The Female Knight Who Became Unable To Live Without Me Was Just Too Cute

Now then, even after I restored Karen-san from her completely useless state, the training schedule was still only halfway through. Since those were the rules, I still had to spend another half month or so with White Cross.

After that, Karen-san must have really benefited from my little injection of fighting spirit—because ever since then, I hadn’t received a single SOS from Mulberry.

No news probably meant there were no problems. As they say, no news is good news.

“—All right, I need to work hard too so I don’t lose to Karen-san.”

After taking a breath and psyching myself up, I headed toward White Cross’s station, but the moment I entered the room, I found an unusually tense atmosphere hanging over the place.

“Good morning, Deputy Commander Sakumika.”

“Good morning, Haru-kun. Did you sleep well last night?”

Sakumika-san looked as gentle as ever. She didn’t seem tense at all.

“Thanks to you. More importantly, Deputy Commander, is something happening today? Everyone looks kind of on edge.”

“Ah—actually, we’re about to conduct an operation to wipe out a bandit group using the abandoned southern fort as their hideout. That’s why everyone is so tense.”

“Bandits…?”

Her explanation only made me tilt my head even further.

Since we were wiping out a bandit group, combat would probably be unavoidable, but bandits were still only bandits. There was an obvious difference in strength between them and us knights. If White Cross attacked all at once, we’d probably suppress them within a few dozen minutes.

Everyone should have understood that, so why were they all wearing such grim expressions?

“I suppose I’ll explain the details myself, Haru-kun.”

“—Commander. And…”

When I turned toward the voice behind me, I saw the Commander, and beside him—

“Princess?”

To my surprise, Erluka-sama, the daughter of this kingdom’s king, was there. She wore the same kind of armor she’d had on during the meeting, but this time she also wore a mantle signifying that she was the supreme commander. Like the armor, it was layered with magical formulas granting it extremely high resistance to both physical and magical attacks.

“Good day, Haru-sama. I’m so very happy to see you.”

“Why are you here too, Erluka-sama…? For a member of the royal family to personally come out here, what exactly is going on?”

“—They’re 【rogues】, Haru-kun.”

The Commander answered my question.

“Rogues” was a term used among us knights for former members of the Royal Guard who had been discharged or dismissed for some reason and later turned to mercenary work, particularly those who would accept any job as long as the money was good enough.

“According to information from the scouts we sent ahead, quite a few of them are apparently among the bandits we’re targeting this time.”

Bandits were one thing, but knights—and not merely one or two, but probably several groups of them. Since they had become mercenaries, they were probably highly experienced in real combat as well.

In that case, casualties on our side were certainly possible.

“Even if they’re former knights, they’re nothing more than thugs now. If the active knight order were to lose to people like them—it would be an unbearable humiliation for the kingdom. Therefore—”

“The main force of the Royal Guard will also participate, with me as supreme commander. Father kept saying something about making an ‘appeal’…”

The Princess’s father—in other words, the king of this country—probably intended to use this battle to demonstrate the strength of our knight order, led by Erluka-sama, who would likely stand at its head in the future, to the other nations.

It wasn’t unusual for the strength of the knight order to be used for political purposes.

“Um… Haru-sama, you will participate too, of course, won’t you? This is my first time commanding an operation on this scale… so if possible, I’d like you beside me, helping me.”

“Of course, Princess. If I’m good enough, you can ask me for anything.”

“My…! Anything, you say? Haru-sama, you mustn’t say something like that so suddenly. I’m not mentally prepared yet, and the preparations for the ceremony haven’t even—”

The Princess seemed to be spectacularly misunderstanding my willing response. What kind of ceremony was she planning to hold?

“…Princess, it’s almost time to deploy. I understand how you feel, but perhaps you should keep the teasing to a reasonable level.”

“Ah… yes, you’re right. My apologies, Gares.”

The Commander quietly whispered a warning into her ear, and the Princess suddenly came back to her senses.

“Please give the order to deploy, Princess.”

Erluka-sama nodded at the Commander’s instruction, immediately turned toward the assembled members, and raised the rapier hanging at her waist—her personal equipment—high into the air.

“Then let us go—for the kingdom, for its people, and for our pride… Victory!”

“””Victory!!!””””

