After they were done with the bath, Aina, Keishi and Meldy went to the main palace to greet the King.

At the moment Keishi opened the door, he suddenly felt an irritating bad hunch. "Something is coming" – he thought.

Some soldiers wearing shiny armor who were standing at the two sides of the palace rushed to him. One soldier stabbed him with a spear, and another slashed him from the side.

Keishi could also hear the hoarse voice of someone with full armor who looked like a general.

"It's an intruder! Alert!"

Because all the defense instincts of a karate master inside Keishi were turned on around half a second ago, he was much quicker than the soldiers at reacting to the movements. He swiftly turned his waist around to evade the spear, and also used a karate chop to hit the spearman's neck squarely. The spearman fell down right away and groaned from the pain. After another blink of an eye, he lowered his body and held his arm against the ground, and kicked the blade of the sword. The sword flied away with the absolute shock in the eyes of the swordsman.

Keishi was back on his feet after less than half a second. Being armless, the soldier who carried the sword backed away a little, while other soldiers rushed to surround Keishi with their weapons.

Keishi just looked at them with the eyes of a beast waiting for its moment to strike. Knowing that the level of skills had too large of a difference, no sign of fear could be felt from Keishi's eyes. He just slowly looked around, scanning the faces of the soldiers who were clearly afraid of him.

"Everyone! Please don't attack him! This man is..."

"That's enough."

A resounding voice could be heard by everyone in the palace. Although it was calm, it had a mighty aura that made all the hearts of people who could hear it shudder, including the ministers who were sitting along the two long tables in the middle of the room.

No one could ever mistake that voice for anyone else.

It was the King.

Everyone was silent after hearing the order of the king for several seconds.

The one who broke the silence was Aina.

"Father, Chancellor, I would like to introduce to you an important person."

Everyone was listening to Aina while she was declaring something that would change the history of Rastalia.

"This is Keishi Miyamura the Hero, the savior of our country."

Keishi suddenly felt so tense hearing these words, even though he was not even worried when he was attacked. Those soldiers just felt like his fellow karate practitioners that he trained together in the dojo. But the King is different. He felt that the King was much mightier than he thought, and he was, well, a real King, and what Aina was doing was no joke at all.

He also saw a figure of another middle-aged guy next to the King. That person had really sharp eyes like a snake, and an extremely stern face. To Keishi, this person was also very scary in another way.

Behind that person, there was a girl with long pretty blue hair who was wearing shiny navy armor and carried a long, broad sword. She has the serious eyes that show an indomitable spirit.

Keishi realized that he was sweating right now.

"Savior, you say?"

The King asked.

"Yes, Father. This is the holder of the Great Crystal mana, and a master of martial arts."

"Great Crystal mana? Inside this boy?"

"Yes, Father. I have never felt the mana of the Great Crystal that clearly."

Keishi is not even afraid anymore. He is now in a crisis.

"Great Crystal mana? What is that thing about? Why didn't Aina tell me?" Keishi asked himself.

"Keishi-kun, did I hear that right?"

The King is now asking a question, but it is now directed towards Keishi, not Aina anymore. Keishi could feel that with the fact that the King was looking at him.

"Yes, Your Majesty."

Keishi tried to be calm and said several words that he believed it would be appropriate in this kind of situation, which he learned from games.

"Is it true that you can save our country?"

The question of the King was asked with a low voice, but full of heaviness and strength. In front of this person, no one could even try to be pretentious.

While Keishi was still hesitating, he felt his shirt was pulled by something.

It was Aina.

When Keishi looked at Aina, she simply smiled.

But he knew her eyes told him a message.

"You can do it!"

Keishi mustered all his strength. He told himself that it's not the time for him to be weak. He can do it.

He has already decided on his resolution.

He will do anything for Aina's sake.

He smiled confidently and said:

"Yes, Your Majesty. I am Keishi Miyamura, the master of martial arts and the holder of Great Crystal mana! I will do anything I can to save this country, even if it costs me my life!"

Keishi blurted out some words without even thinking, while sounding extremely confident, and not even knowing since when he became a martial arts master, and being totally ignorant about what the Great Crystal is. This guy can be a little passive sometimes, but when he needs to say something bold, it's no challenge for him.

O

The human kingdoms were in chaos.

Before Rastalia was found and the King united those kingdoms after a long period of bloodshed and fire, hundreds of small kingdoms fought with each other for power. The common people suffered while the dictators played their political game.

There was a person who would later become King of Rastalia.

