23. Newspaper Club Raid Incident 4 (Revised)
23. Newspaper Club Raid Incident 4 (Revised)
"The duel... invalid... the truth of the vile halfling...?"
The Academy had once again let Lucia down.
Lucia, who had come to school in a good mood, felt sick when she saw the newspapers scattered everywhere.
All over the Academy, newspapers were scattered, filled with absurd slander about yesterday's duel.
Listening closely, she could hear everyone holding the newspapers cursing Atlas.
"Everything... it's all lies."
Unable to bear it any longer, Lucia left the spot.
Even as she moved to a secluded place, the badmouthing of Atlas continued.
Was this the non-physical method of attack Atlas had mentioned the day before...?
'I... I said I would protect Atlas... and yet...!!'
The promise she had made yesterday had been broken.
She had been one step too late.
"Atlas didn't do anything like cheating... he won, so why aren't they acknowledging it? Everyone saw it together...!"
Thinking of it as her own matter, Lucia's nose stung.
It didn't make sense for Atlas, who had won the duel fairly, to be criticized.
"...Unforgivable."
She would have to confront the Newspaper Club.
She would have to demand that they correct this absurd article immediately and apologize to Atlas.
But going to an unfamiliar place and speaking her mind to strangers... was frightening.
The foot that had been about to step forward stopped.
Just imagining the gazes pouring down on her made her hands tremble.
'No... no, Atlas must be having a harder time...'
She thought of the pain Atlas must have endured today.
Just getting stared at by strangers made her stomach churn, and now Atlas was being cursed from all directions.
Atlas must have come to school and felt these things too.
She had clearly said she would protect Atlas from these things yesterday, and look at this mess.
She was late, and hesitating to go because of such a trivial thing...
'Right... as Atlas said, I am... one of the Five Pillars...!'
It was time to make use of her family's authority.
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Thus, when Lucia Russell arrived at the Newspaper Club, she witnessed a bizarre scene.
The Newspaper Club was a mess.
Smashed desks, scattered papers, and between them, people lay collapsed clutching their ankles, while I had the club president by the collar.
"Ah... Atlas?! Why are you here??"
"Heard you wrote a strange article, so I came to complain."
"O..oh, I see!!"
Lucia, who had been surprised to see me, nodded her head vigorously and fixed her gaze back on the club president.
"...Atlas Nemea... as of yesterday, I have decided to protect him personally. Atlas and I are of one mind and body... An attack on Atlas is an attack on me. How could you write such an article about him...!"
As Lucia protested excitedly, the club president, Earl Malcolm Dunmore, sweat trickled down as if he had been outmaneuvered.
What I had intended to do at the Newspaper Club was actually related to this.
I was going to quietly talk to the president, just the two of us, and tell him to quickly retrieve the newspapers since it was a story that hadn't been coordinated with the other Five Pillars.
Though I did bring my sword in case I had to fight at any moment.
But then one of the club members suddenly shoved my head?
And I got angry?
And since I no longer felt like talking either, this catastrophe was the result.
Of course, I had anticipated it would turn out like this from the start.
"You've got me... this is going to be troublesome...."
"How troublesome is it? Is it more troublesome than becoming a cripple here? Your escort can get his arm fixed without side effects if you go to the hospital now. Think carefully."
Some of us were getting cursed at just for walking down the hallway, and he had the nerve to say it was troublesome.
The moment this was reported, all the plans I had made when I first came to the Academy were ruined.
I just wanted to get decent grades, help Amy and Liber, and only kill demons, but look at me now.
Demons? It hadn't even been a week and I had already sliced up too many people to count.
With it reported like this, it would be hard to find anyone at the Academy who didn't know my name.
Professors from other grades would all know, and so would some random stray dog.
And with this bad image stuck on me... whatever I did at the Academy from now on, I would have a weird label attached.
Malcolm probably hadn't thought all the Five Pillars would share the same opinion.
