“Excuse me, Princess. This is the place where we train.”
“So? Do you have any complaints?”
When I asked, lying crookedly on the sunbed, the trainer named Maze shook his head.
“Ah, no. How could that be?”
“Then hold the parasol upright. Because the sun is hot.”
“Yes.”
Maze was one of the trainers who followed John against me that day.
“I’m sure our lab will improve as Princess takes care of us.”
After that, he quickly changed his expression and smiled.
“Even the sunbeds are set up around the training ground like this.”
He seemed to have decided to get on my side and dutifully cared for me.
“No one knows I’m here, right?”
“Yes. As you commanded, this is a blind spot, so Princess can’t be seen from the training ground.”
All right, I like it.
I lifted my binoculars and watched the outdoor arena where training was about to begin. There was a reason I decided to lay a sunbed between the bushes and watch the training from a distance.
First of all, I needed to figure out how this place worked. Because the duke entrusted this place to Irik, it seemed that Irik had been operating the underground castle at his will. That’s why people like John exist.
I have to take them down. That’s why it’s best to observe them secretly since they would be on guard when I was around.
It was then.
“Start training.”
Led by a trainer, people dressed in the same clothes walked out to the training ground. In an instant, it looked as if blue darkness descended upon the outdoor training ground.
“Are they really Norma?”
“Yes. Blue training clothes mean SA level. The reason why there are not many people is because they are SA level with higher abilities.”
Seeing them for the first time, I again felt sorry for the duke.
As expected, since it’s a large organization, the welfare is the best.
Honestly, my expectations, which were prepared for the level of the slave market, were wrong this time too. I thought they would fight like an animal with wooden sticks in rags. But they even had training clothes and equipped weapons. They were literally in a good state. Rather than slaves, they were more like elite knights.
Still, most of Norma were nobles. Most of them were the illegitimate children of nobles or abandoned by high-ranking families.
“I guess they don’t use violence like they do to Redian.”
“Cough, that’s.” Maze scratched his cheek. “In fact, thanks to all of them wearing restraints around their necks, they don’t usually create a big problem. If they rebel or cause an accident, they will be strangled right away.”
“Strangled?”
When I looked closely, everyone was wearing something like a black necklace.
“Whose idea is that?”
“From what I know, it was John’s suggestion that was accepted by Lord Irik.”
“Does the duke know?”
“No. All the authority of this lab has been entrusted to Lord Irik, so he won’t know.”
This was the most important lab in Felicite. However, the duke was strangely not interested in the underground castle. After collecting all of them with his hands and giving them a lot of support.
“His Excellency, as someone who has commanded the military all his life, was strict but not harsh. But Lord Irik…” Maze seemed to miss the days when the duke ruled this place himself.
“That’s where it comes from.”
“Yes?”
I let out a laugh.
“It’s also a crime just to be a bystander.”
Anyway, it was the duke who thought of making a ‘human weapon.’ It was also the duke who stood by and watched this place become a monster castle in the hands of Irik. Just like how he had been watching his daughter.
“It’s cruel, but Norma, as you know, is beyond human strength,” said Maze as if making excuses. “They are all those who have endured to the death. No matter how talented the trainers are, they’re only human.”
“I know you can’t control Norma without force,” I said, leaning back on the sunbed. “But there is no law that says you must control them by force.”
“Yes, yes?”
At that time, the sound of announcing the start was heard, and the sparring began. How hot must the situation have gotten? Only the sound of swords cutting through the wind could be heard.
“…!”
The swords of Norma and the trainer clashed tightly against each other hundreds of times. The trainer seemed to have enough skills to deal with Norma himself.
“Ugh!”
“Next!”
In the end, Norma was grabbed by the neck and fell down. The spar is over only when they are being strangled after exhausting their strength as much as possible. Whenever a Normal fell, the trainer quickly recovered his physical strength by drinking the potion.
What kind of training is this? I clicked my tongue inside.
“It’s Vallentin.”
It was finally the last Norma.
“He’s an illegitimate child from the royal family Decilio. He came to visit His Excellency with his own feet.”
“Royal family Decilio?”
“Yes. He was a prince. Not now though.” Maze nodded.
Ah, come to think of it.
<At the time Redian was crowned crown prince, the young prince who cut off his father’s head also took the throne in the Kingdom Decilio.>
My extraordinary brain worked hard again. So you’re saying he’s the young prince from the original story? There are so many people with all kinds of specifications. I felt sorry for Irik, who didn’t know what would happen in the future.
When I turned my gaze to the training ground, I saw a boy with red hair. But his face was too cold to be born in the place called the land of summer.
“Don’t avoid it and hit it!” shouted the trainer, who was driving the sword hard.
But Vallentin only skillfully avoided it and didn’t wield the sword in his hand.
“Gasp! Gasp! Vallentin!”
“…”
The spar would end when the trainer drained Vallentin’s strength and strangled him.
