With weak fireworks lighting up the sky every so often, most of which are weak and safe enough for children to fire off, the school festival had already commenced.
Unlike the common day where only students came, countless parents paid a taxi to come to Othenia Grand Magic Academy’s island to enjoy the festival with their children.
Food stands from cooking classes, different kinds of events crafted by each homeroom class, and even some talks about classes and other attractions made by clubs from the senior classes and extra classes.
Our class took some time before deciding to make it a kind of ‘royal cafe’. This is because there are five members of the royal family and me in the class who have a blessing that is supposed to be a royal family's blessing.
The boys were dressed as butlers while girls dressed like extremely fancy maids that almost looked like a dress they would wear during big events. It was quite something to have the royal family children playing such roles. The other children had more casual clothing though some were cooking and things.
These were, of course, morning events. After noon would begin the bigger events like the bard and minstrel concerts, some physical events at the track but the main event was obviously the monster race. How could it not attract attention when a video game, made by enchanting the game to be properly connected to the world's monster evolution line, not attract attention. It was a tamer’s biggest attraction and there were hundreds of reporters from many nations that had come to spectate.
Tamers were quite useful for these reporters and such because they used flying monsters to spectate and follow the karts. Of course that was not all because there were towers in different locations where more camera men were place as well as on the ground near the starting line.
The race track began near the track and field but it was about 100 meters away and had a low stone wall with metal fencing that could be seen through. This was protection against someone entering the track and getting hurt.
Around the starting line are large seats and each stand has a big crystal screen that projects what is being filmed.
What was most amazing, to us children, was that the event even attracted all the royal families attention, mainly because all the royal family were the inspiration for this and because they were the main attraction of the event.
With a crew built, all the racers were already in the box, me included, as we looked over the karts.
“Rocket, don’t over exert yourself, I put extra mana crystals but going too fast makes you consume more than you need.” I say to the slime. I named him Rocket because his top speed was a very fast 250 km/h. In the single week after his evolution, I purchased three whole karts off of the mechanic’s class and let him eat it.
He had been a vehicle mimic to begin with but he never ate it so he was going on the assumption that I had formed how to make it. Upon eating the kart, after a long struggle for over 2 days, he finally finished it and what happened was that the frame work hardened and reinforced greatly, the mana lines from before moved around and were covered in slime that hardened to isolate the mana making it flow faster, the over all looked even more stable even if his mimicking skill was only at basic level 8. Even so he was advancing quickly over the week as the crew I built consisted of both monster tamers and mechanics.
We worked hard to adapt the model of slime kart into a solid true kart.
“Master… don’t… worry.” He said through a mental link. Only I could hear him and still marveled by how fast he was learning. The slime brain was a complete marvel of nature for sure as it was working many times more efficiently now which was one of the many attractions from biologists and monster researchers.
“My, how amazing this is.” A laughing voice said.
I look over and see Elunia’s king, Edward Maximus Calder Bryton, and Asher’s father.
He was smiling as he walked over, “I have been looking forward to this event since a while now. To have one of my nation’s tamers aid and inspire such an event.” He laughed.
“Greetings your highness.” I said and bowed.
The entire crew was shell shocked before they bowed as well. Even if they were from a different nation, this was royalty and one that held the previous generations' blessing. He was hundreds of times more fierce than Asher.
Edward smiled gently at the crew. “Please stand and get to work, there isn’t much time before the event begins. I have just come to see the amazing slime kart I have heard so much about.” He said walking over. His eyes landed on the slime nucleus at the front of the kart behind the wheel.
“Dear, is this the child?” A feminine voice said, attracting Kuroko’s attention.
Walking into the garage area, a beautiful woman wearing a long black silk dress. She was tall, at 175 cm tall, her skin was pale like a corpse but glittered under the light, her hair was blonde and her eyes were black. She carried a black umbrella protecting herself from the sunlight.
“This is Kuroko, she is Asher’s friend and the adopted daughter of Dalton.” The king said then looked at me, “Kuroko, this is my dear wife, Jessabelle Reaper Bryton.” He introduced.
