‘Oh, now that I think about it, I kept hearing notification sounds earlier.’

From the moment she rescued Noah, there had been continuous ding alerts. But she was too busy to check them properly.

‘Let me take a look. I wonder if Noah’s trust level increased a bit? Maybe by 10?’

Calliphe eagerly checked the accumulated notifications.

[Noah’s Trust +10]

[Noah’s Trust +20]

[Noah’s Trust +30]

[Noah’s Trust +50]

[Current Noah’s Trust toward ‘Ferica’: 90]

“Gasp.”

“Ferica? What’s wrong?”

She didn’t hear Noah’s question. That’s how shocked she was.

‘His trust level jumped up this much?’

Unable to believe it, she looked at Noah, who met her gaze.

He still had his characteristic expressionless face, but compared to before, his eyes had clearly softened.

He had disliked her for unknown reasons, and now suddenly he liked her tremendously.

‘Children, really.’

“…”

Pat, pat. Calliphe stroked Noah’s head.

Before they knew it, they had arrived at their quarters.

The knight escorting the children warned Calliphe before leaving:

“Just so you know, don’t think about going to the infirmary claiming you were stung by Flameli. Since you broke the rules, they won’t help unless it’s truly serious.”

“I seeeee. So they won’t provide treatment unless our lives are in danger?”

“That’s right.”

Calliphe nodded and smiled.

“Our sponsors would approve! They specifically instructed us not to receive any special treatment!”

“Who are your sponsors?”

“My sponsor is Duke Ortega. His sponsor is Lady Offensa.”

Flinch! Just as the knight began to fluster and try to retract his earlier statement.

Calliphe quickly reassured him.

“Don’t worry. Our sponsors are sincere about this. Under the strict supervision of Her Highness the Crown Princess and Her Majesty the Empress, they want the tournament to proceed fairly until the end. They would be furious if we received preferential treatment due to our status.”

“R-really?”

“Yes!”

After a moment of confusion, the knight quickly returned to his colleagues.

He would probably relay what he just heard to prevent unnecessary commotion.

Calliphe grinned broadly.

‘This will also prevent those bullies from getting treatment. Perfect.’

She felt no sympathy whatsoever. The future she had seen for Noah in the Mirror of Truth was far more tragic.

‘I’ve prevented one bad future for Noah.’

He would be spared from having his body swell up grotesquely.

Just then, a system message appeared.

[Quest Complete!]

[You have earned Noah’s trust. Your presence provides Noah with psychological stability and becomes the driving force for him to demonstrate his true abilities.]

[The quest’s penalty has been converted to a reward: The ‘Prince’ candidate for guardian will take notice of Noah. Part of the tournament’s bad ending has been blocked.]

‘So I’ve only prevented part of the bad ending, after all.’

Viscount Gallard’s schemes still remained.

Sure enough, a new quest appeared immediately.

[Quest Alert!]

[To completely prevent the tournament’s bad ending, stop the accident that will occur during Noah’s match.]

[Condition: Prevent Noah’s accident]

[Failure Penalty: Unable to convert ‘Trust’ to ‘Filial Piety’]

‘Wait, what?’

Converting trust to filial piety?

It was a failure penalty, but conversely…

‘If I succeed, Noah’s trust will be converted to filial piety?’

What was Noah’s current filial piety level again?

[Current Filial Piety: 41]

[From Filial Piety 50 and above, potential awakens rather than just increasing ability scores.]

It probably wouldn’t be a direct one-to-one conversion of trust to filial piety.

‘But maybe I can break through the 50 filial piety threshold!’

Plus, Noah’s current swordsmanship ability was 219. Considering that the winning condition for the first tournament in <Marino> was a swordsmanship score of 100, this was an incredible skill level.

‘Noah has been feeling stuck for a while. With this level of skill… it’s time for him to advance to the next stage.’

She had a feeling that this conversion of trust to filial piety would be the final drop that made his cup overflow.

Hiding her excitement, Calliphe patted Noah’s back, urging him along.

