Chapter 3

Introduction to Hooligan Studies - Chapter 3 (3/300)

#003

When I came to my senses, I found myself kicking Augustus's side with all my might as he crouched and spewed curses.

My kick, honed in the military and perfected in early morning soccer, unleashed explosive destructive power along with Leos' physique.

Crack.

The sickening feeling of several ribs and an arm breaking was vividly felt at the tips of my toes. I clenched my teeth even tighter and kicked his body with all my strength.

Augustus flew more dramatically than Parsi had, crashing into the wall and rolling on the floor like a broken doll.

“Cough, cough...”

He soon regained consciousness and tried to get up, but with broken bones, it must have been difficult to move. As proof, he kept coughing up blood and gasping for breath in pain.

“You, you little...!”

Despite still having some strength left, he pointed at me with bloodshot eyes. I ignored him and picked up the fallen Parsi.

“Are you okay?”

“Ugh...”

Parsi’s eyes, which had been filled with pain a moment ago, were now wide with shock. She pointed at Augustus with a trembling hand, but I shook my head and said,

“Don’t worry. The direct royal bloodline doesn’t die easily.”

“...Cough.”

As soon as I finished speaking, Augustus fainted, spitting out a mouthful of blood.

...Or did he?

“What’s going on!”

A muscular man in a splendid uniform, presumably Augustus’s knight, rushed into the room from outside.

Although he was a bit late considering the commotion inside, he hurriedly approached Augustus, who was lying on the floor, coughing up blood, with a pale face.

“What the...”

“If you don’t want him dead, give him a potion quickly.”

I took out a potion I had been carrying and opened the lid. Without time to savor the sharp scent that tickled my nose, I poured it into my hand and rubbed it on Parsi’s cheek.

“You damn brat, you hit hard.”

How hard must I have hit her for the veins in her once fair and delicate skin to burst and necrotize? When I opened her mouth to look inside, it seemed like a few of her teeth were missing.

“Ahh...”

Parsi struggled, saying she was fine, but I said sternly,

“Stay still.”

I had no medical knowledge, but I roughly aligned her teeth and made her drink the potion.

Being the highest-grade potion made for the royal family, her wounds healed almost instantly, and her teeth returned to their proper places.

“Phew...”

Thankfully, it’s a fantasy world. Otherwise, she would have suffered for months just eating, but the potion healed almost all her injuries.

Potion, the ultimate healer.

“Ugh...”

In other words, Augustus’s injuries could also be easily healed. The knight gave him a potion, and soon his wounds healed, and he regained consciousness, breathing heavily.

“You, you little...!!!”

Rude curses, unbecoming of a noble royal, spewed from his mouth.

But it didn’t seem to satisfy him, as he looked around with a murderous expression, and his gaze soon fell on the knight’s waist.

Clang!

“Your Highness!”

The knight, who had his sword snatched away in an instant, screamed.

Hey, hey, a knight getting his sword taken away?

“Dare you, a piece of trash, to injure me?”

Pushing aside the knight who tried to stop him, he approached me with a murderous look.

...Damn.

I looked around for a place to hide, but the door was on the opposite side. I searched for something to use as a weapon, but there wasn’t even a decorative sword. I had no choice but to step back, hiding Parsi behind me.

“Now, calm down.”

“From today, the empire’s prince will return to three.”

Augustus seemed intent on killing me. I tried to think of a way out, but nothing came to mind.

I looked at the knight, my last hope, but he was just stomping his feet behind Augustus, having had his sword taken away.

Damn, it’s like an orchestra is about to play.

“...”

Suddenly, the practical martial arts I learned in the military came to mind. With the precise movements to subdue an opponent and Leos' physique, it seemed possible.

What did the instructor say when facing an armed opponent?

...Damn.

I shouldn’t have remembered it.

It was something a guy who claimed to be a good fighter said. He said that an ordinary person could knock out an opponent in ten seconds, and he even told me to run away with a serious face.

And the sword Augustus was holding wasn’t a kitchen knife but a well-sharpened longsword that made my skin crawl just looking at it.

Ding.

“...?”

A tense situation.

Just as Augustus was about to tear me apart without a moment’s hesitation, a sudden alarm sounded in my ear.

Whoosh-

At the same time, everything I could see began to slow down.

Augustus’s movement of raising his sword looked like slow motion, and every movement of Parsi, who was screaming behind me, stabbed at my senses.

“...This is...”

Just as I was about to panic from the rapidly changing situation with each breath, I opened my mouth at the blue text on a translucent window that appeared in front of me.

Status window?

...This novel doesn’t have that, right?

* * *

SSS-Class Absolute Ruler of Another World.

Short for Suizetsu, it’s a fusion fantasy novel based on a medieval world.

