I love time travel the most!

The entire training ground was incredibly noisy.

Julius used only three moves.

One move to the face, one move to the chest, one move to the abdomen.

The reckless boy looked miserable, but Reinhard and Kobayashi, who had rich combat experience, knew that these were just superficial injuries and were not nearly as serious as they appeared.

"--Pleiades!"

A scream came from the other entrance, and then a flash of bright silver rushed to the side of the boy who was lying on the ground.

Anxious Emilia used magic to heal the injured Natsuki Subaru.

Julius didn't speak, but instead sheathed his wooden sword, bowed to Emilia who hadn't paid any attention to him, and then turned and left.

Kobayashi and Reinhard greet the winner.

It did not receive any praise.

The Sword Saint looked at him helplessly, but Kobayashi said thank you to the expressionless Julius.

This surprised the Optimal Knight.

"I thought you would be just like him, very hostile towards me."

"You don't think I'm reckless either, do you?"

"But aren't you and him best friends?"

“I am also a close friend of Reinhard, and if you don’t mind, you can also be my close friend.”

“...a strange person.”

Julius developed a second sense of attraction towards Kobayashi.

Many people are like this; they don't care who is right or wrong or what irreparable consequences may arise. They only care whether their relatives and friends have been wronged and blindly want to seek justice for them.

However, Kobayashi's words also told him that he was a person who knew right from wrong.

It was precisely because he was friends with Subaru Natsuki that he thanked Julius instead of clamoring for revenge.

"And you must be under a lot of pressure too."

Xiaolin looked at him with a smile.

Julius's position was second only to the captain, making him essentially the vice-captain.

After hearing Subaru Natsuki's audacious declaration, he was forced to make a statement to quell public anger, but taking action would violate the knight's rule against harming commoners. Most importantly, he could very well use this as a pretext to cause trouble for his royal candidate, Anastasia.

The best knight had a feeling that Kobayashi understood him very well, something that even Rhine and Hart had never understood, otherwise they wouldn't have tried to convince themselves to condemn and correct him with words.

"Alright, I need to check on that idiot's condition. I'm off."

Kobayashi waved his hand, leaving space for the two knights, and walked towards the center of the training ground.

Watching his retreating figure, Julius said, "Reinhard, he must have helped you a lot."

"Indeed. If it weren't for Kobayashi, I would definitely have a terrible headache."

Looking back on this period of time, the Sword Saint was sincerely grateful for Kobayashi's presence.

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

We arrived at the middle of the training ground.

The shadows cast by the sunlight obscured Emilia, who was crouching on the ground, and Subaru, who was lying motionless on the ground.

Saw someone coming.

Emilia pleaded anxiously, "Kobayashi, Subaru has fainted. Could you please help me carry him to the rest room for treatment?"

"That's why I came here."

Kobayashi helped Natsuki Subaru up, and Emilia led them to the lounge.

The silver-haired half-elf girl wasn't good at healing, but she could handle superficial wounds without much difficulty. However, it would take a long time and be a heavy burden on Emilia, so Kobayashi took over.

After expressing her gratitude, Emilia hurriedly left to quell the aftermath of the riot.

Only two people remained in the lounge.

"--cure."

A magical light is emerging.

Natsuki Subaru's face, which was originally bruised and swollen and unrecognizable, gradually recovered to this state, although he was still not handsome at all.

A few seconds later, he opened his eyes.

For him, who wakes up very easily, the brief moments of regaining consciousness are very ambiguous.

And in this situation, he heard this sentence again.

"You're awake. Congratulations, the surgery was a success, and you're a girl now."

"...Don't say such scary things!"

Natsuki Subaru suddenly widened his eyes and straightened up.

The funniest thing is that this guy actually lifted the blanket to check if he was still a man, and after confirming it, he breathed a sigh of relief and relaxed.

"Seriously, don't scare me."

"Because your reaction was funny?"

Kobayashi responded to his complaints with a joking tone.

He's still as lively as ever, it seems the duel just now didn't affect him... but that doesn't seem to be the case.

At this moment, Natsuki Subaru lowered his head with a grim expression, probably remembering how humiliating he had just been and what had happened to him that led him to lie there.

"I lost."

"Of course! What exactly gave you the illusion that you could go toe-to-toe with the best knight? Who gave you the courage?"

"Hiss—it hurts!"

Kobayashi pressed his index finger against the reckless boy's forehead, causing him to cry out in pain that he couldn't bear it.

Subaru Natsuki's purpose in doing that wasn't simply to worry Emilia, but to prove his worth and his resolve to help her no matter what. Unfortunately, the outcome wasn't perfect, or rather, it was terrible.

"It seems I have no chance of becoming a qualified knight. I underestimated them."

Natsuki Subaru sighed deeply.

Then, he looked at Kobayashi and said, "Please, become the Knight of Emilia, Kobayashi!"

Such a skillful way of currying favor with powerful figures—I wonder who taught him that.

Oh, it's me, that's okay.

Kobayashi shrugged and said, "Are you an idiot? Have you forgotten? I'm a mage, and I'm a member of the court mage order, not a knightly order."

"...Never mind, even if you hadn't become a court mage, you wouldn't have helped Emilia, would you?"

"Why do you say that?"

"Because you and Reinhard are both Felt's helpers, aren't you?"

The reckless boy suddenly became clever.

No, it should be said that all the intelligence was connected.

When Kobayashi visited the mansion before, Subaru Natsuki invited Kobayashi to stay. Roswaal had the same intention, but was politely refused by the other party, who said that he had someone to serve.

Now it seems that they were referring to Ferut.

"Well, I deliberately kept it a secret so I could give you a surprise, Natsuki-kun."

"This is a really big surprise."

Natsuki Subaru smiled.

When he saw Felt dressed in her magnificent attire, he was almost speechless with shock. When he learned that she and Emilia were both candidates for the royal selection, his shock level increased even further.

"But why Ferut?"

"Reason? Does Natsuki-kun know about the First Emperor?"

"Are you referring to the First Emperor who possessed a Lostbelt capable of encircling the Earth? Don't underestimate me; I've played FGO before."

"Not that one, but the one in official history."

Subaru Natsuki's eyes were filled with ignorance.

Just like most foreigners, they only have a superficial understanding of famous historical figures, and trying to understand them in depth is asking too much of them.

Xiaolin offered a helpless explanation.

"The First Emperor had a very difficult childhood, and as a hostage, he was constantly restrained. At this time, he received help from a merchant, and then he rose to power and unified the six kingdoms. The merchant who had helped him later became the prime minister, who was second only to the emperor... In this world, he should be called a duke."

"I see, I understand."

Unlike Reinhard, Subaru Natsuki, being a modern person, understands investment better.

With a little prompting, he understood.

Needless to say, he is actually doing the same thing now.

However, Subaru Natsuki still didn't understand.

"But Emilia would work too, wouldn't she?"

"...Are you serious? You should have seen how unpopular silver-haired half-elves are, right?"

Although Felt, with her royal blood, was not well-liked by the nobles, at least they didn't treat her coldly or resist her too much; on the other hand, Emilia, if it weren't for the protection of her identity as the Dragon Priestess, would likely have been expelled.

This is the gap.

The greater the downturn, the greater the return on investment. But you also need to compare the difficulties faced by both sides. Even a child understands this principle.

"Besides..."

Kobayashi drew out his words, his eyes gleaming with a chilling light, and slowly spoke as Subaru instinctively tried to turn his head away:

"I will establish the Axis Kingdom."

"……what?"