The Holy Knight's Warning
The knight escorted us not to the battlefield, but to another location.
"Where are we going?"
"The knights, including the commander, have all gathered in the conference room."
"Ah, really?"
So the knight order would allow me to join their meeting? My status had improved quite a bit.
"Deputy Commander, we've brought the Hero!"
"Oh, you're here."
The man waiting for us was slightly more flamboyant than the knight who had picked us up earlier, clad in ornate armor and a flowing cloak. He placed a hand on his chest and bowed his head.
"I am Dante Pontus, Deputy Commander of the Solaria Knight Order. It is a great honor to meet you, Hero."
"It is I who am honored to meet you, Deputy Commander. May I enter right away?"
"Yes, please enter."
The deputy commander, Dante, opened the tightly shut door without hesitation. Inside the conference room stood a massive round table.
At the center of the white table, a sun sculpture symbolizing Solaria was displayed. Knights in white armor sat around the circular edges.
And at the head seat was a man I had seen before. Same face, short-cropped ash-gray hair, a handsome middle-aged man. Elwin, the commander of the Solaria Knight Order.
Their gazes turned to me, who had just opened the door.
Ugh, this is embarrassing.
"Please, take a seat, Hero. We have been waiting. Sit there."
"Here?"
The seat pointed out by Commander Elwin was directly across from him. I nodded and sat, and Estelle and Celine naturally stood behind me.
No more seats?
"Commander."
"Why is it?"
"Is there no way to bring more chairs?"
The expressions of Elwin and the other knights stiffened at my question.
...Did I say something wrong?
"...This table can only be sat upon by knights personally selected by the Goddess. Even if it's the Saint, that is impossible."
"Um? Then why am I..."
"The Hero is the one selected by the Holy Sword created by the Goddess. The reason that seat was empty was because it is a blessed seat for those chosen by the Goddess."
...Such a strange custom. Then Estelle could sit too.
I gave Estelle and Celine an apologetic look. Estelle smiled faintly and whispered to me.
"We're fine, just keep your front clear, Abel♡ You look a little stupid right now, but you're cute, yet if you act too stupidly the knights might ignore you?"
I nodded and looked forward. Elwin began the meeting, assuming I was ready.
"Since the Hero has also arrived, let's start the roundtable discussion. Everyone knows the agenda, but we need a way to deal with the large-scale monster swarm descending from the Glacier Mountain Range in the north of the Apollo Kingdom."
One knight raised his hand. A large-built man with short brown hair tied in a ponytail. He had the appearance of a big bear.
"Right, Dale."
"If we intercept them right after they leave the mountain, it should work."
"The problem is that nearby villages might also be affected. There are quite a few villages near the mountains."
"But attacking monsters in the dangerous mountains would be unreasonable. We would suffer enormous losses. There is also the risk of failure if we carry out the operation in the mountains."
"Um...."
That made sense. After all, people were more affected by the terrain than monsters. Plus, with the bushes blocking visibility, mountain combat was the worst choice.
Everyone here knew that fact. The issue was the damage to the civilian population.
These people were all knights, faithful followers of the Solaria Church. From their perspective, most citizens of the Apollo Kingdom were also Solaria followers, so they felt uneasy about suffering damage to their own kind.
I raised my hand.
"Can I ask one thing?"
"...Please speak, Hero."
"Here, how much can each of you handle in terms of monsters?"
I wanted to gauge their abilities before discussing tactics. But the knights narrowed their eyes slightly at my question.
...What is this reaction?
Dale, who had been giving his opinion, cleared his throat.
"Hmph, it seems you don't know much about this table, Hero."
"This table?"
"This is a sacred relic of the Solaria Goddess. It is a sacred item personally presented to the first Solaria Knight Commander by the Goddess herself."
"Oh ho...."
The Goddess actually descends? I'd love to meet her.
"We who sit at the sacred item are the best among the knights of the Solaria Church."
"Oh."
...So up to what level? Why don't you just say it?
"...So up to what level can we deal with them?"
"Tsk, you don't seem to understand."
Crap, how was I supposed to understand that? And the reactions toward me so far had been strange. Why were they acting like this?
"We seven knights can all deal with upper-class monsters."
"Oh, really?"
That was impressive. Without blessings, dealing with upper-class monsters. They really were knights personally selected by the Pope.
"Is it troll-class?"
"Of course. We can take on Wyverns too."
"Eh?"
Then every single knight here was as strong as Elfride? That didn't make sense?
...No, it couldn't be. If that were true, there would be no need for the Hero in this world. These knights could just be the Hero.
I asked Dale one thing.
"Without blessings, you say?"
"...What are you talking about? We are knights. We fight while bestowing blessings upon ourselves."
"...Eh."
Then with blessings we could take on Wyverns... So without them, we could handle middle-class monsters?
Yeah, that had to be it. That was why the Hero was summoned everywhere.
"Then is there no one here who can solo deal with high-risk monsters?"
"Solo... The commander and deputy can deal with Gorgon-class monsters. But the high-risk monsters that appeared this time are at least Leviathan-class..."
"...So you're asking me to handle those monsters?"
"Yes."
"But your reactions toward me have been a bit... off since earlier."
I had to say it was like a ticking time bomb, and their eyes were also strange. They weren't suppressing me, but they were on guard. It wasn't like I did anything to them.
I pointed that out, and Dale closed his mouth. Then the man with short red hair next to him raised his voice.
"Hasn't the Hero committed a rudeness first!"
"Eh?"
...What mistake did I make? Did I violate some etiquette of the Solaria Church? I didn't know, so it was possible.
"Um, I don't know, but if I did something wrong, please tell me...."
"Why are you acting innocent! Didn't the Hero touch our Saint!?"
"...Eh."
