The Deal Swap
This is what a deal swap looks like. The surest way to protect Sien is to take every arrow meant for her and have the strength to endure them. Put simply, I just need to become so strong that no one can touch me. I know it sounds ridiculous, but Sien is currently a member of the Alencia family. The only thing that can save her from that pack of rabid maniacs who worship nothing but power is, ironically, the very power they tried to use to break her. And I don’t think of her as weak. If anything, I believe she’s strong. She carries the Alencia bloodline, she was admitted to this merit-based academy where only geniuses gather, and even her own siblings openly interfere with her before she’s even entered the official ranking competition. Based on those three facts, I’m confident that while I’m at the academy with her, I can help her build the foundation she needs to leave the Alencias and live freely.
And the reason I’m standing on this platform right now is simple.
To stand by her side and take every arrow aimed at her.
“That’s such a beautiful name, senior.”
I smile as I look at Yura Blair, who clearly only learned the bad parts of nobility. It’s a universal law: you can’t spit on a smiling face, and if that face happens to be ridiculously handsome, even the anger melts away. As if to prove my point, Yura Blair turns her gaze away, her cheeks flushing slightly.
“…Thank you, Rain junior.”
Seeing that expression makes me want to stand right in front of her and shower her with every humiliating word I can think of as a proper lesson… but with my current skills, I’d never be able to handle the consequences. Besides, I have something else I need to do.
“If it’s not too much trouble, may I also take a look at that list of names?”
“…You really want to see this?”
“A frog in a well. A mudfish in freshwater. I thought it might be better to chew on my own level again while I talk.”
“…If that’s what you want.”
Technically this platform was prepared to humiliate commoners, but anyone who deliberately avoids it is basically an idiot. Yura Blair seemed to think the same, because she frowned and stared at me with suspicious eyes. Still, the list of names ended up in my hands.
Tap. Tap.
I lightly tapped the microphone. As expected from these so-called well-educated noble brats, the people who had been dying to tear me apart all shut their mouths at once and focused their attention on me.
But seriously, how do they learn etiquette so diligently and still treat discrimination like it’s the most natural thing in the world?
“Nice to meet you, fellow 97th class students. I’m Rain, the only commoner in this batch that you all seem to look down on so much.”
I generously offer these arrogant kids a smile.
“It’s really fascinating. We only just started the semester today, yet you all already know so much about me. I guess being a commoner is quite the attention-grabbing title. Or maybe my face helped?”
I deliberately put on an innocent expression, scratching the back of my head as I joked around. Various reactions ripple through the crowd—some call me pathetic, others say it must be nice to be good-looking, and a few tell me to stop talking nonsense and give up…
“But what can I say? I don’t know any of you at all.”
“And I don’t particularly want to.”
I wipe the smile from my face and look down at them with cold eyes. The moment I let a hint of killing intent slip into my voice, the chicks who had been chirping away all shut their mouths at once. What kind of confidence did these guys even have to put their names on that list when they’re only at this level?
“Godas Reitz, Irmele Layer, Bill Beko, Kirill Mahel, Meles Kant, Emelicus Noir, Vega Sauer, Wilhelm Ernt, Isar Guggenberger……”
Curious about their intentions, I read out the names written on the list. A few of the family names I recognized, but most were completely unknown to me. And yet they’ve held power since the old days simply because they’re nobles, and they think they’ll lead the kingdom in the future. It really makes you realize there are way too many nobles. How many true nobles are even here? The kind who care for the commoners living on their lands, swear loyalty to the king who is called the true master, and seriously think about how to create a future where everyone can grow…
“——Philip Theopolos, Euri Philos Merivis, Ariston Jan.”
There aren’t any. Every single person who wrote their name here is an empty-headed idiot.
“Good work. Today was the last peak of your lives.”
I read out all eighty names written on the list. The distinguished noble gentlemen still didn’t seem to understand what was happening or why they were keeping quiet and staring blankly at the words of a mere commoner. So I gave them another gentle smile.
“Writing your names here was the biggest mistake of your eighty lives.”
“———”
“I’ll show you why later, so don’t worry……”
I look around. There’s no one in the spectator seats except for the battle ground in the center, so the place feels empty and hollow…
“But I’ll give one last chance to all the scouts watching me right now. This moment is your best opportunity to get me at the lowest possible price.”
I know it. I know the eyes of the so-called top 100 guilds are on this place right now. Their magic is so outstanding that even I can’t detect them, but I know very well that they’re watching us in detail through the screens provided by the academy for scouting purposes. Of course, since this is my second time at the academy, it would be stranger if I didn’t know.
“I’ll give you one minute. In that time, please present me with a price and contract conditions that we can both be satisfied with.”
“Rain junior, what the hell are you doing?”
The moment I waved my hand to make my appeal, Yura Blair, who had been quietly watching from behind the platform, frowns.