“Greetings your highness, it is a pleasure to meet you.” I said courteously since I did not know this woman’s temperament but she just giggled.
“Come now, my dear has said there is no need for formality. You are Asher’s friend, the days he spent at home were quite filled with the fun you children had here and even when I went to see him now, he seems truly happy. It is good to see that refreshing smile on his face like when he was a baby.” She said.
I smiled when suddenly the garage area seemed to shake and everyone looked outside to see a towering man with dragon scales covering most of his head, a long red scaled tail and wings on his back. He wore a hard leather suit and was extremely muscular. Beside him was a beautiful woman that had many times less scales on her head, showing the beautiful human face that had only scales on her lower cheek and neck as well as above her eyes acting like an eye liner.
“Old lizard, what ruckus are you bringing up at these children’s event?” Edward said jokingly.
The large dragon kin looked over and narrowed his eyes. “Edward, I was expecting you to come. Come and congratulate my little girl who shall win this event after crushing her competition with complete might!” He boisterously roared and laughed.
Edward raised a brow and walked out to see Nova’s kart. The kart was made using a similar crafting style like Asher who made a skeleton kart but the frame was made from smelted lizard beast bones, which are hard as steel, and their scales as the outer shell. The inner components all incorporated this in one way or another. Most of the mechanics were all beast men who Nova and her family rule over.
“Fufufu, I do not believe my little boy will lose out in this competition.” Jessabelle said gesturing towards the Asher’s kart that was made out of forged bones from strong skeletons. The main force it ran on was mana and its driver was a high level skeleton but the engine also ran similarly to Rocket and used mana crystals as fuel to not burden the skeleton mage.
“Those little bones can’t even get near the might of dragons and our kin! The sweat and blood of the beastmen were poured into making our might stronger!” The dragon king said.
“Daddy! You're noisy! Go away, shoo!” Nova complained and waved him off.
Edward, Jessabelle and the dragon queen covered their mouths upon hearing the little girl's complaint.
While most nations have royal pride and such things, the beastmen are all frank and most are honest and upfront. Nova even more so as a child making her comment something unsurprising.
The jaw of the big dragonoid dropped before a blunt laugh came from behind me where I found Dalton and to my own surprise, Megumi.
“Megumi!” I shout and jump over towards her and into her arms.
“Ah I missed you too.” She said taking me in her arms as my arms wrapped around her neck and my legs around her waist. “You have been busy missy. Father has been receiving so many new kinds of slimes to experiment with, he even took up a book on dungeoneering and purchased a large piece of land to clear out and plant the dungeon to house the hundreds of kinds of slimes you are discovering and to try to make his own discovery.” She said.
“So what about this old man!” I said before hugging her tighter to not let her go.
Megumi blushed greatly when I wouldn’t let her go. She pulled one hand out from under me and suddenly pinched the side of my thigh. I flinched and jumped in her arms but she unrelentingly tickled me before I jumped off and hid behind Peach narrowing my eyes.
“Oi old tamer, what makes you dare laugh!” the old dragon king said, looking down on Dalton.
“Old dragon, I’m laughing at the suffering you get from your daughter.” Dalton bluntly said to his face.
“Not like you're any better old man.” Me and Megumi said in sync.
The dragon king grinned gloatingly.
“Alright you two, it's enough, don’t go fighting here because the island can’t afford the costs for such a high level battle. Let alone, this is our children’s first school festival.” Edward appeared and pushed apart the two.
The way they spoke was extremely casual so it can easily be seen that not only were they also within the same generation, they might even have gone to school together, though different years possibly.
Suddenly a cold chill rose up the necks of all those present before the big dragon stomped and glared at the source that stood looking into Owen’s garage.
“Oi you recluse demon! Control that creepy ass pressure of yours!” Roared the dragon king.
The brow of the demon twitched as he looked their way, “You are as noisy as ever Ulrahram.” He said coldly.
“Now this is shocking, even Rufus.” Jessabelle said, a bit shocked.
“I have come to see my son’s minions triumph and to give him and his brothers pointers on breeding strong demon minions. A recent war near our borders took several large tribes with it so I require manpower to rebuild it.” He said.
