Upon seeing their knight opponent, Rosha immediately realized.

While Joel possessed formidable swordsmanship befitting his young appointment as an imperial knight, the opposing knight’s mere presence exuded an extraordinary level of skill.

‘He’s likely ranked among the top three within the knight order. And on top of that, he’s a demon in physical form.’

It was clearly an unfavorable matchup at a glance.

However, rejecting this challenge would prevent them from smoothly reaching the Queen. For a knight to avoid a duel without justifiable cause violated etiquette itself.

Of course, they could disregard the rules and forcibly fight their way to the audience chamber, but…

‘The Queen isn’t an existence they could face in such an imperfect condition, especially with such limited numbers.’

Rosha had her reasons for adhering to the ‘etiquette’ condition imposed by this trial.

At that moment.

After a brief contemplation, Joel readily nodded and asked:

“If I emerge victorious in this duel, will we be permitted to have an audience with Her Majesty the Queen?”

“Hmm… That is correct.”

“Sir Patrick!”

The butler accompanying them sharply objected, but the knight remained unfazed.

“That simply means I must not lose, does it not, butler? Are you implying I will fail?”

Their gazes clashed tensely.

It was the butler who conceded first, likely assessing that they were unlikely to lose this duel.

Confirming their tacit agreement, Joel stated:

“Then I shall accept your challenge.”

“Very well.”

With a hint of surprise in his expression as he regarded Joel, the knight turned away, mentioning a suitable location nearby.

Seizing that moment, Rosha approached Joel and asked in a low, rapid voice:

“What will you do?”

“Yes, what will you do, Joel?”

Lysithea whispered with a pale face, barely containing her urge to punch Joel’s solar plexus.

Observing them, Joel calmly responded:

“Since a duel has been requested, I have no choice but to accept. One never knows until they try, do they?”

Despite undoubtedly recognizing his disadvantage, he maintained a serene demeanor.

His gaze briefly lingered on Lysithea.

‘He likely understands best that this is a battle he’s bound to lose.’

Perhaps Joel had already resigned himself to death.

Now facing the moment of demise he must have envisioned countless times since becoming a knight, his eyes reflected Lysithea’s utterly distraught expression.

It was easy to surmise that his reason for accepting this duel was to ensure her safety.

However…

Was there really a need to engage in such an evidently hopeless battle unarmed?

‘…Yes. There’s no other way.’

As she followed them, Rosha swiftly made her decision and softly whispered to Joel, who had taken his position on one side of the small clearing:

“Even if your body feels strange, don’t let on.”

“Pardon?”

Without awaiting a reply, she channeled a lightning-based spell into his body. She sensed Joel’s body jolt in reaction.

‘This is the first practical use, so who knows if it will work properly.’

This was an experimental body enhancement spell she had recently co-developed with Koko after temporarily losing her eyesight.

The principle involved rapidly circulating an electric current within the body to drastically heighten reflex and speed. In theory, at least.

‘Originally intended as a doping spell for Cassis… but it’s still a work in progress. If it doesn’t work out, I’ll swiftly rescue Joel and force our way to the audience chamber.’

However, someone shared her line of thinking. Froy, who had been observing the situation, approached Rosha and muttered:

“I was prepared to breach the audience chamber with my ability if necessary, but it seems there’s no need for that now.”

“Huh?”

“The spell you just used looks quite promising.”

Surprisingly, he seemed to highly evaluate the magic she had employed.

At that moment, the hulking knight slid his sword from its sheath and spoke:

“My name is Patrick Roen. And yours?”

“Joel Grimoire.”

Joel reflexively drew his own blade in response, already appearing slightly startled by his heightened reactions.

But it was still too early for surprise.

“Hah!”

With a sly grin, Patrick charged forward and mercilessly brought his sword down in a sweeping arc.

An overwhelmingly powerful strike, but its straight path across the center forced Joel to retreat backwards without fail.

Patrick likely intended to open with this, continually dominating Joel from the outset.

Yet Joel didn’t retreat.

Instead, keeping his sword tight against his side, he slid into Patrick’s guard before boldly thrusting his blade through the opening.

“Ugh?!”

Even Joel seemed surprised by his own movements.

But Patrick was even more stunned.

“How… Were you hiding your true skill?”

Narrowly twisting his torso to evade the attack, Patrick’s eyes narrowed as he briefly checked his torn collar before charging again with a fierce grin.

Chang! Clang!

The sound of clashing blades repeatedly rang out.

By now, elongated beam blades extended from their swords, violently colliding and scattering shards in all directions.

While the scattered beam fragments appeared momentarily beautiful, they were dangerously sharp, prompting Froy to shield Rosha and Lysithea with his ability.

And Rosha…

‘This is more effective than I expected.’

Her spell seemed to have enhanced not just Joel’s reflexes and speed, but his cognitive processing as well.

As if possessing immense computational power, he was perfectly tracking and aiming for even the slightest openings while meticulously controlling his movements and breathing.

Patrick blocked or evaded Joel’s razor-sharp strikes one by one, but he couldn’t keep it up indefinitely.

Kagagaak!

At that opportune moment, a large beam fragment flew towards Patrick’s face.

Startled, Patrick jerked his head back, and Joel didn’t miss that opening, sharply shifting his body’s center of gravity forward.

An outrageous calculation factoring in even the trajectory of the deflected fragment.

Amidst that intricate positioning, Joel’s beam blade extended as if reserved for this very moment. And-

Chwaak!

Spurting blood like a fountain from his side, Patrick dropped to one knee, his leg also grazed by the final slash.

A momentary lapse had allowed two deep wounds.

“Ughh…”

As he groaned in agony, Joel’s sword met Patrick’s nape. The victor was now clear.

“…The duel appears to be over.”

With a dejected tone, the butler declared its conclusion.

Even during the duel, he had hoped to find some pretext for violating etiquette and expel them from the palace, but it was futile.

The pink-haired woman rushing over seemed to be the knight’s lady, and there were no grounds to reprimand the other two either.

Moreover, it had been their side that proposed this duel for an audience with the Queen.

“Kekekeke.”

“Silence…!”

Whipping his head around at the strange laughter, the butler sighed upon seeing it was merely that blasted parrot again.

‘Her Majesty is quite lenient towards animals…’

Regretfully regarding the empty space above the parrot’s head, the butler muttered:

“…I suppose there’s no choice.”

Once the situation settled, he resumed guiding the humans. Before long, a towering white door thrice the size of an ordinary entrance came into view.

It was the door to the audience chamber where the palace’s ruler, Her Majesty the Queen, resided.

* * *

Regarding the ‘Ice Queen’ who served as the master of the third trial in the previous world, Rosha had heard a few things.

-She’s incredibly beautiful. But she doesn’t understand human speech.

-Of course not, she’s a demon after all.

-As soon as we entered the audience chamber, the ‘Queen’ started blasting us with magic without even looking at us. We almost got an entrance cut right there.

Of course, unlike the previous world where they had disregarded etiquette and forced their way through, this time they had entered the audience chamber relatively peacefully by following the rules, so Rosha expected some differences.

‘But I didn’t think it would be this different.’

Rosha gazed at the wide-open interior of the audience chamber before her eyes.

There, dozens of retainers stood in formation, all bearing monstrous appearances to varying degrees.

And at the far end of the audience chamber.

Seated upon a raised dais throne was a fierce yet bewitching beauty with jet-black hair.

The ‘Ice Queen’ herself.