And so, my first battle against human opponents since joining White Cross began—

But at the time, I never imagined that this battle, which everyone expected to end in an easy victory, would bring about a major change in the relationship between me and Karen-san, who wasn’t here with us.

The bandit group’s stronghold, centered around units of rogues, was located in a fort in the southern part of the kingdom near the border with another country.

It had been constructed back when we still had no alliance with that neighboring nation, and even after being abandoned and left without proper maintenance for several decades, it still stood firmly atop a low hill without collapsing.

“It’s quiet. It’s really hard to believe there are actually bandits in there.”

In situations like this, there would usually be several lookouts posted to warn those inside as soon as intruders approached, but right now, there wasn’t a single person visible either in front of the gate or atop the watchtowers inside the fort.

When I mentioned that to the girl from the reconnaissance unit beside me, she puffed out her cheeks so obviously that I could tell even through the gap beneath the hood pulled low over her face.

“Muuh, Haru, you don’t believe me? Even though we used to share such passionate feelings with each other.”

“I do remember us pledging our friendship to each other, Maybe.”

The girl was Maybe, one of my classmates from my days at knight school. She normally belonged to a different unit, but because of her exceptional abilities, she’d been temporarily attached to White Cross’s reconnaissance unit for this operation.

“Well, jokes aside… I’ll say it again. There should be more than a hundred bandits hiding inside that fort. They’re staying quiet right now without even posting lookouts, but apparently they’ve been doing whatever they please—stealing cargo from traveling merchants passing nearby, kidnapping female travelers, things like that.”

“—And among those hundred-plus bandits are more than a dozen former Royal Guard mercenaries—the 【rogues】.”

Maybe nodded firmly at my continuation.

“Hmm… if that’s the case, this might be a little troublesome…”

If they were attacking people who happened to pass nearby without posting lookouts, then there was a high chance they’d erected a barrier spell that detected intruders once they entered a certain radius around the fort.

Barrier magic was normally such large-scale magic that several mages had to work together to deploy it, and it generally wasn’t something used unless the situation was much larger in scale—such as during an actual war with another nation.

“Then does that mean there is someone exceptionally skilled among our enemies this time—is that what we should assume, Haru-sama?”

“That’s right, Princess. Which means carelessly moving forward from here wouldn’t be a particularly wise decision.”

It was only speculation, but there was a high chance this barrier had been deployed by a very small number of people—or perhaps even by a single person.

If the mage responsible was that skilled, there might also be other dangerous magical formulas set up in addition to the barrier.

“Then what do you intend to do? Surely you don’t mean for us to stand here and watch helplessly.”

“Of course not, Commander. That’s why I have an idea.”

Saying that, I stood up while holding the “personal equipment made specifically for me” that had been prepared this time through the Princess’s consideration.

“I’m going to head in there alone and have a little fight with the bandits.”

After ignoring the objections of the Princess, the Commander, Maybe, and the others and entering the fort by myself—

I was now locked alone inside a prison cell deep underground within the fort.

“—What an idiot. Charging in here alone because you were desperate for glory.”

The low-ranking guard looked down at me mockingly. My armor, which I’d been using ever since joining Black Hawk, and even the personal equipment the Princess had specially given me had been confiscated, leaving me completely unarmed.

Well, even I knew I’d done something pretty reckless this time, so I didn’t feel humiliated or anything.

“—What are you planning to do with me? Answer me, you pieces of trash.”

“You’ve got a smart mouth for a brat. Normally, we’d kill you right away, cut you apart, and sell off your eyes, heart, and whatever else we could get money for—but—”

“…Hey, mind if I interrupt?”

At that moment, another voice echoed through the underground chamber. Surprisingly, it was the clear voice of a woman.

“Boss, what is it? We haven’t finished preparing to interrogate this guy yet, have we?”

“…………”

The female mage didn’t answer the underling’s question. Keeping her eyes fixed on me, she slowly walked closer.

“Um… Boss? What did the other knights say—gueh!?”

“You’re not the one I want.”

The instant the woman’s eyes gave off a suspicious glow, the underling suddenly grabbed his throat and began choking.

Whether it was magic or some unique skill she possessed—I couldn’t tell, but either way, there was no doubt that she was dangerous.

“Hehe, finally, we’re alone, little knight. I’m Henri. Nice to meet you.”

