– Royal Family Exclusive Audience Seating

“Black Knight!!”

“Whoa!?”

As soon as I entered, the princess ran over and hugged me.

By His Highness’s orders, I was watching today’s matches with him.

When the order was given, His Highness and Her Highness had been beaming. When I had asked about the reason, it seemed that the Crown Prince and Princess had begged them together.

Officially, it was guard duty, but in reality, I was mostly a conversation partner for the siblings.

The prince came in after the princess, but he didn’t act as childishly, and looked nervous instead.
Honestly, I didn’t think that an ordinary person like me was interesting at all.

“Black Knight, I will be in your care today.”

The prince greeted me.
At first, the prince had used honorifics towards me, but since I was a subordinate of the royal family, I told him that honorifics were unnecessary, so he finally stopped using them.

My stomach was hurting.
It was mainly due to the Prime Minister’s stare.

He had arrived with the royal couple, and since he was glaring at me, it couldn’t be helped that my stomach hurt.

“Raiz…will you be reasonable and acknowledge the Black Knight?”
(ED: Reizu -> Raiz at tl’s suggestion.)

His Highness spoke to the Prime Minister in amazement.

I knelt down immediately.

“Your Highness, Queen-sama. I am honored to wholeheartedly serve you today.”

His and Her Highness nodded to my words.

“I leave it to you, Black Knight.”

“Well, please stand. We have also been looking forward to watching the matches with you today.”

In response, I stood up and turned around to greet the esteemed Prime Minister.

“Your Excellency, please treat me well.”

“Hmph!”

……

As expected, was he still displeased by the fact that I had suddenly become a Duke and the leader of the Knight Corps?

Since I had gotten used to being hated, I wasn’t offended, but it still didn’t feel pleasant.

As His Highness said, it seemed that the Prime Minister still didn’t want to accept me.
I guess the road to being accepted was long.

“Black Knight~! Please sit down quickly!!”

I was starting to feel rather down when the princess clung to my right arm.

It seemed that the princess had gotten bored.

The royal couple’s faces relaxed at their daughter’s cute actions.

“This won’t do.”

“Black Knight, please escort Elene.”

“As you wish.”

I replied, and then turned around to get the princess to let go of my hand for a moment.

“Princess-sama, if it pleases you, I shall be your escort.”

I placed my right hand on my chest and offered my left hand to her.

For some reason, I had gained the knowledge of how to act as an escort from Amaterasu-sama.
Although this was actually a man’s job, please make do with me, Princess.

A

fter I made sure that Chie had escorted Elene to the seats, I turned to face Raiz.

“Raiz, you’re stubborn, aren’t you?”

“Please have more caution, Your Highness.”

Raiz became sullen at my words.

“Dear me, you’ve always been stubborn, ever since you were a child, but it’s already been half a year. Based on Conrad’s reports, there shouldn’t be any problems. What are you displeased with?”

“That is so. He was able to earn the trust of the populace. Is there something that doesn’t satisfy you?”

Claire and I asked.
It may have been my imagination, but I could see a black aura rising from Claire.

“I will recognize his strength. However, he is still a dubious person, so I cannot entrust that plan to him. He wields a sword unlike any we have ever seen before: a weapon that obliterated the Cursed Dragon Fafnir. It might be a cursed, demonic sword.”

I listened to Raiz’s reasoning.

Her sword, Sakuya, certainly looked ominous.

The priests said that they felt a pure essence from Sakuya.
It was, beyond a shadow of a doubt, not a cursed sword, but Raiz still harbored some doubts.

“Haven’t I told you? Sakuya is perfectly safe. You also heard it from the priests.”

“No, the priests could have been deceived by magic.”

This guy was still…

I was starting to get a mild headache.

“Raiz.”

—-Biku!

Claire, who had been silent until now, let out a quiet voice.

When she was like that, it was bad to approach her.

There was a saying I had heard from Chie.

“Never tickle a sleeping dragon.”
(TL: Literally- Don’t touch the G.o.d, and no curse will befall you.)

