The Female Knight Who Was Too Adorable When She Got Jealous After Learning The Rookie Knight She Thought Was Just Like Her Was Surprisingly Popular

“Hey, Haru. Are you ready? It’s almost time for the meeting. Let’s go.”

“Yes, Captain.”

Early one morning at the beginning of the month, Karen-san took me to the grand conference room in the royal palace.

Today was the day of the quarterly meeting for the entire knight order—a gathering attended not only by the Royal Guard, headed by the king, but also by knights stationed throughout the various regions of the kingdom.

Because of that, the castle was even more crowded than usual.

“Hey, those two—”

“Yeah, black uniforms embroidered with gray hawks—”

“They’re Black Hawk, that bunch of battle-crazed monsters—”

As we walked past the crowd in the Royal Guard’s formal uniforms, I caught snippets like that from unfamiliar knights nearby.

“Captain, it seems like some pretty ridiculous rumors have gotten attached to us without our realizing it.”

It was true that the members of Black Hawk were all exceptionally skilled, but it wasn’t as though we charged onto battlefields screaming with bloodlust of our own accord. Every single one of us treasured our three daily meals above all else, and we counted down the days as we eagerly waited for that precious one day off each month, never knowing exactly when it would come.

We were ordinary human beings too, so I really wished people wouldn’t misunderstand us about that, but—

“…It merely means we’ve been doing that much work. As for embellishments like the ones we just heard, they cause us no particular inconvenience, so let people say whatever they want.”

Karen-san, however, showed no sign of caring about how others viewed her and strode confidently down the center of the corridor with a cool expression. As the commander of this so-called band of monsters, Karen-san was subjected to even more completely baseless rumors than low-ranking members like us, yet she remained unfazed and radiated the dignity befitting a knight captain.

Karen-san in work mode really was wonderful.

Before long, we opened the doors to the grand conference room, which was already packed with knights. Royal Guards like us, frontier knights, and even city guards—the representatives from each district were all waiting for the meeting to begin.

“Whew…”

At that moment, I heard Karen-san sigh beside me.

When I looked over, she was watching the knights chatting amongst themselves with an utterly fed-up expression.

“What’s wrong, Captain? You look a little gloomy.”

“! Ah, no… I’m simply not very good with gatherings like this.”

Perhaps embarrassed that I had noticed her unconscious reaction, Karen-san gave a slightly awkward smile and continued.

“I dislike pointless socializing. Admittedly, opportunities like this are rare, so I can understand wanting to reminisce with former classmates you haven’t seen in a long time. But to me, my old classmates were nothing but objects of hatred… Damn that sow, just hurry up and get divorced already…”

Ignoring the darkness that briefly leaked out of Karen-san at the end, I supposed that for a woman serving as a knight captain, being in a hall made up almost entirely of men had to make her feel incredibly out of place.

There was certainly no way the still-unmarried Karen-san had any male knights she was particularly close with.

“Well, I’m not very good with this sort of thing either. Graduating at the top of the class earned me plenty of resentment from others, so I hardly had any friends I could really trust…”

“! What? So you were the same after all!”

Karen-san unexpectedly latched onto my comment about having few friends.

She jumped on it so eagerly that it startled me a little.

“Madeleine is the only person I can truly call a friend… I hardly ever spoke properly with anyone else. Ah, just remembering all the shitty things that happened back then makes my skin crawl. There was my perverted homeroom teacher who stared all over my body just because I was a woman, that bottle-bottom-glasses freak obsessed with black magic, and those filthy sluts who talked like animals in heat about nothing except ‘I slept with that guy’ or ‘That vixen stole my boyfriend’… What the hell did those people think school was supposed to be?”

Karen-san began recounting memories of her pitch-black school days in a hushed voice at incredible speed.

I hadn’t exactly meant to ask for that much detail… but I felt as though I had caught a glimpse of why Karen-san had remained single all this time. Her unfortunate youth had probably shaped her into the person she was today.

“Haru, since you graduated at the top of your class too, you understand how I feel, don’t you? How foolish it is when people ignore their own incompetence, refuse to make any effort, and simply wallow in jealousy?”

“Huh? Y-Yeah, I suppose so—”

Overwhelmed by Karen-san’s intensity, I nodded simply to give her some kind of response, when the area behind me suddenly grew noisy.

“Ah, there you are, Haru!”

The owner of the voice was the young female knight I hadn’t seen since that wedding. Her trademark loosely curled blonde hair bounced softly around her.

Come to think of it, this girl belonged to White Cross. She had probably come here accompanying her captain, just like me. Um, her name was—her name…?

“It’s Mulberry!! Would you please remember it already!?”

Ah, right, Mulberry. My apologies. Why did I always forget this girl’s name? It really was strange.

“Honestly, ever since that day, I’ve been waiting for you to come visit me, with the finest tea leaves prepared and everything… Isn’t that right, Captain Karen?”

Mulberry suddenly addressed Karen-san.

The way she spoke made it sound almost as though Karen-san had visited her—

“Huh? Captain Karen, did you go see Mulberry afterward—to White Cross?”

“Hmm? Ah, yes. I didn’t have much time, so I only stopped by to greet her a few times. She is working hard as a knight just like me, so I offered her some advice as well.”

What? That was unfair. With me, all she ever did was beat me senseless under the pretense of “sword practice.” She had never given me anything resembling advice—and yet Mulberry got special treatment.

“Captain, giving Mulberry advice when you already have me… just what exactly were you thinking—”

At that moment, another voice called out from behind me.

This time, it came together with a soft, fluffy sensation.

