chapter_0203

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
203

Mesugaki Tank Enters the Academy –
203

After Lucy abruptly left the
dining table, Arthur intended to follow her but was stopped by Joy.

“Usually, when Lady Allen
does something unusual, there’s a reason for it.”

Arthur was about to refute
Joy’s explanation with an awkward smile, but upon reflection, he
realised she was right.

Since joining the Academy,
Arthur had seen Lucy quite often.

Despite having doubts about
some of her actions, looking back, most of them had a reason.

For instance, Lucy calling him
the Pitiful Prince surely had a reason behind it.

His desire to defeat Lucy
stemmed from wanting to understand these mysteries through her own
words.

“In the past, when Lady
Allen acted oddly, I’d think; Here she goes again.

But not anymore. The Lady of
the past and the Lady of now are completely different people.”

Arthur agreed with Joy’s
thoughts.

When he first met Lucy Allen,
he thought she was a fool who didn’t understand manners, but now he
knew better.

Can the word fool even
remotely describe someone who is rewriting the history of Soul
Academy with her genius?

She perfectly understood
etiquette and decorum, at least from Arthur’s perspective.

For someone like her to leave
without any explanation must have had a reason.

Accepting Joy’s explanation,
Arthur, who had been about to stand, sat back down and crossed his
legs.

“Joy. On that note,
there’s something I want to ask.”

“What is it, Third
Prince?”

“Do you think she had a
reason for calling my brother a gloomy, solitary Prince?”

“Huh.”

“Do you think there’s a
reason she told everyone that my brother was disgusting and
unpleasant?”

“Well… I’m not sure.”

Although Joy usually tried to
interpret Lucy’s actions positively, she couldn’t answer this
question. The severity of what Lucy had done was too serious.

If the First Prince had not
let it go or if Lucy was not the Lady of the Allen Family, she would
have likely been arrested for treason by now.

While Joy hesitated and
couldn’t bring herself to defend Lucy, Arthur continued speaking
leisurely.

“Do you understand, Joy?
While there may be reasons for some of her antics, there are
certainly instances where there are none.”

The past Lucy has not
disappeared.

She’s merely toned it down,
yet still exists in some form.

Joy inadvertently nodded at
these words.

Calling her brother sly,
giving strange nicknames to her parents, and labelling her as the
Airhead Lady.

None of these things were done
without some level of pushiness from Lucy. It’s unlikely that these
antics had any meaningful reason behind them.

“In some ways, she might
be more of an evil bastard now. Because even though she knows what
etiquette is, she crosses the line just because she wants to.”

“Th-that may be so, but
Lady Allen is a good person.”

“It seems like you’ve run
out of things to argue, Airhead Lady.”

Seeing Arthur smile and pick
up his spoon with a victorious expression, Joy made a resolution in
her heart.

After they finish their meal
and wander around the festival, she would definitely say to him; How
does it feel to lose to the Airhead Lady?

However, her resolution could
not come to fruition.

One reason was that Joy lost
to Arthur at various street stalls, but a bigger reason was that
Arthur was too annoyed by constantly falling short of the records set
by the First Prince and Lucy wherever they went, making it impossible
for her to approach him.

Bang!

Even though Arthur swung the
hammer with all his might, the board only cracked and maintained its
shape.

“Unfortunately, the attempt
fails. Third Prince.”

“There must be some mistake.
Look! It’s practically broken!”

It was a street stall where
one had to demonstrate how much strength they could produce with a
hammer.

At that stall, Arthur and Joy
overheard people talking about Lucy and the First Prince.

“Did you see that? As soon
as the First Prince exerted his strength, the wooden board
practically shattered!”

“It was amazing. As expected
of someone carrying royal blood.”

“But honestly, the First
Prince’s success wasn’t that surprising. It was expected.”

“True, but it was the
Lady of the Allen Family who was truly impressive.”

“Right. How could such power
come from that small body?”

“The bloodline of the Allen
Family is indeed formidable. Will she be one to rule the continent
someday?”

Arthur and Joy had to listen
to these conversations at every street stall they visited.

It was inevitable.

The moment Arthur showed up,
discussions about the First Prince naturally followed, and because
Lucy had shown impressive feats at various stalls, people of their
age couldn’t help but compare him to Lucy.

Normally, it would have just
ended with admiration. Joy would have thought; Both of them are truly
incredible.

However, things were different
for Arthur.

He saw the two as rivals he
must surpass.

The First Prince was someone
he admired and wanted to catch up to, but also someone he’d been
constantly compared to his whole life.

Whatever Arthur achieved was
often overshadowed by the accomplishments of the First Prince.

Arthur’s lack of pride in his
own genius could be traced back to the First Prince.

The other person, Lucy, was a
new rival he had gained at the Academy.

Lucy was the first person to
ever place him second, shining so brightly in the age group that it
seemed no one could surpass her.

Although he initially saw Lucy
as a rude enemy when they first met, his perception had changed over
time.

Now, to Arthur, Lucy was a
goal to surpass and a worthy adversary.

