Chapter 34
While the marquis sat in his chair and thought about various matters,
Knox’s slow voice, who was in charge of the proceedings, was heard.
“The Crost heir test will be conducted in two parts. First, capture a werewolf within 10 minutes. Second, block the werewolf pack from crossing the designated line for 5 minutes.”
The qualifications of the Crost heir were as follows.
First, the ability to regularly subjugate monsters.
And second—
At the end of the world, there existed an ice wall that blocked monsters, but the heir must also be able to prevent monster intrusion to some degree.
“Then, Young Master Lilis Tex will participate in the first test.”
Smiling confidently at his call, Tex entered the training ground.
“Father. I will go now.”
“Just do as you always do.”
“Yes!”
Soon, the wall across opened, and a werewolf chained in shackles appeared.
The werewolf was completely different in size from an ordinary wolf.
It was twice as long as an adult man’s height. It had a ferocious personality, sharp claws, and the purple eyes characteristic of monsters.
Huff. Huff.
Perhaps having been confined for several hours, a strange sound came from the monster’s abdomen as if it were angry.
“Then, the test will begin.”
At the same time the whistle blew, the shackled werewolf, having sensed its prey, began rushing toward him.
Tex’s expression turned worse due to the unexpectedly massive size—
“D, die!”
Tex was an ice ability user.
Even without special training, his combat ability was superior to that of ordinary people.
Crack—
Closing his eyes tightly with a frightened expression, he stomped his foot once, and sharp icicles began rising one after another around him.
Startled, the werewolf lost its balance and stumbled.
“Die, die already!”
He couldn’t even look at the monster and turned his head away while stomping his feet loudly.
Then, the randomly generated icicles split between the werewolf’s long snout and its four legs, restricting its movement.
“Capture complete.”
A lukewarm voice announced his pass along with the whistle.
But the frightened Tex couldn’t open his eyes.
“Tex, my son. You won! You won!”
Only after Marquis Lilis shouted in disbelief did Tex open his eyes with a bright expression.
“D-did I do it? I won, right?”
Tex jumped around the training ground with a triumphant expression.
“It’s nothing special! Father! Look at me! If not me, who will be the Crost heir?”
He couldn’t even control his emotions and even hit the wall with his feet—thump, thump.
Tex also passed the second test without difficulty.
Although icicles were shot chaotically in rapid succession, five werewolves were at least prevented from crossing the red line.
The spectators were amazed.
Or more precisely, they murmured.
“As expected, ability users are completely different from ordinary people.”
“…To think that such a timid young noble could subdue a werewolf.”
“With that level of ability, even a three-year-old could defeat a monster.”
Behind the praise was a sense of emptiness regarding “ability power” itself.
“Now, we will have the second candidate, Crost Aisha, participate in the test.”
“Yes!”
Regardless, the test continued.
When the small child waddled in, the people’s conversation turned into worried admiration.
“As the saying goes, one mountain is crossed only to meet another. This time it’s a five-year-old.”
“If a dangerous situation occurs, they will stop the match midway, right?”
“Tex was somewhat acceptable, but we want to protect the young princess ourselves because she is so small.”
Under countless gazes,
Even if she could feel intimidated, the child entered with a brave expression and assumed a ready stance.
Was she imitating the knights? The stance was quite professional.
Although all she had was a side of a hand like a hamster’s paw, it was a completely different atmosphere from Tex, who had closed his eyes in fear.
Using only her hands?
What she held in the other hand was not a greatsword but a dagger specially made for a child.
“Your Excellency. Prepare to stop the match now!”
Finally unable to hold back, Marquis Lilis burst into laughter.
“Then the test will begin.”
Beep.
The werewolf rushed toward the child.
As the werewolf opened its mouth toward Aisha, who was much smaller than Tex—
“I can’t watch this.”
One vassal who couldn’t bear to see what would happen next tightly closed his eyes.
But then—
“Ah, I…!”
Before closing their eyes—
“……?”
