Ch.22. What A Trash

# Celia Rubetia. Anyone who’s played this game would know this name.

She’s a character who acts as a problem solver in most incidents, so players inevitably encounter her repeatedly thanks to the protagonist’s tendency to get involved whenever trouble breaks out.

While the protagonist somehow manages to hang on, Celia comes in and resolves the situation. That was the flow of the early game.

Some people complained about the protagonist always just tagging along and not being able to progress the story without help, but the payoff in the latter half was definitely worth it.

The fact that you eventually fight alongside this world’s strongest character in the latter half… the protagonist is truly legendary… it fills your heart with pride.

Anyway, it wasn’t actually that strange that she would so readily request a duel with me, someone she’d never met before.

Who am I? I’m the man who read the setting guide included in the premium sucker package until it was in tatters, wondering if there might be some element I didn’t know about.

Thanks to that, I knew everything about the main characters, down to the smallest details.

That’s why I wasn’t fazed at all by this sudden proposal. I could clearly see what she was thinking.

‘With her personality, she probably wants to quickly finish the test and escape while no one’s around.’

Despite her status, overwhelming ability, and cold, aloof appearance that misleads everyone, she actually has an extremely introverted soul sleeping inside.

She really hates having many people watching her, and now a dueling opponent has arrived? This was her opportunity. A chance to quickly finish the test and leave.

Unfortunately for me, who had become her ray of hope, I had no right to refuse. What would I do if I refused? Wait awkwardly until the other students arrived? That didn’t seem right.

“Alright. Shall we go right now?”

“Ah, please don’t act so familiar suddenly…”

“Miss Celia, shall we proceed right away?”

“…Just speak comfortably.”

Even though she pretends to dislike it, she actually prefers friendly interaction as long as boundaries aren’t crossed, so I deliberately mentioned her name to close the distance.

Having someone know her name without being told would be commonplace for her… but wouldn’t I be the first person to treat her this way while knowing who she is?

I wanted to become friends with her if possible. Becoming close enough to ask favors would be like having access to a strategic nuclear weapon.

Above all, as a main character in the story, she was exceptionally beautiful. Is there any man in the world who wouldn’t want to be friends with a pretty woman?

“I’ll go inform them.”

So I stepped forward to handle things for the shy girl. The supervisor asked if it was really okay, showing concern, but there was no turning back now, so I just nodded.

After various preparations, we climbed onto the dueling platform and briefly introduced ourselves.

“I’m Ludion. Nothing special about me.”

“…Celia Rubetia.”

Just like the shy person she is, she only states her name. Among the students taking the entrance exam, fewer people wouldn’t know your name, you know?

But I didn’t point that out as we distanced ourselves from each other.

“Handicap.”

“…?”

“It’s a thing.”

With that conversation ended, silence fell. From my perspective, I knew attacking first would just be blocked by her defensive magic, and from Celia’s perspective, she was simply overconfident. So we continued our standoff without either of us making a move.

The silence was broken by neither me nor Celia.

“Oh? Looks like someone’s already here.”

“Really? Someone faster than me who finished all the questions?”

I could hear the voices of people who had finished their theory exams. It meant people were coming here.

And that fact was enough to make Celia move.

Her golden eyes momentarily wavered as she noticed people approaching, and magic power began to emanate and fluctuate from her left hand.

Until just now, she seemed willing to yield the first attack, but with people coming, she apparently changed her mind and wanted to end this quickly.

It was a bit dangerous. As I recalled, Celia’s stats at this point were overwhelming.

[Celia Rubetia]

[Strength: 4]

[Endurance: 3]

[Agility: 6]

[Magic Power: 43]

Her stats were abnormally focused on magic power, but because of that, she could handle extremely powerful magic.

In the beginning, she’s limited to simple glass cannons, but later she finds her own way to compensate for other abilities with magic power, becoming practically invincible. There was a good reason she never lost her top position.

But right now, she’s still a rookie who hasn’t even enrolled. If her only strength is powerful magic at this point, I still had a chance.

Before her magic power could materialize into anything, I kicked toward Celia.

If I had charged in first, I would likely have been blocked by defensive magic and counterattacked, but now that she had made the first move, things were different.

Offensive magic takes longer to cast than defensive magic.

And the current agility difference between Celia and me was 20. This gap was by no means small.

“Ugh.”

Celia seemed quite surprised by how quickly I approached.

