Chapter 10: Imperial Princess

Just as I expected, Roer picked a fight with me.

“In times like this when demons are running wild, you came with only a few people and the Saintess? Man, I really don’t get what the folks up in the Holy Kingdom are thinking, huh?”

Even as he blatantly insulted the Holy Kingdom, the knights around him tried to stop him.

“Ah, what! Did I say anything wrong? Damn it, our knights are dying every day fighting demons, and over there, they won’t even send the Hero just to keep themselves safe! Wasn’t killing demons the Hero’s duty? Huh? Tell me I’m wrong!”

Whether he was genuinely angry or not, Roer huffed and showed his resentment toward the Holy Kingdom without holding back.

The knights looked to me nervously and backed away, and a few even raised their shields, thinking a big fight was about to break out between me and Roer.

But all of their actions were pointless.

“I agree with you.”

Because I had no reason to be angry.

“…What?”

Nobody expected me to say that, so even the knights around us—and Roer himself—looked stunned for a moment.

“Just like you said, the current state of our Holy Kingdom is close to the worst it’s ever been. His Holiness the Pope hasn’t shown himself in two years, and the high-ranking clergy beneath him keep making decisions for the powerful instead of for the weak, letting so many die.”

Just thinking about it makes me tremble with rage.

“The only ones truly suffering because of this are the sincere priests. Even the Saintess is aware of this.”

“Then why doesn’t she do anything about it?”

Roer seemed to think he found something to latch onto and immediately brought up Ariana, but I had an answer prepared.

“Because the Saintess alone isn’t enough.”

“Not enough…?”

Most of the knights seemed confused by the idea that Ariana wasn’t enough, so I kindly explained it to them.

“The power structure of the Holy Kingdom is divided among three people: His Holiness the Pope, the Saintess, and the Hero.”

The Pope is the actual leader and receives prophecies from the Goddess about the Hero and the Saintess.

The Saintess is like a celebrity, sent by the Goddess to aid humanity and deeply respected by everyone.

And the Hero is a tactical nuke, the final weapon, humanity’s last line of defense.

He is the strongest human sent by the Goddess to help mankind and is deployed in times of war, receiving both respect and fear.

And right now, the upper ranks are rotten because out of the three, the Pope has been missing for two years, and the Hero doesn’t know how bad things have gotten inside.

Once I explained that far, the knights seemed to understand the situation in the Holy Kingdom a bit better and nodded with serious expressions.

And what came next… were things I couldn’t say out loud, so I just thought them to myself.

‘Things will probably stay like this for a while.’

Considering that the current Hero is Luin, even if he realizes how rotten everything is, he’ll either leave it alone or worse, cooperate with it.

That means our only hope is with the missing Pope…

‘The Pope is currently locked in a fierce mental battle with the Succubus Queen.’

Later in the game, it’s revealed that the reason the Pope is missing is because he’s fighting a mental war with the Succubus Queen.

The Pope only returns after the protagonist Hero straightens out the Holy Kingdom and realizes what the Pope’s been fighting, then frees him.

In other words, for now, there’s nothing we can do.

‘It’d be great if that Luin guy reformed and saved the Pope… But that probably won’t happen, or it’ll take a long time, so it looks like it’ll be quite a while before the Holy Kingdom is set straight.’

While I stayed still, lost in those thoughts, Roer seemed to find my silence strange and picked another fight.

“Ha! So in the end, you’re saying it’s all because the Saintess isn’t enough?”

—Whoosh!

“What?!”

Roer gasped as he saw my shotel suddenly at his throat.

“You can insult me. You can even insult the upper ranks of the Holy Kingdom. But… if you dare to speak recklessly about the Saintess again, remember that my shotel will become the scythe of death and slice your neck. Since you’re a knight of the Empire, I’ll let it go this once. But there won’t be a second time.”

Roer opened and closed his mouth, trying to say something, but in the end, he turned red with frustration and stormed off.

“…Tch.”

So I’m a holy knight after all.

I never understood why holy knights in fantasy stories would fly into a rage like fanatics whenever the Saintess or Goddess was insulted, but just now, Roer’s words made me lose my grip on reason.

‘Restraint. More restraint…’

If I hadn’t barely managed to pull my shotel back just now, his neck might have been pierced clean through.

Of course, Roer’s a fairly skilled knight, so it wouldn’t have been an instant kill…

But even someone strong would die soon enough with a hole in their throat.

Today, instead of training my body, I figured it’d be better to go back and train my restraint through prayer and meditation.

“…Hmm.”

Unaware that a black-haired female knight had been watching me for some time.

“Ah, Ace! Were you out training?”

“Yes, Saintess.”

When I returned to my room after training, I ran into Ariana just as she was coming out.

