Sowing Discord
Why?! Why the hell?!
Once more, he swung his mana-charged sword in a great arc.
Crash!
The blade slammed into the floor again. A heavy tremor rolled through the ground, but Louis Wallenstein had already slipped lightly backward out of reach.
And once again, the bastard’s sword cracked across Leo’s right arm.
“Damn it!”
By now even Leo understood. The potion hadn’t worked.
At first, when the other man moved differently from usual, Leo had thought his scheme had succeeded. Louis’s dodges had looked genuinely close calls. But now he knew better. The bastard was simply toying with him.
Leo ground his teeth. If this continued, it would be an exact repeat of their last spar—Louis skittering around like a rat and thrashing him black and blue.
Whoosh!
Leo’s sword howled through the air in a menacing arc, yet once again it merely sliced empty space. The horizontal cut meant for Louis’s midsection never touched him. And as if on cue, Louis’s blade struck Leo again—not a cut, but a blunt, punishing blow.
The latest hit drew yet another round of gasps from the spectators.
“Whoa, that was close.”
“This is getting really intense!”
“I thought Lord Leo would win for sure, but Louis Wallenstein is dodging pretty well.”
“Doesn’t matter. One solid hit and it’s over. Look—Wallenstein’s attacks aren’t even doing any real damage to Leo.”
The ones babbling so freely were cadets whose combat skill—at least their swordsmanship—was nothing to speak of. Anyone with even a modest eye for the blade could see exactly how the fight was unfolding, and it left them stunned.
“…I never imagined Louis Wallenstein was this skilled.”
“Does the Wallenstein brat have no intention of ending the match? More to the point, isn’t the Hero candidate far weaker than expected?”
“Watch your tongue. That’s the heir of Duke Epsilt.”
“What a nasty hobby. Mocking an opponent like that in a sacred dueling ground… truly befitting a traitor’s bloodline.”
To them it was obvious: Louis’s skill completely overshadowed Leo’s, and Louis was deliberately refusing to finish the duel. Their previous spar had taken place only in front of their party members; this was the first time the rest of the student body had seen the gap between them. The revelation hit both sides like a shock.
Crack!
Once more Leo’s sword scraped uselessly across the floor.
“Hah… hah…”
Leo gasped for breath.
Damn it. No choice left.
He hadn’t walked into a duel this important relying on a single potion alone. He had brought insurance for exactly this possibility. At last he decided to use the scroll.
It’s fine. No evidence will remain, and the observers are on my side.
Steeling himself, Leo looked up. Above all else, the sight of Louis strolling toward him at a leisurely pace made him want to kill the bastard. He wanted to smash that disgusting smile off the man’s face in front of everyone.
Half-mad with rage, Leo poured mana into the scroll.
Tap!
I skipped lightly out of the way. Leo’s sword, which had come within a hair of me, slammed into the ground again. My own blade struck his right arm without fail, and I stepped back once more.
Maybe it was that monstrous strength of his. Even after taking the hit he never dropped his sword; he just kept swinging. Of course I hadn’t been hitting him at full power, but still—to swing like that on pure natural muscle alone, with barely any real effort… Well, I supposed the original protagonist really was the original protagonist.
Anyway, wasn’t it about time he used it? Just when I was starting to wonder how long I had to keep this up—honestly, I was having fun, but still—Leo, who had been thrashing around like a mindless beast since the duel began, finally stopped moving.
His eyes were still full of fury, yet a flicker of expectation mixed into them. The corner of his mouth twitched upward. That was all the confirmation I needed.
For the first time since the duel started, I began channeling mana into my sword. It was pitiful compared to Leo’s reserves, but that didn’t matter. This was the man who believed that if he could just land a single hit on me, he would win. That arrogance was disgusting, and it pissed me off. I wanted to shatter that delusion. I wanted him to understand, beyond any doubt, that he could never beat me.
From the very beginning, that was what I had been waiting for.
This wasn’t like our last spar. This duel would end the way he had always wanted—power against power.
His lips curved into a full smirk, followed by an unnatural shift in his stance. I could feel it: he had finally activated the scroll. I kept pouring mana into my blade and walked slowly forward. I watched his expression. That frozen, stupefied look was endlessly entertaining.