In the middle of the seemingly endless war, being only thirty-five, he rose to power with his extremely loyal, comparatively small army. Being a calm and collected strategist, and a genius commander, he successfully utilized the strength of his elite, battle-hardened soldiers and generals. With his legendary mighty charisma, and the indiscriminate usage of the magicians deemed by other warlords as shameful cheaters, he led his people to numerous consecutive victories in battles. He called himself the People's Lord, because he regarded everyone as being equal.

After another victory and the occupation of a large kingdom, he sat at a diplomatic table to discuss future matters with that kingdom's counsellor. Actually, the counsellor was co-operating with him in the first place, and provided him with secret information of that kingdom. Thanks to the inside information, the People's Lord easily took over the country with little bloodshed.

The discussion was taking quite long while they were discussing important matters of governing a kingdom, while the loyal guards of the People's Lord had to suffer from the snow outside of the tent on a mountain. Although they were provided with very warm clothes, it was not easy to stand in the winter under such weather.

"Achoo. What was that old man doing?"

"Seriously, what has taken him that long?"

The guards began to complain about feeling abandoned in the cold.

"He was discussing urgent matters about a kingdom, guys. This should not happen too often."

A high-ranked general told the guards. In the army of the People's Lords, there is not much distance between generals and soldiers. They can just talk casually and even tell jokes.

"I bet he is just chit-chatting with that guy!"

"Damn Lord! What kind of Lord he is!"

"Hey guys, show some respect." The general asked them to restrain themselves.

"Why can he enjoy the warmth inside a tent, and we have to suffer here?"

"Right, right! Guys, do you see the old man's wooden carriage?"

"It's that big of a wooden thing. If we burn it, I bet the fireplace gets quite warm."

"Guys! Stop that!" The general was getting a little irritated.

Ignoring the general's orders, the guards began to get some chalk. There was a magician among the guards, so they were trying to help the magician draw a fire magic circle.

"Guys! Seriously, if you keep that on I'll inform the Lord!"

"Feel free to do that."

"If we die from freezing, that old man also couldn't survive if an army came here."

"I bet he can somehow survive an army though."

"Yeah, without us he could survive one army for sure. If three armies fought with him, I bet he'd die though."

The Lord was already very strong at that time, and he was always leading his soldiers in the wars. He was the type of leader that goes to the frontline and fights together with them, and was never the kind of armchair leader who just gives commands from the backline. So the soldiers knew very well how strong he is, and their guesses were not far from the truth.

The general went into the tent to inform the Lord of the fact that his carriage was going to be burned.

The Lord was sitting in something like a kotatsu together with the counsellor while discussing with him. He was still wearing a giant sword behind his back. The tent was a very normal military green one, it even looked a little worn down.

"My Lord! I'm sorry for interrupting! The guards are going to burn your carriage to get warmer! They said they were waiting too long!"

The Lord slowly turned around.

"Huh...? Is that worth interrupting me?"

"My Lord?" the general looked quite confused.

"It's winter. If my brothers feel cold, isn't it good for them to get warm."

"My Lord, I mean your carriage..."

"Ah, it isn't worth that much anyway."

The Lord just turned around and continued the discussion. The counsellor was a little surprised by the absolute calmness of the Lord. "He is a real Lord! No, he is a real King! He is not bothered by such trivial matters!" he thought.

The general felt shocked and amazed for the same reasons, and walked out of the tent. At this time, a female magician wearing a witch hat was drawing the magic circle, and it was almost complete.

"Hey guys, the Lord said that you should just burn it to get warm, and the carriage is not as important as you guys' health."

The general changed the words a little bit when he reported them back to make then sound kinder, but the general intention was not wrong.

After several seconds of silence, because everyone was shocked, a thunderous laughter could be heard from all the soldiers.

"What? The Lord really said that? We can burn this?"

"General, did you mishear him or something?"

"No."

"What the hell was that? Hahaha!"

Everyone is now laughing so hard that their stomachs hurt, and they forgot about the magic circle completely. Actually, they were not actually burning the carriage, they were just finding something to do out of boredom.

The laughter could be heard from another mountain.

"So, I heard that there is this extremely strong guy in your ranks."

The discussion still continued.

"My Lord, if you were referring to the Snake Sword's user, I'm afraid I cannot recommend him. He is a criminal for killing everyone in his foster family, and is serving his jail time..."

This criminal was using a dagger that can emit snake-like green beams with fearsome destructive power. Because "dagger" doesn't sound noble to a former noble like himself, he would call it the Snake Sword instead.

"I don't care about the petty crimes that he did. I need the power to unite the humans. That alone will save millions of lives. Also, I don't trust any of the information from police."

The Lord was inferring that the accusation of the criminal being the killer of the foster family came from the police, and he couldn't trust that easily.

"..." The counsellor was amazed at the might of his words and couldn't say anything.