“Kuku, my lord, there is no need to be shy, just tell them. You just wanted to come and cheer for your little prince.” A stunning beauty appeared next to him covering her face with a silk fan while chuckling. She wore a beautiful gothic silk dress going down to her feet while her hair was fixed in a very ornamental manner that made a beautiful flower out of her silky shiny hair. Her skin was just as pale as the demon lords and Owens.
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He glared at the woman but she just chuckled.
“As expected of our little closed up demon lord.” Ryu, the dragonoid queen said.
With this kind of amazing line up building, it was rapidly attracting the attention and building the tension in the garage of each of the participants, they were no longer speaking out loud and were even taking out magic tools to take pictures. It isn’t everyday that one sees so many sovereigns of the five great nations together.
While I was admiring the view a hand with silky slightly tanned skin and long but polished and glittering fingers appeared in my view before the hand traced my face and reached my chin.
I felt all feeling in my body go numb as pleasure dominated my body. Another hand was felt on my head causing the feeling to increase.
“Oh no! Mother!” Stephanie suddenly jumped out of her pit area once she felt a foreboding feeling and looked out.
When everyone noticed, I was already melting to the godly fingers of the woman that was the elf queen of Arbor Incola, Beatrice Danbolt Ashwood.
“My my, how did such a cutie make my little princess her petting toy when you can’t even hold out a single minute.” She giggled.
“Kuroko!” Megumi said, rushing over.
The elf queen grinned as her fingers let go and her body faded and appeared behind Megumi like a ghost and a single petting on Megumi’s chin caused the girl to freeze. The second caress made her knees weak and the third made her drop to her knees into the queens arms.
“My my, how can this generation survive the troubles of the future when just a gentle caress could make their knees weak.” She said.
“Mother! Stop this or you will ruin the event!” Stephanie shouted with a red face all the way to the tips of her ears.
“Oh my, Steph, how can I stop cuddling with such cuties in front of me. Also how did you become someone else's cuddle pillow. As my daughter you should be the one doing the petting.” She narrowed her eye.
“Its because i... beat her in... Monster Karts... the video game.” I said huffing as my body trembled as it got over the pettings effects.
“Oh my, did I never tell you never to bet your body child.” She shook her head releasing Megumi who was trembling with a face of bliss.
“Come ladies and gentlemen, we should go to the VIP box to watch the show. It would do us no good to be here distracting the children.” Beatrice said.
“Woman, you are the most distracting.” Ulrahram said.
She simply smiled before turning but stopped, “Little fairy, I hope you visit my home someday, it gets quite boring since those little maids are all used to my cuddles.” She said and giggled.
I felt a chill run down my spine as I engraved into my heart to hopefully never go to the elven nation or at least go hidden from the eyes of the queen.
After recovering, the adults soon left, Megumi with them, and us five sighed.
In the monster kart race there were over 30 racers at this time but only 7 are from the first year while the others were older students that were able to develop monster karts fast enough.
We all sighed and got back to work and soon the race would start.
***
In the VIP box, an exclusive box for the royals and high ranking nobles like guild masters, the royal families just walk in when they notice a group that was sitting with servants helping them with their needs and they look down arrogantly on the others around them.
The man who proudly adorned his head with a shining crown was the king of Monville. Next to him was the queen who was all adorned with gems and jewelry and makeup as she tried to look more beautiful to outshine the other women.
Her eyes turned and burned with hidden fury when she saw Beatrice and the other queens. They were all natural beauties whose natural beauty did not need extra adornments to compliment them but adding them would make them even more stunning.
Finally on the other side of the King was the crowned prince who had been kicked by Kuroko.
The king is known as Cameron Velaria Maryland Vis Carmellian, the crowned prince is Edwin Velaria Maryland Vis Carmellian and the queen is Marybell Dominia Vis Carmellian.
“Oh if it isn’t Cameron, old friend it has been a long time since we have seen each other.” Edward said, trying to open the conversation.
The man in question looked at Edward but formed a frown. “Lich half blood, I do not remember being friends with you. Do not so casually speak with me.” He coldly said.
The VIP box was filled, instantly with a cold silence.
