16
Chapter 16
Two weeks passed. Glacia continued to beat me relentlessly with her wooden sword, just as she always did. I stayed calm, analyzing her Sword Path to block her strikes before launching my own counterattacks.
Of course, due to the difference in our physical abilities, I couldn't counter often. For every five attacks Glacia made, I might land one. However, considering she was the third-best genius swordsman in the world, it was clear how much I had improved.
A tuition fee of one ducat per hour. To be honest, it was an absolute rip-off. One ducat was roughly what an adult male laborer would earn after a whole month of grueling manual labor.
Even though Glacia took such a staggering amount every hour, I didn't feel it was a waste of money. Her lessons were the epitome of practical, condensed training.
A month had passed since my first lesson.
"Your form is coming along nicely. I believe it's time to set a date for the final showdown."
The final showdown. It sounded special, but it was actually quite simple. It was the day I would beat up the trio of thugs: Andre, Hugh, and Enrique.
Glacia wrote the letters to the thugs on my behalf, mixing in insults and provocations she had learned in the Back Alley. However...
"A reply has arrived from Lord Andre."
"What does he say?"
"He says that dueling is a culture of the nobility, and commoners have no right to request one. Therefore, he claims Mr. Charles's request is void."
Hearing that, I couldn't help but burst out laughing.
"Hahaha!"
After all, he had been more than happy to show up at the previous dueling ground.
"He's chicken."
"He seems to be frightened."
Glacia and I spoke simultaneously. That's right. Andre was intimidated by me!
"What would you like to do? Will you give up on the duel?"
If I did that, I'd die of regret, thinking about the month of training I'd put in. Besides, I was still bitter about being beaten by such pathetic losers.
"I could let it slide, honestly, but I want to make an example out of them."
"As in, 'This is what happens when you mess with me'?"
"Yes. Exactly."
Glacia nodded.
"That was a common practice in the Back Alley. If you deal with one person thoroughly, the others won't dare to challenge you. However..."
Glacia pondered for a moment before speaking.
"Do you have a specific plan in mind?"
"Hmm..."
After thinking for a while, I spoke.
"I do have one."
The problem was that it was a dangerous method in many ways.
-----
The next day, I went to an armory and bought a set of armor and a helmet.
As I walked through the academy clad in armor and a helmet, people's gazes flocked to me. However, since I was carrying a wooden sword instead of a real one, the academy guards simply assumed I was heading to a training session.
But the training ground wasn't my destination. I headed for the dining hall, the favorite haunt of the three thugs: Andre, Enrique, and Hugh.
-Slam!
I flung the dining hall doors open with a crash and shouted.
"Andre Gomes! Draw your sword! I'm going to beat the hell out of you!"
Startled, Andre stood up from his seat, and I approached him with steady steps, my wooden sword pointed his way.
"What do you think you're doing, commoner! This is a dining hall! Mind your manners!"
"Shut up and draw your sword. Unless you want to be a punching bag."
"Ha! You're still talking about a duel? Who would even—"
-Whoosh!
The wooden sword swung right in front of Andre's eyes.
"Next time, I'll hit you. Draw your sword while I'm still being nice."
"Y-you insolent brat! Someone drag this commoner out of here!"
The guards stepped forward, but Glacia blocked their path. She unleashed a wave of bloodlust toward them; feeling an aura on a completely different level, the guards had no choice but to instinctively back away. As I raised my sword again...
"D-damn it! Enrique! Hugh! Draw your swords!"
"You two stay out of this."
Enrique and Hugh, however, stood frozen between Andre and me, fidgeting anxiously. It seemed they realized I had come here with a purpose.
"Too bad. Your friends don't seem to want to fight. I'll give you a choice: do you want to be beaten one-sidedly, or do you want to try fighting back and then get beaten?"
"Y-you...! I'll kill you!"
Whoosh! Andre drew his real sword from his waist and swung it. There was definitely a sense of pressure from a real blade, but compared to Glacia's strikes, this was child's play. Moreover, since I was wearing armor and a helmet, I was unlikely to be killed in one blow. I moved with confidence.
I lured Andre into attacking to create openings, striking him with my wooden sword whenever a gap appeared. One hit, two hits. While I remained untouched, wounds continued to multiply on Andre's body. The cadets in the dining hall began to watch in astonishment at the one-sided fight.
"Who is that guy in armor? He's actually pretty good."
"Looks like Charles."
"That loser? No way. Andre usually eats Charles for breakfast, right?"
"Looks like Andre's the meal now."
At those words, a snicker erupted from somewhere. Andre's face began to flush crimson.
"You commoner scum! Consider today the day you die!"
