The Princess Knight is Too Strong

“…What is this?”

“The Sacred Sword.”

The Saint of the Solaion Holy Nation told me with a benevolent smile.

The sword in her hand was shining brightly and brilliantly, like a star taken from the sky.

“It’s the most powerful sacred relic in the Holy Nation that can only be wielded by a hero chosen by our Holy Nation’s oracle.”

The 13th Saint, Corfe Lilac, removed her hand from the sacred sword and extended both hands toward me.

The image momentarily resembled the manifestation of a benevolent god embracing a young lamb.

“Princess Knight of Failon, hero of the Human-Demon War.”

But why?

“I would like to make a proposal to you.”

At the same time, to me, that appearance also looked like

“For the sake of humanity, would you become a hero?”

a devil tempting a human.

One month ago.

The entrance ceremony of Polaris Academy was already heading toward its conclusion.

In advance of the entrance banquet that would follow immediately after the ceremony, dazzling foods were being placed one by one on the tables where the students were seated.

But this was for the entrance banquet. There had been a prior warning that at this point, with the entrance ceremony not yet over, one should not touch them carelessly.

The more disciplined returning students were enduring with relatively patient attitudes, but the new students were waiting, swallowing only their saliva, unable to resist the temptation, wondering when the entrance ceremony would end.

In their bright, round eyes, any pride in being a Polaris Academy student was nowhere to be found.

There was only appetite.

However, this year’s entrance ceremony was different from previous years.

Between the greeting of the freshman representative who had recorded the highest score in the entrance exam and the closing ceremony that would usually follow immediately after, there was a strange additional procedure inserted.

Why hide it? I was the protagonist of that procedure.

One of the many heroes who had protected humanity in the Human-Demon War, which had been predicted to potentially drive humanity, at least the Kingdom and the Holy Nation, to the brink of extinction.

There was to be a special greeting time in commemoration of the invited admission of the Princess Knight of Failon, Evangeline Failondia.

Watching Prince Oscar, the Third Prince, reading out the prepared freshman greeting at the podium, I suddenly had a thought.

‘Won’t I get stoned to death if I go up there?’

I began to feel an urgent need to take some measure. I carefully whispered to the old man sitting next to me.

“…Excuse me, Chancellor?”

“What is it, Princess Evangeline?”

The chancellor of Polaris Academy, with impressive white hair at the age of 80, smiled kindly.

And from what I heard, one of his characteristics was a free and benevolent personality that didn’t match his age of 80.

This was evident from his brief speech I had heard at the beginning of the entrance ceremony.

Believing in that, I made a bold proposal to him.

“…May I ask for one favor?”

[Next, we have a special greeting from Polaris Academy’s first invited student. A hero of the recent Human-Demon War and the Second Princess of the Failon Kingdom! Princess Knight Evangeline Failondia!]

Like before, applause broke out loud enough to make my ears numb. However, there were no cheers mixed in at all.

Honestly, I had expected a bit, but should I be grateful that no stones came flying?

“…Um, hello everyone?”

As I spoke into the rather hefty-looking podium microphone, my voice, cracked in a manner unbefitting a princess, echoed throughout the hall where the entrance ceremony was being held.

Some murmuring could be heard among the students. They probably hadn’t expected the noble princess’s voice to be so hoarse.

But there’s a good reason for this. With all the shouting in every direction during the war, it was impossible for my voice not to be damaged.

“Ahem.”

I looked around below the podium and began in an awkward voice.

As the entrance ceremony was nearing its end, the food for the entrance banquet had already been perfectly set on the tables.

“I’m coming with the chancellor’s permission.”

After a brief pause.

“Due to time constraints, we will now begin the entrance banquet.”

At my words, occasional murmurs could be heard among the students.

“While maintaining decorum, you may listen while enjoying the food in front of you.”

Along with thunderous applause, cheers erupted as if the entire building might lift off.

On that day, I became a star of the academy.

Three days ago.

Unlike regular admitted students, I was Polaris Academy’s first special admission student, having been invited and admitted in a special form.

Perhaps due to some discussion between the royal family and the academy regarding this, my department affiliation had not been decided until just before the start of the new semester.

The academy had said it would be fine to inform them before the entrance ceremony, so I was considering which department to complete up until the day before the Eve Ceremony.

Surprisingly, I was thinking of going to the Theology Department rather than the Knight Department or Military Science Department.

While the Knight Department and Military Science Department certainly had the merit of familiarity, I didn’t want to experience that kind of familiarity anymore.

