「Yotto…」
「Wow… no matter how many times I see it, I’m still shocked…」
「Ahaha… come to think of it, I haven’t used this much lately.」
「Right? If we’d had this back then, we wouldn’t have needed the carriage trip with the Carbuncle village kids, would we?」
Amilia shot me a half-lidded, accusing stare.
I hadn’t done anything guilty… but yeah, it really was necessary to bond with those kids…
「Oh well. I’ll just ask Liliana-sama and Selene later…」
「No, really, there’s nothing shady, I swear…」
There genuinely wasn’t.
Where does a girl’s intuition get this terrifying power…?
「A-anyway, let’s go see the soldiers!」
「You’re right… but first we should say something to Her Majesty.」
Amilia calmly jabbed at me again.
Don’t look at me with those eyes…
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
「Understood. At this hour, they should be stationed at the guard post by the castle gate… By the way, Saintess-sama, your atmosphere has become much softer lately. Did something good happen?」
The queen teased with a knowing smirk.
Amilia’s cheeks instantly flushed pink.
「Ah… ahaha… just a little…」
「Well, that’s wonderful. Holy Knight-sama, if it’s not too much trouble… might I borrow the Saintess-sama later?」
「Of course. Though I’ll need to let His Majesty know first…」
「Thank you. In the meantime, Holy Knight-sama, please take a short rest as well.」
「Then… if you’ll excuse me.」
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
We headed to the guard post and met with the soldiers.
Amilia bowed deeply, looking slightly awkward as she began to explain.
The soldiers burst into warm laughter.
「No way… Seeing Saintess-sama push herself so hard made us think we couldn’t just stand around doing nothing!」
「Besides, your recovery magic got us back on our feet!」
「Exactly! We’re supposed to be royal guards, but we couldn’t even keep up with you!」
「Same with the Holy Knight-sama… but Saintess-sama is just bottomless!」
「Totally! Sharper than any veteran warrior!」
One compliment after another poured in.
Amilia’s face grew redder and redder.
「And more than anything… we all understand. Guarding the castle is important, but we really wanted to fight alongside everyone at the front.」
One soldier’s words drew nods from the entire group.
「Though… we couldn’t even last twenty exchanges against you!」
Laughter rippled through the room again.
「Please train us again!」
「Me too!」
「Better than that sweaty drill sergeant any day!」
「Idiot! Keep drooling like that and the Holy Knight-sama will kill you!」
All eyes suddenly turned to me.
I wouldn’t actually kill them… but still.
「Fine. Special training, just one wooden stick. If you manage to land even one clean hit on me, I’ll let you spar with Amilia.」
I smiled brightly.
Sweat immediately poured down every soldier’s face.
「「「「「We’re so sorryyyyy!!」」」」」
And so, they all dropped into perfect dogeza right there on the spot.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
「That’s the situation, Amilia… I mean, Saintess-sama has some business with the queen, so she’s gone over there for now.」
「Understood. Holy Knight-dono, you’ve only just returned, but we’ve already decided on the next steps, so I wanted to give you a report.」
I turned to face the king as he straightened his posture.
A map was spread out before him, and, exactly like in manga, little pieces representing troops were placed across it.
「Thanks to you, Holy Knight-dono, we managed this battle without a single casualty. Morale across the entire army is sky-high right now. Many are already eager to push forward and take the first fortress.」
「Really? But we still don’t know the exact number of enemies there, do we?」
「Precisely the problem. Everyone’s caught up in the excitement, and it’s giving me quite the headache.」
The king pressed his temples and let out a long sigh.
Yeah… when the lords are the only ones hyped up, it’s rough for the person in charge.
「If only something would happen to cool their heads or at least slow them down…」
Ah… that might actually work.
「Um… may I say something?」
「What is it, Holy Knight-dono?」
「I think… I might be able to hold them back.」
「Truly!?」
「Yes. Could we talk somewhere more private…?」
And so, I transferred with the king to plan our strategy.
◇◆◇◆◇◆◇◆
◇Hikari’s Side◇
It had been several days since Yuuki was sent to the past.
On Earth, almost no time had passed since that day.
「Still… two whole months here, and only three days have gone by on Earth…」
「Yeah〜 time flows completely differently between here and there. If it didn’t, I couldn’t manage multiple worlds at the same time〜」
Rie-chan fiddled with some kind of console.
On the screen, countless stars fast-forwarded and rewound in perfect sync.
「That’s incredible…」
「Eh, not really. This is just a simulator, none of these are real stars.」
「Oh…」
「Yup. One day I’ll let everyone play around with it〜」
「I see… So what should I help with today?」
「This one here! Ready when you are!」
「Got it. I’ll go now.」
I stepped into the device and fitted the goggles over my head.
My consciousness slowly drifted away.
(Just a little longer… just a little more… Wait for me, Yuuki.)
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