Aw, she’s blushing so hard! That’s really cute, and—wait, what kind of reaction is that?!
***
“Embrace your doom, vile fiend!”
Oh. My. Stars.
The sudden appearance of the gallant young man with the dark hair captured the heart of magus knight Iris Zehirete.
From her childhood days as a simple village girl, she had always been captivated by tales of heroic knights—King Arthur, Charlemagne, Cú Chulainn. How brave they were, wielding their blades for the sake of their people! Young Iris’s eyes sparkled with each turn of the page. She’d desperately wanted to be like them. Not a beloved princess, but a knight!
She’d gone from swinging a wooden sword with the village boys, to apologizing to her parents—who’d tearfully begged her to act more like a girl—and then stealing away from home, to finding a mentor on the road and going into training, to finally attaining the title of magus knight.
Twenty years later, she’d made her dream come true. Now a qualified knight, she was determined to press on, doing everything she could for her people. She had volunteered for mission after mission, traveled from place to place, and fought, fought, fought some more! She had advanced up the ranks with such focus that, behind her back, people whispered of the “spinster knight engaged to her work” who had “abandoned feminine joys.” Then she’d fought even harder, stubbornly clinging to the idea that this was how she wanted to live her life, that this was fine. Just fine.
And she’d just been summarily defeated.
Exhausted from taking down a large number of aetherborn, Iris had been too hurt to move when the minotaur caught her by surprise.
Damn...it.
For her to miscalculate this badly was extremely unusual, but bound to happen over the course of thousands of battles. Lady Luck had finally caught up with the relentless knight.
Iris thought back on the minotaur—snorting, raising its powerful fist, ready to strike her down. All knights were fated to meet the same end, for those who sowed death on the battlefield would one day eventually reap it.
“Damn it all! Is this how it ends?!” she wondered aloud.
Her path as a knight, her life—far too dreary, looking back—was about to come to a close.
If I’d known this was how it would all end, I’d have tried my hand at love, at least once...
She pictured falling in love with someone, becoming their significant other, wearing a beautiful white dress, and spending her life in wedded bliss—a foolish fantasy. No one would ever be attracted to such a straitlaced woman who knew only how to fight.
Still, she loathed the thought of dying alone. It was too late, she knew, but regret welled up in her heart all the same, her body trembling in fear of death.
And then, just as she was about to meet her end, the beast’s head went flying.
What the...?
Time seemed to stop in that moment. There before her stood a young man with raven hair, wielding a pure black sword. And he’d just cut down her doom.
She could not take her eyes off of him.
This man...
Bewildered, Iris gawked at the dashing young figure, who resembled nothing so well as the knights she had dreamed of as a child.
Who might this man be?!
The hands of time resumed their ticking. With a spurt of fresh blood, the beast’s severed head dropped to the ground. Its massive body followed with a dull thud. The young man landed between the bull-like creature and herself, gazing upon its corpse in a dignified manner.
“By my blade, your judgment has been delivered! For the sin of attempting to cut down this fairest of blossoms, in the name of the gods, I have done the same unto you!”
Iris was stunned.
He’d called her the fairest of blossoms! Her! The least charming woman in the entire history of mankind!
Panicked, her brain having turned to mush, Iris carelessly voiced her thought, much to her embarrassment. How could this man say such things with a straight face? How could he make fun of her like that? She wanted to be angry at him, but—
Fairest of blossoms!
Iris couldn’t help the smile growing on her face, her heart beating so wildly in her chest that she all but forgot the danger she’d just been in.
It turned out that the words Crow had come up with on the fly had dealt a critical hit to her heart. He became the first love of Iris of the White Blade, Vice-Captain of the Imperial Order of Magus Knights.
And he didn’t have the slightest idea.
***
“I see,” Iris said between sobs. “So after your hometown was destroyed, you set out on a journey to protect the people from evil?!”
“That’s right.”
Damn, she’s bawling really hard.
A few minutes had passed. I was taking a short breather alongside the magus knight, whose name was Iris. We were still in the middle of the forest, but the odds of aetherborn approaching us were low, since she had whipped out a bunch of “warding talismans” and laid them out in all directions.
