The Time I Reincarnated as the King of Knights?!

The Ten Great Saints. They were the best the Kingdom of Lubellious had to offer. They each had to have the strength of an Enlightened at the bare minimum. They were on a constant quest for self-improvement all the time with the eventual goal being to achieve the power of a True Saint. They each had varying levels of power, but their hierarchy was very simple. The stronger ones were at the top. The leader of all of them was Hinata Sakaguchi. 

Hinata had thought about what Artoria had told her previously. She looked around and focused on the Three Battlesages, a group within the Ten Great Saints. She marked them as most suspicious. Saare, also known as Saare of the Blue Sky, was the one she beat to take the position of the head of the Rook geniuses. White hair and short stature, he was hostile to her in meetings and only cooperated because of her strength. He was a perfect example of what Artoria had said to her. Respects your strength instead of you as a person. 

Then there was Grigori, also known as Grigori of Giant Boulder. A tall, muscular frame, black hair tied into a ponytail, he is Saare's right hand man. This was a case of "suspect by association", but she wasn't going to take risks. 

The last of them was Glenda Attley, also known as Glenda of Raging Sea. A young woman with short red hair, and dark eyes. She had beaten a previous member named Rama to earn her spot in the Three Battlesages. Hinata didn't think she was too suspicious since she was one of the newer ones to the group, but she still had her eyes on her. Who knows if Saare would get to her?

As this moment all the saints were face-to-face with Artoria Pendragon. The king of Tempest, the nation of monsters. The term "empress" would make more sense, given that her nation has taken over a demon lords' territory, but she didn't refer to herself as that. 

When they first found out who she was and what "nation" she represented, they were all hostile. It was only thanks to the efforts of Hinata that they didn't immediately set off to try and kill her. In their eyes, Artoria might as well have been offering herself up to them on a silver platter to take out. She was considered enemy number one due to her leading the nation of monsters, which they also wanted to destroy.

As all the saints felt the presence of Artoria, they started understanding Hinata's decision to try to be more diplomatic in their approach. Even the ones most opposed to Hinata started counting their lucky stars for listening to her. They all felt it. This wasn't something they could fight against no matter how much they tried. Maybe only their goddess could do something. 

"Good. Now that you're all paying attention without any superfluous thoughts, I'm going to set forth some very simple demands. First, You will sign a peace agreement between our nations. Second, You will also be open to monsters that come from our nation. Third, We will get to know each other. I want to get to know my new allies after all. There's ten of you and I want to know more than just your name and whatever rank you have. Do we have an agreement?", Artoria set the tone immediately. She knew they weren't going to accept this at all. She was asking them to make peace with what is supposed to be their greatest enemy. 

"What?! You think you can just come in here and make these demands and think we'll accept?!", Saare screamed at her. He knew she was strong but he wouldn't let this monster tell them what to do. He's one of the Ten Great Saints!

"Yeah. I do.", Artoria's answer was short and to the point, but it only made Saare angrier.

"You're an arrogant monster. Tell me why we shouldn't attack and kill you right now!", Saare was ready to attack. He had his weapon and magic ready to activate at a moment's notice.

"Saare, stop! You should know bet-"

"Quiet, Hinata! How could you of all people let a monster in here! We should-", Saare couldn't finish as he felt an overbearing sense of dread come over him. He felt like he was in the jaws of a dragon that was ready to eat him. And there was nothing he could do about it. He barely turned his head over and looked at Artoria. Those eyes of her were focused on him and he felt like he was staring death in the eyes. Sweat dripped down his face and back.

"I'll give you two very good reasons not to. One, you can't kill me. And two, it would be an absolute one-sided massacre. Plus, you don't make the decisions here. The one who makes the decisions is the one behind that curtain in the place of your 'goddess'. I'll only tell you this once, sit back down in you seat. You think you're strong, but trust me, you couldn't even tear up a baby picture of me." Artoria's voice was cold and indifferent. Despite most of her aura being focused on Saare, the others could feel it. And if what was leaking out was as bad as they felt, they could only imagine what Saare was experiencing. 

"Now, we don't have to come to a decision right now. I'm sure we can all have a civil discussion with some more…calm and collected heads. I can't imagine how y'all function with people like that. It seems Hinata is the glue that holds this entire thing together. I'm starting to see what I need to know about this whole thing."

"Artoria, perhaps we can start over. You said you wanted to get to know us better. You can talk to us one-on-one.", Hinata quickly tried to defuse the situation. She was right about Saare. He almost caused things to get out of hand.

"That's fine with me. We can start now. Just show me to a room."

/\\//\\//\

Man, this is going better than I thought. I have to thank Saare for his meltdown. I already know things about them, but these little interviews will serve as a mask when they ask why I know so much about them. They'll think I'm some kind of genius for being able to figure out so much about them from these little one-on-one talks. 

I already got though most of them. Leonard, Arnaud, Bacchus, Litus, Garde, and Fritz seem to be the more sensible ones. I think they were the ones that eventually came to a peaceful resolution with Tempest. I don't need to say much about Saare. Grigori tried to seem "nice", but I could easily see through it. All that was left was Glenda. She's going to be interesting to talk to.

