Chapter 3: First Test – Strange Girl #2.

“I was so hungry that I ate them without thinking…

Tehe?”

Understanding the meaning of those words a beat late, I clenched my fist inwardly and cheered.

Whatever the case, thanks to the performance of the ‘girl whose brain was excessively pure’ right in front of me, the situation that had been endlessly disadvantageous for me changed drastically.

On the other hand, the expressions of Kaled and the guard grew stiff.

In particular, the guard who looked like he was about to be held responsible for this situation turned deathly pale and trembled finely as if he would die at any moment.

Shing-.

Kaled drew his sword and spoke in a flat tone.

“Pay for that crime with your life.”

“Hyaaak!!

P-please spare me!

I’m sorry!

I won’t do it again!

I’ll throw it all up right now, so please…!!

Hwaaang!”

The sight of her kneeling and begging for her life while shedding tears and snot was utterly pathetic.

More than that, the claim that she had pulled up and eaten all the magic herbs because she was hungry.

I momentarily felt doubt about whether I really had to believe this nonsensical garbage.

If someone else had made such an excuse, I would never have believed it, but looking at the girl in front of me for even a short while, I thought it seemed quite plausible.

“Please wait a moment.

Shouldn’t we hear the whole story first?”

When I took a step forward and stopped him, Kaled obediently sheathed his sword again and bowed his head.

Watching that scene, the girl seemed to quickly grasp the power structure.

Without the slightest hesitation, she immediately changed direction, knelt before me, and began desperately begging for forgiveness.

“First calm down and explain why you are alone in a place like this.”

“Th-that is…

I was on a training journey with my master…”

Unable to answer easily and hesitating for quite a while, the girl eventually stammered out a reply while fidgeting.

“It was too hard…

So I secretly ran away…

I just ran without thinking, and then I got so tired and hungry that I…”

I could roughly imagine the rest without her saying it.

She must have pulled up and greedily eaten the plants that happened to be growing appropriately in that spot.

All without noticing at all that they happened to be magic herbs worth over 500 Gold per root.

I roughly understood the situation, but it was such an absurd story that it was hard to believe easily.

For a moment I even suspected that she might be an agent prepared by Princess Victoria to keep me in check.

Of course, the moment I saw the girl’s vacant appearance, that suspicion cleanly vanished.

More than that, I had no idea at all how to handle this.

In my heart I wanted to forgive her cleanly and send her away, but with eyes watching from the side, it was difficult to do so.

In particular, Kaled was in charge of monitoring from the side whether the king’s children were properly participating in the succession test.

If I took any unusual action, that record would immediately be reported to the king and might draw unnecessary attention.

In other words, regardless of my true feelings, for now I had to outwardly show anger at the fact that the magic herbs had disappeared.

After thinking about what to do, I decided to talk things through step by step for now.

“What’s your name?”

“Yes?

Ah, my name is Mana…”

It was a cute name that suited the girl well, but it was not a name remaining in my memory.

“You said you were on a training journey with your master, right?

What kind of training was it?”

“M-magic.”

“Oh.

Magic…”

Since it was a fantasy game setting, magicians existed in this world.

But of course, magic was a blessed power granted only to a tiny minority with talent.

Therefore, after falling into this world, this was the first time I had actually seen a magician.

Hearing that, I was able to carefully observe the girl’s clothing, which had not particularly caught my eye until now.

A plain brown robe and a witch’s hat that looked a bit large on the girl.

On top of that, a wooden staff neatly placed on the grass right beside her.

It was exactly the classic beginner magician outfit commonly seen in fantasy RPG games.

When I stared at her without thinking, Mana fidgeted and scraped at the ground with her feet as if my gaze was burdensome.

“Can you use any magic for me?”

“…I-I have no talent for magic.

No matter how hard I try, magic has never been properly cast even once…

Yet my master keeps expecting things of me…”

In an instant Mana completely wilted and became listless.

Although I felt a bit sorry, it was not an area where I could help her, so I decided to just stay quiet.