#
Abel stared at the red-haired knight, Ugride, with disbelief. Ugride continued raising his voice.
"The Saint of the Solaria Church must always remain pure. Yet... yet! The Hero did not refrain from touching the lips of our Saint in front of the other followers, priests, and monks!?"
"...Ah."
Abel recalled the kiss he had shared with Estelle on the way to see Katarina yesterday. He never imagined that the strange reactions of the knights were because of that incident.
Meanwhile, Estelle's eyes widened at Ugride's words, then she lowered her head deeply. Her ears were bright red. Celine smiled quietly beside her.
"No matter what, even if it's the Hero, to do such a thing to our Church's only Saint, how can we possibly treat you properly!?"
"...Ugride, enough."
Elwin tried to stop him, but Ugride wouldn't stop.
"I don't know what sweet talk you used to seduce our Saint, but our knight order always acts for the Church, for the Saint, for the Goddess! If the Hero did anything bad to our Saint...."
Watching Ugride, who was ranting like a passionate fan criticizing an idol in a love scandal, Elwin shook his head.
But the other knights seemed to agree with him, so they didn't actively stop him.
"Enough, enough! Stop it!"
In the end, Estelle could hold back no longer and exploded. Estelle's fair cheeks flushed bright red as she glared at Ugride.
"...Saint?"
"Ugride, do you want to shame me by saying such things to me!?"
"Y-yes! I was simply criticizing the Hero who did a bad thing to the Saint!"
"B-b-but!! The bad thing he did... ugh!!! Ugride, one more word and I'll report to the Goddess that you shamed our Saint!"
"Eh!?"
Ugride looked aggrieved. But Estelle just quickly turned her head.
Abel smiled faintly at her cute reaction and said to Ugride.
"I know the reason behind your actions. But I swear to the Goddess that I didn't touch her first."
"...Do you want me to believe that?"
"Really. Everything I did to Estelle was because Estelle wanted it first... ugh!?"
Estelle hurriedly covered Abel's mouth. With her slender hand blocking his lips, Abel looked up, rolling only his eyes. Estelle smiled, her face flushed red.
"Ahaha, I don't know what you're talking about~♡"
"...Hmph, let's put the small talk aside for now. There is a more urgent matter."
Elwin spoke, and the knights nodded. Estelle finally released Abel's mouth.
"So Hero, we want to properly understand your power too. We heard you defeated an Amon-class monster, but isn't that a joint achievement of the three Heroes? So I wonder up to where you can handle things alone."
"Well, I did solo a Leviathan-class monster in the Glacier Mountain Range."
Estelle blinked in surprise and looked at Abel. Abel met Estelle's eyes and said.
"I received Celine's blessing and defeated it. Celine did help a lot."
"...Hmm, what? The Hero was quite impressive♡"
If Estelle's own blessing was used, then....
"No need to worry."
"What do you mean, Saint?"
"Abel... the Hero can take on both. The knights can handle the other monsters."
At Estelle's declaration, the knights looked at her in surprise. And in their gazes, Abel's too was mixed. At that foolish gaze, Estelle smiled faintly and said.
"Let's depart right away."
#
With the Solaria Church knights, I headed to the northern border of the Apollo Kingdom. It was the place where I had returned after being rescued by Celine and me in the Glacier Mountain Range, only three days later.
A soldier guarding the border spotted us and approached. He saluted and asked.
"Are you from the Solaria Church?"
"Yes. I am Elwin Robert, leading the knight order of the Solaria Church. Where is the commander here?"
When Elwin as representative spoke, the soldier pointed to a barracks.
"The defense commander is over there. But I heard the Hero is also coming...."
"I'm here."
I peeked my hand out, and the soldier's expression brightened.
"So the Hero came! Please wait a moment, I'll call the defense commander!"
The soldier saluted again and ran off. Soon after, he returned with the border defense commander.
"Commander, this is Hero Abel. The man here is the commander of the Solaria Knight Order."
"Both of you coming to help us is grateful. I am Rohan, in charge of the northern border defense."
I asked Rohan.
"How far have the monsters come?"
"Currently, they have reached the mountain closest to the border from the Glacier Mountain Range. One more step and they will face us."
"...Um, have you figured out what monsters are there, excluding the two high-risk ones?"
"We haven't fully identified them, but a scout spotted an Ice Troll."
Ice Troll?
Looking at the monster encyclopedia, she explained the info about Ice Trolls smoothly.
"They are a variant of Trolls that stay in cold areas like the Glacier Mountain Range. They are a bit larger and have special abilities compared to regular Trolls. Of course, they are a bit stronger than Trolls."
So that meant upper-class monsters. Having upper-class under them meant not Leviathan-class, right?
"At least one of the two is Barbatos-class."
"That makes sense."
At the word Barbatos-class, the knights felt their tension rise sharply.
Why are you so scared? After all, the Saint is here as the final weapon. I looked at Estelle with trusting eyes, and she tilted her head slightly.
"Abel, I won't help this time?"
"Eh?"
You won't help?
"Abel, fight and win yourself. You can definitely do it. Of course, I'll cast a blessing."
...It really was like she was telling me to take both? I naturally thought Estelle would handle one.
"...Can I do it?"
Honestly, I wasn't confident with two high-risk monsters.
"...Abel."
A soft touch came from my hand. Estelle had gently grabbed it. She lifted my hand and kissed the back of it.
《 Solaria's Protection 》
Then a powerful divine power infused, and vitality surged throughout my body.
"If you can't trust yourself, trust me. My eyes are more accurate than Abel's weak eyes♡"
"...So that's what you mean?"
"Of course."
I glanced at Celine. Celine also nodded in agreement with Estelle's thoughts.
...With this, I couldn't lose confidence.
I drew my Holy Sword.
"Let's try."
"Yes~♡"