Ch.4242. Death Penalty?

I couldn’t see the emperor’s face clearly through the knights surrounding me. All I knew was that I was being dragged away for an “execution” while Seria had betrayed me with an apologetic smile.

The place they took me to was the Imperial Knights’ training ground—a surprisingly spacious area.

“Stand in the center,” the Knight Commander ordered, and I complied without resistance.

I shouldn’t mess with this guy. There are only a handful of people who could defeat the Knight Commander at this point.

I already had a good idea of what was happening, so I wasn’t particularly anxious or confused.

“Draw the sword at your waist. Don’t worry, we’ll be using wooden training swords. Just think of it as warming up.”

The Knight Commander’s words confirmed my suspicions.

To explain briefly, somewhere in the Imperial Knights’ headquarters, there exists a document titled “Qualifications for a Man Worthy of the Princess.” I’ll skip explaining how to find it since that would take too long, but among those qualifications was, naturally, combat prowess.

Of course, they wouldn’t expect much from a mere first-year academy student. This was probably arranged to make me understand my place.

In other words, if I couldn’t even handle this much, I should just give up on my own.

“Then, as we decided earlier, you’ll be his opponent.”

“Really, me? He’s only a first-year student after all.”

“That’s precisely why you should step forward.”

“Fine, but I’m not responsible if he gets hurt.”

As I drew my sword, a knight holding a wooden sword stepped forward.

Since they said they had decided this beforehand, he was wearing casual clothes unlike the others in full armor. This probably reflected their confidence that my attacks wouldn’t even graze them. It wasn’t about making their movements lighter—none of these idiots would be slowed down by mere armor.

With so many knights in the order, and since not all of them appeared in detail in the game, I couldn’t tell exactly who my opponent was.

But if he was chosen by the Knight Commander from this gathering of skilled fighters, he must be quite formidable.

At the very least, he should be around the level of the missing Vice President.

Hmm… comparing academy students to active knights suddenly makes the knights seem underwhelming, but that’s not because the knights are weak—it’s because the Student Council is extraordinary.

This world is built on talent-based power inflation, so it can’t be helped.

Honestly, excluding the commander and vice commander, our Student Council President Alkine could probably handle everyone here.

I got sidetracked, but anyway, someone of his skill level wouldn’t accidentally fail to control his strength.

That’s probably why they specifically sent him out for this occasion.

“Now then, I hear you’re quite skilled. Let’s see this famous talent of yours.”

Though they had dragged me here forcibly, they didn’t seem intent on one-sided bullying.

…Well, they probably did intend to harass me somewhat, but skill assessment seemed to be the priority. Probably.

“I look forward to our match.”

I couldn’t avoid this anyway. Whatever happens, happens.

With that thought, I casually raised my sword and took a stance… when suddenly, a familiar face popped out from among the knights.

“Ludion! I came to watch!”

“Seria?”

“Princess?!”

Even the knights who had dragged me here seemed surprised by Seria’s sudden appearance, all looking quite flustered.

That makes sense. They had secretly brought me here to test my skills, subtly put me in my place, and tell me I wasn’t worthy of the princess—but with her showing up in person, they couldn’t do that anymore.

Even the Knight Commander hadn’t expected her to come here directly. He hurriedly approached Seria and began explaining the current situation.

I don’t know what he said, but after hearing his full explanation, Seria’s response was truly unexpected.

“What? There’s no need for that! It’s fine, go all out!”

…Seria? I appreciate your faith in me, but that’s not really the right thing to say.

These guys take pride in their skills as Imperial Knights. Words like that would hurt their pride.

“Hahaha! Well, if the Princess says so, there’s no reason to hold back. You heard her! Go all out!”

“I was planning to anyway.”

After hearing Seria’s words, they seemed to have lost whatever rationality they had been carefully maintaining until now.

The truly absurd thing was that they weren’t angry—they had lost their reason.

If their pride had been wounded by having their skills questioned, they would have gotten angry, but losing reason meant…

“To think our intelligent, rational, calculating, and honest Princess would say such a thing.”

“It seems the Princess is completely infatuated. We should use this opportunity to open her eyes.”

It’s because of Seria again.

“How dare he trample on our Princess’s pure judgment. Prepare yourself!”

The knight who had lost his reason charged at me while spouting such nonsense.

With magical energy wrapped around his wooden sword, he wasn’t even pretending to hold back anymore.

This is insane! These guys have completely lost their minds!!