Joining the Knights
After all, I somehow managed to peel Elysia away from her wailing pleas to follow me everywhere, but one last, truly thorny problem remained.
“Oh my, what on earth does that mean? Our daughter?”
The brown-haired woman standing right in front of me, eyes narrowed like an executioner’s blade, her voice a sharp, motherly scold, was the owner of a pair of voluptuous breasts that looked ready to burst. Her name was Rine Arzenhart.
When I was a child I once whispered to Mother that I wanted to become an adventurer, that I wanted to be a hero.
Every single time, she would glare at me exactly like this and growl:
“Not until dirt gets in my eyes!”
Or, more often:
“Just step on me instead!”
*Slightly warped memories from inside Cecilia’s head.
So this time too, the atmosphere was thick with the same refusal.
“I’m serious. I want to join the Knight Corps more than anything.”
“Why?”
“That’s… well…”
When she asked why, I suddenly had nothing to say.
And if I answered “I want to become the Commander!” it would sound even less convincing.
“Mother. I want to see the outside world. I’ve finally realized something. Up until now I’ve been nothing but a frog in a well. I want to wander around the vast outside and see it for myself!”
“What nonsense. The girl who loves nothing more than sticking to home, training with Elysia and sword forms.”
“Hmph.”
“…”
Of course. Mother truly knew me too well.
That was precisely why I considered her the biggest obstacle.
Elysia stood right beside me. Sensing the same storm brewing, the corners of her lips curled upward in that tiny, mischievous smile.
*Don’t do it, Elysia. Help me out here…!
“Huuuung~”
No matter how earnestly I stared, Elysia simply turned a blind eye.
Right now was exactly the time the Knight Corps was recruiting. If I missed this chance, it would be months late… and I had no other options.
I would have to wait for the next opportunity.
“…Fine. If that’s truly what you want, I’ll allow it.”
“Eh?”
“Neeeeeeee?! No! She’s still so young, Miss!”
Did I hear that correctly?
She had said yes.
The same mother who had fiercely opposed me for years now gave me permission to enter the Knight Corps.
“Why? The Imperial Knights offer a stable job, don’t they? The worry I had earlier was that our Cecilia might have some secret agenda. It’s too sudden.”
“B-but…”
“Aaaaaang… nooo… Miss…”
True. Arcadia’s empire was far too safe. In the original story the Demon King would appear in only ten years, and the previous Demon King had been sealed a full century ago by a hero.
Therefore the Imperial Knights really were a stable career. Mother’s reaction made perfect sense.
But why had she refused when I wanted to be an adventurer or a hero, and now suddenly allowed it?
“Still, you’ve never once said you wanted to be a knight.”
“Ah…”
“Adventurers must throw themselves into danger every day to hunt monsters. Heroes are uncertain at best and carry crushing responsibilities. The same goes for knights. I don’t want my daughter placed in such peril.”
True. Monsters were dangerous, and heroes even more so.
Yet becoming a knight in the Imperial Corps meant safe work: administration, patrolling, inspections.
*Sigh… If I’d known this was going to happen, I should have declared my desire to join the Knights from the very beginning…!
“Miss… you’re really going?”
“Yes. I’m going to join the Knight Corps no matter what.”
Elysia still wanted to come with me. Before I left, I should give her something as well.
“Elysia, Mother. I’ll be back in a moment!”
After the words left my mouth, I ran straight for my room.
Thud. Thud. Thud. Thud.
“Lia! Don’t run!”
I ignored Mother’s shout and rushed into my room, immediately diving into the drawer where I kept my precious belongings.
Rustle. Rustle.
It should be here somewhere…
Found it!
After grabbing the item, I dashed back toward Mother’s room.
“Haaah… Lia! I said don’t run!”
“Ouch!”
At first it had been a simple idea: make a little gift for Elysia.
But once I picked up the needle and started sewing, it turned out far harder than I expected.
I had even ripped the whole thing apart once, and pricked my finger hard enough to draw blood. I had to redo the parts I didn’t like over and over.
After painstaking, tiny, tiny stitches, the finished product before me was this doll.
Her face, her hair, her clothes—everything was crafted to match the Cecilia I remembered as closely as possible.
I placed the doll gently into Elysia’s palms.
“Here. A gift.”
“……”
Elysia said nothing. She simply held the doll with both hands, staring at it with the kind of reverence usually reserved for something breakable.
“When I’m gone, look at this doll and think of me.”
Elysia’s eyes grew wider.
Then she gazed at the doll again.
“This… was it made by Miss herself?”
“Yes.”
“How… long did it take?”
“Um… about three months?”
“Three… months…?”
Elysia murmured in a tiny voice.
Normally she would have rushed over and hugged me by now, but instead she only stared at the doll.
Finally she bit her lip hard.
“Huuu… Miss…”
Her voice trembled.
“Should I… accept something this precious?”
“Of course.”
I smiled and answered.
“I made it for you, Elysia.”
Elysia remained silent for a long time. She clutched the tiny doll to her chest and lowered her head.
“Sob…”
Wait, really?
“Miss… you’ll… truly miss me…”
“……”
“Every single day…”
My throat suddenly tightened. Seeing Elysia cry the moment she hadn’t even left yet made me feel a pang of guilt.
