Chapter 59
Chapter 22 The Eccentric Stone Mountain Monkey (2)
“Thank you.”
“Thank you.”
Aruellia smiled brightly at the water canteen Jade held out.
She had been thirsty as it was.
“But if we spar every day, there won't be much left of the training grounds.”
“That's why I rebuild them every day. I'm a spirit mage, too, after all.”
“I see.”
“And while I'm at it, I train the children too. Flattening the ground may look easy, but it takes more work than you'd think.”
At the mention of “children,” Jade, who had been about to say that Parzali was over twenty, closed his mouth.
He wasn't exactly sure how old Aruellia was, but he thought she was at least well over a hundred.
Elves measured adulthood by a different standard of time than humans did.
From Aruellia's perspective, then, whether someone was twenty or forty, they could only look like children.
‘By that logic, I'm the same, aren't I?’
He thought her attitude toward him was a little strange.
Aruellia treated Haines as if he were a child or younger brother, yet strangely, she had not treated Jade that way from the beginning.
Even though he possessed tremendous power.
“What are you thinking about?”
“Ah, just a few things.”
“That's harsh. Thinking about something else with a beauty like me right in front of you.”
“I've been a little busy lately. There are a lot of things to worry about.”
Aruellia nodded.
She knew that many people had been coming to see Jade lately.
Among them had even been dwarves she herself had seen only a few times.
“I've never seen a half-dwarf before, either.”
“I'm even more surprised than you are.”
“At this rate, half-orcs and half-ogres will come looking for you too.”
“What a disturbing thing to say. And do you really think half-ogres are possible?”
Jade shook his head vigorously.
Half-orcs might be possible somehow, but ogres were out of the question.
Yet Aruellia's expression was meaningful.
She looked as though she were warning him not to be so sure it couldn't happen.
“It's not as if it's impossible.”
“It is impossible.”
“The world doesn't always proceed according to common sense.”
Aruellia smiled playfully.
Yet the chieftains watching their sparring match, Pent included, nodded at her words.
“That's true.”
Jade smiled wryly.
After all, he himself was a being who violated the world's rules.
He was the very being who should not exist here.
“Besides, children don't necessarily come only from love.”
“……I get it, so stop.”
“Hehehe!”
Aruellia's cheek twitched.
She looked at Jade with such a lecherous expression and gaze that he wondered whether an elf could really make such a face.
Jade looked horrified at the sight, but Aruellia only grinned impishly.
“Do elves not know embarrassment?”
“Of course we do. We're beings with emotions, too. We feel shame and embarrassment as well. It's not for nothing that we're called a near-human race. If we were completely different beings, half-elves and quarter-elves couldn't exist, right?”
“If you know that, why are you acting like this?”
“Because your expression is funny, Jade. Hehe!”
Aruellia said it teasingly.
As she spoke, she gave Jade a few light nudges in the side with her elbow, her expression unchanged.
“You two make a fine couple.”
“What nonsense are you talking about?”
“Hahaha!”
Jade shook his head in disgust, but Pent merely gave them a kindly smile.
To a third party, they really did look like a perfect match.
Anyone could see they looked like a handsome man and a beautiful woman.
“How is your training going?”
“So-so.”
“Don't you need to spar? I know you've been very busy lately, but it seems like you haven't been sparring enough.”
“Physical conditioning isn't the only form of training. I feel like I may be close to a breakthrough.”
“Hee.”
Aruellia's eyebrows twitched for an instant.
Jade was already exceptionally strong.
So when she heard that he had glimpsed a clue that could make him even stronger, she was genuinely surprised.
“Why are you surprised? Your twin-sword technique has gotten sharper, too. And your finesse goes without saying.”
“Compared to your rate of growth, I'm barely making any progress.”
“……Then should I just die?”
Pent, who had been listening quietly, wore a self-deprecating expression.
He had also improved greatly through sparring with Aruellia, but he could not compare with her.
So Pent muttered with a bitter smile.
“Come on, Pent. You're older. That kind of growth at your age is impressive. Jade is the youngest of us.”
“That only makes me feel more self-deprecating.”
“Talent can't be helped. So understand that some talent simply cannot be reached through effort alone.”
“Ngh!”
Rather than comforting him, those words coldly forced him to recognize reality, and Pent's face darkened.
The same was true of the chieftains with them.
They were weaker than Pent, so despite having mouths, they could not say a word.
‘Hmm!’
Meanwhile, atop a tree overlooking the training grounds, a round-faced boy was watching the scene.
He was gazing at Jade and the others with eyes burning with intense longing.
In particular, the boy's gaze eventually came to rest on Jade.
“The lord is strong.”
Pent, who was known as the strongest beastman, Raul of the White Lion Tribe, and Tyler of the valiant Red Tiger Tribe were all there, but none of them could compare to Jade.
It was Jade who had single-handedly defeated the Wolf King, whom even those three had been unable to overcome.
The boy had always thought of humans as a feeble race, but that very human had defeated the Wolf King, a monster who had seemed like despair itself.
So the boy changed his mind.
“If a human can become that strong, then so can I.”
