There was no question who had won the duel of honor. All my limbs were still attached, while a red-faced Meken was being helped to a temporary tent by his knights. Everyone there knew it.

A 「sword runner」 had lost to a 「sword walker」. A seasoned knight who would have been recognized as powerful anywhere, not just in this rural backwater, had lost to an immature country boy.

"It can't, it can't be. How, how!"

Meken shouted, glaring at me even as thick blood dripped from his wounds. The knights restrained him as he tried to rampage and took him into the tent, but his voice still rang loud and clear outside.

"He cheated! That fucking bastard dared cheat against a knight in a sacred duel of honor!"

As the uproar continued, the knight-in-training who had served as referee looked at my exhausted figure and spoke in a low voice.

"... What would you like to receive for winning the duel of honor?"

He did not talk down to me. I couldn't tell whether it was because I was a powerful fighter who had defeated their deputy commander, or because he was naturally polite.

One thing was certain: I could now demand my reward as the victor. And in a situation like this...

"I'd like to know what I can receive."

It was perfectly acceptable to push a little harder.

At that moment, standing before the knight-in-training, I became Mary, the mercenary swordswoman who had survived as a woman through countless commissions; the assassin from the Free City of Crowd who had constantly fought battles of wills in the underworld; and the knight Petel, who had always stood firm and fought for his mistress.

That presence was more than a mere knight-in-training could withstand.

"Every last option."

He briefly sighed at my demand. But he did not call me insolent or ask whether I thought this was some negotiation between merchants. Now that I had won the duel of honor, not a single knight here could dismiss me.

My appearance as a green boy and my slight, womanlike build no longer mattered. As I had always said, strength was law in the Iron Kingdom. And by defeating a 「sword runner」, I had proven myself.

Whether I was drenched in blood, panting from exhaustion, or trembling in every limb from overexerting myself with the sword, no one here could look down on me.

"Allow me to explain."

Yes, this was the Iron Kingdom.

"There are three things you may demand, young lord. If you choose one of them, Deputy Commander Meken will give it to you on his honor."

In the Iron Kingdom, the strong took everything.

"First, the first option is..."

* * *

After finishing my conversation with the knight-in-training, I returned to the manor to rest. I had no idea how long I slept. When I finally woke after that long sleep, much of my fatigue had lifted.

The damage my body had accumulated seemed greater than I had thought.

The duel with Meken had been fierce. The outcome was good, but getting there had been grueling. A single misstep, and I would have been the one to lose an arm.

The stress of extreme tension, recklessly wielding Petel's sword, and squeezing my heart to its limit had inflicted tremendous damage on my body. That was why I had done nothing but sleep for an absurdly long time.

I faltered again and again as I tried to sit up in bed. Terrible muscle pain battered my entire body, making it difficult to rise. When I finally managed it, I felt a weight pressing on my thighs.

"Seolyun?"

She was there, sleeping peacefully. On the shelf beside the bed sat a bowl of plain rice porridge, steam curling from it. As I sat still, puzzled by the situation, Liam spoke.

「The girl looked after you while you slept like the dead.」

"..."

「Her devotion was remarkable. She seemed quite worried. Could she be fond of you? Ho ho, things may get difficult if a young man and woman fall for each other already—」

"Please stop making strange jokes."

I glared at Liam. Seolyun lay asleep with her eyes closed and her head on my lap. Listening to her soft breathing, I moved her light head aside.

'Come to think of it, she did say that. That she couldn't simply walk past someone who was sick.'

I remembered the remark she had made in passing while helping Petel, not long after she came to this territory. Perhaps Seolyun had some circumstances of her own.

"Anyway, seeing her like this, she really is just a girl."

Instead of her usual fighter's attire, Seolyun wore comfortable, light clothing. Dressed like this, she looked less like a prodigiously talented swordswoman and more like a fresh-faced girl her age.

Without thinking, I reached toward her hair, then stopped. There were things I needed to value more than my boyish desires.

「Yes. I think stopping there would be wise.」

Liam's words brought me to my senses. After covering the sleeping Seolyun with a blanket, I got up and ate a few spoonfuls of the plain porridge.

"This tastes like shit."

It was bland and far too watery. Clearly, whoever made it had never cooked in their life. Still, I ate every last bite.

Its bad taste meant the cook lacked skill, which meant she must have made it with clumsy concern for me. I was always sensitive and suspicious, but I was also an affectionate person who couldn't bring himself to be harsh.

As I nodded in approval of my own warmth, Liam threw cold water on it.

「Your paranoia is astonishing.」

"Still, what's necessary is necessary."

... Well, let us pretend I hadn't dipped a silver spoon into it and taken it out to check for poison.

After finishing the porridge, I went out to change clothes. When I returned to the bedroom, Seolyun was awake and rubbing her eyes. Still half asleep, she spoke.

"... You're up?"

"Yes. Thank you for the meal."

She stared blankly at me, then asked,

"It was good, wasn't it?"