Stepping over the underling, who had fallen to the floor with his eyes rolled back and foam bubbling from his mouth, the woman who introduced herself as Henri entered my cell.

She directed the same eerie gaze at me that she’d used on the underling.

“…Hmm, I thought so. It doesn’t seem to work on you. I looked at you even more intensely than I did him—but your resistance to mental interference is abnormally high too.”

“Um, you are…”

“Just call me Henri, boy. Normally, I kill everyone who casually uses my name, but you’re different. Because I like you.”

“I see…”

Henri-san removed her hood and exposed her face, her cheeks faintly flushed. The gaze she directed at me seemed rather heated as well—hmm, personally, I’d rather she didn’t take a liking to me.

“I thought I’d made that barrier pretty strong… yet you broke it apart all by yourself, and with a sword, of all things. You cut through every trap that activated too—just what are you?”

What I’d used was an anti-magic sword technique—in other words, a type of magical swordsmanship created purely to nullify magical effects. It was an original style I’d developed myself using ideas from magical texts I’d read in the past.

One of the two swords that made up the personal equipment Erluka-sama had given me turned out to be perfectly suited for using it, which was why I’d been allowed to take the lead and enter the fort first.

However, Henri-san’s barrier had been far stronger than expected, and breaking it had consumed a considerable amount of my mental energy, which was why I’d ultimately been captured. Without that, I probably could have suppressed the entire fort by myself.

“Henri-san, please give up. Once they realize the barrier has been broken, the main force of the knight order will come rushing in. No matter how strong you are, you can’t possibly defeat the main force of the Royal Guard, including the Princess.”

“Yes, you’re right. I was thinking the same thing, so I was actually just about to get out of here. I’ll use the remaining bandits as cover.”

“Huh?”

Henri-san’s unexpected answer surprised me a little. Normally, someone in this situation would put up at least some resistance. She really knew when to give up.

“Bandits make cowardice their creed, so there’s no way I’m fighting the knight order head-on. If things start looking bad, you run immediately—that’s always the best choice. I won’t get paid anymore, though.”

I still didn’t know Henri-san’s background, but judging from her magical ability, she was clearly highly talented. Her way of thinking seemed a little—or rather, extremely—self-centered, but if someone like this could be used properly, the knight order’s overall strength would become much greater.

“Well, still? I found something much better than money. So I figure I’ll call it even with that this time.”

That “something” was probably me.

Otherwise, someone who was about to escape wouldn’t deliberately come down into an underground prison with no easy route of retreat.

An enormous amount of magic power, sinister enough to be called ominous, once again gathered in Henri-san’s eyes as she looked at me.

“Boy—come with me. You’re going to quit being a knight, stand beside me, and devote yourself to me from now on—”

“Ugh…!”

The instant her pupils suddenly widened, my entire field of vision warped violently. I couldn’t even look away from Henri-san’s eyes, and it felt as though my entire body had been taken under her control.

“You can’t resist, can you? My eyes are a little unusual… I was born with an extraordinary amount of magical power. Other people in my line of work call them something like 【Mystic Eyes】.”

I regularly trained myself to resist magic such as suggestion and hypnosis, and my natural resistance was already high, but the power Henri-san was pouring into her eyes was on a completely different level. If she wanted to, she might even be able to kill someone with that alone.

“Ugh… ah…”

“It’s all right, there’s no need to be afraid. After all, you’re my favorite. I’ll keep you very, very carefully and raise you properly. Now, come here—”

“Henri… san…”

Unable to think about anything, I simply began reaching toward the hand Henri-san held out to me, just as she ordered.

Even though I had fellow knights like Mulberry, Maybe, and Erluka-sama.

And even though I had Karen-san, whom I loved so much—

“Fall, fall, fall. Fall into my hands right now. Become mine and mine alone—!”

Just as the light in Henri-san’s Mystic Eyes intensified further in an attempt to completely ensnare me—

“—GET OOOOOOUT OF THE WAAAAAAAAAY!!!!”

A violent roar echoed all the way down underground, followed by an impact that shook the entire prison.

There was no way I could ever forget that voice. It belonged to a mature woman who had probably stormed in here alone as well in order to save me—

“Tch, that was fast. But you’re just a tiny bit too late. I don’t know who you are, but your precious friend now belongs to me—”

At that moment, Henri-san finally noticed something was wrong.