With the crowd praising those
he needed to beat, how could Arthur not be frustrated?

But the wriggling of a worm is
just that—a wriggle.

Arthur experienced many losses
at various street stalls, and even at those where he won, he couldn’t
match Lucy’s records, let alone the First Prince’s.

After experiencing this
repeatedly, Arthur’s nerves were on edge.

Even Joy, who had intended to
tease him, couldn’t approach him.

“Just one more time! If I
try one more time, I can definitely do it!”

“Um, about that.”

Just as Joy was thinking of
stopping Arthur due to the distressed look of the street stall
vendor, she saw Jeff running toward them from afar.

Usually composed and
leisurely, unlike the often flustered Joy, Jeff’s current expression
was far from calm.

It’s rare to see him so
unsettled.What in the world could have happened this time?

“Huff, huff.
Joy. Where is the Third Prince?”

“He’s over there.”

Just how desperately had he
run? Jeff, panting heavily, took a deep breath before heading towards
Arthur.

“Third Prince!”

“Hmm? Isn’t that Lord
Jeff? What brings you here?”

“It’s urgent. The First
Prince has challenged Lady Allen to a duel.”

“…What?!”

Hearing something so
unbelievable, Arthur doubted for a moment if it was a lie, but the
man before him wasn’t one to joke about such things.

Just hours after clashing with
his elder brother, another conflict had arisen?

“Where is it?”

“I’ll show you.”

Arthur hastily put down the
hammer he had been holding and followed closely behind Jeff.

‘Damn it, Lucy Allen. Do you
hold a grudge against the royal family or something?

How many incidents are you
going to cause in a single day?

At this rate, Sir Benedict’s
stomach will have so many holes, it’ll turn into cheese!’

Despite running desperately to
calm the situation, Arthur arrived only to discover it was already
underway.

At a table set up in the
middle of the street stall area sat the First Prince. Opposite him,
Lucy was seated, writing something on a piece of paper.

“…Am I too late?”

Arthur sighed deeply, feeling
a bit deflated as he observed them.

Once the duel began, there was
no way to stop it.

Even as a prince, Arthur
couldn’t intervene in a duel that the First Prince had proposed and
was participating in.

Despite both being princes,
there was an insurmountable difference in authority between Arthur
and Rene.

At this moment, all Arthur
could do was watch.

“It’s already started.”

He bit his lip slightly when
he heard a voice from behind.

Joy had caught up to him. He
thought he had moved quickly enough that she would have fallen
behind, but she had easily kept pace.

“Is the challenge a
Simulated Dungeon Strategy Method?”

Simulated Dungeon Strategy
Method.

Instead of entering an actual
dungeon to navigate through it, participants devise the optimal
strategy based on given conditions.

These types of questions often
appeared in the Academy’s written exams, so both Arthur and Joy
were familiar with them.

“At least that’s some
relief. If it’s that, Lady Allen has a chance to win.”

“Winning or losing, both
come with their own problems.”

“But it’s better to
win, isn’t it?”

“That’s true, but…”

At Soul Academy, Lucy Allen
was known as the Nightmare of the Dungeon Studies Professor.

No matter what problems the
professor devised, they were rendered powerless before her
extraordinary strategies.

Arthur had seen the Dungeon
Studies professor pulling his hair in frustration countless times
after seeing his carefully designed dungeons get obliterated by her
methods.

“Can she win?”

Arthur knew Lucy’s abilities
well, but he was also fully aware of the genius that was Rene
Soladin.

The First Prince, whose talent
was so overwhelming that even Arthur could only look up to him in
awe.

“It’s finished.”

The first to put down his pen
was the First Prince.

Without even reviewing his
work, he handed his paper to the street stall vendor. As if he were
certain he could never make a mistake.

The street stall vendor,
receiving the paper with both hands courteously, placed it on the
magic circle in the middle of the stall.

Then the magic circle began to
glow blue, and a translucent image appeared above it.

One warrior in the front, one
in the back, and a classic party formation composed of a rogue and a
cleric.

Their phantoms would now
attempt the dungeon strategy according to what the First Prince had
written.

“Amazing.”

“How can he choose only the
correct answers like that?”

“It’s as if he came from
the future.”

“At this level, it’s like
showing the answer key.”

The First Prince’s strategy
was textbook perfect.

Considering all variables and
choosing only the best moves, it seemed like he had already spoken to
the street stall vendor to get the answers.

The audience, watching him,
was convinced of the First Prince’s victory.

They thought there could be no
better strategy than his.

However, a few in the crowd
who knew of Lucy Allen’s numerous eccentric exploits at Soul
Academy thought differently.

“With that, Lady Allen has
won.”

“I miscalculated. I should
plan on Lucy Allen’s victory.”

Just then, standing behind
them, Jeff felt puzzled at Arthur and Joy’s remarks, as if there
was nothing more to see.

Lucy spoke up.

“Sloppy and shoddy dungeon.
It was so easy, I almost fell asleep.”

Her mischievous smile conveyed
nothing but total confidence in her victory.

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