After the operation, Emma was summoned to Claudia's office.

Claudia was dressed in the Banfield family's military uniform, her long, light-blue hair tied up at the back of her head.

Tall and with a good figure, Claudia had the looks to be a model. However, she was a knight with the strength to take down a ferocious beast with a single arm.

It was this woman who was now dispassionately delivering Emma's final evaluation.

"Second Lieutenant Emma Rodman—fifty-four years old. Your performance at the Knight Academy was average, except for your piloting of mobile knights. This is your evaluation on paper."

"—Yes, ma'am."

In a world of interstellar nations, human lifespans are long.

Even at fifty-four, she looked to be in her mid-teens and was generally treated as a child who had just come of age.

"However, your evaluation after the final exam is D-Rank."

"—!?"

The lowest rating for a knight was D-Rank.

This rank was given to knight cadets before their evaluation.

The other group to receive it were knights deemed non-combatants with 'issues' after their evaluation.

For Emma, who had graduated from the Knight Academy and experienced her first battle, Claudia's evaluation was 'incompetent'.

"You couldn't pilot a mobile knight properly, and on top of that, you failed to deliver the final blow to the enemy. As a knight, you are nothing but incompetent."

Emma looked down and bit her lower lip.

As tears of frustration welled up in her eyes, Claudia gave her a cold look.

"You don't even have the right to be frustrated. You should have been taught how much of a budget the Banfield family allocated to train you as a knight."

A knight is a superhuman, educated from a young age.

Even if born a commoner, one could become a knight by undergoing extensive training under an instructor using educational capsules.

However, the cost was far beyond what an ordinary person could afford.

"The Banfield family is currently short on knights. Thanks to the great war with the Berkley family a few years ago, everyone is looking for knights. The short-term training Knight Academy was established to increase our numbers."

The Banfield family's knightly order had been reset once during the reign of the current head, Liam.

There were no hereditary knights left, and none had even been trained.

To increase their number of knights, the Banfield family established the Knight Academy in the Banfield territory.

They were training knights through a short-term program, but even that took about twenty years.

It was a bit short for raising a knight, but the understaffed Banfield family couldn't afford to take any longer.

Claudia asked Emma.

"Why did you aspire to become a knight?"

Startled by Claudia's sudden question, Emma answered, though hesitantly.

"—To protect people."

(The reason I wanted to become a knight was—)

She recalled the day she became strongly aware of what a knight was.

"I wanted to become a knight to protect the weak. A hero of justice like Lord Liam—!"

The moment Emma mentioned the lord's name, Claudia instantly struck her with her fist. The blow came without warning, without even a wind-up, proof that Claudia's anger was real.

Emma was sent flying, crashing into the wall and slumping to the floor.

"A half-baked fool like you has no right to speak of Lord Liam."

Claudia, whose expression had been so stoic just moments before, now had a face flushed with anger.

As Emma tried to get up, Claudia turned her back.

"—The Banfield family has no need for incompetent knights."

Called incompetent, Emma lowered her head and shed tears of frustration.

◇

Two weeks after her first mission ended.

Back on the Banfield family's home planet of Hydra, Emma was out for a run in comfortable clothes.

She wore track pants on the bottom and a tank top on top.

Her well-formed chest bounced slightly.

Not large, but not what you would call small either.

She was running through a large park, rich with nature, where territorial citizens had come for early morning walks and runs.

While it might seem like just a girl running in the early morning, Emma's stamina, honed by her knight training, was on a different level from an ordinary person's.

While the common folk ran on paved courses, Emma was running through the uneven forest.

She was on a path used for managing the park's forest, one not often used. Management robots moved about nearby, and several drones flew in the sky.

As Emma picked up speed, fallen leaves danced in her wake.

She ran up a steepening incline and emerged into a small clearing.

"Made it~!"

Gasping for breath, Emma raised both hands and shouted, then took out a towel to wipe away her sweat.

The clearing she'd reached was on high ground, offering a view of the Banfield family's capital city.

In the distance, she could see a city surrounded by walls that made skyscrapers look cute.

The mansion where the Count, the lord of Hydra, resided was also visible.

Emma loved the view from here.

Today, however, her expression was troubled.

As she caught her breath while looking at the scenery, an old man sitting on a bench in the clearing spoke to her.

"This is a fine place. One can really feel the development of the territory."

Emma turned around and blushed when she saw the old man. She was embarrassed that he had heard her shout, but also felt pathetic for not noticing his presence.

"Grandpa!?"

To think that she, a knight, had failed to sense the presence of a civilian.

"Uh, um... long time no see."

As Emma greeted him shyly, the familiar old man smiled.

The gentlemanly old man looked at Emma.

"That little tomboy has grown up to be quite splendid."

The old gentleman was not Emma's grandfather.

Emma, who had been coming to the park to exercise since she was a child, often met this old man at this time of day.

She didn't know his name, but they had fallen into a habit of greeting each other and making small talk whenever they met.

With anti-aging technology widely available, there were few people who looked old anymore.

For the young Emma, seeing an old man in the park was a novelty.

That's why she had started talking to him on her own initiative.

Emma spoke to her old acquaintance in a casual tone.

"Grandpa, I'm an adult now, you know."

"My apologies. That's right, you were enrolled in the Knight Academy, weren't you? Have you graduated?"

At the mention of the Knight Academy, Emma's expression clouded over.

Remembering how Claudia had called her incompetent, Emma sat down next to the old man.

"I managed to graduate, but my evaluation was the worst. They said I was the only D-Rank this term."

"D-Rank? Were your grades poor?"

The old man, who seemed concerned for Emma, was apparently knowledgeable about knight rankings. Deciding she wouldn't need to explain in detail, Emma nodded and continued.