“Hmph, as if you can talk of half blood.” Rufus said, crossing his arms.
Ulrahram chuckled, “Don’t poke him like that old demon, you can’t even call him quarter blood let alone half blood.” The dragonoid said.
A sneering grin appeared on the demon lord’s pale face.
The face of the Monville king turned pale with rage as he stood up, “Filthy animal, hold your tongue or do you want me to cut it out for you.” He said steaming.
“Come little human, I would love a warm up fight before I get to have a round with Rufus in some secluded location.” Ulrahram said, cracking his knuckles.
“Now now, let us not get all fussy, today is an important day for the children. Let's not cause a scene.” Beatrice said.
“Hussy of the forest, please refrain from speaking or moving, it feels stifling to see such a slut in my presence.” The Monville queen said.
“My my, Marybell, I did not see you. I had mistaken you for an overdressed stuffed doll with no sense of fashion. Please excuse me for not seeing your ‘royal’ and ‘majestic’ presence.” Beatrice said.
The temperature in the room dropped even lower than the conflict between the men. If one thing is to be feared, it is a confrontation between powerful women.
“Here we go again.” Dalton rolled his eyes and walked past everyone and went to sit down in the lower seats which are for the nobles while the royalty sat at the top most seats but stopped as his eyes suddenly turned and narrowed. “That reminds me, I received a letter several months ago speaking of an interesting event. This little shit head crown prince of yours, Cameron. Did this little bastard actually openly try to drag my daughter to that shitty nation of yours?” Dalton openly and with a great deal of hostility in his voice, proclaimed to the Monville king.
“Who are you again?” Cameron said coldly.
A sneer appeared on Dalton’s face, “I’m the tamer who was always kicking your sorry ass when we were in school. I was the top tier goblin tamer at the time.” Dalton said.
Instantly a sneer appeared on Cameron’s face when these words were spoken. “Ah yes, that little scum peasant who later became the 5th strongest tamer in the entire Othenia continent. I also remember you never married, what brat do you call daughter?” He asked.
Sticking his chest out and sneering at them he grinned, “Kuroko Ginshiro is my second adopted daughter. Got a problem with that!”
The faces of the crowned prince and the queen turned white. The so called title of #5 stood for almost 15 years before he retired but who is to say how strong it has been since it has been almost 10 years since then. Tamers are considered a very high level power even if it is looked down on a bit for using animals to do your bidding. Simply kill the tamer and the fight is won but Dalton had a different principle to train his body and fight alongside the beasts. He trains each and every one of them personally, or used to.
“The fairy goddesses blessed child. This makes things simpler than just taking her. From now on, she will marry into my esteemed Carmellian royal family and once more bring the radiance of our nation back.” He said in a grand mannerism.
“Like hell she will.” Dalton bluntly rejected. Pointing at Edwin, Dalton laughed, “To marry off Kuroko to that brat, first off I doubt he is even functional after receiving Kuroko’s kick and second, to let Kuroko be in your damned nation is like feeding her to sharks. I do not doubt you would use her as breeding stock to spread her bloodline.” Dalton coldly said.
The words completely stained Monville’s pride and the face of the king was bright red. “You really want to go to war with me over this insignificant brat do you!” He roared.
Dalton sneered, “If she is insignificant, why do you want her so much. Just find any brat her age in your nation and give it to your shitty brat, there might still be a few with some high human bloodline, oh wait never mind, it was just a few nobles and your family that had any semblance of it.” Dalton insulted.
Suddenly the king pulled out a sword but a sudden pressure smashed into them all.
“Put down your weapons. This is not a place for battle.” A voice said.
Walking into the box, Charles looked at them all and most likely already knew what was going on and sighed. He glared at Cameron, “Sheath your sword unless you wish to dance with me?” He said.
Cameron narrowed his eyes before sheathing the sword before looking at Dalton, “That brat is property of Monville the moment her bloodline awakened and the goddess blessed her.” He said.
“She is not property let alone yours or even my Elunia, but she is one of my citizens and the friend of my son. If you want to kidnap my citizen then you should be ready for war Cameron.” Edward said coldly as an aura of death began to release from.
