Chapter: 18
The unexpected outcome left not only the participants inside the arena but also Gaston, Cedric, and Laurent—who were watching from the highest tier—unable to blink.
Only one person, Claude, remained relatively relaxed, crossing one leg over the other. Seeing how unbothered Claude looked, as if he had known all along, Laurent sidled up and asked quietly,
“Miss Jeanne—was she a Master?”
“Yeah.”
A knight who could freely manifest and wield aura was an exceptionally rare talent.
Even in merit-driven Loren, only a handful of people were called Masters—Claude, Cedric, Laurent, and a few other division commanders.
“Wait, doesn’t that mean we now have more Masters than the Brienne royal family?”
Laurent began folding his fingers one by one as he counted the Masters of Brienne. When he finished calculating, a grin spread across his face.
“I guess that’s why they say you never know how the world will turn out. Remember? Back then, the First Prince mocked us, saying that having just one Child of the Goddess without a single Master was pointless—what, were they going to wage war alone? And then after that, both Cedric and I awakened our aura, more Masters joined, and now this.”
Laurent snickered in satisfaction.
“If Miss Jeanne joins, shouldn’t we give her a division commander position right away?”
“What kind of nonsense is that?”
Cedric replied sharply.
“No matter one’s past achievements or skill, everyone starts from the bottom. Is it acceptable for the First Division Commander to forget even the most basic rules?”
“Hey, can’t you even tell a joke? No wonder you can’t meet any women—you’re no fun at all.”
“I’ve told you how many times to fix that frivolous mindset of yours?”
As usual, Cedric and Laurent fell into their familiar bickering. Having seen this countless times before, Gaston simply shook his head as if to say, Here we go again.
Watching the three of them, Claude let out a small chuckle.
If I told them that Jeanne is also a Child of the Goddess, this place would be turned upside down.
That Claude was a Child of the Goddess was common knowledge across the continent. Jeanne’s case, however, was different.
She manifested divine power after her aura—during her second year at the military academy, when the two of them were assigned to the same group for a monster subjugation exercise for the first time.
Back then, their group leader, blinded by the desire for high graduation scores, entered a restricted area with several group members and made the fatal mistake of provoking undead monsters.
Claude and Jeanne rushed in after them and fought the monsters. The problem was that divine power was required to deal with undead, and at the time, only Claude could use it.
Protecting the unconscious group members while fighting exhausted them both.
But Jeanne was the kind of person who grew stronger in moments of crisis. As if to prove it, a sacred energy miraculously burst forth from her.
It was the moment when the second Child of the Goddess was born.
For several days after that, Jeanne frequently skipped classes and training. Rumors spread among the students that she might be suffering from a serious illness.
Then, on the fourth day—
[Hey, Claude!]
Jeanne appeared before him, her arms full of books on the Child of the Goddess and divine power.
[How do you do it?]
[You disappear for days and then suddenly show up asking that?]
[Divine power and aura—how do you tell them apart when you use them?]
[What?]
[No matter how much I look through the records, there’s nothing. I tried figuring it out on my own, but I can’t even find a starting point…]
Only then did Claude realize that the reason she had been absent all this time was because she had been desperately trying to find a way to emit divine power and aura separately.
It was only natural that Jeanne couldn’t get a grasp on it. All recorded Children of the Goddess had been born that way. Just as a baby learns to walk, Claude had naturally learned to use both divine power and aura.
So her question put him in a difficult spot. Still—
[Want me to teach you?]
For the first time, Jeanne—who used to bristle whenever she saw Claude—showed a different expression in front of him. Even now, he could vividly recall her eyes, filled with desperate need for his help, pride bruised though it was.
He had been worried when she hadn’t shown up for days.
[Don’t tell anyone that I’ve become a Child of the Goddess.]
[Why?]
[I don’t want the attention.]
[Then what does that make me?]
[You were known from the moment you were born—it’s different!]
He was happy that a secret now existed just between the two of them.
If we’re going to pay her an annual salary of fifty gold, we’ll have to reveal it someday—but still.
Snapped out of his thoughts, Claude turned his gaze back to the arena. For now, he wanted it to remain their secret.
“Jeanne Leclerc, victory!”
Starting with the Mercenary King wielding a massive mace, followed by a middle-aged knight with a one-handed sword and shield, and even a knight who had made a name for himself under a certain marquis—one by one, they all fell by Jeanne’s hand.
“She won again.”
“Did you see that just now? It looked like she was going right, then she changed direction to the left in an instant.”
“That’s all thanks to aura, isn’t it?”
“No, that wasn’t aura doing anything—it was pure reflex. Her speed and technique, too. If you ask me, she probably would’ve won even without aura.”