"My grades weren't bad. Well, they weren't great either. But... I'm no good at piloting mobile knights. I actually love piloting them the most, but they say I'm terrible at it."

Looking down and dangling her feet, Emma complained to the old man.

"Everyone else got assigned to the fleet or a base, and it seems they get to pilot the new models. But not me. I'm being sent to the frontier, and they're giving me an old-model mobile knight."

"The frontier? Where is that?"

"I don't think you'd know it even if I told you, Grandpa. It's a planet the Banfield family acquired. It's habitable, but it's been neglected for years, so it needs to be surveyed. I think it was called... 'Alias'?"

"Alias, you say. That is quite far indeed."

Emma felt a slight sense of unease at the old man's apparent knowledge of Alias.

It wasn't information a civilian would know, but it was possible to look it up.

"You know a lot, Grandpa."

When Emma said that, the old man, who had been lost in thought, seemed a little flustered.

"Well, when I was younger, I used to dream of joining an expedition to uncharted planets."

"Oh, really? Huh? But didn't you say before that you wanted to be an actor?"

Recalling a past conversation, Emma was sure she had heard the old man say he had aimed to be an actor.

The old man gave a sheepish laugh.

"Embarrassingly enough, I dabbled in many things in my youth. I took many detours before I found my current line of work."

"Detours, huh..."

"Is something wrong?"

"—I'm starting to wonder if I'm even heading toward my dream. It feels less like a detour and more like I've gone off the rails. I'll never be a hero of justice like the Lord."

The old man smiled a little sadly at Emma's words, which sounded as if she had given up on her dream.

"You were aiming to be a hero of justice like the Lord, weren't you, Miss Emma?"

However, as the old man continued, his expression turned serious.

"If you give up there, you can never become a hero of justice like the Lord."

"Huh?"

The old man stood up from the bench.

"That man never gives up, no matter the circumstances, and continues to press forward. He pays no mind to the evaluations of others, simply forging his own path—"

The old man, who had been speaking so passionately, seemed to notice Emma's stare.

"Grandpa, are you an acquaintance of the Lord?"

"O-of course not. It's just that, after living on this planet for so long, one starts to get a vague sense of the Lord's character through his governance."

"Is that how it is? I only know the current Lord, so I can't really picture him. Though I often hear how terrible things were in the past."

"Haha, hahaha... yes, that's right. Oh, it's about that time."

The old man started to leave to head to work.

As he was leaving, the old man called out to Emma.

"I'm sure you can become one, Miss Emma. A hero of justice."

"You think I can?"

"If you doubt yourself, nothing will go well. Believing in yourself and pushing forward is the privilege of the young."

"Believe in myself, huh. Easier said than done."

"You can always give up anytime, after all."

"—You're right. Thanks, Grandpa. I feel a lot better. Yeah, it's not over yet!"

At his words, Emma's face broke into a wide smile, and she waved enthusiastically at the old man.

Once the old man was out of sight, Emma slapped her cheeks with both hands to fire herself up.

"That's right. I'm not giving up over something like this. I'm going to become a knight of justice!"

◇

The Banfield family mansion was vast.

It encompassed an entire city within its grounds, to the point where calling it a mansion was no longer accurate.

In a room within that mansion.

There stood the person who oversaw the Banfield family's knightly order.

Christiana Reta Roseblaire—she had been the head of the Banfield knightly order, but was dismissed after incurring the wrath of the lord, Liam.

However, as there was no one to replace her, she still served as the coordinator for the knights.

The person she had summoned was her adjutant and trusted female knight.

It was Claudia.

As Claudia stood before her at ease, Christiana narrowed her eyes.

"You've done well managing things while I was away."

"Yes, ma'am. It is an honor."

"However, the training of the new recruits is a problem. Claudia, you are too strict."

Though judged as being too strict, Claudia's expression remained impassive.

Instead, she refuted Christiana's criticism.

"Knights with no combat experience are useless."

"That's true. However, you need to treat the rookies with more care. Throwing fledglings fresh out of the Knight Academy straight into battle is going too far. —And your evaluations are too harsh as well."

"We have no need for incompetents who will drag their allies down."

At her adjutant's words, delivered with a terribly cold smile, Christiana felt a pang of sympathy.

(Claudia, you're still dragging the past with you, aren't you?)

Claudia, this female knight, had a past where she was captured by space pirates due to the betrayal of an incompetent ally.

She had been strict even before being captured, but that incident had made her even harsher toward others.

To her, allies were only the competent knights who had shared the same experience.

Everyone else was considered nothing more than a pawn.

Still, as her superior, she had to reprimand her.

"I did not order you to weed them out. I ordered you to prepare usable knights."

She intimidated the subordinate before her with a smile.

Claudia, aware of the difference in their abilities, let her smile vanish, her face becoming a mask.

However, a bitterness seeped into her words.

"My apologies. I will be more careful in the future."

"There's no need. The Banfield family is not so idle that we can keep you in an instructor's position forever."

With that, Christiana projected a document in front of Claudia.

Claudia narrowed her eyes.

"—What is this?"

The document Christiana projected showed information about the weapons used by space pirates.

"There are those who supply weapons to the space pirates."

"Arms dealers?"

There was no shortage of merchants who would sell weapons to anyone, even space pirates, as long as they had the money.

However, Christiana turned her eyes to a different document.

"We've received intelligence that there is a pirate weapons factory on one of the planets we recently acquired. The exact location has not been identified, but it is definitely there."

Claudia's expression twisted in disgust.

Christiana gave Claudia her orders.

"Claudia, crush that weapons factory for certain before anyone else makes a fuss."

"Yes, ma'am."