Chapter 30

Arkin clenched both fists tightly beneath the table. He was confident he could do well at anything. Archery? Horseback riding? Swordsmanship?

As a child, he had climbed frozen trees to the very top with his bare hands, and as he grew, he had sprinted across snow-covered mountain ridges alongside hunting dogs. For Arkin, who had forged a body as hard as steel, this very moment was bound to fill him with high expectations.

“Because this task is precisely tailored to cultivate your humility and sense of responsibility. It is none other than…”

Humility and responsibility. Those were the words his father the king always emphasized. The moment he was thinking this, Seneca spoke solemnly.

“Washing the elephants and clearing away their dung.”

As if someone had hurled a massive boulder into a tranquil lake, the surroundings instantly erupted into uproar.

“What? Does the priest take us for stable slaves? Have you lost your mind?”

Outraged, Kaichen slammed his fist against the table and shouted.

“…Elephants? Did he just say elephants?”

Princess Amalfi of Floria, who had been resting her chin in her hand, furrowed her fine brows and asked back. It was the exact right remark to wake those who had been sinking into sleep, bored to death by the lengthy explanations. What were they supposed to do with elephants? Clear away dung?

“Isn’t this going too far? What are we, grooms?”

Draconis, too, grumbled with a twisted expression, looking thoroughly displeased.

For once, even Arkin was taken aback to a fair degree. Feeding, washing, and tending to beasts wasn’t quite the sort of work fitting for people like them, was it? He had expected them to do something else, but suddenly caring for elephants—his enthusiasm cooled just a bit.

Complaints burst out from all directions, but Seneca continued unbothered.

“The virtues of a monarch also include the humility to cherish the people and look after the lowly. To hold life precious and cast away arrogance. This, too, will prove to be a precious experience in enduring the weight of the crown. For you, who were born as royalty and have received the service of others all your lives, it will be an infinitely vital experience.”

A strange, vivid light flickered in Seneca’s gaze as he swept his eyes across the trainees. Taking a deep breath, he added in a soothing tone.

“Of course, you are the successors who will inherit great kingdoms, and you possess noble blood. How could we possibly fail to recognize that?”

“Handling elephants isn’t hard. I’m close with elephants, you know.”

Zafiri grinned with utter confidence. Arkin cast a sidelong glance at the Vine Prince, who seemed enveloped entirely in self-assurance. Unlike those around him weighed down by fatigue, Zafiri’s violet eyes shone brightly without a single trace of weariness.

Declaring that he had said all he needed to say, the priest flicked his finger toward the doorway. The moment a sharp snap echoed, servants entered silently, carrying trays laden with food as if they had been waiting for the cue.

The servants moved from one table to the next among the three tables, placing down the dishes of food one by one. A round flatbread of barley brushed with olive oil was set down, and a small dish of honey took its place in the middle of the table.

What is this? Is this laborers’ food? Arkin hesitated as he looked down at the food before him.

“The food before you is the ‘Meal of Humility’ consumed by the training priests. It is meant for you to exercise moderation in the quantity and quality of your meal, and to reflect upon yourselves in a calm atmosphere.”

The servants brought out a few more plates. Even so, because both the variety and quantity were hopelessly meager, the humble appearance remained unchanged even with the extra plates laid down.

Things are more serious than I thought. Arkin quietly surveyed the situation in front of him.

Boiled chickpeas and a couple of pieces of fig had been added, and finally, a servant who set down wine goblets filled them to the brim with wine and withdrew.

Wondering if anything more might come out, Arkin checked the passage leading toward the kitchen several times, but it didn’t look like any more food would be brought.

Watching the extreme agitation of the trainees, Seneca added a word.

“In a month, a grand banquet will be held for you. Since you can eat delicious food to your heart’s content and drink wine then, please adapt for the time being, and fill your stomachs well with what is served. We have much to do starting tomorrow.”

Once Seneca finished his announcements and departed, the dining hall instantly became disorderly. Not a single person touched their food, and the room was filled with horrific complaints and screams.

“Dammit!”

The Lightning Prince, Kaichen, slammed his clenched fist down onto the table with a loud thud.