/\\//\\//\

Glenda Attley. Things were hectic for her personally over the last few days. Something catastrophic had happened with Granbell and Maribell Rosso. A curse was put on her to forcefully serve them, but that had disappeared. At face value it seemed she was free, but she didn't do anything. Not at least until she was 100% sure that she was completely free. 

She never wanted to join the saints. She was forced too by the Rossos. She was a mere pawn. If anyone found out about her working behind the saints back, then who knows what punishment she would face. Best case scenario, she would run away and be hunted down. Worst case scenario, she would be put to death on the spot immediately.

And this all started with the appearance of this Artoria Pendragon. As soon as she appeared, all this started to happen. Was it a coincidence? Probably not, how could she be involved when she's here? 

It was her turn to talk one-on-one and from what she's seen from the others and what they said, maybe she wasn't as bad as she first thought. She just needs to get through this talk with her.

She was outside waiting her turn. Just then the door opened and Hinata came out. She gave her the signal to go in. Glenda steeled her resolve and went in. Was she sacred? After what happened before, she had all the right to be.

She went in and saw Artoria calmly drinking tea with a smile on her face. Artoria looked over at Glenda and gave her signal with her hand to sit down.

"Would you like some tea?" Glenda was a little surprised. She thought Artoria would come off as aggressive or immediately ask heavy questions. Maybe it wouldn't be so bad. As long as she stayed calm and didn't give away certain things it would be fine.

"Yes, thank you." Glenda picked up the teacup and drank it, only to be taken aback by the sheer sweetness of it.

"Yeah, I expected that. It's how everyone else has reacted to it. I guess it's not to everyone's taste. Anyway, let's get started shall we?", Artoria asked in an enthusiastic mood like she was looking forward to it. 

"How is this going to work?", Glenda asked.

"It's simple. I'll just ask some questions and some general conversation to see what kind of person you are and how well you meld into your group. Should any problems be found, and trust me, they will be found, then I'll handle things accordingly."

Glenda's heart started beating faster. She started getting nervous. What did she mean by that last sentence? Does she know about her other things? No, it couldn't be possible. She just met them for the first time. 

"To start off, Interesting choice of dress. Not what I would imagine a saint wearing, but then again, maybe that's just how you do things. I also have to mention that thing on your leg. Interesting weapon. I haven't seen something like that before. Must've cost quite a bit of money. Unless saints get paid a lot, it almost makes you wonder where you would get the money for it. Do you perhaps have a side job or something similar?", Artoria talked to her while still sipping on her tea. 

The more Glenda heard her speak the more nervous she became. She was uncomfortably hitting too close to the mark.

"Well…It's just something I came across. I was fighting someone and they had it on them, so I looted it. I thought it was interesting." 

"Hmm…it seems like a fun story, but that's for another time. I heard from Hinata that you're one of the newer members. You beat someone named Rama for the position. From the way I heard it, it was like you sort of came out of nowhere. Can you tell me about it?"

"It was a tough fight, but I was able to win. I've been trying to get stronger and move up the ranks ever since."

"That's nice. Good ol' climbing up the ladder. Does it bother you to think that you're a part of the same subgroup with Saare?"

"That was his own fault. He shouldn't have done that."

"I see. The rumors about you seem to be true it seems."

What Rumors could she be talking about? Glenda hadn't heard of any rumors about her. Just when things seemed to be going well, there a rumor going around about her that could make things worse. 

"You know, putting blame on others when you're a part of a team isn't really a nice thing to do. Was what Saare did dumb? Yes. But you should still stand up for him. He's your comrade, a person you should be able to trust with your life and to have your back in the midst of battle.", Artoria set her teas down and lost that calm and enthusiastic tone. She laid back in her chair and rested her face on her fist.

"I didn't mean it-", Glenda tried to explain herself but she was interrupted. 

"You seem to have a bit of arguments and petty squabbles, but you would never betray your comrades, right?" 

Glenda started feeling like things were getting out of control. She felt like she was doing just fine, but the situation seemed to turn around instantly out of nowhere. She had to say something.

"I would never do-", once again she was cut off.

"You seemed ready to make Saare some kind of scapegoat so you could avoid any blame and punishment." 

"No, it's not like that. I just...It was more lik-" Glenda in all her stuttering mess, slid her hand down her leg, slowly reaching for her gun. She was trying to be calm, but her whirlwind of panic, anxiousness, and nervousness made her look worse. She wasn't thinking straight. The only thing stopping her from just pulling out the gun on Artoria, was the chance that her words were all just a coincidence and terrible luck. 

However, the more she looked at Artoria's face the worse she got. Her hands started shaking a little, she started sweating more, her heart beat even faster. Artoria's green eyes seemed to become duller, her calm smile from before was completely gone. She had a face of pure coldness and indifference as if the person in front of her didn't matter at all.

Glenda felt chills like she's never felt before go down her spine. Goosebumps started forming on her skin. The way those eyes looked at her. As if everything about her life and her secrets were out in the open for everyone to see. She felt completely seen through.

"You're working for the Rosso's behind everyone's back, are you not?"