"Let me meet the guy. I will decide if he is worthy of my attention or not. I only trust what I see with my own eyes and hear with my own ears."

Just like that, the one who would become Rastalia's King and Barista the criminal met each other, and they would fight alongside together for years to unite the humans.

O

Everyone in the room was amazed at the power of Keishi's words. They all looked at Keishi with admiration. Except one person.

"Heh, save the country, you say? What can a stranger like you do for the country? Do you even know what is threatening Rastalia right now?"

The person who sat next to the King spoke with a detestable voice filled with contempt.

This person is Barista Leonhart, the Chancellor. He is second to only the King in power.

Keishi couldn't say anything.

He didn't even ask Aina or Meldy about that. If he did, he was sure they would have told him already.

He hates himself for being too relaxed. He was totally considering this trip to another world as a holiday. He did not even consider the fact that he knows nothing about what awaits him, about the dangers, and about what it really means to save the country.

He thinks Aina and Meldy spoiled him rotten. He doesn't blame them for that. He is a real man, who doesn't blame girls for things that happened because of his own negligence.

"Heh, I know that you didn't even know. You are quite good at fighting, I'm going to admit that. But you are also young and stupid. Listen, boy. A horde of dragons are going to invade us. A horde!"

Keishi was dumbfounded again.

Even with his limited game knowledge, he knows that a horde of dragons is nothing insignificant. "What can I do to a dragon, let alone a horde of dragons?

Anxiety is filling up Keishi's heart.

"I'm sorry I didn't tell you, Keishi-kun. I thought it would be faster for all of us to discuss this, since I don't know much about dragons. Some of the scouts of Rastalia's army went to the border and reported about a horde of dragons flying our way, but that's all we know."

Aina sounded really guilty when she said this.

Keishi feels like his head is going to explode. The amount of stress and information flooded his brain, and some parts of him are telling him to run away.

But no.

Keishi is a karate master. He can't say that he is the master of all the martial arts, but he has got the fighting spirit!

He is not surrendering under this much stress!

And being a youngster, he decided to blurt out any argument that he could think of, just to escape this situation of being overwhelmed by these two old men!

"What? You said a horde of dragons?"

Keishi asked Barista back. Barista is clearly flustered. "How could this brat say a comeback?"

"What do you know about dragons? How many dragons were there? Which type of dragon? What are their intentions? Most importantly, what if the dragons were only flying near our border to settle their small business, not invading?"

Barista is clearly shocked. He never thought that a brat can instantly think of such important questions, just by thinking about the matter for ten seconds. Barista saw that Keishi's expression turned a little anxious. But after several seconds, Barista realized that the face of this guy had turned back into normal, and he even looks confident right now! What is happening? Barista is absolutely confused!

Right now, Barista is the one who is dumbfounded! Actually, the information they had is clearly lacking, and the points Keishi pointed out were valid!

But that doesn't mean that Barista is going to stay silent.

"D... Do you know what you were talking about? What do you actually know? Do you have evidence that the dragons were not actually invading?"

In the background, Meldy is doing her job by filling the cup of the ministers with healing tea.

"I don't have any evidence, but with the power I have, I will find out the truth! I will go to the dragons' place and ask them what they want!"

Meldy was pouring some tea into Barista's cup with her teapot, he was so concentrated on the conversation that he didn't notice it.

"What are you talking about? Do you even know where the dragons are? This brat..."

"That's enough".

The king spoke again, and that made everyone go silent.

"It is true that we don't clearly know the intention and purpose of the dragons. And as this boy said, they could just be travelling around the world like they have done many times in the past. But the mere presence of the dragons near our border is an existential concern. Because in human history, we came close to extinction many times after that happened."

Everyone silently listened to every word that the King spoke.

"To solve this potential existential crisis, abundant information is the absolute requirement. However, we do not currently have enough information. And the opinion of this boy is also considered valuable information. I think all of the questions he posed are valid and should be taken very seriously."

What the King said was so accurate that no one could even think of any way to say anything to add to it.

"In order to analyze information, the collection of correct and trustable information is deemed by me as being crucial. However, we don't currently possess the necessary means and the right person that is able to provide us with that. With the ability of a dragon to be able to supposedly wipe out all living beings in a radius of 1000 km with one strike, I am not currently confident that any scouting effort can bring back meaningful results to Rastalia."

Keishi tries to think about what the King has said. He is glad that the King is listening to him, but the 1000km kill radius is something that made him shiver. That's basically the destruction power of a nuclear warhead. What can we even do?

