The girl in charge of offensive magic in the Knights of St. Sophia, the female sage Alte, was trapped.

　Arte thought herself to be capable. And she even thought that with the exception of Saint Sophia and the Holy Knight Creon, there was no such thing as an adventurer who was stronger than her.
　In fact, he graduated from the Imperial School of Magic at the top of his class, and he quickly became a cadre in the Knights of Saint Sophia as a genius in attack magic.

　In addition, Arte is also a beautiful girl. This was not an ego, but an objective fact.
　A dark-haired, dark-eyed girl like Arte was rare in the Empire, and as a beautiful woman with a mysterious atmosphere, she was quite a riot in the imperial capital.
　Because of her beauty, Arte was much envied by the women around her because of her beauty, and she was confessed to by many unimportant men, but that didn't matter.

　It was just that the person who deserved to be next to that wonderfully beautiful saint Sophia should be the one who not only had the ability, but also had an attractive appearance.
　Therefore, Arte thought that he was the one who should be next to Sophia, and he was the one who was worthy to be next to her.
　By all means, an ordinary man with a commoner's rise like Solon the Magic Swordsman should not be beside Sophia.

　Arte had admired the saint Sophia ever since he was in magic school, and that was why Solon by Sophia's side was always an obstacle.
　It seemed that Solon was special to Sophia and Creon, and these three founding members were the core of the Order, and there didn't seem to be any room for Arte to get into it.

　But at last, Arte had succeeded in getting rid of Solon.
　By getting rid of the troublesome executive Solon, Arte was also able to become the deputy leader.
　With this, Arte became the number three in the knightly order, both in name and reality.

　I'm excellent, Arte believes.

　And yet, what is this troubling situation?
　It's not that Arte is facing a powerful enemy, nor is it that his life is in danger.
　The problem was the knight cadres who were supposed to be his friends.

　This is a meeting room for the Knights' executives.
　The regular executive meeting of the Knights is being held.
　Both Sophia, the leader, and Creon, the deputy leader, are absent, but it's not that unusual.
　In addition to the two of them, the exiled Solon is also absent, so that means a total of ten knight cadres are present.
　And those executives all had a dark look on their faces.
　It was no wonder, the Knights' attack on the ruins had been riddled with failures recently.

　One of the cadres, the summoner Notaras, stood up.
　Notaras was a skinny young man with round, thick glasses and his hair cut in a round shape.
　He was the type of man Arte disliked.
　Notaras broke off in a high-pitched voice.

'Lord Arte. You said that we would be able to play a more active role if Lord Solon was gone.

Yes. You said it.

So is this what you want to happen?

'You don't have to be sarcastic to say it outright, do you?　He said we've been making a lot of terrible mistakes.

　Arte tried to answer Notaras calmly, but in the end, he couldn't hide his frustration.

　It was clear that the Knights of St. Sophia were suffering because of Solon's absence.

　Searching for enemies, obtaining supplies, arranging maps and guides, and negotiating with local officials.
　Solon was able to handle the miscellaneous tasks required to explore the ruins on his own without a hitch.
　Arte thought that he could easily do that level of work without him, but when he tried to do it himself, it didn't go well at all.

　Arte is an aristocrat and proud, and he's not very good at keeping his head down and asking for help from the locals.
　Solon has used his miscellaneous and extensive knowledge of law, medicine, biology, literature, history, and folklore to solve minor problems, but Arte has only the knowledge and power of magic.

　He can't even search for enemies. Arte is a sorcerer, so he has no defense, and if he moves alone, he's immediately prey to the enemy.
　On the contrary, Soron, the magic swordsman, had roughly all the skills required of an adventurer. It couldn't be said that their respective skills were high. But he was able to act alone and accurately grasp the enemy's position.

　As an alternative to such Solon, Arte sent several non-commissioned members of the Order to scout the difficult ruins.
　However, they were wiped out.
　They died.
　Arte misjudged the complexity of the ruins and the strength of the enemy.
　That was the reason for the tragedy.
　Until now, it was Solon who had also set the guideline for the attack on the ruins, but when Solon was there, there were few casualties in the knight's group during the attack on the ruins.

'Our knights have been known as undefeated, haven't they? And it has had the virtue of valuing the lives of its members above all else.

What about it?

'Hasn't Lord Arte ruined the traditions of our Order?

I didn't want them to die because I wanted them to.

'But in fact they are dead. This didn't happen when Lord Solon was here. That man was so handy.

　Several of the executives agreed with Notaras' words in a whisper.
　It's not good, Arte thinks.
　The conversation is going in a bad direction.
　In the first place, all of their executives were in favor of Solon's banishment.
　But now, Arte thought it was unfair to only blame himself.

