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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: FusionX
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As more students gathered due to the commotion, the delinquent boy frowned deeply and approached the blonde rolling on the ground.
“Hey, you got pushed around by a cripple? Why are you embarrassing not just yourself but the whole academy?”
The guy nudged the dyed blonde, who was writhing and groaning on the stadium floor, with his foot.
Yet his gaze remained fixed on me.
“Hmm, if you have something to say, don’t be a coward. I’ll listen to everything.”
As I said this while scratching the back of my head, the force in the guy’s foot suddenly increased.
Thanks to that, the fallen guy was retching and crying.
“Scared? Me? Of a cripple like you? Want me to cripple your other arm too?”
“You’re quite foul-mouthed, friend.”
“Who’s your friend?”
The guy shoved my shoulder with his hand.
I was about to smile and return the favor, but…
“Anton Signir, don’t you think that’s enough?”
A girl’s voice growled low from behind.
May, who had just been exercising and had a towel around her neck, appeared with a candy in her mouth.
Anton, as the man was called, seemed to know May, as he smirked and brushed past me, hitting my shoulder.
“May Plov. It’s been a while, hasn’t it?”
“That bastard…”
I was about to immediately strike the back of the head of the guy who had casually shoulder-checked me as he passed, but Tana and Eve rushed in from both sides to stop me.
“You’re already on the professors’ bad side, if you cause trouble here it’ll be really dangerous!”
“More importantly, if you hit him, he’ll die! If you kill a student from another academy, the competition will turn into a massacre!”
“Augh.”
The two of them were right.
If I hit the back of his head in my current mood and an eyeball popped out or something, what would I do?
‘I’m a 28-year-old adult, I’ll endure it.’
But then again, who was I?
Was I not the being who lived in the Demon Realm Forest and transformed from a human to a beast?
Although I pretended to agree verbally, my hand had already instinctively thrown the water bottle I had picked up earlier at the back of his head.
Thud!
“Daniel!”
“I told you he never listens!”
The two female students had clung excessively to my arms to stop me.
That bothered me more than throwing the water bottle at Anton’s head.
“You two smell of sweat.”
They didn’t really smell, but it was a line I threw to get them off, but instead of letting go, they stayed attached and punched my sides.
“You crazy bastard…”
Anton, who had been hit by the water bottle, immediately turned around and tried to rush at me, but May grabbed his collar, catching his attention.
“Just go. You guys started it first.”
“I heard Fenil Leiros died and Talois became a 5th year, but you’ve grown a lot?”
“Is it fun playing king while hanging out with kids? You’re actually scared of the prep class kids, afraid they might become your bosses later.”
May provoked him, pointing with the candy in her hand at the model student friends watching from behind.
Her words seemed to hit a sore spot for Anton, as a vein popped out on his forehead and he looked like he was about to charge, but…
“Hey! What are you doing!”
“Sigh, May. Don’t pick fights with students from other schools.”
The situation was resolved for now with the appearance of the Pales supervising teacher and Professor Amanda.
May tried to wink at me, but seeing Eve and Tana clinging to my sides, she pouted her lips and left.
Anton, the guy, kept glaring at me even as he followed the teacher.
“What a shame, if we had fought right here, we would have definitely won.”
I licked my lips, regretting that a rough, early competition hadn’t broken out.
“Sometimes you really seem like a thug, you know?”
“He’s just a gangster.”
I lightly ignored Tana and Eve’s whispers.
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Once we handed over the stadium, there wasn’t really a proper space to practice, so most of the students were given free time under the name of rest.
From tomorrow, they said they would adjust the time slots so that when one academy practiced, the other would rest, rotating the stadium usage time.
So in a way, today was the only free time for the students.
Perhaps because of this, there was a noticeable air of excitement and commotion from the hotel corridors.
It was the same in the rooms.
Watching Ares spend a full two hours in front of the mirror fixing his hair and getting dressed, irritation started to creep up on me.
“Where are you going?”
“Ahem.”
Ares cleared his throat, delaying his answer, then checked the clock and slowly walked towards the door.
“I’ll be back before curfew.”
“No, don’t come back. Just get lost.”
“…Really?”
Ah, this bastard was pissing me off again.
I wondered if he could understand this subtle feeling.
I felt like I didn’t want him to come back, but if he didn’t, it would also irritate me.
“Yeah, get lost!”
Annoyed, I threw the pillow I was lying on, and he caught it with his back as he went out.
“Thanks!”
He was even leaving with gratitude.
I was not sure when I last felt such an overwhelming sense of defeat against Ares since regressing.
It was nice to see him completely give up on Rin and get together with Arni Duratan, but…
“I didn’t wish for him to be that happy.”
I disliked seeing him look so happy.
In this strange mood where I didn’t want to go out but also didn’t want to stay in the room, what I ultimately chose was to move my body at least.
As it was getting dark and chilly, I put on a coat and stepped out.
Students were gathering in groups of three or five, crossing the corridors and going from room to room, enjoying their youth.
‘It’s a good time.’
Since they had rented this nice hotel entirely thanks to the support of the overzealous parents of the prestigious academy, there didn’t seem to be any worry about other guests.
Several couples would probably come out today.
When I came down to the hotel lobby and went outside, the wind was blowing a bit more than I had felt from the room window.
It was just pleasantly cool enough to make my nose tingle slightly.
