The next day, after school, I logged into the game. When I went downstairs, I saw Kaim-san in his cat form.

''Ofu... don't just pet me like that... ha!

Oh, there's the tact!

I was playing with the cat.

Hohoho. You've been playing with your cat.

Uh, where can I find Aura?

Wait, wait!　If you do that, Fretia will be destroyed!

Aura, you're full of it.

Aura. Hon, the King would like to speak to you about the Ex Machina situation. Is this a good time?

I'm fine.

I'm going into the royal castle for the first time. I'll get stares from all sorts of knights. That's just the way it is. You don't look so good.

"This is your room, this is your audience with the king. Do you want to be polite as I've just taught you?

I'm fine.

Good answer.

Then you open the door, and as you enter, you see a row of knights and a throne at the top of a long staircase. It's a common king's audience room.

I proceed with Kaim and greet him as he taught me. The king of Freetia is said to be called the Grand Freetian King. He looks quite old, but he wears a calm atmosphere.

''Is it true that you made a contract with Ex Machina?''

Yes. We have a contract.

Hmm. Will you summon me to this place?　I can't believe it until I see it in person.

All right. Come on, Ix!

You wanted to see me?　Master.

When I summon Ix, there's a stirring around me.

'Can't it ever be quiet? But I never thought I'd see the day when I'd actually see an Ex Machina.

I feel the same way myself. My king. But now that you've seen it, you have to believe it.

King Gran nodded when Kaim said that.

The king nodded. Ix and I want to be friends with any sub-race. We will listen to your answer.

I am always with the Master. Everything is as the Master wills.

Ix's trust is heavy.

'Then, Tact. Let us hear your answer.

I would like to continue my adventures in this country where there is no discrimination of summonses.

Hmm. I have received your answer. Then I will accept Ex Machina as one of my country.

Thank you.

Back off is good.

Yes. Excuse me.

I let out a breath as I step out of the audience room. Oh man, I was super nervous. I thought I'd be fine, to some extent, from my part-time job interview, but I wasn't at all.

''Good job. I'm sure you're not the only one. You're very good at it.

I'm not at all happy about the praise?

Okay, let's get out of here.

Yes, sir.

I start walking in the opposite direction from Kaim.

'Wait, wait, wait!　I'm over here!

Mr. Kaim gets upset. I'm not stupid. I can at least remember the way we came.

That's not the way we came, is it?

Well... it's... it's a shortcut.

Oh. That's...

'So you're saying that Mr. Kaim knew of a shortcut and didn't use it? So you made King Gran waste his precious time by making him go the long way?

This is a big problem.

"I have to give a word to King Gran,

What?　Wait!　Wait!　Now that's a lie!　As a matter of fact, the Second Princess, Lady Sarah Fretia, wants to meet you!

If that's the case at all, you could have just said so... how could you refuse a princess' request?

And we arrived at the training grounds for the knights in the open air. Why a training ground? I feel like the event is already confirmed to occur.

Then a woman wearing a beautiful sky blue knight armor comes out from among the knights.

''I've been waiting for you. Summoner Tact-sama. I am Sarah Freetia, the second princess of Freetia. I am the Knight Commander of this country.''

I think she was about the same age as me. She was a woman of dignity and pride, the very embodiment of a princess knight.

''I am pleased to meet you for the first time. I am the Summoner's Tact. I was told that you wished to meet me?

Yes, sir. First of all, I would like to thank you. On behalf of my country, I would like to thank you for providing my sister with a drink that will ease her suffering.

You're a very disciplined man.

'And I would also like to thank you for defeating those knights the other day.

Hmm? I thought that would be a fighting trend, but no?

''To be honest, the current Order is very loose. My immediate knights are different, but the country's knights have not had a war or a monster attack in hundreds of years, so they don't take their training seriously in a token way.

'To top it all off, they ended up guarding the royals for points. I've always wanted to do something about it, but I've never been able to pursue them because they never fail to do anything.

Ah... you've read the story.

''So, since I defeated the knights in Princess Henri's guard, you were able to pursue them?

That's right. They're training hard for it. But I have my place in the world. More than anything else, the knights, Henri, and Lord Olivier admire you, and I would like to cross swords with you as a knight.

See, it's an event. But it wasn't just an event. A big Serian Beast man in knight armor and a handsome knight said.

'Wait a minute. It doesn't look good for us if we only let the princess fight.

'Garou is right. Princess. Give us a fighting chance!

'You're both right, but that wouldn't be fair.

Is that an excuse? That's just fine.

How about fighting my subraces, then?

'Oh!　Then it's only fair, right?　If it's the dragon newt they say it is, then I'm going to fight it too.

I'm in good hands with him, too.

The two knights seem to be on board. But the princess seems to be different.

''I would like to fight the Dragon Newt too, but...''

We can't do that!

Hime. This guy seems to genuinely like fighting.

How many of your sub-race are there?

There are six of us now, and only four of us can fight with swords.

You mean, five against five!　Nice. I'm on fire!

''But Princess, the other knight leaders won't look good if we enjoy ourselves, will they?

So it's confirmed that the other party is the Knight Commander class?

''...I suppose so. Then, let's change the day. Is there a day that is convenient for you, Takt-sama?

If it hadn't been suggested to me first, I would have done it. Lilly and the others can't fight, you know.

'Thank you. As a matter of fact, Drago Newt is currently unable to fight due to the cost of his dragonification.

'You can turn into a dragon?　That was bad... if the rules hadn't banned it, we would have lost.

It looks like he's not as strong as Lily and the others in the dragon state. No, being careless is a great enemy.

''We have to make sure we have a set of rules. I heard that the price of Dragon Newt's dragonification is healed in four days.

Four days means it'll be fixed tomorrow. But there's that whole King Kong fort thing going on. Okay, I'll take it.

"How about this time in two days?

No problem. I look forward to the duel in two days' time.

That's where the info comes in.

Requested Quest "Freetia's Knights Training Match": Difficulty Level B
Reward: Varies according to victory or defeat.
A training match against the captains of the Freetian Order.
A five-on-five match format.

Was the difficulty the same as the cooking battle... or was that quest, the same difficulty as fighting the captains of the Knights?

''You fat cat over there, show him around.

'Yee!　No, I can't!　I'm leaving now for a conference tomorrow!

Oh...that means that Aura-san and the others will disappear too? Well, we can ask another staff member to help us, and if anything happens, we can contact them.

''You're a useless fat cat, aren't you?''



Do you think that will make your sins go away?

Ugh...

What did you do? This guy. On the way home, I asked him what happened to him, and he told me that three years ago, when he was sleeping in the castle garden in his fat cat form, Princess Sarah found him and petted him. But according to Kaim, she touched my delicate zone and my transformation spell was broken.

As a result, he ended up sticking his face in Princess Sara's skirt while she was squatting. That's out.

Normally, this would be a death sentence, but because he was already one of the world's most skilled grammas in the Beast Demon Guild, he survived, but apparently his relationship with Princess Sara is terrible. I guess he had it coming.