (Zachary)
"No, so this is just the first step. I have 999 steps to go." (Fia)
"Your step is just an ant's step!!" (Zachary)
After I had finished speaking, I became worried and spoke to her.
"But why did you start talking about 999 steps? You were talking about a thousand miles, weren't you? Before I knew it, you were talking about a thousand steps. Hey, stop that already! Maybe your brain isn't getting enough oxygen?" (Zachary)
...Is this for real? Fia can't even pull up her own body!?
The pseudo-pull-up exercise that Fia tried used the muscles in her back and arms. In order to boost Fia's confidence, I had her do movements that would use parts of her body that were more likely to have muscle than her stomach area, but this—
It's impossible, Fia's body is too fragile, beyond my reach.
"Fia, I'm sorry but I can't give you a nickname... I wanted to give you the nickname 'The Muscular Savior'." (Zachary)
As I looked at her with my head hanging low, Fia stated simply.
"Hmm... a muscular savior?! No, thank you, I don't need one!" (Fia)
...it seems Fia did not understand the greatness of muscles. The first thing I had to do was get Fia to understand muscle theory, I thought to myself with my head hanging.
Author's Note
Thank you for reading!
This is the third volume of the novel, but I wanted to combine the contents of the web version and the book version so that people who read both can enjoy it the most. It was a sneaky effort, but I was glad that people noticed.
Volume 3 is packed with a lot of "fun," so I hope you'll pick it up and enjoy it (^-^)