The Seed of Doubt
I had earned the wrath of Ernen and Sebastian. I had no solid proof, but I decided to prepare anyway. If I sat around doing nothing out of complacency, it was obvious that once they moved I’d have no way to respond and would be expelled from the Academy.
They won’t use force, at least. They probably wouldn’t try anything that relied on raw power. After all, I had beaten Jerim not long ago. The duel hadn’t been completely one-sided, but Jerim wasn’t the kind of opponent a weakling could defeat with a little luck. So they wouldn’t send some thug to rough me up. It would be too inefficient in the first place. The only thing force could achieve was a beating, and I doubted that was what Ernen and Sebastian truly wanted.
They would try to drive me out.
That was the conclusion I reached. I didn’t know their exact goal, but everything pointed to Lana. In their eyes I would be nothing but an obstacle— an irritating one they couldn’t simply ignore. If I were in their position, I would want me removed entirely. And for them, that wouldn’t be particularly difficult.
Ernen was a prince. Sebastian was the next head of House Ebenros. Together, there were few things in the empire they couldn’t accomplish. Within the Academy, it would be even easier. If they set their minds to it, they could have an innocent student expelled by tomorrow. Against someone like me, with nothing but a criminal record? They wouldn’t even need to try hard. A few quiet words to the Academy’s leadership and I would be gone.
So I had to prepare. I needed defenses strong enough to protect myself from the two of them.
The simplest way was to build a background of my own. The reason they could touch me so easily was that I currently had none. If I created one, they would find it far harder to act against me.
But it wasn’t as easy as it sounded.
A background usually meant a family or an organization. Those weren’t things you could create overnight. Building one powerful enough that even a prince and the heir of Ebenros would hesitate? That was nearly impossible. Or at least it would have been, if I possessed the necessary resources. Unfortunately, I didn’t.
…This is when I really miss my old strength.
If I still had the power I wielded as Gunter, creating a background wouldn’t have been out of reach. I could have used information no one else dared touch and established powerful backers in a single day. But that was impossible now.
In the end, there’s no way.
I let out a long sigh at my pathetic situation and stood up. I had no way to solve this on my own. But that didn’t mean I would give up. If I couldn’t do it alone, I simply needed to borrow someone else’s strength.
So I went to find him.
“…What do you want?”
My brother in this body—Kyle’s younger brother, Velard.
The easiest way to resolve this situation was to borrow the power of House Berwen.
After all, the only reason Kyle hadn’t been expelled despite all his misdeeds was the protection of the Berwen name. If I could regain that shield, I could at least fend off Ernen and Sebastian’s first wave of attacks.
Of course, it wouldn’t be simple. The family head had already made a public declaration of disownment. His resolve was probably firm, and I currently lacked the leverage to change his mind. Meeting him in person might have made a difference, but I didn’t have that luxury.
That was why I chose to approach Velard instead.
Finding him wasn’t difficult. When I asked Velka, she told me his location immediately.
When we finally stood face to face, Velard looked at me with a sour expression.
“…What do you want?”
His reaction was lukewarm at best. The emotions in his eyes were hard to read—neither purely negative nor positive. It was a complicated mixture, the kind of look that defied easy description.
Seeing it, I thought to myself that this was actually good. The fact that his gaze wasn’t completely hostile proved that his perception of me had begun to change. How could it not? From his perspective, the brother he had always looked down on had completely overwhelmed him without breaking a sweat.
Anyway.
“I came to make you an offer.”
“…An offer?”
Velard’s brow furrowed slightly. I looked him straight in the eye and spoke plainly.
“Protect me for a while.”
“…What?”
His frown deepened, this time enough that “slightly” no longer fit. He didn’t speak, but his eyes clearly asked what kind of nonsense I was spouting. I had expected this reaction, so I kindly provided an explanation.
“I’ve gotten on the prince’s bad side, and Sebastian’s too. If things stay like this, I’ll probably get kicked out of the Academy. I need you to stop that from happening.”
After hearing my courteous explanation, Velard let out a hollow laugh.
“Hah. You show up out of nowhere talking nonsense. Why the hell should I help you?”
He wore that trademark arrogant smirk of his, the one that reminded me of the old Velard—the one before I had beaten him. His aura and gaze were sharp. Any ordinary Academy student would have flinched under that stare.
I wasn’t ordinary.
“I don’t even understand what you’re thinking, coming to me with a request like this. Did you really believe I would help you? Just because we were technically brothers once, you thought I’d bend over backwards?”
His eyes gleamed with hostility.
“Let me be clear. I have no intention of helping you. I have no reason to.”
His voice was cold and sharp, completely devoid of any positive emotion. But I ignored it.
“Actually, you do have a reason.”
“…What?”
Velard frowned again. I continued regardless.
“You owe me a debt.”
“…What are you talking about?”
His eyebrow twitched.
“You lost to me.”
“……!!”
Velard’s complexion changed noticeably.
“You’re calling that a debt? Don’t tell me… you’re after the position of family head again?”
Not long ago, I had dueled Velard. I won by an overwhelming margin. Some might ask what the result of a duel mattered when the succession fight was already over. But it wasn’t that simple.
Kyle had lost the succession because he was inferior in skill. Conversely, Velard had become the heir because he was superior. But if it became known that my skill surpassed his—overwhelmingly so—the succession struggle could reopen. Although I had been disowned, if I proved my ability, returning to the family and restarting the succession wasn’t impossible.
Velard knew that, which was why he reacted this way.
However—
“Hardly. I already told you. I have no interest in the position of family head.”
His guess was wrong. I still had zero desire for that seat. Objectively, becoming the head of House Berwen was an enviable position. Anyone would covet it. But from my perspective, it wasn’t particularly attractive. Given enough time, I was confident I could seize equivalent power on my own. So the title held little appeal.
Then why bring up the duel now? To threaten Velard with the family head position? It wasn’t a bad tactic, but I didn’t like it. There was a chance he would take it the wrong way and side with the others instead. That would complicate everything. I might still get my revenge eventually, but I would definitely be expelled from the Academy.
That was why I didn’t want to threaten him.
“…Then what the hell are you talking about? What debt?”
Velard asked more cautiously now. I answered him directly.
“Haven’t you ever found it strange?”
“……”
“That I’m strong enough to beat you, yet the family never knew about my true ability.”
“……!”
Clear agitation appeared on his face. He was obviously paying close attention to my words. That was only natural. From his perspective, my previous behavior must have been incomprehensible. He had probably agonized over it in his own way.
Realizing this might be easier than I thought, a smile naturally rose to my lips.
“What if the reason I didn’t show it… wasn’t that I chose not to, but that I couldn’t?”
While I was at it, I decided to plant a seed in his heart. A seed called suspicion.