Volume 2 Chapter 18 Guardian Deity
The Inheritance War, Day One.
The first round has concluded, and the day has come to an end.
The second round will take place tomorrow in the courtyard of the royal castle.
The competitors are Ms. Nemophila, the winner of the first round, and the First Prince, Sir Crocus.
After Hollis lost consciousness, it was deemed impossible to continue the battle, resulting in Ms. Nemophila's victory.
Immediately after that duel ended, the duel between Sir Crocus and the Second Princess, Lady Nigella, was held.
The duel between the two was something incredible.
Both possessed rare and powerful job classes, unleashing abilities never seen before.
Lady Nigella's job class is 'Painter'.
By infusing magic into her own paintings, she can manifest them into reality.
This power is known as 'Painting Magic,' and while it has certain limitations, it is a highly versatile form of magic.
Lady Nigella brought in a painting she had prepared in advance, summoning a pseudo-typhoon, massive waves, and even imaginary monsters.
On the other hand, Sir Crocus's job class is 'Catalyst Master'.
Like the Painter, this is also a rare and powerful job class.
It allows him to transform anything in this world, except for living beings, into a "magic catalyst".
From weeds by the roadside to the remains of monsters, anything can be used.
The magic that resides in the catalyst inherits the characteristics of the medium used.
In particular, magic catalysts made from the remains of monsters are said to contain extraordinarily powerful magic.
However, the number of times they can be used is quite limited, which is a restriction of the catalyst.
By the way, it seems that human corpses can also be used as a medium, but whether he has actually done that is something only he would know.
The duel between these two was more captivating than a poorly staged play.
The clash of their rare powers had the watching nobles cheering, thoroughly enjoying the Inheritance War.
But in the end, that battle turned out to be pretty one-sided.
Nigella's painting magic was completely negated by Sir Crocus's magic.
It was just a simple difference in the number of tricks up their sleeves.
The gap in their job class abilities.
The superiority of their magic.
It wasn't quite on the level of the duel between Ms. Nemophila and Hollis, but the difference in skill was clear, and Nigella declared her defeat.
That's the whole story of the second match in the first round of the inheritance battle.
Because of that fight, the courtyard turned into a disaster, and it seems they set the schedule for the inheritance battle to 3 days, anticipating this.
Having moved from that chaotic courtyard, I'm currently in the guest room that Lady Clematis has shown me.
There was also Ms. Nemophila, who had successfully made it through the first round and looked somewhat happy.
We had promised to gather here after the first round, and right now, the two of us are having a little victory celebration over tea.
"Well then, once again, congratulations Ms. Nemophila."
"Yeah, thanks."
Ms. Nemophila usually has a blank expression, making it hard to read her emotions.
But right now, there's a faint smile on her cheeks, and she looks somewhat refreshed.
It seems that defeating her brother Hollis, whom she struggled against, has lifted some weight off her shoulders.
"I was able to win thanks to Roezé's help. Honestly, I was really scared before the fight."
"Facing that guy is definitely terrifying. But I wasn't really 'worried' about it, though."
In that moment, Ms. Nemophila dropped the baked treat she was holding.
When I glanced over, she had a look on her face like, 'No way...'.
It was a stroke of luck to draw out a new expression from her, who usually has no expression, but I quickly decided to correct my misunderstanding.
"Oh, no, when I said I wasn't worried, I meant that with Ms. Nemophila's current power, I thought there was no way you could lose...! It's not that I dislike Ms. Nemophila or anything like that!"
"...You kind of surprised me."
While picking up the baked goods that spilled on the table, Ms. Nemophila is sweating nervously.
I was surprised too, 'cause I never thought she'd take it that way.
Well, when I talk to Ms. Nemophila, these kinds of misunderstandings happen quite a bit.
Maybe it's because she hasn't interacted with people much, but sometimes she takes words too literally.
...And during times like this, Ms. Kikrys usually chimes in with a little tsukkomi, but since that didn't happen, I started to worry now.
"By the way, Ms. Kikrys isn't coming here, huh? Someone else brought the tea and snacks."
"Kikrys is my attendant, but she's also the head of the servants. I think she's helping out in the courtyard right now, directing the servants. She already congratulated me earlier."
"Oh, I see..."
