Chapter 18: Legal Revenge

Translated by Hikaru

Edited by Mel

The day after I met Chris, for some reason Elysia was staring at me during lunch.

“Do you like older people?”

I tilted my head at Elysia’s abrupt statement. However, I immediately understood her meaning.

“…Are you talking about yesterday?”

“Yes, I am. That woman who came to the front school gate, she was quite beautiful, wasn’t she?”

As the conversation between Elysia and myself consinuted, Glan and Mize, who were standing beside me, looked at me curiously. I let out a sigh. It seemed I’ve been completely misunderstood.

“That’s my ex-boss.”

“Boss? You mean… the cleaning service that you worked for before you came to the academy?”

“Yeah. So it’s not like we have a special relationship. Yesterday she just came to see how I was doing at school.”

“…Hmm. She cares about you a lot.”

Elysia looked at me with troubled eyes. For a moment I thought she was jealous, but I think she was more suspicious. Apparently, I was still a “suspicious guy” to Elysia.

“Did something happen yesterday?”

“I’m curious too.”

Glan and Mize asked me about the topic. If I were to explain honestly, it would probably end up the same way again. I was thinking about how to cover it up.

“Hey, you.” Someone called out to me from behind.

When I turned around, there was Zeke from the Hero Department. Two of his cronies were with him.

“Zeke…”

Elysia glared at Zeke in alarm. Of course the incident that occured two days ago, when Zeke tried to raise his hand against the citizens of the royal capital, was still fresh in her mind.

“Surely, I think he is called Tweight.”

“…Yeah. What do you want?

“I challenge you to a duel.”

At Zeke’s words, the classroom fell silent.

Duel. I knew the meaning of the word. Originally, it was a measure to resolve disputes between nobles, a promise to fight one on one, with the parties involved betting their pride. However as time went on, the tendency to settle disputes by force became more frequent, which led to it being seen as barbaric. Hence the number of nobles who proposed duels had been decreasing recently.

I guess what Zeke means by a duel is a “formal fight”. In other words, I was being politely offered a fight. “I’m sorry, but can I have a one-on-one fight with you now?” is what he is saying.

“You seem surprised, but this is not unusual. It is said that several times a year there are duels between students at the Bildarz Academy. Most of the time, it is because a commoner has challenged a nobleman. Hmm, it seems that there are always people like you who have no idea what they’re dealing with.”

“…I don’t remember challenging the nobility in any way.”

“Bullshit. Don’t tell me you’ve forgotten what happened two days ago!” Zeke barked.

I knew it was about that, letting out a sigh inwardly.

“You’re a commoner and you’ve disrespected me, the heir to House Falchion! If you did anything like that in my territory, you would’ve been beheaded immediately! You were already a person that deserved to be punished!”

Elysia, unable to just watch, spoke up. “Zeke, Have you forgotten the rules of the Bildarz Academy? As long as you’re a student at this school, the status system doesn’t work. Commoners, nobles, and even royalty are all on equal footing as long as they are students of the Bildarz Academy.”

“Enough! We are in the same Hero Department so stop looking down on me! Don’t you dare be cocky!!”

Zeke struck out at Elysia, but Glan who was beside them, grabbed his arm and stopped him.

“Hey, hey. The duel hasn’t even started yet.”

“Get off me, commoner.”

“Oh, I’ll let you go. Next time, I won’t be able to stop at just grabbing it.”

Glan stared at Zeke with his eyes flashing. Zeke, who was under Glan’s violent intimidation, snorted slightly.

“Shut up, outsider. I’m only here for that man, Tweight.”

Then Zeke looked at me.

With all the attention of my classmates on me, I thought about it. No matter how you look at it, we were not at fault for what happened two days ago, but if we let Zeke’s outburst go on unchecked, it might someday spread to the other students involved. So I bowed my head.

“I apologize if I offended you. So, will you forgive me?”

“No. You will be humiliated in public.”

Zeke and his cronies smiled vulgarly.

“… That’s a bad hobby.”

“This is not my hobby, it’s an example. It will be troublesome to defeat commoners like you one after another. I must set an example to the rest. After all, tall trees get the most wind. I must do this once.”

The cronies agreed with Zeke’s decision, saying, “Yes, yes.”

I was at the end of my rope. I was good at suppressing my anger, but when it came to Zeke, I was more than a little disgusted. I’ve never had such a childish person pick a fight with me before. With a sigh, I told him.

“You may have your reasons, but in the end, you just want to get even. There is no good reason for this duel. What you’re looking for is just a childish fight.”

I told him implicitly that I had no intention of responding to such nonsense.

Zeke’s face turned red and he shouted, “Shut up! You have disgraced me! This is legitimate revenge!”

Zeke’s shout drew a crowd of students from the hallway. The one who reacted first to his words was not me, but Elysia.

“…Revenge, right?”

Elysia’s appearance changed completely. The hostility she had directed at Zeke dissipated, and she looked at me with a mysterious expression.

“Tweight… Why don’t you take it?”

I rolled my eyes at Elysia’s sudden change of attitude.

“…That’s quite a sudden change of heart.”

“I’m not trying to defend Zeke, but a nobleman who thinks he’s been disgraced is persistent. If you refuse it here, you might end up in more trouble than you bargained for.”

I see. That makes sense.

He chose the duel method, which is better I guess.

“All right. I’ll accept the duel.”

When I reluctantly nodded my head, Zeke smiled good-humoredly, as if he was already certain of his victory.