About the time I was picked up and adopted by Tallulah

Maria forced herself not to think about the Plastic Knight and the words of the Howling Guard leader. Now there was only one thing she had to do, and that was to ensure Zofia's safety.

"In that room over there."

The Plastic Knight pointed to a locked room nearby.

"The knight's badge you asked for is here. Please let my aunt out!"

Maria took out the badge that symbolized her eligibility to participate, and the Plastic Knight shrugged.

"I've changed my mind. Even if you participate in the knight competition now, it won't have any impact on you. It's better for you to die here honestly, little girl who can't tell your own side. Besides—you broke your promise to come here alone, right?"

"!?"

The Plastic Knight suddenly raised the crossbow in his hand and aimed it at Maria. Before Maria could react, Orson's screams suddenly came from not far away.

"Ahem——!!"

"Orson!?"

The black-haired boy fell to the ground in a mess from mid-air, his right wrist pierced by a crossbow arrow.

"Be careful, Maria! They have an ambush too! And they're assassins from the Helmetless Alliance—Ugh!"

Orson yelled at Maria, but before he could finish his words, he was shot by several arrows and could only pull back in a panic.

Maria had no time to process the current situation. She could only see a pure white, not very tall Kuranta girl flash by and chase in the direction where Orson fled.

"Now is not the time to be looking around."

"Woo!"

Before Maria had time to care about Orson's situation, she was almost shot by the Plastic Knight's crossbow.

"Pull out that sword from your waist. Is that a toy?"

"..."

Maria drew the practice knight sword from her waist and cautiously confronted the plastic knight.

I have to give it my all, but...

"Aha!"

Maria yelled and rushed towards the Plastic Knight, swinging her sword, but the latter dodged the attack by simply turning sideways.

"You're hesitant in your attacks. Do you think this is training? Are you not prepared for a fight?"

"Woo!"

The Plastic Knight kicked Maria, causing her to lose balance instantly. She tried desperately to regain her balance, but she managed to control her body and not fall. The butt of the Plastic Knight's crossbow was already swinging heavily towards Maria's head.

Boom! !

Maria was defeated by the Plastic Knight without even being able to display one tenth of her abilities during training.

"How cruel..."

After Plastic Knight knocks Maria out, Orson comes out of the corner.

"Do you regret it?"

"No, I mean Platinum...hiss, the skin is really broken."

Orson grumbled quietly as he bandaged the wound on his arm.

"It's very difficult to force yourself to go against your muscle instincts. You normally aim at your head."

The Platinum Leader of the No-Horn Alliance also walked out from behind Orson, with his usual expression of "I'm so tired of working overtime and I really want to slack off."

"Thank you, Miss Platinum, for not killing me. Now, this is the agreed-upon action report—why do I have to write my own surveillance report?"

Orson complained as he took out a stack of documents and handed them to Bai Jin.

"Well, it's well written. It shouldn't give the secret away."

After Bai Jin accepted the "remuneration" for being called over to act, his expression became much more relaxed.

"Then I'll be leaving first. I hope you can be more self-aware and not do anything suspicious, Mr. Orson."

"Yes, yes, I will be a good employee who doesn't steal electric bikes and abides by the law."

Orson waved to Platinum, who turned around and prepared to leave. After taking a few steps, he stopped and looked at Orson.

"By the way, do you want to share a crepe? The second one is half price."

"No, I still have some unfinished business here."

"Oh--"

Bai Jin said "oh" and then disappeared from Orson's sight in an instant.

"How did you really find someone from the Wuzhou League..."

After seeing what just happened, the Plastic Knight took off his helmet and wiped the sweat off his face.

"Well, it's a bit hard to explain. Anyway, how's Maria doing?"

Orson didn't know how to describe the relationship between himself and Platinum, so he decided to skip the topic.

"She has a good foundation, but again, she's still not sure of her goals. She has neither the determination to fight to the death nor anything to strive for. Every move she makes is hesitant."

"So the goal this time is to make her understand what she really wants to do. People must have their own goals."

Orson looked at the unconscious Maria with an expression like a teacher looking at a confused student.

"Why did Mr. Serchiak participate in the knight competition?"

"Of course it's my child. But why are you doing these things that have no benefit to you?"

The Plastic Knight looked at Orson. From the information he had obtained, Orson did not have any conflicts of interest with the Linguang family. In other words, everything he did for Maria now was "meaningless."

"Why... maybe it's because I promised someone that I would make this world a better place."

Orson thought about it, and the image of the handsome and somewhat lsp female doctor flashed through his mind.

"Well, it's time for the next phase—I'm sorry, Auntie, I didn't tell you before, but there are actually further steps to the plan."

Orson gave a harmless smile to the room where Zofia was staying. When the Plastic Knight saw Orson like this, he vaguely felt that no matter what, he should never provoke this guy.

--------

"Wow...where is this?"

After a while, the unconscious Maria woke up again and found herself in a room.

"Are you awake, Maria?"

"--aunt!"

Maria noticed Zofia standing nearby and immediately rushed over.

"Don't call me aunt! Seriously... So you were defeated by that plastic rag guy?"