In fact, it was just a medieval world in name, like other novels, a mix of various elements, but roughly, other works are the same, right? As long as it’s fun, that’s all that matters.

Anyway, Suizetsu had a common world view but didn’t use a status window.

Of course, a status window has the convenience of intuitively showing the protagonist’s strength and growth. However, as an editor and a writer of today, I had a negative view of including a status window, and we ultimately decided to exclude it after reaching a mutual understanding.

That’s why I slightly regretted it for the past week. If this world had a status window, I could have looked at my situation more objectively.

However, a clear status window was floating in front of my eyes.

Status window and system assist.

These are terms that genre novel readers would roughly understand. What caught my attention was the system assist.

It’s usually called a ‘buff’ and refers to a function in game fantasy worlds that assists the protagonist when they use a skill or perform a specific action, compensating for any imperfections.

Whether it’s a status window or system assist, I needed a way to get out of this crisis.

And as soon as I thought that, something changed in my field of vision.

“...!”

A few translucent trajectories appeared in the air. They followed the path of Augustus’s sword as it swung towards me, eventually drawing a long line on my chest.

The meaning was clear.

If I stayed still, I would be cut by Augustus’s sword.

‘Is there no other way?’

Parsi is behind me. Even if I throw myself to avoid it, the situation won’t improve.

Then.

Click.

I took a light step forward. Even a slight touch from that sharp sword would cut me somewhere, but dying like this or doing nothing and dying are the same.

Augustus’s sword followed the trajectory. Fortunately, his movements were still visible in slow motion. I clenched my teeth at Parsi’s scream from behind and reached out my hand.

Thud.

My target was his hand holding the sword. I didn’t even try to grab the blade like in a manga. If I wasn’t a master, my hand would be cleanly cut off.

“...!”

When his hand holding the sword was grabbed, Augustus’s eyes widened, and he twisted his body, trying to break free. However, this caused the sword’s trajectory to be distorted, and I saw an opening.

Thud!

“...Cough.”

I hit Augustus’s face with my empty left hand. The heavy sensation lingered at the end of my fist, and with a broken nose and spurting blood, Augustus groaned and fell on his butt.

At the same time, the sword he dropped rolled on the floor with a loud noise. Augustus, who had just regained consciousness, reached out to grab it, but I kicked it away first.

Clang!

The sword, which hit the wall, fell to the floor. Augustus looked at it with a dazed expression.

“...Wait.”

Realizing the situation, the boy tried to crawl away with a pale face, trying to distance himself from me.

I lightly clenched my fist. When I entered high school, my parents enrolled me in a boxing gym to prevent me from getting into fights, and I never thought that memory would be useful like this.

Indeed, my mother was always right.

“If you touch me, my mother won’t forgive you...!”

“Then I’ll tell your father.”

Mothers may be different, but fathers are the same, right?

Crack.

I twisted my waist and hit Augustus’s chin with a shoulder-powered punch. The boy, still sitting, flew backward and was caught by the knight standing behind him.

“Wha, wha, wha?”

“Don’t use that informal tone. If you don’t want to empty that useless head of yours for insulting the royal family, take your master and get out.”

My wrist ached from the forceful punch. As I held it and frowned, the knight, who was holding Augustus, hurriedly carried him out of the room.

“Hey! Take the sword too!”

At my shout, the footsteps that were moving away came back. The knight, with his head bowed, picked up his sword from the floor and fled again.

“Really, what a joke.”

I laughed in disbelief. Not knowing what to do, I stood still for a moment, and then I heard multiple footsteps approaching from outside the door.

‘Did he already bring a gang?’

I had broken his jaw, but he must have regained consciousness and brought his group. With so many people watching, he probably wouldn’t recklessly attack with a sword like before.

Looking at the door with a slightly resigned heart, a few unfamiliar men entered.

“...!”

One, two... five.

Five men in neat uniforms entered my room and stopped, startled. It was understandable, as white spaces were now stained with blood, mostly, if not all, from Augustus.

“Your Highness, what happened?”

The unfamiliar intruders looked at me with serious expressions and asked. I pointed at them with a haughty face.

“Who are you?”

“...I am Nartel, a member of the Red Cross Black Guard, protecting the third prince’s palace.”

“I am Beuisa.”

“I am Kante.”

They seemed to be choked up when I asked about their affiliation. It was a brief moment, but they even clenched their teeth.

If they were the knights protecting my palace, they were my direct subordinates. They must have been upset by my attitude, as if I had never seen them before.

But, really, it’s the first time I’ve seen them. Or they should have built up their presence and appeared more often in the story.

Anyway, I didn’t need to care. The emperor’s authority is strong, and I, a direct descendant, was known as a hooligan prince. They would overlook my unruly behavior.

I only needed to be careful of other princes and high-ranking nobles, but it was too late now.

What’s the point of upsetting these minor extras now?