Chapter 13: The first kill party, Hope, Lust, and Pride
The next couple of fights went on smoothly, all the monsters were properly weakened so even the more feeble and unskilled kids could manage to finish them off without any trouble.
Zombie couldn't help but glare at the androgynous capture target from time to time and Cranberry was getting more and more restless as the time went on.
"Young lady Mary Hope."
"GRAOUGH?! (WHAT?!)"
The next name had Zombie shouting in shock.
"Oh, so that's her name."
Cranberry casually shrugged her shoulders as she observed the brown-haired girl, the same one she gave the whip to, standing up and walking towards the center of the area.
Her fight caused an even bigger commotion than Claymore's smile.
First of all, she barely used her whip, like, almost at all.
Second, she suddenly started talking to the large wolf monster that she was facing.
Third, she tamed it!
A taming skill is exclusive for a tamer class and, in normal circumstances, level 1 players don't have a class assigned.
Though despite Maty's feat, a first kill party isn't organized for taming but for killing, so after a quick break and a consultation with Mary's family, the wolf monster was allowed to stay with her.
It got healed, and another monster was brought up for the killing.
That one was clearly much weaker but actually, it was already a huge stroke of luck that there was even a single spare monster just waiting half-dead for them to put out.
Anyway, the new monster was ripped apart by the tamed one almost instantly and Mary could return to her seat.
Zombie was quite convinced that she was the heroine.
He observed her with a serious expression.
Mary sat down and the wolf instantly rested its head on her lap and she started patting it.
Zombie glanced at the monster, and the monster glanced back at him.
For a second they had this weird moment between them when the monster nodded its head up in a very human-like friendly greeting and Zombie nodded back at it and smiled.
The wolf closed its eyes looking pleased.
On the other hand, Mary fidgeted, turned her body a bit, and shyly peeked at Zombie then she widened her eyes and looked back at the wolf then back at Zombie.
"Graough...? (Um... Something weird is going on... Master...?)"
Zombie felt uncomfortable so he hid behind his master and let out a low growl.
Cranberry frowned and straightened her back, blocking Mary's view.
"...what?"
"...!"
The red-haired girl mouthed the question silently which caused the brown-haired to quickly bow apologetically and turn away.
"Haa... I didn't take you for someone who would get scared by some low-level kid and her dog."
Cranberry sighed while the next child was called.
"Graough...! (I-I'm not scared of her! I-It's just that I have a bad feeling! That's all...!)"
Zombie groaned defensively.
Finally, only three children were still waiting for their turn.
The androgynous boy, Claymore, the blond boy with a greatsword, and the red-haired Cranberry.
Zombie fidgeted, he was getting worried, impatient, and anxious, all at the same time as the looming danger of the emergency quest his master received was getting closer.
Yet, even so, he couldn't help but wonder how high is the position of Cranberry's family.
Up until that point, aside from the exotic clam monster that Orange Tart fought, the rarity of the monster's that the children faced was steadily getting higher and higher, so that meant that the power and wealth of the families responsible for preparing them were shown off exactly as everyone assumed it would go.
Zombie tilted his head looking between the three young nobles, trying to determine by the looks and aura alone what is their rank in the hierarchy.
"The head of the Lust house, lord Claymore Lust."
"Whoa...!"
It seemed that Zombie wasn't the only one who wasn't aware of the androgynous child's status, because more than a few gasps raised from the audience.
Though in most cases it wasn't caused by the name alone, but rather the title.
Claymore was the only participant that got introduced with proper respect, everyone else was called young lady or young lord to create at least a guise of equality.
But not him.
"Ha... So even though he's so young, he's already the avatar of sin? That's impressive..."
Cranberry nodded watching the plain boy walk.
"Graough...? (The avatar of sin...? Master...? What is going on?) Graough? (How do you know this? None of your teachers mentioned it while we studied together!) Graough! (Please, tell me you are making it up, that actually sounds scary!)"
Zombie grabbed the backrest of Cranberry's seat and shook it while groaning pleadingly.
"Oh, right, I keep forgetting that you were a peasant from the boonies."
Cranberry leaned back and looked up at the worried servant.
"We will be learning about it in details in the future, but for now you should know that in Fruit Salad there are seven main noble families"
The girl explained while at the center of the arena Claymore stood up against a black and green scorpion monster the size of a large carriage.
"The head of each of those families inherits a title called the avatar of sin, and gains powerful skills unique to the sins they represent."
The scorpion monster didn't look weakened at all and charged at Claymore as soon as the magic binding on its carapace faded, snapping its pincers and preparing its massive tail for a strike.
"As for the avatar of lust, their main skill should be..."
Cranberry pointed at Claymore.
The androgynous boy raised his hand towards the charging monster and smiled, and as he did that, blue strands of light shoot out from his palm, wrapped around the scorpion, and got absorbed by it.
The effect was instantaneous, the monster buried its pincers into the ground stopping itself mere inches before trampling the boy.
Instead of attacking, it just waited, staring at the smiling Claymore with its many eyes.
"The bindings of lust. The strongest charm type skill there is, some people even dare to say that if something has a pulse, the high-level avatar of lust will conquer it."
Cranberry's expression turned sour.
"Although I've heard that the people from other main families have at least some resistance against it."
She added.
Meanwhile, Claymore leaned towards the scorpion.
"Such a big, strong monster... I bet you are worth a lot of experience points..."
His smile became even more beautiful and he started petting the beast.
The scorpion trembled expectantly and leaned in to be touched more.
"Hey, could you do something for me?"
Claymore asked and the scorpion snipped its pincers excitedly.
"Could you go ahead and become my experience points? Please...? Die for me."
And as Claymore's smile became the most beautiful, the monster stung itself in the back.
It's sharp as a rapier stinger broke through its carapace all the way through.
"Thank you~"
Claymore hummed happily as the monster let out its final screech and keeled over.
"Graough...! (That's some heavy stuff for a nation that's named after a dessert...!)"
Zombie groaned.
As the androgynous boy was returning to his seat, he stopped smiling and his face became plain again.
When he was sitting down he accidentally glanced at Cranberry.
The girl looked back at him and nodded her head with approval, which made the boy's eyes widen in shock.
His plain face didn't become overwhelmingly beautiful, but his expression certainly did change into a content one.
"Garough... (Wait... Master...)"
Zombie furrowed his brows and looked at Cranberry.
"Graough...? (If he was called earlier than you, then it means that his position is lower than yours, right...?)
He growled with realization.
Cranberry looked at him calmly and slightly tilted her head.
"Graough... (But then that means that you're also from one of the...)"
He was in the middle of the sentence when he was interrupted by the high priest calling out the next participant.
"Young lady Cranberry Pride."