Knight Order Entrance Exam – 5

“The test ends here.”

It was Iris who stepped between them.

Just as Rije had said, “I’ll perfectly control my strength, so don’t worry,” the twin daggers Rije held stopped at a precarious distance, just before touching Iris.

Conversely, the blood-stained sword in my hand was trembling violently, its blade gripped by Iris. As soon as I realized that and released the strength from my hand, the blade’s vibration abruptly ceased.

Iris, who had intervened between Rije and me at an invisible speed to stop the sparring, only released the sword after confirming that both of us had released our grip.

The tip of the sword pointed weakly towards the ground.

“Was the last skill you said you’d use Frost Storm Barrage?”

“Of course. I said I’d only use one, didn’t I? Then I have to go all out, in the most fiery way. What else would there be?”

“Ah, is “fiery” a bit odd when using ice?” that one line was added.

“I clearly told you this was merely an entrance exam. This time, you went easy on them, so they got through without any injuries, but-“

“I didn’t go easy on them?”

Rije smiled brightly and met my gaze. It was a smile that seemed to say a lot. I subtly avoided her eyes.

“What do you mean by that, Rije?”

“It’s exactly as I said. I was completely serious from beginning to end, without holding back even a little. The rookie blocked all of it to the best of their ability. Isn’t that right, rookie?”

At that bombshell declaration, not only Iris but even Erica looked at me. As three pairs of varied eyes turned towards me, I felt a burden as if holes would be drilled into my face.

“But if you didn’t control your strength, that’s a problem in itself. Did you forget?”

“If I thought they couldn’t block it, I could have stopped at any time. I even reacted and stopped when you, Iris, suddenly intervened, so do you think I wouldn’t be able to tell if the rookie could block it or not?”

Rije, who had simply dismissed Iris’s concerns, approached me with her usual bright smile. Then she casually placed an arm on my shoulder and pulled me down with force.

There was quite a height difference between us, so even standing on tiptoes, I had to bend my waist a little for our eye levels to match. Rije raised her other hand and poked my cheek repeatedly with her index finger.

“Wow, I was genuinely surprised, rookie. I really couldn’t imagine you’d even attempt a counterattack in that situation. What I said before the match, “What if you block everything?”, wasn’t just empty words, was it?”

“What about your dignity and prestige as a Knight Order Captain-nim?”

“It’s not particularly important anymore. Now that it’s been confirmed our rookie is such a lucky charm overflowing with potential, do you think it matters that I couldn’t win one measly spar?”

Her body pressed even closer. Given the posture, her chest, almost the size of a head, was rubbing against my arm. Yet, the person pushing it seemed completely unaware of her own posture.

“And one more thing. There’s a very, very important matter our rookie absolutely must know. You absolutely have to listen to this.”

Rije’s voice suddenly dropped, and her expression turned serious. Then, I also became serious. Just how important could her words be for her to act so gravely?

“You, speak informally to me.”

“……What?”

For a moment, I thought I had misheard.

Her voice and expression suddenly turned serious, making me wonder what important thing she was about to say, but for her to tell me to speak informally, it was a truly unexpected suggestion.

“You don’t need to use honorifics with me, so speak informally. It’s uncomfortable for you to use them, and uncomfortable for me to hear them, so just drop all formalities and speak comfortably. This is a special service I’m giving because I really, really like our rookie, so how about it? Do you like it?”

“Uh……”

I had no idea how to react to this. Her personality was too different from the original NPC in the game. I silently pleaded for help from Iris and Erica with my eyes.

As if she had read the intention in my eyes, Erica opened her mouth with a resigned tone.

“Just accept it. Even if you refuse now, she’ll cling to you until she hears an “okay.” Even if my sister looks like that, she’s surprisingly stubborn.”

“Even if I look like that? Hey, what does that mean?”

“What do you think it means, unnie? You’d know best yourself.”

Rije briefly growled at Erica, then lowered her voice again and subtly met my gaze.

“Ignore her. Anyway, you just heard, rookie, didn’t you? Now you can speak informally to me, and to Erica too. You already talk normally with Iris, don’t you? It’s the same thing. She and Iris are the same age, so there’s no problem with it. Come on, quickly say “Rije.” Hmm?”

Was she the oldest here? She didn’t look like it at all.

Unable to withstand the sparkling pressure emanating from her gaze, I cautiously opened my mouth.

