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Translated By Arcane Translations
Translator: Vine
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Despite reducing Lemnos’s followers to writhing messes, I felt a lingering dissatisfaction. It wasn’t the aftermath that bothered me, but the fact that Edgar Lemnos, the instigator, was sleeping soundly after a single blow.
“This won’t do. I have to…”
Leaving him unscathed felt wrong. I’d reattach it later, but I had to wake him up and… remove at least one ankle.
“I’m borrowing this.”
“Agh…!”
I retrieved the hand axe embedded in a student’s shoulder and approached Edgar. I didn’t enjoy mutilating unconscious opponents. He had to be awake to experience the full effect.
“Wake up.”
I nudged him, but he didn’t react. He was out cold.
“This isn’t your bedroom… Huh?”
This complicated things. Those who hadn’t experienced the pain didn’t understand the terror. Fortunately, I was a master of near-death experiences. I placed my fingers on two pressure points – behind his left ear and on his solar plexus – and pressed. My fingers sank deeper than seemed possible, and Lemnos’s eyes snapped open.
“Gah…?! Wh-who are you?!”
Disoriented, he struggled to process his surroundings. He didn’t seem to grasp his current situation.
“Wh-who… what happened…?”
“Quiet. I’m going to remove your ankle, so pay attention.”
I pinned his right leg, aligning the axe with his ankle. Screams erupted from the onlookers. Lemnos, still dazed, stared at me blankly.
“What…?! Remove what?!”
His eyes widened at the sight of the raised axe. He struggled, but his leg, pinned by my foot and hand, remained immobile. A mere Expert couldn’t escape my grip.
“What are you doing?! Stop! Stop it…!”
He finally understood, but it was too late. This would teach him some manners. Respect was born from fear, the fear of having your head caved in. These brats knew no fear. They didn’t believe someone my size could pose a threat. What gave them such arrogance? Their weapons? Their family names? Or the sheer number of their companions?
They were all wrong. This world didn’t operate on logic. So I would teach them fear. The axe descended.
“Aaaaaaaaagh!”
-Thwack!
The axe didn’t sever his ankle.
“What are you… doing?! You crazy…!”
“Let… go…!”
Andy had scooped me up and run. The axe, missing its target, embedded itself in the floor. Lemnos, foaming at the mouth, fainted again.
“I’ll… be back! I’ll get you next time! Just you wait! I always finish what I start!!!”
“Start by keeping your promises about behaving!”
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The Academy was in an uproar. A brawl in the hallway… Edgar Lemnos and twenty-five companions versus Atlas Nemea. Not even a duel, but a cowardly ambush. Edgar Lemnos should be condemned and forced to apologize to Atlas Nemea, the victim.
Well, that’s how it should be.
“Is this… is this even possible?!”
In the counselor’s office, a professor with a monocle mark on his right cheek was ranting furiously.
“Fraser… and now Lemnos? What… what kind of monster are you! You’re expelled! Expelled!!!”
That tomato-red face was familiar. Professor Buckingham, another Academy veteran. The combat magic instructor and advisor for Class 1, where both Lemnos and Fraser belonged. In the original story, he constantly antagonized Hayden Parker’s class, which was now my class. An arrogant, biased educator who looked down on exam entrants.
“P-professor! Atlas was attacked first! He was simply defending himself…!”
“Instructor! Don’t you dare defend him! There are limits!”
I stared at him, unflinching. Andy defended me, but Buckingham, enraged, was determined to expel me.
“Twenty-five students were injured! Do you know who their families are?!”
“But none of them were seriously injured! Lemnos brought weapons!”
“Even so…”
“What was I supposed to do? Lemnos brought twenty-five armed men to crush me! Should I have just let them kill me?”
“Don’t you dare talk back to me!”
Buckingham raised his hand, about to slap me. I was disgusted. Good. If he hit me, I’d rip his arm off. A combat magic professor, but a bookworm nonetheless. I could easily kill him at this range. Then, using Polymorph, I could change my appearance and escape. They wouldn’t be able to catch me.
Andy paled, sensing my intentions.
“Enough.”
Buckingham’s hand froze. Headmaster Morgan stood at the doorway, his arms crossed.
“Headmaster! He must be expelled! If we let this slide, the damage will only escalate! The students’ families will complain, and the Academy’s reputation will plummet!”
“Your reputation is already plummeting, with your students constantly getting beaten to a pulp… Control your emotions! Follow the rules!”
