The Escort Knight Duel (2)
The Escort Knight Duel (2)
How many times had I ridden in the royal carriage by now? It was starting to feel completely familiar.
Even the coachman seemed to recognize me.
Perhaps because they had been notified in advance, the carriage passed through the castle walls without being inspected and headed farther inside.
After passing the training ground and the palace garden, the carriage went past the main castle and came to a halt.
As I stepped out, the head maid I had seen at the Queen's palace was waiting to greet me, along with the other maids.
"This way, please."
The head maid. Though she was called a maid, she was actually an awakened noble who was also the Queen's friend.
She probably didn't have a territory, but she likely held a noble title.
Even though she was a noble of far higher status than me—a mere 'bastard' without even a title—she faithfully carried out her duties as the head maid.
Her task was to properly prepare the Princess's escort knight before the fight.
A duel to select the knight who would perform the King's healing ritual.
This duel, with its incredibly long name, was the first event of its kind in the history of the Carlos Kingdom.
It wasn't as if rituals for the King's healing were common. Besides, those rituals had always been performed by the King's own escort knights until now.
Even though it was the first time they were holding such an event and there wasn't much time, the royal officials prepared everything with ease.
It might have been a novel event, but it wasn't the first time royal knights had fought each other, so the preparations weren't particularly difficult.
Duels and sparring matches within the Royal Knights weren't rare, and after countless bouts, the rules for sparring had already been firmly established.
The Royal Knights' sparring rules permitted personal weapons, but required the participants to wear the standard plate armor of the Royal Knights.
Allowing personal weapons while requiring everyone to wear the same armor might have seemed unfair, but this was a world where people used supernatural abilities.
Since many people channeled their abilities through their personal weapons, it couldn't be helped.
For this reason, I also ended up donning the Royal Knights' plate armor with the Queen's maids' help.
I had worried that the plate armor would be cumbersome, but once I put it on, I realized those worries were entirely unfounded.
The Royal Knights' armor was so comfortable that it was practically on par with an artifact.
It wasn't inferior in the slightest to the leather armor I'd been wearing until now.
Last year, during one of my past lives, I'd marveled at the Royal Knights' movements. Now I wondered if I'd admired them for nothing.
But it couldn't be helped that my perception of my surroundings was somewhat dulled.
Still, I was glad that my perception of things close at hand wasn't much different from before.
Dressed in full plate armor with my helmet on, I actually looked like a proper Royal Knight.
But the emblem of the Royal Knights had been removed from the armor.
It was only natural. I couldn't wear the order's emblem when I wasn't even a member of the Royal Knights.
I put on the helmet, lowered the visor, and stood in front of the mirror.
Though I was shorter than the other knights, looking at myself in the plate armor made me look like a respectable adult.
Once my preparations were complete, I followed the waiting royal official.
The head maid and the Queen's maids, who remained behind, waved to cheer me on.
Guided by the official, I walked for quite a while until a training ground surrounded by a garden came into view.
I wasn't bad at finding my way, yet it was surprisingly difficult to remember how I'd gotten here.
Sure, I'd walked a fair distance and taken a few twists and turns, but there was no reason my memory should be this fuzzy.
Even if it was through shortcuts, I was still someone who'd been called a genius.
For someone who could copy another person's swordsmanship after seeing it only a few times, this situation was definitely bizarre.
"Is it some kind of magic...?"
"It is an artifact. I heard it is buried beneath the training ground. They say that anyone who isn't recognized by the royal family can neither find nor enter this place."
Hearing me mutter, the young official guiding me answered.
"Even I will forget the way soon if I don't constantly renew my access."
I was about to ask how he managed to remember it, but he answered before I could.
It seemed best to keep it a secret that I could actually remember the path, even if only vaguely.
The reason I could remember it even to this extent was likely my 'Mana Resonance'.
With those thoughts in mind, I looked around the small training ground and realized that far more people had gathered than I'd expected.
There were many familiar faces among them.
First, Princess Aisha caught my eye.
Princess Aisha stood there dressed in a fine gown.
The dress on the young girl looked incredibly cute, but her expression was as solemn as a knight's before battle.
Since I had stepped forward to fight as her escort knight, she was here, too, fulfilling her duty as a royal.
Next to the Princess was the Grand Archduchess. Although she had come at the Second Prince's invitation, she wasn't sparing him so much as a glance.
Contrary to my expectations, both princes were present.
On one side stood the Second Prince, casting glances at the Grand Archduchess.
Next to him stood a knight clad in armor just like mine.
With his entire body covered in plate armor and his helmet on, it was impossible to discern either his build or his appearance.
But he was quite a short knight.
He was small in stature, perhaps as short as—or even shorter than—I was.
The emblem of the Royal Knights had also been removed from this knight's armor.
It was impossible to tell which faction the Second Prince's escort knight actually belonged to.
Beside the Second Prince stood several elderly men in officer uniforms.
Judging by their age, it was obvious they were generals of some sort, even without looking at their rank insignia.
On the other side, the First Prince sat in a lavishly prepared chair, looking just as he had when I'd seen him before my regression.
The First Prince looked just as bored as he had during our last encounter.
The people accompanying the First Prince were all familiar faces.
The handsome middle-aged man was Viscount Morena. He was a Debuff Ability User and undoubtedly Ivana's father.
Even though my plan was to die, the Viscount's ability was genuinely terrifying.
He was the first person since Balea to make me realize just how formidable a non-physical ability user could be.
If I ever had to deal with the First Prince in the future, I would definitely need to find a way to overcome the Viscount's ability.