"That is why the existence of a person who is supposed to withstand that kind of destruction power with an acceptable rate of survival is necessary. We also have the option of mindlessly sending capable soldiers to gather information without considering their rate of survival, and pray for the fortunate, unlikely outcome, which is that at least one of them can return with the information. But I do not favor that option because I am a King, not a heartless monster."

Keishi thought that if he understood his words correctly, he could explain it with more clarity and an easy-to-understand manner to people like Aina whose face is blank right now.

"Your Majesty, as I understand, what you were trying to say is that you need someone who is strong enough to survive one strike of a dragon, although you are not very convinced that there is such a person. And if you just send random people to the border, they may all die without providing any information to you? And you are kind, so you don't want that."

Aina's face brightened right away. Keishi noticed it and was glad that he could help.

"... Well, that's basically true. I'm sorry because my habit of speaking in an overly complicated way made everyone unhappy again."

Keishi is quite amazed at the fact that the King can also be humble. Aina actually feels normal, because this has happened many times before. The King would say something really complicated, and have to explain it many times. Meldy just felt normal, because she could understand everything from the start.

"So I would like to ask you one question."

Keishi braces himself for the King's question.

"Are you strong?"

Keishi felt quite anxious after hearing it. "Am I strong?" He asked himself.

"Your Majesty, Keishi is very strong. And if he is able to draw the God Blade, he might be able to save all of us!"

The King's face looked brighter after seeing that. He is seeing a way. A way to win this.

"Because in Keishi's body, the mana of the Great Crystal is flowing. With this, I'm certain that he will be able to draw the God Blade!"

"He will wake the God Blade that saved our country ten thousand years ago up!"

"What, what is the God Blade? Is that the thing that you draw out of the ground, and become the strongest!?" Keishi thought. He was instantly overflowed with confidence! "I have done this so many times in games! I will do it again!"

"Yes, I am here for the God Blade!"

Keishi just shouted without even knowing anything about the God Blade.

"Heh, you are spouting nonsense again. The God Blade was sleeping for ten thousand years. If the best swordsmen of Rastalia have never been able to draw it, then what can you do?"

After saying these words, Barista took a sip of the tea to ease his neck, and then coughed it up right away.

"What? Who put chilli into my tea? The damn maid?"

Meldy looked at Barista with scornful eyes.

"Barista, could you say that again?"

Before Meldy was able to reply, a blue sword was swung her way. She instantly recognized it.

The guardian of Barista, the most trusted warrior under him. Lancet the Blue Lightning.

Meldy had kind of expected this to happen at the moment Barista drank his tea, so she was able to evade it with ease.

But the second strike was coming at her feet, the place that is currently off-balance. "As expected from Lancet, she is very quick to hit the weakest spots." Meldy thought.

But Meldy still has the flexibility to fight back. She gently kicked at the non-sharp position on the blade, deflected it with a force just enough to stay safe. And then she gracefully jumped back a little to lengthen the distance between them.

"Meldy! You are quite strong, I admit! But isn't it wrong for a maid to be that strong? You are too dangerous!"

"I will get rid of you right now, right here! I will not forgive you for poisoning my foster father! "

"So your foster father can't even live after eating chili. Hah, I thought the chancellor would be a little bit stronger."

Keishi was watching with amazement, as he never thought that Meldy could be such a good fighter. But he noticed that Meldy put some weird red powder into her teapot before pouring the tea into Barista's cup. He gently whispered in Aina's ears:

"Hey Aina, why did Meldy mess with Barista's tea?"

Aina whispered in his ears also:

"She was annoyed because the Chancellor insulted you, Keishi-kun."

Meldy used her teapot to deflect a very fast slash from Lancet, the force coming from it made the whole body of Meldy vibrate and the high-pitched sound of the collision could be heard from outside the palace.

Keishi was shocked that the teapot was that hard, but he was even more surprised by the response from Aina. He whispered back:

"What? That irritating maid did that because of me?"

"Although she complains a lot, she actually thinks too much of the people she considers as comrades. I know her long enough to know the reasons she does things. Believe me, Keishi-kun."

"Lightning Thrust!"

A red aura appeared around Lancet's feet, and it flies around them in a spiral motion, releasing splattering mana in the air.

It propels Lancet straight to Meldy with a dazzling speed.

"Lancet the Blue Lightning..."

Aina mumbled the famous title of Lancet as she watched the fight in worry for Meldy.

Lancet's sword, the Lightning Aquos was shining in the air as a small green tornado was swirling around it.

Keishi was still a little unconvinced when he saw Lancet thrusting her sword directly at Meldy's heart. He screamed:

"It's dangerous!"

And Keishi jumped at her, attempting to save her from that.

But he never reached the girl. He was just pushed back by something, although there should have been nothing in front of him.

"What? Is this... a barrier?"

