A room with a particularly good view in Isis’ castle. In front of a potted Blue Crystal Flower displayed by the window, Eulpecula curiously tilted its head.
[Kyuu?]
Eulpecula had been coming to this room for a little while, standing in front of the potted plant and repeatedly tilting its head. Faced with its strange actions…… The Spirit dwelling in the Blue Crystal Flower, Spica was perplexed.
(What in the world is with this cub…… It has been tilting its head for a long time now…… At first, I thought it was just curious about my Blue Crystal Flower, but it doesn’t seem like that.)
Filled with curiosity, Eulpecula moved its face to look behind the potted plant from the right side.[Kyuu~~ Kyu?]
Then, it turned its body and tilted its head again, this time peeking out from the left side.
[Kyuu~~ Kyu?]
Then, after leaning its body back and tilting its head again, it lowered its body to look under the potted plant…… before moving back and tilting its head again.
(……Hmmm, this somehow feels like that. That feeling when you feel like “someone is here, but can’t find them”…… Eh? Did this cub notice me!? This has never happened before…… No, but even if she noticed me…… She’s not looking at me?)
Spica thought that Eulpecula might have noticed her presence, but the fox hardly looked at the Blue Crystal Flower, and was instead seemingly searching around the potted plant.
There is a reason for its actions. Due to its special background as a Mystic Silver and its innate flair, Eulpecula, who had taken in Kaito’s magic power along with Isis’ magic power, had inherited Kaito’s special Sympathy Magic.Thanks in part to this, Eulpecula, just like how Kaito notices things around him in a way that he himself couldn’t reasonably explain, had sensed Spica’s presence, but it feels more like a strange hunch for the fox.
However, even though Eulpecula had now gained a lot of knowledge…… She still didn’t know about the existence of Spirits. Therefore, it sensed that someone was there, but it didn’t know where they were and was wondering about it.
(……H- Hmmm, what should I do?)
Spica was puzzling over what to do with Eulpecula, who was curiously looking at the potted plant, but soon after, Eulpecula’s ears perked up.
[……Eul~~…… It’s time to eat!]
[Kyuu!]
When she heard Isis’ voice, Eulpecula happily ran to the door and dexterously opened it with its tail to get out of the room. Then, on the way to close the door, it bowed its head into the room before leaving.
(……Haahhh…… What a surprise, Death King-san…… Isis’ place is, the interesting children in this place increased. I think it’s time…… that I also…… start thinking about things.)
When Isis brought Eulpecula to the dining room, with the other subordinates already gathered, the meal began immediately, and the topic of conversation at the dining table was Eulpecula’s talent.
[I think Eulpecula’s talent is really great. Generally speaking, its learning speed is immeasurable.]
[Indeed, she’s actually very smart…… very dexterous too.]
Iris nodded in agreement to Polaris’ words, and Sirius also joined the conversation after hearing them.
[It has great senses. At this rate, its power will reach the level of Peerage holders in no time.]
[There’s no mistaking that it’s a genius, and its talent isn’t half-baked. It may even break the record for reaching Peerage-rank at the shortest time.]
All four agreed that Eulpecula’s talent was tremendous, and they didn’t deny Rasal’s statement about Eulpecula breaking the record for the shortest time to be granted a Peerage rank.
[Fumu, record for the shortest time huh…… Putting aside Head-dono since she had her own circumstances, who’s the one with the shortest time now?]
[If I’m not mistaken, it should be the Cherry Blossom Princess, Blossom. From what I’ve heard from Alice, it took about 200 years before she got certified as Count-rank and 700 years to reach Peak Count-rank.]
[The wall is higher between Count-rank and Peak Count-rank than the wall between normal Demons and Count-ranks…… Even so, she has great speed. It took me 4000 years to reach Count-rank, and 10,000 years to reach Peak Count-rank.]
[Being faster doesn’t necessarily make you better, but reaching it at such speed certainly illuminates your great talent.]
Among the Peerage rankings, the difference between the top and the bottom of the Count-ranks was particularly large, to the extent that Alice considered it necessary to make adjustments. Especially in regards to the Peak Count-ranks…… The level in which the Six Kings’ executives stood is called so mainly because they acquired the ability to interfere with the law of causality or immortality above a certain standard, so it’s as if they’re at a different dimension from those of lower ranking than them even though they’re of the same Count-rank.
[……It’s true…… that Blossom is the shortest…… when it comes to Demons…… but if you include those that aren’t Demons…… Among those who reached strength on the level of Count-ranks…… I think Lilia reaching it while still 23 years old is the shortest.]
[The White Rose Valkyrie huh, I’ve never met her…… but for her to reach the level of Count-ranks at 23 years old. That’s more than 170 years faster than Blossom-san, whose record was already really fast…… Their ingenuity makes me shudder.]
Hearing Isis’ words, Sirius nodded as if to say she was truly impressed. In fact, Lilia’s talent is outstanding, and she has never hit any wall in the transition from Viscount-level to Count-level, where one would normally be faced with a big hurdle…… If anything, she had reached Count-rank with a trigger as minor as “getting the hang of things” back in the previous battle in the God Realm.
[……Lilia’s talent…… is really great…… but…… I think that Eul…… also has talent that won’t lose against hers.]
[Kyuu?]
[……I’m looking forward to Eul’s future.]
[Kyuuu!]
[……Fufu.]
Seeing Eulpecula cheerfully reply to Isis’ words, Isis reached out her hand and lightly patted Eulpecula’s head with a smile on her face.
Later, Eulpecula set the record for the shortest time to reach Count-rank in 10 years, and Peak Count-rank in 80 years, making the Phantasmal King subordinate who bestowed the Peerage certification to her and Alice to hold their head in their hands…… though that is a story for another time.
<Afterword>
Serious-senpai : [Eulpecula would become a Count-rank more than a decade faster than Lilia huh……]
? ? ? : [It’s more like a difference in their environment. In Lilia’s case, she didn’t have high-ranking instructors like Count-ranks, and she was self-taught after learning the basics from Sieg to some extent. On the other hand, Eulpecula-san is in an environment where she can receive as many high-level instructions as she wants from Isis-san, one of the Six Kings, and her Peak Count-rank subordinates.]
Serious-senpai : [I see.]
