A Draw

No one would have questioned Bohn Zaborg's skill. He had shown far too much for anyone to deny it. As one of the promising talents the Academy faculty had their eyes on, he had put on a dazzling performance at the entrance exam.

Sara Leoris or Arsha Swordhorn, maybe. But that commoner beat me on the exam?

That was what Bohn Zaborg thought.

No matter how many times he turned it over, the result refused to make sense. That other students quietly sided with him only proved they couldn't accept it either.

There was no chance a commoner had bought his way into the Academy. Even the Zaborg family, which poured enormous donations into the institution, couldn't manage that.

The value the Academy held most sacred was fairness. They had never broken that principle. At least, not as far as anyone could see.

An administrative error, however, was entirely plausible. ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠The Academy was run by people, after all.

Bohn Zaborg decided that such an error had produced this ranking. A sound thought. A logical judgment. In his mind, anyway.

There's no way a commoner like that could surpass me.

And so he issued the challenge. Professor Tepes's little scheme had, overnight, turned it into a guillotine match with expulsion on the line—but Bohn Zaborg still walked out, certain he could not lose a duel to a commoner.

"Begin the duel!"

At Professor Tepes's signal, Bohn leveled his spear with swaggering confidence. The weapon in his hands was the C-rank item Blue Dragon Spear.

As a direct heir of the Zaborg house, he had inherited a weapon of exceptional effect.

The Zaborg family's spear arts were built on the slash. Ordinary spear arts were built on the thrust, and that difference made the Zaborg style a rarity you would not find anywhere else.

In combat, that rarity became a tangible asset. Unique meant difficult to answer. Combat was instinct colliding with instinct, a stage on which each fighter's unconscious took form. Facing a spear art you had never seen was as awkward as fighting with a weapon that did not sit right in your hand.

The opening was a light probe. He did not believe the commoner had the skill to surpass him, but anyone who had earned a place at the Academy would have at least one hidden card.

Allowing such a trick in ugly fashion would stain the family name.

Bohn decided to knock on the stone bridge before he crossed it.

His spear carved the air in a satisfying arc. The speed with which it whipped through empty space drew gasps even from the professors. More than a few students stood open-mouthed in admiration.

"Incredible. That spear looks plenty heavy, and he's still moving it that fast."

"It's not just the speed. Look how stable his stance is."

"So that's what a genius of a different caliber looks like."

The tip of Bohn's spear hunted Johann. Johann peeled those attacks away with a few light movements.

Johann dodges Bohn's attacks. Written out, the situation would end in a single sentence. But that situation carried a strange sense of wrongness.

"Doesn't something feel off? That commoner Johann doesn't look particularly fast, but he's still dodging Zaborg's attacks."

As someone put it, Johann let Bohn's storm of blows slide past with ordinary-looking movements. It looked almost like a prearranged exhibition bout.

"That's..."

Professor Kerr, watching the duel, stroked his chin and swallowed the rest.

"That student Johann... he's reading every one of Zaborg's attacks...!"

A female professor sporting enormous dark circles beneath her eyes murmured it in a small, drawn-out voice.

"Quite so. Johann's movements look as if he has faced Zaborg spear arts dozens—hundreds—of times."

There was nothing wasted in a single motion. If an assassin who hated the Zaborg family to the bone spent years studying their spear arts, wouldn't his movements look exactly like this?

Johann's footwork was that calculated. Had he not already shown what he could do at the entrance exam, even Professor Kerr would have refused to believe what he was seeing.

"Damn it! You're good at scurrying off like a rat!"

The attacks were not landing. Probe or not, he had not been going easy. Every spear strike carried his will to break the opponent. So why wasn't a single blow touching that commoner's body?

Rage boiled up in Bohn. Time to teach him a lesson.

Against a brat like that, Chapter One is more than enough!

Zaborg spear arts consisted of five chapters in total. His own achievement was a full three—beyond even his older brothers.

Bohn's body exploded forward like an enraged bull. It was the kind of movement that looked as if springs had been bolted to his soles.

Try to slip the charge like a matador, and the Crescent Moon Slash would simply sweep you away. Zaborg spear arts attacked in lines, not points.

