Chapter 8 TIKR Vol. 1 Chapter 2 Part 1

Chapter 2 – Service with the Sword -Fenrir-

Bright, warm sunlight streamed through the window.

Arl woke slowly, his ears tickled by the chirping of birds announcing the clear day.

“Nn… ngh…”

He slowly pushed his upper body up, emerging from the plush, soft bed. His sleepy gaze took in the room. From the carpet to the furnishings, everything was luxurious and refined, without being gaudy.

He didn’t recognize it. Arl tilted his head, his mind still fuzzy. He was not a morning person.

Just then, a sharp knock-knock-knock came from the door. “…Yeees…?” he mumbled sleepily.

A maid entered the room. Her hair was tied in two bunches that swayed like a dog’s ears as she bowed.

“Good morning, Master. How are you feeling?”

“Ah… fine, I guess? …Wait, Prima…?”

Prima positively beamed, her whole body seeming to vibrate with joy. “—Yes! It is Prima! Your personal maid!”

As he mumbled her name, Prima’s face lit up with a smile as bright as sunshine. She made a small, tight fist at her side and whispered, “Sleepy Master is just… the best…!”

Arl didn’t hear her.

“I will have breakfast prepared for you shortly. Please feel free to rest until then.”

“Mmm… thanks…”

“…T-Too cute…!” Arl gave a little wave, and Prima seemed to vibrate with emotion before executing a perfect bow and exiting the room.

Left alone, Arl’s fuzzy mind started to connect the dots. A luxurious room… a personal maid… This was…

“…’Master’?”

Suddenly, his situation came crashing back to him, and Arl felt his sleepiness vanish in an instant.

■

Time rewound to the previous night.

It was moments after the three leaders, lost in their own fantasies, had finally clashed.

Arl, who had knocked himself out on a wall in the ensuing chaos, woke to a cool sensation on his cheek. “…Oh, are you awake?”

A young woman was cupping his face in her hands. He could see his own reflection in her sharp, almost feline eyes. Her features were so perfectly beautiful they seemed cold, and her intense stare felt almost oppressive.

“—!?”

“Whoops, please don’t move. I haven’t finished my examination.”

Arl tensed, but with a hand near his neck, he couldn’t risk a sudden move. The strange girl continued to prod his face. He distantly registered that the cool touch was because she was wearing gloves. Finally, she seemed satisfied and let go.

“You’ve got a small bump, but nothing serious. My apologies, Senpai.”

“Huh? Ah… right…”

The immediate threat was gone, but Arl was confused. He had a built-in danger sense, an occupational hazard from his Knight days. Even if he was unconscious, the slightest hint of hostility would wake him instantly. And yet… he hadn’t woken up until she touched him.

He looked around. He was no longer in the ruined alley, but on a building’s rooftop. The sounds of gunfire and magic were still ringing out, so he wasn’t far. Putting it all together…

“…Did you rescue me?”

“If the three organizations had spotted you, it would have caused… an unnecessary incident. Besides, as an attendant, I couldn’t just leave my master lying out in the cold.”

She answered in a monotone. There were a few words in there he didn’t quite get, but Arl was more focused on her uniform. It was patterned in jade green and pure white—the two symbolic colors of the Eldstrom Empire. It was the mark of one who served in the Imperial Castle, worn only by a select few. The Imperial Guard.

Arl knew that uniform.

“…Kei?”

“—Yes. It has been a long time, Senpai.”

She placed her right hand on her hip and her left over her heart, bowing deeply. It was the Knight’s Salute, a gesture Arl knew well… His former kouhai, reunited after five years. Her face was sharper, more gallant than he remembered… and she was currently bawling, tears streaming down her face.

“Kei!?”

“My apologies. …Kkh. A five-year dose of ‘Senpai’ is… it’s a bit much for the brain. The potency is on another level…”

“Potency!?”

With a practiced, calm motion, Kei dabbed her eyes with a handkerchief. “It’s just the side effect of a sudden, massive injection of ‘Senpai-ium.’ Just joy being discharged. Please don’t mind me.”