It was exactly like that.

“Y-your Highness?”

Raiz looked at Claire with a face that said “Oh shoot!”

“What have you been saying until now? You were saying that the person who was hand-picked by His Highness himself is suspicious. Conrad, your son, and I are all right here. None of us oppose him. You should have gotten to know the Black Knight in this half year. You should have noticed his excellence, as well as how much he thinks about this country and its people. It is true that the Black Knight’s origins are uncertain, but he is not a ‘dubious person’! He is also the person chosen by the black unicorn.”

As Raiz listened to Claire, his face paled.

The guardian deity of our empire had also been chosen by a unicorn.
Then came Claire’s finishing blow.

“Raiz, please do go home for today. I want to enjoy the matches with the Black Knight and my family. If you are going to be pouty and sullen next to me, you will ruin the mood. Putting it plainly, you’re a nuisance.”

With that, Claire told her attendants to kick Raiz out.

“Y-You all! Let go of me!! Your Highness!!”

“Give up, Raiz. It’s your fault for angering Claire.”

Raiz continued to cry out after the door closed, but I decided to ignore it today.
Frankly, I had also wanted him out.

“Now then, let us go as well, Your Highness.”

“That’s right, the children are waiting.”

With that, I imitated Chie and escorted my wife to the seats.

“Black Knight, what’s that weapon?”

“Which one?”

I explained it to the princess while we watched the matches.

Though, that wasn’t something a sword-otaku like me could say.

“Black Knight knows about many different weapons, huh.”

“You flatter me, Your Highness.”

I thanked the prince for his words of admiration.

Well, I had attended n.o.bles’ parties and banquets during the last half year, so I had gotten accustomed to this way of speaking.

I was originally nothing more than a high school girl, so I had never imagined that I would have the chance to interact with n.o.bility, much less go to another world.

Now I understood what my father had said about socializing at the company.
In my case, if I hadn’t imitated the n.o.bles’ wives, it would have become a larger problem.

“Chris, Elene, right now, everyone here knows about Chie. There isn’t a problem with calling her by her name right now.”

His Highness said while smiling.

Now that I looked, the attendants around me were the ones who knew my name and appearance. They were the people who had been attacked by the ogres.
Where had the Prime Minister gone?

“Raiz is taking the day off. That way, you can be at ease while you talk.”

Her Highness said with a smile.

Ah, so that was it.

Although she was acting normally, I could tell from the way His Highness and the servants averted their gazes.

His face had cramped up a bit.

“So it’s alright to call each other by name today?!”

Only the princess let out a happy voice.

This princess-sama would become an important person in the future.

“Yes, there’s no problem with that.”

When I found my voice again, I answered the princess.

The seating area was surrounded by a barrier, so our voices weren’t audible.

I couldn’t take off my armet, but calling me by name was alright.

“Then, I’ll also call you Chie.”

The prince said with delight.
Was he that eager to call me by my name?

“Chie, why are there some people who use weapons and some who don’t in the fighter corps?”

The princess asked while tilting her head.

The unarmed fighters must have intrigued her to no end.

“That’s because the fighter corps is split into two divisions.”

I explained to the princess.

“One of the divisions is made up of people who use melee weapons: maces, battle-axes, horseman’s flails, and similar weapons that have destructive power. The other division uses magically reinforced gloves and boots, but they can still use weapons.”

For some reason, the princess’s eyes sparkled as I explained it to her.

I regretted explaining it to her.

“Princess-sama, shouldn’t you be more interested in fashion or dance, rather than weapons and battles?”

I decided to start with advising her.
The attendants all nodded in agreement.

“Muu, what about you, Chie? As a girl, you should also be fashionable!!”

The princess puffed her cheeks in complaint.

However, the princess and I were different.

“I am a knight, but you are the empire’s princess. We are both girls, but we have different statuses. Of course, as the royal family’s exclusive knight, I must mind my manners. As a princess, you must watch your behaviour more than me. Do you understand?”

