Chapter 11
Crack!
A fissure far larger than the one from earlier spread across the rock.
But it still wasn’t enough to pull the sword free.
Edward gritted his teeth and grabbed the hilt with both hands.
This time, blue veins bulged along his temples.
Several more seconds passed.
“Wooooah!”
“Young Master Edward did it!”
With a tremendous cracking sound, the silver sword slid free.
Gripping the enormous silver blade, Edward looked truly awe-inspiring, like King Arthur from the legends.
“…Tch.”
His expression, however, was filled with irritation, apparently displeased that he’d needed both hands to accomplish it.
“You succeeded.”
Father’s assessment was brief. There was no praise or congratulation in his voice.
Edward didn’t seem to expect any, either. His expression remained unchanged.
“Give me the sword.”
Father took the sword from Edward and aimed it at the opposite side of the rock—the side that hadn’t been damaged.
Then he brought it down.
“……”
The training grounds fell silent.
The silver sword stood quietly embedded in the spot where Father had struck, as though it had never been drawn from the rock in the first place.
Not a single crack appeared around the sword.
He had driven it into the rock so effortlessly that it was like sticking a fork into a cake.
Knowing just how difficult that was, I couldn’t help but marvel.
As expected of my father. He’s a monster, plain and simple.
Even Edward would need a long time before he could reach Father’s level.
“Lilian. Will you challenge it?”
I flinched and raised my head at the sudden call.
Apparently, Father had deliberately driven the sword back into the rock so that I would have a chance to challenge it.
“I…”
With everyone’s eyes fixed on me, I opened my mouth.
Then I answered calmly.
“I’ll withdraw this year.”
No one seemed surprised, as though they’d expected that answer.
It was only natural. I’d never properly participated in the test even once.
No one in the family would have placed their hopes in someone who didn’t even possess the minimum qualifications.
“I see. As pathetic as ever this year.”
Father clicked his tongue.
After regaining the memories of my previous life, I’d thought I’d given up on Father’s affection to a large extent.
I’d never even experienced parental love in my previous life. I’d accepted that such things simply had nothing to do with me in the first place.
And yet, my heart stung for a moment.
At the same time, a voice I’d secretly overheard in my previous life came back to me.
“No, I really did want to think of Yuna as my own daughter and raise her that way. But I told you, I can’t. That child is too harsh. She knows exactly how to crush her cousins’ spirits… I just can’t grow attached to her. I can’t.”
“You have to know how to be loved before you can love someone…”
Apparently, my desire was still stubbornly clinging to me, making it impossible for me to give up right away.
Like burnt residue stubbornly stuck to the bottom of a pot.
“End the test.”
Father’s voice was cold and sharp.
In an instant, no one remained in the training grounds.
The knights seemed to have hurried away because they didn’t want to stay around my eldest brother, who was practically a mad dog, while Lawrence had apparently gone to vent his frustration on monsters.
Edward was nowhere to be seen, either.
“Hmm…”
Alone in the training grounds, I quietly stared at the rock.
The silver sword was still proudly embedded in it.
I approached the rock and carefully wrapped my hand around the hilt.
I could clearly feel its weight through my palm.
Yeah. There’s no way I can pull this out.
That was only natural. I’d never trained my physical strength.
Oh, well. There was no point dwelling on something hopeless. I should just go back and take another look at Rossi.
That was when—
Hmm?
A little idea suddenly flashed through my mind.
It was an incredibly simple idea.
But now that it had occurred to me, there was no reason not to try it.
The test is already over, and there’s no one here.
I took out Rossi, whom I’d brought with me.
Rossi’s current capabilities were pathetic. At best, its beak could stretch out and function as a mechanical arm.
But I thought that would be enough to put my idea into practice.
“First, I’ll secure it firmly…”
I opened Rossi’s beak and clamped it tightly around the sword’s hilt.
Then I raised the tail feathers on the opposite end toward the sky.
“Okay. Now stretch yourself!”
I manipulated the button on the back of Rossi’s hand and gave it the command.
The mana flowing inside Rossi responded to my words.
Creak. Creak.
Rossi’s bird-shaped body stretched and transformed.
The result looked like a gigantic hammer.
One designed to pull out a nail.
In this case, the nail was the silver sword.
Should be enough, right?
What I was about to test was a simple physical formula.
Work equals force multiplied by distance.