Keishi saw the barrier mentioned many times in games, so he deducted that would be most likely in this situation.

Meldy jumped up while rotating her body vertically and curling up in-air like a cat to evade the thrust and turned her waist around, pushing her mana to her left foot, making it glow with a blue aura forming around it and kicked Lancet's neck mid-air with a scary precision.

Although Lancet was surprised that Meldy was able to evade an attack that was considered unavoidable by Lancet, and she also didn't expect Meldy to be able to kick her weak spot back with that level of accuracy, she only coughed two times and regained her balance moderately fast.

"Keishi, my Dad has put up a barrier around them. No one can get in and interfere with them."

"Huh, why? Don't you see it's dangerous?" Keishi asked the King.

"It's not necessary, boy. My years of experience as a king showed me that when people want to fight, just let them fight."

"What do you mean, Your Majesty?"

"The people who hit you when they are angry, they are not scary. The scary people are the ones who smile in front of you, and then stab you in the back."

Lancet is looking at Meldy with eyes full of killing intent. She was not actually seriously hurt, she was just furious because of being kicked in the neck for the first time in her life, and that caused her to feel trouble breathing right now.

"When you are angry, hit something. When you are sad, cry. When you are happy, smile. That's all life is."

The King is still speaking, with a more relaxed tone than before.

"People only really speak their heart out when they are angry. Only at those times, we can realize their real pain and anxiousness, and we can help relieve them of it."

Keishi couldn't help but feel that what the King said was entirely correct, but it's hard for a leader to really do what he said. Aina felt that her father was actually right all along. She doesn't want people to fight, but sometimes it's best to just let them fight.

Lancet knows Meldy attacked that part because it was not armored, which means it is her weak point. "Tch, this girl, she is only a maid but she has such fighting prowess! That was just a kick, but it was powered with mana, and its destructive power is comparable to a thrust from a high-level sword! A normal fighter would die from that!"

"What's the matter, Lancet? I thought you were killing me, or my ears were mistaken?" Meldy smirked.

"Shut up, damn maid! I will get you next time!"

"What about using your head for once and stopping your habit of charging straight ahead repeatedly like a bull?"

"Shut up! The kind of genius like you, how can you understand me!" Lancet screamed with difficulty while she was coughing.

Meldy was a little surprised at her words. She has never thought that Lancet would ever praise her, although you could say it's not really a praise.

"Normal people can only try, try and try again! How can the people who are able to use magic understand that!"

Meldy used the reaction force from the kick to roll several rounds in mid-air and touched the ground at a safe position. Then she just listened to what Lancet said calmly without any face expression. Actually, if you look very closely, you can see a little sadness in her eyes.

"Aina, what did she mean when she said she can't use magic? That was what she meant, right? If she can't use magic, how could she create that tornado thing around her sword? I think that thing was created with mana right?"

"Keishi-kun, Lancet doesn't believe in mana. She insists that mana doesn't exist in this world."

Lancet slashed several times, but Meldy was able to evade them all. It felt like Meldy was able to predict all of them.

"Huh? Are you serious, Aina? I thought such a strong-looking knight would be good at using mana?"

"I mean, the tornado was created by using mana to twist air around your sword. I am 100% sure about that. However, Lancet seems to be able to do that instinctively without knowing the concept of mana."

"She always insists that her sword skills are all the fruits of her extremely strenuous training, and they are not related to mana at all. She told us that she did it by concentrating 120% of her mind on the sword."

Lancet jumped at a dazzling speed to Meldy, screaming "Lightning Thrust" one more time. Meldy barely evaded the attack with a lot of difficulties, and couldn't keep the same calm expression as before.

"Is that girl a monster? After fighting for that long, she hasn't shown any fatigue at all!"

"Her body gets faster and faster the longer the fight drags on, that's why you're at a huge disadvantage if you cannot finish her soon enough. That's why she gets called Lancet the Blue Lightning".

While Keishi was still thinking about what Aina had said, Meldy decided to go for her own counterattack. Meldy wants to finish Lancet before she reaches her maximum speed. Before Lancet is able to recover from the breathing problem, she jumped and rotated horizontally two times before hitting Lancet's face with two tornado kicks.

But this counterattack from Lancet could be a little too ambitious. Being hit quite badly and her body being turned around by the kick, Lancet still managed to utilize the inertia to turn herself towards Meldy and carried out a beautiful moon-like slash at her body.

" !"

Following the scream of Lancet, a crescent-moon-shaped sharp mana disc was emitted from her sword. With her godlike reflex, Meldy was able to evade the sword itself by jumping, but the moonlight slash disc carried power of its own. With another roll in the air, Meldy was able to use the teapot to guard against 80% of Moonlight Slash impact. But another 19% damaged her badly. 1% of the rest of the power went through Meldy and hit the barrier, causing a deafening sound, but it was not powerful enough to damage the barrier.