Gathering mana, I raised my sword high overhead. My steps quickened, then broke into a full sprint toward him. The mana-laden blade rose above my head.
Perhaps the binding had finally released him. Too bad—it was already too late to dodge. He seemed to realize it as well; he poured mana into his own sword and raised it to block. Seeing how much mana he had crammed into it in that single instant—far more than mine—left a bitter taste. Was this the difference between the original protagonist’s talent and the talent of the body I inhabited? Even after all my effort…
That surge of mana was exactly what I had been so wary of until now. Even so, I didn’t stop. In that brief opening I had gathered more than enough of my own. I couldn’t break through his sword with pure mana, but even an unbreakable shield is useless if the person holding it is weak. His right arm—the one gripping the sword—had been battered by me since the duel began.
The moment I entered striking range, I was certain. His arm would not withstand this blow.
I’ll crush you, sword and all.
Without a shred of hesitation I brought my sword straight down—honest, crude, exactly the way Leo himself always swung.
Boom!
Our blades crashed together with brutal force. Mana exploded outward in a magnificent resonance. I felt it clearly: the body beneath his sword crumbling.
At last the blinding flash of the mana detonation faded. The only one still standing was me. Sprawled on the ground, twitching, was Leo Epsilt.
“Haa…”
For the first time since the duel began, I let out a deep breath. With this, everything was finished.
Saving the party members, becoming their comrade, defeating the Demon King together… carefully guiding Leo so that he would take up the Holy Sword when the time came… From the start it had been a precarious relationship and a precarious goal. Only today had it truly collapsed. I had personally smashed it to pieces.
Leo Epsilt, utterly broken in front of everyone. The party members who would soon have to make a public apology as the price of defeat. None of the relationships I had first dreamed of were possible now.
As things stood, the thought filling my head was not the joy of victory but the worry of somehow finding an alternative to the Hero. It might be a person. It might be a method. After witnessing his vile nature these past few days and properly tasting his pitiful skill today, I was certain: as long as he remained the Hero, the Demon King would never fall.
Ha, damn it. Things just got complicated.
Well, what choice did I have? The one who knew the future simply had to work harder—if only for the sake of living happily in this world.
Professor Ian Dexter, who was supposed to declare the result, still couldn’t bring himself to speak. Beside him, Professor Jon Hayton sneered.
“What are you doing, Professor Ian? You need to announce the winner already.”
Jon looked at me with open enjoyment and smiled. I was starting to like the man.
In the end Ian shouted, looking as though the words tasted foul in his mouth.
“The winner—Louis Wallenstein!”
The crowd was silent. The result had been so unexpected that the atmosphere was almost frigid. Once again I felt a little lonely. If Leo had won, cheers would have erupted at once.
I was thinking that when a small but clear sound of clapping rose from within the throng. Turning my head, I saw the Imperial Princess slowly applauding. She and Sasha beside her were clapping for the victor. Even the other student-council members looked at the two of them strangely. That was the spark; a few cadets who seemed to be from other years began clapping as well. The air remained cold and there were no cheers, but it was enough. This was sufficient.
While I glanced around, Leo—who had been writhing on the ground—forced himself to his feet with difficulty.
“You… I’ll kill… kill you…”
I didn’t know the details, but at least one bone had to be broken. His obsession was impressive, if nothing else.
A wicked idea struck me. Wearing a mischievous smile, I clasped my hands behind my back, bent at the waist, and leaned in close to his ear.
“Leo, that was a little dangerous this time, wasn’t it? A Weakness Potion? If it had worked, you’d have been in real trouble.”
He didn’t react as much as I’d hoped. Of course not—he already knew the potion had failed. But that wasn’t the end.
I whispered again.
“If it hadn’t been for Elin, I’d have been finished. If she hadn’t told me… I might actually have lost.”
With that I turned and walked out of the dueling ground. Whether he believed me or not, I had planted the seed of suspicion. A small gift for Elin, who still clung so desperately to Leo Epsilt. I sincerely hoped the two of them would get along wonderfully.
No need to thank me.