CH 10

The Eux family was about to head out for the baptism day. Inglis, now at the age of six, was in the manor’s living room as she gazed out of the window at the pouring rain over a valley further out of town. The rain was far from the ordinary, for it carried with it a prismatic hue.

This phenomenon was called the Prism Flow which was rumoured to be the cause of Magic Stone Beasts. When showered by it, the natural flora and fauna would turn into magic stone beasts and attack people. However, humans remained unaffected by the phenomenon.

The presence of the rain so close to town had the people on high alert since none of them wanted their livestock to turn into magic stone beasts if it was to hit the city. Just as people said that every rose has its thorns, the rain was much the same — While it was breathtakingly beautiful, it was also an abomination to the people.

That was for everyone, except for one little girl… Inglis, whose blood boiled and heart leapt at the mere sight of the rain. She sincerely hoped that it would produce a strong magic stone beast that was worthy of combat with her. While training with Raphael and Ryuk was good and all, she wanted to try fighting something that had every intent to kill her. Magic Stone Beasts were the perfect candidates since they held no compassion for human lives.

Pour more! Come closer! Give me more opponents to practice with!

Inglis thought happily 1

In contrast to Inglis and her happy thoughts, Selena looked dejected.

「How awful, what an ill omen… Even though today is the girls’ baptism day.」

Inglis and Rafinha were finally at the age that they could receive their Rune — an indispensable tool for humans to operate Artifacts (another essential weapon used to fight the magic stone beasts). But of course, that rule did not apply to Inglis as she had learned a few months back when the Prism Flow had fallen near the city, allowing her to try out a few techniques. While ordinary metal weaponry couldn’t injure magic stone beasts, she had confirmed that as the Divine Knight, she could defeat the magic stone beasts with ether-infused techniques. Nonetheless, Runes and Artifacts were absolute musts for citizens who wished to secure lands near the area where the Prism Flow occurred.

Runes were divided into four categories — Lower Grade, Middle Grade, High Grade, and Special Grade Runes. The stronger the Rune was, the stronger the Artifacts one could wield. It was said that the people who owned Special Grade Runes, such as Raphael, were akin to a one-man army.

The so-called strongest magic stone beasts that were capable of razing an entire country could only be stopped by the Special Grade Rune holders. Thus, people like Raphael had key roles in preventing national crises involving the lives of millions. One could see just how much Irina treasured Raphael by how overprotective she was of him.

「Rune, huh…」

With her eyes still gazing out the window, Inglis murmured. Being the Divine Knight, Inglis had no need for such things as Runes. More importantly, she’d rather not receive a Special Grade Rune like Raphael, for it would only raise the people’s expectations of her and she’d have an obligation to answer to them. One could easily see the weight of the world pushing down on Raphael’s shoulders. Although Inglis did find that Raphael made a rather noble, dashing figure when he put in the effort to answer the calls of the people, just as she had in her previous life as the Hero King Inglis, she would rather dedicate her current life as Inglis Eux to the mastery of her martial arts. It would be too troublesome to add to her burden.

In contrast to everyone else, Inglis was afraid of receiving the Special Grade Rune — literally any Runes would be better than a Special Grade in her opinion.

「Listen, Inglis——」

Inglis was embraced by her mother Selena.

「Mother? What’s wrong?」 「It’s imprudent to say this right before your baptism but… mom doesn’t want you to get a Special Grade Rune, okay? I feel like it will bind your life to our people and you’ll only live for them, and not yourself. That’s basically the same as being confined.」 「How strange, mother. I would also prefer anything that’s not a Special Grade Rune.」 「Really!? You seem to take great interests in battles, so I thought you’d wish for even stronger power.」 「Well, I guess that’s true but… I don’t want a power that will rob me of my freedom.」 「I-, is that so? Then, when you’re baptized, just pray in your heart that you don’t want Special Grade Rune, okay? If so, I’m sure the gods will hear you.」 「I understand. I will do so.」 「Good girl. Then, let’s depart.」

Her hand now held in her mother’s, they left for the castle where the baptism would take place.