Chapter Index



    Cooperation. (3)



    Harb, whom I met after a long time, had become a completely different person than before.

    -Pipit! Kaang!

    -Kooo!!

    What kind of person is this, someone who only trained for two months? I would believe him if he said he went into the room of time and space.

    It’s hard to believe that it was only a little over three months ago that I robbed him of his iron sword with a wooden one.

    If Purungi were to appear as an enemy in front of Harb now, he would be able to fight without adding any extra power and without my help, even if he wouldn’t be able to win, he would never die.

    While I was blankly watching his swordsmanship and the use of aura at that level… he was just casting small magic spells to disrupt the movements of the bear that had lost one of its front legs.

    “Brother! Can’t you just end this now?! If not, I think it would be better to just run away!”

    “[Black Magic] [Lv. 1] [Sword of Darkness] Hmm… If we just do a little more, I think Harb-ssi will be able to win?”

    “Where are you looking?!!”

    Because it’s an illusion, he doesn’t bleed profusely, but anyway, Bear lost one of his front legs, and honestly, if he keeps pushing like this, I think he’ll be able to win on his own.

    Whether he was saying this because it was in front of me or because he was sincere, he glanced at me as if he felt a little overwhelmed or aggrieved, and quickly swung his sword to defend against Bear’s attacks and began to counterattack.

    … No, do you really think you’ll win?

    “I don’t want to get eliminated! Hurry up and do it!!”

    “Yes, yes. [Lv. 3] [Hell of Thorns]”

    -Cough!!

    It seemed like he was joking, but it wouldn’t be good to keep stalling like this and have Albert or Raoul catch me.

    I immediately grabbed the intermediate catalyst that I had in my pocket and used a short burst of lightning to create pitch-black thorns and blow holes in the bear’s body. Harb, who did not miss the opening of the Blood Horn Bear, which was unable to move because its remaining front paw was pierced, struck sharply and knocked off its head.

    … Hmm. I think I could have won on my own, right?

    “Haa, haa. I’m going to blame you.”

    “Hey, just for this reason… No. Let’s get out of here for now.”

    I don’t know why Harb intervened to save these two people, but I doubt he would try to take down the people he saved.

    I motioned for him to go into the forest where Nora was and talk to her, and Harb, who stopped awkwardly as he approached Raoul, who had collapsed, complied with my words while collecting the hook.

    Great! I was able to get away from these two main characters very cleanly…

    “Wait a minute. Rudis.”

    “… Oh my, I thought you were dead, but you’re still alive? “

    “Tch. I almost got eliminated, but thanks to someone else, I survived ‘again’. “

    I thought I could get away from this place without being caught, but it seemed that it was Albert, who flew in first and crashed, rather than Raoul, who was holding on to his senses and not fainting.

    I wish Raoul had stood up instead, but it had to be that sly crown prince who resisted. Why is it that my life is so hard to have?

    He gathered the blood flowing from the corner of his mouth again, spat it out, looked at me coldly, and continued speaking.

    “I heard you were going to the Imperial Academy, but I never thought you’d even make it to the rankings. What are you planning this time?”

    “Oh my goodness, what have I ever done or done?”

    “Don’t try to gloss over it. It’s already your fault, everything from the student council to the kingdom’s affairs is going to be a mess. “

    “This is ridiculous. Why is it my fault? You guys are the ones who kicked me out, right? And it doesn’t make sense that the student council can’t function without me.”

    “Do you think I’m so stupid that I don’t realize that you’ve been leading me like that all this time?”

    “Wow! I just realized how stupid I am to brag about noticing that now.”

    -Crack!

    He laughs bitterly at the crown prince who is biting his molars until they break.

    No matter how clever you are, you are no match for me, who is in my forties in both my past and present life.

    Even though he’s not just a regular guy, his body and mind are still in their 20s.

    A body in its prime, a mind with 40 years of experience. Trying to win an argument with a third-rate villain like this is foolish.

    “I’m going to go now that I’ve said everything I wanted to say. Mr. Harve, let’s go… “

    “Because of you, Nora is almost dropping out of the academy. Because of that, her hatred for black magicians is growing stronger again. Even Ellis was seriously injured in her right hand by a third-year named Violet, so she couldn’t even participate in the rankings. Don’t you feel responsible for that?”

    “… … “

    There is no reason for the Crown Prince to know that I am a reincarnation. Furthermore, there is no reason for Nora or Ellis to know that I have twisted the story and made them like that.

    But the guy is the crown prince of a country.

    Surely, he would have gathered information from here and there, and even if it was impossible to arrive at the truth, he would have gained at least a certain degree of conviction that I was there after leading all those events.

    Of all places, you bring up the names of those two people and hold me responsible. It really makes me irritate people, wondering if they are really some kind of snake bastard.

    “Brother. What the hell is that kid?”

    “… Yes?”

    “What… kid?”

    When I turned my back and frowned, trying to force myself away from him.

    The handsome man who hadn’t moved even though he had been told to go. Harb Hoppen stroked his chin as if he was thinking about something and continued speaking to the crown prince.

    “Hmm. Is this mirror therapy? It’s killing the effect. If you felt this way when you saved me, I really don’t understand why you left me alone.”

    “Yes?”

    “You. Do you know who I am… “

    “You keep talking nonsense while ignoring me, knowing who I am?”