A small, insignificant shadow fell over the tops of people’s heads.
Wondering what it was, people looked up—
“…Aisha?!”
“Princess!”
The princess jumped upward without any stepping platform, slicing through the sky.
The so-called frog leap technique.
It was usually a technique Aisha used to cling to Calypse like a cicada, but today it was different.
The child looked down at the wolf with blue eyes.
Thud—
She threw the dagger and struck the werewolf’s left thigh.
The werewolf, hit by a single dagger, collapsed and made a whining sound as it fell.
The werewolf seemed eager to get up again, but it could only struggle as if its lower body had lost strength.
Aisha looked satisfied and lightly landed.
“……”
People who thought the sleeve-hidden hand looked like a hamster’s finally realized after rubbing their eyes.
That hand was not a hamster’s.
Though small, it looked sharp, like the claw of a well-honed baby crab.
Reaction ability. Skill. Courage.
Everything was perfect except that she was not an ability user.
Watching her, Knox whispered beside Calypse’s ear with a small laugh.
“Your Excellency’s judgement of people is indeed accurate.”
“Of course.”
Although the duke did not show it, his mouth was shaped like a zigzag as he tried to suppress his rising smile.
“Calling herself a golden seed, but she turned out to be a diamond.”
“I agree.”
While the two Crost men had a warm conversation—
“This is cheating, isn’t it?!”
Tex, whose face had turned bright red earlier, suddenly stood up.
“Just looking at it, the werewolf I fought was bigger! And that— that!”
Tex.
Though Marquis Lilis’s voice was heard trying to stop him midway, Tex pointed without hesitation.
“How can a werewolf collapse from a single dagger? Was the werewolf you sent to her a weak specimen?!”
Inside the terrifying training ground,
Everyone looked alternately at Tex and Aisha with rabbit-like eyes.
The child who had captured the werewolf with a single dagger turned her head indifferently.
“What, what!”
When Tex’s eyes met Aisha’s, he flinched slightly.
The small princess blinked her blue eyes and asked,
“You don’t know anything about werewolves, do you?”
“…Isn’t it just something to destroy anyway? Just smash it!”
“Werewolves are special monsters that transform into human form on full moon nights.”
Pwoop—
The movement of pulling the dagger out of the rough fur was not ordinary.
Of course, since the child was weaker than an average person, she had to pull it out with an “oomph” like pulling out a radish.
Aisha continued explaining while covering the bleeding area with both hands.
“When werewolves transform into human form, the load on their bodies increases, so the hind leg muscles are rough and tough.”
Hearing the child’s explanation, the rabbit-eyed vassals gradually became serious.
Except for Tex.
“What does that even mean!”
“It means that’s the weakness. If you stab a dagger once into the hind leg area, you don’t need to fire icicles a hundred times to make the werewolf lose strength.”
The surroundings became noisy at that.
“Is she really five years old? At that age, she analyzes monster characteristics and moves accordingly…”
“No, the hand technique used with that sword just now was not amateur behavior.”
Aisha, who heard their whispers, twitched.
‘Ah. Was that too much? But in times like this, I should just act like a genius.’
Aisha proudly placed her hands on her waist and stuck out her belly.
“This much is needed~ to be adopted into Crost! Hahaha!”
“……”
The vassals looked toward Calypse as if asking whether it was true.
Calypse felt slightly embarrassed but did not show it and turned his head away.
“If the explanation is done, then Crost Aisha. You have passed the first test.”
Knox, who had been waiting with his back against the wall until the conversation ended, announced the pass with a faint smile.
“…Damn it.”
Tex’s neck and face were completely red with resentment.
“Indeed, she is smart.”
“Monster subjugation also costs money and time. If Princess-sama knows information in advance like that, there will be fewer injuries and faster work.”
The vassals muttered incomprehensible things.
Tex couldn’t even properly vent his anger.
‘If it continues like this, that brat will win.’
Fear suddenly came over him.
