To become a king and a magician

(Tiger... let's turn him back into a normal form.)

Although this kind of house is comfortable to live in, Ash is somewhat unaccustomed to it.

Go down the stairs to the first floor, and luckily, the main entrance is right opposite the stairs, so you can walk straight out to the outside world.

only.......

"Hmm? This taste..."

As she walked downstairs, a very fragrant aroma entered Chen's nose, coming from the left.

Natsukawa Tora only changed the exterior of the house; he didn't alter the overall layout. Ash remembered that the aroma was coming from the kitchen.

Is anyone using the kitchen?

Ash arrived in the kitchen with these questions in mind, only to find Natsukawa Tora busy at work.

From Morgan's memory, Ash knew that Natsukawa Tiger would cook for her every time he went to Glastonbury, where she lived, and that he was quite good at it, but after actually seeing it...

"Hmm? Ash, good morning."

Seemingly hearing Ash's footsteps, Natsukawa Tora turned his head slightly: "You look good. Did you sleep well? The comeback party last night was so lively. I thought you would sleep in late."

Last night's party?

(Oh, right, I did organize a party for humans last night to welcome the tigers... I remember the ending was...)

"Thank you for bringing me back last night," Ash said. "Looks like I accidentally drank too much."

"It's nothing. Please sit at the table for a while. I'll prepare breakfast right away. Although we can only make something simple because there aren't many ingredients here, the Fairy Kingdom really doesn't have any culture at all."

The Fairy Kingdom is primarily inhabited by fairies, who do not develop their own culture because they are completely ignorant of it. Even if they produce humans and gradually establish cities through human reproduction, the culture of this world remains a wilderness.

For example, in terms of diet.

"When I woke up this morning, I was hungry and wanted to eat something, but when I went to the public breakfast service point, I found that it wasn't food for humans at all. It should be called animal feed, right? Well, I can think of why humans would eat that kind of thing."

Humans were originally created by fairies as tools for their amusement, or you could say livestock. So what they were fed was naturally animal feed. Since fairies themselves didn't need to eat, the food humans ate was naturally terribly unpalatable.

Humans have been accustomed to eating this kind of food for a long time, so much so that even when they were fighting against the demons, they still maintained this habit in terms of food.

When I came back yesterday, some people were treating freshly baked potatoes without any seasoning as something incredibly delicious—although it is indeed a unique kind of food.

and so--

"You decided to cook for yourself because you couldn't eat the food the fairies gave to humans?"

"Hmm. Since you want to defeat the fairies in the future... or rather, achieve a coexistence with the fairies, this is something that needs improvement—alright, come and help me taste it."

Xia Chuanhu poured the contents of the pot into a bowl and handed it to Chen.

"It's just a simple bowl of white rice porridge and some side dishes. That's all the ingredients I have on hand. I'll try to make it more elaborate later."

"Thank you, I'll start eating now."

Although the original plan was to have breakfast outside with everyone, Ash didn't intend to refuse since Natsukawa Tora had already prepared it for her.

After sitting down at the table, I took a small spoonful...

"It's delicious."

"That's good." Xia Chuanhu sat down opposite Ash and prepared a bowl of porridge for himself as well. "It would be terrible if you said it wasn't good. As a thank-you gift, I can't let you eat something that tastes bad."

"A thank-you gift?"

"Well, as a thank you for letting me stay, I think I'll be in charge of your, Tertrol's, and Hector's meals from now on. You guys can't cook anyway, right? It's not right to feed them that kind of feed."

That would be too much trouble for you.

—Fan wanted to say that, but the taste she had never experienced before prevented her from saying it.

(It's delicious; even just a bowl of porridge makes for a wonderful breakfast.)

In comparison, Ash felt that the breakfasts she used to eat suddenly seemed inferior, even though they were actually inferior animal feed.

"Then I'll have to trouble you, Tiger. I'm sorry."

"What's there to apologize for? Are you Siegfried?" Xia Chuanhu laughed. "I don't want to live here for free. Consider cooking for you as my rent—there's still some in the pot, go get more when you're done."

"..."

After a moment of silence, just like Artoria, Ash quickly and elegantly finished her bowl of porridge and then decisively went to get another one.

35. In short, first learn how to take a beating and how to escape.

After breakfast, Ash left first because he had something to take care of, while Natsukawa Tora left a bowl of porridge for Tertrol and then left the house as well.

Ash has all sorts of things to deal with, and Natsukawa Tora naturally has things to deal with as well.

The training grounds near the sea in Lentinion.

"call--!"

When Natsukawa Torato arrived, he saw Yuther wielding his sword.

