“By the way, Heath, which division are you with?”

“Just so you know,” began Remié, “Slad and I are in the 5th Division, and Geith is with the 9th.”

“I’m with the 18th Division,” she replied, between munching on her Hamburg steak.

Suddenly, the whole room went into an uproar.
Because not everybody was in the dorms yet, the dining hall was spa.r.s.ely populated, but every person there had their eyes on Fii.

And the three boys dining with her were no exception.

“The 18th!?”

“Is that true, Heath!?”

“Mn. It is, but…?”

Although she was a little surprised at everybody’s reactions, Fii never stopped eating.

“Is it really something so shocking?” she asked in confusion, when Remié’s visibly excited face shot near.

“Of course it’s shocking! Everybody looks up to the 18th!

“Usually the most talented apprentices join the 1st Division, but there are plenty of people who want to join the 18th even more, you know! Not just us apprentices either! Even plenty of full knights want to join!

“But you have to be chosen by York-sama to join, and n.o.body’s ever joined as an apprentice, you know! n.o.body even thought it was possible!”

“I-, I see…”

Considering the quiet and gentle Remié, it came as a shock that he would suddenly talk so much.

“Just how on earth were you chosen!?”

“Yeah, tell us, Heath!”

Even Geith and Slad had incredible expressions. It was a little scary.
Fii too was in awe at the change.

But this was something that everyone in the entire room wanted to know.
If they knew how she did it, perhaps they too would have a chance!
Everybody in the dining hall waited with baited breath.

“Umm, apparently Captain picked me out.”

“By Captain, you mean York-sama!?”

“Mn.”

(So he really was picked out by York-sama!)

(Just what kind of secret is Heath-…?)

Everybody in the dining hall waited to hear his secret.

“Apparently it was because I’m tiny.”

The dining hall went silent.
The three boys with her, as well as everyone else here, found themselves staring.

She certainly was tiny.

She was a whole size smaller than even the smallest amongst them.
Perhaps she was even the tiniest in the history of the knight order…

And what they were also thinking…

(What the heck kind of reason is that!)

as well as…

(It’s impossible for us…)

If you simply wanted to grow bigger, then you could just eat more and train your body, but becoming smaller than you already were was completely impossible.
Even if you gave it your all, it was impossible for humans to grow shorter…

In the end, all the boys’ dreams of joining their admired 18th Division continued to be mere dreams.

“Also, they said that I was nimble, and I had guts.”

Paying no attention to the crushed hopes of the boys, Fii gobbled up her food as usual as she stated the other reason she could join, but unfortunately n.o.body was listening to her any longer.

After all, the first condition had already excluded everybody but her.

“What’s wrong, everyone?”

Noticing that everybody had collapsed onto their tables, Fii tilted her head in wonder.