NOVEL NEXT Chapter 22: Warrior Qualification
２２． Warrior Qualification
The next day, it was finally the time for me to learn the magic of 【Naming】 .
「The one who is going to teach you is the previous patriarch of Orgi clan, count Warg.」
Platy came to my room as soon as I woke up.
… The first thing I felt upon hearing 『Patriarch』 and 『Count』 was a mismatched title.
The first image that came to my mind was the image of a muscular old man clad in a frilly noble dress. Thus, I was rather curious about the person called count Warg.
Nevertheless, despite always snarling at each other, a patriarch-level person was only a count huh. I mean, I expected a higher position for the house from which the demon king originated but…
「His Majesty is a busy person after all.」
Platy said so with a vexed tone while stuffing breakfast into her mouth.
Though I heard from Sofia later on that it was simply because "some people" prevented the demon king from teaching me in person by saying something along the lines of 「There's no need for his majesty to go in person to teach a child who came out of nowhere.」.――We headed toward the training ground.
It seems the process of learning naming magic was open to everyone.
Demon king castle was made by cutting the mountain of marble, and the open plateau below the mountain was used as a training ground. Demon race, beastfolk, night elves, the ogre… in short, warriors from various races were using that place as their training ground, they were separated into various groups who did mock combat or training.
「OOH! THERE YOU ARE!!」
――But, today was a special occasion in which the other warriors were ordered to train on the edge of the training ground, and a man who stood in the middle of the training ground came to us as soon as he saw us.
The frilly noble attire was clearly far too small for someone as muscular as him.
He carried a bone spear with an obsidian blade on its tip.
There were menacing lines drawn on his face with dark red paints.
On both of his shoulders were shoulder pads made from the skull of huge carnivorous monsters.
Hanging on his neck was a necklace made from dried-up ears of various races.
And just as I expected, he was a muscular old man.
And this fella was… Patriarch Warg!
He was the very definition of a savage tribe… save for his frilly attire! I mean, I never expected to meet someone who was so fitting the definition of savage right here.
「… Patriarch Warg was a veteran who turned 280 years old this year. There's an important culture of demon race that never changed since long ago…」
Platy's eyes were actually showing a hint of hesitation as if she didn't want to tell me about this.
It seems the old tradition of the demon race was a bit too unreasonable for young generations such as Platy… Maybe because she and the other young generation didn't want to admit that they were originally nothing more than savage tribes just a few hundreds of years ago.
「Correct! Yer the one called Jilbagias eh!!」
Warg walked to our side which had yet to recover from the visual impact of his savage style with a firm gait, and then looked down at me.
「―― I HEARD THAT YER IS STILL 5 YEARS OLD, YER QUITE BIG FOR A CHILD OF THAT AGE!!! GUESS THERE'S NO NEED TO DOUBT HIS LINEAGE! GAHAHAHAHA!!!」
He spoke loudly while patting my head. His voice could be heard fine and clear even if we were on the battlefield…
「Thank you for giving us some of your time in your busy schedule, Patriarch Warg.」
Platy saluted the old man. As expected of the former patriarch and veteran warrior, even Platy minds her manners in front of him.
「GAHAHAHA! YOU SURE KNOW HOW TO JEST ARCHDUKE CONSORT PLATYFIA!! I HAVE TOO MUCH SPARE TIME AFTER I RETREATED FROM THE FRONT LINE AND STEPPED DOWN FROM MY POSITION!!! THIS OLD MAN RATHER DIE IN BATTLE THAN DIE IN BOREDOM LIKE THIS!!」
Warg spoke while hitting the ground with his obsidian spear in a way that made me have no idea whether he was actually happy or angry.
「THUS, I WELCOME THE OPTION OF KILLING TIME!! IT'S NOT LIKE I CAN REFUSE THE WISH OF MY ADORABLE GRANDCHILD'S WIFE!!!」
「… My little sister is married to the grandchild of Count Warg.」
Grandchild's wife? I tilted my head in confusion upon hearing Platy's explanation.
I see now, the power of connection huh.
「I'm Jilbagias. I'll be in your care.」
I give my greeting while bowing lightly to him.
