"Now then."
I spoke to Kierbit, who had finally calmed down after taking a bath and eating a meal.
"W-What is it?"
"Don't be so on edge. I’m not your enemy, right?"
"T-That’s right. I’m not your enemy. So, what do you want?"
"I’ll get straight to the point. Tell me about the Trials of the Angel Race."
"……What do you mean by that?"
"If I clear these trials, you'll officially recognize my relationship with Tia, won't you?"
"T-That’s right. Though I highly doubt someone like you could actually pass them."
"Is that so?"
"It is."
"Well, let's hear them anyway. The Leader's Clan is the one who sets the terms, right?"
Granmaria had told me everything would be fine, but I still felt a nagging sense of unease.
"There are five Trials of the Angel Race in total."
"Five? That many?"
"Yes. Getting cold feet already?"
"I just thought it sounded like a hassle. Tell me the first one."
"Heh. First: Financial Power! You must donate seven hundred and seventy-seven gold coins to the Angel Race."
"Gold?"
"Galgard gold coins are the standard currency around here."
"Gold coins, huh... Can I pay with items of equal value?"
"I don't mind."
"Granmaria, could you go to the storehouse and bring something worth about that much... Ah, you’ve already got it."
"A Golgo Stone? This size? Wait—what? This is worth over a thousand gold coins!"
It was one of the thank-you gifts Dos had sent me a while back.
"Is this sufficient?"
"E-Eh, ah, u-uh, yeah. Then, the second trial."
"The second is Intelligence. Please prepare twenty small pebbles."
I gathered twenty pebbles as she instructed.
"This is a game popular among the Angel Race. You and I will compete; if you win, you pass."
"Understood. What are the rules?"
"We take turns picking up stones. The person forced to take the last one loses. You can take between one and three stones on your turn, and you must take at least one. Do you understand?"
"Yeah."
I knew this game.
"Then let's begin. I'll let you choose whether to go first or second."
"Got it."
There were twenty stones in the pile. Since you lost if you took the last stone, the goal was to take the nineteenth stone. The maximum one could take at once was three. Because I didn't know how many she would take...
No, wait. I needed to change my perspective.
It wasn't that taking the twentieth meant losing; it was that taking the nineteenth meant winning. I just had to adjust my moves so that the count always worked in my favor.
If she took three, I would take one. If she took two, I would take two. If she took one, I would take three.
This ensured that the count decreased by exactly four every full round. With nineteen stones, four times four was sixteen, leaving a remainder of three. If I went first and took those three stones, victory was mathematically guaranteed.
"I'll go first. Three stones."
"I see. Then I'll take one."
"Three stones."
……
I won.
"O-One more time!"
"That's fine, but I get to choose who goes first."
"Fine. Then we'll add one more pebble to the pile."
Since there was no longer a remainder...
"You go first."
……
I won again.
"One more time!"
"No, let's move on to the next trial."
She called it a game popular among the Angel Race. That meant Tia and Granmaria knew it too, and I’d had plenty of practice playing games with them. On top of that, I knew the logic behind the game from my previous world. As long as I could choose the starting order, I couldn't lose.
"The third trial is Martial Prowess."
"Martial prowess? That’s going to be a problem..."
"Fufufu. It seems you're not much of a fighter."
"Not really. So, how do you measure that?"
"You simply have to survive a fight against an opponent I designate."
"I don't have to win?"
"No."
"Hmm..."
I looked at Granmaria. Honestly, a real fight was beyond me. I gave her a pleading look, but she just gave me a confident thumbs-up. I really hoped she knew what she was doing.
"Alright. Who's the opponent?"
"Fufufu. Listen and be amazed! It is the Vampire Princess who once terrorized the world, Lulushi!"
"……"
"You look stunned. I’m not surprised. Even Tia couldn't defeat her. There's no way a man like you can survive a confrontation with her!"
"Ah, no, well..."
In my distress, I looked toward Granmaria again. She was doubled over, desperately trying to stifle her laughter.
"Umm, she's my wife."
"Hello. Is that all you needed?"
"Yeah. Sorry to bother you, Lu."
"It's fine. But we need to get started on the festival preparations, right? We're running out of time."
"I know. I'll wrap this up quickly."
After Lu gave a brief greeting and left, I turned back to Kierbit, who was standing there in a total stupor. It took a while for her to snap out of it.
"……Wife?"
"Yeah."
"The girl she was holding... was that your child?"
"Yeah. He's growing fast, though he's still a bit of a mama's boy."
"Umm..."
"Can we consider the 'survival' portion of the trial complete?"
"E-Eh, um... y-yeah..."
"Next trial, please."
"A-Ah, u-huh. Next is Negotiation Skills."
"Negotiation?"
"That's right. After Financial Power, Intelligence, and Martial Prowess comes Negotiation."
"Who am I supposed to negotiate with, and about what?"
"Wait a moment."
Kierbit took a deep breath, steeling herself for a grand announcement.
"The Fourth Trial! What is required is Negotiation! Your opponent is the King of Mount Gurgrant, a being said to be impossible to communicate with—"
Just as Kierbit was striking a dramatic pose, we were interrupted.
"You're holding a festival again, I hear. I'll be coming to watch this year as well."
"That's still a little way off, Draim."
"Hahaha. I only came to see my daughter today. I'll be staying for a couple of days."
