episode_0028

Sigh. Slap. Slap.

I hit Katrina’s whole body with a wooden sword. I don’t know if this expression is right, but I’m almost treating her whole body like I’m cleaning an octopus. Not only Katrina, but even my wooden sword is covered in blood. It’s amazing that she’s still conscious and hasn’t collapsed after doing this.

“You have incredible stamina. You’re still standing.”

To be honest, I’m impressed. I think Katrina’s physical abilities are much better than I imagined. If she trains hard with proper training, she’ll be no match for any mid-level noble.

“Kuhaha.. How dare you talk so much after making people like this.. You hypocrite.”

“Hmm… Are you a hypocrite?”

“Isn’t that so? I made a condition that you apologize for bullying a few weaklings, and now you’re making me like this. No matter how you look at it, it’s just a strong guy bullying a weak guy. Do you actually enjoy bullying weaklings? ”

Katrina was laughing at me as if I was giving her a hard time and then getting a counterattack. Does she think she’s the victim?

“There’s something I need to correct. The reason I asked you to come with the people you bullied to apologize wasn’t because of what you did to them. I just made it a condition because I thought it would be the most effective way to hurt your pride. Also, if you hadn’t bullied me and Cosette, none of this would have been a problem for you.”

I knew there were students who were being bullied before Katrina started messing with me and Cosette. But I didn’t really care. It wasn’t my problem.

I’m not a hero who fell from the sky, so why should I solve every absurdity and incident I see just because it’s possible?

You might call me a fool and selfish, but that’s right. I’m selfish. If I were royalty with a duty to serve to make the country better, then that would be fine, but I’m not royalty anymore. What can I do if I want to live my life the way I want, according to my personality?

This incident wouldn’t have happened if Katrina hadn’t bothered me and Cosette. I don’t know if I would have intervened or not when the level of bullying of other students got too much and became an eyesore to me.

“I’m just venting my anger on you as one of your victims, so don’t use words that make you sound like a hypocrite or anything. And is it fun? Of course it is. How can it not be fun when I’m beating up someone who did something bad to me? And even if you leave that aside, it’s fun when the strong bully the weak, just like you said. This isn’t just for people, but also for dumb animals. So why don’t other people do the same?”

“That’s because humans live in society. If everyone lives as they please, society won’t survive, so laws, morals, and ethics were created to prevent that. That’s the minimum device, and everything else is for their own honor, face, and self-preservation. I think you’re lacking the last part. If you harass someone, you should know that someone else can harass you too. ”

Katrina slowly walked over to me as I stopped attacking and picked up her fallen wooden sword. The fighting spirit that had just disappeared had returned. Why?

“Oh, you’re really a teacher… And I came to my senses after getting hit. You don’t seem to be planning on killing me, do you?”

“If I kill you, I won’t be able to see you come to apologize to me. Isn’t that obvious?”

“As you can see from my appearance, if I get hit just a little more, I’ll die too. You should know that better than I do. Which means you can’t attack me properly anymore.”

“Well.. you could see it that way.”

To be honest, I’m impressed.

It’s amazing that he still has the will to fight despite the difference in skill being literally felt all over his body, and that he was able to think calmly and figure out his chances of winning in the midst of all that.

But Katrina, I’m going to show you right now that there’s a fatal flaw in that calculation.

“Yugram.”

When I call out in a small voice, Yugram, who had been waiting behind me, approaches. Katrina just watches with her mouth open as if she is wondering what she is doing. It looks like she is going to laugh, but it is her usual poker face.

“Treat me.”

When Yugram’s healing magic touches Katrina, her pale complexion returns to normal due to the loss of blood. It is a high-level magic that is impossible for even the most skilled to create lost blood. The countless burst or torn wounds on her body, which are not visible because they are covered by the uniform, must have all healed. Katrina still has a blank expression.

“You, you.. you.. what the heck are you doing?”

“I just healed it so that it wouldn’t die if I attacked it a little more, just like you said.”

“That’s not what I’m asking! We’re in the middle of a duel! No interference from others…”

“Well… Actually, unlike you, I don’t have any conditions related to defeat, so I don’t mind losing. And it’s not like I’m breaking any rules. When did you say that the conditions for this duel limit the intervention of others?”

“..what?”

“No question of life or death. Use wooden swords. Victory is until the winner recognizes victory. Aren’t these the rules of this duel you’re playing? You should have done it properly when the entrant asked if there were any objections to the rules.”

Katrina stares at me blankly, but this isn’t much of an argument or a far-fetched claim.

It is very natural and important to decide the number of people and conditions in a duel. This is even something that came up in a theory class at the knight college. I don’t know if the other side didn’t hear it because they were sleeping or what.

“Now that you’re feeling better, shall we start again? If you have a helper, why don’t you call them?”

“If only there was someone who could help you right now,” he muttered softly, and Katrina shivered.

.

.

.

Quite some time has passed since Katrina’s duel.

I ended up healing Katrina three more times to make her feel better, and Katrina finally put her head on the ground and begged for forgiveness. To be honest, I was surprised because it took much longer than I thought, and I was even more surprised because the way she begged for forgiveness was really gangster-like.

After that duel, at least from where I was looking, I didn’t see Katrina bullying anyone. She seemed to have become estranged from her gang, and the gang occasionally picked on other kids, but they seemed to be more cautious than before, perhaps because they were watching me closely.

Katrina would occasionally bring someone over and bow down in front of me to apologize. Some people would just accept the formal apology and quickly leave, perhaps because they didn’t want to get involved. Others would grab Katrina’s head and make her bow even more, or kick her shins, or spit on her. It was obvious that the roles had been reversed, but Katrina just endured it silently.

Let’s go to a barbecue place that I’ve become a regular at. The owner brought out sausages and drinks without me having to order them. I order the same thing every time I go, so it looks like the owner has completely memorized it. It’s convenient and nice.

“By the way, does Cosette not need to apologize to Katrina?”

“I only did it once.. I was mad because of what I did to the princess, so it’s okay since the princess beat him up like that.”

Is that so? I cut the springy sausage, dip it in the sauce, and take a bite. The meaty flavor is so strong and intense that it almost seems excessive. This is it.

“Still, I’m a little surprised. I think the princess was angry, but I didn’t think she would do it that badly…”

“Well.. I think it’s a lot of forgiveness just because he ended it without killing anyone.”

“Hey.. Just kidding”

This isn’t exactly a joke.

It’s true that I didn’t intend to kill him. It was enough to just show him a taste of pain and prevent him from touching me and Cosette any more.

But I don’t know what the other victims think. This is not an ordinary place. This is an academy. It’s a place where knights who are trained in the art of killing people are rolling around. So I wonder if none of the victims have ever harmed Katrina.

I don’t know, but something bigger than what I did would have happened. I didn’t do anything to prevent it, though.

And─ I felt something so trivial that it was hard to call it a sense of discomfort.

It’s a bit embarrassing to say this as a fan, but seeing him not bend his will despite being beaten up like that by me at such a young age, and even putting his pride aside when necessary to keep his promises, and seeing him act like a great person, it’s not like he’s rotten to the core. Rather, it’s because of that that… the thought of ‘why on earth?’ suddenly comes to mind.

When you see Katrina, who continued to bully so cruelly and viciously, and the other person who acknowledges her mistakes and silently goes around the academy to apologize, you start to wonder if they are the same person… At first glance, it may be an exaggeration, but you start to think that maybe someone intended this flow. Maybe they were just being played by someone.

It may seem like a tall tale without any real basis and I can’t tell anyone, but something about it made me feel uneasy.