Revealing Existence at Minst Academy 2

‘And anyway, Young Lord Theodore doesn’t need help.’

Since stepping in might actually interfere, Yuria decided to just watch for now.

“Weak.”

Theodore evaluated the male student who had faced him with just one word.

“Ugh!”

The defeated male student seemed to feel humiliated.

But Theodore looked down at him with an exceedingly arrogant gaze and said:

“No need to feel humiliated. Though your skills were too weak, you can use the excuse that you had a bad opponent, so take comfort in the excuse that you lost because your opponent was too strong.”

It was extremely provocative.

But Yuria didn’t sympathize with the person hearing those words.

She thought that if someone was caught talking behind others’ backs and then challenged to a duel, they should accept the consequences.

‘What if I had received such a duel challenge?’

Yuria would have felt humiliated and harbored a determination, saying, “Someday I will definitely defeat you.”

And she would have thought that she needed to work even harder, repeatedly training to somehow become stronger.

But that male student couldn’t even properly refute, nor did he make a resolve to defeat Theodore someday.

As someone walking the path of a swordswoman, Yuria found this aspect truly disappointing.

‘Why is that person even walking the path of a swordsman?’

Yuria herself had a dream of becoming a renowned swordswoman on the continent.

But unlike her, there were those who stepped on the path of swordsmanship just because it was cool or for show, and though Yuria didn’t particularly confront them about it, to be honest, it didn’t look good to her.

It felt like they were treating the dream she had committed her life to as something frivolous.

“Hey! That’s going too far!”

Lost in such thoughts, Yuria heard someone shouting at Theodore.

“Going too far?”

Theodore asked with an arrogant smile.

“Is it wrong to offer comfort to someone who was caught talking behind others’ backs, challenged to a duel, and then defeated?”

“What?”

“If you have complaints, try challenging me to a duel. You also seem to be from the Swordsmanship Department, and though your skills appear somewhat better than this fellow, compared to my level, standing above the sky, you’re truly crawling on the ground.”

The face of the male student with murky brown hair, confronted with Theodore’s incomparably arrogant words, crumpled.

However, he couldn’t rashly challenge Theodore’s words.

“Anyone who has a problem with me, from any department, speak up. Except for divine powers, I’ll duel you in any field, adapting to your field. Whether it’s magic, spirit arts, any weapon technique, or martial arts, I don’t mind.”

Theodore’s words sounded extremely conceited to those who didn’t know his abilities in detail.

He was merely at the age of a second-year academy student.

Even those who had seen Theodore’s swordsmanship skills and acknowledged that his swordsmanship was terrifyingly excellent seemed to feel displeasure at his conceited words, as if he was similarly excellent in fields other than swordsmanship.

“You sure talk big. Then how about we compete with fists?”

A giant, who seemed to be over 190 cm tall, walked out with a frowning face.

Though he was in uniform, his walk and build showed how much he had trained his body.

“Fists… I don’t mind.”

Theodore’s height wasn’t small either, standing tall at over 180 cm, but that giant’s height was even taller than Theodore’s.

Moreover, despite wearing a uniform, his imposing build was quite intimidating, allowing one to guess his rugged physique.

“I am Theodore Skyroad, heir to House Skyroad. You will consider it a lifetime honor to have heard my introduction.”

“What an incredibly arrogant guy! I’m Henry from the Viscount Smith family!”

After introducing himself, Henry took off his uniform jacket and then removed his uniform top to reveal his body, trained with rugged muscles.

Then he was seen clenching his fists.

Judging by his stance as he prepared to strike with his fist, he seemed quite well-trained.

“Well, you’re much better than that fellow from earlier.”

Theodore acknowledged this point.

“I’ll at least acknowledge that you’re qualified to look up at the clouds.”

But what came out of his mouth were incomparably arrogant remarks.

“HAAAAAAAH!”

Henry’s fist, channeling so much power that his muscles could be seen writhing and moving, flew toward Theodore’s handsome face.

Many female students momentarily worried and felt sorry that such a handsome face would be ruined, but fortunately, their concerns were unfounded.

“Slow.”

Theodore easily avoided his attack just by moving one step with ease.

“Ugh!”

Perhaps sensing that Theodore’s movement was not ordinary as he had so simply avoided his attack, Henry gritted his teeth and launched another attack. The consecutive punches thrust out with an unbroken stance were swift and fast, unlike what would be expected from Henry’s large build, but Theodore avoided all those attacks just by slightly moving his body to the side or walking sideways.

“Ugh!”

Henry’s face could be seen grimacing.

He had realized that Theodore’s skills, which so easily avoided his attacks, were truly at a level that was as different as standing above the clouds compared to his own skills, just as Theodore had said.

“I’ve seen your level. Then let me end this.”

Theodore suddenly grabbed Henry’s fist from the front instead of avoiding it.

“H-he grabbed Henry’s fist so easily?!”

“I-impossible. Instead of avoiding or deflecting, he blocked it by grabbing it with one hand!”

The students of Minst Academy who were watching had astonishment etched on their faces.

Theodore Skyroad’s talent could be called the epitome of unfairness.

But the reason Yuria had evaluated him much more generously in this regard than William, though she found him annoying, was because she knew Theodore’s efforts to utilize his talent.

Even when teaching her, he was someone who knew that talent without effort was nothing.

‘Young Lord Theodore, you deliberately avoided just now to assess your opponent’s techniques.’

He had deliberately repeated evasions to visually confirm Henry Smith’s attack pattern.