    Harb cuts off Albert’s words and draws his sword, then turns his gaze to him filled with annoyance and begins to speak.

    “Ha… I wanted to be like you, hyung, so I unknowingly saved you first, but when I think about it, this is a ranking battle. Well, even if you helped me, I think I could have just said, “I helped you~” and moved on. But listening to you, it seems like you have some kind of connection with hyung. I don’t know what it was like in the past, but once you’ve been saved, isn’t it human nature to be thankful?”

    “Ah.”

    I wondered what on earth he was talking about, but it seemed like he was thinking back to the day we first met.

    Certainly, it is somewhat similar to the situation that day.

    It’s not really something to be thankful for, since even if you die here, you’ll just be eliminated and kicked out of the fantasy world. But.

    “… I don’t know who you are, but I’m with that guy… “

    “Even if you don’t know who I am, you know who my hyung is. Then, even if you don’t know what kind of connection we had in the past, if you helped me not to drop in the ranking battle now, you could just say thank you. If you can’t do that, why don’t you just let me go without feeling bad? Why are you holding me back while continuously saying bad things behind my back when my hyung said he would just go? Huh?”

    -Clang!

    “!”

    Harb, who had his sword draped around his neck as if he was going to cut him down at any moment, shook his head slightly as if recalling his dark past and began to spew murderous intent, saying, “If only I had been like that in the past, I would have had nothing to say even if I had been stabbed to death by a Bycon.”

    Um… Comparing you to him in the past is a bit… different. But I appreciate you taking my side.

    “Are you from the Freesia Academy? I know there were four of you there, but you two are still picking a fight here, so it doesn’t matter if you two are separated, right?”

    “Ugh… !”

    Albert hurriedly drew his sword as he saw Harb start to take a perfect stance as if that was the end of his words, but as if he had waited long enough, Harb kicked the ground and started to jump away.

    At Martial Arts Level 3 and Swordsmanship Level 4, his proficiency is incomparable to before. The gap between the two, which was about 10 meters apart, narrows in a matter of seconds, and they are now at a distance where their swords can touch each other’s necks.

    And that Albert guy couldn’t even properly track Harb’s movements and got hit with a single blow…

    -Kaaaang!!

    “Huh… !”

    “Huh?!”

    Albert, whose neck almost fell off, swallows a dry breath, and Harb, who was unable to drop his neck and was surprised in the middle, lets out a surprised cry and quickly steps back.

    “Hmm. Isn’t that a bit much?”

    “… I don’t know what the situation is.”

    Of course, that surprise attack didn’t touch Harb’s sword or body, but was blocked by me, who was watching from behind.

    Raoul, who had been stretched out until just now, aimed for Harb’s arm, who was about to cut off Albert’s neck, and swung his sword upward from below. It was blocked by the [Thorn Needle] magic I had drawn, and a clear sound rang out.

    It was a clear sword strike that was swung hastily without even thinking about it, but perhaps he was the main character after all. If he had left it alone, Harb would have cut down Albert and lost both his arms, putting him in danger of being eliminated.

    “Even if you don’t know the situation, I don’t think you should take the person who helped you by surprise.”

    “Help…? Oh! Did you defeat that beast of a man?”

    Raoul, who had been kicked by the front paw and passed out, finally looked back and forth between me and the crown prince, his mouth round as if he had remembered why he had gotten up from sleeping on the floor to help the crown prince.

    Then, as if he had roughly understood the situation, he put the sword in his waistband, looked at me and Harve, and lowered his head.

    “I almost killed the person who helped me. Thank you for stopping me. And thank you for helping me.”

    “Huh… ?”

    “Hot.”

    As expected, he is the main character of a novel. Unlike the sly sub-main character, he puts aside his hostility and immediately lowers his head as soon as he understands the situation, which is so absurd that it goes beyond disillusionment and even makes you laugh.

    Moreover, he does not even feel hesitant to express his gratitude to the person who had been harassing him at the Royal Academy.

    If it were me, I would have suspected what this kid was trying to do by approaching me again… Ah, is this why I don’t like the crown prince that much?

    It seems to have been a case of homophobia.

    But the biggest difference between me and the crown prince is here.

    Even if I have doubts, I have the self-control to not tell the other person and not get caught, and he doesn’t have that because he’s still young.

    I looked at Raul, who had completely lost his hostility, and smiled bitterly as I answered.

    “Okay. It was a situation that could have been misunderstood. Well, we’ll go now, so hold on tight in the ranking battle.”

    Since it was certain that a second battle would begin if Harv and Albert continued to be together, I put my arm around his shoulder this time and began to move towards the forest with him, as if forcibly dragging him along.

    “Wait a minute, Rudis! I have something to ask you! And if possible, let’s work together for a day of ranked play…!”

    Oh my, the guy who was there the day I was exiled is saying that we should cooperate together as if it were a given. And the fact that he’s asking me something meaningful without hiding it makes me feel uncomfortable.

    I paused for a moment, feeling like that was why he was the main character, then looked at him and smiled brightly in response.

    “No. If you have something to ask, come up to the finals. If I cooperate with you here, I feel like I’ll get upset and get eliminated.”

    There’s only one person left I want to cooperate with, so I won’t cooperate with you.



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