With her long, ashen blonde hair that was tied into a bun, the tall woman observed the cadets as they resumed their training. Her posture was straight, and she emitted both confidence and elegance. Uncommon for her position, she wore black leather pants, coupled with boots, which seemed easy to move in. Her hands were clasped behind her back, fully revealing her white blouse, the frills forming a straight line from her chest to her neck. At first glance, it was difficult to tell that the woman—whose fierce emerald eyes could kill someone—was in reality the queen of the Tutorial Section. She was Queen Maya, a woman in her thirties known for her strictness and reliability.
"..."
Although the Queen was here, Chris ordered the cadets to continue with the schedule. After going through their weapon training, it was now time for the obstacle run to finish today's training. It featured just one lap around the field, but there were multiple obstacles scattered across the lap. Sometimes, there were simple traps, like swinging blocks or thorns made out of wood, but sometimes there were also full-fledged knights who were tasked with actively disrupting the cadets.
The first cadets were mercilessly knocked out by those knights or were sent flying from the course by the knights' skills. Almost half of the present cadets attempted the run; however, only a handful of people managed to actually reach the finish line.
Erik and Luna were at the end of the line, whereas Jay was preparing to give Neil the signal to start his turn. Jay was as calm as usual, but the same could not be said about Neil. It was not that he was nervous about the race itself. Rather, his eyes wandered away from the course.
"Neil?"
He did not respond even when Jay called his name. With a stern and somewhat cold gaze, he observed Queen Maya, who was still observing the cadets with an indifferent expression on her fair-skinned face.
"Neil." Jay called out to him once more. This time, he closed in on his ear. As a temporary instructor, Jay could fail Neil immediately for not paying attention to the training, but he noticed that something was wrong, especially because Neil glared at the Queen.
"H-huh? Sorry, what?"
Neil snapped back to reality. He returned to his usual timid and clumsy self as he repeatedly apologized to Jay for spacing out.
"It's your turn now." Jay sighed, pointing to the obstacle course. Not many people noticed the small delay that Neil caused, but there were still a few who exchanged puzzled looks.
Neil frantically started to run, but of course, to no one's surprise, Neil failed miserably. Other cadets who felt like they would fail, like Neil did, even approached Jay for advice, as he was an instructor. But they quickly found out that they were doomed.
"Hm? You want to know how to get through the knights? Just knock them out." Jay replied to their questions. It was also because he sounded so genuine and innocent that his obvious statement did not resonate at all with them.
The line turned smaller until Erik and Luna stood beside Jay.
"You're a failure of an instructor." Erik shook his head in disbelief.
"Have you tried to see things from the perspective of a normal person...?" Luna wondered with a wry look.
"If you want to, I can send you guys home right away." Jay replied, clearly not amused by his friends' remarks. He had been appointed as an instructor, but he had no idea how to teach others—especially not how to become a knight.
"Anyway. Did Chris tell you anything about her?" Erik asked, glancing quickly at Queen Maya. The Queen was already there when Erik returned from his encounter with the other Jay. He also asked Luna about her, but Luna was as clueless as he was.
"There's nothing much to say." Jay said, shrugging his shoulders.
"She just dropped by randomly and asked if she could watch the cadets with her own eyes." he added.
"That sounds just like her, I guess..." Erik sighed.
"W-what is she like?" Luna asked, feeling a little nervous. In her previous world, Luna did not encounter someone with a status as high as a queen's, but she could still tell the difference in the air with the Queen around.
"She's a strict person. Someone who does her tasks meticulously and without any flaws." Erik said.
"Aside from the King, everyone respects and fears her." Jay added, with a carefree smile.
"Sounds like a scary queen..." Luna shuddered.
"That may be true." Erik chuckled.
"However, there's no one who loves the Tutorial Section more than her." he elaborated.
Luna tilted her head in confusion until Jay's loud scream startled her.
"Next!"
Erik and Luna were the last ones to attempt the obstacle race, with Luna failing and Erik finishing the lap. It also marked the end of the second day of the Royal Knight Selection. The majority of the cadets hurried home, whereas a handful of people stayed back to train more.
"Are we going home?" Erik suggested.