As I replied to him, I realized exactly how this was going to play out.
"By the way, Draim. What's the name of the mountain where you live?"
"Hmm? I believe the locals call it Mount Gurgrant."
"I see. Thanks."
Draim had landed in his Dragon Form before shifting into a human and heading for the inn. I remembered him saying he was incredibly shy when we first met. That explained why he was "impossible to talk to." Then again, his Dragon Form was pretty terrifying.
Now then...
"Are you okay?"
Kierbit had fainted.
Kierbit, who had apparently felt the need to take yet another bath, eventually struck a pose in front of me while blushing slightly.
"The Final Trial!"
"O-Oh."
After Financial Power, Intelligence, Martial Prowess, and Negotiation... what was left?
"Luck."
"Luck?"
"Yes, Luck. You will flip this coin. If it comes up heads, you pass."
"I see."
"You'll use this specific medal. One side shows an Angel, the other a shield and sword. The Angel side is heads."
"Got it, but..."
I took the coin and inspected both sides. There didn't seem to be any tricks, and the weight felt balanced. It was a pure fifty-fifty shot. I looked at Granmaria. Once again, she gave me a thumbs-up. I didn't share her confidence; I never considered myself a particularly lucky person.
Should I try to catch it and flip it onto the back of my hand to control the outcome?
"Once you flip it, you aren't allowed to touch it. Let it fall naturally to the ground."
"Alright, alright. I won't cheat."
There was nothing else for it. I tossed the coin into the air and watched it hit the dirt. It landed heads-up. However, Kierbit immediately reached down and flipped it over.
"Eh?"
"Fufufu. Fuhahahahahahahahaha! Too bad for you! You’ve failed the final trial!"
"Hey, isn't that a bit blatant?"
"The rule was that you couldn't touch it. There was no rule saying I couldn't. It just happened to hit my hand before it stopped moving."
I was getting genuinely annoyed by her smug expression, but the feeling passed instantly. Tia had appeared out of nowhere and punched Kierbit in the back of the head with everything she had.
"W-W-What was that for!?"
"Because you're being a fool."
Tia flipped the coin back to the heads side and then stepped on it, grinding it deep into the dirt.
"With this, the final trial is cleared. Kierbit, you will now recognize the relationship between the Village Head and me."
"What are you talking about!?"
"If you refuse, we can do it again. But next time, I'm hitting you in the face."
"Hie."
"You recognize it, don't you?"
"U-Uu..."
"Recognize it."
"I-I recognize it."
"Thank you. I’d appreciate it if you'd offer us your blessings as well."
"Muu..."
"The reason people have stopped respecting the trials is because the Leader's Clan changes the difficulty on a whim. Try to show a little more integrity."
"Uu."
Regardless, it seemed I had officially cleared the Trials of the Angel Race. I felt a bit bad for Kierbit as she tried to dig the coin out of the dirt, so I helped her out.
"Was the reason you didn't step in earlier because of the trials?"
"Yes," Tia replied. "If I get involved, Kierbit gets incredibly stubborn and competitive."
"So she can't stand showing weakness in front of you?"
"That’s part of it... but it's also because I had a child before her."
"If the Leader's Clan gets to set the difficulty, couldn't they just pick any partner they wanted?"
"Well, about that..."
Apparently, the current leader—Kierbit's mother—had married a man who was nothing more than a pretty face. She had fallen for him and let him pass with a laughably easy trial. The result was Kierbit, who grew up with a massive complex regarding her "useless" father.
"The other fathers were all exceptional men who cleared very difficult trials."
"Ah... I see."
"Kierbit had plenty of suitors, but she drove them all away by setting the trials to an impossible level. Lately, no one has been proposing to her at all. Then I—someone she considered to be in the same situation—ended up having a child with someone who hadn't even cleared the trials yet."
"In the same situation?"
"I, well... for some reason, I had a reputation for being terrifying, so I never received any proposals to begin with..."
"Even though you're this cute?"
"G-Geez. Please don't tease me."
While Tia and I were sharing a moment, I felt a heavy, judgmental stare. It was Kierbit.
"What is it?"
Since the group of Angels and Harpies was so large, they couldn't all fit in the inn and were staying in Village One. I assumed she was busy helping them get settled with bedding and supplies, but...
"I-I just thought I should offer a formal apology and express my gratitude. And, well, I wanted to talk properly."
"……"
"What?"
"You're actually quite reasonable when you're not in a blind rage."
"How rude!"
"Now, now. Is it okay if Tia joins us?"
"Yes."
Tia, Kierbit, and I sat down at a table in the inn’s dining hall. It was still early for dinner, but we started with some light drinks to help the conversation flow. However...
"Ahahahahahaha!"
Kierbit was much, much weaker to alcohol than I had anticipated.
"Umm..."
"Mmmmmm, this stuff is way better than what we have back home. Another round! Ahahahahahaha!"
"Young lady, you’ve got good taste! Here, try this one!"
A group of Dwarves, who had been hovering nearby hoping for a party, immediately swarmed the table. Conversation was now officially impossible.
"I guess today is a wash."
"It seems so."
"We might as well invite everyone else."
Tia and I gave up on our talk with Kierbit, and, much to the Dwarves' delight, the evening turned into a full-blown banquet.