The Duel (2)
A fair number of students had gathered at the first-year training grounds. They fell into two distinct groups. The first were those who had caught wind of the nearby commotion and trailed along to watch an impromptu duel between two upper-class students. Hardly anyone knew Warren, but Lucian carried the weight of a prominent noble house behind him. With so few upper-class students to begin with, the sudden prospect of two of them clashing drew plenty of interest.
The second group consisted of the handful of students who had already been training there as usual. Ophelia was among them. She kept glancing between Kael as he entered the grounds and the upper-class boy walking beside him. She instinctively understood that this was the friend Kael had asked Blair to spar with.
So it was a boy…
For some reason her chest felt a little lighter. It was strange, but she couldn’t say why.
In the center of the training grounds, four boys split into pairs and faced one another at a short distance. Warren gripped a sword that looked slightly awkward in his hands yet suited his frame perfectly, and leveled it at Lucian. Everyone held their weapons at the ready. The scene left no doubt that a duel was about to begin.
The spectators stirred.
“They’re really doing it.”
“Who could possibly stand up to Lucian?”
Lucian let out a derisive laugh at the sight of Warren’s blade pointed his way. Warren was beneath his notice. His eyes were locked on Kael, who stood beside him holding that staff.
“Kael. There’s no need for you to step forward against trash like him.”
Warren glanced back at Kael for a moment, then fixed his glare on the opponents ahead.
“You can sit quietly in the back. Leave this to me.”
Kael gave a small nod and a smile. He patted Warren lightly on the shoulder, then did exactly as suggested—retreating a few steps before dropping casually to the ground.
“Wait, isn’t that kid from the lower class?”
“Then why is he talking like he’s the stronger one?”
“No way.”
A few of the onlookers whispered among themselves after hearing Warren. It was only natural. Just looking at the color of their tags made his words hard to believe. There was simply no chance a lower-class student could be stronger than an upper-class one.
Lucian, watching their exchange, let out a hollow laugh, utterly dumbfounded. The sheer audacity of a nobody like Warren acting this way was laughable. The same coward who used to flinch at a single glance must have gone insane in the short time since they’d last met.
While Lucian’s true interest lay with Kael, since things had come this far he decided he might as well crush Warren thoroughly as well. That should wipe the smile off that bastard’s face.
“Lord Lucian, you needn’t dirty your hands with the likes of Warren. Allow me to handle him.”
Glover bared his teeth at Warren, who was clearly overstepping his station. He wanted to stomp the boy into the dirt himself. With Kael—the one who had displayed that terrifying power—sitting quietly in the back, there was nothing left to fear.
Lucian gave a satisfied smirk and clapped Glover on the shoulder before returning to his seat.
What had looked like a two-on-two duel had somehow become a tag-team match.
Glover stepped forward, raising his shield and one-handed sword.
“I’ll remind you exactly where you belong beneath me.”
With those venomous words, Glover charged at Warren with a roar. The moment his raised blade came slashing down—
Warren swung his mana-infused sword in a clean horizontal arc. The motion was crisp, without a single wasted movement.
Clang!
Glover’s sword snapped cleanly in two. The severed half spun through the air and stabbed pathetically into the distant ground.
Glover stared in shock, eyes darting between his ruined blade and Warren, who stood perfectly still.
With a light flick, Warren thrust his sword forward. The tip stopped just beneath Glover’s chin. Even with a shield in hand, the thug had been too stunned to even attempt a block.
The outcome needed no further discussion. Glover was no match for Warren whatsoever. He hadn’t even managed a proper fight. To think it would end this easily.
Glover stood there slack-jawed before stumbling backward and collapsing onto his rear. The loud battle cry and fierce charge now looked utterly ridiculous in the face of such an empty finish.
“Come out, Lucian.”
Warren’s sword now pointed at Lucian instead.
Lucian, who had been lounging crookedly, rose slowly with his own blade in hand. He had expected Glover to lose anyway. The speed of the defeat was mildly surprising, but that was all.
A confident smirk settled on Lucian’s face. Warren had never once beaten him. Yet here the commoner was, acting insolent without a trace of fear. In every upper-class sparring session, Lucian had completely dominated him. As fellow magic swordsmen, a gap in fundamental skill left no room for other variables. He had been looking forward to dispatching Warren quickly and then turning his attention to Kael.
But then—
Clang!
The two mana-charged blades collided. Lucian’s eyes widened in alarm. Warren, whom he had assumed he could crush effortlessly, refused to yield even an inch. This was nothing like before.
The surrounding students watched the clash between the two upper-class magic swordsmen in tense silence. Unlike the one-sided farce earlier, this fight was evenly matched. Neither side gave ground easily.
Irritation flared inside Lucian. No matter how many exchanges passed, Warren matched his blade with stubborn persistence. Lucian’s real opponent was Kael. Over Warren’s shoulder, he could see the bastard sitting comfortably with a pleased little smile on his face.
To Lucian, that smile felt like mockery aimed directly at him. Rage surged, pouring extra power into his next strike. That was the mistake. The Warren before him was an opponent even Lucian could not guarantee victory against at full strength. Taking his eyes off such a foe was the same as accepting defeat.
Clang!
Lucian’s sword flew from his grasp. Off-balance, he dropped to one knee. Warren’s blade tip settled against his throat.
It was a clean, undeniable loss.
“I win.”
At Warren’s declaration the silent crowd erupted into murmurs.
Lucian ground his teeth. The entire match had been proposed with Kael as the target from the start, yet he hadn’t even gotten the chance to stand before him. To lose even to Warren—that damn hanger-on. He could see that smug face looking down at him. That complacent expression that seemed to say he had known the outcome from the beginning. Kneeling in front of not only his own followers but every other student watching—this humiliation was unbearable.
His dropped sword caught his eye.
“Kael, this is all thanks to you… huh?”
Warren, having subdued Lucian, turned to run toward Kael and express his gratitude—only to freeze mid-step.
Kael had risen to his feet, staff already in hand. A white light gathered at its tip.
Boom!
“Argh!”
Kael fired the Magic Missile without hesitation, striking Lucian squarely. The noble dropped the sword he had just retrieved and crumpled to the ground, writhing in pain.
“How cowardly, trying to attack from behind.”
Kael looked down at the groaning Lucian with icy contempt.
He had been ready the entire time. He already knew Warren would defeat Lucian. But whether Lucian would accept that result fairly had always been doubtful. Sure enough, the moment his sword hit the ground he had snatched it up and aimed for Warren’s back like the snake he was. So Kael had immediately unleashed the triple-stacked Magic Missile he had prepared in advance. Even if Lucian looked pathetic now, he was still an upper-class student; anything less wouldn’t have been enough to put him down properly.
“What is this? What just happened?”
“The fight was already over—did he seriously try to stab him in the back?”
Some of the spectators murmured after hearing Kael’s accusation.
“Wait, wasn’t that a Magic Missile just now?”
“An upper-class student going down to a mere Magic Missile? Pathetic.”
The arrogant Lucian, who usually strutted around with his nose in the air, received not a single word of sympathy from the crowd.
“As expected of Kael.”
Warren’s eyes sparkled as he looked at his friend.
“What did I do? You’re the one who took both of them down.”
Kael shrugged as if he had done nothing at all, generously giving Warren all the credit.
Meanwhile, in the crowd of students watching them, a red-haired girl narrowed her eyes. Unlike the others who had focused on the duel itself, her gaze had remained fixed on Kael in the back the entire time.
As I thought, something’s strange.
She decided she could no longer suppress her curiosity.