Although Calca rarely left her quarters, the palace was far from airtight. The reputation of the Custodio sisters, Remedios and Kelart, had long been circulating among the servants and knights, much like Calca's own "genius" moniker.
The elder sister, Remedios, possessed top-tier talent for the Paladin class. Having also begun her training at the age of six, the eight-year-old had already mastered Second-Tier blessing magic, and her swordsmanship drew frequent praise even from seasoned veterans. Though she had yet to begin heavy armor training to protect her developing body, her strength was already that of a bona fide junior Paladin. Her flaws were equally obvious: her aptitude for academics and social graces was practically non-existent. While her intuition was startling, her single-minded personality made her extremely susceptible to being manipulated by others.
To Caspond II, however, a child with such a simple personality and steadfast faith was the ideal guardian. Meanwhile, the younger sister, Kelart, was exceptionally intelligent, making her a perfect fit as Calca's study companion. The Custodio family had served for generations; their loyalty was beyond reproach.
Caspond II readily agreed. "You shall meet them before next Monday."
"Thank you, Father!" Calca offered a dutiful salute.
The father and daughter then made their way to the Royal Library. Along the way, Caspond II attempted to personally teach his daughter self-defense techniques, only to be ruthlessly exposed by Calca: "But I see Father getting his ear pulled every time you argue with Mother." The Holy King could only huff in indignation.
Upon returning from the library, Calca collapsed onto her bed, utterly exhausted. She had initially thought that having the library scholars catalog the meanings of the magic runes would be simple, but those old fossils turned out to be nothing but "nitpickers." Not only did they try to convince Calca of various nonsensical interpretations, but some even attempted to use her discovery to name certain decoding methods after themselves. This blatant, ugly attempt at credit-grabbing left Calca feeling disgusted.
"Heh, you'll get what's coming to you later." Before leaving, Calca had already filed a formal complaint with her father, which lightened her mood considerably.
19:23. It was still early. Calca picked up the First Holy King's biography and flipped to the final chapters. She had always been curious about how an ancestor with the power of [Teleportation] could have possibly fallen.
The latter half of the biography recorded Eulryk's obsessive research into Mana Auras. He believed that such precise control had a very high barrier to entry, which made it uniquely suited for humanity. Demihumans often relied on overwhelming innate talent, whereas refined technique was the trump card for human victory. If popularized, it could change the landscape of human inferiority.
Just as Calca was becoming inspired by this grand vision and anticipating the experimental results, the first three words at the top of the next page made her heart drop into an icy abyss:
[Something has gone wrong.]
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I'm not the Queen Greatsword. (70 Chapters, Ongoing)
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