Fist King (2)
"Hah!"
Lena sucked in a sharp breath before she could stop herself.
It was hardly a surprising reaction. This was a stance from which the Fist King could crush her skull like an eggshell the moment she pleased. Anyone would be terrified to expose their vitals to a predator.
And yet the Fist King spoke to her with a voice that was, unexpectedly, almost gentle(?).
"Don't be scared. Guts, that's what a woman needs."
"Who said I was scared...?"
"Heheh... Good. Hold still."
Shuaaaa—
Mana welled up from the Fist King and poured into Lena like a waterfall.
It was ferociously violent mana, as if announcing her nature to the world.
But the Fist King manipulated that torrent of power with astonishing delicacy.
It feels similar to what Granny Ryu did to us back then.
Of course, the sheer force of the mana she felt was on another level entirely. I wasn't even the one being examined, yet I could sense the wild churn of that mana from here—close to an outright weapon, really.
The Fist King kept her eyes half-lidded, seeming to feel something out... then smirked.
"Well, look at this one? What an interesting kid."
Papapat!
The Fist King's arm moved faster than even my dynamic vision could track.
Judging from the afterimage that lingered at the end, she seemed to be prodding at various spots on Lena's body with her fingers.
Lena let out a small whimper.
"Owowow..."
"That was as gentle as I could manage. Hmm... your mana sensitivity is excellent. And how's the grain of your muscles?"
Prodding, poking...
The Fist King handled Lena almost like a toy, turning her this way and that as she kneaded her whole body—arms, shoulders, sides, nape, the soles of her feet, her collarbone, her chest...
Lena squealed and shrieked at the snake-quick hands, but the Fist King paid her no mind.
At a glance it might have looked like molestation, but the Fist King's eyes were endlessly serious, so I simply stayed quiet.
Before long, she pulled her hands away from Lena.
"Excellent bone structure. Though it seems she didn't get proper nutrition as a child. Her condition seems to have improved dramatically recently... What's your relationship with her? Isn't she a bit young to be doing this sort of work?"
"She's a comrade."
"I'm her dad."
"..."
Our answers crossed each other.
In an instant, the Fist King's gaze fixed on me shifted to the look one gives something lower than garbage.
...
"What. You were joking?"
"Obviously..."
"Kuk kuk... No, it's just—there are so many absolute trash heaps in this world. Some of them drag their own kids around like meat shields. Grown adults, sure, maybe—but treating children like that is a sin."
Thankfully, the Fist King's violence did not descend upon me.
Because Lena, after squirming once or twice, told her the truth.
I had no idea why she'd pulled a pointless prank at a moment like this... but strangely enough, the Fist King's attitude softened somewhat.
Was that her aim all along?
The Fist King continued.
"I see... so you were an orphan until a few months ago?"
"Yep. The mister recognized my potential and whisked me away, just like that."
"Sharp eye on you. Did you show her kindness when she was in a hard spot...?"
"Just so we're clear, I have no intention of leaving this party! Recruitment attempts will be politely declined!"
"Ha. What a cheeky one."
Amazingly, Lena and the Fist King fell into a rather comfortable conversation.
Only minutes ago Lena had been noticeably afraid of her—what exactly had changed in her heart?
Lena, you sly thing. You showed zero social skills all this time, but today you're quite the charmer.
Only after chewing through every piece of small talk imaginable did the Fist King slap her forehead, as if finally remembering something.
"Look at me, losing my head. The test isn't over yet."
"That would be my turn."
"Hmm... forget it. Let's just call it a pass!"
"...Excuse me?"
"What, you don't want to?"
I hesitated for a moment at the Fist King's absurd offer.
Somehow or other, she seemed quite taken with Lena... Would it be better to just let this slide?
Skipping the Fist King's unfathomable test looked like the rational choice on paper, but something about it struck me as ominous.
Would this person actually teach us properly?
Given the Fist King's catastrophic personality, expecting normal behavior from her was a fool's errand. She'd probably only bother with whatever interested her. If I let this pass, she might end up giving Lena all the attention.
Before she could make her own decision, I jumped in.
"I'd like to take the test as well. I'm curious about the Fist King's evaluation. Opportunities like this don't come around often, do they?"
"Ho. Got some nerve on you. That's confidence, then?"
Pat!
The Fist King smiled crookedly and, without granting me so much as a word of protest, appeared behind me in an instant, planting both hands on my shoulders.
Through those rock-hard palms I could feel destructive mana churning.
...Why did this feel even rougher than with Lena??
"I like confident people."
"...Why is that?"
"Because it's a beautiful thing, watching that face fall apart when true talent is revealed. I wonder how yours will look?"
Kwoong!
The Fist King bore down on my shoulders with her hands.
Irresistible monstrous strength, and with it, that churning mana flooded into me!
...
It was similar to Lena's examination, but rougher. Several times over, the mana split into grains and collided with itself, staging a fireworks display throughout my body, and the pain of being wrung out from within was such that I couldn't even properly register the Fist King's hands on my more sensitive areas.
In any case, it was a simple test, and it ended in under a minute.
"Aigo..."
Finally freed from the Fist King's hands, I sank into the sofa, fully savoring the feeling of having been run through a washing machine. Every inch of me ached from all the kneading.
I felt like I was going to throw up.
"Uuu... how is it?"
A death rattle escaped me before I knew it.
The Fist King, as if something still lingered in her, flexed her two fists and spoke with a tone of suspicion.
"You. Are you actually human? What kind of human walks around with a Mana Organ of this caliber?"
"I am human..."
"Strange. Unless you're a higher-order demi-human, a Mana Organ should be an impossible dream. Your hair says you're no royalty either... What are you?"
The Fist King stared at me with an odd expression.
