CH extra 38

People tended to be quite distrustful. When they were faced with a truth that they couldn’t comprehend, they became suspicious first. It was impossible for everyone to believe that the rumored newbie was that small little girl, so all of the knights tried to figure out how that could work.

There was nothing in her appearance that proved her skills as a knight, so they thought it was because of her magic and wanted to check. Usually, magic skills tended to be based on inherent magic, so they would be able to figure out her skills by checking how much magic she had.

They were basically sure that she wasn’t a knight. She was probably a magician who knew how to use a sword, right? They all deflated. How could she come in just because of her magic? The high and mighty knights of the 1st order didn’t have a good image of magicians. Weak, nerdy little things that carried around books their weight. They looked like nerds that just made household appliances and utility-based items.

She looked just like one. Even though her toned body proved that she used a sword, it didn’t seem toned enough for a knight.

“I don’t really get why we’re measuring my magic, but it seems like you’ll be even more apprehensive if I don’t. Understood.”

If she was someone like the DuBois heir who possessed an incredible amount of magic, then they were willing to accept her even without her proving her swordsmanship skills. To be honest, they were already displeased–how strong could a woman be? Did they have to accept her into the 1st order? They could’ve just sent her to the 3rd. To be honest, no matter how strong female knights were, they were all assumed to be weak and were generally sent to the 3rd order.

That was one of the reasons why Hylli had so fervently fought for the new exam method. Thanks to that, Shuraina was successfully placed into the 1st order.

If every bit of information about her had been provided to the examiners, it was obvious that her skills wouldn’t be able to shine under her various circumstances. The highest order she would’ve been able to join was the 2nd.

Shuraina followed the others and entered the door in the back of the training hall. When she entered, she saw that a variety of measuring equipment was prepared. Out of all of them, one knight took out a long rope with stones embedded into them and stood awkwardly in front of Shuraina.

“Give it. I’ll do it myself.”

Shuraina took the rope and wrapped it around her waist. Both auras and magic flowed from the center of the stomach, so she made sure the stone was close to her core. She had done this before in the academy, so she was familiar with the device.

“It’s 190.”

A number popped up from the thin rope.

“If it’s 190….”

“Isn’t it lower than average? I heard that the average magician is 200.”

All of the knights began to whisper as they saw her number. If she wasn’t an incredible swordsman or magician, how did she get into the 1st order? Within all of the rumors popping in, they remembered one of the facts.

‘Apparently one of the newbies have the backing of the duke and the marquis. And it looked like the crown prince is backing them too.’

People began to shoot her bad looks. Was she just a product of nepotism? They had no idea how such a no-name noble family could become so close with the rich nobles, but there was no other way she could join.

The benefits for those who joined the 1st order was incredible. The prestige was obvious, but their wages were all incredibly high. They also received bonuses whenever they took care of extra work, so they earned a lot of money. And she just tried to take it all without skill? Without effort? How easy was it to be a woman? They had worked their asses off for this.

‘I knew it. They weren’t trying to get rid of nepotism, they were trying to use the new regulations to just get sneakier about it.’

All of the knights based their opinions on their assumptions and glared at her. Even if the participants’ information wasn’t provided to the examiners, the emperor, crown prince, and a few others knew about the participants after all.

“Shuraina West. I thought I had heard that name before, but she was a student in the academy that my nephew attended. She was close friends with the crown prince and the heirs of the marquis and duke families since they were young.”

As soon as Shuraina bowed and left, they began to chat. When one knight spoke up, all of them began to throw their opinions about how she had been accepted. They had been incredibly nervous and high-strung about the monster-like newbie, so they were relieved to find that she was nothing important. They found something to look down upon, so they all felt relieved. All of the members of the 1st order were those who proved their skills, so they all tended to be wary of each other. They had been nervous about the monster-like newbie and had been relieved to see that she was a woman, and slightly angry about her entering through nepotism but were ultimately satisfied.

“How can a lady like her join a place like this? Are we supposed to ask her to rest in the back because training is so hard? And we need to take her out of all difficult tasks and training. But she has been accepted, so we should teach her some emergency medical magic and have her assist us when we have injured members or have her support.”