Although Bairn bore the name of a tourist city, in reality, it wasn’t particularly a city worth seeing.
Since the main business was renting out the massive Bairn Stadium, the local residents were mostly engaged in accommodation or food service businesses to match.
In fact, if it weren’t for the stadium, there was much less to see than in Elgrid where the academy was located.
That place had such a diverse mix of nationalities, races, and cultures that you could feel the city itself breathing.
Walking along the soft light falling from the magic lamps as if being guided, everything looked similar no matter how far I went, so I just turned back.
There was no feeling of the excitement of exploring a new city at all.
“Ah shit, what should we do then?”
“That’s what I’m saying.”
“Can’t we find one more person?”
“Where are we going to find someone now?”
As I was returning to the hotel, I heard men whispering from an alley.
They all looked like they were going to make a last stand or something, and their eyes met mine.
‘Berman?’
The fighter from Class D who had helped Tana and Eve duel with the twins before.
He was a delinquent who was obviously infatuated with May.
I could recognize the faces of the others too, guys who used to follow May around.
I even saw the kid I had beaten up a few times for smoking.
Thinking they were up to something again, I was about to pass by when Berman rushed up to me urgently.
“M-McLean! Good to see you! Help us out!”
“I don’t want to hear what it is, and it’s troublesome.”
I thought they were just going to do something useless again, but the guy knelt down and cried out, half-sobbing.
“Please, I’m begging you! L-Last time when you asked for help, I came with May and helped with the duel at dawn!”
When Berman knelt, the other three also knelt and started pleading with me.
I was used to outright hostility, but I was weak against people who came begging so openly, so I listened to what they had to say.
“We’re going to the Pales dorms now, but we’re short on people.”
“Pales?”
Ah.
“Is this because of those guys we met today?”
“Y-Yeah, that’s right!”
Anton Signir, was it?
He certainly didn’t seem to be on good terms with May.
It looks like they were secretly going to confront Anton for May’s sake.
“You guys are real men.”
Seeing them step up like this to be white knights for the back-alley empress, I thought May had at least made some good friends.
I smiled while rubbing my nose, and Berman and the other guys grinned sheepishly.
It felt good.
“Alright, let’s go. Lead the way.”
“R-Really? Thanks!”
What was the big deal about beating up a few kids?
I was in a state where my right arm is broken anyway, so even if there was a problem, I wouldn’t be suspected.
So we entered a hotel as large as the one we were staying in, and…
“Welcome!”
“Kyaa! Aios kids have such a fresh feeling, unlike Pales!”
“That one has a splint on his arm?”
“Did you bring alcohol?”
What is this?
I had naturally expected a forceful confrontation with Anton and some burly men, but what unfolded was an artificial meeting in a girls’ room with a faint sweet scent.
Seeing that there were exactly five girls, I immediately realized that they had been caught because the numbers didn’t match up.
I immediately pulled Berman aside to a corner.
“Weren’t we going to fight Anton what’s-his-name?”
“……”
This bastard?
Come to think of it, he hadn’t said anything about Anton at all.
He must have noticed that I was mistaken at some point, but he kept his mouth shut?
“Didn’t you like May?”
I asked, poking his stomach with my splint, and Berman answered nervously, breaking out in a cold sweat.
“I-I do like her, but… we don’t get chances to meet Pales kids like this… A person can’t always eat rice! Sometimes you need to eat bread too!”
“Right, you piece of trash. I’m leaving.”
“W-Wait! Just stay a little bit! Even if we date Pales kids, we won’t get caught because they’re far away.”
Wasn’t that even more trashy?
I was going to tell May everything.
I pushed Berman away in annoyance and tried to leave, but the Pales girls quickly clung to both my sides.
“W-Where are you going! We have to hang out together!”
“That’s right, if you leave, the numbers won’t match!”
“……”
There was a strangely urgent tone in their voices.
They were trying not to show it, but their gazes kept darting towards the door, and there was a subtle flow of sweat.
“Sigh, you idiots.”
I scratched the back of my head and looked at Berman.
It did align with my initial purpose, in a way.
I swatted away the female students who were holding onto me and pointed to the door with my chin.
“Go and call them quickly. Say we’re waiting.”
“…Huh?”
“They’ll come in when they’re drunk? Go ask how many drinks it’ll take.”
I had occasionally brewed and drunk alcohol in the Demon Realm Forest.
Although I didn’t drink much, it was so strong that I had quite a knack for alcohol.
I sat on a chair in the room, resting one foot on the opposite thigh, and waited.
The female students, who seemed to catch on to what I was saying, glanced around and then hurriedly left the room.
“W-What are you talking about?”
Boremam, who didn’t understand the situation, asked in confusion, and I laughed and told him.
“They wouldn’t ask you guys for a blind date. They must have had another reason.”
“N-No, that’s not true!”
“We’re pretty popular too!”
“You’re not even good-looking!”
Those guys.
Anyway, I was sitting in the chair waiting for Anton, who had set up this useless trap, when…
The door opened, and guys who were completely opposite to my expectations burst in.
“Hmm?”
The so-called Pales Academy prep class.
Students who were dead set on academics, aiming to go beyond the academy to universities or magic research institutes, poured into the room and pushed up their glasses as they spoke to me.
“Right, there’s the guy who got into a fight with Anton today. This works out well.”
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