The First Selection (2)
The White Citadel.
A ancestral domain of the Edelwein, one of the continent's most renowned martial families, and a moving fortress city that glided across the land like a ship without leaving tracks.
Its grand presence symbolized the Edelwein's influence and might on the continent, and it was also a motivation that made the intelligent races yearn for the Edelwein.
And Haken, the knight and superhuman of the Edelwein, narrowed his eyes.
'He's struggling, as expected.'
Observing the selection ceremony was something he hadn't done in ten years. Last time, Haken had been an apprentice knight and had been too busy taking care of himself, but after ten years, having become a formal knight and nearing completion as a superhuman, the selection looked different to him.
Inefficient, vicious, oppressive, and brutish, but...
Nevertheless, it was a procedure that was absolutely necessary. That was the Selection.
'Five steps?'
Haken's gaze turned to the boy holding the flag. According to rumors that had been drifting in the citadel, Rian Edelwein was the worst bloodline among the Edelwein lineage participating in this selection.
He had not swung any weapon until he turned twelve, and he had not used the training grounds either — the 'shame of the Edelwein'.
Haken was not swayed by rumors, but he had been disappointed when he first saw Rian.
'His body is quite well-conditioned, but it's not a body built for fighting.'
Building muscles and hardening the body wasn't conditioning. The body used to wield strength and the body used to swing weapons were clearly different. And Rian's body was built for increasing endurance and strength, not for facing opponents.
Of course, considering he was only twelve, that alone could be considered excellent. However, this place was the Edelwein, a martial family claiming to be the best on the continent. What the Edelwein bloodline needed wasn't exercise equipment or books, but weapons to kill opponents.
'Still...'
Still, Haken didn't view Rian negatively. After all, Rian hadn't rested once or dropped the flag during the journey to the White Citadel.
He kept looking back at Haken's back, but regardless, it proved that he had basic grit in addition to his conditioned physique. The solid iron Edelwein flag wasn't something made to be carried properly in the first place.
He liked the grit and stubbornness, and above all, having heard many such nonsense about shame, he had a rebellious psychology against it. He couldn't help Rian in the selection, but Haken was cheering for him.
Step.
'Five steps?'
Five steps from the starting line. It could be said that five steps were too few, but considering the mana density here, Haken personally wanted to clap.
Mana was the power that turned humans into superhumans, but it was also poison to those without the qualification. Moreover, the mana density prepared and set in the veil at the White Citadel was something even decent superhumans would struggle with.
One step was like a mountain, the body became sluggish, and one would want to close their eyes. Yet he had moved five steps in the midst of that.
'Ten years ago, the best record was twenty steps.'
And the Edelwein bloodline who had walked twenty-two steps was now a candidate for the next successor. Those without talent for mana couldn't take even one proper step, so five steps was more than overflowing success.
So Haken had prepared to catch Rian if he fainted.
Step.
"...Hmm?"
Six steps. It looked like the limit, yet truly surprising mental strength. Haken raised his evaluation of Rian by one step in his heart.
And.
Step.
Seven steps.
Step.
Eighth step.
"What...?"
The mana density inside the veil grew denser toward the center. That is, the more steps, the harder it became to advance to the next step.
Nevertheless, Rian took three more steps. This was no longer a matter of mental strength.
'Not even an adult, just a 12-year-old kid...?'
No matter how firm the mental strength, he was still a boy. His mind hadn't matured, and emotions naturally took precedence. Yet he advanced eight steps.
If it had ended there, Haken would have been simply surprised.
Whoosh.
"...No way."
Rian, who had been swaying like he was about to fall after taking eight steps, his body began to glow slightly, and his breathing became rough. Haken knew what that phenomenon was.
When a smart race acquires the mystery of mana and enters the path of the superhuman, everyone experiences a fierce rejection reaction. They are incorporating a substance they didn't have from birth into their body. It's no different from growing an extra organ or sprouting an extra arm.
The changing body naturally causes a rejection reaction and stands at the crossroads of life and death. One must choose whether to accept it and proceed on the path of the superhuman or give up and break.
And Rian was proceeding on the path of the superhuman at that crossroads.
"Hah."
Many famous families make great efforts to instill mana in their members. They meditate in places where mana flows gently or softly, or even liquefy mana to ingest it, or have a completed superhuman tear off their own mana to directly teach the senses.
