Taming The Villainesses

(EP-357.1) #2

357 – Protagonist #2

The Angmar Queen's martial festival.

A fairy tale-like event where anyone, regardless of their background or status, could obtain honor and wealth.

It was said that just making it past the preliminaries and into the top 16 of the main tournament would earn you a reward in gold so vast, an ordinary person could live in luxury for the rest of their life.

And if desired, one could even join the Queen’s elite royal guards.

Riches and glory.

That alone was more than enough to draw the attention of adventurers, mercenaries, and reclusive heroes from across the land. There were plenty in the world seeking a chance at fortune.

But—

Waaaah─!!!

Many participants were daunted under the cheers of a huge crowd. Of course, there were also plenty of brave-faced heroes among them.

The ones who raised their heads were looking at a special seating area created high up in the stands. A throne prepared for the one and only sovereign of this nation.

There, a woman sat with her legs proudly crossed. Dressed in white, she looked like a single lily blooming atop a cliff.

A peerless beauty.

A face that could topple kingdoms.

Aira Von Tarantera.

She was the ultimate prize that drew all these participants to the festival.

The winner would have the right to challenge and marry her, the Queen of the kingdom.

The throne of Angmar, the greatest and most powerful country in the world, and the hand of the woman said to be the most beautiful under the heavens. Just those two things were enough to make people flock like bees and butterflies to a flower.

Now that I thought about it, it really was a fairy tale.

Did you know those kinds of stories? Like the one where the man who made the princess laugh got to marry her—or the one where curing the princess’s incurable illness earned one the throne.

Stories like that existed in pretty much every culture.

This was similar to those.

Of course, it was a queen instead of a princess, and the promise was to give everything to the one who defeated her. Still, you couldn’t deny the romanticism of it, the kind you’d whisper to children at bedtime.

━Hiiioooong…!

Just then, the spider inside me gave my heart a little bite. I couldn’t understand spider language, but it was probably telling me not to get distracted and focus on the moment.

‘You’re right, Bael.’

I was just momentarily overwhelmed by the crowd.

Srrk.

I pulled my gaze away from the waves of people pressing in like a tide.

My eyes turned toward the other participants standing in the same area as me. Armed with swords, spears, even clubs, they all stood in their own stances, each bearing a different face and posture.

━Hmph, what a bunch of weaklings. No need to take this seriously. I’m sure everyone’s heard of the sword demon, Andromalie, right?

━No idea, sounds lame. More importantly, what’s with that nymph over there? Is that allowed? Nymphs suck at fighting. I don’t wanna get caught up in some nymph violence prevention law or whatever.

━This Punchnoi is simply here to test her strength…! And today, I’m certain that guy is somewhere here…! The unfinished business from back then… I’m going to settle it…!

It was noisy and chaotic, but everyone was full of confidence.

Challengers from all over the world, drawn by the promise of the beautiful queen and the throne. Each likely had a deep story fit for a protagonist in this fairy tale. And skill to match.

━Kreuung…!

Just then, I felt the paper spider Bael inside me tensing up. Its internal compass was pointing toward the crowd of participants.

━Kreuuung…!

Some people worth keeping an eye on? Some strange guys?

━Hiiioooong…

“……”

Though she had lost much of her power and fallen from grace, the intuition of the great magic Bael remained sharp.

Just as she had been wary when the ancient dragon sealed beneath the Draco family's temple was revived, Bael was alert of someone in this group of participants.

It was difficult to pinpoint exactly who in this situation, but if Bael was sounding the alarm, then I couldn’t afford to let my guard down.

I was steeling myself with this thought when—

━Daaang.

At the loud chime of a great bell, everyone fell silent.

As the chaotic atmosphere cooled down, the glowing crystal board installed high above the arena lit up to display an hourglass.

It meant only one thing.

The opening ceremony was over, and the first match had finally begun.

* * *

Back when we were sorting through the application forms and documents, Marmar had once asked me.

“There are way too many applicants. Shouldn't we hold regional qualifiers first?”

She had a point. Over ten thousand applications were submitted. Even after filtering out only those written in the correct format, the number of participants was well over a thousand.

Hosting matches for all of them to narrow it down to the main tournament would have required an absurd amount of time, manpower, and funds.

To the curious Marmar, I replied.

“Running regional qualifiers would take too much time and too many people. In the end, only sixteen will advance to the main tournament—so we'll use a simpler method to weed them out.”

“There’s such a method?”

“Well, if I had to name it, I guess it would be Lioness-style musical chairs.”

The Lioness family's soldiers held an annual competition to evaluate skills and determine promotions. Inspired by the fact that there were many soldiers but only a limited number of slots, they devised a game of musical chairs.

The rules were simple. Many people. Few chairs. Whoever managed to sit in a chair within the time limit would earn their promotion.

They said that as long as you were the one sitting in the chair at the end, anything went—no matter the means or methods.

Edit by: faker