‘Is she encouraging me or mocking me?’

Her intention was confusing, but Noah strangely felt relieved.

‘Lady Calliphe…?’

No. What am I thinking!

He felt guilty for being reminded of Lady Calliphe when looking at this child. Noah quickly shook off Ferica’s hand.

“…I wasn’t scared.”

“Hmm, really? You looked completely terrified.”

“I wasn’t.”

“I’ll let you have that.”

“I’m telling you I wasn’t…!”

“Mmhmm. Sure.”

Ferica smiled with irritating composure. Then she patted Noah’s head.

The somewhat awkward gesture reminded Noah of Calliphe again, making him bristle.

Smack!

“Ouch. Did you just hit my hand?”

“Hmph.”

Noah moved far away from Ferica.

The event coordinator announced the next match.

“Next participants, please prepare. Competitor Noah. Competitor Mihail.”

“So it’s come to this… Let’s go, Noah.”

“Okay.”

Mihail and Noah stood up.

Perhaps because Calliphe had intervened, the two were now facing off against each other—different from the future Noah had seen in the mirror.

“Go Noah!”

When Calliphe shouted, Mihail gave her a disappointed look.

“You’re only cheering for Noah?”

“I like Noah.”

“…!”

Noah’s eyes widened in surprise.

But since Calliphe could only see the back of Noah’s head, she threw some words of encouragement to Mihail as well.

“Of course I like you too, Mihail. Do your best!”

“Tch.”

Mihail headed toward the arena, his lips twitching as they kept trying to curl upward.

Following a step behind, Noah wore a sullen expression.

‘She’s not Lady Calliphe. It’s good that she cheered for Mihail. But why do I feel bad?’

Tweet! The sound signaling the start of the match rang out.

“Get ready, Noah. I’ve been practicing intensely with the holy knights for this day.”

“…Really?”

“Here I come!”

Whoosh! Tap, thud.

“…M-match over! Competitor Noah wins!”

Following Dillen, here was another dark horse who ended matches with lightning speed.

* * *

“I thought children’s matches would be boring, but they’re surprisingly exciting.”

Raul remarked.

It was after all the first day’s matches of the youth martial arts tournament had concluded.

“I didn’t expect we’d narrow it down to the quarter-finals in just one day.”

“That’s probably because of that boy Dillen.”

A situation had developed where frightened children withdrew in succession after witnessing Dillen’s terrifying matches.

Lina, who had been listening to their conversation, asked with interest:

“So from tonight, will the sixteen participants stay at the imperial palace?”

“Ah, yes, Miss Lina. Excellent question.”

Raul quickly answered. The facial muscles he had relaxed suddenly tensed with seriousness, and his voice deepened. He even pushed his already prominent chest muscles further forward.

Ever since the treasure hunt event at Calliphe’s annex, Raul automatically behaved this way when addressing Lina.

“I hear they’ll be staying at the apprentice knights’ quarters in the palace.”

“…Oh, I see.”

Lina, feeling a sense of rivalry with Raul’s pectoral muscles, tensed slightly.

“I couldn’t ask earlier because I was rushing to deliver their luggage, but if it’s the palace, that’s reassuring.”

The quarter-finalists had just received their belongings from their guardians and moved to the palace.

Among them were Calliphe and Noah.

“Young Master Noah handles his sword remarkably well. It would have been nice if Lady Calliphe could have watched the match.”

Lina murmured worriedly, then asked Lynen:

“Your Grace, who do you think will win? Can Young Master Noah be the champion?”

“That’s…”

Before Lynen could answer, Raul cut in with his charming masculine voice:

“Three participants are getting attention. First, Young Master Noah. Despite his acorn-sized frame, rumors about his extraordinary skills are already spreading.”

“My! As expected!”

“And second is that chi— child named Ferica.”

Raul found this child Ferica, whom his lord had suddenly brought along, quite suspicious. But since his lord said it was fine, he hadn’t raised any questions about it.

“Ferica must be hiding her true nature. Judging by how two participants burst into tears just seeing her smile, she clearly possesses an evil—”

“She reminds me of our lady.”

