Qualifications of a Knight (4)
“So, you got a marriage proposal?”
“Hoo...”
Alessia, who’d suddenly gone into hiding lately, and Erin, who looked thoroughly pissed off, were gazing down at me on my knees.
The two of them hadn’t told me to kneel. It was just that after Camilla suddenly proposed out of nowhere and I fled back to the dorm, the moment I opened the door, Alessia and Erin were already waiting in my room.
The ominous atmosphere made me drop to my knees before I knew it.
...I didn’t do anything wrong, did I?
Just as an inexplicable sense of injustice welled up and I started to rise—
“Tsk!”
“...”
Erin’s louder-than-usual tongue-click made my body bow automatically.
But what flustered me most right now was how they’d heard the news so fast. It hadn’t been long since Camilla proposed to me. Even I had barely made it back to the dorm in that time. For them to hear about it and be waiting in my room, they’d have to have moved right after Camilla’s proposal.
“...You two wouldn’t happen to be bugging me, would you?”
“Hic...”
“Ahem...”
Alessia let out a sudden hiccup, and Erin cleared her throat awkwardly as they both averted their gazes bit by bit. The glares they’d been shooting me vanished, replaced by stares at the wall.
It was so absurd I almost laughed.
As I stood up from my knees, Alessia glanced at me slyly and knelt down. Seeing that, Erin hurriedly dropped to her knees too, and somehow our positions had flipped.
“Spill it. All of it.”
“We just... put a few people on you...”
“...A few?”
I couldn’t believe she’d call planting people around me “a few.” Alessia knew her words were ridiculous too; she bowed her head and avoided my eyes.
“Erin.”
“...”
“Erin...?”
Unable to withstand my probing, Erin waved her hand. A translucent bird that had been hidden appeared right there.
“What’s that?”
“A scouting magic familiar. It shares sight, smell, and hearing.”
“Smell too?!”
For some reason, Alessia reacted with surprise from her kneeling position beside me. She was clearly eyeing that spell, so I flicked her forehead preemptively to shut it down.
If it were Alessia, she’d probably hire a mage with money and use that to get real-time info on me. Just imagining it gave me chills.
Good thing these two don’t cooperate.
Since they saw each other as rivals, the fact they never even considered teaming up was a blessing for me. If Alessia’s artifact collection combined with Erin’s magic, I couldn’t even predict the chaos.
“Erin, you said you know a fair bit about black magic, right?”
“Yeah. The thing connecting me and you right now is black magic, after all.”
“Then, is there a type of black magic that incites people’s emotions?”
What I’d learned studying magic from Erin was that magic was ultimately a reproduction of natural phenomena. Magic worked by twisting those phenomena in various ways and manifesting them with mana.
But black magic was fundamentally different from regular magic. It didn’t use mana as a material; it required equivalent exchange through life itself.
Like how people call a priest suspecting black magic whenever someone suddenly acts weird—there had to be types that interfered with the mind.
“Incites emotions, huh. Can you explain a bit more?”
“There’s nothing more to explain...”
“Is this about Camilla?”
I nodded at Erin’s question.
Camilla vanishing for days, then popping up and proposing right away—it was weird no matter how I sliced it. Unless there’d been some precursor symptoms from her, but the last time I saw her, she’d only dodged talking about the previous loop. Nothing leading to a proposal.
“It’s too sudden. Doesn’t feel normal at all.”
“...That weird?”
“...?”
Alessia’s words made me stare at her in blank surprise.
She started defending Camilla, saying she could understand it.
“I mean, if you like someone enough, a proposal or... th-that next step is possible...”
Alessia’s voice grew quieter, shrinking into a mouse hole, but I got what she meant. And Erin, listening beside her, just turned her head without comment— tacit approval.
Am I the weird one here? Or are they?
“Erin, can you check if black magic’s been cast on you?”
“Yeah. And I can tell you no black magic’s on me.”
After hearing about the previous loop from Erin last time, I had lingering doubts. Why had she not only planned to kidnap me but even seal me away? Considering what I’d sacrificed for Erin and what Alessia said, there must’ve been other sacrifices too.
