Ch.46Chapter 46. Well-Founded Confidence (1)

After the awards ceremony for the inter-grade competition ended, there were two noticeable changes.

First, the way other students looked at me had changed.

In the past, most students viewed me negatively, but now it was different.

There were still some students like Cain Hover who continued to look at me unfavorably, but most students no longer saw me as badly as before.

In fact, public opinion about me had improved.

I was considered the main contributor to the first-year students taking first place in the inter-grade competition.

Some students were even praising me because of the unprecedented record of first-year students taking first place during their grade.

The second change I noticed was, surprisingly, much closer to home.

“I’m going first!”

“Huh? You’re leaving?”

“Yeah. I have something to do later.”

“…Busy again today, I see.”

It was Cynthia’s attitude.

Starting from the awards ceremony day, Cynthia had been strangely avoiding the competition team members.

Today again, after all classes ended, we had planned to have dinner together, but predictably, Cynthia was skipping out saying she had something to do.

Except during class times when she couldn’t avoid it, Cynthia was trying to stay away from us however she could.

Even when she was with us, she barely spoke.

This was something I couldn’t have imagined before.

Among the four of us, Cynthia used to be the most talkative.

“Come on, at least have dinner with us today.”

“…Sorry! I have something urgent to do.”

Cynthia said that and left quickly, almost as if she were running away.

Watching her purple hair quickly disappear, neither I, Elaine, nor Emily could say anything.

I thought we would become closer after going through the competition together, but with Cynthia, it was the opposite.

I had gotten closer with Emily, though.

“I wonder why she’s acting like that.”

“That’s what I’m saying.”

“Did I do something wrong…?”

“No, Miss Emily. You haven’t done anything wrong.”

Elaine quickly responded to Emily’s murmur.

“I didn’t expect it to last this long.”

I vaguely knew that Cynthia felt guilty for not fulfilling her role in the competition.

But I didn’t expect it to last this long.

It had been over a week since the competition ended, and even among students, talk about the competition was gradually dying down.

“What should we do? Today was actually a dinner appointment we made with Cynthia.”

“Well, I guess we’ll have to go just the three of us…”

“Ryu.”

“Yes?”

Just as I was responding to Elaine’s words, thinking we’d have to have dinner with just the three of us again, someone called me from behind.

A voice full of hostility.

“What is it?”

It was Cain Hover.

Cain stood with his arms crossed, looking at me with a lofty expression and an unpleasant smile.

What’s with him all of a sudden?

“I challenge you to a duel.”

“…Suddenly?”

“I’ll expose the fact that you cheated in both the entrance exam and the inter-grade competition.”

“…”

I didn’t even feel like responding to that.

I might have hit him a bit hard on the first day, but he was glaring at me with anger as if looking at his parents’ murderer.

“I don’t want to.”

“D-Don’t run away! Running away only proves that you cheated.”

“I think you’re the only one who sees it that way.”

“…”

Cain bit his lip at my retort and couldn’t answer.

Cain was a person too, a fellow student at the academy, so he couldn’t have failed to notice the recent atmosphere at the academy.

The recent atmosphere at the academy was very favorable toward me.

“Hey, you should just give up. If we fight, you’ll just get beaten and pass out again.”

“Ugh…! Shut up!”

Whoosh!

“Oh! That’s dangerous!”

Without warning, flames suddenly erupted from Cain’s hands.

Elaine, who was nearby, instinctively stepped back and drew her sword, while Emily naturally stood behind Elaine, looking at Cain with anxious eyes.

“Geez, this guy, really.”

Cain was staring only at me with eyes full of anger, flames surrounding both his hands.

I was already in a bad mood because of the Cynthia issue, and now Cain was acting so aggressively that my mood worsened.

I guess I’ll have to teach him another lesson today.

“You started this, remember?”

“Hmph. Finally got the courage, I see.”

Cain stretched his hand toward me with an annoying smile.

I naturally gestured for Elaine to step back as I took a step forward.

Looking at Cain’s irritating expression, I was starting to get angry too.

Normally, I would have just taught him a moderate lesson and ended it, but today I needed to be a bit stronger than “moderate.”

“You just don’t learn.”

“If you’re hoping for the same fluke as last time, you’re in for a big surprise.”

Whoosh!

Saying that, Cain made the flames flickering in both hands even larger.

Cain, with literal fists of fire, began drawing up mana as I took my stance.

“Seems like you’ve been practicing.”

Unlike the first day of the semester, Cain created flame birds at a very fast pace.