The boy clenched his fists.
Compared to beastfolk, humans had paltry physical abilities.
But once they cast off their limits, things changed.
They became strong enough to look down on beastfolk with ease.
“I can become strong too, and so can my tribe. Stronger than the tiger tribe, stronger than the lion tribe, and even stronger than the elephant tribe.”
The boy's eyes burned fiercely.
Compared to the three tribes mentioned earlier, the monkey tribe's combat power was not particularly high.
For one thing, the difference in their physiques was considerable, and they lagged behind the three tribes in every attribute.
That was why the boy changed his way of thinking.
If they were lacking, couldn't they simply make up for it?
And someone who had the answer to that question was nearby.
“I will become strong. I will become strong, no matter what, and prove that the monkey tribe can become every bit as powerful as the other three tribes.”
He wanted to stop serving as a mere token presence in the beastfolk alliance—just someone to fill out the ranks.
Wanting to stand proudly at the center of the beastfolk, the boy gritted his teeth.
Jade gave the person standing before him a puzzled look at the unexpected visit.
Many people had come to see him since he became the lord of the marquisate, but this was the first time such a young boy had visited.
His short hair and round features made him look even younger.
“You're Moik's son.”
“Y-Yes, sir! My name is Moikan!”
His youthful face was taut with nervousness.
Though he himself did not seem to realize it.
“All right. What brings you here?”
“Please accept me too!”
“Hmm?”
Jade tilted his head when Moikan suddenly prostrated himself and shouted.
The abrupt request had caught him off guard.
“I want to learn from you too, my lord!”
“You want to learn spirit arts?”
“No! I want to take knight training!”
“A beastman, a knight?”
Jade blinked at the even more incomprehensible statement.
But perhaps he took that reaction as a rejection, because Moikan's shoulders trembled as he remained prostrate.
“I-Is it not possible?”
“It's not impossible. It's just unexpected. Beastfolk can transform into beasts, so is there really any need for knight training?”
Jade looked questioningly at Moikan as the boy cautiously raised his head.
No matter how weak the monkey tribe was among the powerful beastfolk, it was still indisputably one of the beastfolk tribes.
They were only smaller in build than the elephant, tiger, lion, and bear tribes; compared to humans, they were still vastly larger.
That was why Jade cocked his head.
-A monkey knight? I like it! It sounds cool!
-It would be something new. But knights wear armor. I wonder if there's armor that fits him?
-We have subspace! We can prepare humanoid armor and beast-transformation armor and have him wear them alternately!
Silestin said it as if there were nothing to worry about.
It would be a little inconvenient, but there was still a way.
-Now that you mention it, you're right. It doesn't have to be elastic or special armor.
-Besides, even in beast form, monkeyfolk look the most human of all the beastfolk, so I think it might be possible.
-Why are you the one getting excited?
-Hehehe! It's fascinating! It sounds like it would be fun, too!
Beastfolk had never learned human techniques before.
The monkey tribe in particular was not well known in the human world, either.
“As you know, my lord, our beast transformation is much weaker than that of the other tribes. In a way, you could call it a limitation of our species.”
“That's true.”
They had numbers, but that was all.
In terms of overall combat power, the monkey tribe was not particularly strong compared to the other beastfolk.
“I want to change that. I want to show the world that the strongest beastman can come from the monkey tribe.”
“So you want to take knight training?”
“Yes! If you permit me, my lord.”
“More precisely, you want the mana cultivation method, right?”
“Y-Yes, sir.”
Jade's words struck the nail on the head, and Moikan bowed his head once more.
In a way, he was asking for one of Jade's secret techniques.
“Do you know what that means?”
“I will offer my body and soul to you, my lord!”
“……Am I a demon? Why are you offering me your soul?”
“I mean, it's…… uh…….”
Moikan was momentarily at a loss for words and stammered.
He had spoken maturely, but he was still young.
“Still, it is intriguing—a beastman learning a human-made technique like the mana cultivation method.”
“If you teach me, I will study hard! And I will dedicate this body to the marquisate!”
“There is one problem, though. The mana cultivation method I know is a technique optimized for humans. It probably won't suit beastfolk.”
“Does that mean……”
Moikan's face darkened.
He had worried about that very issue himself.
He had wondered whether it might not suit him.
Beastfolk not only had different physical structures from humans, but they also possessed the ability to transform into beasts, so there were many variables.
“So it will have to be modified to suit beastfolk. But the problem is that research inevitably involves countless trials and errors. More precisely, you will be the one going through them. A human mana cultivation method is safe, but countless variables will arise during the modification process. Your body might even be ruined. Every mana cultivation method completed so far has gone through that process.”
Gulp!
His tone was calm, but the content was nothing short of chilling.
But it was the truth.
As with everything else, countless failures were unavoidable before anything could be perfected.
“Even so, are you willing to do it?”
“Yes. Even if my body is ruined, I won't regret it. We have to try; only then will we get a result, whether it ends in success or failure.”
He was afraid, but he had no intention of running away.
Though young, Moikan knew well that nothing could be gained without sacrifice, so he looked straight into Jade's eyes and spoke.