The Female Knight Who Holds An Emergency Meeting Every Time One Of Her Subordinates Goes On A Business Trip Is Way Too Cute

“Well, well… so all that happened while I was completely exhausted――this really was decided rather suddenly, wasn’t it?”

The next morning.

Mulberry had somehow recovered her strength and come to work as usual, so we told her what had happened the day before. Since I would temporarily be leaving the squad, I expected her eyes to widen in shock at the sudden news――but surprisingly, she listened to the explanation quite calmly.

“Y-You’re taking this awfully well, Mulberry.”

Karen-san looked bewildered by her reaction. Her expression practically said, “Huh? Am I actually the only one this shaken up?”

“Well, yes… as long as we belong to the Royal Capital Guard, minor reassignments and transfers between units are bound to happen sooner or later――and I myself am living proof of that.”

Just as she had transferred from White Cross to Black Hawk, members of the Royal Capital Guard frequently experienced changes in their environment to varying degrees, and whenever that happened, they were expected to adapt and work well at their new assignments.

“Still, being sent to another country certainly is surprising. And you’re being posted there with the status of a commander…”

“It’s a fast track to promotion. An exceptionally unusual one at that.”

Madeleine-san continued, agreeing with Mulberry’s words.

There was no officially published career path, but by custom, those seeking promotion within the Royal Capital Guard gradually rose through positions while transferring between different units, ultimately becoming squad captains or being promoted into the main Royal Guard unit where Erluka-sama served. Karen-san had become Black Hawk’s squad captain through that same process.

However, this order, which could essentially be called a solo overseas posting, was sending me to an allied foreign nation as a commander――though the word “acting” in the title was somewhat concerning.

If I was sent abroad and managed to produce visible results during that period, they could bypass the usual customs entirely and immediately appoint me to a position equal to or higher than squad captain. Age would not matter in the slightest.

So, to take it to the extreme, if I succeeded, someone my age could end up in a position overseeing other people.

But that exception was normally used to appoint exceptionally talented individuals recruited into the knight order from outside as commanders, not someone like me who had entered straight out of knight school as what you might call a fresh graduate.

That was why this was an exception among exceptions.

“Hey, Karen. Did you ask your father――the commander-in-chief――what he thinks about this?”

“Of course. I figured there was no way the commander-in-chief wasn’t involved in this personnel decision, so I asked him immediately.”

“And what did he say?”

“‘I approved Haru’s dispatch to an allied nation, but the request came from above, so there’s nothing I can say about it’――”

“Above” meant the main unit where Erluka-sama was.

Erluka-sama thought very highly of me――to the point where she had even started talking about becoming a second wife――so perhaps she had arranged this extraordinary posting in order to eventually promote me into the main unit.

But would the princess, who had said she would wholeheartedly support my relationship with Karen-san, really do something like that? Madeleine-san had been exceptionally appointed as Black Hawk’s deputy captain despite having no knight-order experience, even though she already had ample achievements as a mage, and Mulberry had been transferred despite having only recently joined the order. In truth, the princess’s influence had played a part in both of those decisions.

She had done so to ensure that there would always be people around who would accept me despite all the issues surrounding me――my inhumanly excessive abilities, the still-unsolved mystery of my birth, and everything else.

“…Well, I doubt we can overturn the decision at this point, so I suppose we’ll get the details directly from the princess on the morning of departure. That said, Karen――”

At that point, Madeleine-san’s sharp gaze turned toward Karen-san.

Karen-san noticed and blatantly looked away.

“Send everyone else back to work already!! Why did you call an 【emergency meeting】 without telling me!?”

That’s right. In fact, in addition to the four of us, every single knight belonging to Black Hawk had been gathered here, making the already cramped and stuffy quarters even more sweltering with body heat. There were even people who were constantly out on missions and made me think, “Wait, we had someone like that?”

An emergency meeting――it referred to gathering every squad member together whenever a serious problem arose within the unit in order to discuss and confirm future measures. Because it was convened under the captain’s authority, members had to return even if they were in the middle of an assignment. In other words, it was reserved for matters of the highest importance.

And Karen-san had used it, to put it simply, because one squad member was going on a business trip. I was happy that she cared about me that much, but even I thought she might have blown things a little too far out of proportion this time.

Calling everyone back from their assignments meant all the consequences afterward would fall on Madeleine-san, who effectively handled the squad’s operations, so it was only natural that she was furious.

“B-But! It’s Haru! Haru is going away!? He’s the first rookie we’ve had in ages who actually stayed with the squad, he’s basically Black Hawk’s mascot, and he handles almost as much work as I do! He’s someone we can’t afford to lose!?”

Viewed from that perspective, it certainly might have been a serious issue. There was no hope of getting replacement personnel, so all the work I had been doing would simply have to be divided among everyone else.

“I see. Everyone is already overloaded, and now their burden will increase even further――so I suppose there is some logic in explaining the situation to everyone beforehand so they’ll accept it. But what’s your real reason?”

“I want to do more couple-like things with Haru! I don’t want him to leave, so I was going to collect everyone’s signatures and submit a petition to the princess――huh!!??”

“How many times have I told you not to mix your personal life with your duties!!”

“Gwoah!!?”

The already-famous “Deputy Captain’s Fist of Rage (Captain Only)” landed squarely on Karen-san’s cheek, sending her flying all the way to the wall.

Karen-san had been effortlessly led by Madeleine-san’s questioning into blurting out her true feelings… wasn’t she just a little too easy to read? Then again, those occasional moments when she completely fell apart were unbelievably cute to me.

“Um, by the way, Haru――what kind of knight order are you actually being posted to? Since they’re suddenly giving a rookie the rank of commander, I assume it can’t be a particularly large country.”

“I still don’t know. Apparently, people from over there are supposed to come pick me up on the day I leave, though…”

This assignment truly had been full of unknowns from the very beginning. Normally, when someone was being posted to another country, they would be informed one or two months in advance to allow for preparations――so there was no denying how sudden this was.

Putting aside my anxiety about having this new life thrust upon me without warning, what worried me most was what would happen to my relationship with Karen-san.

My destination this time was on the opposite side from the northern continent where the royal capital was located, so naturally, we would not be able to meet easily.

A long-distance relationship――I only hoped we could make it work….

At that time, neither Karen-san nor I had any way of knowing about the enormous trouble we were about to become entangled in.