“From this moment, we will begin the Holy Knight Examination. All applicants must swear to the divine that they will take the test without a single act of dishonesty.”
After many conversations with Sister Stella, and now having come of age, I arrived to take the exam to become a holy knight.
There are three things tested in the holy knight exam:
Faith.
Physical ability.
Character.
The first test was faith.
Faith… I worried my past might cause trouble, but thankfully, I passed with a perfect score.
It was probably thanks to the time I spent memorizing scripture with the sisters and living a disciplined life, suppressing my desires.
The second was physical ability.
This began with measuring endurance through running, followed by a sparring session.
“Ace, running grade: A.”
Thankfully, I passed the endurance part with ease.
All that remained was the sparring.
“Let’s do our best.”
“…Yeah, sure.”
‘…?’
For some reason, my opponent looked like he couldn’t care less.
“I mean, the Goddess already chose me. Why even bother with all this…”
At first, I was confused.
But when I heard his words, I immediately recalled knowledge from the original game.
‘The Slothful Holy Knight, Balthus Venus.’
He becomes one of the Saintess’s personal holy knights in the game.
His faith and character are mediocre at best, but because his divine power and combat ability are off the charts, he was assigned to her directly.
At this point in the story, the higher-ups in the Papal Palace are corrupt, so they assigned people purely based on strength.
And later… he dies to demons.
Overconfident in his own power, he lets his guard down and gets killed in a surprise attack.
The problem is… the Saintess was with him at the time.
She ends up running alone through the forest, going through a harrowing ordeal until she’s barely rescued by the protagonist, the Hero.
The trauma from that incident never leaves her.
“Both sides ready!”
The holy knight acting as referee raised his right arm.
‘I have to win.’
If Balthus had been a decent person, I would’ve declined the Saintess’s offer.
Because the position of personal holy knight should have gone to him.
Even if I just helped a bit from the background, with his skill level, he could’ve handled most situations.
But since he never fixed that lazy attitude, not even up until his death—I had no intention of letting him become the Saintess’s personal guard.
It’s precisely because I knew what kind of person Balthus was that I accepted the Saintess’s proposal.
“Begin!”
“Hrgh!”
The moment the duel started, I sprinted forward.
The weapon in my hand was a shotel—a curved blade shaped like a crescent.
In this world, holy knights aren’t bound to a specific weapon, so I chose the one I was most comfortable with.
Technically, the first weapon I used was just a bent sword, but ever since then, I’d found hook-shaped blades worked really well for me.
“Yaaawn…”
Even though I was charging at full speed, Balthus just let out a lazy yawn and slowly raised his sword.
–Flash!
“!!”
Balthus’s sword gleamed with divine energy.
“Holy Light.”
–Whooom!
His sword came down slowly, but powerfully and threateningly.
With a sword like Balthus’s, I doubt any of the other examinees here could have blocked that strike.
Except me, of course.
–Clang!!
“…What?”
I deflected his sword using my shotel, and Balthus visibly flinched in surprise.
“I’m not the only one who’s awakened divine power.”
Sorry to disappoint—but I’ve awakened divine power too.
Not giving him a chance to recover, I immediately swung my shotel.
Now recognizing me as a real threat, Balthus hurried to raise his shield.
But the thing about shotels is—they’re perfect against shields.
“Hrgh!”
Using the hook-shaped design of my shotel, I caught the edge behind his shield and yanked.
“What?!”
Balthus gasped, more like a shriek, as his shield was effortlessly pulled away.
“You should’ve worked out more often.”
Unlike Balthus, who relied 99% on divine power, I hadn’t skipped a single day of training since the goblin battle.
Every morning, I woke up at 7 a.m. to run the slum streets for an hour.
After breakfast, it was push-ups, sit-ups, lifting heavy stones, and more.
It had only been about two years, but divine power helped strengthen a body forged through that effort.
Enough to easily defeat someone with no defense.
I thrust my shotel toward Balthus’s neck.
“Ugh, uwaaa…!”
“You’ve lost.”
The very tip of the shotel barely grazed his neck.
And that alone was enough to make him lose all will to fight and collapse to the ground.
“V-Victor, Ace!”
Even the holy knight acting as referee seemed rattled by our duel, stumbling over his words.
