“Duel with Anselot?”

My pupils shook intensely as I scanned the quest contents.

“No, how can I defeat Anselot in the first place!”

Just then, Anselot also frowned upon seeing the same content.

Digging for information about Arno here was no longer of any use.

Realizing this, I left the NPC who was trying to act friendly and walked out of the party hall with Anselot, trudging along.

“Originally…… This isn’t what’s supposed to happen here! I’m supposed to fight Prince Arno and save Maria!”

“How does the princess know that?”

Anselot, who had been silent, slowly blinked and asked.

“The princess sometimes speaks as if she knows the future.”

“It’s a secret for me too.”

I didn’t tell him, hmph.

“You said you’re not a lunatic who kills people for no reason. Why did you kill Arno?”

“I didn’t kill him.”

Anselot retorted briefly, then explained in his usual tone.

“He was drinking and causing trouble every day, so I tried to teach him a lesson, but he resisted and hit his head on the floor.”

“……”

“Then he lay sick in bed, and suddenly passed away in an instant. But after a while, rumors spread that I killed him.”

Well, even in the original work, he tormented Maria and did bad things. That habit hasn’t gone away……

“Anyway, what do we do now.”

I muttered in a worried voice.

When I refused the quest in Azester, the system administrator appeared and attacked.

Apart from the threat of the system administrator, I had no choice but to do the quest.

I had to move on to the next scenario in order to achieve my goal of eliminating the Gwangryong.

So I had to succeed in this quest no matter what.

‘So the clear condition is…….’

I checked the clear condition of the quest notification window once again.

There were lengthy words about threatening love and giving humiliation, but the important thing was the clear condition.

▷Clear Condition: Victory in a duel with , spectator

The clear condition for this quest was to win a duel against Anselot. However, it had to be in front of Maria.

“Winning the duel shouldn’t be too difficult…… As long as you lose to me on purpose……”

The problem was that the duel had to take place in front of Maria.

“How can we naturally have a duel without Maria finding it strange?”

For your information, I was bad at acting. Really bad.

“Well, what’s so difficult about that?”

Anselot said in a light tone.

“Huh?”

“Just trust me, princess.”

He grinned meaningfully.

[This is the timeline separator]

And the next day, I found out the meaning of that meaningful smile.

Anselot……!

That crazy Salto……!

He kidnapped Maria from the temple……!!!

“If you want to save this woman, duel me.”

Anselot spoke like a villain.

It was very natural.

He was more villainous than the bandits who had taken Ellay hostage.

I was about to ask, ‘Did you kidnap the saint from the temple! Are you crazy?’, but then I remembered that he had stolen the holy relic yesterday.

If he could steal the holy relic, kidnapping the saint was nothing.

“Ah, haha……”

A hollow laugh escaped.

Now that it had come to this, the best course of action was to quickly complete the quest and send Maria back to the temple before things got worse.

“Anselot, you, h-h-how could you do such a villainous thing!”

Unlike Anselot, who naturally brought up the duel to me, my voice was awkwardly stiff and choppy, as if I was reading a script.

Seeing this, Piya hit her chest with her wings in frustration.

Kweet! Kweeet!

―Ah, this is frustrating. Piya will help you, Lulu!

For the first time, Piya’s choices felt welcome.

[The evil Prince Anselot has kidnapped Maria. Shall we reassure the frightened Maria?

1. (Stabbing the sword into the ground) How dare you threaten my love! Unforgivable, Prince Anselot!

2. (Stabbing a rose into the ground) How dare you threaten my love! Unforgivable, Prince Anselot!

3. (Stabbing Anselot into the ground) How dare you threaten my love! Unforgivable, Prince Anselot!]

I take it back. Piya’s choices were not welcome at all.

Piya’s choices were still terrible……

‘No, I understand the rose, but…… Why stab Anselot into the ground? Isn’t it usually throwing a glove?’

It was very lamentable that I had to choose one of these, but there was the sad hope that it would be better than my awkward acting.

I chose one, eating the bitter pill.

Stabbing the precious Azester greatsword gifted by my mother into the ground, I had to shout in a determined voice.

“How dare you threaten my love! Unforgivable, Prince Anselot!”

Ah…… The blade shouldn’t be damaged.

I felt like crying, but I held it in.

“Ah, Lady Luibel……! You’ve done this much for me……!”

Maria’s eyes sparkled as if hearts were bursting out of them.

Soon, the duel with Anselot began.

[SYSTEM] Switching to duel mode.

The victory condition was to lower the opponent’s health below 5% or make them declare surrender.

There was no need to waste that much health, so we agreed that I would attack and Anselot would surrender appropriately.

