When Five Humans Gather, There’s Always One Piece of Trash

After lunchtime ended, the academy schedule flew by in an instant.

The combat skills class after lunch ended simply with physical training and technique transmission, and there were no more classes after that.

Since it wasn’t a day for sword classes, there was no opportunity to introduce Morgan to the students, but I can introduce her right away during class time the day after tomorrow, which is the first day of sword class.

Anyway, perhaps because it was a class after a while, today ended in a flash, and around the time when the sun that had been hanging in the middle of the sky set once and rose again.

I was currently in a very awkward situation.

---

“…Damn it.”

“Sister… it suits you very well…”

Inside the temple full of priests and clergy. I pressed the bridge of my nose while chewing on curse words.

The reason I was muttering curses was none other than this dress I’m currently wearing.

A dress prepared directly by the Pope because it’s an occasion to meet the king.

Although the Pope had prepared a red-toned dress that was not flashy but simple and beautiful to match my personality, I had never thought of wearing a dress in the first place, so I couldn’t help but feel annoyed.

Next to me, Mu, wearing a deep blue-toned dress, complimented me while acting as Meiyel, conscious of the priests’ eyes, but it only made me feel worse.

“Don’t say it suits me, Meiyel. I’m in a very bad mood right now.”

“Yeah… but it’s true.”

“I told you not to.”

“Mmm…”

Mu hung her head dejectedly at my words.

It was quite cute since she was doing that in Meiyel’s form, so my mood improved a little, albeit slightly, from how bad it had been.

So I removed my hand from the bridge of my nose and looked at my reflection in the full-length mirror in front of me once again.

A woman with a cool-looking face and light red hair fluttering, but below that, a soft dress like silk draped down.

If my usual appearance looked like a ghost-like warrior, my current appearance looked like a single rose flower.

“It does suit me well…”

In other words, although I hate to admit it, it really does suit me well. Aria’s body was directly proving that the saying “the face is a clothes hanger” is not a lie, so how could I not admit it?

As I muttered this, Mu exclaimed “See?” and as I was about to give her head a whack, the Pope walked out between the priests and clergy.

“My, it really suits you so well! It was worth the trouble of procuring it!”

“Thank you. I express my gratitude.”

“Thank you… Pope…”

The Pope, who came out pushing aside the priests and clergy, praised us profusely for our appearance in dresses.

At the overwhelming praise, Mu and I gave light thanks.

Glancing behind, I could see Pina, Morgan, and Isolde mixed in among the group of priests and clergy.

Pina was looking at me and Meiyel with sparkling eyes, while Morgan and Isolde had slightly admiring looks, as if they didn’t know the dresses would suit us so well.

Somehow, my mood that had improved a little is getting worse again. Even so, these are avatars whose appearances I worked hard on, did they think they wouldn’t suit dresses?

The more I thought about it, the more I felt disrespected, so I twitched my brow, but barely ignoring their admiring expressions, I turned my head towards the Pope who was walking towards us.

The reason so many priests and clergy are gathered in the center of the temple like this is to greet us who will soon be heading to the royal palace.

Therefore, I wanted to ask the Pope things I could ask in advance before going to the royal palace.

“Before going to the royal palace, I’m asking just in case, but the king won’t do anything harmful to us, right?”

“Yes, of course. You don’t need to worry. I don’t know about other nobles, but at least His Majesty the King is undoubtedly a wise ruler. There’s absolutely no way he’ll do anything harmful. Moreover, you don’t need to pay much attention to etiquette. Even if you make mistakes, he’ll just laugh it off.”

“Phew… that’s a relief.”

I let out a sigh of relief that came naturally at the Pope’s confident words.

Since there was no direct meeting between the player character and the king in the game, and it was just recorded in the log as simple story dialogue, I was quite worried because I didn’t know the proper information about the king, but fortunately, it seemed the king was a saint like the Pope.

I was wondering what to do if the king made unreasonable requests like other nobles, but listening to the Pope’s words, it seemed that wouldn’t happen.

“Then, are there any nobles we should be cautious of?”

“Nobles to be cautious of…?”

At my following question, this time the Pope couldn’t answer immediately and closed his mouth for a moment, closing his eyes.

Probably recalling the numerous nobles he had seen, the Pope let out a long sigh and pondered. But that contemplation didn’t last long.

“I can’t say for certain… but it would be better to pay attention to the Imptia Ducal family. Although they’re one of the five pillars of the Kingdom of Puhara, they have bad rumors in many ways, so you should be cautious. The head of that family is a man with red slicked-back hair, so you’ll be able to recognize him right away when you see him.”

“The Imptia Ducal family, is it.”

A man with red slicked-back hair. After chewing on the Pope’s words for a moment and imprinting that information in my mind, I soon nodded and grabbed Mu’s shoulder.

“Thank you. I’ll remember that.”

“It’s nothing. It’s only natural.”

It was about time now, so it would be good to leave about 5 minutes early. I looked down at Mu, whose shoulder I had grabbed, and said:

“Meiyel, let’s go now. Open the door.”

“Okay… sister…”

『Gate』

At my words, Mu swings her staff.