Still, I stroked her head gently.
“So watch this doll and wait for me.”
“……Yes.”
“I’ll think of you too.”
“Sob… Elysia… is moved to tears!”
Elysia wiped her eyes but never let go of the doll.
Her expression now looked less like reluctance and more like she had truly accepted my departure.
Good. Now I could go without worry.
……But.
“Um, Elysia?”
“Yes?”
“That’s way too tight. You’re crushing it.”
“I will never let go!”
“……”
The doll I made was already being treated like a god.
“Then, do you have nothing of mine?”
“Ah… Mother?”
This… took me three whole months to make, you know?
····················
*Huff. First goal achieved.
After somehow delivering a meaningful gift to Mother, I was now on my way to the Imperial Knight Corps entrance exam.
For the first time in my life I had completely left the family’s outer walls.
I had climbed into the carriage Mother provided and was riding along a plain forest path, yet to me every single tree and every blade of grass felt like another world.
It was the moment I stopped to stare out the window at the scenery flying past.
“Kihihihi… hand over everything! …I’ll have to carry that body too!”
*Haaah… Even in medieval fantasy stories, this type of bandit scene appears everywhere. Experiencing it myself makes me feel like I’ve truly arrived in another world.
Well, the idiots robbing us weren’t even worth a single punch.
“Kueeeek… please spare me…”
*Thud.
“I-I’m sorry! I was wrong!”
*Thud.
I knocked each of the pleading bandits unconscious one by one, then summoned our family knights.
“Hey, you family knights~ If you see any guards along the way to the carriage, bring them along, okay?”
““Yes, understood!””
I thought this was a pretty vivid memory and let my excitement settle.
Then I slowly scanned the bandit camp.
On the ground lay scattered looted goods.
*Iron chains?
There was one iron chain lying there.
At first I assumed it was just another piece of loot.
But when I got closer and examined it carefully, I stopped in my tracks.
Inside the chains was a small girl with purple hair, bound by magic restraints and slumped on the ground.
Kwaang! Kkajik!
I immediately pried open the iron gate.
But the moment I reached for the girl, my hand froze.
The magic seals glowing faintly on her body wriggled like living things. Not ordinary metal chains.
*This… is magic-bound, isn’t it? In the game bandits usually carried keys for this… Ah, found it.
I rummaged through the bandits’ belongings looking for a key and quickly spotted a key that looked like a magic device—ornate, complex runes carved all over it.
Kklick. Tong.
The moment the restraints unlocked, faint magical energy drifted from the girl’s body.
Then, a moment later.
Creak.
The girl’s eyelids slowly lifted…
“Nyaah!”
“Kyaa! You startled me!”
“W-who are you?!”
Aah, she startled easily. She screamed the second she woke up.
“Hey! Get away from me! I… I will never surrender to you easily!”
“Um, I’m here to rescue you. What’s your name? How old are you? What about your mother?”
“M-mother? No! I’m a proper adult over forty!”
“Yes, yes. Since you’re an adult, could you please tell me your name?”
“I-it’s… listen carefully. My name is Estella di Nocturne!”
Estella?
That Estella di Nocturne?
If it really was her, she was the town NPC who sold all kinds of potions and magic engravings.
But the Estella I knew wasn’t a flat-chested loli like this, was it?
*Hehe, welcome. You must have been through a rough night. Come rest in my arms for a bit.
The Estella I knew owned breasts that could feed a thousand children… or at least, the one standing in front of me now looked nothing like her.
But the figure before me was unmistakably a small girl.
*…Her height looks halved or more?
She was far too different from the Estella I knew.
“Ugh… Are you thinking impure thoughts right now?! Right?! I am the worst witch of Arcadia! Act properly!”
“Y-yes~”
I found her adorable and, without thinking, reached out to pat her head.
“…”
Even the self-proclaimed Estella seemed pleased and leaned into the touch.
Then the knights from the family arrived and asked me:
“Who is this child?”
“Ah. I think these bandits were holding her. She said she’s from the Nocturne family, so you can take her to that family.”
Nocturne.
In the past they had been famous witches, but after the last head committed a taboo by worshipping the empire’s sacred god, the entire family vanished.
This was the first time I had seen a living descendant of the Nocturne family with my own eyes.
By contrast, the Arzenhart family was the direct bloodline of the first emperor—next to the imperial family the most prestigious house.
While I was lost in thought, the girl seemed to hesitate, as if she had something she wanted to say.
“Y-you. What is your name?”
“My name? I am Cecilia Arzenhart. Eldest daughter of the Arzenhart family. You may call me Lia if you like.”
“Lia… Cecilia Arzenhart. Yes. I will remember that. This kindness will be repaid one day.”
I had no idea how a child of that size could ever repay such gratitude, but if this really was the Estella di Nocturne I knew, I would have to look for her later.
Fwoosh!
*Huh, what’s that sound?
Maybe some animal had just passed by.
“Thank you very much for your hard work, knights.”
““It’s nothing!””
After that I smoothly passed the entrance exam and passed without a hitch.
Thus I became a member of the Sixth Imperial Knight Corps.
*Lia joined five years before the start of the original story, right? What is she doing right now? I want to see Elysia too.
