Chapter 28

"Then, let's start with a simple question, Fia."

With a beautiful smile, Captain Cyril met my gaze.

Oh no, this is bad. He’s trying to see right through my soul. He’s going to push me to my limits.

I forced a smile and looked back at the captain, but sweat was pouring down my back in an unusual amount.

"Why are you so knowledgeable about the Flowerhorn Dia?"

"Huh? Ah, well, it’s because I saw it in an encyclopedia."

Phew! It really was a simple question!

"Encyclopedias list all the monsters that have been discovered, right? I saw it in the encyclopedia and thought it was a beautiful monster with horns that look like flowers, so I remembered it."

"Huh? Didn’t you say you had experience hunting it?"

One of the Third Squad members, surprised by my confident response, muttered.

"Well, of course it’s just a bluff. Even if I said I read it in an encyclopedia, no one would entrust me with the task. Hehehe, it’s all about how you say it."

I smiled with a sense of satisfaction at having fooled them.

Well, in my previous life, I did kill hundreds of Flowerhorn Dias, but I’m not so shameless as to count that as experience in this life. Besides, even if I claimed to have killed them, it would be easy to check that I haven’t left the territory since I joined, so the lie would be exposed quickly.

My past experiences... hmm... it’s like experiencing something in a dream, I guess?

"Right, I thought it might work out since I had ‘killed’ it in a dream."

"You...!"

The knights of the Third Squad started opening and closing their mouths like fish out of water.

"You’re making it sound so easy, but just reading about it in an encyclopedia doesn’t mean you can handle it in a real battle!"

"Besides, normally, you’d forget the characteristics you read about in an encyclopedia! Even we, who have studied the list, only remembered the changing eye color because you mentioned it!"

"Even if you remembered the changing eye color, there are too many unknowns, like when it changes and how noticeable the change is, to act on it!"

"Are you a genius? To be able to command a hunt for a monster you’ve never seen before, you must be a genius in combat!"

"Ah, what should I do? Unexpected praise...!!"

I blushed and covered my cheeks with my hands, but everyone in the room shot me down.

"“No way—!!”"

What, this betrayal? I thought I was being praised, but it turned out to be a diss!

Captain Cyril, who had been silent until now, asked for confirmation.

"So, Fia, you declared that you had experience hunting the Flowerhorn Dia, even though you didn’t, and volunteered to lead the hunt. And by ‘experience,’ you mean the knowledge from the encyclopedia and the experience in your dreams. ...Huh, an encyclopedia and dreams. You thought it was okay to call that experience, huh?"

...Ah, oh no, the atmosphere is getting tense again.

I should keep quiet.

"………………"

I kept silent, my gaze lowered to the floor, but after a while of silence, I cautiously glanced at Captain Cyril. To my surprise, Captain Desmond of the Second Knight Squad was standing next to him. Captain Desmond was shaking his head silently, and Captain Cyril seemed to be deep in thought.

Hmm? What are they doing?

"Then, Fia, the next question. How did you know the timing of the Flowerhorn Dia’s red and blue eyes switching? You said, ‘It will turn blue in 7 seconds,’ and it did exactly 7 seconds later."

"Well, before you came, the eye color had already changed a few times. That was enough to figure out the pattern."

I paused, but since he didn’t seem convinced, I added:

"Um, that particular one had a three-stage fire that disappeared. The time it took to move from the second stage to the third stage was two-thirds of the time it took to move from the first stage to the second stage. So, I calculated that it would turn blue in 7 seconds."

Captain Desmond, standing next to Captain Cyril, shook his head again.

And Captain Cyril’s face was gradually tightening...

"Then, the last question. You quantified the life force and remaining life force of that particular one, right? How did you do that accurately?"

"Well, for the Flowerhorn Dia, the life force can be measured by the size of the body and the number of branches on the horns. The remaining life force can be estimated from how much each knight has attacked or from the monster’s posture and sweating. But, to be honest, more than half of it is based on intuition and feeling, so there’s some margin of error."

Quantifying the life force and remaining life force of a monster is a basic skill for a saint. And in my previous life, I killed countless monsters, so I have plenty of samples. After killing so many, you can estimate a monster’s life force at a glance.

"So, Fia, you can estimate a monster’s life force just by looking at it, and you can also tell how much damage a knight’s attack will do, right?"

"Pretty much, yeah..."

Captain Desmond shook his head again after hearing my answer.

What are they doing, really?

I’m getting a lecture or an interrogation from Captain Cyril, and they’re just shaking their heads. Being a captain must be a good position.

Ah, I’m getting tired of this lecture.

"Fia, if what you’re saying is true, that’s amazing. We need to consult the Fourth Monster Knight Squad, but about the familiar... Fia, is there something you want to say?"

"Even if you say that, you’ll get angry if I tell the truth."

"I won’t get angry. I promise."

"In that case! Why is today supposed to be a meat festival, but it’s turned into a lecture? My butt isn’t meant to sit on this hard, uncomfortable chair! My hands aren’t meant to grip my uniform pants while sweating from your lecture. These hands are meant to grab delicious meat and drink good alcohol!!"

"………………That was rude of me."

My unexpected response seemed to take the wind out of his sails. Captain Cyril muttered and looked up at the headmaster.

The headmaster met my gaze and nodded once.

"Fia, come to my place later. I’ll give you some good alcohol."

"Understood! I will never disobey an order!"

Then, the headmaster looked at the Third Squad knights and spoke.

"You all need to study more about monsters. Write a report on the characteristics and combat methods of the Flowerhorn Dia and submit it to Zachary."

"Yes, Headmaster!! Understood!!!"

Captain Zachary of the Sixth Knight Squad, with a stern face, looked at his subordinates and said:

"The report should be 30 pages per person."

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