“Ri……je?”

“Yes, yes. Good job. From now on, don’t use honorifics, just call me comfortably. Whether it’s Rije Knight Order Captain-nim, Rije Knight Order Captain, Rije nuna-nim, or Rije nuna, none of that is necessary. Just “Rije” is enough. Got it?”

Rije, for some reason, smiled widely and clung to me.

Someone who looked so cold that not a drop of blood would come out even if you pricked them with a needle was actually the most lively and sociable person, so it was incredibly difficult to adapt to the sense of incongruity arising from that difference.

“So, the entrance exam is pass… is it a pass?”

Without much thought, I was about to use honorifics, but as Rije, who was clinging to me, glared with sharp eyes and tightened the arm wrapped around my neck, I quickly changed my address. Rije then smiled contentedly again and clung to me.

“I’m definitely passing you! If I fail our rookie here, what would happen to my prestige? What about you, Erica? No, wait, you’re going to say they passed anyway, aren’t you? Then it doesn’t matter, does it? Welcome to the Silver Dawn Knight Order, rookie!”

“……I don’t like you presuming my thoughts as you please, unnie, but this time it’s true, so I can’t deny it. I also think the same as Rije unnie. Welcome to the Silver Dawn Knight Order, rookie-ssi.”

As Rije and Erica each announced the pass, Iris nodded with an “I knew it” expression. Perhaps because of what had been shown so far, her face seemed to hold quite deep trust.

“Welcome to the order, rookie. We’ll think about your assignment later; for now, get some good rest. We’ll formally introduce you after Claudia returns.”

As long as my stamina didn’t run out, I wouldn’t feel particularly tired, so it didn’t matter whether I rested or not, but since there was no need to refuse such consideration, I quietly nodded.

“Erica, guide the rookie to their quarters. The location… the floor right below the Knight Order Captains’ quarters should be fine. I’ll leave it to your discretion which room to assign them.”

“I understand, Iris. Then, let’s go, rookie-ssi. I will guide you to your quarters.”

As soon as the rookie and Erica completely disappeared into the castle, Rije fussed with a voice full of uncontained surprise.

“Iris, where did you find such an amazing kid? You saw it too, didn’t you? Them deflecting all my attacks? Their skill was unbelievable for a rookie, wasn’t it?”

“I don’t know either.”

“Oh, don’t lie. Like a lover you secretly hid somewhere to raise and then devour- Wait, wait! Can’t I even joke?!”

Seeing Iris clench her fist with cold eyes, Rije quickly swallowed her words, saying it was just a joke. Iris clicked her tongue with a “Tsk,” and relaxed her fist.

“If I knew, I would have told you already. I truly don’t know. When I went to inspect the prison under his orders, almost everyone there had already been killed by monsters, and only that rookie was left alive. Moreover, the survivor themselves is under a witch’s curse, with no memory or anything, so what could I possibly know?”

“A single monster did that? Shouldn’t it have been subjugated?”

“There was no need. Because that fellow killed it.”

“Killed? That rookie? That monster?”

“Yes.”

“……How?”

Iris briefly explained what had happened at the prison.

The incident where she looked around the entire prison, confirmed there were no survivors, and then, as she was leaving, found the rookie fighting that monster alone near the main gate. The incident where the rookie ultimately succeeded in subjugating it alone.

As if they knew exactly how that monster would attack, they effortlessly parried every attack with a crudely made steel sword-all of it.

At first, she tried to help, but feeling somehow that she shouldn’t, she just watched, and then added a personal anecdote about losing her armor to the last attack.

Rije, who had listened intently to Iris’s explanation from beginning to end with her mouth tightly shut, opened her mouth with a slightly hardened expression.

“That rookie, they said they were a ‘discarded one,’ right?”

“They said so themselves. It’s probably true. If you really can’t believe it, you can use a power-verification orb.”

“No, it’s not that I don’t believe the rookie. It’s not that I don’t believe them, but… they’re cursed, aren’t they? And not just any curse, but a witch’s curse. That means their physical abilities should be no different from an ordinary person, they can’t use magic, and they can’t handle mana. But how on earth is that possible?”

Rije recalled how the rookie had accurately seen through and deflected all of her attacks during the entrance exam. That wasn’t mere luck; it was truly possible because their own skill was outstanding.

