Though the night had deepened, sleep was out of the question.
It had already been hours since she had lain down on the soft bed, yet her eyes were still wide open.
A luxurious bed, a soft blanket.
And the Royal Knights uniform was neatly folded and held tight in her arms.
‘……Am I really a Royal Knight?’
In the end, she turned onto her side and picked up the plaque on the nightstand once more.
The small plaque glittering gold was proof that she was a member of the Royal Knights.
It was the emblem of the Royal Knights, engraved with a golden lion.
“Hehe…….”
Every time she looked at it, a smile came to her face on its own.
She had succeeded in joining the Royal Knights through her own power, without help from Hio or Silbert.
Of course, she could not deny that she had been terribly lucky.
Meeting Vitalianus alone at such a late hour had been a miracle in itself, and despite exchanging only a few words, he had agreed so readily.
She had not gone through any particular test or proof of ability.
Then what on earth had he seen in her to admit her into the Royal Knights, the greatest order of knights…… Putting that aside, for now, she was simply in an exceedingly good mood.
Because it felt as though it truly was not far off now.
The place where he was, a place she had only ever been able to hear about through rumors from afar.
It felt as though she had finally set foot on that main stage.
The whole day had passed in a blur.
She had been issued her uniform, training clothes, and other knight attire, and all of her equipment and auxiliary weapons had been replaced with gear exclusive to the Royal Knights.
The Academy’s equipment had been decent in its own way, but everything here was of such high quality that comparison was impossible.
After changing out her gear like that, she had exchanged greetings with the members—in other words, her seniors in the order—and had been told the rules and such.
Rather than rules within the order, most of them were closer to guidelines that had to be observed within the imperial palace, and the order’s own internal regulations were not particularly strict.
They said it was because, since they carried out only the emperor’s commands as their utmost priority, it was difficult to predict what sort of missions they would be assigned, and there were many cases where they had to act on their own initiative.
However, unexpectedly, she had to pay attention to dignity and conduct.
Since they bore the name of the “Emperor’s Knights,” they had to possess a dignity befitting it.
So she would have to work even harder from now on.
If only to avoid tarnishing the honor of Sword Saint Vitalianus, who had trusted her and brought her here.
And for her own goal as well.
‘The seniors were incredibly strong too.’
She could not even begin to measure the martial strength of each and every one of them.
Of course, she had not sparred with them or anything, but even when they were standing still, she could feel that unique composure of the strong and the dignity of the Royal Knights.
‘I’ll soon…….’
She, too, would learn their composure and dignity and become a proud Royal Knight in her own right.
By the time that happened, perhaps she might be able to stand proudly at Hio’s side.
“So I need to hurry up and sleep.”
She planned to go to sleep quickly, wake up quickly, and head to the training grounds from dawn.
Just that thought alone made her heart thump pleasantly, but she still had to force herself to sleep.
And so she lay flat on her back again and closed her eyes.
With the golden plaque and the Royal Knights uniform held tightly in her arms.
* * *
In the end, Claire woke up after only a few hours of sleep.
But her condition was at its best.
So she quickly changed into her new training clothes and set out for the exclusive training grounds.
A white training uniform made of soft, well-ventilated fabric.
It fit her body perfectly, and the sleeves and pant legs were roomy enough that it felt as comfortable as wearing nothing at all.
A large golden lion was emblazoned on the back, and over it flowed Claire’s red hair.
Her steps were vigorous.
When she arrived at the training grounds along with the chilly dawn air, there were already people there.
“Oh, rookie! Why are you out so early? You should rest a bit until you get used to things.”
The first to wave cheerfully at Claire was the Royal Knight, Damon Liefte.
With brown hair and a mischievous face, he was someone Claire had already met before.
Had Claire not briefly encountered the Royal Knights who were chasing after the Sword Saint during Black Fang’s attack on Imenia?
The one who had asked her for directions back then had been Damon, and that very brief connection from that day had led to this.
“No, sir! I’ll train hard too, so I won’t be a burden to my seniors!”
“Hahaha! Good, good. How reassuring! I can see why the commander brought you in.”
At the training grounds were not only Damon, but all five Royal Knights, including Melissa and Mathis.
Despite it being early dawn, Claire had in fact come the latest.
However, the others did not pay much attention to Claire, and only Melissa gave a faint smirk at Claire’s spirited words.
“You’re amazing, seniors! Even though you’re so incredibly strong, you’re training from so early in the morning…… I respect you!”
“Ah, well, this is our mission.”
“Pardon? Our mission?”
“Yeah. For the time being, we probably won’t be carrying out any other missions. Simply becoming stronger. That’s the only mission we can perform right now, and the best one too.”
At Damon’s words, confusion appeared on Claire’s face.
Waking up at the crack of dawn to train was a mission? When she thought of a mission for the Royal Knights, she had assumed it would be something weightier and tremendously important……
Now that she thought about it, she had not been told what kind of daily schedule she would have.