“—And just who exactly is going to belong to you? Tell me, Henri-san.”

“Huh…?”

The positions of me, the captive kneeling on the floor, and Henri-san, who had been looking down at me—had somehow reversed without her noticing.

“Hmm, looks like I really can’t bring out my full strength anymore unless Karen-san is nearby… Maybe I’ve become unable to live without Karen-san too?”

“Impossible, when did you…!? What did you—”

“I didn’t do anything special, you know? I just sent the powerful suggestion you used on me right back at you.”

Apparently, it was a skill called Magic Reflection, but using it was quite difficult. After all, even I couldn’t use it unless I brought out my 【full strength】.

“Oh… boy, you really are wonderful. Truly, wonderfully amazing…!”

Still kneeling before me, Henri-san stared up at me with an ecstatic expression. Apparently, I’d grabbed hold of some dangerous part of her personality that should never have been touched.

“—Where are you!? Haru, where are you!? Answer me, Haru!!”

“Hmm, it looks like this is my complete defeat. Oh well, I suppose I’ll excuse myself for today.”

As Karen-san’s voice grew steadily closer, Henri-san apparently admitted defeat, closed her eyes, and stood up. Since it was a reflection, naturally, once the original caster released her spell, its effects disappeared automatically as well.

“You never need to come back again.”

“I’m afraid I can’t agree to that. After all, boy, you’re my favorite.”

With a quiet giggle, Henri-san pulled the hood of her magical robe low over her head again and deployed a magic circle beneath her feet. Teleportation—yet another advanced spell. Apparently, capturing Henri-san wasn’t going to be easy. I considered chasing her, but I’d once again used a lot of power to defend myself against her Mystic Eyes. My body really had terrible fuel efficiency.

“Hey, boy. Before I go, would you tell me your name? I gave you mine, so you can at least do that much, can’t you?”

“Haru—I’m Haru of the Fourth Knight Squad, 【Black Hawk】, of the Royal Capital Guard. Feel free to forget it.”

“I’m afraid I can’t agree to that either. Haru of Black Hawk—I’ll remember that name and face very carefully. Well then, let’s meet again soon. We definitely will.”

“Absolutely. Not.”

I stuck my tongue out at her as far as I could in refusal.

Henri-san smiled silently at the sight of me, winked one of her narrow eyes while her Mystic Eyes were inactive, and in the next instant, her entire body transformed into particles of light and vanished without a trace.

She was an extremely beautiful woman—and probably around the same age as Karen-san—but I wanted absolutely nothing to do with someone like that.

“—Haru!”

At the exact moment Henri-san vanished, Karen-san burst into the underground prison as though taking her place. She must have forced her way in recklessly, because there were several scratches across her armor. Knowing Karen-san, she’d probably fought all the bandits and former knights waiting throughout the fort at once.

And she’d defeated every last one of them before coming here to save me.

“Haru, are you all right!?”

“Yes, Captain. As you can see. I’m exhausted because I used a little too much power, but—whoa!?”

Before I could finish saying that I was unharmed, Karen-san wrapped her body, which was a size larger than mine, tightly around me in a full-force embrace.

So tightly that my entire body practically creaked under the pressure.

“You idiot…! You’ve made me worry unnecessarily again… I couldn’t stop thinking about what I’d do if you died… that was all that kept going through my head…”

Karen-san whispered those frail words beside my ear. Her body trembled faintly, and every so often, I could hear what sounded like her sniffling.

“Captain… are you crying?”

“Ugh…! I-Idiot, of course I’m not! I just fought more than a dozen knights upstairs in one huge brawl, so I don’t have much strength left and I’m trembling, that’s all.”

Karen-san was as stubbornly dishonest as ever. Anyone could see she was crying, but she absolutely refused to admit it—and yet right now, I found that side of her incredibly precious.

(I’m sorry, Karen-san. I promised myself I would never do anything that would make you sad, but I broke that promise.)

—Next time, next time for sure, I’ll make absolutely certain nothing like that ever happens again.

As I remained in Karen-san’s comfortable yet slightly painful embrace for a while, I silently renewed that vow to myself.