Not the transfer magic usually used for movement, but magic that folds space itself to connect like a door, Gate.

The air shook as if creating a vortex in sync with Mu’s swung staff. And eventually, a vortex forming an oval shape.

Seeing the scenery of the royal palace connected beyond that vortex, Mu and I slowly moved our steps beyond the vortex.

“Then, we’ll be going.”

“We’ll be back…”

Of course, we didn’t forget to say goodbye to those who came to see us off.

---

On a day no different from usual when the sun shines equally on everything under the sky, the atmosphere of the Puhara Royal Palace was unusually heavy, unlike usual.

Although nothing had changed, neither the people in the palace, the buildings, nor even the flower garden and fountain in front of it, the atmosphere was weighing down the air heavily like cast iron.

Gulp…

And in that heavy air, a knight standing at attention holding a sword on the side of the road to the palace swallowed dry saliva with a tense face.

Although he was a knight belonging to the 1st Knight Order, said to be the pinnacle of the kingdom’s knight orders, he couldn’t hide his tense appearance.

The reason was a rumor that had been circulating in the knight order for days, guaranteed to be true.

The rumor that ‘monsters who destroyed the Sky Island are coming’ to this palace today.

On an ordinary day, it would have been a rumor dismissed as a joke, telling him not to talk nonsense, but as he had witnessed the scene of the Sky Island disappearing with his own eyes that day, he couldn’t deny it.

Although he saw it from afar, it was a Sky Island large enough to cover half the kingdom. How could he not have seen it clearly?

Of course, because he had seen it from so far away, he couldn’t see their faces, but that’s why the knight couldn’t help but be more tense.

‘Monsters who destroyed the Sky Island…!’

It’s something that could be said to be impossible for humans. Then who on earth are these beings who accomplished such an impossible feat!

It’s said that even Haran, the commander of the 1st Knight Order to which the knight belonged, could cut a huge rock cliff, but it would be absolutely impossible to destroy the Sky Island.

The Sky Island was so massive and enormous that it could be said that hundreds, thousands, tens of thousands of rock cliffs would have to be woven together to make the Sky Island.

Therefore, the knight standing at attention on the path where such monsters were coming was slightly trembling with curiosity while being tense at the thought of seeing these monsters directly with his own eyes.

No, it wasn’t just the knight himself, but his other comrades also showed similar appearances.

The knight inwardly breathed a sigh of relief at the sense of solidarity that it wasn’t just him, but the next moment, he straightened his back at Knight Commander Haran’s resounding shout.

“The distinguished guests are arriving!!! Everyone, salute!!!”

At those words, when he slightly rolled his eyeballs to look, a black hole had appeared next to Knight Commander Haran, who was standing at the very front of the road with his daughter.

And two pairs of feet coming out from there.

Seeing those feet, the knight raised his sword high in unison with his other comrades and simultaneously shouted in a loud voice:

“””May the blessings of the Kingdom of Puhara be with you!!!”””

“May the blessings of the Kingdom of Puhara be with you!”

After the knights’ shout, the knight commander and his daughter shouted with their hands behind their backs.

The knight desperately wanted to turn his eyes to see the monsters who had crossed that hole, but as a member of the knight order, he couldn’t carelessly turn his eyes during duty, especially during duty greeting distinguished guests.

Therefore, the knight, who was standing at attention with his sword in front, only pricked up his ears and focused on the conversation sounds coming from where the hole had been.

“Greetings, Lady Aria and Lady Meiyel. It’s an honor to meet you. I am Haran, the commander of the 1st Knight Order of the Kingdom of Puhara. And this is my daughter Arin. His Majesty the King is waiting. I will guide you, so please come with me.”

“Yes, thank you for your consideration.”

“Thank you for your consideration…”

A voice tinged with coldness and a voice with a slightly drawling tone answering Knight Commander Haran’s words.

Although there was nothing strange about their words themselves, the knight doubted his ears, wondering if he had just misheard.

If he hadn’t just misheard, those were women’s voices.

Of course, there are grown female knights, but he never imagined that the monster who was said to have cut the Sky Island would be a woman, so the knight hoped he had misheard.

However, as he saw two women passing by in front of him with the sound of footsteps, the knight opened his eyes wide.

Swoosh──

Two women walking by, each with light red hair and deep blue hair fluttering. And the aura of a warrior felt from the red-haired woman among them.

The knight, who tasted a fragment of that realm that was several times, no, tens of times higher than what he felt from Knight Commander Haran, unconsciously broke his posture and dropped his sword very slightly.

At that aura… he had no choice but to acknowledge that she was indeed a monster.

Although as a mere knight he couldn’t know the situation inside the palace, he could predict one thing.

That today’s meeting would certainly be imprinted on the minds of the high-ranking people.

---

As soon as I came out of the Gate, what I saw was the majestic appearance of the Puhara Royal Palace and a man wearing knight order armor standing right next to me. And a girl wearing the same armor as the man.

A girl with black hair and dark blue eyes shining, looking at me with a serious face unlike usual.

Well…

Yeah…

…Why is Arin here?