[Knights of the Academy, Set Off!]
We, the Knights of the Academy, were joining the Knights in a rescue mission to save Tayte, who was caught up in the riot occurring in the Anom region.
Normally, students wouldn’t be involved in such a mission, but the incident this time happened while many knights were coincidentally on an expedition abroad, so they were lacking the manpower to handle the case. The Holy Knight Klaus also vouched for our abilities.
In addition, the knights who had watched the tournament during the festival also approved of our participation, having seen me, Raul, Jarvis, and Madeline fighting up close.
The only thing we lacked was experience — but this experience was a factor that couldn’t be taken lightly.
We had to make up for that somehow.
…Then again, even if the Knights of the Academy hadn’t been allowed to take part in the mission, I would have found other ways to join them somehow.
In any case, because the incident happened at the same time as the knights were away, there were suspicions that someone had leaked information on the knights’ expedition to the rioters.
This made me fall into deep thought.
The Anom region where Tayte and her parents were—the place had appeared in the original novel, [The Rise of the Weakest Holy Swordsman].
As for when it was after I—or rather, the original Barrett disappeared into the slums, having been beaten by the protagonist Raul. That was the middle-late point in the novel. In it, a traitor among the knights also leaked information on its movements, and somehow things blew up so big that there was a danger of multinational war breaking out.
Don’t tell me, I had a bad feeling about this.
I wondered if the mastermind behind this riot was also aiming to provoke a multinational war.
If that were the case… the timeline was very different from the original novel.
I wouldn’t be surprised, however. Since I’d already changed so many things, from my personal relationships to my reputation, among others.
The only problem here was Tayte.
Tayte didn’t get caught up in any riot in the original novel.
At this point in the novel, Tayte was already reduced to—I hated to say it—a background character. Being the first to join the harem, she was overshadowed by the newer harem members.
She was even moving separately from Raul and his harem when they visited the Anom region in the original novel, if I wasn’t mistaken.
To think this would happen…
“Barrett.”
“! What’s up, Jarvis?”
As I was lost in thought, Jarvis called out to me.
This wasn’t good.
I got to get rid of this bad habit.
“We will soon arrive at the rendezvous point with the knights.”
“O-okay.”
Having gotten ready for battle, we were now riding a carriage heading towards the rendezvous point with the knights for a strategy meeting.
I’ve got to pull myself together. No sooner had that thought appeared in my mind than a thunderous roar suddenly echoed and our carriage swayed heavily. Further, the sound of impact “Boom!” resounded.
“?! W-what was that?!”
The carriage came to an emergency stop. I immediately rushed out of it and checked the surroundings; there I found a huge rock fallen in front of the carriage.
It was clearly the work of several people.
“They are trying to block our way…”
“So it seems.”
As Jarvis and I looked at the rock, everyone else came to our sides.
–Further, people who seemed to be the culprits decided to show themselves, too.
“Well, well, ain’t this a surprise. Y’all are really just a bunch of brats.”
A blond man stood atop the rock with a large sword in his hand.
As if prompted by his words, armed men appeared and surrounded us.
Were these guys the ones… who started the riot?
“My bad, but we can’t let you go past this place. If you insist on going, you’ve gotta force your way through us. If you can.”
The people surrounding us burst into laughter at the blond man’s words.
“…So he says, but what are we going to do—Leader?”
Jarvis asked with a sigh.
My answer was obvious.
“They ask for it, so… let’s force our way through them, shall we?”
“Phew, of course.”
Hearing my words, Jarvis, Raul, Madeline, Andrei, and Eureka shifted to a battle stance.