I should say I’m sick of it now, or that I want to distance myself from it as much as possible.

Rather, I thought that studying religion in the Theology Department might help calm my mind…

“Absolutely not.”

But Delphina objected, her eyes wide.

“Princess, I bet you’re thinking the Theology Department is just about praying roughly and reading scriptures, right?”

“Isn’t it?”

“Of course not, my goodness!”

Delphina gasped and shook her head.

“The Theology Department is intense, Princess. Fucking intense. How fucking? Fucking fucking!”

“Th-that much?”

“Princess. Do you know what’s covered as a very basic subject in the Theology Department?”

“What is it that you’re scaring me so much…?”

“The denial of God’s existence.”

At Delphina’s words, I couldn’t help but gape.

In theology? In the study of God and religion, they deny God’s existence?

“Is that even allowed? It’s supposed to be the study of religion?”

“Precisely because it’s the study of religion, and of course it doesn’t end there. They dissect and analyze the bases for arguments denying God’s existence one by one, and then execute rebuttals to each of those bases.”

“Ah, I see…”

“By doing so, they deepen their faith, reject blind belief in God, and acquire a more sincere faith.”

Delphina nodded and said.

“The negation of negation. That’s the core of theology.”

“…”

“There’s a lot more heavy content too. Logical interpretation of the surface meaning and the implied meaning of passages in scripture, historical study to understand the historical context in which such passages were used to convey such meanings, and so on. There’s so much to do, beyond imagination.”

“I, I see.”

“If you simply need something to lean your heart on… you’d better not choose theology of all things.”

Delphina’s last words somehow sounded a bit somber, but anyway, one thing was clear: theology was out.

“Then what would be good…?”

“Well, I’m in a position of completing both the Theology Department and the Knight Department simultaneously. So I can’t answer about anything else.”

At Delphina’s words, I fell into thought again.

First of all, the Magic Department was out. Just thinking about magical formulas, enchantments, combinations between magics, and such makes my head hurt.

After reincarnating, I had once tried to learn magic. With the light thought that since this was a fantasy world, why not try learning magic at least once?

To cut to the conclusion, there was no way such a fantastic act of creating fire or water out of thin air could just happen.

Magic in this world was, beyond imagination, a complex, difficult, and mind-blowing discipline.

Even just shooting a simple fireball requires an enormous amount of effort.

First, constructing the magical formula (this is the basic preparation needed to make the fireball magic itself successful), adjusting the output and control of magical power (if mistakes are made in this process, the fireball can become enormously large and explode during casting, or it can shrivel up and disappear with smoke).

Separate construction of magic attributes (if a slip-up occurs here, you might get a waterball instead of a fireball, or water-attribute magic might mix into the magic creating the fireball, causing the spell to explode with smoke),

Constructing another separate trajectory formula to set the magic’s trajectory (if this process is skipped, the fireball you’ve managed to create will explode right in front of your face), and so on.

Just hearing about it makes it feel like your head might explode.

And if you were to ask whether each of these formulas is at least simple, not particularly.

It’s definitely not at a level of difficulty where you can mentally calculate it in your head on a battlefield where arrows are grazing your head.

And the magicians who perform all these processes by quickly mentally calculating and casting numerous spells in real-time are, without exception, once-in-a-generation geniuses.

…And the one who took first place in the Magic Department, where such monster magicians swarm, is Prince Oscar, the Third Prince.

Thinking about it now, it’s even more surprising. Why is someone of that caliber so fixated on me?

Plus, he can use magic that even I can’t.

I was already planning to rule out the Magic Department just because he was there, but somehow, I was starting to hate him even more.

“This is annoying.”

“Why are you suddenly like this…?”

Leaving Delphina, who was asking anxiously, behind, I fell into thought again.

Then what would be good? The Literature Department?

No, not really. Memorizing books and composing poems isn’t my style.

There might be some literature-type geniuses who find mental stability doing such things, but if I tried to follow that, rather than mental stability, my head would explode.

…Though I am thinking of maybe writing a book someday.

Or, the Political Diplomacy Department?

…Let’s not. Why should I stick my head into political fights? Plus, I’m not going to be a king anyway, and what does a person who will live and die as a knight all her life need politics for?

If not that, then. The Cultural Anthropology Department?

…This might be quite good.

But what do they learn in the Cultural Anthropology Department?

The culture and history of each country, something like that?

Well, but somehow I don’t feel vaguely drawn to it.

What else was there…

As I was struggling over the department application form until the day before the entrance ceremony, Delphina casually suggested:

“…Princess. How about this method?”