Honestly, I was surprised too. I had felt my body was lighter since the possession, but I didn’t know it would be to this extent.

Perhaps experiencing it in actual combat is most effective. Even while thinking about other things, my body continued to move.

I grabbed Celia’s left hand, which was manipulating magic power, disrupting her concentration. The startled Celia hurriedly tried to gather magic power again, but I moved faster than her magic could form.

*Whoosh!*

“…?!”

Before she could regain her composure, I pulled on the hand I was holding. As a result, all the remaining magic power scattered completely.

‘Got it!’

If she had reacted a little faster, I would have been helplessly repelled by defensive magic, but fortunately, the surprise attack worked better than expected.

“Huh?”

But I must have pulled too hard, because she kept getting pulled toward me. At this rate, she would end up in my arms.

Quite a few people had already gathered at the practical exam site. Embracing Celia with so many eyes watching?

A powerful entry into Celia’s list of embarrassing memories! I could clearly see a future where she would run away just from seeing my face, reminded of this humiliation.

So I quickly tried to avoid it by turning my body sideways… but Celia, who belatedly grasped the situation, twisted her body in panic.

And that movement didn’t match mine at all, resulting in our movements crossing each other.

*THWACK!*

My elbow connected precisely with her temple.

I clearly heard the shocked gasps of those watching the duel. Or was that from my own mouth?

Let’s take a moment to understand my strength.

[Strength: 17]

17 was definitely not an ordinary level. It was enough to knock out even thick-skinned wild animals with a few punches.

In other words, it was enough force to be attempted murder if used against an ordinary person.

Now let’s look at Celia’s endurance.

[Endurance: 3]

3 wasn’t an ordinary level either. It was problematically below that.

If you have a friend who gets injured strangely often and is frequently hospitalized, their endurance stat might be around 3.

And I just delivered an elbow strike to such a fragile body. Even though it was unintentional and I hadn’t put my full strength into it, the impact from the difference in our stats would definitely not be small.

As a result, Celia fainted on the spot without even being able to scream, and instead of creating an embarrassing memory, I had cracked her head open. All I could do was catch the dazed-looking Celia before she collapsed to the ground.

“Hitting a woman, ugh, what trash.”

“Knocking someone out with one hit in an exam meant to evaluate skills… what a brutal guy.”

“I, I don’t want to duel with someone like that.”

“By the way, doesn’t that girl who just collapsed look familiar?”

My social standing seemed to have already crashed through the floor and sprawled in the abyss, but even I thought I was trash right now, so I humbly accepted it.

I had only one wish now.

That Celia, when she regained consciousness, wouldn’t remember anything. Or if she did remember, that she would forgive me.

Even if she forgave me, I was planning to go to her immediately and bow my head, but what she herself thought was most important.

I managed to carefully carry the unconscious Celia out of the dueling area, but if Celia heard about this, she would be shocked.

Because somehow I ended up carrying her in a princess carry.

The guys who had been condemning me as trash suddenly started whistling and saying I was manly, and others were blushing and exclaiming “oh my.” What was that all about?

Anyway, I handed Celia over to a supervisor nearby. She was a very familiar-looking woman, but her expression was already full of teasing intentions, so I made it clear that this situation wasn’t my intention.

“Excuse me, you know this was an accident, right?”

“It looked too clean to be an accident.”

“No…”

“Ahaha! I know. I know, so don’t give me such a fun reaction. It makes me want to tease you more.”

A supervisor with a completely different vibe from everyone else. It was truly terrifying to think that this person would become the homeroom teacher for the first-year lower class. Of course, at this rate, I wouldn’t end up in the lower class, so that was reassuring.

“I’ll take responsibility for this child and make sure she’s treated cleanly without any aftereffects, so don’t worry and go do what you need to do.”

Despite her personality, she was definitely skilled, so I wasn’t worried. I lightly bowed my head in greeting and walked back into the dueling area.

By that time, the theory exam must have completely finished, as the inside was already filled with examinees, and all their gazes were fixed on me.

“This is really burdensome.”

Having defeated Celia, I couldn’t lose to anyone else. That would be like defeating the boss only to die to a mob.

Of course, there was the option of finishing the exam and running away, which is what Celia did in the game, but…

How could I miss this fun event? And I can’t grow anymore. I should enjoy it while I can.

Hehehe. When they become stronger than me later, I’ll hit them with “But you got destroyed by me before”…

Unaware of my evil thoughts, challengers began to come down one by one.