Chapter 298
Chapter 298
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Translator: Ace
Chapter: 298
Chapter Title: Persuasion (1)
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Knock knock.
Oliver knocked on the door.
The door remained silent, and Oliver waited a moment before knocking again.
Knock knock.
Silence from the door once more. Oliver waited the same way before knocking yet again.
This repeated several times.
Finally, Derek—crushed by lethargy, irritation, misery, and self-pity—rose in anger and flung the door open.
"Ah, just...!"
Unlike his usual neat appearance, Derek revealed a disheveled head of hair and a short-grown beard.
Spotting Oliver, he looked slightly surprised.
As if it were a face he never expected to see... like he might have had an appointment with someone else.
Whatever the case, Oliver greeted him.
"Hello? Derek."
Unable to make sense of the situation, Derek fell silent for a moment, rubbed his eyes, and then spoke.
"...What the hell are you doing here?"
Derek asked, forcing his sluggish mind to turn.
It wasn't all that strange. Oliver and Derek had almost no reason to meet.
"I've come with a message from the professor."
"...Professor Kevin?"
"Yes. He said you've missed too many classes. Normally, that would be a fail, but if you start attending now and take the final exam with me, he'll show some leniency."
Kevin, with dark circles under his eyes, thought for a moment before shaking his head.
His negative emotions were even clouding his mind.
"...Don't lie to me."
"Pardon?"
"I said don't lie."
"I'm not lying."
Oliver's words were true.
When Oliver had said he'd meet Derek and get him back to class, Kevin had agreed to offer that concession.
He'd said you need at least some bargaining chips to persuade someone.
"Why do you think it's a lie?"
"Because that professor hates us. And not only does he send his own staffer, but he offers perks like that? It doesn't add up."
"He's strict, sure, but he doesn't hate you all... well, he dislikes you a bit, but he doesn't lie."
Oliver amended his words, recalling Kevin's usual feelings.
It was the truth, but it didn't seem to help.
As proof, Derek's face showed incredulity, mixed with faint hope and fear.
Fear of failure, that is.
As that emotion peeked out, Derek shrank back like a man burned, his resolve crumbling.
"...Anyway, I'm not interested. Go away."
Derek moved to close the door listlessly.
Without thinking, Oliver asked him a question. He was just too curious.
"What are you so afraid of?"
Oliver's offhand remark flew sharply, stabbing at Derek's sore spot.
It hurt quite a bit, judging by how Derek flared with anger mid-swing of the door, yanking it open again and shoving his face close to Oliver's.
His height and build made it intimidating, but it had no effect on Oliver.
"What did you just say?"
"I asked what you're so afraid of."
Ignoring Derek's rage, Oliver repeated calmly.
"If I've offended you, I apologize. But I really don't understand."
"...Understand what?"
"From what I know, your skills improved a lot during Professor Kevin's classes, so I can't figure out why you've suddenly become so passive... I thought you were pretty impressive."
"What do you think you know to be spouting off like that?"
"I've seen you in Professor Kevin's classes sometimes, and I checked his student evaluations, so I know a little... It noted your steady skill improvement."
This was also true.
Just as Derek didn't like Kevin, Kevin held no particular fondness for Derek either. But separately from that, he highly valued Derek's ability, talent, and drive.
"I thought you were great too."
Oliver said, recalling their spar.
The onlookers only remembered the overwhelming skill gap, but Oliver remembered Derek's growth and his will to fight to the end.
It was truly impressive.
However, bogged down by his lingering negative emotions, Derek refused to accept Oliver's words at face value and twisted them spitefully.
Oliver wondered why he was making himself suffer like that.
"You think you're qualified to judge me...?!"
"......"
"Just because you fought me on even terms and handled the Mountain Face job? Huh?"
"...No, I don't think I'm qualified to judge anyone. Truly. If it came across that way, I'm sorry."
"From the rumors going around lately, it doesn't seem like that's the case."
"Rumors?"
"Yeah, they keep saying you're no ordinary guy. Makes sense, since Professor Kevin brought you in."
"Is it that impressive that Professor Kevin brought me?"
"You really don't know? Or are you playing dumb? Don't you know how Kevin got recognized as a full Magic Tower wizard? Who his master was? ...How the hell did they hire you without knowing that?"
Suddenly, Derek stabbed at Oliver's sensitive spot.
These were questions Oliver found hard to answer right now.
He had a story prepared, but lies had a way of snowballing once started—better not to say anything.
As Oliver tried to dodge by blaming Kevin, Derek cut him off like a hunter eyeing prey.
"You won't answer, huh. Fine, don't. But answer this: I heard you improved Felix's skills. Related to that?"
Oh... that was a sharp question.
No direct connection, but it put Oliver in an awkward spot.
To think his mind spun this fast just from a spark of anger... Impressive.
"I'm not sure about that."
"I heard you helped Felix a lot."
"I was just doing what Professor Kevin assigned. I'm his personal staff. Same context as coming to see you now."
"If you're honest, it might help you?"
For the first time, Derek—who had been evading—made an offer. Indeed, his emotions flared with fighting spirit and motivation.
Faint, but a clear spark burning.
Oliver decided not to let that spark die.
"Hmm... How about this?"
"What?"
"You have questions for me, and I want to do my job. How about a spar? Winner gets what they want. If you win, I'll answer anything. If I win, you come back to class."
Derek's face hardened with anger at the reasonable proposal, but the spark in his chest grew steadily. A good sign.
"You saying you can beat a loser like me easily right now?"