“No, I definitely do mind…”

“More importantly, shouldn’t you be paying attention to other things?” Kei put her handkerchief away, planted her hands on her hips, and puffed out her chest, as if showing it off. His former junior knight… of course. The reason she was here…

“Senpai. Did you just think, ‘Wow, she’s still flat as a board after five years’?”

“I absolutely did not!?”

“Well, that’s just as insulting. Please pay more attention.” As Kei continued to thrust her chest out, Arl’s face twitched. He was starting to remember. “Come to think of it… you were always like this.”

“Her Highness said something similar once. ‘Hmm, perhaps your personalities are similar. You two would make a good couple’… is what I blurted out. I still regret it. This mouth is so infuriating. I should just bite my tongue off.”

“Stop it! Don’t do that!” It was genuinely terrifying how she could say such things with a completely straight face. “Good grief… Right. So, you were the guard behind Fina.”

“Oh, you noticed me?”

Arl thought back to the teahouse. He’d sensed a hidden guard near the princess, but…

 “Stealth is my specialty. But you’re just as sharp as ever, Senpai.”

“It was my specialty, too. I’d be pretty useless if I couldn’t spot you.”

“My mistake. As expected of the former 12th Seat of the Imperial Knights, ‘Scorpion Hunt.'” She let out a low whistle.

“You don’t have to… Hyuu… Never mind.” She clearly knew his past. “So, Kei, are you the ‘messenger’ Fina mentioned?”

“Yes. Her Highness has commanded me to assist you. She figured you might be… disoriented… after being away from the capital for so long.”

“What about protecting Fina?”

“Her Highness will be tied up with official duties for a while. As such, I was deemed the most appropriate person to assist. I’m aware of the entire situation. Why you’re back, the problem you need to solve, and…” She paused, looking out over the city as the aftershocks of the battle lit up the night. “…and that a pack of troublesome, unruly fanatics are causing you problems.”

“…You sound a little harsh.”

“As a model devotee, I find them detestable.” His junior’s… ideology… seemed to have gotten a lot stronger over the last five years. “What was that? Fawning all over you… ‘Master, Master’… It’s disgraceful. They need to learn some boundaries. If they get to act like that, then I should have been allowed to give you a little kiss on the cheek. I’m so jealous!”

“Wait, did you!?”

“I managed to restrain myself! It was agony…!” she hissed. She looked so genuinely devastated Arl had to look away.

“…R-Right, well, anyway…”

“Then next time, I’ll aim for the lips.”

“That’s not the point! …Kei, as you saw, those girls are… more intense than I expected.”

“Her Highness likely didn’t anticipate this, either. The original plan was simple: you’d take your place as Master, the friction would instantly dissolve, and then she could dump all of the capital’s internal affairs on you, too.”

“What a horrifying plan…” So Fina did know. “Did Fina… say anything else?”

“I have a direct message for you. Ahem. ‘I severely miscalculated their… passion. My bad. I’m going to be stuck for a while, so, as their Master, please stop them from destroying everything. You have to take responsibility for saving them! The rest is up to you! Thanks!’ …That’s what she said.”

“Finaaa!”

“Well,” Kei added, “they do seem like they’d literally level the entire country for you without batting an eye. And if the truth gets out that you’re the Master of all three… it probably won’t just be the capital.”

“Ugh.” He could picture it all too clearly. The blood drained from his face. “Why… why are they all like this? I just… saved them. Five years ago.”

“That’s… your problem, Senpai.” Kei gave him a deadpan, judgmental stare. “You’re so used to being the one serving that you have zero experience being on the receiving end. You have no idea what it’s like for the person who was saved… the one whose brain you completely short-circuited.”

“…?”

“Ugh, you really don’t get it, do you? This runs deep. You’re just a… a ‘knight-idiot.'”

“…Are you insulting me?”

“It’s a compliment. Mostly. It’s precisely because you’re such a knight-idiot that I want to serve you, too.” Kei knelt before him, this time in the full, formal salute of a knight.

“I will be your hands and feet, Senpai. As Her Highness’s personal guard, I am… versatile. Please, use me however you see fit to stop this rampage.”

“…Thank you, Kei. I appreciate it.”

“By the way… doesn’t the phrase ‘be your hands and feet’ sound a little… lewd?”

“…No.”

A cold night breeze brushed against Arl’s perfectly straight face.