The Escort Knight Duel (1)
The Escort Knight Duel (1)
While I was enjoying an ordinary second year and wondering where our group project would take us next, my inquiry seemed to have become quite an issue among the royal officials.
The Queen had heard about it from the Princess, who then spoke to the official in charge. From there, the story apparently spread to the other princes.
Perhaps piqued by the opinion of the youngest Princess—something they were hearing for the first time—the princes, who previously couldn't have cared less, suddenly blew the matter out of proportion. Now I was hearing the results of their meddling.
"A duel between escort knights?"
"Yes... The First Prince said that if we were choosing the most loyal knight, it ought to be the strongest one, and the Second Prince agreed with that reasoning."
I felt a little dizzy at the Princess's words.
A duel between knights just for the chance to stand before the altar.
It wasn't easy to accept with my ordinary common sense.
'Are the princes of this country so full of fighting spirit that they'd rather fight than compromise...?'
"You don't have to participate, Sir Alex. The two princes are just picking a fight because I got involved."
Since our last conversation, the Princess had started addressing me as 'Sir' instead of 'Young Lord'.
Instead of calling me a student or a noble's son, she was calling me a knight.
I wasn't a knight yet, but she had recognized me as one.
Though it was a title bestowed by a young girl, it was the first time anyone had addressed me that way, so it felt both fresh and meaningful.
In any case, a duel between escort knights.
What I had mentioned casually had turned into a major event.
While it might be a brief amusement for the princes who had set it in motion, it was no small matter for me.
"If I'm fighting the Princes' escort knights, they won't hold it just anywhere, will they?"
Since the royal family's escort knights were having an official duel, there was no way they'd hold it in some backyard.
Don't tell me there'll be a crowd of spectators...
"At first, there was talk of holding it at the capital's colosseum."
"Surely you don't mean the Carlos Arena?"
It was the capital's equivalent of the Colosseum from my past life.
I'd heard they used to bring monsters there to fight in the old days, but now it was mostly used for ordinary performances.
Anyway, they were considering a venue with more than ten thousand seats?
If so, there was absolutely no way I was participating.
"But they decided that choosing a knight to offer the King's healing ritual shouldn't be turned into a public spectacle, so that idea was dropped."
What a relief. I had absolutely no desire to be made a spectacle of in a place like that.
"Since it's the first time, there was a lot of debate, but in the end, they decided to hold it at the Carlos Training Ground in the royal palace."
Thank goodness. It was in the royal palace, but if it was just an ordinary training ground, it wouldn't draw too much attention... Wait. The Carlos Training Ground?
"It's a training ground exclusive to the royal family. There won't be many spectators."
No, wait... A training ground exclusive to the royal family? What on earth did that mean...?
Of course there wouldn't be many spectators. There was no way just anyone could enter a training ground reserved for royalty.
But the people coming to watch wouldn't be ordinary people, either.
Sparring in front of people like that...
It was a completely different situation from my usual approach of keeping as low a profile as possible.
I looked at the Princess again to make sure.
The Princess didn't look apologetic. Instead, her expression said she would be fine with whatever decision I made.
She looked as though she trusted me and was leaving the choice in my hands.
It was an expression that didn't seem to suit a young girl, but right now, it suited the Princess perfectly.
Just as she said, it didn't matter if I didn't participate.
It was an artifact that had been in the temple for a long time. It wasn't going to disappear overnight.
Even if I didn't step forward and draw attention to myself, I might be able to find a way to examine it later if I took my time.
In fact, I didn't even strictly need to find the artifact in the temple.
Most likely, it would just be another sword, similar to the one already in my artifact pouch.
In the end, it would simply mean adding another sword I couldn't use right away.
There were plenty of reasons not to participate.
But the reason I kept coming up with excuses not to participate was, ultimately, that I wanted to.
I was curious about the artifact in the temple, and I wanted to see the knight's sword that would be brought to the altar.
But more than that, I wanted to fight those escort knights.
It was a chance to officially beat down the princes' lackeys.
I couldn't let an opportunity like this slip by.
'Have I changed a bit since my last life?'
Perhaps because I had acted so boldly while prepared to die, it felt as though a string that had been binding my heart had snapped since then.
There was no reason to hesitate to act out of fear of making a mistake or having things go wrong.
Unlike others, I had time to try again.
"I'll do it."
I answered the Princess.
The fact that I was going to fight the princes' escort knights wasn't known among the general public or the students.
Just as the Princess had said, since it was a ritual for the King's healing, the royal family seemed to have kept it quiet.
Still, a few people who were quick to pick up on rumors seemed to have noticed.
During our group project meeting, Balea asked me.
"I heard you're going to the royal palace for a duel?"
Since we hadn't decided on our next destination yet, our group project was continuing with weekly meetings.
Honestly, our first two visits had been so swift and grand that, under normal circumstances, group projects mostly consisted of gatherings like this to collect data and hold meetings.
Other groups were doing the same, and our two trips so far were more than enough to ensure we wouldn't have any trouble submitting our project at the end of the year.
Perhaps that was why no one, Balea included, seemed to be in a hurry to research the next destination.
"Where did you hear that?"
I glanced at Princess Aisha, but she shook her head.