Beside him stood an escort knight wearing armor adorned with the Royal Knights' emblem, along with the Vice-Commander of the Royal Knights.
Since the Vice-Commander was that escort knight's father, it wasn't strange for him to be here.
But the man standing next to the Vice-Commander was definitely out of place.
He was a giant, standing a full two heads taller than anyone else.
The Royal Knight Commander himself was here.
Seeing the Duke of Ceuta standing beside him, it seemed the Duke had dragged him along.
The Commander waved at me, then kept whispering something to the Vice-Commander standing next to him.
But the snippets of conversation I caught were all about gambling and how much they should bet.
It seemed he was trying to coax the Vice-Commander into placing a bet on this duel.
There were also a few elderly men I'd never seen before, along with a priest.
Though he looked young, his attire and expression made it clear that he was a priest of high standing.
It seemed I was the last to arrive.
It was a bit embarrassing, but since my face was hidden anyway, I ignored the stares, approached the Princess, and bowed to her.
The Princess acknowledged my greeting, and I took my place in front of her, just like the other escort knights.
Once I took my place, the priest stepped forward.
I'd assumed a royal official would host the event, but it seemed the priest was running things because of the ritual.
"I understand that this gathering has been arranged thanks to your deep sincerity in wishing to send the finest knight to pray for His Majesty's healing."
No one present actually believed that, but being a priest, he certainly knew how to sugarcoat things beautifully.
"In response to this sincerity, which is a first in the history of the royal family, the Order has also decided to repay your devotion. We shall perform the highest-tier holy ritual for His Majesty's healing."
At the priest's words, the venue instantly erupted in a noisy stir.
The highest-tier holy ritual was a ceremony that even the Order preferred to avoid if possible.
As the Order's supreme ritual, it could be performed by barely any priests, and its actual effects were so difficult to verify that even the Order itself found it rather dubious.
To think they would perform such a ritual...
Considering how the Order had kept its distance from the royal family until now, this was highly unusual.
And despite the controversy surrounding the highest-tier holy ritual, if it was indeed the real thing, it might actually yield results.
If that happened, certain people would inevitably find themselves in a very difficult position.
Already, I could see both princes' expressions turning sour.
'Surely, there shouldn't be any priest in the temples of the Carlos Kingdom capable of performing the highest-tier holy ritual...'
If so, then this young priest speaking right now had to be the one capable of performing it.
"Then, doesn't this mean we absolutely have to win this?"
"Indeed. If it's the highest-tier holy ritual, an immense blessing will be bestowed upon everyone present."
Like other rituals, the highest-tier holy ritual involved numerous priests, centered around a high priest, pouring their collective abilities into the altar alongside sacred artifacts.
The problem was that because it aimed to conjure an impossible miracle, they had rarely seen any tangible results, though it was certain that massive amounts of power were unleashed and artifacts were consumed.
The people present at the scene would inevitably be swept up in the residual energy of those powers.
Because of this, various legends about the highest-tier holy ritual had been passed down through generations.
Stories of a commoner who awakened in an instant, or a noble whose ability grew so strong that they rose to become a great lord.
The reason the Order strictly barred ordinary people from attending these rituals was precisely because of such rumors.
And now, they were talking about the highest-tier holy ritual.
It was no wonder the crowd was in such a stir.
The atmosphere surrounding the escort knights shifted instantly.
The mana that had been flowing leisurely surged with sharp intensity, and their eyes gleamed with a blue light.
The Vice-Commander, who had repeatedly declined, now seemed eager to place a bet, and even the bored First Prince looked highly amused after hearing the news.
Whether intentional or not, the priest's words had essentially set fire to what was supposed to be a mere formal sparring match.
"Then first, the Second Prince's escort knight, who won the draw, will advance with a bye, and we shall proceed with the duel between the First Prince's escort knight and the Princess's escort knight."
It seemed only the First Prince and the Second Prince had participated in the draw.
Since the Princess had joined late, they had deemed her ineligible to participate in the draw.
Even to a third party like me, it was a ridiculously petty move.
The draw had been won by the Second Prince, just as the priest said, but the victorious prince actually seemed rather disappointed.
Apparently, he was disappointed that he wouldn't get to fight the Princess's escort knight right away.
'Well, I'll just have to make sure he gets his chance to fight.'
I cast a brief glance at the Second Prince, who was watching with a smug grin, and then stepped forward.
Standing in the center of the training ground, I turned and bowed to the Princess.
The Princess held her gown and bowed back to me, and I turned around to face the knight standing before me.
A Royal Knight a full head taller than the average man was waiting for me.
"I am Royal Knight Dabit. I heard from Havier that he has an incredible junior. He praised you endlessly, claiming you are stronger than him, so I am glad to witness your skills firsthand."
Though politically minded, the Vice-Commander had always carried himself like a true knight, and his son was no different.
Seeing how close he was with Senior Havier, he seemed to be getting along well in the knighthood.
I had only heard a few words from him, but he didn't seem like a bad person.
"I am Alex, the escort knight of Princess Aisha."
But I was standing here today as the Princess's escort knight.
And I harbored quite a bit of ill will toward the First Prince and the Vice-Commander.
It didn't matter if he was a good person or an excellent knight.
As long as he served under the First Prince, I had no intention of going easy on him.
Since I had already come this far, I had no intention of hiding my skills.
"Then, let us begin."
As the priest stepped back with those words and the knight yielded the first move to me, I raised my greatsword and dashed forward.
The blade of my greatsword shimmered, and the mana within my body surged to its absolute peak.
The startled knight's face instantly loomed before my eyes.