If You're Annoyed, Come at Me
‘Ah, this is the one I’ve always had to deal with.’
Crystal knew from experience. It was something that had always happened whenever the environment around her changed.
Crystal was objectively beautiful, not to the point of narcissism, but noticeably so, and she also possessed genius-level talent.
Because of that, the people in her existing environment found her presence problematic.
‘Usually, they try to coax or threaten, one of the two. Is it the latter here?’
Crystal, who had mastered the art of smoothly getting out of situations, said to the blonde beauty in front of her.
“Is it okay if I ask why you deliberately called people over because some freshman’s words annoyed you so much, senior?”
The tone was provocative, without hiding any hostility, and around Peter and Camilla, the movements of the surrounding students froze instantly, including her followers.
The sound of breathing even stopped. It was as if time had stopped.
‘This crazy girl… on her first day of school, again…!’
Peter, who had known Crystal for a long time, covered his face with both hands. He knew she was doing this on purpose.
If she had wanted to, she could have created a cheerful atmosphere in an instant. Yet Crystal wanted a fight.
It wasn’t just that she avoided walking fights; sometimes she even created fights herself if there were none.
Crystal loved fights. Peter found it hard to understand, but when fighting, it seemed to lessen her loneliness a bit.
‘But that’s your own problem!’
The blonde beauty was a 3rd-year senior, as could be inferred from her attire. And from her aura, she was definitely not an ordinary person.
Behaving openly in a fight against such a person would be so shocking that even the observers would feel sick, but even so, Peter couldn’t do anything.
Despite his desperate wish for it to just pass by, Camilla answered Crystal’s question with even more intensified killing intent.
“My name is Camilla Fletcher. The ‘friend’ of Benjamin Jenkinson, the one you just insulted… No, he’s not the pathetic person who didn’t even graduate from middle school properly, as you said. To be precise, the cause of that problem wasn’t him, but the school.”
“So?”
Now openly mocking, Crystal’s words were met with Camilla’s warning.
“So, cancel what you said earlier. He is a man who has a reputation to match, no, even more so, a man with power far beyond that.”
“I don’t like it.”
“…What?”
Camilla had expected her to respond obediently since her attitude was that of a senior, but she hadn’t expected her to flatly refuse, so her words got stuck.
Without missing a beat, Crystal continued.
“I just left a short comment about all the fuss going around. In a prestigious royal academy, do I have to apologize for saying what I think?”
Of course, Crystal knew she was being rude and overbearing.
She didn’t know the relationship between the senior Camilla who approached her and Benjamin Jenkinson, but she wouldn’t deliberately intervene in mere gossip about a friend.
If someone dear to her or important to her was insulted by a complete stranger, she would naturally be angry.
If she hadn’t heard it, it would be fine, but if she had, she might want to say something.
‘That’s why she’s provoking me.’
Crystal admitted to herself that she had a rather twisted personality. If she expressed what she was doing as it was, it was simple jealousy and spite.
Since she couldn’t be truly understood by anyone and couldn’t understand others either, whenever she saw relationships where people cherished each other like that, anger would always rise.
To the point where she wanted to break it all apart.
“You…!”
“If you have complaints with me, how about I personally educate you, senior? The basic teaching here is that claims without power are just noise, right?”
Crystal threw the bag she was holding to the side and drew the sword she had at her waist.
Her action was clear in meaning.
It was an application for a Student Duel, the system that embodies the academy’s ideology ‘Power to Justice, Responsibility to Power’.
Of course, it was an unprecedented event for a freshman to apply for a duel with a senior, specifically a 3rd-year student council executive, but to the parties involved, such things no longer mattered.
“…Fine. If you want, I’ll show you what kind of place this is.”
Camilla handed her bag to the follower beside her and drew her sword as well, walking forward.
Crystal and Camilla, walking towards each other, stopped leaving a certain distance. Then, each raised their weapons straight and brought them in front of their faces, saying:
“The labor of the subjects is for the kingdom.”
“The authority of the nobles is for the subjects.”
“The love of the king is for them all.”
“—I offer my sword to the King.”
With the duel oath made, the two figures disappeared from the students’ sight in an instant.
Immediately after, two female students appeared in the center of the facing street, thrusting their swords at each other.
--
Ah, this is troublesome.
“What will you do, brother?”
Upon hearing Miya’s question, I scratched my chin and looked around. All the students on their way to school had gathered at the school gate to watch the duel between the two.
It was too many people, not just a few. I couldn’t just slip away.
More than that, I don’t understand why the student duel between the villainess Camilla, the main event of chapter 1, and the protagonist Crystal happened in the prologue.
Originally, after Crystal entered the academy, the various factions of the school would have moved to recruit her by recognizing her talent first.