「Good, I love such an honest young'un! Now let's begin the training!!!」
After sending some sort of signal to the outside of the training ground, Warg turned around and faced me again.
「Well then, Jilbagias. Let me to show you first the magic of 【Naming】.」
Platy retreated the moment she saw Warg taking a deep breath.
I had a bad feeling upon seeing Platy's movement and attempted to do the same but, I was a bit too late.
Thanks to that I received a critical hit right from the front.
「【I, AM THE FORMER PATRIACH OF ORGI CLAN, WA――RG!!!】」
His voice resounded throughout the entire training ground.
Races with low magic resistance who heard his voice fell down, twitching non stop on the ground, the demon race or night elf only got startled and turned around toward the owner of the voice.
The moment he finished reciting his name, I felt that the presence of Warg in front of me had doubled many times over.
This sense of intimidation!! It was the same as the Demon King of that day!!
――But, different from the Demon King, his noble attire couldn't withstand his overflowing magical power and was torn in various places!!!
「GAHAHAHAHAHA! The 『Outside』 clothes might look nice but, it's way too brittle!!」
In just a moment, Warg turned from an old man to a sultry, half-naked old man. He laughed heartily as he hit his abdomen. His skull shoulder pads and dried-up ears necklace was safe for some reason. In addition, he wears nothing but underwear made of fur.
Do I really… have to learn this embarrassing lineage magic?
「Will my clothes, be torn up too?」
「It never happens to His Majesty though.」
Platy replied so when I unintentionally spit out my worry.
「Don't worry, something like this won't happen as long as your attire is accustomed to your mana!!」
Warg was laughing heartily again as he cast a glance toward the torn-up clothes―― With lots of frills―― scattered on the ground beneath him.
「It looks good and is quite comfortable! But, this old man can't get used to the clothes from the outside! GAHAHAHAHA!!」
After laughing his ass off, the warrior who had returned to the appearance of that befitting savage tribe then heaved a sigh.
「Well then, Jilbagias. As you can see, 【Naming】 magic is magic that can only be used by a true warrior.」
True warrior was (philosophy).
「In short, you who inherit Orgi blood is as 『Warrior』… Jilbagias, what is the reason for you to take up your weapon? For whose sake do you fight?」
The old warrior asked so while looking into my eyes.
「Do you want to become Demon King due to your mother's order?」
He spoke as if he was testing me, and yet, it felt like he looked down on me too.
I had no idea about what kind of expectation he had for me but I only had a single answer for his question.
「Becoming Demon King isn't my goal.」
Warg frowned upon hearing that, even Platy couldn't hide her shock.
「But,」
I continued on this time with my true intention.
「――I want to become stronger than my father.」
I wanted to surpass the current Demon King.
「… HAHAHAHAHAHA! WONDERFUL! YOU GOT THE SPIRIT, LAD!!!」
Warg nodded with a hearty laugh as he struck my shoulders. Damn, that hurts.
「Good, Jilbagias! You understand the truth. Demon king, duke, count, all of those are nothing more than mere decoration! Warrior's goal is to become stronger! Anything else is a trivial matter!!」
Warg paused for a moment, and then looked at the outskirt of the training ground.
「But, your spirit alone isn't enough to make you a warrior. A battle is a place where you take other's life. You've to fulfil the minimum qualification to call yourself a warrior… Archduke Platyfia, Jilbagias is still a virgin, right?」
「Yes. He has yet to hold a spear.」
「I see. Then, today will be your anniversary.」
… Dammit, I got a bad feeling about this.
And then, I heard the jingling sound of chains from behind.
I turned around slowly――
『――Faster than I thought.』
Ante, who kept her silence until now, was laughing inside me.
『Alexander. This is a chance that might never come again.』
The Demon God of Taboo whispered while licking her lips.
「That's why Jilbagias. We prepared prey for you.」
The ones who were lined up behind me, restricted with chains, were―― Male humans.
Though everyone had various wounds on their body and clearly lost a lot of their weight, their eyes were gleaming with hatred.
「They're small fry of the human race that we caught on the battlefield. Now you know what you have to do to become a warrior right, Jilbagias?」
Warg was pushing my back from behind with the face of a grandfather sympathizing with his grandson.
「――Kill them.」