Now he would have understood his combat style and would be organizing how to deal with this type of opponent while recalling his movements.

‘But he didn’t go this far before?’

Yuria was puzzled, feeling that Theodore’s atmosphere was worse than at Jeiha Academy.

“Ugh, AAAAARGH!”

As Theodore grabbed Henry’s fist and applied pressure, Henry was seen screaming and falling to his knees.

“I’ll acknowledge that your skill is decent. Even though it was at a level that couldn’t even reach my toes, in honor of the effort you’ve put in to get this far, I’ll let you reach my toes.”

Saying this, Theodore was seen lifting his foot and pressing down on Henry.

“UGH!”

Thus, Henry, literally under Theodore’s toes, was helplessly subdued.

“It’s a pity. If you weren’t from the Britannia Empire but from the Arcan Empire, I might have been able to teach you.”

At Theodore’s words, Yuria seemed to understand why his atmosphere was worse than at Jeiha Academy.

Comparing with Theodore’s actions at Jeiha Academy, where, when dueling like this, he would give some advice even while speaking in an arrogant tone if the opponent was talented and hardworking, here he was mercilessly crushing his opponents.

“Ugh!”

“If you were from my homeland, the Arcan Empire, I would have taught you, but for you, I’ll just say this one thing. Your defeat.”

Having said that, Theodore raised Henry up and, while firmly holding him, thrust his free hand precisely into Henry’s abdomen.

“UUURGH!”

Henry’s face widened with shock, and his large frame was seen collapsing to the ground with a thud, like a puppet with its strings cut.

“H-Henry lost like that?”

“Just how much difference in level is there?”

By this point, the students of Minst Academy, especially those from combat-related departments like the Swordsmanship Department, had no choice but to notice.

Theodore Skyroad’s abilities weren’t just in swordsmanship; his basic martial arts themselves were at a different level.

“Theodore Skyroad! I challenge you to a duel!”

A male student who appeared to be one of the fourth-year students stepped forward.

The school emblem on the uniform jackets of Minst Academy students had numbers indicating each grade, and since the student now challenging Theodore had a 4 written on it, it was easy to distinguish.

“Senior Caron?”

“It’s Senior Caron!”

The faces of the male students at Minst Academy could be seen brightening slightly.

There seemed to be an expectation that he would break the current flow of one-sided defeats by the Jeiha Academy graduate.

By now, Theodore’s wide-area provocation had escalated to a battle of pride between Minst Academy and Jeiha Academy.

“A challenge to me. I acknowledge your spirit. Though I can’t understand the mind of someone who struggles to reach for the unreachable sky above, I’ve heard there are people like that, and you must be one of them.”

The fourth-year male student was angered by Theodore’s incomparably arrogant provocation.

“My name is Caron of Viscount Russell’s family! Remember it!”

“Caron Russell.”

As Theodore muttered Caron Russell’s name, Caron Russell asked:

“Hmph! So you’ve heard of my name?”

“No, this is the first time hearing it.”

At Theodore’s words, Caron’s expression twisted.

“What? You don’t know me?”

Yuria, on the other hand, had heard of Caron Russell.

‘Fourth-year Swordsmanship runner-up.’

That was the reason he had confidently stepped forward despite seeing Theodore’s skills.

It was the source of his confidence that as the second-best swordsman among the fourth-year students, he could win even after seeing Theodore’s skills.

“Then why did you call my name?”

“It seems your brain is as bad as your inability to recognize your place. I just called your name once because you told me to remember it.”

Caron momentarily lost words at Theodore’s pointed remark.

“Ugh! Then I’ll make you remember!”

Gritting his teeth, he moved toward Theodore with his sword pointed.

But Yuria already knew what the result would be.

‘That person is weaker than me.’

Yuria could tell at a glance that Caron’s skills were below her own.

It was somewhat disappointing that the fourth-year runner-up was actually below her own skill level.

“AAAAARGH!”

As expected, Caron, struck by the side of Theodore’s sword, was seen flying away with a scream, just as Yuria had predicted.

There was a momentary silence among the audience as Theodore so easily subdued even the fourth-year Swordsmanship Department runner-up.

“No way…”

“Even Senior Caron falls so easily?”

It was a moment when deep shock and a sense of defeat were etched in the students of Minst Academy.

“He looks like William, but his skills are completely different?”

“To be so strong. Is this even possible?”

Theodore, having revealed his existence at Minst Academy, instantly imprinted his presence with overwhelming skills.

And it was then.

“Then may I challenge you too?”

A man with golden-blonde hair and a fairly handsome appearance, but with somewhat of a playboy impression, addressed Theodore.

“It’s Senior Jade!”

“Senior Jade!”

The students of Minst Academy were already revealing his identity.

‘Jade? Jade Miller?’

Yuria also remembered this name carefully.

Jade Miller was the name of the top student in the fourth-year Magic Department at Minst Academy.

“A magician.”

Theodore immediately recognized which department he was from.

As someone who was also an outstanding magician, he seemed to have detected the magical aura.

“Yes. You just said you’re confident in everything except divine powers, right? How about a magical duel with me?”

“I already said I don’t mind.”

“Hoho, is that so? Then how about this? Let’s make a bet.”

Feeling Jade’s gaze directed at her, Yuria felt slightly uncomfortable.

She immediately recognized that the gaze pouring towards her was full of desire for her.

“If I win, will you lend me your fiancée for just one day? I’d like to have a hot date with that beautiful lady.”