Then, Camilla would try to persuade Crystal directly and fail, getting her pride hurt and proposing a duel, but in the end, she would be beaten instead, which was the original story.
But why did a fight break out right on the first day of school?
Curious about the reason, I pulled the neck of a male freshman watching the duel without hiding his restlessness from afar.
“Hey.”
“Y-yes?!”
Huh? This guy seems familiar somehow.
“What’s your name?”
“P-Peter Fisher, but…?”
He was the servant with the name of Crystal’s childhood friend, the protagonist. No wonder it felt familiar.
“I see. Then, Peter. Do you know why those two are fighting?”
“Eh? Ah, th-that…”
Hearing Peter stammer as he explained, I realized I couldn’t escape from here anymore.
More accurately, I couldn’t be allowed to escape.
I released Peter and returned to Miya’s side, watching the duel.
Despite Camilla struggling to keep up with Crystal’s genius ability to freely handle sword and magic combined, ...
“That freshman is really strong.”
“Yeah.”
If I were to make an excuse for my ex-fiancée, she wasn’t weak at all.
Camilla’s family, the Fletcher family, was a martial family that had produced excellent knights for generations. Therefore, Camilla had to endure grueling training from a young age to the point of being terrified.
In reality, Camilla’s combat power was comparable to that of a royal knight.
Considering the weight and value that a knight holds on the battlefield, among students of the same age, Camilla was a monster in herself.
“But in the face of overwhelming talent, effort becomes meaningless in an instant.”
It was a statement I didn’t particularly want to agree with, but it was hard to deny.
Unlike Camilla who was running forward without giving up, even as her sword was scorched and her wounds were in disarray, Crystal’s appearance of not losing focus for a moment was especially so.
Handling sword and magic simultaneously is like kneading dough with one hand while reading a book with the other.
It’s not impossible to do two completely separate things at the same time. With good skill, it might be possible with short practice.
“But doing that in battle, constantly switching between them, is another matter.”
It would have to be called an art, beyond skill or good technique. Moreover, Crystal was a multi-attribute user.
Watching her casually use ice, lightning, and wind magic as if breathing, it was heartbreaking to see Camilla struggling against her.
She had been holding on somehow so far, but now it seemed like her limit, so I thought I should step in soon. I lightly stamped the ground.
--
‘How is there such a monster in this world…!’
Camilla bit her lip, swallowing the tears that seemed about to burst out at the opponent’s strength that seemed to deny her past efforts.
There is no such thing as absolute in this world, and the same goes for fighting. However, those who reach a certain level can tell whether the opponent is weaker or stronger than themselves, regardless of the outcome.
She had felt that he was stronger than herself from the first clash. Nevertheless, she didn’t give up and tried desperately to grasp the faint chance of victory, but even that was now coming to an end.
She had stepped up for the honor of the man she loved, but instead of protecting his honor, she was about to curse her own powerlessness that would lead to a humiliating defeat, swinging her sword to the very end.
But suddenly, a large shadow fell over Camilla’s eyes.
It was a shadow created by someone’s back.
And Camilla knew who the owner of that back was.
“That’s enough. It looks like the match is over.”
‘Benjamin…?!’
The one who appeared like a whirlwind to intervene in the duel was none other than Benjamin Jenkinson himself.
Normally, she would have been overjoyed, but at this moment, Camilla felt not joy but shame and guilt.
She knew the reason he had to step in.
“Huu… Are you the rumored senior Jenkinson?”
“I don’t know what rumor you’ve heard, but I’m indeed Jenkinson.”
His usual blunt and businesslike tone, but the freshman seemed to find that part interesting.
“Somehow, it doesn’t match what I thought. No, if you intervened in the duel for the sake of honor, it should be as expected, right?”
As she said, Camilla thought. Benjamin hadn’t stepped in to save her.
The problem was that she had arbitrarily decided to protect Benjamin’s honor and challenged him to a duel.
Even in the past, it was unthinkable for an ex-fiancée to fight for her own honor and then the other party just avoid it, as a noble and as a man.
Contrary to Camilla’s self-blame that she had practically dragged him in, Benjamin maintained his blunt attitude.
“Think what you want. Anyway, the duel is over. I hope you return.”
“Who says it’s over? Still…”
“A Student Duel doesn’t end until one of the two dies or becomes disabled. It has already ended at the point where the winner and loser are decided.”
With those words, Camilla had no choice but to nod at Benjamin’s gaze and sheathe her weapon.
As he said, her defeat was a fait accompli. Instead of forcing her pride, she should be grateful that he had shown consideration so she wouldn’t be disgraced.
“As seen just now, Camilla has acknowledged that you won. So…”
“Then, can I learn one move from the senior?”
Benjamin frowned.