Chapter 11
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 11
Chapter Title: The Trial
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“Fried ground worms for sale! Cheap! 10,000 Crutal!”
“Bee wine, right here! Poison bee wine so strong, one in ten might die! Only 5,000 Crutal!”
“Mommy, I want a snack!”
The tournament grounds of Nakrang Fortress.
Once, it had teemed with countless challengers and spectators daily, but that was only for a short while at the beginning.
As the days went by, the number of challengers dwindled to nothing, and people began to whisper that the tournament grounds were a waste of the Nakrang Lord's money.
But at this very moment.
The people were now cursing the Lord of Nakrang for not spending more money to build an even larger arena.
The area around the grounds was now so packed with onlookers that they were on the verge of being crushed to death.
In fact, if not for the soldiers stationed all around, there would have already been casualties, yet no one left the pandemonium.
As befitting spectators who had come all the way through gates to be here, they only pushed one another aside to get to the inner circle, where they could get a better view of the tournament grounds.
Even the nobles, for whom special seats had been prepared, did not hesitate to spend money to secure better spots.
That was how much interest there was in the groom trials, which had been reopened after so long.
To be precise, it was an interest in the challenger of this trial.
“That’s the challenger? Such a small kid?”
“It’s amazing that a body like that passed the Gate of Strength, but to think he even passed the third gate.”
“He must be the young master of some great noble family, right?”
A small frame.
Luxurious clothes.
Black hair mixed with streaks of white.
And even a mask covering his eyes.
The crowd chattered away, watching the boy who stood out in so many ways, but the boy himself paid them no mind.
As if accustomed to being the center of attention, he simply passed the time with a lazy yawn.
Bong!
“—His Lordship appears!”
How much time had passed?
Suddenly, the heavy beat of a drum sounded, and the moment the curtain behind the highest, hitherto empty seat of honor was drawn back.
With a heavy echo, two figures, one large and one small, appeared.
Thud.
White hair and a beard that grew down to his chest, signs of a long life lived.
A burly frame and muscular arms that would make one believe he was a giant, and jeweled rings and various accessories that proclaimed his wealth as the lord.
Despite all this, the appearance of the old orc, with the fleshy build and upturned nose characteristic of his race that he could not hide, silenced the chattering crowd.
The chief of the High Orcs, who had led his clan for over 200 years, and the very man who had rapidly expanded his power in recent years, slaughtered the previous lord, and seized Nakrang Fortress.
—Lord Urk of Nakrang Fortress.
His imposing presence was enough to make not only commoners but even nobles shrink back.
The corpulent orc slowly scanned the crowd, and only after settling into his enormous, custom-made chair did he raise a hand and speak.
“Begin.”
“Yes, my lord!”
Bong!
Truly befitting of an orc.
As if to say that trivial words were unnecessary, Urk gave the order to proceed, and the soldiers began to move busily.
And so, a moment later.
What six able-bodied orcs brought out was a single cage.
A large iron cage, covered with two, even three layers of cloth, from which one could feel a palpable weight.
And so, with a thud.
The moment the orcs set down the cage and pulled off the cloth covering it.
“Kraaaaah!!!”
“Gah!?”
“Aack!”
—A deafening roar erupted.
As the audience screamed at the cry that sent shivers down their spines just by hearing it.
A High Orc stepped forward with a collar and opened his mouth.
“Tame this [Frenzied Wildcat] and place this bell around its neck.”
“……!”
“That is the condition for passing the fourth trial, the Gate of the Heart.”
A colossal beast that looked more like a tiger than a wildcat.
The reaction of the audience upon learning that taming the Frenzied Wildcat was the fourth gate was largely the same.
‘That’s insane…!’
‘Tame that crazed wildcat? They might as well have brought out a 3-star monster.’
‘...So the Lord of Nakrang never intended to give away his adopted daughter or his territory from the start.’
Absolutely impossible.
That was the thought that reflexively popped into everyone’s head, from commoner to noble.
The Frenzied Wildcat, thanks to its 【Frenzy】 trait, was at the very top of the 2-star monsters, and it was infamous for its temperament of choosing death over submission.
A 3-star or higher Tamer-class Awakened One might have a chance, but…
To demand the talent of a tamer from a challenger who had already passed tests of strength, skill, and magic was, by anyone’s standards, an outrageous and unreasonable demand.
If the challenger were to protest, the entire crowd would have sided with him in a heartbeat.
“Hmm, an easier task than I expected.”
“……?”
That was why.
Not only the crowd but even the orc holding out the bell doubted his own ears.
But the masked boy nonchalantly took the bell collar from the orc’s hand and leisurely walked forward.
—Straight into the cage where the Frenzied Wildcat was rampaging.
Click.
Creeak.
Clang.
“……?!?!”
“Is he… insane?”
Unlocking the latch, entering the cage, and closing the door behind him.
The actions were so fluid, so natural, that people only realized what had happened after the cage door had shut, and they cried out in shock.
The Frenzied Wildcat, which had been blinking in confusion, finally came to its senses and lunged, baring its fangs.
“Kraaaaah—!”
“Shh.”
“……!”
No, it tried to lunge.
But just before it did, the Frenzied Wildcat flinched and froze.
Because it saw.
