Early in the morning, dressed as a man and wearing the uniform of a knight cadet, Rishe arrived at the still empty training ground.

The quiet training ground was brimming with clean air. It would be another hour and a half before the cadet training would begin.

It took me a lot of caution to slip out of the room, so I’m five minutes later than usual.

After all, Arnold was in the next room. He was still asleep at this hour, but the slightest noise could have caught his attention.

After cleaning, I need to flex and start a quick warm-up. –Okay.

She grabbed her broom with enthusiasm and swept the ground of the training grounds. She tidied up the wooden sword that was propped up against the wall, and then did some stretching exercises.

As she was stretching her body muscles, she saw a figure on the training ground.

“Fritz!”

“!”

This was also a scene every morning. She called him the same way she had called him yesterday, but Fritz freaked out and his shoulders quaked as soon as Rishe called out to him.

The smile on his face was somewhat cramped.

“Oh, good morning, Lu.”

“Morning. What’s up, Fritz?”

“Huh?! Oh nothing! Actually, I didn’t sleep very well last night!”

Fritz shyly said shyly and scratched his head.

He got her worried for a second. He had come to the imperial capital from the distant port city of Siutena and was living an unfamiliar life while training. There was a chance that he could get sick at the slightest change.

“Your complexion isn’t that bad. Do you have a fever? Do you have an appetite?”

“I ate well in the morning, and I don’t feel feverish.”

“Then, can you run your fingers under your eyes?”

“Err, like this?”

She looked at the color of his mucous membranes, but unlike Kyle, he didn’t seem to be anemic. However, she’d like to examine them more closely.

“Fritz, I’m sorry for a minute…”

“Owa?!”

She took Fritz’s wrist and gently placed two fingers where his thick veins were. The results weren’t good, so Rishe frowned.

“… Somehow, your pulse is very fast.”

“No, ah-!”

Fritz hurriedly backed away, and smiled awkwardly.

“I ran from the castle gates to here. I was just training!”

“What? Really?”

“Y-yeah! So, I just couldn’t sleep, but I’m full of energy. It’s nothing, so let’s start training!”

“Hmm …”

“And it wasn’t because I was sick that I couldn’t sleep.”

“No?”

Craning his neck, Fritz stared at Rishe, then covered his face with his hands in embarrassment.

“… I-I think I might have found someone I like…”

“Heh~! Congratulations!”

He said he was going to spend the afternoon touring the Imperial City, so she guessed he met the person there. Whatever it was, it was great to foster new relationships.

“Good for you, Fritz. As an acquaintance of mine once quoted, ‘A knight who is in love becomes stronger very quickly!’”

“Y-yeah, right…”

After receiving Rishe’s blessing, Fritz looked strangely tangled. This was quoted by a certain country’s knight commander. Did it smell a little scandalous?

As she mulled over it, there were signs of people at the entrance to the training grounds.

This is the first time I’ve ever seen anyone other than Fritz come in at this time of day.

Only Rishe and Fritz trained voluntarily every morning.

Eventually, a young man, a knight candet, appeared.

“Lucius, you do always have morning training…”

“Good morning, Sven.”

He was the cadet who had cursed at Rishe yesterday during training.

Instead of responding to Rishe’s greeting, Sven kept silent. When Fritz saw the situation, he stepped in front of Rishe.

“Yo, Sven. I can’t believe you’re here so early, this is a first.”

“Oh, it’s because of your rebuttal when you left last night that Lucius comes and trains every morning before anyone else!”

“It’s a fact, see? Lu beat all of us hand-to-hand because he’s been working hard like this.”

Listening to the exchange between the two, she had a vague idea of what had happened after yesterday’s training. She was certain, who seemed to have taken her under his wing, blurted that out without pretense.

“Thank you, Fritz.”

“You’re my friend. Come on, Lu, let’s get the day’s training started.”

“… Sorry about that. Just give me a minute.

Rishe turned to Sven and asked, “Would you like to train with us too, Sven?”

“What?”

At her invitation, Fritz and Sven’s eyes widened.

“Oh, what are you talking about? What’s in it for you to ask me out!”

“Benefit?”

“Yeah. You’d be a lot better off if you just leave me alone.”

Rishe tilted her head as if she was told something strange.

“The reason knights have to be strong isn’t to be the best swordsman in the country, right?”

“Wha-what is …?”

“It’s about protecting the people we want to protect. That’s why it’s meaningless unless everyone grows up. There’s a limit to the number of people you can protect if you’re the only one getting stronger.”

Sven’s eyes rounded and he stared at Rishe.

Rishe wasn’t a knight in this life. But she could still remember what her former life had taught her.

“Besides, Sven, you stayed here after yesterday’s training and did some independent training, didn’t you?”

“How did you know that?”

T/N: Nyahaha, Rishe is giving Fritz butterflies ∩(·ω·)∩