I tried to be as gentle as possible.

She was already 14 years old; there were only a few months left before she became an adult.

She was the First Princess of the Empire.

“That’s right, Elene. We are the ones who support the country. You cannot show a lax appearance, don’t you think?”

His Highness gently instructed her.

It seemed that they realized that giving gentle instruction was more effective than yelling at the tomboy princess.

“I understand. I will pay attention.”

The princess said, seeming slightly downhearted.

Well, since she was originally an obedient girl, she would comply if we provided a good reason.

The princess had to be sociable, but it would be a pity if she couldn’t learn about the things she was interested in.
…There was no choice.

“That being said…”

“?”

“As the country’s princess, it is also important for you to understand the soldiers. If you see anything else that catches your interest, I will explain it to you as best as I can.”

“! Thank you!!”

Delighted, the princess hugged me.

With that thought, I pa.s.sed the time by watching the matches while explaining things to the royal family.

Military Personnel Audience Seating (Conrad POV)

“Haah…”

“Conrad, you look down. Did he accept your apology this morning?”

When I sighed, Adolf, who was sitting to my right, put his hand on my left shoulder.

I didn’t know why she got angry, and when I returned home, I immediately explained the situation to my little sister, Alice.

‘Brother… It’s natural for her to get angry at that.’

Amazed, she gave me a long sermon.

What had I done?
I, who supports the Commander, hurt her feelings! What should I do?

“Either way, that guy has a childish side, huh.”

“No, it’s normal anger, right? I think it’s because he has no friends, and we thought that he didn’t feel the stress of being the country’s representative on that big stage.”

“Eh? Is that so, Celes?”

“Adel aside, there’s no way that an officer of the imperial army would be that insensitive.”

Upon hearing Adolf and Adelbert’s conversation, Celestia brought a hand to her face.
So that was it. We were all rude to her back then.

“If that person is female, I can understand why she couldn’t ignore it.”

When Celestia said the word ‘female’, my heart jumped.

The secret was not exposed.

“No way, that guy can’t be female!”

“That Black Knight, who is not lady-like in any way, can’t be female!”

Adolf laughed, while Adelbert grimaced.
Even I could tell that those words were really rude.

“If you said that to a normal girl, it would be rude.”

I reacted to those words.

That was definitely impolite!
So that was why Alice said that yesterday.

‘When that is said, a girl wants to be protected nonchalantly, you know?’

She had said that while sighing.

If I thought about it, my treatment of women has always been the worst.

Some people became temporary lovers, but those lasted for three months at most.

Of course, it was because I didn’t think about the other person.
…Aren’t I the lowest!?

“I…will refrain from womanizing…”

“Wha-! Why do you look like you’ve had an epiphany!?”

I didn’t know what type of expression I was making, but amongst my bustling surroundings, I somehow made a resolution.
I will understand a maiden’s feelings.

Tournament Grounds, Fighter Corps Finals

“Ah, so the Commander is escorting the royal family today.”

The fighter corps’ vice-captain, Peter Anchorson, said while looking at the royal seating area.

What kind of questions would they ask anyway?

“Well, he is the royal family’s exclusive knight. It’s also his job to accompany the royal family.”

“Well, he does resemble a Commander like that.”

Just as Peter said, without the Commander, who was the royal family’s exclusive knight, there was always escort work to be done.
Now that the Black Knight was here, that work had decreased.

“Ahh, well, it’s almost time to start.”

“Yes.”

With that, we took some distance from each other and prepared ourselves.

Of course, it was a wooden practice weapon.

He was a martial artist who fought unarmed.

Right now, the items Peter was reinforcing with magic weren’t the ones he normally used on missions.

He wore dark blue leather armor, dark brown leather pants, brown gauntlets, and brown boots.

He was a full three years younger than me.

He liked children and was disheartened, but we sympathized with him.

As the thought crossed my mind, I tightened my expression and waited for the referee’s signal.
The referee made sure that we were ready.

“Ready, begin!!”

The referee gave the signal in a loud voice, and we leapt forward at the same time.

