"Ngh, mm..."
"Are you awake?"
"Eh—"
The woman sprang up and looked around, bewildered.
Her face clearly showed she had no idea what had happened to her.
Most of the onlookers had already dispersed.
I had laid her down beneath the eaves of a nearby teahouse and had Gigi look after her, and she had come to surprisingly fast.
"Who... are you?"
"You'd better thank him. He's the benefactor who saved you," the teahouse proprietress, a genial-looking middle-aged woman, said before returning to tend to the customers in her bustling shop.
"Saved... me?"
"How much do you remember?"
"I was fighting... Ah, an attack came from an angle I wasn't guarding."
"The guy you were fighting had his buddy attack you from behind."
"How cowardly!" the woman spat out, her anger flaring openly.
"I won't deny that it was cowardly, but you were far too careless yourself."
"Ugh..."
"Why were you doing that in the first place? You had no intention of losing to anyone, right?"
"You can tell...?"
I let out a soft chuckle.
I felt as though I could hear the unspoken words hanging at the end of her sentence: How can a kid like you tell?
"Anyone watching could tell."
This time, her eyes turned wary—the look of someone realizing I was no ordinary boy.
"If I had planned to do something to you, I would have done it while you were unconscious."
"...Fair point."
"So, why were you doing something like that?"
"...Because I ran out of travel funds."
"Travel funds?"
The woman nodded, a sour grimace spreading across her face as she began to explain.
"I came to the capital for this year's Knight Selection, but I failed. I thought there had to be some mistake, so I stayed in the capital and waited while having it looked into, but then my travel money ran out completely. At this rate, I couldn't even return to my hometown, which is why I resorted to that..."
"Hold on, that doesn't make sense."
The woman had begun hanging her head in dejection at admitting her failure in the Knight Selection, but at my words, she snapped her head up and glared at me angrily.
"What doesn't make sense about it?"
"Don't get mad, that's not what I mean. I saw your skills earlier. With your level of ability, there's no way you should have failed the selection."
Even taking into account that her opponents were just ordinary men from around town, her swordsmanship was remarkable.
It was easily on par with Shirley, the only knight I had taken into my service.
Failing with that kind of skill was unthinkable.
"I thought so, too. That's why I used some connections to have it investigated. Doing that allowed me to meet with the examiner, the Tenth Imperial Prince. But the prince said that, for a woman, well..."
She trailed off, her face flushing crimson.
It was an expression that could be taken as either shame or fury.
"Ah, that's enough. I get the picture."
The Tenth Imperial Prince—I knew that brother of mine's personality all too well.
He had probably bluntly propositioned her, telling her that if she was a woman, she needed to offer up her body.
He was that kind of man.
After thinking it over briefly, I asked her,
"Do you still want to become a knight?"
"Of course. I plan to try again next year. No matter how many years it takes, I will become a knight through my own strength."
"Then there's no need to rush back to your hometown."
"Huh?"
I took a small pouch from my breast pocket and handed it to her.
"This is... money?"
"There's a hundred Rien in there. It's enough to stay in the capital for about a year."
"Eh...?"
"Gigi, there are a few unoccupied houses on Tyler Street, right?"
"Yes, Master."
Gigi, who had been quietly waiting behind me this whole time, replied.
"Tell Dylan to arrange for her to use one of them."
"Understood."
"W-What is the meaning of this?"
The woman was bewildered.
She seemed completely unable to comprehend what was happening to her.
"Stay in the capital. Being here makes it easier to gather information on the Knight Selection and prepare strategies."
"No, that's not what I mean—why are you doing all this for me...?"
"I act as a patron to various people. I took a liking to you, so I'm putting up the money."
"To... me?"
"You refused to rely on a woman's charms and wanted to earn recognition purely through your own strength. I like people like that."
"..."
The woman stared blankly for a moment.
"Who are you? You're definitely no ordinary—"
She gazed at me with admiration in her eyes.
Right then, some tactless nuisances showed up to ruin the moment.
"There he is!"
Following the shout, the thudding of numerous footsteps drew near.
Looking over, roughly twenty men had surrounded us along with the entire teahouse.
At their center stood the man from earlier—Chad.
Chad had an emergency bandage wrapped around his shoulder and had changed into a proper pair of pants.
"It's this brat! Get him, boys! Big bro, you too, please!"
At Chad's command, the men charged all at once.
Honestly, some people never learn.
I took a step forward.
