193. If You Don't Like the Match, Then Let's Brawl Outside
193. If You Don't Like the Match, Then Let's Brawl Outside
Once it was decided, I had to act fast.
Let's review the basic rules of the Fiancé Scramble.
All you had to do was prove yourself the strongest in the academy by any means necessary, and upon graduation, marriage was guaranteed.
Naturally, "proving yourself the strongest" seemed to make everyone think of force—martial prowess.
Currently, the top rank was held by the Student Council President, who would graduate at the end of the year.
If he maintained his rank for just half a year longer, he'd graduate and immediately claim Lucia.
'I have to resolve this as quickly as possible.'
The fear Lucia had for Carlos, which I'd witnessed indirectly, was immense.
He must have been meticulously conditioned from a young age.
I didn't want to see Lucia trembling with anxiety whenever she was reminded of her father anymore.
One thing I could at least give the Student Council President credit for was that even as the top ranker, he didn't harass Lucia unnecessarily.
I wasn't sure if it was consideration or if he simply had no time to care, but if he'd dared to mess with Lucia just because he was first, I might have killed him.
Well, isn't that going a bit too far?
Immediately, quite a few people who would do exactly that came to mind.
Resolving the scramble was only the beginning.
To get at the root of this incident, there was still a long way to go.
"You haven't already left work, have you?"
Fortunately, the Student Council had no such thing as labor laws, so even though the semester was ending and the sun was setting, it was still operating normally.
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In front of the Student Council, there were two guards.
They wore the very familiar cloaks of the Swordsmanship Research Club.
It seemed this place was also a location where the Swordsmanship Research Club had lent out security personnel.
Normally, one would turn back here, but I was the same person who had already casually strolled past the Newspaper Club while it was guarded by four Swordsmanship Research Club members.
A mere two guards were no problem at all.
"Ugh, it's the director's younger sibling..."
"No matter who you are, you can't just enter the Student Council."
Recognizing me, the two of them were on high alert.
They wore complicated expressions, caught between the thought that as guards they shouldn't back down easily, and the knowledge that if they confronted me, they'd end up in bad shape.
"I have business inside. Could you step aside?"
"It's not like we can just step aside because you ask..!!"
"No, please just go back... If we let you through here, we'll get chewed out by the director!"
At first they tried to block me, but perhaps realizing that was impossible no matter what, one of them even knelt down and begged.
Normally I might have let it slide, but unfortunately, I wasn't in the mood for that right now.
I wanted to smash them, but since they were begging like that, shouldn't I give them a chance?
I warned them politely but firmly.
"I'm in a very bad mood right now, but for the sake of Lady Hera, I'll tell you one more time. Could you step aside from there?"
"...Uh..uuuugh, fine... okay."
Perhaps my sincerity got through, as the two sunbaes quietly stepped aside.
"Uh... who are you?"
As soon as I opened the door and entered, I saw a student wearing thick glasses.
As if his work was all done, he had pushed his documents aside and was engrossed in reading a book when he locked eyes with me.
Perhaps because I entered so abruptly, he seemed a bit surprised.
"Is the Student Council President inside?"
"What brings you here..?"
"I'm here to challenge the Student Council President to a duel."
"Ah, a duel with the President... just a moment."
The clerk, upon hearing my words, fumbled to put his coat back on and tried to stand up.
He was a bit slow in his movements.
But as he was getting up, as if he noticed something strange, he locked eyes with me again.
"...Huh? You're dueling the President??"
"Yes. He's inside, right?"
"J-just a moment please...! The manual for these cases is..."
Flustered, he took a book out of the drawer and started reading it.
It could have been a stalling tactic, but I just figured the guy was a bit spacey, so I decided to ignore him and go in.
"Is he over there? I'm going in."
"Ugh... Ahhh no!! I'll guide you!! President... a guest has arrived outside."
There was a brief silence, as if he were contemplating, but soon the door opened.
As soon as the door opened, two men appeared.
One was the handsome, clean-cut Student Council President, and the other was someone quite familiar to me.
"Who's this? Isn't that the Newspaper Club Director? What secret discussions were you having alone with no escorts?"
The Newspaper Club Director had been holding a secret meeting with the Student Council President.
"I don't know what suspicions you're harboring, but it's only natural that club directors and the Student Council President have many things to discuss... My business is done, so you two handle your own affairs."
As soon as the Newspaper Club Director saw me, he gave a stiff, awkward smile and immediately fled.
What on earth had they been talking about?
I didn't know the details, but judging by how he paled the moment he saw me, it didn't seem like a pleasant conversation.
I could have caught him and interrogated him, but the Student Council President was more important right now, so I decided to corner him later.
"Ah... junior, even so, considering the hour, wouldn't it have been better to give a heads-up that you'd be coming?"
After the Newspaper Club Director left, the Student Council President composed himself and spoke with a relaxed attitude.
The current Student Council President, Anthony, was not someone I liked very much.
In Academy's Devil Slayer, the Student Council President appeared as a villain who obstructed the protagonist at every turn.
Logically, he was in a position where he couldn't leave alone the protagonist who ran around stirring up trouble, claiming to kill demons inside the academy, but his actions felt especially villainous.
