Beast Taming? Nah, Dragon Herding is Way Better! - Chapter 52

Chapter 52: The Third Trial
The principal of the Flammenherz sole academy within its capital city, Aria Frostborn, a woman who is known to her subordinates and just anyone who personally knows her in general by many names, short-tempered loli-hag, witch of disaster, fist of ‘judgement’ among all of her many derogatory sounding titles that are claimed to be ‘praises’ by the people who call her as such.

What could probably be very close to a compliment among all the names she is being called with, it might possibly be the title that she likes the most: Frost Heaven War Goddess, a title she acquired from the numerous wars she had participated with along with a junior sister from her master, wars that they are far too familiar with despite the two of them being only in the youthful late twenties of their lives.

While it can be said that they are already old enough, the two of them are truly young as practitioners, whether they are mages or martial artists, as those who goes to pursue the improvement of self tends to attain increase of their lifespan whenever they reach another minor level on the path of strength that they pursue, said increase in lifespan becoming greater the higher the levels they reached, with rumors about beings who are of either a White Core mage or a Nine Star Establishment martial artists are already existences who have attained the state of being effectively immortal and unchanging.

Sure, they are young for a practitioner of the path of strength, but the two of them, particularly this white-haired horned beauty, given how vast the difference between her and her junior sister is, already saw a lot of things that can’t even be imagined by normal practitioners in their entire lifetime, and that includes geniuses who are capable of defying everyone’s common sense, geniuses that is far beyond what this small kingdom of theirs have.

But never, never in her entire life had she encountered something like this, not even something remotely close to this kind of genius, making her check the information in her hands time and time again just to make sure that she isn’t missing something from all of these overwhelming things recorded about this young man.

‘I already pride myself for being a genius with three-star mana level but this… this is just on another level’ looking at the five-star readings on the report, Aria couldn’t help but feel like something huge is about to happen on this simple kingdom of theirs, probably a huge wave that will shift the power balance of the surrounding lands should she manage to nurture this young man properly.

Remembering how there’s hardly anyone who can reach the same level of talent as hers when she roams around the neighboring and farther lands, this white-haired horned beauty couldn’t help but smile as she starts looking forward to how this young man will perform on other trials of the entrance exams, her mind whispering to her that she must find a way to contact this young man first hand in order to gauge his talent more properly.

“Prepare an examiner’s role for me in the last trial, I want to meet this kid face to face” the white-haired beauty said as she hands back the information to the beast kin lady who previously hides in the shadows, even she who prides herself for being someone who saw a lot about the world already, nodding while admiring the aesthetically pleasing appearance of this lady with cat-like features on her.

“As you command, Miss Aria” the beast kin lady replies before curtly bowing to the youthful beauty, before she steps back into the shadows and seemingly merges with it again as she disappears from the room, the horned beauty looking at it and nodding at the technique that this lady performed.

‘She’s getting better at it’ she thought to herself before she looks down on the grounds of the academy once again, hoping that there’s another person who at the very least can somehow rival this young man’s talent, however thinking that it is already a lucky thing that they encounter this young man, she highly doubts that there will be another monster like that appearing in the midst of the aspiring students trying to take the entrance exams to this academy.

———-

Meanwhile, right at the entrance of a new hall, Diluc is on a line that hardly moves forward, making him wonder just what sort of trial is it that is being conduct in this hall, a question and thought that is occupying not only his mind, but also the mind of everyone else who are still standing in line and waiting for their turn to come.

What’s the worst part of it though is the fact that they can’t even meet the people who had already taken this trial, as it seems that they are directed to a completely different place after this, making them completely unaware of what is happening, a state that increases their nervousness about the next trial more and more as time passes.

“We just need a few more minutes and the third trials will proceed faster, please wait for a while, dear participants, and thank you for your understanding” as the staffs starts to hear the complains of the young aspiring students who are still relatively calm given that they are still falling in proper line and waiting for their proper turn, they start comforting them the moment they received news from inside the hall, a news that made them relieved as the palpable pressure from assuring this young people, mostly nobles and even royalties, rests on their shoulder and their shoulder alone.

Before said nobles can start their tantrum, a great news came to the staffs’ as the announcement that those examiners inside already fixed the problem resounded on their ears, making them heave a sigh of relief as they start allowing more and more participants to enter inside the hall where the third trial is supposed to be held.

“Finally, thank the heavens they fixed it in time” one of the staffs guarding the entrances to the hall said with a helpless smile on his face, another one among them agrees as they themselves knows what sort of situation they are currently in and what sort of situation they will be in the moment that this takes even longer than it did now.

Seeing the looks on the nobilities’ eyes, the staffs couldn’t help but shake their head in order to avoid imagining the tragic fate they might have encountered if this goes on, a fate solely dependent on what the mood of this spoiled kids will be the moment that they enact their anger on them.

Among the people who are finally moving, Diluc walks following right behind the person standing in front of him, just minding his own business to himself until they eventually reach the hall in which the place of the third trial will be conducted, this hall similar to the one that the second trial is, with an elevated stage on the center of the stair-like seats surrounding the entire hall.

On that stage, ten other devices completely different to the device used in the second trial stands, beside each of them an examiner whose purpose her seems to be similar to the purpose of the examiners on the second trial as well, to measure the examinee’s strength, however, it appears that it is no longer the strength or level of mana the aspiring students has that is being examined here, but rather, their attack power given that they are hitting the devices in front of them in all sorts of ways, either with magic attack, with weapons and some gutsy ones even with their bare body alone, each one yielding a different result that is identified just by either a passing or a failing mark by the examiners.

“Number 1001, fail”

“Number 1002, fail”

“Number 1003, fail”

“Number 1005, fail”

Hearing the harsh condition of the examiners given that those three appears to yield a pretty good result on the device, the young men who haven’t yet to take the trial starts feeling some dive off their confidence, wondering whether they will be able to pass this trial as well.

Meanwhile, majority of the part of nobility can easily be identified through how these young man acts, as most of them appears to be part of the people who barely see this trial as a problem, resulting on their more relaxed, albeit still a bit anxious expression on their faces.

As time goes on, more and more participants are being tested, allowing Diluc to see all sorts of people within the midst of them, some young men sounding really weird as they even chant the magic they are using, some martial artists screaming at the top of their lungs before they attack the devices with what appears to be their all, while some of them pretends to be cool and collected, acting like it is no trouble to them, most probably thinking that it is a good place to establish their prestige.