As if telling it to be quiet.
The boy raised an index finger to his red lips.
A playful gesture, but in stark contrast, his blood-red eyes held not a trace of a smile, and…
—the crimson starlight flickering in their depths.
If only it had seen nothing, it could have at least died in peace.
The wildcat trembled, staring at that which it could only see because it possessed the 【Frenzy】 trait, and the boy narrowed his eyes.
“You’re too scared. It would be a problem if you died of a heart attack.”
“……!”
“How about this?”
“...Krah, kraah.”
“Oh, that worked? Ah, so you were scared because of the class bonus from 【Slayer】.”
Whatever he had done.
The oppressive aura suddenly diminished, and the Frenzied Wildcat finally let out the breath it had been holding.
But even after that, as the boy casually approached and fastened the collar around its neck, the Frenzied Wildcat didn't move a muscle.
No, it couldn’t move.
Whether it was a class.
Or a trait.
A dreadful fear that transcended such trivial things had frozen the Frenzied Wildcat in place.
“This should do it, right?”
“Huh?”
“The fourth gate. I passed, right?”
“Uh, uh…”
Jingle.
Perhaps because everything was beyond imagination.
Staring blankly at the Frenzied Wildcat, which remained as docile as a housecat even as its head was being stroked, and at the boy playfully shaking the bell on its collar.
The moment the orc examiner reluctantly nodded his head.
“……?!?!”
The crowd’s gasps of astonishment, cheers, and the despairing cries of some gamblers turned the tournament grounds upside down.
***
‘Hmm, that went better than I thought.’
The masked boy who had suddenly joined the groom trials and thrown Nakrang Fortress into an uproar.
Dion smirked as he watched the cage being carried away again, and the Frenzied Wildcat trembling inside it.
The ‘Gate of Strength’ to prove physical power.
The ‘Gate of Skill’ which required precision.
The ‘Gate of Magic’ to endure magical contamination.
The ‘Gate of the Heart’ to tame the Frenzied Wildcat.
The four gates of the groom trials were all mutually contradictory.
The more one excelled at a previous gate, the more fiendishly difficult the next one became, so it was no wonder the other challengers had been eliminated one after another.
‘To think the first one was the hardest and it got easier from there. How interesting.’
But Dion felt no particular emotion about passing the difficult gates himself.
For others, perhaps, but for Dion, who could switch to the appropriate class for the situation through 【Class Changer】, these gates were simple.
After the first gate, which required pure stats, the rest were nothing more than tedious, simple tasks.
“Heh. To pass through all four gates, truly a remarkable display of skill.”
That was why.
Even when Urk offered a short word of praise after the grounds were finally cleared, Dion showed little reaction.
But the words that followed made Dion’s eyes light up with interest for the first time.
“As a reward for your prowess, the final trial will be given by my adopted daughter herself.”
“……!”
“Pandora, come forth.”
In that instant.
A stir went through the tournament grounds.
‘She’s giving the trial herself?’
‘The adopted daughter who has never even shown herself to outsiders until now?’
‘Will I finally see the face I couldn't, even after attending so many banquets at Nakrang Fortress?’
‘What a stroke of luck. I’m glad I came to watch this trial.’
Perhaps because they never expected to see her face in person, the people murmured amongst themselves, their gazes fixed on the tournament grounds with anticipation and curiosity.
But a moment later, when the curtain behind Urk was drawn back.
…
—All sound vanished.
Just as it had when Urk appeared.
But this silence was incomparably heavier, more chilling.
As everyone held their breath, their hearts seemingly stopping, a slender figure, a stark contrast to the massive Urk, revealed herself.
Step.
A blindfold covering both eyes.
A black dress like mourning clothes.
Skin so white it was pale.
Her curvaceous figure and the slender legs half-revealed by her dress were undeniably alluring, yet.
The beauty's presence was as chillingly ominous as a crow in a graveyard, freezing everyone in the tournament grounds.
And so, they realized.
No, they couldn't help but realize.
Who the beauty before them was.
The reason Urk was able to kill the previous lord and seize Nakrang Fortress, and the treasure he cherished more than his own children, despite sharing no blood.
The Daughter of Three Fathers, who had already had three adoptive fathers.
It was…
“Hello, Pandora.”
“……?!”
In that moment.
She stopped walking.
No, everyone in the tournament grounds stopped moving, stopped thinking.
The sight of the masked boy, smiling and waving his hand all alone in the ominous atmosphere, made everyone look at him as if he were a madman.
But Dion himself paid their stares no mind.
He simply smiled more deeply at the woman who met his gaze from behind her blindfold.
He couldn't help it.
She was the very reason he was undertaking this trial.
The cursed witch who had brought immense wealth and glory to the families that took her in, only to eventually bring ruin to two of her adoptive fathers, making her an object of fear.
A prodigy who held a seat among the Paljongyungma as a member of the Evil Sect.
And above all…
“It’s truly a pleasure to see you like this.”
In the first timeline, she was fated to meet a tragic end due to the curse she bore.
But in the second timeline, she overcame that fate and played a heroic role in the Calamity War that would later unfold.
One of the people he absolutely had to win over to reach his finale.
Looking at the Calamity Princess, Pandora, Dion smiled warmly.