Meldy is on her knees, her legs stained with blood.

"Meldy!"

Keishi was hurt by the scene, and rushed to the barrier, only to be pushed away by it.

"Tch!"

"It's okay, Keishi-kun."

Although Aina is distressed, she still managed to be calm and told Keishi this.

"But..."

"Trust Meldy. She is not that weak. She has never been weak. Believe in my words, Keishi-kun. I have fought together with these two girls in many battles. For now, just enjoy some tea."

Aina force-fed Keishi with some tea that Meldy brewed.

"But... don't you think that it's unfair? Lancet got that powerful sword and even got sword skills, while Meldy only has a teapot to protect her!"

Before Keishi realized it, Meldy touched the tea in the teapot with an extremely stern face. The teapot lighted up with a blue color, and then she poured the tea on her own legs.

Her legs lighted up with a gentle and warm yellow light.

The blood disappeared, no, it's more accurate to say it vaporized. And the injury on the skin was completely healed.

"Tch, as expected from Meldy. Your recovery ability is as high as ever."

Lancet said with an irritating voice.

In the background, great rounds of applause could be heard. The ministers who were watching the battle were very impressed with it.

"What a splendid battle!"

"We haven't been able to watch such a magnificent battle for too long!"

The applause's sound echoed so widely that it could be heard from the hallway.

O

After the applause died down, Meldy said:

"Keishi, although I'm happy you worried about me, that was not necessary. I have been into near-death situations countless times. This injury was nothing. You could even say I'm immortal as long as I have this teapot."

"That's why it's not unfair at all. My teapot is extremely powerful as a weapon. Lancet's sword is actually just an above-average sword that she insisted on keeping using although we provided her with better swords."

Keishi is trying to process the information he was just told. The teapot is stronger than the sword?

"Hey Aina, what Meldy told me is true, right?"

"Well... you know, as a supporting item, I think the teapot is extremely useful. Meldy can spray healing tea on injured soldiers and they are back to fighting condition right away. Although I would say that the teapot itself is not as important as the power of Meldy in creating healing tea."

"Are the healing tea that Meldy used to heal herself and the tea that we drank the same thing?"

"Not really, Keishi-kun. The tea that Meldy created there is one hundred times more concentrated. You can't drink it. If you do, the healing power is so intense that it will make your brain fall into an ecstasy and temporarily stop working."

Keishi thinks about the drugs like morphine that he heard they use in hospitals, but they can also be addictive and make people go into a high state, when their brains stop working. "Maybe it's a similar effect? But I think I don't need to ask Aina, she won't understand."

"How about the sword? Is it really weak?"

"Well... it's not weak, but it's the first sword that Barista gave her when he picked her up in the middle of nowhere, so she insisted on using it... She said it's totally unrelated to memories, and the only reason she refused to use swords of higher grade was that she was already used to it, but I don't think that's completely true..."

While Aina hadn't finished her sentence, Lancet jumped to Meldy's position with a downward slash.

She knows that Meldy has not completely recovered. "The Moonlight Slash impact should have penetrated to the bone! She cannot move freely right now!" She thought.

But Meldy didn't move at all.

She just looks at Lancet with a blank stare.

"Tch! Why don't you move? You will die like this if you don't evade!" Lancet unconsciously lowered the strength of her slash. "Or maybe something is wrong? Meldy is not that dumb! Or maybe the injury was worse than I thought?"

Before Lancet completed thinking, the sword had already touched Meldy's head.

But it was just pushed away, although Meldy didn't do anything. She just sat there.

A funny slimy sound was also heard.

"Huh? What?"

Lancet just stood there like a statue for several seconds, and realized something was wrong with the sword. She tried to slash the ground several times, but it did no damage with a slimy sound.

Big sounds of laughter can also be heard from the background.

"Haha! What is this girl doing?"

"Her sword has become a slimy sword!"

"I thought she was strong!"

The ministers were teasing Lancet with some unbearable comments.

"Don't mess with me, old men!"

Lancet looked at them and screamed like a little tiger.

"Lancet, your sword is covered in a layer of mana..."

Aina reluctantly told Lancet the truth. She is able to see any kind of invisible mana without having to wear the magic glasses.

"Layer of mana? What do you mean, Aina?"

"Layer of mana? What do you mean, princess-sama?"

Keishi and Lancet asked at the same time.

"Meldy, can you lend me the magic glasses?"

Meldy took the magic glasses out from her pocket and threw it to Aina.