He must have thought the others were indifferent and that only one person had ordered it; he probably hadn't thought another Pillar would oppose it.
Being sandwiched between two Pillars was a disadvantageous situation.
If I had known it would be like this, I wouldn't have accepted it in the first place.
"I got it... This might not be enough, but I'll do my best within my capabilities... whether it's a correction article... or writing good articles about you in the future."
With Russell not backing off and continuing to protest alongside me, the club president finally surrendered.
In the end, Malcolm's defeat came from not properly grasping the dynamics among the Five Pillars and rashly following yesterday's orders.
But this was a correction of misinformation, so it was something that had to be done.
The real matter between me and the Newspaper Club started now.
I adjusted my grip on the longsword, which had been swung so much but still had no blood on it.
"You still haven't explained who gave the order."
"What are you going to do if you find out... are you planning to make them like me?"
"Nothing I can't do."
Malcolm's eyes rolled around as if he wasn't surprised anymore.
"... You could really get badly hurt doing that."
"That's not for you to worry about. Did you forget what I said earlier?"
"That's right..."
He didn't need to decide whether I would attack that bastard or let him be.
When he said something like I'd get hurt, Lucia looked at me in surprise.
"What do you mean, you could get hurt..?"
"To find out who ordered this. Don't you have to know who it is to deal with it?"
"Right..! Who on earth gave such an order?"
When Lucia spoke, Malcolm made a troubled expression.
Did he know that I wasn't throwing punches right now because Lucia was present?
"See, she's asking you to tell her. If you know who it is, Lucia will tell you to stop, and that'll be good for you too."
I wished he would just not say it right then.
Because then I could have moved on to torture without hesitation.
But the club president easily surrendered right then.
"That's true... The one who ordered it was the Golden One. They contacted me right after the duel ended yesterday."
There was only one thing the gold of the Five Pillars could mean.
The Golden Phrygia.
The one who planned this smear was Shahra Phrygia... that psychopath.
Once I knew the culprit, a surge of heat rushed to my head.
"Good. Let's head to the Phrygia side."
"Wha... are you going to fight again like this...?"
If I had my way, I'd want to tie him up and beat him, but I didn't bother voicing that wish out loud.
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Unlike a typical school, the Academy had a full-fledged hospital instead of just a nurse's office... because students were carried in every single day.
Students who practiced swordsmanship, students exploring dungeons, students researching magic—all of them caused accidents and ended up in the hospital.
Duels were also one of the frequent reasons.
Edgar Lemnos, who had been hospitalized in a private room after losing the duel, regained consciousness after being unconscious for about half a day.
"Urgh.... my whole body aches..."
As soon as he woke up, Edgar felt intense pain.
It was the pain of bruises, different from muscle soreness.
Yesterday, he had just thought he was tired and hadn't noticed, but it seemed he had been beaten up quite a bit by that halfling during the duel.
"Next time, I'll win..."
It was the first time he had lost to someone his own age.
After he reached the middle rank of Sword Expert and hit a wall, no one his age could beat him.
Even if they had reached a similar realm, Lemnos's Secret Swordsmanship, the Flame Sword, had always given him an overwhelming advantage.
But this time, he lost.
He hadn't even grazed the opponent's collar and had been beaten up and lost.
"If only my body recovers.........no, I need to build up my skills more first..."
Thinking about it, if he fought right away, he'd just get beaten the same way, so he decided to start training again.
His cut leg felt fine.
The bruises hadn't fully healed, but the most important wound on his leg had been cleanly healed.
It seemed they had focused treatment on that area.
While checking if his leg moved properly, something caught Lemnos's eye.
It was a newspaper.
It seemed to be today's newspaper issued by the Newspaper Club, and one had been distributed to each patient room.
On the first page of the newspaper, there was an article about his duel.
"What is this—the duel is invalid...?"
Lemnos crumpled up the newspaper.
"Do these bastards think I'm a fool!!"