Childhood Friend of the Zenith

A Sword Queen.

The woman who introduced herself as Sword Peak — there was no doubt.

She was the Plum Blossom Sword Queen I knew.

…This is unexpected.

Not only was she someone I recognized, but she looked almost the same as I remembered.

Of course, given her high cultivation level, it made sense that she aged slowly.

But even so—there was barely any difference.

“Was she here from the very beginning?”

I had known she had ties to my father, but I never realized they were both in Azure Dragon Squad.

“Is something wrong?”

I had been staring too long.

Sword Queen—no, Sword Peak Soi—tilted her head slightly, looking at me with curiosity.

It took me a moment to respond.

“Ah, I apologize. You resemble someone I know.”

“Oh… I see.”

She hesitated slightly, her expression turning somewhat awkward.

Why is she reacting like that?

Before I could figure it out—

“Oh, come on. I get that our senior is beautiful, but isn’t throwing flirtatious glances the moment you meet a little too fast?”

Do Yun.

That damn guy smirked as he whispered beside me, clearly entertained.

And suddenly, it clicked.

Ah… damn it.

Soi probably thought I was flirting.

If that’s why she reacted that way, it made sense.

“No, that’s not what I meant—”

I hurried to explain.

But—

“It’s fine. I don’t really care.”

Soi cut me off before I could even begin.

…Oh.

Did I just ruin my first impression?

It seemed like our first meeting was already off to a bad start.

Time Skip

After everyone had been assigned to their sword squads, we followed our respective seniors to our new quarters.

That included me.

A total of six recruits, including myself, followed Soi toward the Azure Dragon Squad's residence.

From what I knew, Azure Dragon Squad was the second-largest and most influential squad within the Martial Alliance, right after Divine Dragon Squad.

As such, their residence was massive.

So large, in fact, that it was located a bit away from the main headquarters.

“…The location is different.”

In my previous life, Azure Dragon Squad had been much closer to the main complex.

But now?

It had been moved.

As I pondered the change, we finally arrived.