It was the first time we’d run into each other like this without me guarding her since becoming her personal holy knight, so it felt a bit awkward…

“Then hurry and get ready! Let’s go eat dinner. His Majesty the Emperor has prepared a feast for us!”

A feast, huh…

“I’ll head there right away.”

I had just sworn to strengthen my self-control, but refusing the Emperor’s feast wouldn’t be proper either.

“Let’s go together. I’ll wait for you.”

“There’s no need for you to wait—”

“But if I don’t go with you, I lose my courage, you know?”

“…Understood.”

I finished getting ready at full speed.

***

“Wow… the food is so fancy…”

“Well, it is the Empire, and we are their guests, so that makes sense.”

As I watched Ariana’s eyes sparkle at the feast presented by the Emperor, a satisfied smile crept across my face.

‘At this timing…’

“We should share this delicious food with our holy knights too…”

‘Knew it.’

I figured she’d say that.

One of the attendants, hearing her, quickly reassured her that delicious food had also been served to the holy knights separately, and only then was Ariana able to sit down with her worries eased.

My seat was right next to hers.

Normally, I should’ve been standing behind her chair, continuing my duty as her guard, but once again, both Ariana and the Emperor insisted I sit.

I still can’t forget the look the Emperor gave me when Ariana asked for me to be treated as her equal.

That look in his eyes seemed to say, “Does someone like you even have that kind of worth?”

Sorry, Your Majesty—but honestly, I don’t know if I have that kind of worth either.

Anyway, time to stop getting lost in thoughts.

While sitting and waiting for the royal family members, I saw a tall woman approaching from afar.

Her long golden hair flowed like silk.

Her eyes, golden like the sun, gave off a sense of pressure just from being looked at.

Her appearance alone made her worthy of being called the Golden Rose of the Empire.

Her proud and commanding presence gave off the aura of a leopard, yet her beauty pierced through that pressure, leaving only the thought—“She’s beautiful.”

“Her Highness, First Imperial Princess Bellatrix Obellia, enters!”

Her name was Bellatrix Obellia.

She was Bellatrix Obellia, the “Imperial Princess Heroine” from the game.

—Click.

Clack.

Click.

Clack.

Overwhelmed by her presence, no one said a word, and only the sound of her heels echoed through the hall.

We finally spoke only after she sat down in the chair pulled out for her by a servant.

And even that was thanks to Bellatrix being the one to speak first.

“It is an honor to meet you, Saintess Ariana Astraea, the Goddess’s brightest star.”

“…Ah! It is an honor to meet Your Highness, Bellatrix Obellia, the Golden Rose of the Empire. May the Goddess’s blessing be upon you.”

Unlike the Emperor, who used pressure to dominate the atmosphere, Bellatrix didn’t seem to be trying to overwhelm us at all—her aura was commanding, but only because of her naturally regal bearing.

She simply spoke with a businesslike tone.

“First, I want to thank the Saintess for coming such a long way regarding the demon issue.”

“It’s okay. Saving people is the mission the Goddess gave us, so this is only natural.”

“Even so, the fact remains that you and your group came to help the citizens of our Empire, so offering thanks is the proper thing to do.”

“Ahaha… even so—”

As the conversation between Ariana and Bellatrix continued, I found myself blankly staring at Bellatrix.

Just like I felt with Ariana… these heroines really are on another level of beauty that ordinary people can’t reach.

If Ariana has the gentle beauty of a puppy, then Bellatrix has the elegant sharpness of a proud cat.

And while Ariana gives off the feeling of a childhood friend, Bellatrix is more of the mature older-sister type…

‘Oops.’

What am I even thinking?

Just seeing a new heroine made me so excited that my memories of playing the game started resurfacing without me realizing it.

I shook my head to clear away the random thoughts.

‘Hm?’

For some reason, Bellatrix was looking at me.

With eyes like a cat toying with a mouse.

‘What’s going on?’

I don’t think I did anything that would catch her attention…

And my question was quickly answered when Bellatrix made a certain proposal.

“Saintess, now that I think about it, I heard from the knights that your personal holy knight is quite skilled.”

“Ah, yes! Our Ace is really talented!”

Unaware of Bellatrix’s true intent, Ariana proudly spoke about my abilities.

And the more she did, the more it felt like Bellatrix’s eyes began to gleam.

‘Nah, it’s probably nothing…’

“Coincidentally, there’s someone I’ve had my eye on as a potential guard knight too…”

‘No way… she’s not going to say it, right?’

Unfortunately, her next words were exactly what I feared.

“How about a sparring match? It seems our side’s knight has taken a strong interest in Sir Ace and wants to test his skills.”

Looks like I’m about to meet another Heroine.