Oho. He only attacked when the trainer tried to catch his breath and drink the potion. In the end, unlike before, the trainer gradually lost his strength.
“Can’t you hear the word ‘attack’!”
The moment the trainer squeezed out his last strength and wielded his sword.
“Urgh!”
Puck-! Vallentin kicked the trainer hard in the abdomen.
“Uurgh!” The kicked trainer collapsed to the ground.
“Oh my gosh.”
“Wow.”
Maze and I each burst into sighs of different meanings.
“Vallentin, you punk!”
At that time, Vallentin pressed his foot on the neck of the fallen trainer. “Who dares to teach whom?”
“Keugh!”
“Do you feel like you’re on top of me because you’re holding the leash?”
If things went on like this, it would only be a matter of time before the trainer lost his breath.
“It will be useless to strangle him because he’s not exhausted yet. I’ll have to call the other trainers.”
“Wait a minute.”
I urgently restrained Maze from picking up the communicator.
“Isn’t that strange?”
“What, what…”
I didn’t have time to deal with Maze, who blinked blankly.
“Agh! Princess, where are you going! You can’t go! Vallentin is just as dangerous as Redian!”
Getting up off the sunbed, I walked straight to the training ground.
“Princess!”
“Ugh, keheug. H-how can Princess be here?”
The bushes were cleared, and the surrounding became calm. Maze’s dizzying screams followed behind me. In front of me, I could see the trainer groaning and Norma just watching the scene. And.
“Let’s talk about the details slowly.”
“…”
“Excuse me for a moment.”
There was also Vallentin staring coldly at me.
“Oh my God, Princess!”
I grabbed the sword that fell on the ground and swung it at Vallentin. Klang, klang! When Vallentin blocked it, I swung it again, and he blocked it again, which made me swing it again. As I constantly swung the sword without rest, the surrounding area was filled with astonishment. The wind blew my dress and hair that couldn’t keep up with the speed of my body.
“No matter how hard you train, it’s no use, Olivia. You have to admit the difference in natural strength.”
“Then tell me what to do. Do I have to suffer every time because my natural strength is weak, Master!”
At the time when Vallentin, who was only blocking my attacks, finally came closer.
“There is only one correct answer. Go after their weakness.”
I controlled my strength and struck Vallentin on the right shoulder.
“Ugh!”
Vallentin immediately lost his balance and fell to the ground. It was so fleeting as if he had received a fatal blow.
I knew it. I knew from the time he attacked using only his feet. He must have hurt his arm or shoulder.
“I told you.” I put down my sword and told Maze, who seemed to have seen a ghost. “There is no rule that says you must control only by force.”
This was the lesson that Olivia, my Nth life, left for me. Ah, by the way, she was the general who devoured the battlefield. It’s fortunate that I still have the skills I had back then…
“You, d-did you just see it? Isn’t that Princess Felicite?”
“How on earth did Princess do that?”
It seemed to have caused quite a commotion.
“W-what on earth?”
Maze’s expression was a spectacle. The researchers were looking from the windows, and the trainers ran to stop Vallentin. Well, let’s say they were like that.
“Please pardon me in our first meeting,” I spoke to Vallentin. “You don’t seem to have the hand to hold a sword. That’s probably why your shoulder pain is severe.”
Those who had held swords since childhood had different shapes of hands. On the other hand, Vallentin’s hands were straight and long, far from being a swordsman. No matter how much he’s a prince, he must have had no teacher. It was natural for his hand to feel pain because he couldn’t hold the sword properly.
“From now on, you’d better not practice swordsmanship.”
“B-but Princess!”
It was impossible to become a great swordsman no matter how much time had passed.
“Swordsmanship is the most important training. His Excellency also values swordsmanship as the most important thing.” Maze’s face was embarrassed. “If you don’t know how to handle a sword, you won’t be able to kill the enemy in the bat—”
“Who says you can only kill an enemy with a sword?”
“Yes, yes?”
Is the training method this conservative, like the duke who has been in command of the military all his life? I couldn’t believe they were teaching these geniuses in a cramming way.
“Did you say your name was Vallentin?”
I made eye contact with him.
What if you can’t do swordsmanship? He’s good at fighting, so that’s enough. He even had magical hands that could create everything.
“Even if it’s not a sword, you can do many things with that hand.”
“…”
His expression darkened.
“I think your hands are better suited for research than for stabbing people.”
“…”
“Right?”
Of course, it was already decided. The fact that there are talented people who will be famous all over the continent in the future. And I’m going to find them one by one and put them on my side!
“…”
Vallentin had no answer. I didn’t feel anything in the eyes that looked at me. Only then did I see the faces of Norma gathered around me one by one. Ah, these are Norma.
Their gaze toward me was a mixture of alertness and interest. I pretended to be calm, but inside, I applauded.
Father’s eye is the best. It was clear that all the handsome kids on the continent were gathered in the underground castle of Felicite Duchy.
But then.
“No. This spar is invalid,” spoke Vallentin for the first time.