"No, I've never thought anyone is guaranteed to win. You might beat me, and I might beat you... What do you say?"
"...Wait. I'll get my sword."
A loud bang echoed through the Elemental School Tower's magic combat training room.
Oliver, having closed the distance, had kicked Derek's leg.
With a crisp sound, Derek staggered from the pain.
"Kuh...!"
Disbelief, shock, anger.
A flurry of emotions crossed Derek's face. Fortunately, fighting spirit was among them—the will not to lose.
Though based more on negative than positive emotions, whatever the source, Derek was gradually regaining his vitality after days of wasting away helplessly.
"Damn it—!!"
Derek endured the leg pain and swung his longsword at Oliver.
Normally, one would instinctively back away from such a large blade arcing down, but Oliver instead channeled mana into his tonfa like a shield, blocked it, and thrust his opposite fist forward.
Clang—!
Derek swiftly retracted his blocked longsword to parry Oliver's attack.
Impressive reflexes.
But Oliver didn't yield, recalling Seamus and Duncan's fights. He spun one tonfa in his hand, hooked it like a grapnel onto Derek's longsword, and yanked.
Aiming to disarm him. But it seemed like a mistake.
There was no resistance—the blade was coming right at him?
Oliver urgently blocked the incoming longsword with his other tonfa.
Clang—!
Metal clashed again. In that instant, Derek's emotions lit up brightly.
He'd seized the opportunity amid peak concentration.
Piercing Oliver's unstable balance, he wrenched his arm with full force, snatching one tonfa and hurling it behind him.
The tonfa flew through the air and clattered to the floor.
Until now, dragged around without casting any proper spells, Derek had finally seized the initiative.
A short time, yet eternal.
Oliver watched to see what Derek would do.
Instead of rushing in, Derek stepped back a few paces and tried to ignite his longsword.
Attempting his specialty, fire magic.
"I don't think that's a good choice."
Oliver said that, then connected a mana thread to the tonfa behind Derek and yanked it back.
The mana thread didn't just fly straight—it followed the path Oliver willed, slamming into Derek's longsword just as mana condensed to ignite it.
Clang—!!
Oliver's tonfa clashed with Derek's longsword again, canceling the casting spell.
Flames and mana scattered into the air.
Derek panicked, and Oliver closed the gap in that opening.
Both tonfas held like shields.
Shwick—!!
Even in panic, as Oliver narrowed in, Derek thrust his longsword, but Oliver formed a shield with both tonfas, smoothly deflecting it and closing further.
Then, hooking the tonfa handle around Derek's neck, he swept his leg, toppling him.
Derek lost balance and fell.
He immediately discarded the useless longsword, drew a dagger from his waist, and stabbed at Oliver—but Oliver, reading his emotions, was ready, rendering it pointless.
Crack!!
Oliver swung his tonfa inverted like an axe, shattering the dagger harmlessly from Derek's hand. The other tonfa pressed against the now-unarmed Derek's throat.
Anyone could see the match was decided.
Regardless of the bet, it should've bruised his pride and fueled anger, but Derek instead shone with a sense of relief.
"...So the rumors are true."
"What rumors?"
"You... the rumors that you're some mercenary the professor picked up during his field mage days, or an experiment subject."
At the sudden remark, Oliver tilted his head.
'Huh? No... wait, not entirely wrong? We met during his field mage days, and I was doing fixer work then.'
Not perfect, but it matched subtly.
Derek continued.
"Otherwise, you being this strong doesn't make sense. And some rich kid's son? Even less."
"What's that about rich kids?"
"Staffers like you taking that much vacation? Only the ones who bought their way in."
"Ah..."
"What are you, really?"
Derek asked, but Oliver just shook his head.
"Sorry, but I think I won the bet?"
Derek shook his head.
"Hey, you know how wizard duels end without a referee?"
"No?"
"One side surrenders, or both are incapacitated!"
Derek shouted, exploding his internal mana, flames erupting over his body as he sprang up swiftly.
Pushing Oliver back with fierce firepower to create an opening—
Thwack!!
Oliver dodged just in time and swung his tonfa into Derek's side as he rose, answering with action. Possible because he'd channeled mana to halve the flames.
"Thanks for the lesson."
Derek crumpled like a squid grilling over fire from the pain.
He reignited his fighting spirit and tried magic again, but Oliver smashed the mana source with his tonfa, preemptively shattering the spell, then struck his leg.
Thud!!
A dull sound rang out. Fortunately, no break—just pain like it was broken.
Not an easy technique, but he'd picked it up training Joseph's Family and the Fighter Crew.
Hitting hard without major injury.
Oliver struck Derek's back, now mobility-impaired, then his twitching shoulder as he tried to counter, then his recovering side again.
Derek crumpled like a squid once more from the pain.
Looking down, Oliver was troubled. Not the surrendering type, so knockout needed—but how?
Hitting the head risked killing him... In the end, Oliver decided to beat him until he surrendered.
Thwack! Thud!! Crack! Bang! Pow—!!
After a while, as Derek's strength ebbed, he asked.
"You... with skills like this, why hide them?"
"First, let me knock you out... Ah..."
Oliver halted, reading Derek's emotions. No more will to fight.
Not broken by fear or pain—more like acceptance.
"Hmm... I wasn't really hiding. Just acting according to my position and role."
"...You look used to this kind of training. Done a lot?"
"Hmm... A bit?"
Oliver answered after a moment. Indeed, he was scheduled for more tonight. With X Sector's Fighter Crew.