While the nobles whispered eagerly among themselves, preparing for a possible auction.
The princess turned to the king, who until then had only watched in silence, his features slightly annoyed.
"Father, what should we do?" she asked in a voice barely audible — only thanks to my evolution was I able to eavesdrop on the conversation.
"We will do what I was going to do from the very beginning." He suddenly rose from the throne, drawing everyone's attention.
Immediately, all talking ceased, and everyone focused solely on him with wide eyes.
One step.
Two steps.
Three steps.
Slowly he walked toward me, each footstep echoing deeply through the hall, each one sounding heavier than the last.
His dark eyes scanned me from top to bottom with genuine interest, yet at the same time there was an unknown emotion hidden in the shadows of that abyssal gaze.
I had met many people and faced many kinds of gazes; I knew how to discern human intentions and emotions…
But those eyes…
They didn't feel human.
What on earth is staring at me?
"You are perfect."
He suddenly crouched toward me. I immediately tried to dodge in terrible fear of the unknown, but my body refused to move against my will.
Something pressed me firmly against the ground and simultaneously crushed my will to resist.
Something was draining all the strength from my body. That something was…
Aura.
The king crushed me with his aura.
Slowly, his hand grabbed me by the nape and lifted me to his face, exposing me even more to the two pools of black ink he called eyes as he examined me with a smile.
Then he turned to the crowd.
"I am the king, and you are my noble rulers. None of us are like those cheap mercenaries or any other damned commoners who sell their bodies for money and still accept it with a dirty smile."
Suddenly he lifted me into the air, showing me off even more.
"This is power — something far greater than money. This is the currency with which we purchase the future! This is far too great a matter to be decided by you. Therefore, I will make the decision myself. And the correct decision regarding these cubs is obvious to me. The cubs will be taken by the royal family, and I will not accept complaints."
"What?!"
"What absurdity is this?!"
"Has he gone mad?!"
This time, the people could not hold back. The king, who should have distributed, took everything for himself and offered nothing to anyone.
'This is how a king falls from his throne…' I thought, analyzing the situation. The power of a king is the power of his people.
Denying them this will have consequences.
Of course… that is in the world I came from.
Not in this one.
"Silence!" the king roared, releasing his aura, which surged through the throne room like a wave.
WOOOOSH.
Suddenly the floor trembled as the castle began to crack, heavy chunks of debris falling from the ceiling onto the nobles, who hurriedly tried to protect themselves with spells, panicking.
However, they soon found themselves unable to move even a millimeter — they could only watch in horror.
BOOOM.
The first of them died, his body crushed against the stone, spraying blood across the throne room.
"How dare you question my orders. I am king for a reason, in case you've forgotten. If you want even a chance to complain, at least resist my aura."
The king scoffed before walking back to his throne and sitting down, placing me on his lap and stroking my fur.
"The cubs are property of the royal family, and therefore fundamental resources protected by the kingdom. But they will be assigned to appropriate houses for their development."
Again he pointed to the youths standing before him, each bearing the crest of a different house — they had been there from the start.
Yet they had been ignored until now by the greedy nobles.
"But we don't have an appropriate house for them, except for the lightning tiger, who has good affinity," the princess pointed out, and the king nodded in agreement.
"That won't be a problem."The king immediately cleared his throat.
"Laxus of the Lightning Tiger, step forward." One of the youths, silver-haired, approached at once.
"By fortune of fate, one of the tigers has excellent affinity with your house, and you have been designated as his tutor. Take him into your house and train him alongside your guardian beast. If you require support from other houses, do not hesitate to ask — and they must comply promptly if they don't wish to face extinction."
"I thank Your Majesty for the opportunity." The first tiger was handed to him.
"You all heard, correct?" the king said, looking once again to the crowd. "Everyone must obey the tutor's requests, no matter what they are — even if they require you to reveal your secret techniques and so on."
For a moment, the crowd could only clench fists and teeth in silent frustration.
"Next, Andras of the Blood Infernal House."A youth with red hair and golden eyes stepped forward.
"The chaos cub will be given to you. Although your house does not have strong affinity, you're the best option we have."
Andras nodded and returned to his position.
"Iris of Eternal Light, despite my doubts, I will entrust you with the cub with mixed elemental roots. Use my authority to acquire techniques from other elemental clans; and if you must exterminate one or two of them, inform me."
Iris, the blond girl, soon returned to her place.
"Agares of the Macabre Tree — to you, the spectral cub will be entrusted. Like the lightning tiger, I have little worry regarding you. But if you need souls, ask the other clans to provide them. Do not delay his development under any circumstances."
"So I shall. I hope to meet Your Highness's expectations," he replied before stepping back several paces.
Up until this moment I had only watched silently, while the king continued to stroke my fur, indifferent to everyone around.
However, there was only one last girl before me, and she was clearly the one I would be entrusted to.
"My daughter, Agnes, come forward." The brown-haired girl with slightly reddish eyes stepped forward with a confident smile.
But that smile disappeared with her father's next words.
"You should have been his tutor. However, you are weak, and you will not be able to dominate him."
"What?" she asked, her smile beginning to shatter.
"He will not obey you, because you are far too weak."
He immediately placed me on the ground in front of her.
"Try commanding him."The girl swallowed hard, then pulled out a talisman and murmured an incantation.
Suddenly my eyes grew heavy, and my body seemed to slip out of my control.
"Come to me," she ordered, and my muscles quickly began reacting to fulfill the command.
However… I felt that I didn't really need to comply. It seemed easy to break.
Her spell felt so weak and foolish.
I immediately released my aura.
WOOOSH.
A chill ran down everyone's spine as shock filled their eyes.
My vision cleared instantly, and I calmly stepped away from her.
"Aura?" Agnes stared at me in disbelief. "How does he have aura at that age?"
The king stifled a laugh.
"The other cubs will follow the heavenly path, but this one has a chance at the earthly path as well."
He pulled me back and resumed stroking my fur, using his own aura to neutralize mine.
"He is at the first stage of the earthly path, having evolved his organs. An interesting choice for a beast without intelligence. Moreover, his consciousness is greater than normal, even for a legacy beast. The fact that he possesses an aura so powerful for his stage and still has pure roots that will certainly complement the aura… it makes my blood boil in anticipation."
Agnes swallowed hard hearing that.
"Father, then how on earth are we going to train him? No one but you should be capable of guiding him."
The nobles watched nervously, as did the other tutors, the princess, and even the king.
"I think that's a valid point. Truly, everyone in this kingdom is far too weak to instruct someone with such potential."
His eyes fixed on me with a touch of amused nostalgia. But suddenly, bitterness overtook him.
"However, I learned a valuable lesson long ago. To fools, we give the best teachers and masters, hoping to guide them to the best version of themselves. But to geniuses, we give adversity and calamity, each worse than the last — for these are their true masters."
'I don't like where this is going…'
As I stared at him, my heart pounded faster in fear of his next words.
Suddenly his voice grew stronger as he turned to her.
"Agnes! You have been deemed unworthy — a failure to our immaculate legacy — and therefore will be punished accordingly."
"What?" Her eyes froze and her body trembled.
"You will travel to the battle academy after crossing the war zone between Axel and Condor, enlist, and only return once you have earned recognition."
"Together with him, of course."He pushed me toward her.
'Damn it!'
"Good luck — and try to return alive."