Buckingham, looking aggrieved, fell silent. Morgan’s gaze lingered on me for a moment.
“What rules…?”
“It wasn’t a duel, but a personal dispute. They should seek a settlement first. If that fails, both parties will be referred to the disciplinary committee!”
Not expulsion, but it was still troublesome.
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Andy and I left the counselor’s office, our faces grim.
“The disciplinary committee… This is complicated… What are you going to do?”
“Pack my bags, I guess.”
“You’re running away again? I’m writing to the Captain.”
“Go ahead. They won’t catch me.”
I had been on the run for years. A letter wouldn’t scare me.
“Do something! Reach a settlement or something!”
“Do you think I can negotiate with them?”
I’d rather leave the Academy than bow to them.
“That’s… something to be proud of, I guess…”
“The Five Pillars are so weak… Back in our training days…”
“If this happened back then… the attackers would be the ones getting punished.”
“We would have told them they should be ashamed of losing a one-versus-many fight and told them to train harder.”
“This isn’t the Knights.”
“Right. I forgot.”
I was too used to the Knights’ way of doing things. In this world, with its advanced healing magic, severing a few limbs wasn’t a big deal. Painful, yes, but easily healed. The psychological trauma remained, however. As long as they didn’t die, most injuries could be reversed. I could beat someone to a pulp, heal them, and it would be like nothing happened.
But this was the Academy… Just touching someone was a problem… They were all so weak.
“The disciplinary committee… it’s like a trial, right? With the Headmaster and four professors?”
“Yes… I can’t even attend, as an instructor… Buckingham has it out for you. It’ll be hard to sway the other professors… He’s the second most influential after the Headmaster…”
“Then I have no chance, do I? I should start packing.”
“You…!! Your family is influential! Use your connections! Find some sympathetic professors!”
“A discarded son has no connections…”
I briefly considered contacting the professor sponsored by the Titan family. I knew his name and that he worked at the Academy, though we hadn’t met. He wouldn’t refuse a request from his sole sponsor, but…
What good are family connections now?
I dismissed the thought. I didn’t want to rely on the Titan family anymore.
“Just do something! This isn’t just your problem anymore!”
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Leaving the counselor’s office, I ran into River.
“Atlas!”
She had been waiting. She rushed towards me, and I immediately checked her face.
“Hey! What are you doing?!”
“Hold still.”
Her cheek was red and swollen. Seeing it reignited my anger. I should have taken Lemnos’s ankle.
“I’m sorry you got dragged into this.”
“I-it’s fine, just… back away…”
“You were too close.”
We were so close I could feel her breath on my face. I had gotten carried away while checking her injury. I stepped back, and she blushed.
“I went a bit overboard back there… Weren’t you scared?”
“I wasn’t scared at all. Amy was a bit frightened, though…”
No, you were scared too. I saw it in your eyes. But I appreciated her attempt to comfort me.
“You got angry for me… just like I got angry for you earlier. Some might call it excessive, but I don’t.”
Her expression was sincere.
“Strength is always right. You were stronger than them. Therefore, you were right.”
I wasn’t sure about the logic, but her words were comforting. With a friend like her, I couldn’t just run away. I had to find a solution, something other than a settlement or a disciplinary hearing.
“Is it just me, or is it getting noisy?”
I sensed a commotion, students gathering in the distance.
“Atlas Nemea!!!”
Lemnos, his face still swollen, stomped towards us, his face contorted with rage. Seeing him, an idea sparked in my mind.
I can use this.
I could avoid both the disciplinary committee and a settlement.
“Isn’t this Lemnos, the one who fainted after a single punch?”
“That’s because…! You attacked me from behind! I didn’t lose fair and square!!!”
“It would have been nice if you’d said that before you fainted.”
His face turned an even deeper shade of red. Good. Are you angry? Do you want to establish dominance? Was this enough to bait him?
“A duel! I challenge you to a duel! A duel of honor!!!”
That was his goal all along. The Lemnos family, known for their fiery temperament, wouldn’t resort to petty schemes after being humiliated. I had provoked him, and he took the bait.
“That’s more like it…!”
Forget settlements. I could turn the tables.
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“That student is a menace! He must be expelled! The disciplinary committee won’t let him get away with this!”
“Stop your rambling… You owe me a drink for saving your life.”
“Saving my life? What are you talking about?”
“A combat magic professor who doesn’t understand… Tsk tsk… These ex-military types… Just buy me a drink!”
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