“Yo, Haru~! You’re looking as listless as ever today. Cheer up a little. You can do whatever you want with my boobs if it’ll help~”

“That voice and that sensation… Maybe, you’re as energetic as ever.”

“Yep! Energy and boobs are basically the only things I’ve got going for me!”

The girl who leaped onto me, her short red hair and large breasts bouncing lightly, was named Maybe. Like Mulberry, she had been one of my classmates at knight school, and after graduation she had been assigned to a frontier knight order as a scout.

“And hey, Mulberry-san! ’Sup!”

“Wha—ah, y-y-y-yes, s-sup… to you too.”

Mulberry, who had been so energetic until then, suddenly shrank back when Maybe appeared.

Well, Maybe’s overwhelming friendliness could certainly be difficult for someone who hadn’t had many friends among our classmates.

“Man, ever since I heard you got assigned to Black Hawk, I’ve been waiting to see when overwork would finally make you depressed. But you’re surprisingly tough.”

“I suppose so. I think I’ll be fine for a while yet.”

At least as long as Karen-san was around.

“Well, I’m glad you’re doing okay. Anyway, I’m running out of time, so I’d better get going. Oh, and tell me whenever you decide to quit the knight order. I can support one person on my own, you know… There!”

“!!”

Just before leaving, Maybe moved quickly and kissed me on the cheek. Her face turning slightly red, she waved and disappeared into the crowd.

To her, it was merely a greeting, so I was already used to it, but the two women beside me looked utterly shocked.

“W-W-W-What in the world was that woman!? She suddenly pressed her breasts against a gentleman, and then she even kissed him before leaving… S-Someone like that is practically the living embodiment of a filthy slut!?”

Karen-san vigorously nodded along with Mulberry’s words.

“A filthy slut… She’s not like that. Though admittedly, she really did seem that way until a little while ago.”

One of Maybe’s good qualities was that she could speak casually with anyone, but that had also led to trouble involving relationships between boys and girls during our school days.

I happened to be the one who helped her and resolved the problem at the time, and ever since then, she had directed that kind of excessive affection exclusively toward me.

She had asked me to date her several times, and I had turned her down every time… but the fact that she refused to give up was becoming something of a headache.

And then, as if that weren’t enough—

“—Haru-sama!”

“!!”

A petite girl appeared before us almost immediately after Maybe left.

The instant they recognized her, Karen-san and Mulberry looked even more dumbfounded.

“P-P-P-Pri—”

“Princess…!?”

Exactly. Just as the two of them said, the person who immediately came over to me as though wagging an invisible tail the moment she spotted me was Erluka-sama, the only daughter of this kingdom’s king and queen. Her slight figure caused many people to mistake her for being younger, but she was actually the same age as Mulberry and me. She had properly attended knight school as well, and now worked in the department overseeing the entire Royal Guard.

“Oh, Karen, you were here too. Hello, Karen. It has been a while.”

“Y-Y-Y-Yes! Erluka-sama! I am delighted to see that you are in good health as well!”

Karen-san instantly stood rigidly at attention and saluted. From Karen-san’s perspective, Erluka-sama stood far, far above her—at the very pinnacle of the chain of command—so it was perfectly understandable that she would be nervous.

(…H-Hey, Haru! Why are you so close with the princess!? You were nothing more than an ordinary student, so how did you ever form a connection like that…?)

(Yes, I know it probably looks strange from the outside… but the princess actually attended school incognito.)

Because of her frail constitution and her social position, the princess had generally been educated privately rather than being assigned to a regular class. The school had asked me to act as a classmate of the same age and help her practice combat skills, magic, and the like. That was why she had become attached to me.

“This is the first time I have met Haru-sama while we were both serving as knights. Since there was a meeting today, I decided to wear my armor as well… but I still don’t quite feel accustomed to it.”

The princess’s personal armor, made from special steel, enchanted with magical effects, and adorned with dazzling decorations, was so splendid that it looked more like a dress than armor.

“That’s not true at all. It suits you very well, and you look adorable. I could almost mistake you for a fairy dancing before me.”

“My!”

At my words, the princess’s face rapidly turned red.

“Haru-sama called me adorable he said I was adorable which means I can interpret it that way yes that must absolutely be what he means there can be no other interpretation”

“Um, Princess…?”

“!? Ah, I-I’m sorry, Haru-sama. It was simply so sudden that I became flustered… Ah, um, I just remembered something I have to do, so please excuse me for now. S-See you again!”

With even her ears bright red, the princess hurried away from us like a storm while calling, “Grandfather, Grandfather!” for the elderly butler accompanying her.

I thought I heard her muttering something about preparations for a ceremony… but I decided not to think too deeply about that.

“Whew… This is exactly why I’m bad with gatherings like these… My usual workplace really is where I feel most at ease… Huh? Captain, what’s wrong?”

Once things had finally calmed down, I looked at Karen-san, only to find her glaring at me as though I were garbage.

Rather than sadistic, her expression looked downright destructive.

“What the hell? You said you barely had any friends, but you’ve got some slut and even the princess around you. So you were one of those popular bastards all along. Go die…”

“Huh?”

“…Hmph. It’s nothing. More importantly, how long do you intend to keep acting like a student, you useless fool? Sit down quietly. The meeting is about to begin. Mulberry, return to your post as well.”

“Y-Yes, Captain Karen… Then, if you’ll excuse me.”

Intimidated by Karen-san, who had instantly returned to her cold professional mode, Mulberry and I had no choice but to do exactly as instructed.

The meeting proceeded without incident afterward, and we made it through safely. However, between you and me, Karen-san remained visibly displeased with me for quite some time afterward, and it took several days before I managed to restore her mood to normal.