Rubifya was grinning from ear to ear, Aiogias was scowling at his teammates, and above all, Emergias’s face was dark with anger as if he were overcome by a sickness. But my words gave no room for the king to intervene, so he could only say, “Is that so” and take his seat.
And so the meal began. I couldn’t tell you why, but the food today tasted better than ever!
†††
“And that’s how it went,” I finally managed to finish telling the story to Prati, having to work around my own laughter.
“Oh, I can’t wait to see Nefradia.” She laughed just as loudly, forgetting to politely cover her mouth with her fan. “Probably the first time I’ve ever looked forward to seeing her.” But there was a sharp light in her eyes, like that of a vicious predator tearing apart a venomous snake with its teeth.
Well, it made sense, seeing how Nefradia had bashed Prati’s lack of children over her head for forty years. Just like the green toilet stain, she was going to reap exactly what she sowed.
After our meal, while Aiogias was usually the first to leave, he had instead chosen to stay behind to speak with greeny and the Gutsy Gorger—all while wearing a smile. I didn’t waste any time sticking around, so I didn’t get to hear what they were talking about, but I had a pretty good guess. Seaweed head’s vapid attempt at harassment (from the perspective of a demon) could push me toward Rubifya’s side, which was a major problem for them. I could practically see Aiogias strangling the seaweed out of him.
Oh, and when I thought about it, there was the fire too. Depending on how you looked at it, you could argue that was evidence I had already joined hands with Rubifya. I could only imagine how furious that would make Aiogias.
“I’m feeling great.” Just as I started to daydream about Aiogias beating greeny for me, Prati suddenly stood up, echoing my feelings out loud. “Why don’t we do some training?”
The good mood has her blood boiling, huh? She really is a savage...
“Good idea.” But I had no reason to refuse, so I accepted the invitation immediately.
“By the sound of it, you are becoming quite the savage yourself.”
Yeah, I’ve kinda gotten used to it now.
So we made our way to the parade ground, dressed up in our battle gear. As usual, we fought each other. Things had really started to heat up in our battles. We were basically fighting on even ground now. Or maybe it was more accurate to say neither of us could win decisively.
As I was now naturally on the level of a marquis, my Naming basically put me on an equal footing with Prati in terms of magic. Being an archduchess, she had a slight edge, but neither of us could easily slip curses past the other’s guard anymore. So while we fought spear to spear, we were also raising our magical resistance to the limit, slamming each other with Transposition and other powerful curses.
It was a fusion of physical and magical warfare. Prati still brandished her multiple spear style, putting the additional arm she was granted by her devilish pact to use. I was covered in blood and wounds. Sparks scattered as spear and swordspear clashed, and the air twisted and warped with the intensity of the curses we threw at each other.
The commencement of our training drew quite the crowd, but the demons among them quickly dispersed, feeling inadequate as they compared themselves to us. Thanks to Liliana, we could fight until we were completely spent. Even should-be-fatal injuries weren’t enough to stop us. At this point, I could confidently say that Prati and I had the most intense training regimen in the entire world.
“You’ve gotten better,” Prati said while all drenched in blood and sweat as she took a drink.
“Speak for yourself. You’re going harder on me every day, aren’t you?” I all but complained through heavy breaths, chugging water myself. It had been ages since dealing with the unfamiliar swordspear had put her on the back foot. Now her multi-spear style had been refined even further, perfectly accounting for my unfamiliar weapon, turning her defense into an impenetrable fortress.
“Of course. I won’t let you win that easily.” She laughed, wiping hair from her eyes.
“Not just that. Her magic has grown stronger since our first meeting...”
Seriously? Even as an archduchess, she’s still getting stronger?
“Every wound or curse she inflicts upon you is an expression of her authority of Sadism.”
So she had plenty of opportunities for growth. Though, it was hardly the kind of authority one should have been wielding against their own son.
“But even so, it is certainly bizarre that you can fight with me on this level. Among the whole Rage family, the only other ones who can fight like this are the family head and Ziekvalt. It’s beyond terrifying,” she said, her face deathly serious. “I can only imagine what it’ll be like once you’re fully grown.”
By the way, even though I was still growing, Prati was taller than me. In human terms, I looked about sixteen years old.
After a long pause, Prati spoke again. “If you weren’t my own son, I’d be horribly envious of you.” Prati’s serious tone didn’t dilute the pride in her voice.
Regardless of whatever strangeness had happened to me in the Abyss, a six-year-old kid fighting at this level was absurd. And on top of that, Prati might have looked superior to me in combat, but that wasn’t telling the whole story. While she utilized her devilish pact and both her Bloodline Magics without restraint, I wasn’t tapping into my authority of Constraint at all. She had all her cards on the table, but I hadn’t shown mine yet, even from her perspective. All of that to say, she was very much telling the truth about how she would have been jealous of my strength.
“It’s all thanks to you,” I said, looking up at the sky as the sun started to creep over the horizon.
There was no lie in that either. On the day I had been reborn, I was just a stupid hero who was only good at swinging around a sword. Prati had given me a devil of knowledge, taught me so much, and personally trained me in combat. It was still hard to forgive her for the tremendous number of humans that had been sacrificed along the way. But the fact I had come so far in only six years could only be attributed to the incredible teaching environment Prati had created for me.
I felt a soft touch on my head. Turning to look, I saw Prati patting my hair with a smile.
“I’m so proud of you.” Such a warm smile seemed hard to believe on the face of the same woman who traded verbal jabs with the other archduchesses on a frequent basis.
Not sure how to respond, all I could do was give her an awkward smile. Maybe it looked like I was just being bashful, but I really didn’t know how to respond. The sensation of her stroking my hair felt...good.
I was at a total loss.
†††
High above in the castle, a certain man was a spectator to the whole exchange.
He was Fourth Demon Prince Emergias, sporting a fresh bruise on his face.