However, even with all those many attempts, only those chosen can acquire mana. Countless talentless people who try hard all their lives can't even feel mana.
After facing, enduring, and vomiting blood from the dense concentration of that mana, he had acquired it on his own?
'Is this even possible?'
Throwing a fish from the sea into a room full of high-concentration oxygen and seeing if it can survive by breathing oxygen instead of dying? What Rian did was exactly that kind of thing.
Originally, this wasn't a process to instill mana. Rather, it was the first selection to filter out those without talent for mana and test their mental strength.
Haken, who saw Rian ultimately acquire mana and create an 'egg' in that critical moment, let out a hollow laugh.
"A monster has entered. That's why I don't believe rumors."
"Of course."
"...?"
Haken, remembering the killing intent and pressure he had directed at himself earlier, glanced at the servant called Arma.
A monster with violent talent, a servant with unpredictable strength.
"The glory of the Edelwein is infinite."
This selection seemed worth watching.
*
*
"Haa, now I can finally breathe."
His shoulders were still stiff, and when he turned, there was a crack, and his body ached everywhere. Moreover, the air itself was heavy, making it hard to breathe as if wearing a gas mask.
Nevertheless, he was still holding the flag without falling.
'It was tough.'
Honestly, six or seven steps? When he reached there, he really wanted to give up. His spirit to create the best weapon was firm, but no matter how it was, he couldn't do everything with just one spirit.
Pain was bearable, but his body itself had reached its limit, and no matter how much he whipped himself with spirit, it wouldn't move. So, right before he truly lost his mind, he desperately tried to remove the mana pressing down on him in a life-or-death struggle. Honestly, it was just a desperate act to try to go one more step if he could, but it worked.
"This is working."
Even though it was quite stiff and heavy, mana moved slightly at his will. Without missing that gap, he continued to try to move the mana, and some of the mana filling the surroundings entered his body.
Because of that, breathing became difficult and his head spun, but it ended at a reasonable dizziness. And at the same time, there was a strange foreign sensation around his navel.
'Is this mana...?'
Even someone who had never encountered mana before could move it appropriately, so this was probably some kind of basic test. It was indeed a tough test, as expected from the continent's best martial family.
The foreign sensation was still there, which wasn't a good feeling, but by having mana in his body, the pressure felt from the surroundings had become much weaker. If this continued, he could walk more...
'Wait? No.'
Since it had come to this, if he moved the mana a bit more, couldn't he walk more smoothly?
Right now, he was like being in the middle of pouring rain like a downpour. But since he had a rainwater storage tank inside him, couldn't he store more of this rain-like mana inside his body?
At least it was worth trying. With the same sensation as before, feeling the strange weight as if putting his hand in a water-filled bathtub and shaking it.
He pushed the mana around him toward himself.
Gulp!
The foreign sensation around his navel became severe enough to make him burp unconsciously, but anyway, it was successful. The mana around him had become much thinner and lighter now.
However, his stomach felt bad. It was like overeating beyond the stomach's limit, that unpleasant feeling that made him want to vomit if touched.
'When this happens, looking at weapons helps.'
But right now, since Arma wasn't here and there were eyes watching like a knight, he had no choice. Later, when he entered the room, he should tell her to go back to sword form for a bit.
Thinking about appreciating Arma's erotic form and handle while stroking it, a smile formed. Good, the speed had calmed down a bit.
Since the mana had thinned, there was no longer anything to hinder the steps, so he walked straight to the center that had been visible far away.
"You."
"Yes?"
"What... is this?"
Not long after arriving at the center, in front of another gate existing inside the citadel, he met a woman in white armor like a knight.
For some reason, she was glaring at him with trembling eyes.
"This side is the one who should be asking."
"What?"
"Are you sane?"
His attitude didn't allow gentle words either. She was older than him and seemed stronger, so he used honorifics, but he couldn't help the tilted posture. The reason was simple and clear.
'Vicious woman.'
Unlike the knight, the woman's armor state was beyond pitiful. For heaven's sake, a equipment abuser! How could a person handle equipment like that?
A sadist who abandons such beautiful armor in a state of injury. Obviously a broken personality. How could a human with a human heart commit such cruel acts?
As armor was like one's lover or family, seeing the wounds and stains on the armor made his heart ache similarly, so he just sighed.
"...??"
The equipment abuser sadist was surprisingly just tilting his head.