“Why don’t you attack first.”

Anselot said in a nonchalant voice.

“But……”

But even if it was acting, it was difficult to attack another person.

“If this woman’s life is in danger, will you only attack then?”

Anselot pretended to threaten Maria.

I tried to attack with my eyes tightly closed.

“Sorry, Anselot……!”

Whack!

I hit Anselot’s shoulder with the back of my sword.

Fortunately, or unfortunately, Anselot’s health didn’t decrease at all.

“……Ah.”

A moment later, Anselot let out a short exclamation and fell.

“Impressive skills. I surrender.”

“……”

Anselot’s acting of collapsing and surrendering was as clumsy as his villain acting.

‘Well, it’s not like Anselot has ever experienced falling and surrendering.’

It was an even more embarrassing victory because of the awkward acting.

[Main Quest: Love and Duel! (2/3)] completed!

[SYSTEM] Quest successful!

[SYSTEM] Acquired 27150 experience points.

[SYSTEM] Level up! (Lv.40)

[SYSTEM] Acquired 10 skill points.

Anyway, thanks to that, I was able to complete the quest quickly.

“Lady Luibel……!”

Maria, who had been watching as Anselot’s hostage, ran to me.

“Ah, Lady Luibel. I was so scared.”

Maria slightly leaned her body against me.

“Prince Anselot is so brutal…… It’s hard to believe he is Lady Luibel’s lover……”

Maria sniffled, dabbing her eyes with her sleeve.

It was the tears of a pure and pitiful beauty, but there was something more important.

“I’m sorry. Can you pretend today didn’t happen? Anselot didn’t do it with bad intentions. Of course, you might not believe it……”

I defended Anselot and asked Maria.

Anselot didn’t seem to care about his reputation, but I didn’t like that.

“But……”

Maria looked a bit dissatisfied. But she soon nodded her head.

“Okay. Instead, I have a request, Lady Luibel. Please enjoy the upcoming festival with me.”

As soon as Maria brought it up, a system notification message popped up.

[SYSTEM] As a reward for the successful quest, you promise to enjoy the festival with .

…… This damn system. It’s trying to bring me and Maria together like this in the end.

My lips opened against my will.

“Okay.”

After making that promise and seeing Maria excited, we moved to the reception room.

Until we left, I was a bit concerned about Anselot who was pretending to be collapsed on the floor.

Not long after, priests came to the prince’s palace.

“Are you alright, Saint!”

“Someone saw the saint being kidnapped by Prince Salto this morning……!”

“Oh my, kidnapping. What are you talking about!”

Maria pretended to be startled and waved her hand.

“People will misunderstand.”

Maria covered her mouth with one hand and laughed hoho.

“I was invited by Lady Luibel to visit the prince’s palace.”

“But the priest guarding the temple door definitely saw Prince Salto……”

“Prince Anselot merely delivered Lady Luibel’s invitation to me.”

“Is that true?”

The priests seemed to have a hard time believing it.

“Of course. Ah, I’m not unaware of your concerns due to the rumors about Prince Anselot.”

Maria clasped her hands as if in prayer and looked at me with admiring eyes.

“But! Lady Luibel here is a very noble and holy hero of the continent, unlike Prince Anselot!”

The priests’ gazes followed Maria and turned to me.

“As you all know, she has received the blessing of the God of Light.”

“Ah, yes. We’ve heard a lot about it.”

“She made a difficult decision to prove the divine revelation……”

The priests nodded their heads, impressed by Maria’s words.

“And in just one day, I’ve become very close with Lady Luibel!”

No, if you say it like that, it could be misunderstood……

“Ooh, is that so!”

The priests’ eyes sparkled.

A moment later, they left the reception room of the prince’s palace after earnestly asking me to take good care of their saint.

“How was it, Lady Luibel? It was cleanly resolved, right?”

Maria said with a bright smile.

It was resolved somehow…… but I’m not sure if it was cleanly done……

Anyway, I let out a sigh of relief that Anselot’s reputation seemed to be protected.

[This is the timeline separator]

After entertaining Maria a bit more because I felt guilty, I walked her back.

Of course, the one who committed the sin here was not me, but Anselot.

Kweeeeet!

―I’ll bring the last quest on the last day of the festival, so enjoy the festival to the fullest until then, Lulu!

Piya, who was enjoying life in Luenhart better than anyone else, had very shiny feathers.

“I hope the next quest is just an ordinary one……”

On the other hand, a sigh escaped from my lips as I was having the most miserable time in Luenhart.

Kweet!

―Don’t worry! I’ll bring the most perfect and coolest quest to meet your expectations!