I didn't answer.

"I asked if it was good."

Seolyun was persistent.

* * *

I went outside with Seolyun. After asking eight times whether it had tasted good, she finally asked a question I could answer.

"You remember your promise, right?"

My promise. Yes, I had made a promise to Seolyun.

"Yes."

I had agreed to cross swords with her if I survived. And I had survived. Now that I was alive, I had to keep my word.

But...

"However..."

There was something I had to do first.

"I'd like to wait until after Petel's funeral before we cross swords."

My kind neighbor. I needed time to send him off with the respect he deserved.

"All right. He was a good man."

Seolyun nodded with her usual expressionless face. My first neighbor had departed this world.

"You're a good person too, Seolyun. You took care of me while I slept. Honestly, I was touched."

Those who had departed needed to be sent off once more, with proper respect. Only then could those left behind go on living.

I smiled at my second neighbor, Seolyun. She looked at me for a moment, then returned the smile, a tiny one appearing on her impassive face.

"That won't win me over. Like I said before, you're not my type."

"Is that so?"

"So, did it taste good?"

"..."

We exchanged a few playful remarks, then climbed the ridge. On a hill with a clear view of the scarlet sunset lay Petel's stiffened body.

"... Petel, you did well."

Looking at Petel, rigid as a statue, we chose 「Rest in Fire」 for his funeral.

"I tried to prove the worth of your life. I hope you had a good view from where you are."

It was a funeral custom of the Church of the Goddess Marcia, in whom Petel had once believed. The custom arose from the doctrine that, to reach the embrace of the goddess who symbolized the sky, the body must be burned and the soul sent to her as smoke. Seolyun and I were both atheists who did not believe in Marcia.

"May the Maiden of the Sky take you into her embrace."

"May the Maiden of the Sky take you into her embrace."

But for this moment, as we burned Petel's body, we clasped our hands as he had in life and prayed for his repose. We hoped he would sleep peacefully beside the deity he had longed for.

"... The sunset is beautiful today."

"It is. This village has that one thing going for it."

"I keep telling you, it has plenty of other good things too."

After the funeral, a scarlet sunset stained the sky. For some reason, today's twilight was deeper and redder than usual. Watching the world take on its colors, I lost myself in sentiment for a while. Seolyun seemed to feel much the same.

We were leisurely watching the sunset.

「You look quite relaxed, young descendant.」

... Without knowing what was happening down in the village.

「Yet the reward you demanded for the duel of honor earlier seems to be bringing quite a storm.」

"... I don't think what I asked for was all that grand."

「It was. Though you may not realize it.」

Listening to Liam, I opened my eyes a little. The thing I had chosen before collapsing into sleep. The last of the three options the knight-in-training had explained.

「It seems you are fated to live without a moment's rest.」

I couldn't understand why it would bring a storm. Not then, anyway.

* * *

In the most lavishly furnished of the knightly order's temporary tents, Meken lay groaning in pain.

"You must not move for at least a month. Fortunately, perhaps your opponent showed mercy, the severed surfaces were clean, so I was able to reattach them... But you will have difficulty wielding a sword as you did before. Your nerves will lose sensitivity."

The elderly healer hurriedly brought from a nearby city delivered his diagnosis. Meken's face grew even redder as he listened.

Because he had been told he would have trouble wielding a sword? No. It was the words before that which grated on him.

"He showed... mercy?"

"Yes. I don't know who your opponent was, but he seems to have a firm understanding of chivalry."

"Heh heh, ha ha ha!"

Meken laughed like a madman, then awakened his second heart and glared at the healer with the eyes of a beast. The pulses of his 「mana heart」 throbbed violently, and a growl escaped his lips.

"Are you mocking me? Do you want to die? How dare some backwater healer..."

"Deputy Commander! You mustn't do this!"

"Let go. That bastard..."

The knights rushed in and barely managed to restrain Meken. White-faced, the healer bolted out of the tent as though fleeing for his life. Panting, Meken stared fixedly at the spot where the healer had left.

"You bastards don't think the same, do you?"

"..."

"This, this was not a sacred duel. He must have cheated. That wasn't hardness a mere 「sword walker」 could possess. Yes, he used a magical device. If not, then... yes. A dark mage! Weren't there rumors of a dark mage here?"

"... Deputy Commander."

"It wasn't a young boy. It was a golem made by a dark mage. Yes, they brought in a puppet that looked like a boy. That makes sense. Perhaps a dark mage hiding nearby cast a curse on me—"

The longer Meken spoke, the darker the knights' expressions became. It was all absurd, baseless speculation. Meken himself probably knew that. But without it, he could not endure.

He could not accept that he had lost to a mere 「sword walker」, the humiliating fact that a boy who looked easy prey to anyone had cut off both his arms.

Meken panted and radiated murderous intent. Injured though he was, he remained a 「sword runner」, and everyone fell silent before the genuine killing intent he unleashed.

Then...