As if he had read Claire’s expression, Damon smiled faintly.
“That passion of yours to grow stronger—never lose it. I’m telling you, don’t give up.”
“Yes, sir! I will never give up!”
“Hahaha! Good. A few guys already had their spirits broken and left the order. That’s why there are only five of us now. Oh, now that you’re here, I guess it’s six?”
Those words came as quite a shock to Claire.
She had thought it strange that there seemed to be far too few people, but to think they had left the Royal Knights…… Why on earth?
The Royal Knights were the most honorable order of knights, admired and respected by all. The most prestigious and powerful armed group in the empire.
Then what reason could there possibly be for someone to leave such an order of their own accord…… That question showed plainly on Claire’s face, but she could not bring herself to ask.
At that, a trace of bitterness passed over Damon’s face.
“They hit a wall. Guys who had never known fear met a real wall and gave up.”
It was not that he could not understand the ones who had left the order.
From here on was a battlefield of true monsters.
What could he possibly do there? Surely there was no one who had never had such doubts.
It was just that those who remained had concluded they would clash against it anyway, while those who left had concluded they would rather do something else they could actually accomplish.
So even if it was bitter, it could not be helped.
“Aren’t the Royal Knights the strongest……?”
But Claire’s innocent words soon blew that bitterness away.
“Hahaha! There was a time when I thought I was strong too. But I’m still nowhere near enough. Above the sky, there was another sky. And there are monsters even that sky is wary of.”
“But you’re incredibly strong too, senior!”
“……Yeah. That gives me strength! I feel like I can get even stronger!”
Antiphus Praman, who had toyed with him as easily as if he were a child.
The mage Hio Pavlenko, who had turned a hell filled with thousands upon tens of thousands of monsters into a mere tourist spot.
Vitalianus Mahel, who had leisurely driven back a Death Knight with such a presence it was enough to make one’s spirit shrink.
And would that really be all?
He now knew that somewhere in the world, there were surely powerful beings hidden away who were no less formidable.
And from here on, it would be the stage of such heavens beyond heavens.
A perilous battlefield that even such beings regarded with extreme caution.
“So for now, don’t think about anything else and focus only on getting stronger. You’ll find out soon enough anyway, since there isn’t much time left. Well, I’m not sure whether they’ll take you along too.”
“……Yes, sir!”
Because she had a rough guess as to what Damon was talking about, Claire nodded solemnly.
The Saint of Black Wings, the expeditionary force. The inside of the black Gate where such rumors were circulating. He was probably talking about that place.
Just how great was it, for Damon—already renowned as a Royal Knight—to speak that way?
“So, how well can you handle a sword?”
Whatever the case, now was the time to focus on training, just as Damon had said.
She had to get stronger as quickly as possible. She had to become someone worthy of the Royal Knights.
“I learned dagger arts at the Academy!”
Claire spoke boldly as she drew the new dagger at her waist.
Damon grinned and picked up a short wooden sword lying nearby.
“Good. I’ll take a look at that for you. As for anything skill-related, see that blue-haired woman over there pretending very hard not to be interested? Melissa’s the expert, so go ask her.”
“Yes, sir! Thank you!”
At Damon’s words, Melissa, who had been pretending otherwise while her ears perked up, whipped her head around and glared at him, but Damon was already correcting Claire’s stance.
“Hmm…… It’s not bad, but it’s too formal. It’s obvious you don’t have real combat experience.”
“Yes, sir!”
It was that very afternoon that they, who had been absorbed in training like that, were summoned by Vitalianus.
There was likely no one who could not guess why he had called them.
Because the time had come.
For the even deeper abyss.
For the 53rd floor of the Abyss to open.
* * *
Inside the dark house.
In the quiet interior, Ailights grinned to herself.
“Hehe.”
In her hand was a wooden sign.
〔Ailights and Hio’s Newlywed Home♥〕
This was already her fourth attempt.
Starting with the entrance, she had secretly hung or stuck it on the wall beside it, behind the door, on the ceiling, and so on, but every time, Hio had found it like a ghost and snapped it in half.
But as if Ailights would be discouraged by something like that.
She immediately made another sign and was looking for a place to put it.
Like that, she came down to the first floor and looked around the house.
“Hm?”
Wasn’t one of the doors slightly open?
“Hio?”
It was Hio’s room.
Hio, who had gone down to the basement to research magic and rarely came up except to eat, even often sleeping underground, seemed to be trying to sleep in his room for the first time in a while.
“Hehe.”
Naturally, Ailights rose onto her tiptoes.
She crept up to the door and, when she peeked her head through the slightly open gap, she saw it.
Hio, sleeping as peacefully as could be.
“Hup!”
Without realizing it, Ailights covered her mouth with both hands.
“My goodness…… He’s too cute……!”
It was truly a rare sight, difficult to see.
Hio, fast asleep.
Thinking this might be an opportunity that would never come again, Ailights quickly opened the point shop and purchased a recording stone.