“—ly impressive charisma. Yes.”

“But that child’s sword movements are peculiar. It’s like she’s being controlled by the sword rather than controlling it…”

For Lina to notice that too.

Lynen, who had trained Calliphe precisely to avoid such observations, subtly created a smokescreen.

“Sometimes people’s bodies can’t keep up with the images in their minds. She’ll improve as the tournament progresses.”

But Raul solemnly shook his head.

“No, my lord. That child is hopeless.”

“I’m telling you she’ll improve.”

“On my honor as a member of the hound clan, that child is hiding something. We should investigate her back— yip!”

Raul’s muzzle was struck by the sword master’s knuckles, making him purse his lips.

Lina, breaking into a cold sweat, changed the subject.

“Speaking of hiding things, I’m most concerned about that participant named Dillen. Throughout today’s matches, it felt like he was merely doing light warm-up exercises.”

“You have a keen eye.”

Lynen responded, “He remained composed throughout. Other participants probably sense it too.”

That was the worry.

The more skilled participants would have noticed how much of his ability Dillen was concealing.

‘I hope Noah doesn’t get too anxious.’

When someone becomes hasty, they tend to make mistakes they normally wouldn’t.

When told that winning wasn’t necessary, Noah hadn’t seemed to be listening.

‘I’ll have to leave it to Calliphe.’

They had already arranged to receive regular updates. The youth division participants were specially allowed to use public communication stones to contact their guardians.

Meanwhile, Lynen needed to prepare countermeasures to prevent Dillen’s schemes.

“Let’s head back.”

Lynen, who had been gazing in the direction of the palace where the participants had gone, turned away.

* * *

“Congratulations on making it to the quarter-finals of the martial arts tournament.”

The head maid appeared before the gathered children. After briefly introducing herself, she said:

“From today, you will be staying here at the apprentice knights’ quarters. Most of Her Majesty the Empress’s royal knights have passed through here.”

“Woooow…”

“During your stay, you can use all the training facilities of the apprentice knights, so please use them in an orderly manner.”

At these words, the children became excited. Everyone was curious about how the imperial knights trained.

Among them, Dillen and several other children exchanged glances and smiled secretly.

“Apart from meal times, the rest is your personal time, but going out is prohibited after 9 PM. Do you understand?”

“Yes!”

“Then please come this way for inspection of items brought from outside.”

The children lined up to have their possessions checked.

Imperial mages thoroughly examined whether they had brought artifacts, magical tools, or potions that enhanced physical abilities.

Noah also stood in line waiting for his turn.

In his mind, Dillen’s matches from today kept replaying.

‘…Can I win?’

Dillen clearly hadn’t shown his true abilities. He hadn’t even done so during their previous confrontation.

‘I need to get stronger too. So I can win and give the prize to Lady Calliphe.’

He wanted to be a child she could be proud of. That would increase his chances of adoption, even if just slightly.

‘I really want to become Lady Calliphe’s family.’

It was then.

“Hey, hey.”

Someone called from behind. It was one of the children who had exchanged glances with Dillen.

“I’m Jamie. You’re Noah, right?”

“Yes.”

“You fight well.”

Noah became slightly shy at the compliment from this unfamiliar child.

“Thanks.”

“But honestly, the strongest person here seems to be that older boy Dillen. Don’t you think?”

Jamie pretended not to know Dillen.

“…Yeah. But you never know until you actually compete.”

“Really?”

Jamie smiled cunningly.

“Are you saying that knowing Dillen is an aura user?”

“…!”

Noah’s heart sank.

He knew Dillen was strong, but to think he could handle aura at his level?

‘This is bad. I can’t win against that.’

It was then that Jamie whispered:

“But remember what the head maid said earlier? That we can use everything the apprentice knights train with.”

“…”

“A friend of mine says the imperial apprentice knights secretly take a special potion that helps them manifest aura faster… Want to go check it out together?”

Noah stared at Jamie for a moment before answering.

“No.”