The Lie (4)
It was around seven in the afternoon.
After the sun had set below the horizon, this time of day was when the mind was emptied of thoughts.
The academy's lessons were neither too easy nor too difficult in a way that felt subtle.
I struggled through the lively knights' academy students' lively chatter and felt my thoughts drifting.
Any worries about the future that might come.
Everything forgotten, I devoted myself entirely to myself.
I used every ability inside me to train my body.
Naturally, when that time ended, all my strength left my body, and my mind became empty and hollow.
I enjoyed that feeling.
I walked for half an hour, brushing against a slightly cold wind that cooled my body heated by the slight cold wind that pierced my outer clothes.
Without thinking of anything else, I spent that time in meditation-like silence with my mind completely blank.
… I should have done that today too. I should have.
“You’ve come to let me know that I’m about to be disciplined.”
That sentence filled my empty mind with surprise and displeasure, twisting the core of my today’s plan.
A platinum-blond student stood in front of me just as I was about to head home.
“… I don’t know who you are, but on what authority?”
He wasn’t a messenger. He sounded more like someone from the leadership that had issued the discipline.
Even if I generously assumed this guy had the high position to discipline me.
But this one’s cloak was red. I was blue.
Meaning, this guy was in the magic department, and I was in the knights’.
Did this guy have authority to discipline a student from another department?
I glared at him and asked.
The platinum-blond youth stared at me quietly, then slowly opened his mouth.
“If you really don’t know, I’m sorry. Or are knights not interested in this? I thought you might think that, though.”
“What?”
Unlike me, who reflexively flared up, he continued speaking.
“I’m Ferdan Aitana, student council president of the magic department. Instead of the name, since I’m here as student council president, there’s no reason to worry about the name.”
“Ferdan? Isn’t that the successor to the Noche Magic Tower?”
“Correct, but that’s not important in the current situation.”
Since a few years ago, he’d made a big name for himself as the successor to the Noche Magic Tower… no, there was someone the Noche Magic Tower side had made famous.
That was Ferdan Aitana. He’d been a kid back then, but he was already old enough to be at the academy.
… And he was exactly as I’d expected—arrogant as hell.
“What do I, a student of the magic department, have to do with you? I’m from the knights’ department.”
“… Knights don’t care much about such things, so they might not know. Traditionally, the student council president of the magic department also serves as the overall student council president.”
What? The condition that grants all authority to the magic department is ridiculous.
I couldn’t help but laugh.
When I did, Ferdan looked into my two eyes, then continued.
“Traditionally, the vice student council president comes from the knights’ department, so you know that Dalek Ron Lagrand is the vice president, right?”
I didn’t know that. I didn’t even know there was an overall student council president to begin with.
I didn’t know Dalek was president either. So were all the A-1 students from each department supposed to take the president’s seat?
Information I normally wouldn’t have cared about or even thought about, but the situation had changed.
“So, in conclusion, I’ve come to notify you that as student council president, you’ll be disciplined. Officially, after a meeting, but anyway.”
“What’s the reason?”
“Verbal abuse and threats toward magic department students.”
Hah, those guys.
When they couldn’t get their way themselves, they went to the higher-ups, huh?
“I don’t understand. They’re so good at it.”
“As a knight, shouldn’t you care a little more? Is this community about living however you want?”
By your own rules. They’re the ones who judge and report arbitrarily, right?
If they were going to force discipline or responsibility, I knew better than anyone.
I’d lived since childhood in the knights’ who were stricter than this place in discipline, control of desires, and responsibility.
They keep saying things that don’t make sense.
“Don’t wrap my judgment up in such a package.”
“Speak straight. What you’re saying now could affect the level of your discipline.”
… Even blackmail. Is that it?
My head was spinning. They’d set up a privileged ecosystem and were only looking after their own kids.
No consideration for before or after.
“I’m not listening to me, and you’re keeping your mouth shut. But you’re not listening to me. What do you expect me to do?”
“Can I say that you’re not responsible for the disturbances twice?”
No matter what I said, it wouldn’t work.