But Kaled completely shattered the atmosphere with a cold voice.

“So you deliberately consumed the magic herbs?

To increase the amount of mana inside your body even a little?”

The reason magic herbs were expensive was because they were practically the only means of raising the amount of mana inside the body.

Of course, the amount of mana inside the body and magical talent were separate issues, so eating magic herbs would not allow an ordinary person to change jobs into a magician.

However, it was possible for a talentless magician to raise their level through magic herbs.

To achieve meaningful results, one or two roots would not be nearly enough, so capital close to a fortune would be needed, but at any rate it was theoretically possible.

And the magic herbs that had been on this mountain were a sufficient amount for a person to achieve meaningful results depending on the individual.

“Ah, no!

I really ate them without knowing!

Please believe me…!!”

As if realizing how disadvantageous the current situation was for her, Mana began pleading desperately with a pale face, but Kaled’s chilly gaze did not move in the slightest.

“Princess.

As expected, there seems to be no need to let her off.

It would be better to execute her on the spot right here…”

“Wait.”

At that moment, I firmly grasped a brilliant idea that flashed through my mind.

It was an idea so surprising and bold that I myself was impressed after thinking of it.

After cutting off Kaled’s words, I stared down at Mana for a while.

The girl who had been tearfully begging for her life at first eventually made a puzzled expression and began reading my mood.

“That means all the magic herbs are currently inside this child’s stomach, right?”

“…Yes.

For now, that is the case.”

Kaled answered obediently even without grasping my true intention.

“And this child is a magician.

By now the magic herbs in her stomach should all have been digested, so the amount of mana has increased considerably.”

“Princess.

What does that mean…”

I did not bother answering his question.

Instead, I made the proposal directly to Mana, who was blankly looking up at me from the opposite side.

“Hey.

Would you like to come with me?”

*

The purpose of the operation was truly simple.

It was not difficult to tell how pure a child Mana was even from a short meeting.

I was certain that this girl’s vacant behavior would definitely be of help to me.

Just like how she had cleanly eaten up the entire bundle of magic herbs that had driven me to the edge of a cliff.

In simple terms, I was recruiting her while expecting the trolling that Mana would show.

The problem was how to deceive the eyes of other people, especially Kaled.

If I insisted on taking Mana with me without any justification, I would naturally draw suspicious looks.

But it was enough to just create a plausible reason.

As expected, I made up an excuse like this to Kaled, who firmly opposed recruiting Mana.

Mana had already eaten the magic herbs and even finished digesting them, so returning them was impossible.

In that case, it would be better to somehow extract the astronomical value of the magic herbs by making maximum use of Mana.

Being able to freely work a very expensive magician for free was quite a good thing.

Moreover, she was not an ordinary magician but one whose mana amount had been inflated after consuming dozens of magic herb roots.

By emphasizing these points as much as possible, I was able to barely obtain Kaled’s agreement.

Persuading the person herself was much easier than that.

When I revealed my identity and kindly told her to choose between her life and unpaid labor, she chose the latter without even a second of hesitation.

There was another reason as well.

“…I don’t want to go back to my master either.

If it’s that or death…”

“I don’t know who it is, but it seems you suffered quite a bit under them?”

“Y-you would never understand how scary my master is unless you see them in person!

Even Princess might wet herself if you meet…”

Shing-.

“Watch your words.

If you put such vulgar words in your mouth even one more time, I will cut you down on the spot.”

“Hiiik…!!”

Hmm.

From my perspective, I just thought she might have done things that deserved a beating from the person called master on her own.

Anyway, the road back to the royal capital was surprisingly satisfactory.

The magic herbs I had been troubled about how to handle had all disappeared, and I had succeeded in recruiting a capable troll.

If things continued like this, wouldn’t I be able to survive safely until the succession test ended?

…There was a time when I thought that way.

It did not take long for me to realize just how dangerous a bomb the girl named Mana, whom I had brought along with a light heart, really was.

The start of the incident was when Princess Victoria blocked my path after I returned to the royal palace.