''Even you guys said that you didn't want a magic swordsman with insufficient ability to be the deputy commander!

　Arte stood up and slammed the desk hard.
　In response to the enraged Arte, Notaras maintained his composure and smirked at him.
　At one point, Notaras nodded at Arte's protests.

'Left-sama. It is true that we did not oppose the banishment of Lord Solon. But that's because Lord Arte and the others told us emphatically that we would be fine without Lord Solon.

'That's true, but...'

　The words "I'm not alone in this," came out to Arte's throat.

　Arte respected Saint Sophia, and he loved her. But at the same time, he knew that Sophia had a feeble personality that was not suited to running an organization.
　The saint herself seemed to be aware of this, and even though she was the leader of the group, she remained a symbolic figure in the Order, regardless of the administrative matters of the organization.

　Instead, the one who has been running all aspects of the Knights was the deputy leader, Solon. It's a good idea to be able to have a good idea of what you're looking for.
　However, he is rarely seen these days.

　It's a good thing that you're able to get a good idea of what you're looking for. This rather cautious and conservative policy is one of the reasons for the dissatisfaction of the Order's leaders with Solon.

　However, on the contrary, Creon will order you to capture the ruins with a forceful approach and a high degree of difficulty.
　It's true that the rewards that can be obtained if you succeed are great, and in fact, with the Knights' abilities, it's not uncommon to succeed in capturing them.
　However, the leaders and members of the Order are tired of the too rapid expansion path.
　As if possessed by something, Creon was in a hurry to attack.

　Under these circumstances, Arte had not been able to manage the Order or capture the ruins well at all.

''Even though she's a woman sage, she's just a naive young lady, isn't she?

　Notaras smiled.
　He came from a noble family, but he was born into a dubious family that had no lower class, or even a knighthood.
　He didn't have a good estate or stipend, and the poverty of his life was said to be below that of an ordinary commoner.
　In contrast, Arte was born of a great nobleman with a knighthood of a marquis.
　Arte lost his momentum and weakly asked Notaras, "What do you want me to do?

''What do you want me to do?

You know what to do. You must bring Lord Solon back.

I don't want that one.

　Recalling Solon, would mean admitting that Arte was wrong.
　And so, bringing him back to the Knights, bending the knee and making him second-in-command again, Arte's pride would not allow him to do so.
　At that time, it is certain that Arte will be chased away from the position of number three of the knights that he has obtained.
　On the contrary, it would not be strange if Solon, who had returned, tried to eliminate Arte from the knightly order altogether.

''Those who agree to recall Lord Solon will be asked to stand up from their seats.

　Notaras said quietly.
　In response to his call, the three officers rose from their seats.
　But that was the end of it.
　It would mean that Arte and the remaining five still supported Solon's banishment.

''Hmm. It can't be helped.

　Notaras shrugged and sat back in his chair.
　Thank God, Arte thought.
　Somehow the worst had been avoided.
　The reason there were still so many officers who were in favor of banishing Solon was, first of all, because some of them were not on good terms with Solon personally, like Galerus, the shield officer.
　And more importantly, Creon was the one who led the banishment of Solon.
　Previously, Creon would have turned a deaf ear to the idea of banishing Solon, no matter how much Arthe appealed to him. Suddenly, Creon was actively in favor of Solon's banishment, and he actually got rid of Solon.

　Saint Sophia and Holy Knight Creon were by far the strongest voices in this Order.
　She and he also overwhelmed the other cadres in terms of their combat abilities, and both were charismatic and popular among the cadres and members of the order.

　But this situation wouldn't necessarily last.
　There will be no next time, Arte thinks.

　Anyway, before then, we need to make an achievement that will convince everyone.
　Arte ran his eyes over the map in the corner of the room.
　Then, he found a ruin slightly to the north of the imperial capital.
　It was a place that had once been challenged by countless powerful adventurers, but no one had succeeded in capturing it.
　Its lowest level is said to contain a dizzying amount of treasures. In addition, the resources that can be collected at the ruins are abundant, and it is located near the economic center of the Imperial City.

　Capturing these ruins would bring cheers from the people of the imperial capital, and the status and fame of ARTE would be immovable.
　I don't care how much I have to sacrifice to capture it.
　As long as they succeed, no one will be able to complain about Arte.
　This time, he would not be disturbed by people like Solon and Notaras.
　When that happens, the best female sage, Arte, will be born, along with Saint Sophia.

　With her heart dancing with dark ambitions, Arte announced the adjournment of the executive council.

　At this time, Arte was still unaware of it.
　The fact that Saint Sophia had sneaked out of the Knights' headquarters the night before and headed to the imperial capital.