Since coming to this castle, I feel like I haven't seen Ms. Kikrys much.
I guess being a servant in the royal castle keeps you pretty busy.
And on top of that, she seems to be fulfilling her duties as Ms. Nemophila's attendant, so I can't help but feel a bit inferior.
She's the complete opposite of me, who's always stuck in lazy thoughts.
As we were having that conversation, the door to the room suddenly swung open.
Striding in with a flourish was Lady Clematis, the owner of this guest room.
"Hey, that was an amazing fight, Nemophila!"
"...Elder Sister Clematis."
Ms. Nemophila, who was genuinely praised, seemed to smile happily again.
Lady Clematis walked over to her and, in contrast, broke into a big grin.
"I never thought Nemophila would get this strong! Honestly, it was strong enough to be scary."
"...Scary?"
"Oh, no! I didn't mean it in a terrifying way! I just thought, 'If I saw you as an enemy, that'd be scary,' but I wanted to say, 'As an ally, you're incredibly reliable!'."
Lady Clematis sat down with a hearty laugh, casually tossing baked goods into her mouth as she continued.
"I always thought that being of royal blood meant Nemophila had some kind of talent. But I figured it would take ten years, no, maybe even decades of training to really tap into it. And yet, to see such growth in just 2 months is truly surprising."
Suddenly, Lady Clematis's gaze turned toward me.
"That's all thanks to your power, right?"
"Uh, well, I don't know about that..."
I felt like she could see right through me.
This person is sharp, no doubt about it.
She doesn't even know my job class.
"The 'Princess Knight' job class of Nemophila, unlike regular job classes, shouldn't have been able to grow properly through normal monster hunting."
"I see you knew about it after all, Lady Clematis."
"Yeah. Not being favored by our father and mother was one of the reasons for that. But you've done a remarkable job strengthening Nemophila in time for the inheritance battle. What kind of 'tricks' did you use?"
"Well, that's..."
Just as I was about to explain, suddenly──.
the door swung open with a bang.
I mean, it was more like a rough crash than a swing.
The one who barged in like that was a small boy with red hair... the second prince, Hollis.
"...Elder Brother Hollis!"
He was supposed to have lost consciousness in the earlier battle and been taken to the infirmary.
Yet, even though he was still a bit wobbly, he seemed to have recovered quite a bit.
He probably regained consciousness, heard the results of the first match, and rushed over to Ms. Nemophila, unable to accept the fact that he had "lost" to her.
"I won't accept it...! There's no way I lost to Nemophila! He must've used some dirty trick!"
It seemed my guess was right; Hollis was grimacing in frustration.
And while Hollis is glaring sharply at Ms. Nemophila, he's not making any sudden moves.
He must've realized just how strong Ms. Nemophila has gotten from that duel earlier, and more than anything, this is Lady Clematis's guest room.
Maybe because she's here, Hollis is acting a bit more subdued than usual.
So, I guess he's struggling to figure out where to direct his anger, and in the end, he's chosen me.
"Y-you're the one! You did something to her, didn't you?! There's no way that useless Nemophila got this strong on her own!"
"..."
Well, it's probably hard for Hollis, who usually looks down on Ms. Nemophila, to believe that.
The power dynamics have completely flipped now.
He seems to be convinced that it's all because of me, the Nurturer, but I quickly shook my head.
"I didn't do anything. Ms. Nemophila just worked hard to level up."
"Don't give me that crap! She was level one just 2 months ago! There's no way she could've grown that much in such a short time! Plus, she had a hard time leveling up from monster hunts, right?!"
He's gritting his teeth like he wants to say, "So how is this even possible?" If he knows about Ms. Nemophila's condition, it's no wonder he can't wrap his head around it.
Lady Clematis seems to have her doubts about Ms. Nemophila's rapid growth too.
So, I decided to explain again to the two of them who looked puzzled.
"That's what you taught me, Sir Hollis."
"W-what?!"
"By using the power of the Box Garden Master to summon monsters and having Ms. Nemophila 'attack,' I finally realized what was going on."
I recalled that moment and stated it simply.
"Ms. Nemophila's 'Princess Knight' job class is a special job class that allows you to gain divine growth points by 'taking attacks' from monsters instead of defeating them."
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