Contrary to his childlike appearance, Yuther's sword-wielding movements were very standard and quite steady, and his body did not sway while swinging the sword.

(Not bad...much better than those magicians at the Clock Tower, at least he's not a pushover.)

Thinking of this, Natsukawa Tora walked towards Yuse: "Yo, Yuse."

"Brother Merlin?"

Yuther turned around, sheathed his sword, and ran to Natsukawa Tora: "Good morning, is it time to start combat training? If you can, please wait a moment, I need to finish my daily basic training first."

"Is this how you wield a sword every day?"

"Yes, that's what my master told me: 'No matter how strong a warrior is, he won't be truly strong if his basic skills aren't solid.'"

(As Ash said... it was probably gleaned from knowledge given by Morgan, and it's certainly perfectly suitable for teaching beginners, which is indeed the case.)

If you have a solid foundation, you'll learn other technologies much faster later on.

"Okay, then you go ahead and exercise, I'll watch from the side."

"Thank you."

After nodding his thanks, Yuther ran back and started swinging his sword again. While he was swinging his sword, Natsukawa Tora once again observed Ash's disciple.

During that brief encounter yesterday, Natsukawa Torato learned that he possessed a magic circuit of decent quality.

There are no families in this fairy country. Humans do not reproduce naturally and have no offspring. Every human is an individual produced separately. Therefore, every human who possesses a magic circuit is a first-generation magician.

The same goes for Yousser.

As for the first generation of magicians, their magic circuits were naturally not much better. Natsukawa Torato's assessment of "not bad" was only in comparison to the first generation of magicians—he himself cannot be considered. After becoming a spirit, his magic circuits had long since deteriorated, and who knows what they are like now.

If one had to categorize it, what he currently possesses cannot be called a magic circuit, but rather the same [Return of the Gods] as Arcueid.

Let's leave that aside for now and focus on Uther's situation.

Aside from his magic circuits, which were quite good for a first-generation magician, he also possessed excellent physical fitness due to years of training, and his breathing was very regular... He had most of the qualities that a warrior should have.

If he continues to grow normally like this, he should be able to become a decent, above-average knight.

(But that's not enough.)

Although it was just a guess, Natsukawa Torato roughly knew what Ash needed him to teach.

About an hour later.

"Whoo~~~~~~"

Letting out a long breath, Yuther looked at Natsukawa Tora: "Sorry to keep you waiting, Merlin-nii-san, I'm done here."

"Yes, thank you for your hard work..."

Sitting up from the sofa he had conjured from his imagination, Natsukawa Torama bent down, grabbed a handful of pebbles, and weighed them in his hand: "This should be fine... So, Yuse, now that your body is fully warmed up, let me test you a little."

"test?"

"Fan wants me to teach you how to fight, to teach you how to become a knight. But if I don't know your current strength, I can't teach you anything, so let me first assess your strength."

"Does that mean... I want to fight you?" Yuther swallowed nervously. "I understand."

Xia Chuanhu laughed and said, "Relax, don't worry about anything else, just use your full strength. Don't worry about whether you will hurt me, that's something you might not be able to do even if you train for ten thousand years."

"Yes! Then, I'll go!"

After taking a deep breath, Yuther raised his sword and charged at Natsukawa Tora, slashing down with all his might.

Naturally, the attack missed, but Yuther was not discouraged and continued to swing his sword at Natsukawa Tora.

(really......)

As he casually dodged Yuther's attacks, Natsukawa Torato confirmed his suspicions.

"Your Highness, do you... have any experience fighting enemies so far?"

"N-no!"

In his haste, Yuther's answer was not decisive.

"Then what about real-world combat experience? Experience fighting against other people?"

"No, there isn't either."

"So far, all Ash has taught you is magic tricks and training methods?"

Yuther nodded.

After letting out a slight sigh, Xia Chuanhu stopped dodging, casually deflected the wooden sword that was coming at him, and then flicked a pebble with his other hand, which accurately hit Yuse on the forehead.

"Okay, I won."

With his hand on Yuther's shoulder, Natsukawa Torama scratched his head helplessly: "So you mean I have to teach you from scratch?"

"Start from the beginning?"

"Hmm. After all, you've never fought before, have you?"

To put it another way, all that Uther has learned so far is theoretical knowledge. He has been learning formulas but has never practiced with problems. His practical experience is zero. Even though he has been wielding a sword for several years, he is still a complete novice in actual combat.

You can tell from his movements that he hasn't incorporated his usual training into his movements. He's just like a child, randomly swinging his arms with his own strength, only slightly better than a child.

“I will teach you how to fight from scratch, Uther, so now—let’s start the stone-throwing contest.”