"Can You Lose a Holy Sword?"

".You're here?"

When she saw Shien enter with Tier and Lilith, Capeline almost instinctively stood up and looked over with an indescribable expression.

Not just Capeline—even the female knights around her either looked at Shien in embarrassment, shame, helpless bitterness, or with equally indescribable expressions. In the end, as though they dared not meet Shien's gaze, they all hurriedly turned their heads away.

Their reactions left everyone else present deeply puzzled.

Only Shien, looking at these fully dressed and heavily armed female knights, could not help recalling how they had all crowded around him naked just a few days ago.

Yeah, very nice.

This would probably become one of the several thousand terabytes' worth of images in Shien's mind, wouldn't it?

In any case, it was well worth preserving.

With that thought, Shien turned his gaze toward Capeline again.

At this moment, Capeline no longer bore any trace of the bedraggled misery she had shown several days ago. What remained was the valiant bearing she had displayed when they first met.

The difference was that her attitude held less self-righteousness and arrogance, while her eyes no longer scrutinized Shien. Instead, they shone with a very direct and forthright light.

Presumably, her experiences during this period had tempered the Princess considerably and made her much steadier.

Shien found that somewhat wistful, but did not show it. He simply walked over to sit across from Capeline.

Rocket had originally been sitting there.

But Rocket had already risen and moved aside, remaining beside Capeline as though indicating that she should lead the coming conversation. This made Shien raise an eyebrow slightly.

That attitude alone revealed quite a few things.

"Looks like Lord Bigusle and the Princess have decided to cooperate."

Shien spread his hands and laid out the situation.

Rocket had said only