And an absolute top-grade one at that. Then she entered the room and captured Hio’s sleeping face.
With her left hand still covering her mouth, and with the sweetest gaze in the world.
Despite moving so actively, there was almost no sound or spreading presence.
The body of an elf moving with intent was capable of such a thing.
How long passed like that?
After sitting beside the bed for a long while and staring intently at Hio, the recording stone in Ailights’ hand slowly lowered.
She had realized that something was strange.
No matter how stealthily she had moved, and even if Hio was asleep, there was no way he would fail to react to this much.
And yet, the fact that he was still in such a deep sleep meant he had been pushed that close to his limit.
It meant this must have been a resting place he had chosen with difficulty after being worn down to exhaustion.
And so she simply tucked the recording stone she had bought by scraping together the few points she had left into her bosom.
“……Hio.”
Hio’s hair, which she carefully brushed up, had become rougher than before.
If she looked closely, there were unseen wounds here and there on his face and body.
It was probably because of magic.
She remembered the explosions that had gone off with booming crashes at all hours, ever since he began researching something called divine magic or whatever.
She knew the sight of him smiling awkwardly and saying, “Ah, I failed,” before trying again as if nothing had happened.
The person called the Supreme Heavenly Demon, whom everyone admired and feared at the same time, was in truth a terribly hard worker.
He researched all day while barely sleeping.
Because he threw his own body into practice and challenges, he could stand tall at the summit as everyone’s hope.
Even if no one else in the world knew, she knew now.
She could roughly guess what he was working so hard for, too.
It was obvious. Some trivial promise he had made to himself, no doubt.
Because he was a man who always created greatness out of such trivial things.
“……I want to help him.”
The hand that had been stroking her hair came down and brushed over Hio’s cheek.
It was quite dry.
Airaits was strong.
Together with her existing skill, “Charm,” she could still use the newly acquired power of petrification, her physical stats that had risen beyond their limits, and even the system available to possessors.
If one excluded monsters like Antiphus, it would be hard to find anyone capable of harming Airaits. That was how strong she was.
But with only this much, she was of no help to Hio at all.
Hadn’t that truly been the case all along?
What help had she been?
In Hiberunia, on the 52nd floor of the Abyss, what had she done?
Nothing.
She had merely stayed by his side.
And when she did, Hio solved everything, just as he always did.
It couldn’t go on like this. It mustn’t.
She had to become stronger.
“But I can’t go back to how I was before.”
To become stronger, she fundamentally needed to earn fame points, and the surest method for doing so was to make use of her Charm.
But Hio did not want that.
Then she would not do it.
So what was left?
“There’s a limit to getting stronger by using the system, huh…….”
Those were the words Hio had told her.
Using the system to gain fame points, then evolving skills with them to become stronger, inevitably had its limits.
In the end, it meant that she herself had to become strong.
Knowing that, Antiphus had chosen the sword.
Hio had chosen magic.
But she could not learn magic.
Hadn’t she once asked Hio to teach her out of curiosity, only to feel the limits of her talent?
Moving mana and doing this and that with it…….
She could say with certainty that reaching Hio’s level would take not just decades, but more.
Nor could she learn the sword instead.
Thanks to her stats, her stamina, agility, and strength were excellent, but she had never held a sword in her entire life. Even if she learned swordsmanship, there was no way she could handle aura and grow to the level of a knight overnight.
Airaits was a realistic person.
She had to find what she could do best.
If so, only one thing came to mind.
Skills.
The residents of this place developed their skills on their own, without the help of the system.
She had never once thought about the principles behind it.
As long as she had fame points, click—she could evolve them.
‘If I evolve my Charm skill to the highest level without fame points…….’
If she could find a clue to its principles and applications, wouldn’t she be able to grow rapidly enough to be of help to Hio?
It was not entirely baseless confidence.
After all, Airaits knew one person who had handled skills better than anyone else in this world.
She had often watched up close as he used and applied his skill.
The one who had perfectly assimilated with a mere skill, Black Mist, and become the black mist itself: Ataolf.
The strongest being in the world, whom Hio had said he ultimately would not have been able to catch had he not chosen death himself.
If she could become like him…… she would surely be of tremendous help.
“Hio will see me in a new light, too.”
Perhaps Hio might even fall for her once he saw how amazing she was.
“Heeheehee.”
The image of Ataolf freely wielding the terrifying black mist overlapped with her own.
She would scatter crimson energy everywhere, enemies would collapse in droves, and Hio would cheer at the sight until, in the end, he would come up from behind, hug her tightly, and confess that he loved her…….
“Eek!”
Letting out a small scream, Airaits cupped her cheeks and, embarrassed, burrowed into the arms of the sleeping Hio.
She rested her head on his shoulder and nestled deep into his embrace.
“Hio…….”
The embrace she had entered after so long was as warm as ever.
So warm that she never wanted to leave it for the rest of her life.