The First Duel (1)
By putting pressure on the second-in-command of that group through Dane, Ellie had succeeded in getting the entire alliance to join the strike by the day before their next class.
That said, a strike was hard enough to start; keeping it alive until it actually bore fruit was even harder.
The longer a struggle dragged on, the more discontent it was bound to breed. So the best outcome would be to bring Rachel Vermi down as quickly as possible.
I need to finish this within two weeks.
But Ellie’s prediction was wrong in the best possible way. Rachel, already cornered in her own mind by her inferiority complex toward Melitt, exploded after just one day.
“...What is this?”
On Monday, Rachel stepped into the silent classroom and froze in confusion.
It should not have been silent, because she was late—fifteen minutes past nine, the official start of class.
That meant every student was late too, even later than she was.
“Assistant Sirk? What on earth is going on?”
“I, um... th-that is...”
The innocent assistant, blanched to the color of paper, answered in a trembling voice.
“Th-the students...”
“What did the students do?”
“A-actually...”
The young man, smaller and frailer than even a girl, shook all over.
“Th-they said they would r-refuse to attend Professor Vermi’s class...”
“...What?”
Rachel went white with shock, then flushed red with rage.
And then she screamed.
“Refuse? Refuse what! I’ll fail every last one of them!!!”
“Eek...!”
Leaving Sirk to collapse in fear behind her, Rachel stormed out of the classroom. If she saw a student, she meant to seize them by the hair and drag them back by force.
But there wasn’t a single student on the lawn.
Those bastards are in the dormitory!
Yet the dormitory was empty as well. Ellie had anticipated Rachel’s response and scattered the students everywhere.
By then, even Rachel had started cooling down a little, and in the space left behind, confusion and unease began to seep in.
They’re refusing my class?
Then what happened next? Had something like this ever happened in Academy history?
Could she really fail them all?
She had the authority as a professor. But was it actually possible?
Even trying to fail one student was difficult if that student’s parents were high-ranking nobles; in practice, one had to read the room and seek the headmaster’s help.
But all nineteen students?
For that, she would need justification. And could she really win a fight over justification when the odds were nineteen to one?
Then perhaps she should fail only some of them....
Some of them?
Rachel had an idea.
Split them up.
If she approached a few students separately, urged only them to attend class, and abandoned the rest, then one by one their control would collapse. Once the others felt they were the only ones losing out, they’d crawl back to class too.
And at the same time, she needed a scapegoat—someone to take all the blame. Someone she could point at and sneer, saying, I’m not the bad one, they just followed that person’s incitement.
I can make that orphan girl carry it.
Rachel was sharp in exactly this sort of way. That was part of why she had been chosen as a rising talent within her faction.
However, Rachel did not know one thing.
Ellie had already predicted the shape of her thoughts this time as well.
What’s that?
As Rachel passed the administrative building, she saw the Academy’s hired servants—cooks, attendants, maids, and the like—crowded against one wall.
When she came closer, Rachel was horrified.
Pasted to the wall was a large sheet of paper.
Something that had hung year-round, in all seasons, at the university where Ellie had once lived in her previous life.
A public notice.
It stated that Rachel had not only insulted students during class, but had also harassed a particular student out of private malice, and that until she offered an apology, the entire class would refuse to attend.
Below that were all nineteen names.
Ellie had gone to each of them one by one and won them over.
For the students who had hesitated to put their names on it, she would visit them while they were with friends; for the proud ones, she would lightly press on that pride. Without coercing anyone, she had still managed to draw everyone into the cause.
In truth, Ellie thought it had been lucky that she had not needed to force even a single person.
As for the students she had persuaded—at least the ones with some understanding of politics and governance—many of them were impressed by the insight and decisiveness she had shown in getting this done.
In any case, at this point it was fair to say her plan to divide the students had become impossible.
What was more, Ellie’s name stood at the very top of the nineteen.
Traditionally, the top name was that of the instigator.
Once she had claimed that position, there was no room left for blame-shifting or sleight of hand.
In fact, Stella had suggested arranging the names in a circle if they were going to include everyone anyway. That way Ellie would not be the only one who suffered for it.