“Go rest quickly. We need to prepare for tomorrow.”

“…Did you get stung by the Flameli?”

“Ah. It’s nothing.”

Calliphe touched her stinging cheek and forearm.

“I think I expected too much from Ortie.”

—Sniff. I want to go back to the small human…

She thought that lower-level magical creatures would naturally back off from a former dungeon boss. But the effect was inadequate, and she got stung a few times.

“At this rate, how do you ever expect to overthrow humanity?”

—Waaaah.

While teasing the whining Ortie, Calliphe noticed Noah’s expression becoming serious.

He was frowning at the areas where she had been stung by the Flameli.

“…Next time, I’ll protect you.”

“Come on, it’s fine. If immediate treatment was necessary, that knight would have taken me to the infirmary. Don’t worry about—”

“I really will protect you.”

His answer was resolute. Even Calliphe, who was about to respond playfully, was at a loss for words.

Noah clutched the griffin cloak that had protected him tightly.

‘I need to become stronger. I want to become stronger.’

Not to become a child to be proud of.

But because he wanted to protect someone precious to him.

* * *

The next day.

The youth division quarterfinals of the tournament were underway.

Having risen through numerous victories among many participants, these few were all skilled despite their young age. There were far more spectators than on the first day.

So the murmurs spread quickly.

“What’s wrong with that participant’s appearance?”

“Did they get bitten by giant mosquitoes or something?”

“They’re so swollen it’s kind of gross…”

This was because several participants looked strange.

After the quarterfinals, when the semifinalists were determined, it became even more noticeable.

With one person withdrawing due to injury, seven remained.

Among them, five participants had strangely swollen bodies.

Jamie’s gang and Calliphe, excluding Noah and Dillen.

‘Wow, I’m more swollen than I thought…!’

Unfortunately, she had been stung on her eyelids too, making her vision slightly uncomfortable.

‘Of course, it doesn’t matter since Ortie wields the sword, not me.’

Jamie’s gang, stung by the Venomous swarm, looked even worse.

They had made it this far with their originally high-level skills, but now they seemed unable to endure any longer.

Not because of their abilities, but because of the spectators’ whispers.

“Wow, they almost look like magical creatures!”

“So gross!”

“Have you heard how those kids ended up like that? I heard they tried to get aura manifestation faster by going after magical creature honey before the match and ended up like that.”

This was a rumor that Calliphe had asked Lynen to spread the night before. It’s a secret that she pretended to be a daddy’s girl in front of the administrator to use communication again.

“Really? Hahaha, they tried to cheat and ended up looking ridiculous!”

“Did they actually get stronger?”

“Someone who saw their matches on the first day said they’re just the same as before.”

The spectators’ murmurs could be heard even from the arena. With people comparing their every movement to before and evaluating whether they had improved or not, it was impossible to perform properly.

“Ugh…!”

Unable to bear the humiliation, Jamie and another boy withdrew and fled.

The evaluative whispers were directed at Calliphe too, but she merely mocked them.

‘Fools. My real swordsmanship is even worse than you think.’

Besides, what Calliphe was more interested in hearing wasn’t about herself.

It was about Noah.

“Is Dillen the only normal one? As expected, the strongest person is the most impressive!”

“No, there’s one more over there.”

“Huh? Who’s that?”

“That’s Noah. I heard Lady Offensa is sponsoring him?”

The spectators were beginning to notice Noah’s presence.

“Now that I look at him… that kid’s skills are amazing! He’ll make it to the finals.”

“I’ve been watching his matches. Not only is he skilled, but he always politely greets his opponents before and after matches! He even checks on their injuries!”

“From today, I’m supporting Noah. Who knows? He might even beat Dillen!”

In the end, Noah received people’s curiosity and expectations, advancing to the semifinals with an impressive victory.

Hearing much louder cheers from the crowd than the previous day, Calliphe smiled slyly.

The likely champion, Dillen.

And Noah, rising as the dark horse challenger.

This was the day Noah emerged as a contender.