“G-good morning… Reina.”

This morning, Kenya woke up as usual.

“G-good morning!!”

Reina replied to Kenya with a voice pitched high in excitement.

It was their usual daily routine, but she was clearly still dwelling on yesterday’s events.

The two of them ate breakfast in awkward silence.

But Reina was the one who was blatantly off.

“Reina… today,”

“Y-yes! W-w-what is it?!”

Her voice spiked at the slightest thing.

She was fully aware of it, acting stiff and blushing faintly.

“N-no, I just meant… let’s do our best today…”

“R-right!”

(W-why am I… my heart’s pounding… my face…)

Reina desperately tried to maintain her usual cool expression.

But just talking to Kenya made the corners of her mouth keep creeping upward.

“Haha…”

(She’s definitely still hung up on yesterday… Th-this is awkward…)

Kenya didn’t notice a thing and felt hurt that she was looking away from him.

The conversation grew even more strained somehow.

This was just like…

The time right after middle schoolers start dating for the first time, walking home from school together after class.

That fuzzy, dreamy stretch of time drifted by.

It even felt a little pleasant, in a way.

…

“Morning, Sword. The Holy Knight exam starts this afternoon, right? I don’t think you’ll have any issues.”

“They change the exam format every year, so you can’t really prepare… Good luck, Sword.”

“Hmph. I hate to admit it, but you’re both stronger than me. Passing is a given.”

Jin, Lilbelt, and Zoid.

Not one of them doubted that Kenya and the others would pass.

And so, in the afternoon, the exam began.

Over a thousand examinees had gathered at the exam venue.

That said, they were divided into blocks of about a hundred per venue.

“Reina’s… in a different block, huh.”

“Yes. Let’s do our best!”

Reina pumped both fists in a guts pose.

What was that gesture? So cute.

Kenya headed into the venue alone.

“Hey, isn’t that…?”

“For real? Same block…?”

“Ahh, no passing for me this year either… Ninth time taking it…”

“Why’s a knight of the imperial family even taking the Holy Knight exam…?”

Everyone stared at Kenya as he entered the venue.

The name Sword Silfield had spread across the entire Earthguard Empire.

Thanks to Road’s publicity efforts, he was already effectively confirmed as Road’s knight.

And Reina Silfield—the Silver Ice Princess—was seen as part of Road’s camp too, since she was so close to him.

In that sense, everything was going exactly according to Road’s plans.

“Ahem. Time to start this year’s Holy Knight exam!”

The one who stepped up onto the venue’s platform was Colonel Star.

He was the proctor for this block. Kenya couldn’t shake the feeling there was some ulterior motive here.

“Considering the shifts in international affairs, and in response to voices saying the Holy Knight exam has gotten too easy year by year, we’ve made major changes to the format!”

(War with the Asia Union is probably about to kick off…)

Kenya recalled Odin Earthguard’s speech declaring war on the Asia Union.

War was imminent. With the emperor’s condition worsening by the day, time was running out.

“That’s exactly why I need to become a Holy Knight today.”

Become a Holy Knight today. Rise to Holy Knight Captain. Serve as Road’s knight.

Then win the Empire Sword Martial Festival against Odin and make Road emperor.

That was Kenya’s goal—and Road’s.

“So, the exam content. Traditional written tests and strategy questions are useless on the battlefield, frankly. Or rather, cramming for them is pointless patchwork. What you all aspire to be is the empire’s blades—the Holy Knights. So there’s only one thing you need!”

Cramming strategies was meaningless.

Only hard-earned lessons, paid for in blood like Road’s, would hold up in combat.

Kenya knew all too well how a bad plan could doom you.

That’s why today’s exam would surely test…

“Raw strength!”

Under Colonel Star’s declaration, the exam format was revealed.

It would use simulators.

“We have a hundred people here right now. You’ll all enter the same simulator area at once.”

(Whoa, that’s…)

Kenya remembered a popular mode from his old world.

Battle royale with a hundred players.

It was a staple mode in KOG, one Kenya played now and then to blow off steam.

Not a team battle, but you could join with friends and have fun.

He’d heard of high-rated guys boosting with girl players too.

Super jealous. No, totally unfair.

What did they think sacred KOG ranked matches were?

Me? Solo queue, obviously. Hell, I crushed players like that.

If only my communication skills were better—with my skills, I could’ve landed a girlfriend easy.

They say being good at games gets you a girl, but even after topping Japan, nada.

After winning the Japan tournament, I was grinding solo when a girl invited me to party once.

Then she called me creepy, and I’ve never played with a girl since.

I patiently taught her every advanced technique since she said controls were hard. What was wrong with that?

Still don’t get it. I spent three hours hand-holding her through everything.

She timidly said, “N-no, that’s too much trouble,” but I politely insisted she not hold back.

What was the issue…?

“What you’ll be doing is mock warfare! Teams divided into black and white—fifty versus fifty team battle!”

(Got it. Simulating war with two opposing camps. But how do they pick Holy Knights from that?)

“The one who scores the most enemy kills and performs best will become a Holy Knight! Depending on performance, we might pass two or more, but usually it’s one!”

(Ah, I see.)

“We’ll be checking if you can rack up achievements on a real battlefield and work as part of a unit!”

To sum up Colonel Star: two conditions to become a Holy Knight.

One: victory.

No matter how many enemies you down, defeat means nothing.

Two: outperform everyone.

Battlefields are competitions for glory. Standing out and securing victory matters.

But cooperation would be impossible like this.

Personal kills become a hindrance in a team effort.

In reality, with death as the penalty, you’d cooperate to avoid loss…

But not here.

That worry proved unfounded, though.

“And the losing team gets a penalty.”

Colonel Star grinned as he dropped the bomb.

“Banned from the Holy Knight exam forever!”