Opponents seeing those arts for the first time usually went down to this single blow.

A skill too good to waste on a commoner.

Bohn decided to use it anyway.

Johann's shadow writhed like a tentacle, then transformed into chains of darkness that surged toward Bohn. Bohn snorted. As if a simple skill like that could stop his charge.

"Not a ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠chance!"

He swept his mana-laden spear. The arc it traced looked exactly like a crescent moon—hence the name.

Bohn's Blue Dragon Spear scythed through the shadow chains. They shattered and sprayed in every direction.

"!?"

Then something astonishing happened. Johann was charging straight at him.

Would a man sprinting head-on at a carriage thundering down the road look any different?

Johann ran at full speed toward Bohn, who was charging with furious energy radiating off him. And on his face, not a trace of fear.

"What—!"

He needed to prepare the next attack. But he couldn't. The cooldown on Crescent Moon Slash would not allow a follow-up.

Ordinarily, the post-charge assault was the measure that covered that weakness. You either dropped the opponent in a single blow, or, failing that, you dumped a beast's fury of attacks all at once so they could not counter immediately.

Johann, as if laughing at that tactic, leaned his body forward and went for the counter. The Shadow Chain he had thrown had been bait for exactly this.

"He saw through it agaaain...!"

"Remarkable."

Professor Kerr gave a bitter smile.

Johann Baker.

Even at the entrance exam, the kid had shown staggering intuition. The ability to instantly pinpoint the weaknesses of a mini wyvern and a chimera had been almost unnaturally brilliant.

Even so—to pierce the weakness of Zaborg spear arts in a single exchange. He's a monster in a whole different sense.

It was not just spotting the weakness. In an instant he calculated how to exploit it and what result that would produce—then executed. That was a talent in an entirely different domain from mere weakness-reading.

What kind of Trait does he have?

Perhaps that genius ability stemmed from a Trait.

Even if it did, that would not change how remarkable Johann Baker was. No one in the world denied that a Trait was still an individual's own ability.

Johann's knife went for Bohn's throat. The viper-like blade was about to sink in—

A sharp tak.

It was Flora Tepes. The referee of the duel had stopped Johann's dagger with a single finger.

The winner of the duel was, without question, Johann. Not a single faculty member watching would have failed to see it. The students, however, stared in confusion at a match that had fizzled out.

"What? Why'd she stop it?"

"Wasn't Zaborg winning? I heard almost nobody can stop that charging spear art."

"That commoner Johann, picking a head-on fight with Zaborg. He's dumber than ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠he looks."

Among the students, though, the top-ranked ones grasped the essence of the bout.

"That's Johann for you."

Sara Leoris.

"Zaborg lost."

Arsha Swordhorn's reaction was that blunt.

The students' reactions were exactly as Johann had expected.

A Riot Event that triggered at a certain probability when a commoner posted a higher entrance score than Bohn. Clearing it raised the affection of Academy faculty and top-ranked students by ten each. Among the early-game affection events, it was the best value for cost, and for speedrunners, whether the Bohn event fired could decide the fate of a record.

"This is a duel, but it's still a spar between students. Excessive killing techniques are forbidden. I suppose I should have mentioned that before we started."

Professor Tepes said it with a sly grin.

"Therefore, the spar ends here. As for the result... a draw should do, yes?"

The same progression as the original.

Johann had three routes he could take.

Force a resumption of the match, win thoroughly, and get Bohn expelled—the victory route. Agree with Professor Tepes's decision—the draw route. And surrender—the defeat route.

Take the victory route, and you would have to face Bohn Zaborg later as a mid-boss. Take the defeat route, and ordinary students' affection dropped by ten each. The best choice here was the draw route.

Johann smiled faintly and opened his mouth.

"A draw, is it."

Bohn's expression was as hard as glass.

He knew, too. Without Professor Tepes's intervention, he would have lost this match.

"I... I..."

He was still trembling, as if he could not believe what had just happened.

His eyes turned to Johann, who wore an easy smile.

"How fortunate. That almost got out of hand."

Who, exactly, had almost gotten into trouble?

On that cheerfully smiling face, another expression seemed to flicker.