Just as I thought of calling upon Leviathan, Lutye pleaded directly into my mind.
Don't just use Leviathan, give me a chance to shine, too.
That emotion flowed straight into me, so I decided to answer it.
I linked the two rings.
Linking Lutye with the Ring of Armor, I transformed them into gauntlets that covered both of my arms.
In an instant, a pair of blazing fists was ready.
With them, I intercepted the men.
Punching wide-open torsos, smashing defenseless chins.
Throwing crawling flames, grabbing throats to unleash point-blank explosions.
I reproduced Lutye's techniques, just like I had with Leviathan.
Every time an attack landed, the men's bodies burst into large flames.
Flaring up for just a moment before instantly extinguishing was another characteristic of Lutye's techniques.
"Incredible... His speed and strength are those of an ordinary boy, yet... he's this strong?"
Having missed her chance to step in, the woman stared in awe.
In the meantime, I had taken down all the newly arrived men, including Chad, whom I couldn't even be bothered to waste words on—or so I thought.
One man dressed like a knight remained standing.
Because he had stayed at the very back and hadn't attacked, I hadn't retaliated, missing him completely.
He wore a sour grimace.
If he wasn't going to fight, there was no need for unnecessary trouble. I spoke to the knight.
"Take these guys and get—"
"You! The Tenth Imperial Prince's knight!"
"Hm?"
At the woman's shout, the knight flinched visibly.
Looking at him, his face paled at an astonishing speed.
"Ah, I see. That's how it is."
"—!"
When I spoke, the knight flinched again.
Apparently, he was a knight serving the Tenth Imperial Prince, Dustin Ararat.
And while I didn't recognize him, he naturally knew who I was.
Ah, come to think of it, Chad had said something like "Big bro, you too."
He had willingly been dragged along by Chad, but upon realizing his opponent was me—and assuming I didn't know who he was—he had refrained from attacking, keeping his mouth shut in hopes of quietly slipping away.
However, the woman, whom he had likely met when the improper favors were demanded, had blown his cover.
Had I remained in the dark, that would have been fine, but once exposed, he had no choice.
"Please forgive me, Thirteenth Prince!"
The knight immediately dropped to the ground and prostrated himself before me.
The onlookers who had once dispersed began gathering again, murmuring among themselves.
"Eh...?"
Bewildered by the sudden turn of events, the woman looked back and forth between the knight and me as if she couldn't believe her eyes.
"Thirteenth... Prince? You mean the Wise Imperial Prince, the Imperial Prince Minister of Justice!?"
The woman was profoundly shocked.
"Yes. I am Noah Ararat."
"I-Is he the real thing...? No, that knight—that scumbag—is prostrating himself with that much desperation. There's no way he's an impostor..."
It seemed this knight had said something inappropriate to her as well.
"An imperial prince and a minister, yet he doesn't flaunt his status or position...?"
The woman's eyes were filled with an equal mix of astonishment and respect.
Leaving her aside for a moment, the problem was the knight.
Unlike the incident on Cobalt Street, this man clearly understood his place.
"Are these guys your friends?"
"Y-Yes... Well... bad company, you could say."
"Then I'll leave their punishment to you."
"Eh?"
"Did you not hear me?"
"N-No. Not that, but... what about me...?"
"Did you attack me?"
The knight shook his head violently, so hard it looked ready to snap off.
"Then I'll let you off. Take them and get out of here right now."
"T-Thank you for your immense mercy!"
The knight slammed his head against the ground hard enough to produce audible thuds, then woke his companions and led them all away.
Now then, as for the woman—
Clap, clap, clap.
Amidst the lingering buzz of the crowd, the sound of applause rang out with striking clarity.
Looking toward the noise, I saw an elderly man clapping at a street stall serving alcohol across from the teahouse.
"Mm, quite the young man. Top-tier in both looks and skill. It has been many years since I've seen such a remarkable boy."
The old man praising me carried an extraordinary presence.
Just who is he— The moment that thought crossed my mind, the golden gourd resting on his table caught my eye.
My heart gave a massive thud!
Thump!
In this world, there were times when an eccentric possession was more famous than the person themselves.
An easy example was the signature weapon favored by a knight with a moniker.
The golden gourd was one of those items.
I had only recently learned of its owner.
I had investigated and found out.
I walked over briskly and dropped to one knee before the elderly man.
"It is an honor to meet you for the first time—Thunder Imperial Prince."