"I didn't hear it from the Princess. I heard about the ritual, and at our last meeting, we also heard that an escort knight would pray while holding the Knight's Sword. I thought something interesting might be going on, so I gathered a few rumors."
Was this really something you could figure out just by gathering rumors?
"A girl whose father was a royal official said he was grumbling about the ritual, and I also heard from the son of a royal knight that the Princes' escort knights had suddenly begun intensive training."
Wait, were there really students like that at the Academy? More than that, did Balea know all of them...?
"Putting those rumors together led me to that conclusion. I wasn't entirely sure, but since you just confirmed it, Young Lord, it turns out I was right."
She hadn't been sure, but I'd practically given her the answer.
Well, it wasn't exactly something I needed to hide anyway.
"Since it's royal business, please keep it a secret."
Since the Princess was the one asking her to keep it secret, I could leave it to her.
At the Princess's words, Balea nodded.
"I only looked into it out of curiosity. You don't have to worry."
Surprisingly, she was good at keeping secrets from others, so the Princess believed her.
"I ask the same of you, Mirisa."
At the Princess's request, Mirisa nodded hastily.
Looking at Mirisa's expression, there didn't even seem to be any need to ask.
"By the way, Your Grace, you don't seem curious at all. Is it because of our next destination? Still, this is Young Lord Alex's duel..."
It wasn't a duel. It was just a contest to choose the knight who would attend the ritual.
In any case, just as Balea said, the Grand Archduchess was leisurely sipping her tea.
She didn't look curious like Mirisa. Her expression was completely indifferent.
When Balea asked, the Grand Archduchess couldn't just stay silent, so she set down her teacup and spoke.
"I already knew."
At the Grand Archduchess's words, the Princess tilted her head.
"I didn't tell you separately..."
It seemed the Princess hadn't told the Grand Archduchess, either, keeping her promise to maintain secrecy.
The Grand Archduchess pulled a letter from her breast pocket.
It was a letter sealed with the royal crest.
"I received an invitation. Since I'm royalty, too, there's no issue with me watching."
Royalty who would send an invitation to the Grand Archduchess other than the Princess...
A certain person came to mind.
"It wasn't a very pleasant invitation, so I was going to decline. But since Young Lord Alex is participating, I must watch."
I had thought only the Princess would be watching, but now the audience had grown.
"I want to watch too..."
Balea expressed her disappointment, but it would be difficult for her to watch.
"More importantly, if you win against everyone, you get to hold the Knight's Sword, right? Then, can't we watch together from right beside you?"
Unlike Balea, the Grand Archduchess, who would be able to watch the duel, had another expectation in mind, but the Princess quickly shattered it.
"It is a ritual of the order, so others won't be allowed to watch. Neither I nor the Princes will be able to witness the ritual itself."
Indeed, if I wanted to see the order's ritual, where the artifacts were kept, winning the fight seemed to be the only way.
"By the way, what kind of knights are the other princes' escort knights?"
At Balea's question, I recalled what I had heard about the two princes' escort knights.
The Carlos royal family had a tradition of appointing promising prospective knights as escort knights when the King's children were young, allowing them to grow up alongside their charges.
That was why my younger self had been appointed as the Princess's escort knight, and the two princes' escort knights were young for the same reason.
The First Prince's escort knight was a famous figure even within the Royal Knights.
He was a talented young knight who was expected to be promoted to senior knight before long. Another well-known fact was that he was the Vice-Commander's son.
Since his son was serving as the First Prince's escort knight, it was only natural that the Vice-Commander had aligned himself with the First Prince Faction.
Surprisingly, there were very few rumors about the Second Prince's escort knight.
Some said he wasn't of noble birth, while others said he came from a humble family with no territory.
Regardless of his family background, it was said that the Second Prince had been captivated by his skills when they were young and had taken him in as an escort knight. But nothing had been heard about his skills since then.
After hearing about the duel from the Princess, I had even asked the Auction House Owner, but I never expected there would be so few rumors.
If the usual clichés applied, he might be an unexpectedly formidable opponent...
But even so, there wasn't much I could do about it beforehand.
I just had to prepare diligently.
Since the date of the ritual had been set, the date of the sparring match was decided quickly.
Perhaps because the ritual date was so close, the sparring match was scheduled for two days before it.
This time, we couldn't postpone it until the weekend, so I had no choice but to take a leave of absence from the Academy.
The professors frowned when they saw my absence request.
But they had every right to.
Just how many times had I already been absent?
If I were a professor, I would have been angry, too.
'It's going to be hard to get good grades for my second year.'
Still, when they saw that the reason was a visit to the royal palace, the professors approved it immediately.
Whether or not the King was sick, the Royal Academy couldn't very well refuse the royal family.
Perhaps because she had heard the story from the Princess, Katrin looked at my absence request and worried about me.
"I knew you'd eventually reveal yourself someday, but I didn't expect it to be at the royal palace."
Katrin had watched over me for a long time.
Now that I was about to step into the open, she seemed worried.
"I'm sure you'll handle yourself well, but don't forget that the royal palace is a den of intrigue. Think twice before showing your true skills."
She gave me the best advice she could, in her own way, and I accepted it gratefully.
The next day, I geared up early in the morning and headed to the royal palace.
With a greatsword slung across my back, a dagger at my waist, and my rings and necklace on, I climbed into the carriage prepared by the Princess.