And I couldn’t just say “discipline me” and leave it now.
Ferdan was saying I’d sullied the magic department’s honor, and I could say the same about their knights’ honor.
On paper, we were fighting over honor.
But Ferdan already had the academy’s student council, no, the huge backing of the magic department behind him.
No matter what I said or did in this situation.
Those bastards who did whatever they wanted would inevitably use their authority to label me a scumbag.
So I needed to drag that guy down to my level.
I needed an honorable duel to protect each other’s honor.
That is.
“… I challenge you to a duel.”
By doing this, I could prove my actions were innocent and that my honor was right.
***
Duelling.
The word was absolute and binding. No one could easily refuse such a match.
Duelling had originally survived to protect each other’s honor. It was close to a myth that the winner and loser would reveal each other’s innocence.
But for nobles whose self-pride and self-respect were tied entirely to their family or group, disputes over opinions always ended in duels.
“… I remember how knights used to mock nobles as jokes here, but I never thought they’d use it this sincerely.”
The opponent was Ferdan Aitana.
As the famous “successor to the Noche Magic Tower,” he wouldn’t avoid the duel I’d issued.
Well, if I were a commoner, the duel I’d issued to a noble family wouldn’t have been accepted, but.
This was the academy. It wasn’t a commoner and noble’s honor clash; it was students clashing over honor.
“…….”
Ferdan’s face remained expressionless. But not saying anything suggested he was surprised.
Of course. Who would have thought that a commoner like me would challenge him to a duel?
But.
“I accept. Who will be the witness?”
I had no choice. He was the top of the magic department, and I was only third in the knights’ department, so he didn’t think he’d lose.
And the witness, the person who acted as judge, was right here.
“Dalek. Over there?”
I shifted my gaze toward the path leading to the inner facilities and said.
I’d known Dalek was watching from there since before, with his footsteps deliberately muffled.
Thud, thud, thud.
Dalek emerged from inside with a troubled expression.
His gaze was clearly aimed at me.
“Duel? What are you thinking?!”
“Is there another way? You were listening from the beginning, weren’t you?”
The moment I felt Dalek’s presence, it was almost the same time Ferdan said he’d come to issue discipline.
Dalek looked at me like he couldn’t understand my thoughts, but I had no other options.
… Although the chance was small, if I got suspended at school, my contract with Helahem would be void.
It wasn’t that easy to say it was low probability, because I was a commoner with no backing, and those two were from noble families.
“So, how about Dalek Ron Lagrand as the witness?”
“Dalek? I can trust him.”
“Time is right now. You don’t want this to get bigger, do you?”
No matter what, letting Ferdan know I’d accepted the duel was something he didn’t want to be known.
It was also something I didn’t want to draw too much unnecessary attention to.
“That’s better.”
“Good.”
Ferdan readily accepted my proposal as if he’d been waiting for it.
And we walked to the opposite ends of the training grounds.
The method of the duel was extremely simple.
We chose weapons fairly to each other, and the one who defeated the other fairly won.
We stood at the two ends of the large rectangular outer line, and Dalek stood in the middle, looking at us worriedly.
But I held the light sword in my hand and turned my wrist with a confident expression.
I had no chance of losing.
I’d survived facing the “Catastrophe” on that battlefield, and I definitely had no chance against these green kids.
“… Then, witness ‘Dalek Ron Lagrand’. Let the duel between Lir Ostrin and Ferdan Aitana begin.”
A simplified duel.
But duels like this were absolutely disadvantageous to knights.
The only ways a knight could gain advantage over a mage were surprise attacks or battles in places with plenty of cover.
In such an open space, and with plenty of time for the mage to prepare spells, the mage would naturally have the advantage.
But I was Rigel Belheim.
I slowly took a deep breath and exhaled.
In my eyes was a glint of will, and I smiled with my mind cleanly organized.
“Then, in three seconds, we start the spar.”
Three seconds.
The limited method of defeating a mage with a sword.
Two seconds.
The method of defeating a mage who uses the unfair means of mana.
One second.
That was the only magic given to knights.
“Duel begins.”
Sign.
—