"I think I will... I'm too tired to hold a weapon..." Luna responded, mustering the last amount of strength she had to speak.
However, Jay's gaze was focused on another person.
"Go on without me. I will stay back for a little." he sighed as he returned to the training grounds.
His two comrades stared at his back in confusion. Erik quickly realized what Jay intended to do and left. Luna, in turn, did not notice, and neither did she have the energy; thus, she also left.
"Your posture is terrible." Jay stated. He was standing in front of Neil, who was desperately swinging his training sword, although he was dead tired. He was wobbling on his feet and could barely get a grip on his sword.
"I-instructor Jay...?"
"Sit down and watch me." Jay said, laid-back as he picked up a sword.
"Don't you dare pass out. If I'm going to teach you, I'll make sure you pass this event!" Jay declared, pointing at Neil.
The next day.
After they did their warm-up routine, the cadets prepared for their daily sparring sessions. Each one of them chose their weapon and formed pairs. Jay told Neil to choose a different partner in order to gain experience fighting his peers instead of a more experienced instructor.
Meanwhile, Jay observed the cadets from afar together with Chris.
"So the Queen didn't come by today?" he asked Chris, checking his surroundings.
"She's right there." Chris replied bluntly, fixating his gaze at the person approaching Luna, who still did not find a partner.
"Don't tell me..." Jay muttered, sharpening his eyes.
"I tried to convince her not to do it, but the Queen is... rather formidable..." Chris admitted, ashamed by his own conduct.
Erik, who sparred with another cadet, also looked over to Luna. Even he was surprised by the turn of events.
"It seems that we're both in need of another person. How about partnering up?" Queen Maya suggested, sounding smug. With a faint smile on her face, she wielded the same spear her soon-to-be partner did.
"Q-Q-Queen Maya?!" Luna stuttered, overwhelmed by the pressure.
Queen Maya did not wait for Luna's response and instead, readied herself already for their sparring bout.
"Could it be that she came to this event, hoping that she could test out potential knights on her own...?" Jay guessed, still in disbelief at what he was about to witness.
Chris did not let out a sound and just nodded his head in shock.
"Don't hold back on me. I don't stand here as a queen but as a fellow fighter." Queen Maya stated, trying to take off the pressure from Luna.
Luna was still hesitant. She did not want to attack a queen and accidentally cause an injury.
"Are you perhaps scared that you could hurt me?" she asked Luna, her faint smile turning wider.
"I-I..."
"No need to worry about that. I may not look like it, but I'm not just a queen who sits on the throne all the time."
Her grip tightened, and before Luna could even react, Queen Maya was suddenly right in front of her, the spear's tip pressing lightly against Luna's stomach.
"Now, come at me!" she declared, excited about the sparring session.
"G-got it...!" Luna replied, her shaking voice sounding slightly firmer. She could not say no to her, nor did she think that declining this offer would be a wise choice. From her posture and spear-wielding, Luna thought that maybe she could learn a thing or two. Therefore, she had to use the opportunity to learn from the best here—even if just scratching her could mean the death sentence.
Copying her opponent, Luna took on the same fighting stance. Nervously, she rushed at the Queen first, only to have her spear flicked from her hands.
"Do it again." Maya ordered.
Awkwardly, Luna picked up her spear again. She thought about what she had done wrong and what her opponent had done to deflect her strike before launching another. This time, she did not just blindly push all her weight into the attack.
However, she was deflected again.
"Again."
In her third attempt, Luna swung the spear from the side.
"Again."
Then, Luna jumped and swung the spear down on her.
"Again."
But even when she threw the spear with everything she had, she failed.
"Aga-" Maya cut herself off as she came to a realization.
"Doing it like this is pointless. It'd be more helpful if she could witness how to fight with a spear and learn from that... If possible, it should be someone who could keep up with me..." she murmured pensively before her eyes took notice of someone specifically.
"You there." she called out to the person who had nothing to do except watch their bout.
"Yes, Your Highness." Chris responded.
"Not you, Chris."
Queen Maya pointed to the man beside him. The man who knew that he was in trouble, although he did not do anything wrong.
"Yes, Your Highness..." Jay answered reluctantly.
"Switch out with the girl for a moment. I want to spar with you now."