Considered on its own, that face was beautiful enough—and it was etched with surprise and... something like a faint flicker of expectation.
"On top of that, your body's balance is perfectly calibrated. Any human's balance is bound to waver over a lifetime... Your nervous system's reaction speed is top-grade too. Your muscles and internal organs are absurdly durable. You're honestly hard to call human at all."
"That's nothing compared to you, Fist King."
"Kaya."
"Yes?"
"Call me Kaya. 'Fist King' is too embarrassing a name. Well, it's useful against cowards. Now give me your names."
Kaya... The name, which somehow conjured the image of a fierce warrior woman, truly suited the Fist King.
But why the sudden name exchange? It wasn't a bad turn of events, so Lena and I gave her our names.
The Fist King—no, Kaya—murmured our names a few times as if committing them to memory, then nodded and spoke.
"For now, you all pass. You've earned the right to receive my instruction."
"Glad that's settled."
"Go loosen up at the training grounds for a bit. I have some thinking to do... I'll be along shortly."
"Ah, yes."
...
We made our way out to the training grounds while Kaya was away.
Calling it a training ground was generous—it was just an ordinary open patch of dirt, without so much as a single piece of training equipment.
I seized a brief opening to ask Lena something that had been on my mind.
"Why did you pull that prank earlier? I thought you were scared of Kaya."
It had worked out surprisingly well, granted... but pranking someone so unpredictable was a dangerous game.
Lena, however, turned the question back on me.
"Mister, did you feel anything while she was testing you?"
"Hmm? Her mana was rather violent, I suppose."
Truly overwhelming power dwelled within Kaya's mana. It was like a bomb on the verge of detonation, liquefied and coursing through my body. The real marvel was that she could control it at all.
Still, her mana radiated a wholehearted uprightness, so she didn't seem like a bad person.
At my answer, Lena shook her head.
"What I read was weakness."
"Weakness?"
"Yep. Weakness."
"...She seems like the last person on earth that word could apply to."
I couldn't make sense of Lena's claim.
She obviously didn't mean it physically. And Kaya hardly seemed soft-hearted either.
Lena struggled for the right words, wracking her head before she spoke.
"Not that kind of weakness, but... um... how do I put it... should I say she has a girlish little heart hidden away?"
"Girlish!?"
"Shh! She'll hear you!"
"Hah!"
I whipped my head around, scanning our surroundings.
Aside from us, not a stir.
I brought my mouth close to Lena's ear and whispered.
"...What exactly do you mean, a girlish heart?"
"Exactly what I said. You know how it is, right? Wanting to wear pretty clothes... and chat a little... and eat dainty little desserts elegantly?"
"..."
The image of the Fist King bellowing like a war drum flashed through my mind.
That was not a dessert, in any stretch of the imagination.
But Lena wouldn't surrender her conviction.
"Anyway! Kaya is secretly the lonely type. At least that's what I sensed. Think about it—would anyone around her actually dare strike up a proper conversation with her?"
"Well... you're not wrong. Maybe you really do see her better than I do."
Frankly, when it came to mana sensitivity, Lena was above me.
My own awakening had only happened semi-forcibly thanks to my Inner Heart... so catching up to Lena, who had awakened in under a month under the worst possible conditions, was asking too much.
And seeing how markedly Kaya's mood had eased after Lena's little stunt, her theory was probably right.
Hard to believe, though.
"...Can you really read someone that precisely through their mana? Since when has that been possible?"
"Hmm... since the beginning?"
"Don't tell me, ever since we first met you..."
"Ah! Kaya's coming!"
Fwoosh!
Lena sprinted off toward Kaya as she emerged onto the training ground, pointedly ignoring my question.
Hah. So that's why she trusted us so readily.
I let out a small sigh.
Well, it all worked out in the end, so no harm done.
...
As Kaya stepped out, the cow horns on her head gleamed in the sunlight.
Come to think of it, what was the Fist King's race, exactly?
Amy had said beastfolk... but I didn't know the precise lineage.
And besides the horns, she has no animal features at all.
Unlike Alta, there was no fur covering her skin, no tail—nothing of the sort. So at a glance, she looked, horrifyingly, like a hulking muscular man cosplaying as a beastman.
Which of the two—Alta or Kaya—was the standard beastfolk type, I wondered.
Kaya planted both hands on her hips and declared flatly.
"Fair warning: my teaching is extremely rough. Broken bones will be the least of your worries."
"Will we be sparring?"
"Right. I don't know anything about forms or formal techniques. Not that I deny their usefulness, but... I can't teach what I don't know. Besides, you two haven't learned that stuff properly either, have you?"
"No, we haven't..."
Forms and techniques—so does that mean martial arts exist here too? Since we use mana rather than internal energy, maybe there's a mental cultivation method for wielding it?
Kaya continued.
"Then let's start with this little runt... Lena."
"Yes, ma'am!"
"Here, your shield."
"Ah, right."
I handed Lena the shield I'd been carrying on my back.
Wearing the full armor would have been a step too far, so I'd brought only the shield. A small child lugging around an enormous shield drew stares from every direction, so I'd been carrying it for her.
The moment Lena lifted the shield that covered her entire front, Kaya's face twisted strangely.
"You... you're your party's vanguard? And your role is defense?"
"That's right! I've got armor at the inn too! The really expensive kind. Last time I even blocked an attack from a Grade 6 Monster, you know?"
"Haah..."
Kaya pressed a hand to her forehead and dropped her head, as if Lena's matter-of-fact tone was giving her a headache.
Then she turned only her face to the side, fixing her eyes on me.
As if she'd poured mana into her very gaze, the places her eyes landed prickled and stung.
"Explain."
"Sorry?"
"Explain yourself."