Andre grew even more enraged, swinging his sword wildly. Several tables were overturned, and expensive teacups and pots shattered, covering the floor in glass shards. But his blade never once touched me. I casually dodged his attacks and continued to taunt him.
"Is that all? And here I thought nobles were different. Weren't you going to show me the difference in our bloodlines?"
"Shut up!"
And as Andre's agitation reached its peak,
His movements grew larger and more erratic, leaving him wide open. Charles dodged Andre's heavy vertical strike by pivoting, then slammed his wooden sword into Andre's head, knocking him flat.
"Aaaargh!"
Andre screamed. It wasn't just the pain from the blow; it was because he had fallen right onto the shattered teacups and the teapot.
"Oh, boy."
Shards of porcelain were embedded in Andre's body and face, and blood began to seep from various wounds. Even though Andre had used a real sword, this felt a bit excessive.
"Aaaargh! Aaaaagh!"
"Are you okay? I didn't do it on purpose..."
"Blood! There's blood!"
"Someone call a healer! What are you men doing!"
Between Andre's shrieks, the gawking crowd, and the frantic guards, the scene quickly spiraled into utter chaos. The one who finally restored order was Professor Dian de Valboa, who arrived leading a squad of guards.
"Everyone, move aside. I'm taking command here."
"Yes, ma'am!"
The guards breathed a sigh of relief at Dian's arrival. She immediately stepped into the center of the dining hall to assess the situation.
Seeing my flushed face and hearing my heavy breathing, Dian quickly deduced what had happened.
"Charles, I'm asking just in case, but did you do this?"
"Ah, yes. Though I didn't mean for it to go this far..."
"I'll hear your excuses later."
Dian let out a deep sigh that seemed to come from the bottom of her soul, then spoke.
"Guards."
"Yes!"
"Take Charles Jean Rochefort into custody. He's under arrest on suspicion of assault."
"Yes, ma'am!"
And so, I was hauled away by the guards.
Andre, covered in shards of glass and porcelain, was rushed to the infirmary to receive treatment from the healers.
That day, an unprecedented event occurred at Arcadia Academy.
-----
-Slap!
The sound was so loud it made my ears ring.
"Is it you? The filthy fallen noble who dared to injure my son? My son! How dare a mere fallen noble...!"
Professor Dian de Valboa stepped in to stop Andre's mother, who was venting her rage as if she were the most wronged person in the world.
"Please calm down, Madam. Your son received prompt treatment and is now on the road to recovery."
"But his face... a huge scar was left on his face! On that handsome face! Do you have any idea what a devastating flaw a facial scar is for a noble?"
"I wonder if you're referring to me..."
At Dian's remark, Andre's mother realized her slip of the tongue and quickly covered her mouth; after all, Dian had spent her entire life on the battlefield and had several sword scars on her face.
"N-no! That's not what I meant... Anyway, I demand that this fallen noble be expelled!"
"Madam, Charles is a promising and talented student. This was a quarrel between students that can be resolved through a settlement; he cannot be expelled so easily."
"I have no intention of settling! Expel him immediately!"
Dian tried her best to persuade Andre's mother on my behalf, but the woman remained adamant. It seemed the scar on her son's face had dealt her a severe shock.
"She's still not here... She should be showing up about now."
My only hope was the promise I had made with Isabel de Poitiers; I had asked her to be my protector in exchange for not taking the two hundred ducats, and she had agreed.
Given that, there was no way Isabel wouldn't step in now that a problem had arisen, as she was the type to keep her word.
Just as I was thinking that.
-Creeeeeak
The door opened, and two knights clad in uniforms appeared.
"Yuria? Isabel? What are you two doing here...?"
"It has been a long time, Professor."
Yuria bowed to Dian; come to think of it, they shared a mentor-disciple relationship outside the academy, as Yuria had lived at Dian's house as a child to learn strategy and tactics.
Andre's mother looked bewildered by the sudden appearance of the two knights.
"And who might these ladies be...?"
"I am Yuria Russell."
"I am Isabel de Poitiers."
"The Russell and Poitiers families... then you are aides to Her Imperial Highness the Princess?"
Andre's mother's expression brightened instantly.
While Andre, Yuria, and Isabel all hailed from baronial families, there were levels to such ranks; Yuria and Isabel were from families favored by the Princess, creating a vast divide between them and an ordinary house.
Andre's mother asked cautiously.
"But what brings you here...?"
"We have some documents we wish to present regarding the assault case between Charles Jean Rochefort and Andre Gomes."
"Documents?"
As Andre's mother asked in confusion, Isabel de Poitiers handed her a piece of paper, and the woman's face began to turn pale.