Chapter 61
The Academy's lunch hour.
It was the time of day when student movement was at its busiest.
Among them, countless students were pushing through the crowd and heading toward one particular place.
“Where are you going? You haven't even eaten.”
“Food isn't the important thing right now. I heard Edelheid and Cromwell are having a duel trial.”
“What? What are you talking about all of a sudden?”
“There was a fight in the cafeteria, and the bodyguards of the two houses are going to duel on behalf of their families. But one side is Gerard from Count Rubelius's house, and the other side is a slave knight.”
“A slave knight? The one who beat Kalven?”
“That's right.”
The slave knight Leon, who had won a duel against Edelheid's magic knight Kalven.
That rumor had spread widely not only through the nobility's social circles, but also among the commoner students at the Academy.
“Wow, damn. How much would I be missing out on if I missed this?”
“Then prepare for your next life.”
“I'm heading there right now.”
It wasn't only the hot-blooded freshmen who went off in search of the spectacle.
Even the second- and third-year upperclassmen were starting to leap to their feet.
“Hey, did you hear? First-year students are having a duel trial. Edelheid and Cromwell, too.”
“Ugh, those noble bastards really do have energy on their first day. I knew it'd turn out like this. All they think about is messing around at the sacred Academy.”
“Then why are you getting up?”
“If there's something worth seeing, I should see it.”
Even the Academy's administrators and professors, who had been conducting a proper meeting, heard the news.
“Hey, where are you going without finishing the meeting?”
“A duel trial between students? We have to go check it out immediately, don't we? As a professor, I should observe in case of an emergency.”
“You're not just going to watch it, are you?”
“Ahem.”
The rumor that a duel trial between two prestigious houses was being held passed from mouth to mouth several times.
In the crowd's flow, a fierce current began to form.
In order not to miss one of the few spectacles they'll ever see in their lives, countless people willingly threw themselves into that current.
And so the dueling arena filled with hundreds of spectators, forming a massive coliseum-like gladiatorial pit.
‘Déjà vu, huh.’
Leon felt a terrible sense of déjà vu in this situation. Only the location and the number of people were different; it was a scene he'd already seen more times than he could count.
By now he ought to be sick of it, but wherever he went, the script was the exact same to the letter.
What? A slave knight?
You think someone like you is a knight?
That Sir Kalven, blah blah blah.
It suddenly occurred to him that the biggest victim might actually be Kalven, who kept getting summoned as a combat power gauge.
Kalven, dead again.
“Slave bastard. I still can't forget that day.”
And Gerard.
This bastard's making his third appearance now.
“Even when I sleep, the moment I was defeated by you comes back like a nightmare, and I toss and turn every night. Since that day, I haven't been able to sleep properly even once.”
“Uh, yeah....”
“And who would've thought the day of revenge would come so soon? This is surely a divine revelation telling me to overcome the failure of that day.”
“Wow. God, you're the best.”
“Draw your sword. Then come at me. I, Gerard Rubelius, will defeat you and rise to even greater heights.”
“No, I'm not drawing my sword.”
“What?”
“Huh?”
Gerard blinked blankly.
The solemn resolve he'd finally gathered vanished without a trace.
“What did you just say?”
“I'm not drawing my sword, so let's do it this way. Since the young lady told me to win overwhelmingly, I figured this was the best way. Ah, and you can't go calling it cheating or anything later....”
Leon let out a grunt and tossed the sword far away.
Then he held up his index and middle fingers.
“Here.”
Gerard stood there motionless, staring at Leon's bare hand as if he'd seen a hallucination.
It was only after staring blankly for a long time that he understood the situation.
He could hear the snap of reason breaking inside his head.
“You little slave bastard...! I'll tear you to pieces and kill you!”
Gerard kicked off the ground hard and charged. The sharp sword aura on his blade aimed straight for Leon's crown.
It was certainly a faster and fiercer trajectory than when they'd fought at Edelheid before.
He must have sharpened that sword with a vengeance, after losing sleep over revenge.
But in the end, a duel is a relative thing. Leon's accomplishments were by no means inferior to his.
‘This is a sword.’
Leon focused his attention on the two fingers stretched out in front of him.
The [Supreme Swordsmanship] he had mastered was limited solely to swordsmanship.
He couldn't use a bow or a spear, either.
If Leon couldn't use a sword, he'd be reduced to an ordinary person.
The trick Leon came up with to make up for that fatal weakness was this hand blade sword.
He wrapped his hand in sword aura, treated it as a sword in his own mind, and swung.
In that case, the status window would judge it as swordsmanship. That meant he could use [Supreme Swordsmanship] even with bare hands.
Leon's skill was enough to defeat Kalven, the captain of Edelheid's knights, with nothing but a single sword.
No matter how much Gerard trained by cutting away flesh and bone, he still couldn't reach that level.
-Thunk!
The sword blade Gerard brought down with all his weight came to a stop atop Leon's two fingers.
“What?”
The flustered Gerard pushed down on his arm with all his might, but he still couldn't leave even a tiny wound.
Even when he followed up with a flurry of strikes, the result was the same. Every attack kept being knocked aside by the fingers Leon swung.
