Book 5: Chapter 10

The Truth about the Martial God

“W, what do you mean, meow! Martial God-sama’s occupation was Magical Pugilist!?”

“Martial God-sama’s occupation was recorded in the shrine books as the Warrior Champion of the Physiques System. W, was that… a lie?”

Merdie and the imperial beast guard looked flabbergasted.

“Lie, is it… I did not have the intention to lie, but it seemed that was the result. I am not a Warrior. In the first place, I never did reveal my occupation to anyone.”

The Martial God continued on with a little difficulty.

“The physical attack supremacism was more rampant than what is currently being experienced compared to the time when I became the king. During that period, I was born with an aptitude for magic. My family hid that fact, and I never did confide to a single soul about my occupation for the rest of my life.”

In the past, children born with aptitude in magic were detested, and there were also instances when the entire family was exiled because they used their magic.

However, beastkin did not normally show their status board to anyone else.

True strength was not something that should be disclosed to other people. If they wanted to show their power, they should let their fists do the talking—that was their custom.

Because of that, even if an aptitude for magic was manifested, as long as they did not use magic in public, they would not be driven off.

“Despite the fact that I had an aptitude for magic, I steadily grew to become burly. Afterward, I discovered a way to use magic without being discovered, so I fought while using magic until I eventually became the strongest in this country.”

“A, a way to use magic so that magic would not be discovered? Is there such a thing?”

“There is. You guys are calling it ‘battle aura’. Battle aura is non-attribute mana overflowing from your body. I used to compress that mana and wrap it on my body, so I was able to accomplish great feats that would not be possible with only the body strengthening magic. This is one example—”

A fire was burning at the feet of the Martial God’s statue. 

The Martial God extended his fist toward that flame.

The spirit of mana that he released from his fist rushed forward with great speed. Afterward, that mana extinguished the flame.

“Ohh! T, this is the ‘Flying Fist’, said to be used by the Martial God to pulverize enemies from a distance. To see it with my own eyes…”

The imperial beast guard was so moved his body was trembling.

However, that’s odd.

The Martial God shot the mana to extinguish the flame.

That kind of thing, even Merdie could do it.

“Don’t admire me for something like this. I just solidified mana and shot it. In short, it’s one type of magic.”

“Eh!? N, no, however, the crystal balls did not react at all!”

Crystal balls were placed inside the shrine just like at the capital’s training facility.

Those crystal balls did not respond when the Martial God hurled his mana. That was probably the reason why they thought he did not use magic.

“The Magic Detection Crystal Balls do not react to non-attribute mana. Even if it has no attributes, magical power has been released by solidifying it and launching it, so it means it is magic.”

I get it now, I noticed with my Magic Perception that mana had been hurled, but if not for that, it would seem that he was able to extinguish the flame from that distance just by the force of waving his fist.

Huh? So did that mean it had been okay to just use magic to blow it out?

I thought about that question, but I decided to listen to the rest of the Martial God’s story for now.

“I obtained the throne by this technique of solidifying mana, launching it and pulverizing my enemies from afar. My body became sturdy, and I was also blessed with a huge stat increase. However, the main cause was my use of magic.”

“Then, why did you create a rule forbidding the use of magic during the tournament that would determine the strongest person in this country, meow?”

“I did not create such a thing.”

“Eh!?”

“In the first place, I, as the king, also used magic heavily. There is no way I’d create such a law. What I created was—”

The Martial God had created three laws.

1 and 2 were rules that already existed in Vestier even before the Martial God became the king.

The Martial God appended the third one.

All the abilities they possessed—of course, mana and casting magic was also included/

The Martial God had hoped that someday, a beastkin who would become the real strongest person by using magic like himself would be nurtured in this country.

The race status the beastkin were blessed with.

If that was supported by magic, then it would be extremely natural that they would be able to obtain abilities that would overpower the other races.

The Martial God also realized this.

However, currently, the nation’s view was that physical attack systems were prized, and using magic was despised.

The Martial God created the third law commanding them to make use of all their abilities so that when a beastkin who could fight while using magic as leverage were born, they would be able to use magic without being ostracized.

However, because the beastkin who could use magic at that time were close to none, the idea that ‘magic is included’ in ‘all abilities’ was lost among the beastkin.

Afterward, that knowledge was preserved as is until this day.

“Then, can I use magic at the Martial God’s Warrior Tournament, meow?”

“Yeah, use it, use it! You should also use attribute-based magic with great vigor. When I fought against the evil dragon, I let all my companions escape first, then I used the holy attribute magic with all my power and defeated that guy.”

Merdie’s countenance brightened up when she heard those words.

At the same time, the imperial beast guard had an extremely complicated expression on his face.

“No way… To think that the Martial God’s legendary subjugation of the evil dragon was due to magic…”

“No, it can’t be helped, right. That guy revived infinitely no matter how you attacked him, you know!? But it was a one-hit kill with the Holy Fist. As expected, magic is the best!!”

The muscular lion Martial God gleefully released fire from his mouth toward the shrine’s ceiling. 

I wonder why he had deviated from his image greatly…

See, the imperial beast guard seemed to be troubled, too.

“I, is that so. T, then, Master Halt extinguished that flame by hurling magic, is that the truth?”

“Ah, I—“

“About that. This guy, he legitly extinguished that fire using only the force of his fist when he swung it… Even I can’t do that kind of thing.”

Hey, you can!

“He did strengthen his entire body’s ability with non-attribute mana, but all he used was the wind pressure from his fist when he swung it down to blow that fire from this distance, so isn’t he a monster?”

The imperial beast guard gaped at me when he heard those words.

His face twitched.

No, even I thought it was hard to do!

Well, in that case, I did it, I guess.