In the audience room, Prince Kyle would be greeting Emperor Garkhain. Rishe would also be meeting Kyle in the afternoon with Arnold.

“The break will be over soon. Get some rest until then.”

“Hai, thank you, Rovine-sama.”

Rishe and Fritz bowed, and Rovine left; perhaps to address the other cadets.

“They’re amazing, aren’t they? Both His Highness Arnold and Rovine-sama.”

“Yeah, you’re right.”

Rishe nodded.

She has a lot to think about, and then things that had to be fulfilled.

It was frustrating, but she had no choice but to do it one at a time.

To accomplish that, I have to be physically fit. In any case, I have to work out…

As the flame of enthusiasm burned, a few cadets in front of them.

“Yo, Lucius, even though you’re rated 1, you’re being eyed by Rovine-sama quite a bit.”

“Sven…”

The smirking young man, Sven, was one of the outstanding cadets.

According to the evaluations handed out to everyone, his physical strength was rated 4 and muscle strength 5.

“If you have no ability, it’s nice to get some hands-on instruction from him. That really makes me envious.”

“Uhhh…”

Before Rishe could reply, Fritz stood up and retorted, “Hey, Sven. I told you to stay away from Lucius.”

“That’s nice of you, Fritz. But we’re being nice, too, you know?

Sven and the others smirked and looked down at Rishe.

“The guys from the favelas may not understand, but the knights in this country are a meritocracy. No matter how hard you try, it’s useless.”

“As Sven said, you’re at the bottom. Wouldn’t you rather work elsewhere than spend your time training?”

This is… should I say, typical?

Rishe felt that way, but Fritz obviously felt differently.

He always had a cheerful smile on his face, but his eyes were now blazing in anger.

“That’s enough Sven, Lu is serious about this. Don’t make fun of other people’s efforts.”“Hmm. I think you misunderstood something. We aren’t here to play nice with you.”

Sven shrugged and sneered; whereas Fritz was serious and getting furious.

“Look at you, you’re always pissed when we laugh at Lucius. If you want to be a knight, you’ve got to have the guts to kick my ass, don’t you think?”

Rishe was surprised by that remark.

“Fritz, have you ever tried defending me before?”

“I’m not defending you or anything. I just don’t like it when people insult my friends.”

“…”

She let out a soft breath at his reply.

Although, I myself don’t care what they say…

It was almost time for the break to end and for the hand-to-hand combat to begin.

For the round-robin match, Rishe would be crossing swords with all of them.

It wasn’t my intention to have even Fritz get insulted for my involvement.

“Time’s up!”