While there was a hint of being pushed back in terms of strength, there was no sign of being outmatched in skill. No matter how many consecutive attacks she unleashed or how fast she attacked, the stronger impression was that the rookie had already grasped and read them beforehand.

The more she thought about it, the more miraculous it seemed.

“……”

As their conversation paused while they both fell into thought, Iris gazed down at the palm of the hand she had used to block the rookie’s sword. There was a wound on her palm.

It was a very faint scar, almost too minor to be called a wound, but the very fact that such a mark appeared was the problem.

Considering the gap in strength and skill between the two, such a wound shouldn’t have occurred. She should have simply snatched the sword, and that should have been the end of it.

But she couldn’t.

“That… was from the rookie, right?”

Though the words were cut short, the meaning was clear enough. Iris nodded in affirmation.

At the very last moment, the rookie had instantaneously reacted to Rije’s intended counter-parry and twisted the trajectory of their attack. That was also why her palm had been slightly cut.

In that brief moment, less than a second, when the attack came in, Rije, seeing the rookie’s attack stance waver, prepared a counter-parry.

The rookie, who had deflected all of Rije’s attacks and was about to counterattack, reacted to the incoming counter-parry by twisting the sword’s trajectory.

Iris, who had intervened in between, and as soon as she confirmed the sword’s trajectory had twisted, changed her own stance. It could be said that all three had similar skill levels.

Yes, the problem was that all three had similar skill levels.

Two of them were veteran Knight Order Captains who had wielded swords for over 10 years, and the other was a human cursed by a witch. It was only natural that their skill levels shouldn’t be similar.

“Until then, it was just admiration, but the last part truly surprised me. You also intervened because you naturally thought the rookie wouldn’t be able to react, didn’t you?”

“……I won’t deny it.”

If it had been me in that situation, could I have done the same thing as the rookie? Iris asked herself.

No matter how many times she thought about it, the answer was ‘No.’

Deflecting all those relentless consecutive attacks, finding openings and attempting attacks amidst it all, and reading the unexpected counterattack stance of the enemy just before her own attack landed, then changing its trajectory.

Above all, all of that had to be achieved with a body whose physical abilities were greatly diminished by a witch’s curse, and during their very first encounter with Rije.

It was something utterly impossible by common sense, yet the rookie had accomplished that impossible feat as if it were nothing. It was a story no one would believe even if told as a barroom tale.

What kind of person were they originally, and to what extent was the talent inherent within them? She couldn’t even guess.

“Iris.”

“What is it?”

“You’re not, like, in some special relationship with the rookie, are you?”

“If by “special relationship” you mean romantic attraction, then no. We merely met by chance in the prison. Is there a reason you’re asking that?”

“A reason? Of course there is. If you haven’t claimed them first, I intend to claim them.”

Rije licked her lips.

The rookie was appealing in many ways. Their appearance was quite handsome, their physique good, and above all, they possessed qualities that perfectly matched Rije’s sexual preferences.

Discovering a man of outstanding skill and talent in their budding stage, nurturing them to grow strong, and then, later, Rije herself being devoured in return. That was precisely Rije’s sexual preference.

She herself knew very well that her sexual proclivity was a taste too embarrassing to reveal, and she thought it was almost impossible to realize it in reality, so she had always kept it as an ideal in her heart.

But now, a man who seemed to be a perfect embodiment of her ideal was striding right before her eyes. She absolutely could not, under any circumstances, miss this opportunity.

Furthermore, the fact that the rookie was a sturdy adult male was also a plus factor. What Rije wanted was a reliable and talented man who hadn’t yet blossomed, not a shorty or a brat.

“Do as you please. I won’t mind.”

“Really? No taking back your words later, right? You won’t suddenly appear after I’ve snatched them up and try to claim credit by saying you met them first, will you, Iris?”

“What do you take me for? I don’t do such things.”

Just as Rije, having received something akin to permission from Iris, was about to excitedly dash out, a blunt voice stopped her.

“Ah, there’s one thing I have to ask.”

“Huh? What is it?”

Iris, asking a personal question first? This was an extremely rare situation. Her legs stopped on their own. Rije perked up her ears.

“You, who haven’t even held a man’s hand until now, do you know how to seduce a man?”

“What, you bitch?”

Rije stared at Iris with a dumbfounded expression. She was saying such a thing, even though she herself was included in that “woman who hasn’t even held a man’s hand”?