16 — 15. Tourney Of Champions Day

The following Monday, Reet headed toward the training grounds located outside the palace.

Today, the Tourney of Champions for young knights would be held.

A total of thirty knights participated in the event, and all newly appointed knights of the year would gather in one place.

“Good morning, Reet. Are you fully prepared?”

As Reet made his way to the waiting room, Iris called out to him.

“Good morning, Your Highness. Well, I’d say the preparations are coming along…”

To be honest, since this wasn’t the kind of exam that tested knowledge, Reet had no idea what he was supposed to prepare for. So for the past three days, he’d simply spent his time practicing swordwork as usual.

“You must finish first. Otherwise, my reputation will suffer for appointing you to Seventh Rank.”

Iris tapped his shoulder as she said this.

Being told that a princess of the realm had her reputation on the line was quite the pressure.

“Y-Yes… I’ll do my best.”

As Reet was speaking with the princess, a familiar face caught his eye.

Sara.

His childhood friend Sara.

“Reet…! A-And Your Highness!?”

Sara had spotted her childhood friend first, but immediately noticed the princess standing beside him and faltered.

“Oh, Sara! Good morning,” Reet greeted.

“Good morning, Your Highness,” Sara replied.

Reet was somewhat surprised that Iris and Sara knew each other.

“You know her, Your Highness?” Reet asked.

Iris answered his question. “Of course. I heard that a Holy Knight was assigned to the Central Knight Order this year. I made a point to greet her, planning to recruit her to the palace guard eventually.”

The Central Knight Order was the unit protecting the royal capital and the main force of the Lorence Kingdom.

Unlike the palace guard, which served as the royal family’s escort and handled special duties, the Central Knight Order’s role was to serve as the kingdom’s primary force, operating in various locations.

As it happened, Reet’s half-brother Kait had been assigned to the Eastern Knight Order, which defended the frontier.

The personnel assignment had been made with the consideration of preventing any single knight order from monopolizing such a precious talent as a Holy Knight Class holder.

“Your Highness, how do you know Reet?” Sara then asked, curious about the relationship between Iris and Reet.

“Reet was none other than personally recruited into the palace guard by me. I witnessed his talent firsthand during the examination. It was love at first sight,” answered Princess Iris with a proud laugh.

Reet became a palace guard knight!? That’s wonderful!

When Sara heard that Reet had become a palace guard knight, she rejoiced as if it were her own accomplishment.

Reet thanked Sara for it.

“It was only possible because you shared your power with me. Thank you.”

That was no exaggeration—it was the simple truth.

If Reet hadn’t received the Holy Knight Skills from Sara, he would never have passed the recruitment examination.

“By the way, what is the nature of your relationship?” the princess then asked, curious about the connection between Sara and Reet.

“We’re childhood friends,” Sara answered with a bright smile.

“I see. So you’re old acquaintances, then,” the princess said, glancing back and forth between Reet and Sara.

And then she dropped an absolutely shocking bombshell.

“This is just a woman’s intuition, but… do you perhaps have feelings for Reet?”

At those sudden words, Sara’s face turned bright red.

“I-I don’t…”

Seeing her reaction, Iris laughed.

“That’s right, isn’t it!”

Reet’s heart raced at such a direct statement, but after thinking it over calmly, he concluded that the princess must be joking.

Iris then tapped Sara’s shoulder.

“Then we are rivals!”

The princess threw yet another bombshell.

“R-Rivals!?”

“If you want to work alongside Reet, then win this tournament and advance to Seventh Rank to join the palace guard. Then you can work with Reet every day. Doesn’t that sound good?”

“……”

“……”

Neither Reet nor Sara knew how to respond. They couldn’t even look at each other and simply stared down at the ground.

Only Iris laughed without reading the mood at all.