Chapter 9: At this moment, is this a joke?

If Chloe looked like a little loli who was only thirteen or fourteen years old and no taller than one meter thirty,

Then Rita was already a grown girl of sixteen.

At one meter seventy, she had the same fiery red long hair and voluptuous figure as her mother, the Flame Demon Great Lord Rivet. Among all the demon princesses of her generation, she was the undisputed big sister and the purest warrior.

Anything else could be discussed, but when it came to fighting, one must never choose to clash with this Flame Demon princess whom the current Demon King had personally evaluated as mighty.

They had hung out together plenty of times—holding tea parties, going on outings to beat up monsters, and bullying adventurers. How could Chloe not know?

“Since the opponent has been chosen, the timer begins. Within half an hour, as long as Chloe does not lose her combat ability, today’s trial will be considered passed.”

Elda could not see that Chloe was already drenched in cold sweat. In her eyes, the opponent Her Highness had chosen herself must mean she had full confidence, so she remained calm and composed.

“Um…”

Chloe quickly looked toward the maid, trying to give her a hint, but Elda had completely entered referee mode.

She was very good at handling favorable situations.

Since defeating the opponent was not an issue, the harsher the match conditions, the more it would prove that Her Highness was not useless, right?

“Don’t worry.”

Elda gave Chloe a smile that only the two of them as master and servant would notice, then, under Chloe’s despairing gaze, slowly announced:

“Demon King successor assessment trial. According to precedent, the examinee must counterattack within ten attacks launched by the opponent. Full evasion is not allowed, surrender is not allowed, attack methods are unrestricted, and there is no field restriction. Within the time limit, if one side completely loses the ability to resist—including but not limited to fainting, crippling, or death—the trial will end. Fainting specifically refers to fainting from severe injury…”

After finishing word by word, the utterly heart-dead Chloe watched the maid clench her fists encouragingly toward her, then walk lightly out of the arena. She looked blankly at Rita, who seemed to have just come back to her senses and realized she was Chloe’s opponent.

【Me fighting her—this battle maniac—is this real?】

Thinking bitterly in her heart, Chloe forced an awkward smile, glanced at the huge hourglass placed in the most eye-catching spot of the arena, rubbed her hands together, and tried hard to make her expression even cuter.

“Big Sister Rita~”

This disgustingly sweet girly voice not only failed to hold steady for Chloe herself—the princesses who had dodged her finger earlier and returned to their seats all had twisted expressions.

Yalith’s brows furrowed even tighter. She subconsciously glanced around her. The great lords all sat like statues with expressionless faces, yet she still felt something was off.

“You know why I chose you all, right?”

Chloe swallowed heavily and blinked hard a couple of times.

“I know.”

Rita nodded, which made Chloe breathe a slight sigh of relief.

“Then let’s just spar lightly and…”

Before she could finish, she saw the Flame Demon big sister toss away her training sword and pull out a high-grade blazing sword that only cadre-level demons could use from her storage item. Gripping it with both hands, she looked at Chloe with surging fighting spirit.

“Usually I thought Chloe was just a lazy person with no real pursuits. Today when I heard you wanted to challenge His Majesty the Demon King… I understood. This is the gap between you and me. A warrior without sufficiently high fighting spirit is not a good warrior. You’ve taught me a lesson, so I will respect you.”

“No no no, that’s not what I meant at all!”

Chloe’s soul nearly flew out of her body. She waved her hands like a sieve, but towering flames rushed straight toward her.

“Burn the Heavens!”

Rita meant what she said. She opened with a high-level spell, barely any casting delay.

Chloe immediately rolled to the side, narrowly dodging the blaze. Looking at where she had just been standing, the floor had already melted, and the tips of her long hair had been singed by the scorching heat.

The hourglass began to flow. Seeing this, Chloe opened her mouth and cursed at Rita.

“Damn you, you’re really going all out! We’re still good sisters, right? All those times we…”

“Yeah.”

Rita lowered her sword and answered casually, looking genuinely puzzled, which left Chloe’s words stuck in her throat.

“Then why are you hitting so hard?”

After holding it in for a while, Chloe finally gritted her teeth and glared at this girl whose thought process was as weird as her Flame Demon mom’s.

“At least I didn’t call you out the same way you did? That already counts as respecting you. Come on, let’s fight to our hearts’ content!”

“I meant for you to go easy on me!”

Chloe, already crying from anxiety, yelled at her airheaded best friend. This time Rita looked even more confused and frowned.

“But I’m a Flame Demon. I only know how to release fire, not water…”

With that, another wave of fire slashed from her sword shot straight at Chloe.

“My hair… you idiot! I meant go easy with your attacks!”

“At a time like this? You must be joking.”

Their conversation clearly reached all the spectators. Yalith, face dark, watched her daughter, who was jumping around the arena like a monkey from time to time, or really wriggling on the ground like a maggot, while Rita chased after her with a flaming longsword.

Forget about spectacle—even a court jester’s performance couldn’t match the entertainment value of Chloe’s movements.

The great lords sitting on both sides of her still remained completely expressionless, like old monks in meditation.

They had lived so long, yet this was the first time they realized how painful it was to hold back laughter.

“Go ahead and laugh if you want.”

Yalith sighed. Laughter immediately filled the area around her. However, no one was mocking Chloe. The weak would be looked down on, but being too weak only made one seem cute. This was the demon race’s value system, and these great lords were no exception—even though Chloe was Yalith’s daughter.

“Princess Chloe’s dodging ability is indeed quite strong. That is still praiseworthy, isn’t it?”

The Wind Demon Great Lord felt that after laughing enough, someone needed to smooth things over, so she offered this evaluation that was factually true yet even harder to accept.

Yalith’s face remained black. She didn’t answer, only watching Chloe in the arena. To outsiders, she looked full of murderous intent from anger and disappointment. But in reality, the Demon King who understood exactly how her daughter had come to be felt only satisfaction toward Chloe.

How interesting, wasn’t it?

Rivet’s earlier evaluation had been the most accurate. So what if she was weak? The demon race didn’t lack a powerful Demon King successor. But a wriggling maggot who was also the Demon King’s daughter—this positioning was far too rare. If nothing else, it was certainly cute and helped liven up the atmosphere.

However, Yalith felt that Chloe’s performance was still not enough.

She had actually been waiting all along. Her expectation for her daughter had always been to watch her struggle uglily to the very end. This kind of small fuss was nowhere near enough—it wasn’t interesting at all.

Unfortunately, no one could understand the anticipation in her heart, and she could not tell any of her clansmen about Chloe’s origins.

Thinking of this, Yalith let out a quiet sigh:

“After being chased and beaten by me for so many years, what is there to say?”

Another wave of laughter rose around her. Only the Flame Demon Great Lord remained unchanged in expression, watching the arena seriously.

“Rivet, what do you think?”

Out of curiosity, Yalith asked softly.

“I’m waiting for the moment when Her Highness must counterattack. Rita has already launched seven attacks. If she doesn’t counter soon, it won’t look good.”

Hearing this, Yalith was momentarily stunned. She too focused her attention fully on the arena.

Even raising a dog for a long time creates feelings. For this little one she had raised for five years who kept calling her Mommy, the excuse that she only wanted to have fun had long since stopped holding water.

If she looked at this trial from the perspective of a mother’s expectations for her child, would she feel something different?

Yalith suddenly really wanted to know the answer.