Lancet ran towards Aina. All the ministers also ran to Aina because they're curious. Lancet and Keishi looked into the glasses at the same time.

Only The King and the Chancellor stayed in their place because they already knew what had happened.

"See? The sword is now covered in this mana. It's like a cushion that will block all the force coming from the sword."

"Oh... what a convenient skill."

Keishi just added fuel to Lancet's fire.

"What's convenient about it! Just a cheating unheroic, lowly skill! When has Meldy got such a dirty skill?"

"So jumping at me while I was already down is heroic?"

Lancet heard Meldy's comeback and just said "...Tch" and wasn't able to say anything back.

All the ministers laughed.

"What kind of skill is that? Meldy, if you got such a skill, you had better tell everyone!"

"Is this called winning by not losing? As long as you have this skill, you are unbeatable, Meldy!"

"Lancet, you don't even need to feel sad! You were just toyed by Meldy! It was unfair!"

Everyone also laughed with the ministers, even the King and the Chancellor did.

Keishi and Meldy also laughed.

Only Lancet was unhappy.

"Meldy, when did you cast that slimy thing on my sword?"

"Ah, I think no one realized it. I did it so secretly and fast, after all. That was when you thrusted me."

When Meldy was thrusted and she jumped in the air to evade it, she also dropped some invisible slimy tea on her sword. Meldy kicked Lancet's neck after that.

"You mean the very first thrust? When this brat screamed."

"Yes."

"What? You did it at the very beginning? Why was I still able to slash you?"

"Because although this skill is extremely powerful and versatile, it has a major drawback. It takes a lot of time for the slimy mana to form and cover the sword. Think about Super Glue. It takes a long time for the glue to dry out and work."

Everyone is amazed about the way everything worked out.

"You mean that Lancet could have won if she was able to finish the battle sooner? Before the glue dries out."

Keishi spoke after thinking about all the time when he used Super Glue to fix his broken figurines. It took around ten minutes for the chemical to dry out.

"It's not glue, glue was just an example, but that was basically right, Keishi." Meldy answered.

'Tch. If only I had used all my secret skills in the beginning."

Lancet grumbled.

After five seconds, Lancet said:

"Meldy, remove it."

"Remove what?"

Meldy asked Lancet back.

"This slimy stuff."

"It will disappear by itself in two hours. Who knows if you will slice me into beefsteak if I remove it."

"You are not even a cattle, if I sliced you up you would become cicadasteak, lowly maid."

Everyone laughed again with the quirky joke.

Even Meldy laughed.

"Can you even think of a better joke, you condescending knight?"

"Heh, I just call you by the right name of insect that you deserve." Lancet smiled while saying this.

"Hahaha. I guess the only friendship that lasts is the friendship built on insults, the fact that you fought with each other, and the fact that you fought alongside each other." The King thought.

"Call me by anything you like, but tell your old man not to insult Keishi again." Meldy smirked and said this after thinking about the King's words for ten seconds.

"What is with this useless brat? He does have some skills, but isn't it true that he is just a lazy bum."

"This girl is the type of girl who can never be nice to anyone, isn't she." Keishi thought.

"What led you to the assumption that I'm a lazy bum, knight-sama?"

Keishi tried to be polite when he said this.

"You did nothing in the last two days, didn't you? You didn't train, you didn't learn about Rastalia's history, you didn't do anything that could help, did you?"

Keishi flinched by the amount of information that he just heard.

"...What? What do you know? Where did you pull that information from?" Keishi is quite irritated, but he is more interested in the way she obtained the information.

"The spies of Father told m... Ah, no, what I said was not true at all! I only look at you and I already know!"

Barista did a huge facepalm. "Why is the most trusted guardian of mine, my foster daughter the type who can never keep secrets?" He thought.

"What? That old man spied on me? And you always say you are heroic and whatnot? Aren't you ashamed?"

"The way she got that information is not important." Meldy jumped into the conversation.

"The important thing is that Keishi is not lazy at all. I noticed it when I saw his body."

Meldy shamelessly undressed the upper body of Keishi.

"Meldy, what are you doing?" Aina screamed in embarrassment and looked away. "And what do you mean by seeing his body? Even I wasn't fortunate enough to see that..."

"Ah, I only meant I wanted to know more about your fighting abilities! Research! Yes, that was for research! You know! I don't have any weird meaning by that at all!"

Aina realized she dug her own grave and desperately tried to cover it.

O

Keishi already covered himself after moments of embarrassment.

"Did everyone see the scars on his body?" Meldy said.

"I have enough experience of treating soldiers' injuries to say that those scars were the fruits of endless strenuous training. As everyone here has had fighting experiences in their life, you should understand that."