But kidnapping and sealing me felt too extreme. I’d never bought that it was just love. Something felt off.
“If we could contact that person now, there might be another way.”
“That person?”
A name slipped from Erin’s lips.
“Perna.”
In the game, Lucia was the heroine you met latest, but there was another whose route unlocked even later. Perna. She appeared mid-story as a heroine.
Of course, her debut as an enemy black mage set her apart from the others.
“Didn’t Perna regress with you two?”
“She was with us up until the regression. After, she’s the only one we can’t reach.”
“If we suspect a black mage, consulting her would’ve been ideal.”
With black magic suspected behind Camilla’s sudden behavior, Perna would’ve been a huge help.
“Maybe she failed to regress or something?”
“No way. When we were coordinating through the bitch, Perna was the only one acting different from the previous loop. She completely ignored our promise not to make big changes.”
“Like Alessia said, Perna’s moving differently from the last loop. She didn’t fail to regress alone.”
On top of the headache from Camilla, I’d just heard something potentially worse. Unlike the other heroines, Perna going rogue alone—I had no clue how to handle it.
“We’ll deal with Perna later... For now, let’s figure out Camilla. What do I do about the proposal?”
“Dump her.”
“You’re gonna accept it?”
Alessia and Erin pounced instantly. Their hypersensitivity to “proposal” made me want to tease them, uncharacteristically.
“I’ll accept it for now and—”
“Are you insane?”
“Oppa, you wanna die for real?”
My words made them drop their kneeling and shove right up to my face, venting fury.
“You say that in front of someone holding back?!”
“You think we’re not holding back ‘cause we’re idiots?!”
Had they been suppressing it since hearing “proposal”? Their exploded emotions showed no sign of calming. They started rambling about wedding plans, even honeymoons.
Let this go on, and they’d make total fools of themselves. I had to step in.
“Eek.”
“Mmph.”
“That’s enough.”
I forcibly clamped their mouths shut, and soon their ears turned red.
Giving them time to cool off, I reflected on what I’d just seen.
Overly emotional. Impulsive.
Alessia and Erin were usually composed. But when it involved me, they acted just like that. And it overlapped with Camilla’s behavior earlier.
“Oppa.”
“Yeah?”
Erin, somewhat calmed but still breathing raggedly, spoke up.
“We can tell you what happened with you. We know what Camilla’s afraid of.”
Erin’s suggestion made sense. Faster than prying it from tight-lipped Camilla.
“Still, best to hear it from her.”
I believed you couldn’t force efficiency onto human emotions.
Erin sighed deeply at my answer.
“I’ll help... but on one condition.”
“...Condition?”
“After this is over, go on a date with me.”
“...!”
Alessia jumped in desperately beside her.
“Me too! Date with me!”
“There’s an order to this. Butt out!”
Watching them bicker like usual, I could only sigh. A date condition was honestly flustering.
Well... I’m a lifelong singleton, after all...!
Even I couldn’t stop Alessia and Erin now. The conundrum of “what even is a date with the opposite sex” had dropped in my lap.
※
The next day. After all academy classes ended.
Camilla waited in the same spot as yesterday. The crowd was several times bigger. Given how the news had spread, probably most of the academy knew.
Lucia heard too, huh.
But the situation before me took priority. I approached Camilla, radiating an even unnormaler vibe than yesterday.
“Rion.”
“Camilla.”
“Have your answer...?”
“...”
I said nothing, just walked calmly up to her.
Onlookers held their breath. Not a peep, all focused on us.
As all eyes converged—
*Smack.*
I pressed my lips to Camilla’s.
“Let’s get married, Camilla.”
The crowd erupted in cheers like they’d been waiting. Magic fireworks burst everywhere, drowned out by even louder roars.
As everyone celebrated, I saw it on Camilla’s face.
Joy. Happiness. Excitement... and bewilderment.
Then a familiar voice rang in my ear.
"Oppa, can you hear me? Let's get started."