She knew nothing of where Sona had been or what she had done before becoming her personal knight.
But it wasn’t difficult to guess that whatever Sona had done in the past, it hadn’t been the work of an ordinary knight.
“So what kind of people are they?”
When Riersha showed interest, Sona hesitated before carefully opening her mouth.
“…They’re just people who know how to use a bit of force. They’re really not worth explaining to you, my lady.”
“….”
“Have you ever heard of the Arachrene Legion Commanders?”
She had, in fact. Just today, during class in the annex — of all places.
Riersha’s eyes went wide.
She never could have dreamed that the very Legion Commander she’d heard mentioned while reading the notice board would now be spoken of by Sona herself.
Which meant that Sona, who had called them friends…
“I heard the Legion Commanders have never failed a single mission. That one of them swept through an entire army alone?”
In that instant, Riersha began to see Sona in a completely different light.
The soft-spoken, gentle Sona who had always treated her with such warmth — she was actually someone extraordinary. Someone who might be capable of sweeping through an entire army.
“I — I already heard about it earlier!”
“Where did you hear that word, my lady? It doesn’t come up often in everyday conversation….”
“From the upgrading exam! The other kids were talking about it.”
“Ah. …I see. Now that you mention it, the promotion exam is coming up soon, isn’t it?”
The promotion exam was held in the cool days just before the full heat of summer settled in.
Sona pressed the tip of her index finger to her chin, seeming to think something over, then smiled brightly.
“Then the Legion Commander exam will be held this year as well.”
“This year too?”
“Yes, the exam is held every year. But… in recent years, not a single person has passed the final gate.”
Sona shook her head slowly, as though lamenting the fact.
Then again, it was an exam where one could lose their life — it stood to reason that quite a few would withdraw before the end.
Riersha nodded in understanding.
“I heard it’s incredibly difficult.”
“Yes, the final gate is…”
The final gate?
Sona’s voice trailed off ambiguously. It felt as if she had started to answer without thinking and then quickly caught herself.
She seemed to be weighing whether or not she should be telling Riersha something like this.
“What is it? I’m all grown up now, I can handle it!”
“Yes, of course. You are all grown up, my lady.”
“That’s right!”
Riersha squared her shoulders and pushed out her chest to prove she was no child. What she didn’t realize was that the gesture had precisely the opposite effect.
Sona flinched and took a quiet breath. She saw Riersha every single day, and yet there were moments when even she could not withstand that level of devastating adorableness.
“There are exactly five Legion Commanders in the Arachrene house. That number is fixed.”
“…Huh? But you said there’s going to be another exam this year?”
If the number was fixed at five regardless, why would they need to hold another exam?
At Riersha’s innocent question, Sona smiled with fond amusement, as if she had expected exactly that reaction.
It went without saying — the Arachrene house was not a place to be taken lightly.
“The final gate of the exam requires the candidate to fight one of the sitting Legion Commanders in single combat and win. It’s to ensure only the strongest are chosen. Lives can be lost in the process.”
“…Oh.”
Riersha let out a small sound of understanding, as if it had only just clicked into place for her.
The position of Legion Commander was one reserved for the strongest among all knights.
If someone more capable appeared, it was only right that they take the place — no matter when.
In Arachrene, being commanded by someone weaker than yourself was simply unthinkable.
“The last time the roster changed was when Lord Rosinante stepped down to take on the role of aide. Since then, there has not been a single change.”
⁂
Aska was standing outside, lazily chewing through a snack, when he felt a gaze boring into the side of his head and turned.
Haydin was watching him with deeply unimpressed eyes.
Haydin glanced briefly at the paper bag of treats Aska had gone out to buy, then exhaled a long, tired sigh.
“I suppose the instruction to lie low for a while has completely slipped your mind?”
“…Going out to grab a snack isn’t the same as causing trouble.”
Aska grumbled in protest and subtly tucked the bag behind him.
Ever since Pernoa had ordered them to stay quiet and do absolutely nothing, these four had been reduced to existing — breathing and not much else.
Just days ago they had been running loose along the border, and now their bodies were itching with restless energy, desperate to move.
“Aren’t you curious about what their youngest lady is like?”
Milia, who had been quietly staring up at the sky, spoke.
She was going slowly mad from the boredom.
Her crimson eyes, fixed on the sky, had a strangely vacant, unfocused quality to them.
“Honestly, I’ve been wondering since we got here.”
Johannes answered.
None of them could shake the scene they had witnessed in the young duke’s office.
When was the last time something had left such an impression on them mentally? They couldn’t even recall.
“Then why don’t we go take a look at Lady Riersha—”
Aska said it half-heartedly, but mid-sentence, he spotted something in the distance and inhaled sharply.
The paper bag of snacks slipped from his fingers and dropped to the ground with a soft thud.
Seeing that, Milia clicked her tongue.
“…Wow. Wait. Am I actually seeing this right?”
Aska kept rubbing at his eyes, shaking his head side to side in disbelief.
The commotion was enough to drag the attention of the other three, who had until now been paying him no mind. All of them turned to look in the direction Aska was staring.
And there—
“Father, please say yes!”
“I was wondering who had put these ideas in your head — so it was Ian Charlotte? …This is going to be the end of me.”
“It’s not Sir Ian’s fault!”
“And now you’re taking Count Charlotte’s side, right to my face.”
There was a small, impossibly endearing creature jumping up and down with both arms stretched toward the sky.
A round pink head. A tiny stature.
And two little maple-leaf hands thrust high into the air, apparently doing their very best to make their case.
With every bounce, that pink hair fluttered and swayed.
Pernoa stood there with a look of strained difficulty as he gazed down, and Riersha responded by stubbornly grabbing hold of his sleeve and unleashing her ultimate secret weapon — she wrapped both arms around him and buried her face against him, refusing to let him go anywhere.
“Ow. My heart actually hurts.”
“Same.”
“…You too?”
All three of them stared in a daze, wearing the exact same expression as Aska.
⁂
The reason Riersha had come to find Pernoa and was insisting on playing a treasure hunt game came down to this very thing.
“That was excellent, my lady. You can already hold my attack in place — truly impressive.”
“I did it!”
The forest clearing where she took her ability lessons.
It had been about two weeks since Riersha had begun training under Ian Charlotte, and she was beaming as she cheered with both arms in the air.
She had been training relentlessly, working out how to catch an incoming attack within her barrier — halting it just before it could be reflected.
“Combat is about timing. Reflecting everything automatically is not always the right answer. If it were a friendly attack sent by mistake, what would you do then?”
It would fly right back and strike an ally. Just imagining it was horrifying.
And if that someone turned out to be family?
That’s absolutely out of the question. Something like that can never happen.
Riersha’s eyes sharpened with resolve.
The more lessons she received, the more she realized that every single piece of it mattered — not one could be neglected.
But her body didn’t always keep up with her understanding.
Riersha absorbed the content of her lessons quickly enough, but working against the natural instinct of her ability was proving to be genuinely difficult.
Still — finally, this morning.
“You’ve done it beautifully. You should be very proud of yourself.”
“Yaaaay!”
Ian offered his praise, and Riersha’s cheeks flushed pink with joy as she bounced on the spot.
“At this point, you might even be able to participate in the game the young lords play.”
“A game?”
“Yes. You likely haven’t had the chance to try it yet, my lady. It can be rather dangerous, so there’s no chance the young duke would ever give his permission.”
But Riersha didn’t hear a word of what Ian said after that.
Her entire attention had already been seized — fully and completely — by the words the game the young lords play.
“How do you play it?”