"You incompetent fool."

The pressure Meken had spread around him like a beast's roar vanished in an instant.

"Did I not tell you? Wings that have not matured are nothing more than sheets of paper."

"..."

"I warned you they would shatter and break miserably when you faced an enemy harder than yourself."

"How did you..."

At the quietly resonant voice, every knight turned toward the tent's entrance. An old man with a splendid beard stood there. Clad in gleaming silver armor, he stood firm, his eyes bright and piercing.

The air inside the tent flowed around him. Meken's murderous intent had completely vanished before the old man.

What that meant was simple.

"Did you think you would stand as high as the heavens in this backwater? How arrogant. The world is overflowing with powerful people, and anyone can possess the teeth to break your immature wings."

Only another 「sword runner」 or a swordsman of a higher realm could suppress a 「sword runner's」 presence.

"How did you get here, Sir Vermatin?"

Sir Vermatin.

"Why would our lofty commander come all the way to this backwater...?"

The commander of the 「Yellow Elephants」, the knightly order to which Meken belonged.

The old man, Vermatin, looked at Meken, snorted, and spoke.

"I came here in person because of your shortcomings. A man holding the rank of deputy commander started a duel of honor on his own authority, then lost it to boot, did he not?"

"... Could you really have come here from the capital already?"

"Do you think I came alone? I, Vermatin?"

With that, Vermatin flung open the tent's entrance. Countless knights appeared outside, all heavily armed. Their helmets concealed their faces, and even their horses were clad in armor. Beyond the knights stood mages wearing insignia.

It was a force large enough to look as though it were marching to war. As Meken stared at them blankly, Vermatin spoke.

"You idiot. Did you think the office of deputy commander was a trivial thing? Power comes with responsibility. And that responsibility must be borne not by you alone, but by our entire order."

Vermatin let out a sigh, then continued.

"In exchange for sparing your life, the boy who broke your wings demanded the 「Banner」."

"... What?"

Meken's eyes wavered.

A knight who won a duel of honor had the right to demand one of three things if he did not take his opponent's life.

The first was to confiscate all the defeated knight's wealth and possessions.

The second was to sully his honor to the utmost, brand him, and make him a slave. This was often considered a disgrace worse than death.

Usually, those who spared their opponents chose one of these two options. They were the most valuable things one could obtain without killing the loser.

The third and final demand offered little practical benefit and placed an enormous burden on the opposing side, so almost no one chose it.

"Why? Why on earth?"

"Why, you fool?"

The 「Banner」.

To explain in detail, the loser had to restore every bit of the victorious knight's tarnished honor. Furthermore, the losing side had to use every means available to elevate the victor's 'honor.' Truly, every means available.

It was a demand the practical knights of the Iron Kingdom, who sought tangible benefits, sneered at as a 'stupid old tradition.'

"Because the boy who defeated you has convictions as hard as steel."

And it was also the most knightly of the three demands.

"I'm intrigued. To think such a romantic swordsman still exists in this day and age."

"..."

"A boy who became a dead knight's champion, won a duel of honor, and demanded the Banner? Doesn't it sound like the opening of a chivalric novel? Ha ha!"

Vermatin grinned.

"I won't be satisfied until I see his face myself."

Still smiling, Vermatin stroked his beard once. Then he spoke.

"Ah, and we have another guest."

"A guest?"

"You fool, how could even I, Vermatin, have gathered this many knights and mages alone?"

He cleared his throat before continuing.

"As soon as the Banner was demanded, the knights-in-training here contacted us. They said we had become obligated to elevate the honor of the knight 「Petel the Loyal」."

"..."

"While we were preparing, a very distinguished person came to see us."

As Vermatin spoke, the vast host parted to either side.

"It seems that knight you challenged to a duel of honor, 「Petel the Loyal」, was no ordinary man."

The click of heels rang out from the center of the parted host.

"How on earth did he bring one of the Iron Kingdom's most influential nobles of late all the way to this remote backwater...?"

"An influential noble? What do you mean?"

"You'll know when you see her. Show proper respect if you don't want to lose your head."

As everyone bowed their heads, a woman walked into the tent. At once, Vermatin spoke in a formal, solemn voice, quite different from the one he had used with Meken.

"Show your respect to Duchess Daisy White, mistress of the watchers who defend the Iron Kingdom, Meken, Deputy Commander of the Yellow Elephants."

Daisy. Petel's former mistress, who had desperately searched for him; his close friend since childhood, the girl who had loved him.

The Daisy who entered the tent was no longer a girl. She was a mature woman, and the house supporting her was no longer insignificant either.

White.

At the sound of that name, Meken's eyes trembled with dismay. Naturally.

"Were you the one who challenged my Petel to a duel of honor?"

One of the five most powerful houses on the continent.

"You will regret not dying in your duel of honor against the child who stood as his champion."

The guardians of order. No one on this continent was ignorant of House 「White」.

"I'll gladly see to that myself."