I became an adventurer when I was 15.

I was born in a very ordinary family, but I had a dream from an early age.

It\'s all about finding a master to serve.

As a knight, you serve a single person and dedicate everything, including yourself as a woman, to that person.

My brother was the first to comment to it.

My cheeky little brother said, ``no one will want a rugged woman like you,\'\' so I silenced him with my fist.

My father gave me a quizzical look, saying, "Oh...well, do your best," while my mother said, "Please marry normally!"  ’ and it was the end of it.

When I turned 15, I turned away from my mother, who offered me a matchmaking, and became an adventurer.

I really wanted to become a knight in my country, but a female knight was too high a hurdle for me at that time

It wasn\'t a job that a commoner like me could do, but it was mostly a job that noble daughters would do for fun or because they don\'t want to get married.

The only way left for was being an adventurer, to which I could easily get used to.

I am reasonably tall and strong.

When you think of knights, you think of swords, but I admired shields just as much, so I decided to become a knight with a large shield as my main weapon.

The work itself was not that difficult, and my rank went up year by year.

However, no matter how many parties I formed, I could not find my ideal lord.

I have formed parties with A-rank adventurers several times, but there were many people who were just strong and had nothing to be attracted to, and my age increases in proportion to my rank.

Male adventurers often made fun of me, and I punished them with my fists from time to time, so men keeps getting further and further away.

Apart from that, I\'m not interested in men of that status...

"... Shalltear\'s ideals are too high."

Cecil, which whom I recently formed a party, is a little strange, but strangely enough, we got along.

However, I don\'t think there is a problem with my ideal.

I want the best for my life, so I think it\'s natural.

But when I said this, Cecil shook her head and answered.

“…Normally, you compromise to some extent. No one is perfect."

Certainly, I do understand what she is saying.

I\'m already in my late 20\'s.

I feel impatient, but I can\'t easily throw away my ideals and dreams.

But when I stated to think that he would never appear, he appeared in front of me.

It was when the four members of my current party came to the adventurer\'s guild to receive a request.

Somehow, when I thought that the guild was a little noisy that day, we received a request to subjugate a thunder tiger.

It\'s a rare monster, so I thought that an A-rank adventurer would do it with us, but another adventurer said that it seems that there is no one right now.

……I had a bad feeling.

While I was thinking that, a familiar receptionist called out to me and said that Gilmas was calling us.

When I headed to the room, I felt a little strange, but as expected, the request was about Thunder Tiger.

While Ain was reluctant to talk about it, he suddenly appeared on the spot.

He has smooth brown hair and a well-maintained face that looks like a girl at first glance.

That person, who had a certain dignity and a gentle aura, was Sirius Slaind, the lord of this territory and the third prince of the Slaind Kingdom.

Moreover, next to him was a sacred beast called pegasus, and I was amazed by its divineness.

From him and Gilmas, we were entrusted with the role of witnessing the subjugation.

Before, when I was walking around the town with Cecil, I saw the lord was using magic.

In fact, I knew it was a high level magic even with my layman\'s eye because his overwhelming ability, which was far from that of a magician I knew.

But no matter how strong the lord is, I think it is too insane to let a child fight.

Cecil reprimands me for that, and we agree with Gilmas\' request.

And after introducing ourselves, Cecil and I took separate actions from Ain and Clay, who had both left for preparations.

I wanted to know more about Sirius-sama, the lord, and Cecil also went to Sirius-sama as if expecting something.

Our wishes have yielded results beyond our expectations.

What I learned from talking to him was that he was close to the ideal master I was looking for.

He\'s gentle, uses his powers correctly, and I felt easy talking with him - he is that kind of person.

However, the lord\'s age is 8 years old.

On the other hand, I just turned 26.

In terms of age, it wouldn\'t be strange to call us parent and child.

He said something unexpected to me who was worried about such a thing.

"When you fall in love, age doesn\'t matter."

I was overly conscious of those words.

In contrast to me, Cecil, who had her eyes healed, began to actively approach him.

Apparently, Cecil was attracted to the lord who cleared the darkness she was carrying.

I was so conscious that it was difficult to look at his face directly.

Besides... I\'ve lost my self-confidence now that I\'m not feminine enough to be attractive.

I feel sorry for myself.

Inside the carriage, I was soothed by a small fluffy stuffed animal that appeared from nowhere, and I thought of myself as a shame.

And when we got to the Thunder Tiger, Sirius-sama began to say that he would defeat him himself.

I was surprised because I thought Pegasus would do it, but Cecil calmly asked him if  he could take her along.

But I thought it was impossible.

However, Sirius-sama said with a smile that it was possible.

――In that case, I want to be close to him even just a little.

Before I knew it, I also requested to go with him.

Ain and Clay looked at us in disbelief, but after Sirius-sama confirmed that he can protect us, they nodded.

Sirius-sama confronted the Thunder Tiger, and even appeared to have some spare strength left.

Cecil and I were protected by Sirius-sama\'s magic wall, but I sensed a sudden approach from behind and reflexively held up my shield.

Surprisingly, another Thunder Tiger appeared from behind.

I was surprised at the strong blow that I could not have received without Sirius-sama\'s magic wall, but I managed to hold up my shield against the Thunder Tiger that was chasing at us.

――Is it really this powerful ?

Even the previous blow would have been dangerous without Sirius-sama\'s magic wall.

Moreover, I didn\'t know if my shield could block lightning.

I was prepared to die, but at the very least I tried to protect Cecil, but suddenly Sirius-sama carried me and I escaped from a certain death.

That\'s right—for the first time in my life, I was carried like a princess.

Sirius-sama smiled at me who I was flustered and said that I was light.

Thinking that this was the first time someone had said such a thing to me, I instinctively asked him if he disliked rough, unfeminine older women.

And Sirius-sama said to me, "I like people like Shalltear."

At that moment, I knew.

This person is the Lord I want to serve.

After that, the battle with the Thunder Tiger ended with Sirius-sama\'s overwhelming victory, and he did the same to Cecil, who was envious of me being held like a princess.

With that body, he could easily hold me and Cecil… is it magic?

But more than that, I asked if he was telling the truth when he said "I want a knight like me" while we were shopping.

Knowing that was the case, I proposed.

Please be my master.

Sirius-sama nodded with a smile while being slightly surprised.

Cecil also asked Sirius-sama to stay by his side.

Maybe I have a strange connection with her.

Shalltear, 26 years old――This was the very moment when I fulfilled my fateful encounter.