Chapter 14: 14

“Three, two, one… Roxy wins!”

Ding ding ding!

At the training hall’s flat ground. The referee rang the brass bell and put a stick longer than his stature into the silver wolf’s neck.

In a snap, a shiny clasp caught the wolf’s choker.

The referee casted a spell. Then the wolf that bit its colleague rolled over the floor as if electrocuted, then turned into a muscular woman.

As she laid still with only the cloak on, she wondered if something went wrong for a moment.

“…How many seconds?”

“Ten seconds.”

“Yeaah!”

The woman, who seemed to have fallen at any moment, jumped up and raised her fist high through the torn cloak.

I thought my worries were in vain.

“Ten seconds! See. You’re no match for Roxy!”

“It was a mistake! Let’s do it again, I’ll beat you completely!” 

Another wolf, who was restless, turned into a handsome black-haired man.

It seemed very unfair that he was suppressed in 10 seconds.

“I just slipped on my foot and… Cough!”

“Next!” 

It was no use making excuses, the referee attached a stick to the choker and relentlessly pulled the loser out.

It was an attitude toward a real beast, not a knight.

There was more than one match like this.

The training hall was full of wolves. There were dozens of circular fences, and huge beasts, paired up, were fighting bloody battles as if they’d fight to their deaths.

“Damn it. You use it too quickly. Isn’t it a foul… Huh? Duke? Leader?”

The loser grumbled and found Alan.

His gaze passed through Pedro and reached me, who’s riding on his shoulder.

“…Princess?”

At that one word, the training hall became quiet as if the sound had been muted.

Dozens of pairs of sharp eyes turned towards me.

As intense as if I’d be eaten. Dozens of wolves jumped over the fence and ran towards me.

“It’s a princess! A real princess!”

“Princess Lilietta von Bauner has appeared!”

Gasp! Gasp! Gasp!

The wolves came and circled around Pedro, stood on two feet, and kept their hips up, and barked.

…This wasn’t the kind of ‘knight’ I imagined.

The wolves’ voices were so loud that all my imagination was blown.

“What are you guys doing?”

Pedro had a more ridiculous expression than me.

“I told you to prepare something because I will bring my younger sister. Why didn’t you even write a letter in the sand, saying ‘welcome’?”

When did he give such an order? When we got out of the castle, he howled all of a sudden, is that it?

“We were deciding!” 

Roxy the silver wolf, half-personified, flashed its front paws.

“Of what?”

“First place!”

“What first place?”

“That!”

The tails of the wolves all pointed to the corner of the training hall.

A large tournament chart was hung on the tree. 

As it stands, I’m not sure if it was scratched while they were catching a bird with their front paws. 

“Are you in a match? What is the prize?”

“Representative?”

“What representative?”

“Flower bouquet representative.”

“…Explain in sentences, not words.”

Alan, who couldn’t watch it any longer, let out a low sigh. Roxy was an excellent fighter, but she seemed a bit lacking in language skills.

If Hugo had been here, he would probably have died of frustration.

“It’s a present for the princess. We made it all together!”

Those big muscle guys made a bouquet for a little kid?

I’m not the real Lily, but it was a bit touching.

“It’s winter, where do you get flowers? You guys were banned from entering the greenhouse, last spring, when strawberries were frosted, you burned and ate the whole thing.”

I’m a little less touched by Pedro’s callous words.

“So we stole it!”

“What about the charges?”

“Roxy slapped me on the back and I passed out!”

The touching sensation was gone and I was getting scared. Didn’t it mean she almost killed him?

“But we didn’t steal a lot. It spattered out before the gardener came… Besides, the flowers are too soft. There were a lot of flowers that were torn while being touched by several people, so in the end only one bunch came out.” 

“So you were competing? Are you trying to decide who will represent the knight order?” 

“Yes! That’s what the leader taught us. Fists speak faster than words!”

I don’t know what the hell they meant.

Doesn’t everyone behave like they will not be satisfied with whoever comes first?

“What kind of fight is that? All right, you guys. Stop it all.”

Ah, for some reason Pedro sounded normal…

“Because I’ll give it to her.”

That’s right.

“I am the commander of this castle, Pedro.”

Why is Alan interfering again?

“Come on, they are deciding on the knight’s representative, and of course the knight’s leader should come forward.”

“The leader is going to eat it raw!”

“Don’t eat it raw!”

“Eat it raw!”

“Raw!”

‘Raw! Raw! Raw!’

The strong refusement felt like an earthquake.  

Alan put me down from Pedro’s shoulder and covered my ears. His hands were so large that they covered my face.

“Are you guys going to be like this? I can’t help it. Hey Ivan! Bring it!”

Pedro gestured and said so loudly to the referee. The referee brought three items in a silver tray without asking what it was.

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Keys, locks, and…

‘Dog collar?’

It was much thicker than the chokers of the members, and instead of the iron rings, the gongs were studded at equal intervals… It was a dog collar.

Pedro wrapped it around his neck without hesitation.

The sound of the leather tightening was like the sound of an animal grinding its teeth.