"Hmm. Those are indeed the marks left behind by very rigorous training. Unmistakably so."

The King had decided that Meldy's words are true, and no one dares to oppose it. The marks were left behind by rigorous karate training by Keishi.

"Young man, I am sure that you have fought to the death in numerous blood battles."

"Well, that's true... hahaha..." Keishi said with not much confidence. Actually, if you count the battles in the national karate championship, the King's words are not far from the truth.

"And you somehow gained the trust of the two most capable magicians of our nation. The number of people who reached that achievement can be counted on one hand."

Everyone understands that the King was referring to Aina and Meldy.

"That is good!"

The King suddenly screamed at ten times the normal volume, and it startled everyone that was in the palace at this moment.

"Young man, could you forgive me for not remembering your name because of old age."

"My name is Keishi Miyamura."

"Good! Keishi Miyamura. You are now officially entrusted with the Holy Sword, with the utmost responsibility from the head of this state!"

"Draw the Holy Sword out of eternal slumber! Lead this country to victory!"

With the mighty voice and trust from the King himself, everyone's doubts about Keishi has vanished. Hope is now rising in the royal members' hearts, as a new chapter in Rastalia's history is unfolding. With encouragement and belief, everyone who was in the palace at that moment applauded. Most of them smiled brightly.

Except one person who is grinding his teeth.

"I will kill you, brat. Before you can get the God Sword and ruin my plan. I vow!"

Barista tries to hide his face by pretending to do something, worrying that someone will notice his bad intentions.

O

Another person who has kept the long face ever since the beginning of the battle is turning her back away from everyone.

"If only... if only I could finish the battle sooner..."

Lancet is still being harsh to herself as always. She believes that she could have won the battle if she had been more decisive and quicker with her actions.

"Seriously, that battle was really close. I felt like I would fall down and lie there motionlessly like a doll if I made the smallest mistake."

Meldy was trying to make Lancet feel better, but she still kept the same emotionless voice as normal.

"Shut up! How can a strong genius like you understand how I struggle...? In the hardest situation you can still show no worry like a doll!"

Lancet was screaming again, with more pain and frustration than before. In the end, the strongest knight of the royal army is also just a girl. She feels that Meldy is someone that she simply can't overcome, no matter how strenuously she trains herself.

Meldy let out a sigh. She felt that she would want to avoid doing what she is about to do if she could, but it couldn't be helped. Meldy is not the type of girl who will just leave her female comrade alone.

"Aina-sama, could I ask for a favor? Could you face Lancet, hold her wrists and raise them to the sky for me?"

"Eh...? I don't know what game you are trying to play, but okay."

Aina went to face Lancet, ignoring her complaint "What are you doing? Princess-sama?" and held her wrists, and raised them to the sky.

"What? Lowly maid? What are you planning to do? You can't assassinate me like this!"

Lancet is clearly confused, she doesn't know what is happening at all.

Meldy gently put her cheeks on Lancet's back, closed her eyes and whispered this while sniffing the nice aroma from her hair.

"Lancet no Baka, I'm not worriless at all. I was super anxious all the time."

"What..."

"You were shining so brightly like a under the bright moon. Everyone is dazzled. I can't even compare to your radiance."

"What... What are you talking about? Why do you suddenly..."

"I'm actually envious of you. I am just a side supporting role. I can't learn those flashy sword skills. I don't have your brightness."

"You..."

"And I'm not even strong. My calm and collected expression was just a facade to hide my own weakness. There were nights when I could just secretly cry alone."

"Meldy...?"

Everyone was amazed by Meldy's gentleness and the way she could say such emotional stuff when she was normally quite cold and indifferent.

Because Aina was so close to Meldy for so long, she has seen this side of Rastalia's fighter maid more than once. But she felt astonished every single time she showed this side to others.

"I think you must be wondering why and how can I say such embarrassing things. It's not that I don't feel embarrassed, it was just my choice."

"Choice?"

"My choice was that I have to face my own weakness. Humans all have a weak side, and the true strength is not refuting that you have a weak side."

"..."

"The true strength is that you recognize that you have a weak side, and actively face it. You don't run away from it, you also don't refute it. You face it."

Tears naturally began to flow from Lancet's eyes.

"Eh?"

Lancet didn't even realize that she was crying until she saw glistening drops of water on her hands, which were being held by Meldy's hands.

"The King also told us. When we want to fight, just fight. When we want to cry, just cry. When we want to smile, just smile. That's all life is."

Meldy squeezed Lancet's waist a little stronger, and she also realized Lancet was squeezing her own hands.

Everyone in the palace was smiling when they saw that scene.