She can only frown. Because there’s no way she can come up here.
‘The scouts from the top 100 guilds are watching this scene. How could she stop it? Right?’
It would be far better if a rude commoner, driven by an inferiority complex toward nobles, climbed onto the platform, spouted nonsense, and then miserably failed the exam later. She knows very well that this kind of situation is the only way to calm down the current chaos. Of course, that conclusion probably came from the even more distinguished professors who are currently in urgent contact with her… but does it really matter?
I look at Yura Blair with a gentle smile in my eyes.
“Just as I said, I’m giving everyone here the chance to buy me at the lowest price, senior.”
“This seat was clearly given so you could give up on the ranking match.”
As expected of an adult, the student council president of the knight department, and a member of the Blair family—she knows how to radiate a sharp and threatening aura.
“Senior.”
So.
“Stay quiet while I’m still treating you like a senior.”
What does that matter?
“Right now, there’s no one I dislike more than you.”
Someone who once turned the entire world into an enemy and nearly destroyed it—would I really be scared of a mere academy student? Don’t make me laugh.
“This is your last warning, Yura senior?”
“———”
“Haha. That expression is really cute.”
I smile and pour out thick killing intent. Her pupils contract, her breathing grows rough, and her body trembles slightly—she’s instantly crushed by the killing intent… but unlike the first-years, she endures even the intent I released with the resolve to make her faint and still looks me straight in the eyes.
“Oh? Sadly, it seems no scout offers have come in. I guess everyone here is rich?”
I turn my head and look forward. The one minute I mentioned has passed. I act as if I never expected this, widening my eyes in surprise before pouting my lips in disappointment and shaking my head.
“Then I guess I should finish what I need to say and step down.”
I lightly lift only the right corner of my mouth, instantly changing my expression into a sly, sinister smile.
“As you can see, I’m quite insane. I’m the kind of crazy bastard who has to do what he wants and clear away anything that gets in the way. And you lot fearlessly poked that crazy bastard.”
“———”
“Ranking match? The only rank I’ll receive here is Grade 1, and obviously, the top spot within that grade is mine.”
Rip—
I tear apart the list in my hand. Two pieces become four, four become eight. I scatter the pieces in front of the platform for everyone to see.
“If you want my first place that badly, then make sure you meet me and win.”
The guys who had been silently watching finally start making all kinds of noise, throwing every low-class curse they can think of at me… but there’s nothing that hits quite as satisfyingly as a commoner insulting a noble.
“If you can, that is, you idiots.”
This is what a deal swap looks like, you pathetic fools.
“You can’t do it. Never.”
I smile and quickly glance toward the knight department seats. It was definitely Class 1…
Muttering to myself, I search hard for the person with ash-gray hair.
“And this is my absolute last thing to say. If you want to get along with me, I’d appreciate it if you didn’t do anything stupid like bothering Sien Alencia.”
The moment our eyes meet, I wave my hand and greet her warmly. Sien makes a dazed expression as if she doesn’t understand, then quickly lowers her gaze the instant our eyes lock. The moment I mentioned her name, not only the people near her but even the magic department students who shouldn’t be visible at all all turned their heads to look at Sien. Looks like I did something unnecessary.
‘Her smiling face… is incredibly pretty…’
Even so, she smiled as if she was happy and waved back at me. It must have been burdensome with everyone’s eyes on her, yet she overcame that pressure and returned my greeting.
“I’m asking you sincerely, everyone.”
I etch that gratitude deep into my heart and give a kind warning to everyone present.
“Oops, this commoner sure talked for a long time, didn’t he~?”
I even threw out such a nice joke, but instead of laughing, the bastards don’t react at all. Sigh. If they get this scared just because I let out a little killing intent, it makes me look like the bad guy, doesn’t it?
“Fellow students, smile~. If someone saw you, they’d think your lives were really over~.”
To think there are so many kids at this young age who don’t even know how to have fun. This is exactly why nobles are hopeless.
“Smile, you idiots.”
I kept releasing my killing intent until the very end. The professors, unable to endure it any longer, sent sharp energy from the unseen back area, so I let out a small laugh and withdrew my killing intent.
“Laughing when things are hard is what truly first-rate people do. But you guys have no chance of becoming first-rate.”
Unfortunately, I don’t have the confidence to beat a professor. If I had thought about that, I should have stepped on the kids just enough to get lightly scolded… but what can I do? I’m a villain who can’t stand being pushed around.
“The ranking match is going to be fun, isn’t it?”
Today, I made a gamble with my entire life on the line. And if you’re a villain, you always go all-in on a gamble. Then you take that pot no matter what method you have to use.
“That’s all from your friendly neighborhood commoner, 97th class Rain. See you in the exam~.”
That’s what a villain is.