He brushed his curly hair neatly to one side and smiled at his subordinates.

“You all take it off.”

The wolves stared at each other for a moment, then turned into human form.

The choker still fit snugly around their necks. 

Is it something similar to a cloak string?

“Leader, without the choker, the suppression may be delayed.”

When the knights took off their chokers, the referee panicked.

But Pedro casually tapped his neck.

“That’s why I put it in. Oh, Lily, can you lock this for me?”

Pedro squatted in front of me and held out the key.

The blue lock swayed from the buckle on the dog’s collar.

“Me?” 

It was not difficult, but why should I?

“Yeah, this is the magic key.”

When I looked again, there was an object like a piece of paper inside the magic stone at the end of the key.

‘Is this… petals?’

Come to think of it, when the lark gave me a bath, they poured in flower water.

‘Are you doing magic with the petals?’

Was there a flower petal in the magic stone that Nike used to use? The stone itself was not important.

“Lea, leader. The princess is not a spirit… Of course, she may be a spirit, but she is still young and her power is sealed.”

The referee suddenly shed a cold sweat and was bewildered.

Then Alan took the key from my hand naturally.

“That’s too much of a prank, Pedro.”

Clank.

He indifferently fastened the lock on the dog’s collar and returned the key to the silver tray.

“….You said you wouldn’t interrupt.”

Pedro, who had been following his father’s words with a smile, raised his eyebrows quite seriously.

Instead of answering his son, Alan explained to me in confusion.

“This magic tool imprints the role of a ‘key’ on the person who locks the lock. The spirits are linked with the World Tree through magical powers, so if a spirit is locked, other spirits can unlock in an emergency, but if not, only you can unlock it, who has become his key for the rest of his life..” 

What? So if something happens to me in a few moments, Pedro’s going to wear a leash like a dog for the rest of his life?

No wonder the referee looked at me as if asking me to stop my brother.

“I’m going to give my cute little sister a leash and play, what’s the problem? It shouldn’t be a problem for Lily.”

What’s the problem? There’s a lot of problems! I can’t believe I’m the only key to the leash, I’ve never played such a strange game before!!

“This is a hard control device. If you’re on the rampage, it means that the ‘key’ must control it. Are you really going to put such a burden on Lily?”

This harsh treatment was like for his subordinates rather than his son.

Pedro muttered, saying he hadn’t gone rampage in 10 years, and then turned around.

“I just wanted to show how much I love Lily…”

Pedro stood in the center of the arena and looked back at his men.

The dark eyes were soaked with the flesh of a beast.

“Hey, you all know that, right? The easiest way.”

The big, charming dog was no longer there.

It seemed that the dissatisfaction accumulated had turned into a good feeling because of Alan.

“Because Lily is only mine in the morning, so I’ll deal with you one by one. The time lim… Oh, there’s no need explaining..” 

The calf, which was revealed at first glance under the cloak, was bent in the opposite direction. Like an animal on the verge of sprinting.

“Bring it on.”

A light urge that doesn’t make him feel any nervousness.

Suddenly, thunderous shouts filled the training hall.

***

“Ten seconds.”

The referee next to me murmured. I replayed it blankly. 

Ten seconds. Ten seconds was an amount of time that even my tiny fingers could count.

He could defeat all these wolves with just that much time.

‘Does it make sense? It will take longer than that even if I slap them in a row!’

Hard to believe, but reality was reality. 

Pedro ran like a storm and knocked down his men.

Pedro, who suddenly returned to his human form, waved his hand in my direction.

He looked fine. Compared to his subordinates who fell at his feet and groaned, it was too bad.

‘The main character of <No Dreams or Hopes〉 …must be stronger than Alan and Pedro combined.’

Expectations for the main character, whom I had not yet met, only grew higher and higher.

And the burden increased. I have to find a justification to protect myself by turning those strong men into enemies.

“Damn, leader! That’s too much!”

The silver wolf jumped up abruptly. It was Roxy who jumped up first and then fell off.

Whether she protested or not, Pedro only scratched the wolf’s ears protruding through his curly hair.

His limbs had not yet been transformed into a human being’s, his fluffy fur and claws were those of a wolf.

“It’s not something to say now after every single one of you have been attacked. Get me the bouquet of flowers.”

While grumbling, Roxy meekly turned into a human and went to pick up the present.

It was a great power. Other colleagues pointed to their waists that might have fractured and said while groaning, ‘Oh my, now I can’t get married’.

She brought a clunky wooden box with the words ‘Gift for Princess’ written on it.

Pedro took the box and knelt in front of me.

The knights, who had been struggling, turned into human beings and flocked around Alan.

…Isn’t everyone half-dead just before?

“Come on, Lily. This is a gift prepared for you by the knight’s order under the direct control of the Duke.”

The box slowly opened and a sweet scent touched the tip of my nose.

“Wow…!”

I was at a loss for words.

It was because there was nothing to praise even if I rubbed my eyes.

This wasn’t a bouquet…

‘It’s just… a bunch of flowers?’

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