The vice-captains of the squads were skilled.

He used to only focus on power, but now, his speed had improved as well.

“You’re faster than before, huh.”

“You see, Captain, it’s because you played the Oni game with us, the game the Knight Captain played with the magicians.”

He pushed me backwards with his arms and struck at me while my balance was broken.

That was really close.

I planned to dodge once Peter tried to hit me, make a feint with my battle-axe, and knock him over when he tried to dodge the feint.
As the exchange continued, my battle-axe broke.

—-Baki!

Seeing a chance, Peter tried to hit me with a big swing.

However!

—-Karan!

—-Gan!

I tossed aside the broken battle-axe and stopped the blow with both hands.
I was pushed back from the impact, but that wasn’t a problem.

“As always, blocking the gauntlets with your bare hands. What is your body made of anyways?”

“I just train normally, though.”

“What are you saying? You use weapons to go easy on us. Everyone in the army knows that!”

We backed off and glared at each other.

“Is that why you broke my weapon?”

“Of course. There’s no point in fighting a captain who isn’t serious.”

“Haha! That’s true. But…”

After a short laugh, I tightened my expression.

—Dan!

I closed in on him in an instant.

“I am still faster than you.”

I aimed at the surprised Peter.

—-Dogon!

My hand drove into his stomach.

“Gah!”

That one strike sent Peter flying backwards, and he landed face-up on the ground.

“Winner, Brandon Adams! The champion of the fighter corps is Brandon Adams!!”

Whoooooooooooooooooooooo!

As the crowd cheered, I turned to Peter.

“Ouch…that was a bit excessive.”

“Of course, since I was bare-handed, I was still going easy.”

“Whoa, how much worse would that be?”

Peter smiled with a resigned expression.

I could say that for certain.

“Well, even then, your skills have improved. This reaffirms how amazing the Black Knight is.”

“However, the person himself says he is just doing what’s natural.

I helped Peter up, and we walked towards the exit while chatting.

Just as Peter said, the Black Knight was unaware of how amazing he was.

‘Eh? I’m just teaching the basics. I’m just a normal person with some knowledge, aren’t I?’
and called himself normal.

I really couldn’t match him.

“I couldn’t accept him at first, but I could tell that he was not a selfish person.”

“That’s one of the reasons that person adapted to the army. It’s a good thing, isn’t it?”

We continued to talk about the Black Knight as we walked through the corridor, away from the tournament grounds, until we separated.

I would buy lunch and head to the general audience seating area, where my wife and kids were.
I had confirmed their location from the arena grounds, so I hurried over there.

Royal Family’s Exclusive Audience Seating

“Hey! How did Brandon disappear during the fight just now!?”

The princess asked me with excitement.
Normally, one wouldn’t understand what had happened.

“He didn’t really do anything special. He just ran really quickly.”

“He just ran!?”

Disbelief and shock appeared on her face when she heard my answer.

“Well, he normally doesn’t use weapons, but since he is so much stronger than the others, he uses a battle-axe to handicap himself.”

When I said that, I recalled the time we first met.

Later, during an ogre suppression mission, I was surprised by his speed.

There was a big difference when he held a weapon.

However, since the whole army was so focused on strength, I thought that there would be a vice-captain who would be able to beat Muscle Brother-san when he used a weapon.

Well, we could always continue to train steadily.

“Haha! It’s lunchtime, right?”

“Yes, since the Black Knight’s explanations are easy to understand, you’re always excited.”

His and Her Highness called for the attendants to begin preparing lunch.

I usually asked the attendants for the same menu as them when I ate.

Someone had mentioned that I would eat with the Royal family, but I was troubled.

That was how I felt, but I couldn’t run from today’s luxurious meal.

The food was delicious, but once again, normal food was the best.

To Be Continued

Afterword

How was Chapter 24?

I think that there are still some typos and errors.

I thank everyone for waiting for such a bad author.
I hope you enjoy the next chapter too.

TN: The author has said all I want to say…