“Now now, let us all take a step back, we do not need to get into open hostility here of all places. Remember this is neutral ground and all fighting is suspended no matter what.” Beatrice said, getting in front of Edward and narrowing her eyes while looking at him.
Edward snorted and retracted his aura and walked over taking his seat.
The others followed suit and each took their seat in the heavy atmosphere while the nobles were sweating wondering if they should still be in this place. Only the strongest who were the guild masters were unafraid from the confrontation of the five royal families.
***
“Welcome to the first ever edition of Real Life’s first ever race of Monster Kart Wars. A race inspired by the amazing race of our current year 1 ranks 1-5. I am Tristina Roamer, your favorite journalist club idol and cute face of the year and with me we have our very own PE teacher as well expert in monsterology Belladonna Getov. With the help of her experienced eye we shall bring to you the race of the century!” She announced and the camera moved to show both of them.
“So Miss Getov, what can we expect from our racers?” Tristina asked.
“Well first off we should explain the rules…” Belladonna said in a serious manner, “The race is based off of the video game. The race consists of 30 laps around a 2 km track passing in and around the school grounds, most of which is inside the school's woods. Similar to the game, you can and should attack in different manners your enemy but this is a warning, there are specific areas where attacks can and can’t happen. First off the first 3 laps cannot have attacks, though ramming can still happen as well as pushing a rival off the track, after 3 laps the area near the finish line becomes a forbidden zone and all fire magic is prohibited so as to not cause forest fire. The race is complete when all 30 laps are complete or there is a single rider left.” Belladonna explained.
Tristina continued from there, “Now for the rules of disqualification!” She shouted, “First off, karts that are damaged beyond use, the riding monster is killed in action, or the kart is touched and aided by external help will be regarded as disqualified. Use of fire magic in our track and attacking in forbidden areas will also be considered disqualified. Lastly you must follow the track and cannot pass through the woods. All karts have a magic device to tell us where each kart is so there is no cheating. These are the rules, did we miss anything Miss. Getov?” Tristina asked.
“I do not think so.” Belladonna replied.
“Now, from the racers, what can we expect?” Tristina asked.
Belladonna smiled, “It's quite hard to guess, the last few weeks I have given my students days off so that they could prepare for the festival. The most curious is of course the Slime Tamer’s Slime Mimic.” She said and an image of Rocket appeared.
“Tch, she had to choose Rocket.” I complained as my crew was watching on the Tv as the race time was arriving but preparation was complete.
“This is a really strange mimic, do you have any idea how it was made?” Tris asked.
Belladonna shook her head, “Not entirely but I know that it takes 147 different slimes joined together to form the body. This slime is regarded as a big slime and uses a kind of hivemind to form a single consciousness between all the slimes to mimic the shape. I do not know the specifics of its capabilities though.” She said.
“Another interesting one is Prince Asher’s death kart.” Tris said.
“Indeed, he used an intelligent mannerism of his skeletons' evolutionary pattern to birth bonesmith skeletons who were able to turn bone into a kind of metal and forge the kart. The driver is his experienced Skeleton mage made from the corpse of a strong player who died within his dungeon.” She explained.
“Speaking of driver, the slime kart has no driver right?” Tris asked.
“It does, Kuroko’s dungeon has a number of mimic slimes who were able to acquire a human form so she brought forth one of them and trained it to drive. The slime kart can not efficiently drive itself so a driver is needed.” Belladonna said.
As the program continued, a call from outside made me stand up and summon the slime driver that was a red slime born from a slime apple.
“It’s time, you two. Let's go and win!” I said.
The garage was filled with cheers as the slime got in and the crew pushed out Rocket with a support to the field and placed him in the 3rd place before I pulled out tire mimics and they wrapped the wheel rim and sucked in air inflating perfectly lifting the kart off the ground.
With a few more checks, as well as the wheel pressure to make sure it isn’t overly filled and the crew soon cleared off. In the ear of the slime was a small mic so that I could give him and Rocket orders, this was done for all the monsters and after the crew returned to the garage we all gather at the TV for the start of the race.