Behemoth's Pet

Chapter 91 : Dragon Girl’s Pride and Fighting Spirit

「Creation! Staa~rt, nya~!!」

Vulcan cheered herself inside the workshop of the royal castle.

The materials for creating artifacts lay on top of her desk.

They included Orichalcum, Mana dite, and a small amount of other materials such as Vibram.

「Let’s begin with Stella, the tank of our party. The ingredients should be…」

She, a top-class blacksmith and artifact smith, wouldn’t face any problem in designing and creating any kind of weapon.

As long as the materials were prepared beforehand, she could immediately start.

Meanwhile, Aria and co. were―

「Let’s start our training. Come at me, Stella!」

「Roger, desu!」

They were currently in the mansion’s garden.

Prince Julius had come to the center of the garden along with Stella.

The huge garden had a regularly-maintained lawn and even had a pool.

This mansion was truly a befitting home for the hero who had saved the world.

Prince Julius signaled the start of the training and took a stance with his weapon.

Similar to Stella’s weapon, his weapon was a great sword.

But its blade had been dulled for training’s sake.

On the contrary, Stella’s hands held her usual weapon.

At first, Aria had asked Stella to change her weapon for the training. But… Prince Julius dismissed it since he had deemed that as unnecessary. Alisha also agreed with him.

Thus, the duo’s training begun with a handicap for the trainer.

…

Stella gasped for breath when Prince Julius took a stance with his great sword right in front of her.

But she noticed something. Her right hand, which was holding onto her great sword, and her left hand, which was holding onto her mega shield, were trembling in front of such a sight.

（Uhm… There are no openings in his stance. On top of that, this pressure… And he had said that the current him is weaker than when he had been at his peak.）

Tama was utterly astonished upon seeing Prince Julius’ stance.

He, a former knight who had mastered the way of the sword in his previous life, saw that Prince Julius’ stance and the pressure emanating from his entire body were already beyond the level of the swordsmen in this world.

「Let’s start with a little test. Come at me! I’m ready.」

「Guh! Don’t… Under… restimate me… desu!」

When she saw Prince Julius saying those words with a wry smile on his face, Stella stiffened a bit. But she soon regained her composure and closed in on him with breakneck speed.

Her limbs transformed into dragon limbs and a tail grew out from the base of her spine as she got closer to Prince Julius.

Stella could feel it by instinct that if she didn’t go all out, she couldn’t defeat Prince Julius.

「Hou, a Dragonewt! I’ve to say you’re quite fast, but… too easy to read!」

「WHAAAAAAAAA!?」

Stella’s eyes spread wide open when she saw the scenery before her.

Her full powered charge with the mega shield in her Dragonewt form had been…

It had been easily parried with a light kick from Prince Julius.

But, Stella’s attack was yet to end.

She slashed with her great sword at Prince Julius’s waist while trying to regain her balance.

That slash was, in fact, too powerful to be used in training.

Aria, Lily, and Fairy, all screamed to stop Stella from going all out. But…

「Hou! So you can attack even when your balance has crumbled! Wonderful, a plus for you!」

「Imp… possible… desu!」

Stella had received her second shock today. Her extremely powerful slashing attack had simply slid along the surface of Prince Julius’s left gauntlet, and was rendered ineffective.

First strike with the foot, and second strike with arm…

Despite her attacking with everything she had, Prince Julius parried all of it with ease. He didn’t even use his sword.

Up to this day, Stella had been constantly training under Tama’s guidance to make full use of her great sword and mega shield.

And yet…

「Stella, your strength is wonderful. Properly speaking, it is well above mine. I can also see that you have undergone some sort of training to use your shield and sword. But… your movement is way too easy to read. The way you fight now might be enough to beat monsters, but it’s far too simple to be used against the demon race, who have powers similar to a hero.」

Prince Julius continued on to say despite Stella’s puzzled face.

「That’s why, I’ll beat the basics into your bones, and use that lesson to create―a 〝New Skill?…」

「A new skill?」

「Yes. Improving your sword and shield’s mastery aside, you need a new skill to fight against the Four Demon Dukes. While training with me, you’ll learn a new skill. Because repeated battles against a powerful opponent give birth to a new derivate skill.」

Prince Julius continued his explanation to the clueless Stella.

It was just as he said. The main goal of this training wasn’t just to elevate Aria and co.’s combat skills. It was also to let them learn a new derivate skill suitable to fight the Four Demon Dukes.

Since both he and Alisha had the experience of fighting against both the Seven Great Demon Kings and the Four Demon Dukes, they could easily see through Aria and co.’s abilities and counter it. They would then corner them in order to allow them to develop a derivate skill suitable to combat the demons.

（New skill! I’ll definitely learn it, and kick this guy’s ass! That way Tama will definitely praise me!）

As a former S rank monster, for her attack to be dealt with such ease―

It hurt Stella’s pride.

Her fighting spirit had been ignited for the first time ever since she had reincarnated, due to the desire to show off in front of her beloved man (cat)…