This time, they weren’t birds with unrecognizable shapes like before.

They were quite intricately formed flame birds.

And not just one, but three.

“Die!!”

Whoosh!

The flame birds Cain created in an instant flapped their wings and flew toward me.

Even though they hadn’t come close yet, I could feel the heat, indicating they were definitely more powerful than last time.

“How should I crush this to really hurt his pride?”

Of course, to my eyes, it was still just student-level.

Looking at the three flame birds rushing toward me, I thought about it.

How should I counter this attack to hurt Cain’s pride the most?

Whoosh!

The answer came quickly.

Teleporting the magic itself or dodging like last time would be a disappointing choice.

To properly crush Cain’s pride, the best way would be to directly counter and nullify the magic he had put his best effort into.

I didn’t need complicated calculations like Cain did.

Because now I was a “magician.”

Just by thinking, mana gathered around my hand, and wind began to swirl.

The wind gathered at my fingertips was instantly sharpened and moved very quickly according to my will.

Wind blades flew toward the approaching flame birds, several times faster than the birds themselves.

Whoosh!

“Wh-What…!”

The flame birds that had been flapping toward me were split in half by the wind and soon lost their form.

Making a sound like popping balloons, the three flame birds simply disappeared in mid-air.

When the flame birds were shot down, Cain stepped back in confusion.

Even just seeing this, it was obvious how little combat experience Cain had.

When his best attack didn’t work, he openly showed his emotions, became flustered, and did nothing.

Tap!

There wasn’t even a need to use teleportation.

I made a big leap toward Cain, who was too shocked to think of his next move.

When I suddenly charged at him, Cain crossed his flame-covered hands and instinctively took a defensive stance.

It seemed that he had initially summoned flames to his hands to defend against my punches.

Whoosh!

From Cain’s perspective, he probably thought I wouldn’t be able to hit him if he lit flames and defended, but that was a complete misjudgment.

“Wh-What?”

Whoosh!

“I’ll just hit you once this time too, okay?”

Cain’s flames weren’t strong enough to overcome me.

When I shot a strong wind at Cain’s flame-flickering hands, the fire went out instantly.

As I watched the flames die down, I raised my hand to punch Cain’s confused face.

Cain raised his hands, which had been protecting his solar plexus and stomach, to guard his face.

An instinctive guard that any person would make.

I knew he would do that.

Thwack!

“Ugh!”

I delivered a punch to Cain’s exposed stomach with my other hand.

I hit him a little harder than last time.

The heavy impact I felt on my fist told me the punch had landed perfectly.

Since I didn’t mix in any mana, it wouldn’t cause internal injuries, but it would probably hurt quite a bit.

Thud!

“Kugh-! Kugh!”

“Oh, at least you didn’t pass out this time.”

After taking a punch to the stomach, Cain fell to his knees and gasped for breath.

Last time, he had passed out after one hit, so I hadn’t seen him suffering in pain, but this time was different.

Thanks to not passing out, Cain Hover seemed to be feeling the pain in his stomach fully, constantly coughing.

At first it felt satisfying, but as he continued to be in pain, I started to feel a bit sorry.

“That’s why you should have been more reasonable.”

“Kugh, huh, huk.”

Cain couldn’t even think of answering me and was rolling on the floor, gasping for breath.

“Hey, hey. Are you okay?”

“Huk. Huh.”

When I tried to help him up, Cain roughly waved his hand, rejecting my gesture.

Well, judging by this reaction, it seems he’s not in danger of dying.

“Ahem.”

“Ryu, sir. Don’t you think you hit him too hard…?”

As I cleared my throat in embarrassment, Elaine interjected.

If even Elaine was saying this, maybe I had gone a bit too far.

“Hover, are you alright? Should we take you to the infirmary…”

“Kugh. Just… go away.”

“Oh…”

Cain finally seemed to calm down a bit and uttered words that could be understood.

Hearing those words was actually reassuring.

“Alright, let’s get out of here. He’s struggling.”

“Um, okay.”

Elaine hesitated, looking at Cain who had just managed to prop himself up from lying on the floor.

Even in that state, Cain was clenching his fists and trembling.

I wasn’t sure if it was from pain or anger, but he looked like he was having a hard time.

“Damn it.”

Hearing Cain mutter quietly to himself, I quickly left with Elaine and Emily.

“Was I too harsh?”

“Yes.”

“Uh-huh.”

“…”

Elaine and Emily answered without the slightest hesitation.

This makes me feel even more sorry.