"Are you hurt, aunt? I...well, I was easily taken out by Mr. Serkiak."

Maria examined Zofia's body and could only see some traces of what looked like ketchup, but no other injuries.

"You're still too confused, Maria. You said before that you really wanted to participate in the knight competition, but you still haven't figured out why you're participating in this competition."

Sofia sat aside and said with a sigh.

"I... I originally thought that as long as I carried my momentum and took each step as it came, everything would be fine, because I had to protect the Linguang Family."

Maria sat down next to Zofia, her voice a little low.

Thinking about it carefully, the two of them had never been able to calm down and communicate seriously like they did now. Zofia had always subjectively hoped that Maria would give up, while Maria wanted to participate in the knight competition first no matter what.

"I cannot let grandfather and the glory of our ancestors be tarnished and dissipated. My sister left Casimir, and my uncle doesn't intend to accept the Knights' Association's invitation. Therefore, I am the only one who can stand up and protect the family..."

"What exactly is it you want to protect your family from, Maria?"

Zofia walked up to Maria, knelt on one knee, reached out and gently held Maria's cheek, looking straight at the inexperienced foal.

"Is it the Ringuang family's past prosperity? Or the reputation etched in Casimir's history? Or something else entirely? Protecting the [family] cannot be the goal. You must know exactly what you are fighting for."

"I... I don't know, but I only know that after seeing my aunt, I felt much more at ease. My previous anxious mood finally calmed down."

Maria looked at Zofia and smiled with relief.

"Don't call me aunt—haha, you are too naive and kind, and a little stubborn. You are really not suitable for participating in the knight competition."

Zofia rubbed Maria's hair. It was the first time that she listened to Maria's inner thoughts so seriously.

"Hmm... Come to think of it, maybe that's true. If my actions would put my family and friends in danger, then I wouldn't continue. Compared to the family's reputation and a prosperous life... I care more about the safety of my friends."

Maria rubbed her hair. After experiencing the "loss and recovery" of Zofia, the young Pegasus finally realized that the existence she wanted to protect could still be obtained even without relying on participating in the knight competition.

"Friends—oh, Orson!"

"Don't worry about that guy. Just be sure to identify the target that matters most to you, because all of this is a trap set by that guy."

Zofia waved her hand, and after Maria was sure of her feelings, she stood up, walked to the room and opened the door.

"I don't think this is a good idea, but if you feel cheated and want to beat up that guy, I will help you tie him up—"

Before Zofia could finish her words, the moment she opened the door, the people who greeted her outside were not Orson and the Plastic Knight, but several strangers she had never seen before, dressed in rags and holding sharp blades.

The group of people were wearing torn military uniforms and had some kind of labels on their arms. Traces of Originium crystals could be seen on the skin of several of them.

"go to hell!"

"What's going on—Ugh!"

Because she was not paying attention to the environment and was slow to react, Zofia hurriedly raised her arm to block the broken sword in the opponent's hand.

"aunt!"

Blood splattered from Zofia's right arm, and this time it wasn't ketchup.

The knight's sword was right at her hand. Maria shouted and raised the sword to charge at the enemy. This time there was no hesitation in her movements.

Boom!

With a loud thud, the enemy at the door was knocked away by Maria. But at the same time, several more enemies rushed towards Maria.

Maria immediately closed the door and blocked the handle with a chair to block these people.

"Aunt, your arm—"

"It's just a flesh wound, but the problem is that now I can't use my hands to wield a weapon... Hmm, what's going on?"

Zofia frowned and thought while treating the wound. Unlike the plan, these enemies did not seem like actors!

"Those few people just now... I seem to have some impression of the armbands on their arms."

While helping Sofia bandage her arm, Maria recalled the armbands of those people.

"The Fifth Crusade Knights—The Knights of the Thorn! Those people are retired crusade knights. It is said that they were collectively infected with oripathy during a mission and were subsequently expelled from the crusade knights."

Maria remembered the origins of these people.

"Huh? A bunch of infected veterans? So, as a former competitive knight, their target is me after all."

Zofia rubbed her eyebrows. Although she didn't know how these people found her, she was certain that their target was her, the "traitor of the knight class."

"You escape from the back, Maria, and I'll attract the attention of this group of people."

Sofia instantly figured out what to do next: use herself as bait to protect Maria and leave here.

"Remember to look for Orson after you leave. Although I don't want to admit it, he's much more powerful than me and should be able to—"

"Please allow me to refuse, aunt."

Maria interrupted Zofia's plan. She stuck out her tongue at Zofia, and then saw the fire extinguisher and some electronic components that Zofia couldn't name in the container in the room.

"Maria! Now is not the time to argue. Those people are serious. Many jousting knights have already been killed by them—"

"Then I can't let my aunt take the risk alone!"

The door was about to be knocked open, Maria loudly refuted Zofia, and at the same time, she temporarily produced a green-looking "bomb" in her hand.

"Boom!"

The door was thrown open, and several former infected warrior knights rushed into the room.

"Find something to cover your mouth and nose, Auntie!"