My strength was nowhere near enough to pull out the sword.
That was obvious.
But what if I borrowed the force generated by such a greatly extended distance?
Maybe the result would be different.
“All right.”
Well, even if it failed, I had nothing to lose.
I’d already failed the test anyway.
Even so, just like before any experiment, my heart began to beat a little faster.
It was almost embarrassing to call this an experiment when it was so simple.
I looked up at Rossi, now stretched high into the sky.
“Come back now! Rossi!”
Come back, Rossi.
That was the activation phrase for awakening the mana dormant within Rossi.
Because the amount of mana inside it was so insignificant, the actions it could perform were extremely limited.
And one of those actions was returning to its master.
Rossi’s arm—the handle of the hammer, so to speak—rose high into the sky before plummeting back toward me.
At the same time, I’d imposed one condition on it:
It absolutely could not release the sword clamped in its beak.
Even if its mechanical parts broke.
Will it work? Will it actually have an effect?
I bit my lip as I stared up at Rossi.
Its movement toward its master was struggling against the other condition I’d imposed on it.
Creak.
Creeeak.
Then I heard a small but unmistakable cracking sound from the rock.
It was exactly the same sound I’d heard when Edward pulled out the sword.
I turned toward the rock and my eyes widened.
The silver sword—
The silver sword that had been buried deep inside the rock was revealing its gleaming white blade.
I pulled it out…!
I sucked in a deep breath.
It worked?
That was the only thought filling my mind.
It was probably easier than Edward’s challenge. After all, I’d simply driven the sword back into the rock after it had already been pulled out.
Still, I was thrilled that I’d successfully proven the hypothesis in my head.
As expected, the laws of physics aren’t all that different here from Earth!
“Good job. Very good, Rossi.”
Praising Rossi, I walked toward the rock.
Let’s see just how heavy this sword really is—
“Huh?”
Someone snatched the silver sword right in front of me.
A hand that had appeared from nowhere gripped the sword before I could reach it.
I looked up at the thief and froze in disbelief.
“E-Edward?”
The owner of that hand was Edward, who had disappeared earlier.
Why is this guy here?
As I stared blankly and called his name, Edward kicked Rossi’s arm, which was still gripping the sword’s hilt.
Bang!
Rossi was sent flying helplessly.
“Rossi!”
No matter how frightening Edward was, seeing him kick Rossi right in front of me made my blood boil.
I narrowed my eyes.
“What are you doing?”
“You’re the one who should be answering that.”
Edward pointed the silver sword at me.
I stiffened instinctively.
Standing atop the rock, Edward aimed the sword directly at me.
His eyes were filled with pure hostility.
He looked like a hunter staring down his prey.
“What is this?”
This?
He didn’t even seem to regard me as his little sister.
He might have thought I was pathetic, but had he really despised me this much?
I was about to snap back when he spoke.
“Where did you eat Lilian?”
…What?
Eat me? Who?
I froze with my mouth hanging open in confusion.
Edward continued.
“You idiot. Looks like you finally caused trouble after wandering around without a care in the world.”
“…Edward. What exactly do you think I am?”
“What do you mean, what?”
A cold sneer crept across Edward’s lips.
“A possession-type monster.”
“What?!”
“Are you planning to deny it?”
Still aiming the silver sword precisely at me, he mocked me.
“If you wanted to pretend to be Lilian Sergeinev, you shouldn’t have made such a spectacle of yourself.”
He means pulling out the sword?
I finally understood what was happening.
Once I realized the situation, I let out a hollow laugh.
“So because there’s no way I could have passed the test, I can’t possibly be Lilian, and therefore I must have been possessed by a monster. Is that it?”
Edward merely stared down at me coldly, as though I wasn’t even worth answering.
Well, when I think about what I was like last year, I suppose I can’t say his conclusion makes absolutely no sense.
At last year’s test, I’d made a spectacular fool of myself.
It had been a monster-hunting competition, and a slime no bigger than a fist had eaten all the hair off my head.
I’d bawled my eyes out.
“I knew something was wrong from the moment you called me by that ridiculous title earlier.”
Was being called ‘Brother’ really that offensive?
Edward Sergeinev.
That damned eldest brother of mine had managed to get under my skin several times today.
“How did you deal with Lilian Sergeinev?”
The silver sword pointed at me from even closer.
“Have you already devoured what’s inside her?”