“I somehow knew I didn’t want to come… To think my father was so thrilled when the invitation to the training tournament arrived! They did this just to make us do stuff like this!”

Kaichen’s hair, bursting with fury, swelled up like thorns and soared toward the sky as if piercing the heavens. A bluish light rippled with a crackling sound around the wildly spiking, flashing white hair. Aaaack! Letting out a single piercing cry, Kaichen buried his face deep in his hands and muttered weakly.

“Shit, both my father and that bastard brother of mine are driving me crazy… I hate this!”

It wasn’t just Kaichen who was voicing his dissatisfaction. People were grumbling complaints here and there, and even Elio let his shoulders slump powerlessly. The only person who didn’t let any complaints pass his lips was Arkin.

None of them looked even remotely motivated, and only Arkin steeled his resolve to face the tournament with an intense, razor-sharp edge.

To him, it was rather a bitter realization.

The fact that this tournament didn’t feel desperate meant it was clearly seen by the others as nothing more than a path of hardship—meaning it was ‘unnecessary work’ to them.

Self-deprecatingly bitter, Arkin simply went ahead and tore off a piece of barley bread to eat. Complaining wouldn’t change anything, and if this was the way things were naturally done here, he had better adapt.

As he popped small pieces of bread into his mouth and chewed, it tasted decent enough. It was precisely when Arkin was silently finishing off his grain bread that a shadow abruptly cast itself over his plate.

“Arkin, can I sit here?”

Arkin, who was just about to shove a piece of bread into his mouth, raised his eyes right then. Having apparently wandered over from the princesses’ table entirely, Petra set her plate down on the opposite seat and asked boldly.

“Mind if I do?”

Without even waiting for an answer, the princess made herself comfortable and took the seat. Petra looked utterly thrilled, as though she was eagerly anticipating the upcoming training schedule.

“I’m definitely going to take first place. I’ve been memorizing the history of this tournament inside and out since I was a little kid just waiting for today!”

“To that extent?”

“Of course! My resolve is to win this tournament, become the great monarch of our Stoneguard, and leave my name etched in history.”

Petra lifted her chin triumphantly, looking as though she had steeled herself with truly formidable determination.

“Honestly, the position of successor is something that just falls into your lap anyway. I want something much more than that. I don’t just mean being a monarch of Stoneguard—I mean I want to become a ‘great monarch.’”

“Winning the training tournament isn’t a mandatory virtue for a monarch, you know.”

“Naturally. It’s just one of the countless first-place records I’ve racked up so far. But I want this one.”

“First-place records?”

“Listen to this.”

Stretching out her right hand wide, Petra folded down her fingers one by one.

“They say I started walking almost as soon as I was born. And by four or five, I was already hunting with an axe and succeeding. When I grew a bit older than that, I even went all alone up to the summit of Eagle Mountain.”

Perhaps feeling that an elaboration was necessary, Petra hurriedly added an explanation about her camping trip on ‘Eagle Mountain.’

“‘Eagle Mountain’ is a terribly dangerous mountain. For a little kid to wander in there alone is basically resigning oneself to death. You have to secure a place to sleep in the wilderness, light a fire, eat food, and then erase your tracks so that wild beasts don’t catch your scent. I managed all of that at thirteen!”

Arkin felt a prickling urge to chime in and point out that he, too, had been a master archer by the age of twelve.

A prince who swept up first place time and time again in the winter forest hunting competitions. It was young Arkin who had beaten out bearded, grown men to bring back the biggest and heaviest hunting game.

Though those men had now turned into elderly politicians who relentlessly pressured Arkin to prove his qualifications for the throne.

“I want to be good at everything.”

Petra looked at Arkin with a full smile spread across her face. She grinned, halfway in jest and halfway in earnest.

“Since winning a tournament like this should be a breeze for Arkin of Solinar anyway, if you don’t mind, help me out a bit. I don’t want to miss the chance for first place.”

“Well, even without winning the training tournament, you already seem remarkable enough… Save your energy, Petra.”

Arkin replied with a somewhat hesitant expression, but Petra stubbornly shook her head.

“No. Not a chance. I am going to take first place, no matter what. So you just watch.”