“No matter how she joined, we finally have a female knight in the 1st order. She’s the only female member, so she’ll be lonely. We should be nice to her. Part of being a knight is protecting ladies and children, so let’s not make her do anything strenuous. Anyway, should we escort her wherever she goes? We should probably change the 68th group leader though.”

They chatted as they stared at Shuraina, who gathered up all of her group members. All of her group members seemed strangely nervous. All of them quietly accepted her request for extra training in the morning without complaint.

The entrance ceremony lasted for the entire day, and the next day saw the beginning of training.

“So, we should change the 68th group leader?”

“Yes. Group leaders are forced to do hard work, but how can such a small and delicate lady do all that?”

Before they entered training, the 67th group leader, Hamilton, went as the representative of the others to talk to the leader of the knights. There had been a lot of talk about the 68th group yesterday. Even though the actual members of the 68th group had no complaints, all of the other groups were up in arms.

“She may be short, but she’s not delicate. Denied.”

“Leader, you know how things go around here better than most, right? The royal knights, and within then, the 1st order is basically the face of the empire. To be honest, if Knight Shuraina becomes the group leader, the other empires and nations will mock us. Moreover, such a small lady might be scared to take control of so many young men and she might feel too uncomfortable.”

“I think there’s a misunderstanding here ,but….. Knight Shuraina is.”

Hamilton was making his complaints sound respectful and nice, but it was all a roundabout way to say that Shuraina didn’t fit the criteria and she needed to be demoted from her position. The leader of the knights, who had dueled Shuraina before the entrance ceremony, tried to rebuke his claims.

Then, Shuraina walked in carrying two pages of records.

“I’ve been asked to stay out of training.”

She spoke casually in front of the leader of the knights.

“Who dares to say such a thing?!”

He had already been enraged by what Hamilton was saying, but he grew even more furious.

The leader of the knights demanded to know who had said this to Shuraina, but she stayed silent. Instead of speaking, though, she just stared at Hamilton. Hamilton was the one who had told her to stay out of training, so he stayed silent.

“If it’s not a big deal, I would like to participate. Is that fine?”

Shuraina looked away from him as if to say he wasn’t worth it and asked respectfully.

“Of course. Go, hurry.”

The leader of the knights shooed her away with a fatherly smile. Shuraina was done talking with the leader of the knights, so she bowed curtly and turned away and tried to leave. But she soon moved closer to Hamilton, who was just staring blankly at her.

“The leaders from this year onwards have been asked to record their group’s basic stamina and their aura. I think you may have forgotten because this is a new rule. It looks like you left this in the office, so I brought it for you.”

“Uh….. T, thanks.”

Shuraina nodded her head as if it wasn’t anything.

“With power comes an incredible amount of responsibility. I have never been irresponsible with my tasks, so don’t worry.”

Care about yourself before you care about others. Shuraina’s slightly mocking expression seemed to be saying just that. Hamilton didn’t know why he felt bad, but he snatched the record sheet away from her.

“As a group leader who is also going to be leading the knights, please take care of me, senior.”

“Sure. Please take care of me too.”

Shuraina’s eyes glinted as she stretched out her small hand. Hamilton straightened his back, feeling as if this kid was trying to taunt him. He grabbed her hand to shake it. She was generally quite petite, so her hand was just as small, too. Her hand looked small enough that he could break it if he tried, so he unknowingly held her hand tight.

Crack.

But it wasn’t her hand that broke. He felt an incredible amount of pain blooming from his hand, but there were eyes on him. He couldn’t scream.

Shuraina collected her hand back and left, holding her record sheet.

“For today morning, we’ll be doing duels in rotation after basic training! Today’s the first day, so we won’t be too rough. In my opinion, anyway.”

The leader of the knights said, speaking loudly from his podium.

Hylli had secretly made some time to see Shuraina, whose first official day was today. He was watching from high above, so he was able to see the entire 1st order at once. And the first person he spotted was Shuraina, who was proudly standing in the first row with her back straight, confident.

Hylli had coincidentally overheard the conversation that she had with the leader of the knights and the 67th group leader, and had been so furious that he had almost joined in–but stopped when he saw Shuraina, who looked even more furious than him. And he hadn’t needed to burst in, too. She had taken care of everything on her own.

He was so busy staring at Shuraina that she raised her head slightly to look back.

Shuraina stretched her neck from left to right and nodded back at him.