With ambitions to rise up, overturn the rigid power structure of the imperial nobility centered on the Five Pillars, and place himself at the center, his top priority was graduating from the academy without any major incidents.
To graduate safely, he interfered with the protagonist who took extreme actions at every turn, and since his skills were decent, Hayden, who was in the midst of growing, was obstructed by the Student Council President several times.
Killing demons was ultimately for everyone's safety, but by keeping the incident-causing protagonist in check, he was one of the reasons the response to demons was delayed.
From his point of view, it was understandable, but from the reader's perspective, it was infuriating... that kind of character.
His quietly irritating way of speaking also played a part.
"We're not strangers, are we, junior? How about a greeting first?"
"Let's skip the trivialities and get straight to the point. Duel me."
"To covet this position... I knew you were close to Russell, but could it be feelings of affection?"
He grinned slyly and threw out a probing remark at me.
"Let's say that. I'd rather die than have what's mine taken by someone else."
"But it'll be difficult right away. I had three consecutive duels yesterday, so my body is not in good shape today. How about after I've recovered a bit?"
"Do you think anyone doesn't know that you also targeted and dueled those who had fought consecutively yesterday?"
The Student Council President seemed reluctant to duel me.
If he kept refusing, I had my own plans.
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'He's really small.'
The Student Council President's first thought as he looked at Atlas, who had come to him, was that single phrase.
Fortunately, he only thought it and didn't voice it aloud.
He wouldn't know it himself, but if he had said it out loud, he would have seen Atlas draw his sword, duel or no duel.
Having unknowingly chosen the surviving option, the Student Council President continued his assessment of Atlas.
'He looked small from afar, but up close he looks even smaller. Is he really that rumored halfling?'
He had only heard that there was something strange among the new students, and hadn't paid much attention.
Because it wasn't the first or second time a problem child had appeared.
The Student Council President had only seen Atlas duel once, during the exchange match with Clover Academy.
The sight of him toying with the top-tier Expert-level Clover Academy student using just one finger was extremely shocking to many students.
But that was all.
Although he possessed formidable martial power, the Student Council President hadn't shown great interest in him.
First of all, because he had absolutely no intention of fighting him.
No matter how strong he was, if the sword wasn't aimed at him, it wasn't his concern.
According to the report compiled by the Newspaper Club, he wasn't the type to attack first, so as long as he didn't provoke him, he was safe.
And second, because he could clearly feel an invisible hand around Atlas that he couldn't recklessly touch, whether Atlas knew it or not.
He had been curious about who it was and tried to poke around a bit, but he remembered quickly stopping because he had a hunch that if he touched it carelessly, the foundation he'd painstakingly built could collapse.
'There was also Earl Dunmore's warning... is it right to stop here?'
Many thoughts ran through his mind in that short time.
He recalled the advice Earl Dunmore had given him, the one who had hastily vacated the spot as soon as he saw Atlas.
That warning must have been pointing to that very student.
Earl Dunmore wasn't someone to warn him simply because the opponent possessed powerful martial force.
If it was just strength, there were ways to deal with it.
'But... this is an opportunity that won't come again...!'
Even knowing it was poison, he couldn't easily give it up.
The fruit of victory before his eyes was that hard to surrender.
The position of Russell's son-in-law was worth that much.
Even for that reason, he wanted to avoid the duel if possible.
If he could just hold on for the rest of the semester, he would be the winner anyway.
If possible, he wanted to avoid Atlas for the entire remaining semester.
When he expressed his refusal once more, Atlas's demeanor changed.
"If you don't want a duel, it can't be helped. I'll give up on the duel."
Surprisingly, he seemed to give up so easily it was shocking.
Especially since he had prepared several more excuses for afterward.
But Atlas, in a tone completely unlike the one that seemed to give up so meekly, began emitting a killing intent so thick it was suffocating.
"The condition Carlos Russell stated wasn't to take the top spot in a 'duel,' but simply to prove you're the strongest in the academy."
Step by step, Atlas advanced toward the Student Council President.
Then a sword pierced the Student Council President's abdomen.
"?!!"
Startled, he touched his stomach with his hand, but there was nothing there.
'An illusion...?'
Before he knew it, cold sweat had beaded up and trickled down.
The sword piercing his abdomen was an illusion caused by the killing intent Atlas had briefly emitted.
He had only emitted it intensely in that one moment and not afterward, but because of the terror felt in that brief instant,
every time Atlas took a step closer, his heart pounded and cold sweat ran down his back.
'If I fight like this... without the minimal rules of a duel... what will happen to me?'
Suddenly, the image of the students who had gotten into a dispute with Atlas in the hallway during the first week of the new semester and been taken to the infirmary flashed through his mind.
He gulped dryly at the horrifying scene of blood splattered in the hallway and severed body parts rolling around.
Right now, he had no preparation whatsoever to face Atlas, a formidable opponent.
Looking at Atlas approaching as if about to kill him at any moment, the Student Council President was forced to make a decision.
"Ah... alright, junior!! I'll duel you!! That's what you want, right!!"