See, a thousand years ago, these charms had been a total scam. But, you know, aether happened, and now they actually worked. They were one-use-only, but nevertheless decently effective.
“So, Lady Iris, about my unauthorized use of an aethereal arm...”
“Please, there’s no need for formalities. Call me Iris!”
“Uh...”
No! Nothing about that is okay! Like, first of all, she’s older than me, and second of all, if I heard that right, she’s a super high-ranking knight! Wait, but what if she gets mad at me for refusing her request to drop the formalities?! If she does, there’s no way in hell she’ll let me off the hook! Okay, okay. Breathe. I got this.
“Very well, then, Iris. Is this better?” I asked.
“Yes, very much so!” Iris replied, smiling widely.
Okay, phew. This lady’s gonna be the death of me.
“Now then, Crow: it is indeed a crime to use an aethereal arm without the necessary qualifications. Even if you have never hurt anyone, a felony is a felony,” she said.
“Which means...” I trailed off, lamenting to myself, Nooooooooo! You were supposed to let me off the hook!
Beneath my perfectly composed exterior, I was fighting back tears. This was it. I was going to go from Condemner to condemned. Adieu, my dream of considerable riches and a moderately attractive girlfriend!
Wait. If I’m in jail, I can’t hunt aetherborn, can I? That’s bad, right?! I mean, we’re talking about Muramasa here. I’m pretty sure this thing will get hungry, take control of my body while I’m in prison, and force me to go fetch it. And then I’ll be an escaped prisoner and mass murderer, which would make me an enemy of the state, which would... Oh no. Nope nope nope. Okay, screw acting cool!
“Iris, I—”
I was about to drop the stupid “Condemner” act, cry about how I didn’t mean anything by it, and grovel for forgiveness.
“However,” Iris cut in, stopping me before I could say anything else, “there is one situation in which a civilian would not be charged with a crime if they were to wield an aethereal arm. And that would be if said civilian were the apprentice of a magus knight.”
“What?” I exclaimed, completely taken aback. What was she talking about?
“Provided that you have permission from your mentor, you’re good to go. Otherwise, you can’t do practice drills with your weapon.”
“But, Iris, I don’t have a magus knight mentor—”
Wait a second.
“Are you...covering for me?!” I asked, incredulous.
“Why, Crow, I don’t know what you mean. You’ve always been my apprentice,” she replied innocently.
I was so moved that I unwittingly took Iris’s hand, and she yelped in surprise. Being touched by gloomy criminal scum like me would indeed be frightening, I figured. Still, I couldn’t help it. I’d really thought I was done for. The fact she was willing to protect me, a complete stranger, had me beside myself with gratitude.
Gripping her pale hand tightly, I gazed into those beautiful eyes.
“Thank you. Thank you, Iris! I will never forget what you have done for me. I swear I will repay you, even if it takes me the rest of my life!”
“The rest of your life?!” she repeated, her hand trembling in mine.
Oops! I guess I went too far with the whole “rest of my life” bit. Of course she’d be taken aback.
Still, I was so deeply moved that I had to say that.
“U-Um, Crow, you’ve, um, been gripping my hand, um, really tightly? Is this how men—” Iris began.
“Oh! Forgive me,” I interrupted. “I just... I didn’t think I’d meet such a lovely woman.”
“Lovely?!”
“I normally wouldn’t use quite so much strength, but I... My apologies, I must not be thinking straight.”
“You’re not thinking straight?! Because of me?!”
Another squeal escaped Iris’s lips. She’s probably not used to praise, I thought to myself. She looks so embarrassed. That’s unfortunate... She’s such a great person. I’d praise her every day if I could.
“Truly, I am elated to have met you, Iris!”
“Wow...!”
And thus, thanks to Iris, I managed to avoid criminal charges. To think I’d been worried about what could happen! I didn’t get caught at all! Huzzah!
Now everything’s gonna be just fine! Ha ha ha!
Meanwhile, far outside the realm of anything Crow was expecting...
I’m going to snatch this man up! Iris thought. He’s going to marry me, whether he likes it or not!