Well, it’s rare to see divine power used so directly in a holy knight test.
“This really fits my hand.”
Maybe because it was the first weapon I ever used—and the one I held until just before death—nothing else felt quite as right in my grip.
After returning the sparring shotel, I went to the waiting room to hear the results.
And the result was…
“Ace. With the highest total score, you have earned the honor of becoming the Saintess’s personal holy knight. Congratulations.”
“Thank you!”
Massive success.
From now on, I would live as the Saintess’s personal holy knight, guarding her side.
***
“Sister! I did it! I really did it!”
Unable to hide my excitement, I threw open the cathedral doors and shouted.
Maybe they were in the middle of cleaning, because the sisters were still holding brooms, frozen in surprise, unable to process what I’d said.
Then, suddenly, they tossed their brooms aside and rushed at me.
“Oh, our Ace! I knew you’d make it!”
“You’re the pride of our church!”
“Ahh, thank the Goddess!”
As I stood surrounded by the sisters, receiving their congratulations for what felt like ages, they suddenly parted like the Red Sea.
And through the opening came someone walking toward me.
“Sister Stella!”
The one who took me in, the person dearest to me—Sister Stella.
With pride, I pulled the token of a personal holy knight from my chest and showed it to her.
And Sister Stella…
“Congratulations, Ace!!”
She dove right into my arms.
“Hahaha! It’s all thanks to you, Sister Stella!”
Overcome with joy, I hugged her tightly in return.
Today truly was…a happy day.
And then, a few days later.
“Well then, I, Ace, the Saintess’s personal holy knight, will be off!”
“Take care! Come visit us from time to time!”
“Our Ace will do great no matter what!”
“If you ever miss the church, you’re always welcome back!”
Right before leaving the church, I was sent off with the blessings of everyone there.
The carriage that had come to pick me up had arrived long ago.
I was running a bit behind schedule, but being clergy, they didn’t show even a hint of annoyance or impatience.
Only warmth.
“Hahaha…”
I smiled and exchanged goodbyes with everyone.
And then there was one person left.
“Ace…”
My teacher, my mother, my sister—Sister Stella.
She was smiling like she was truly proud, but I could sense a bit of bittersweetness behind it.
“Ace, you’ve finally grown into a fine holy knight and become independent.”
“Yes, Sister Stella.”
Sister Stella looked up at me for a long moment with a complicated expression in her eyes, then motioned for me to lower myself to her level.
I immediately knelt down to meet her gaze, and in that moment.
–Smooch.
Just like the night before I came of age, she kissed me on the forehead.
“Ace, it’s really time to let you go now. Stand proudly by the Saintess’s side, and show the world the full span of your radiant wings.”
“Sister…”
“I know. I know just how incredible you are, Ace. You’re the hero of everyone in our church—and now, you’ll be the Saintess’s sword and shield. I’ll always be praying for you.”
“Sister Stella!”
The emotion overwhelmed me, and I couldn’t hold back anymore—I hugged her tightly and cried.
“I’ll visit as often as I can! And I’ll become someone you can be proud of! I’ll miss you!”
“…Fufu, on the days you miss me, just look at the moon. I’ll look at it too whenever I miss you.”
“Sister…”
She held me tight and whispered softly into my ear.
“You’re like the moon. Not just because of your silver hair… but because you shine gently in the dark.”
“…You were my moon too. A beautifully shining moon that lit the way for me in the night of the slums.”
“Listen to this kid…”
She chuckled playfully, then stepped back and gently patted my head.
“Now, go on. Go and serve the Saintess well.”
I quickly wiped my tears and gave a firm nod.
“Yes!”
“And don’t go being too nice to girls. That’s dangerous.”
“…Huh?”
She left me with a strangely specific bit of advice—but Sister Stella was beautiful until the very end.
***
After two weeks of riding in a carriage, finally.
“I greet the Goddess’s brightest child, Saintess Ariana Astraea.”
I reunited with the Saintess.
“I’ve been waiting for you, Ace.”
Not as a common boy and a Saintess.
But as her personal holy knight.
‘I’ll help you… and the protagonist fall in love.’
Now that I had power, I would do everything I could to stop the tragedies that happened in the game.
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