No one clicked their tongue anymore, claiming that she was at a disadvantage simply because she was a woman.
Regardless, she focused on her own matches, and when they ended, she sat in the waiting area to watch the other contestants fight. With each match she advanced through, her heart felt lighter.
“Group Three, final champion—Jeanne Leclerc!”
By the time the sky was stained red, the entrance exam had ended, and a total of thirty-six new knights were selected.
As the spectators left the arena, chattering about the most memorable matches, Jeanne’s name came up more than any other.
Everyone at the test site thought the name Jeanne Leclerc would be on everyone’s lips throughout Loren for quite some time.
While the area outside buzzed with talk about the successful candidates, the main figures of the day followed Cedric toward the knights’ encampment. Since Laurent had already shown her the way on the first day, the path didn’t feel particularly unfamiliar to Jeanne.
When they arrived in front of the knights’ quarters, people around Jeanne’s age—or even younger—stood in neat lines, dressed in gray uniforms.
Are those squires?
She was wondering why they were standing there when Cedric announced in a commanding voice,
“You’ve all worked hard today on the entrance exam. His Grace has prepared a special celebratory dinner for you, so return to your quarters, get yourselves in order, and then gather in the dining hall. In addition, each of you will be assigned a squire.”
At Cedric’s announcement, the knights—including Jeanne—widened their eyes. Being assigned a squire was practically the same as being given a personal aide.
Even in the Royal Knights, you had to be a division commander before you got a squire…
Amazed by the generosity of the Loren Knights, Jeanne nodded silently—only to meet Cedric’s gaze. She thought it was just a chance glance, but for some reason, he was looking at her coldly.
“…?”
Cedric even had his brow furrowed, and Jeanne couldn’t understand why he was directing such a negative look at her.
Before she could ask, however, Cedric had already turned and left.
That was too obvious to just be my imagination, wasn’t it?
She wondered what that had been about, but since he was already gone, there was no way to ask.
Amid the jumble of knights and squires, a woman in a squire’s uniform strode straight toward her.
Her sun-kissed, bronze-colored skin—like it had been burned by blazing sunlight—stood out immediately.
Naturally noticing each other, the two met at the foot of the steps.
“Pleased to meet you, Sir Leclerc. My name is Iris Miténar.”
“I’m Jeanne Leclerc. I look forward to working with you.”
Jeanne extended her hand first, and Iris took it in response.
“Please speak casually.”
“It’s hard to drop honorifics with someone I’ve just met.”
“If you do that, the vice commander might scold us for messing up the chain of command.”
“Ah.”
Jeanne nodded, understanding immediately. The two of them smiled at the same time.
“Then let’s do that. You can just call me Sir Jeanne, too.”
“Understood.”
They had only just exchanged greetings, but Jeanne found herself liking Iris’s bright eyes and straight posture.
“It might be rude to judge by appearances, but you give off a Hisar Kingdom vibe… Did you move here when you were young?”
“No. I came from the kingdom not long ago.”
“Recently? You mean by yourself?”
“Yes.”
Jeanne’s eyes widened.
The Hisar Kingdom she knew lay in the middle of the desert. Most of its people had bronze skin and black hair like Iris, and they worshiped the Golden Dragon as their supreme deity. From her appearance alone, Jeanne had guessed Iris was from Hisar.
What she hadn’t expected was that Iris had come alone. To reach Loren, one had to cross the desert and then traverse a mountain range teeming with monsters.
She could’ve lost her life before even getting here.
Curious about her reason for coming—and genuinely impressed by the nerve and skill it took to make such a journey alone—Jeanne spoke again.
“What made you come all this way? The Hisar warrior corps has a long history and excellent fighters.”
“They don’t accept women as warriors.”
Iris shrugged regretfully.
At her answer, Jeanne recalled the single time she had encountered the Hisar warrior corps in her previous life. Now that she thought about it, she couldn’t remember seeing any female warriors.
“Then why not take the knight exam this time? If you can cross the desert alone, that means you’re skilled.”
“I was just lucky getting across the desert. And becoming a knight right away in a foreign country… I’d rather start from the bottom and work my way up.”
Iris shook her head vigorously, as if the idea of wearing the same uniform as Jeanne had never even crossed her mind. Then she brushed off the topic and changed the subject.
“By the way, I heard you’re His Grace’s classmate, Sir Leclerc?”
“How did you know?”
“I heard one of the participants bragging that you and His Grace were classmates.”
At that, Jeanne glanced around. If someone was boasting that loudly about being a classmate, she figured she’d recognize them—but no one who fit the bill stood out.
“But what kind of person is His Grace?”