“You didn't let your guard down again just because I'm a slave, did you? You can't use the same excuse after losing. Honestly, if you've lost three times, try having a little shame.”
“Where the hell are you spouting that crap—!”
Before Gerard could even shout, Leon's body bent smoothly.
Leon's half-turn kick drove mercilessly into Gerard's abdomen.
“Guh——!”
Gerard was flung straight back without even managing a proper scream.
He slammed into the arena wall and was knocked unconscious, as if he had been pinned there like a trophy.
The jaws of the spectators watching that overwhelming sight dropped open. Victoria was no different.
Beside her, shock written all over her face, Renoa dryly and elegantly jeered.
“So that's what happens when you pick up something someone else threw away and end up humiliating yourself.”
***
The result was Leon's overwhelming victory.
Truthfully, it was a duel not even worth having. If only Victoria hadn't dismissed the rumor as bluffing.
Then she wouldn't have been humiliated in front of everyone.
Fortunately, thanks to her noble sacrifice, no idiot would dare pick a fight with Leon and Renoa from now on.
Now that they'd won the duel trial, all that was left was for the two who had insulted and looked down on Elodie to apologize, and it would have been a neat ending.
“Where did those people go?”
“They ran.”
Humiliated before a crowd this huge, Victoria couldn't bear the shame and fled the Academy.
Gerard, who had been slammed into the wall, had also vanished without a trace by the time she looked away.
“They probably won't be setting foot in the Academy again.”
Enrolling and then dropping out by lunchtime.
That was the shortest record in Academy history.
“Leon, that's amazing! You blocked a sword with your fingers? I was completely shocked!”
“It was nothing.”
Praise from your favorite carried destructive power beyond imagination.
When Elodie praised him with sparkling eyes, Leon answered awkwardly.
Aiter, who came right after, also chimed in as if he found it interesting.
“Haha, I was surprised too. The Rubelius bloodline isn't weak in swordsmanship, but to have such an overwhelming gap... The rumors out there weren't false after all.”
Soon, Aiter's smoothly curved gaze landed on Renoa.
“From the very first day of enrollment, and already putting on a performance like that. You're going to draw quite a bit of attention, young lady.”
Even with Aiter's subtle probing, Renoa remained obediently silent.
She replied with silence, but Aiter had already seen through Renoa's intent long ago.
She had deliberately stepped into someone else's conflict to create a stage for her own person to shine.
Because she knew Leon's skill better than anyone, she must have been sure he would win.
Thanks to that, the two of them were etched into the minds of everyone at the Academy in one stroke.
“The more I look at him, the more I want him. How about it? Won't you hand over his ownership to me? I'll pay more than enough to satisfy you.”
Prince Aiter made the offer with earnest eyes.
A slave who possessed more power than a knight commander and obeyed his master's orders without question.
He was the perfect talent and all-purpose tool that any ruler would covet.
It was also because a vague wariness had flickered through Aiter's mind that Leon might one day stand in his way.
If that dangerous variable were separated from Renoa's side, things would be much easier once that suspicion eventually became reality.
However, Renoa cut him off cleanly without even a moment's hesitation.
“I'm afraid Edelheid doesn't traffic in people, so I must politely decline.”
“Hmm, what a pity.”
Having been turned down flat, Aiter clicked his tongue, sounding genuinely disappointed.
***
Since it was the first day of enrollment, there was nothing else on today's schedule.
Leon and Renoa left the Academy and returned to the manor.
The two of them were greeted by Bibi when they entered the manor.
“Welcome home, my lady.”
“Mm.”
“How was it? Was the Academy fun?”
“So-so. What did you do all day? You weren't just lazing around in the manor because I wasn't here, were you?”
“What do you take me for? I bought delicious snacks for my lady, and yet you doubt me.... I'm so hurt I could cry. Sniff.”
“......What kind?”
“Please wait a moment. I'll prepare them right away.”
Bibi immediately stopped pretending to cry and began preparing tea time.
“Would you like a cup too, Sir Leon?”
“No, I'm fine. My taste buds are so jaded that something this refined would be a waste on me.”
“What on earth have you been eating all this time?”
Watching Leon answer with an awkward smile, Renoa fell into serious thought for a moment.
If he ended up with some serious illness from eating whatever he could get his hands on, that would be a disaster.
Renoa thought she might have to force some expensive elixir said to be good for the body down his throat.
“It's ready.”
“Hmm....”
Putting her thoughts aside, Renoa lifted the cup and inhaled the tea's fragrance.
“It smells a little different from the tea I usually drink.”
“I brewed it with tea leaves a friend of mine strongly recommended. I'm sure it'll suit even your picky palate, my lady.”
“The aroma isn't bad.”
Renoa slowly tipped the teacup.
The moment the warm tea touched her tongue, her eyes widened.
She looked down at the cup with surprise.
“......I'm shocked. I never thought tea leaves could create this much depth of flavor.”
Renoa drained the remaining tea in one gulp.
“Would you like another cup?”
“I think I will.”
It was nothing more than water steeped from leaves, yet it was more flavorful than a dish from a top-class chef.
It even had a strange addictiveness to it, so her hand kept reaching for the cup again and again.
Bibi quietly watched Renoa as she drank her tea.
“I'm glad it suits your taste, my lady.”