But Ellie had shaken her head. She was grateful for her friend’s consideration, but she knew that if she did not do it this way, she would never be able to bring them along with her.
“Ell...”
The name burst from Rachel’s mouth like blood.
“Li...!!!”
By then, the servants had long since fled from the enraged magician. Rachel tried to burn the notice to ash with magic, but the protective wards the headmaster had placed on the administrative building were already active.
“Ellie...!!”
That damned brat.
I’ll kill her.
But to kill her, first she would have to drive her out of the Academy.
Rachel tore the notice in half, then flung open the front door of the administrative building and the door to the headmaster’s office.
“Headmaster! Just what is going on her—”
Rachel’s face stiffened.
Inside, Ellie was sitting there casually finishing tea and pastries, and their eyes met.
“Oh?”
The girl idly twirled her fork and addressed her with alarming ease.
“Professor Vermi, have you come to apologi—”
“......Ha.”
A derisive sound escaped Rachel’s mouth, but there was not the slightest trace of amusement in her eyes.
She glared back and forth between Scathach and Ellie before spitting out, “So you’d both planned this from the beginning? To get me thrown out?”
Rachel sneered as she turned her gaze on Scathach.
“No, wait. From the very start, the way Professor Ressanti was driven out like that made no sense either. It was all you, wasn’t it? From the moment you dragged in that unknown orphan girl out of nowhere.”
With a shaking finger, Rachel jabbed at Scathach.
“This was all your scheme. You old, sly snake of a woman.”
“...Professor Rachel Vermi. Mind your language in front of a student.”
“Pfft! A student?”
Rachel laughed without a trace of mirth, then pointed at Ellie instead.
“She’s probably your planted stooge. It doesn’t make sense otherwise. How could an orphan girl have that kind of power? How could she wield such overwhelming mana? Hah ha...”
Rachel shook her head.
“Go have your twisted little school game all you want. I’ll get out on my own.”
“Then I’ll take that as your resignation. Please vacate Academy grounds, former Professor Rachel Vermi.”
“Go to hell, you fucking bitch. Tch.”
Rachel spat on the floor of the headmaster’s office and strode out.
“...”
Once the room had gone quiet, Scathach made a light gesture, and the filth Rachel had left behind vanished from the spot.
“Ellie, would you mind withdrawing for today as well?”
The girl cast a glance toward the place where Rachel had stood a moment ago, then rose to her feet.
“Headmaster.”
“Hmm?”
“Do you remember when I said I respected you the last time?”
“...Well. Age makes the memory a little foggy.”
“Then I’ll say it again. I respect you. And now, I respect you even more.”
“Your words are appreciated, but you flatter me too much. Please withdraw for today.”
“Yes.”
“And Ellie?”
“Yes?”
“Don’t do anything reckless.”
“Sorry.”
And Ellie kicked off the floor and headed out.
Left alone, Scathach sagged in her chair.
“...Haaah.”
Sometimes she found herself missing the battlefield, where blood had been washed away with blood, and right then was one of those times.
There was a peculiar, dreamlike pleasure in having every thought in your head vanish except the single desire to slaughter every last enemy.
That was exactly why some people came to rely on it like a drug and became addicted. And like any drug, those who depended on it and succumbed to it lost their humanity.
“......Haaah.”
Scathach exhaled forcefully and steadied herself.
She could guess what Ellie was thinking, and what purpose had led her to leave the headmaster’s office.
There’s no need for me to go help her, is there?
But among the entire Academy—and indeed, the world—Scathach was the only person who did not know that Ellie carried the blood of the imperial family, yet did know that her mana control was vast enough to rival His Imperial Majesty, the gold-crowned emperor.
So she was not worried.
Even if Ellie got hurt, it would only be to an extent that could be healed without any trouble.
Go and run wild to your heart’s content.
Still slumped in her chair, Scathach stared up at the ceiling.
For one fleeting moment, she almost wondered whether she had truly walked the right path, whether the direction she had chosen in building and leading the Academy these past thirty years had really been the correct one.
Then—
I respect you.
Like a bandage keeping blood from spilling out of a wound, Ellie’s words wrapped around Scathach’s heart.