Chapter 88 - A Challenge to a Duel (2)

The pristine white handkerchief turned crimson with the blood flowing from Aaron’s nose.

Yuto folded his arms and stepped back a few paces. The challenge had been issued. Aaron’s companions stood awkwardly, looking back and forth between him and Yuto.

“Y-Yuto?!”

Levian cried out in bewilderment. She had never intended to bother dealing with the trash before her.

Even House Obald and the houses of every hanger-on Aaron dragged around with him combined could not compare to House Marigold. For now, confined to the tiny world of the academy, Aaron could swagger about and spout bullshit at Levian. But once he graduated next year and went out into the world, even that idiot would come to understand reality.

How insignificant House Obald was. How formidable House Marigold was. Once he understood that reality, Aaron would kneel before Levian of his own accord and apologize for his past insults. No, he would not even need to do it of his own accord. His father would bring him before her and force him to his knees.

She had no intention of forgetting her anger at Aaron. She would let today’s humiliation mature for a long time, then repay him when he knelt before her. That was what Levian had intended.

Yuto thought differently. There was trash right in front of him. It was not merely sitting there, either. It was stinking up the place and trying to smear them with filth.

Was there any reason to leave trash like that alone? It was not as though he lacked the strength to clear it away.

“You’re too kind.”

Yuto glanced at Levian as he spoke.

“Is kindness really a virtue for a merchant? A merchant should be cold. And precise with their accounts.”

“Hmm...”

“Actually, I suppose precise accounting isn’t always good for a merchant. If you can charge more, charging more would be more profitable.”

Yuto chuckled and turned back to Aaron, who was staggering to his feet.

“A d-duel?”

Breathing heavily, Aaron grabbed his broken nose.

CRACK!

He straightened the crooked bone, then snorted out a spray of blood. He glared back and forth between Yuto and the blood-soaked handkerchief lying on the floor.

“You filthy rat...! Are you playing at being a noble?”

“Duels aren’t exclusively for nobles. Especially not at Maria Academy.”

Yuto glanced out the window. Dense aether drifted through the street as particles of light. It was because the constellations’ gaze was so close.

The constellations watched the entire island that housed Maria Academy more closely than anywhere else in Callisto. Here, they observed every human action, even those they could not see elsewhere.

Why? The reason was simple. Maria Academy gathered the finest young minds in Callisto. Thus, the constellations watched the academy closely, choosing who would play the leading roles in the story encompassing all of Callisto, and who would play supporting roles.

Because Maria Academy was such a place, its duels attracted great interest from the constellations. To duel was to draw their gaze.

“What? Too scared to duel?”

With a sneer, Yuto jerked his chin toward the handkerchief. Aaron’s eyes grew so bloodshot that the vessels looked ready to burst.

He glared at the handkerchief on the floor. Ignoring it would mean refusing the duel.

Accepting a duel was not mandatory, but academy students almost never refused one. Honor was at stake, as was the constellations’ interest. Refusal brought humiliation worse than defeat. It trampled one’s honor and drove away the constellations’ interest.

‘He’s just a first-year...’

Aaron clenched his teeth. Just a first-year. A pauper who did not even have a constellation’s blessing. He might have placed first in the entrance exam, but his opponents had been fellow applicants.

‘He used to be an adventurer. That just made him familiar with the trials and bolder than the other candidates.’

To Aaron, Yuto’s coming first by no means proved that he was better than the Ristal royals. They had merely refrained from indiscriminately hunting down students in order to preserve their dignity.

Admittedly, that attack had caught him off guard. But that had only happened because it had never occurred to him that the pauper would launch a surprise attack. Yuto had experience as an adventurer and the military accomplishment of defeating Black Mages in Belkain... but rumors were always exaggerated.

Aaron was a third-year at Maria Academy. He excelled particularly at swordsmanship, never once falling out of the top ranks. In any case, he had no choice.

Refusing a duel proposed by a rat would bring such dishonor that he would be better off dead. Gritting his teeth, Aaron picked up the handkerchief.

“Very well. Since a penniless rat wants to imitate noble etiquette, I shall gladly oblige.”

Clutching it tightly, Aaron walked toward the café door.

[A duel has been established between third-year Aaron Obald and first-year Yuto.]

The magical system that monitored the academy students confirmed the duel. As its voice rang out through the commercial district, a murmur spread down the street.

Aaron Obald was fairly well known as a third-year troublemaker, but Yuto, who had attended his entrance ceremony today, was even more famous. After all, he was the first impoverished student admitted since Maria Academy’s founding. Students passing the café cheered at the sight of Aaron emerging, rubbing his nose.

“Over here! The duel’s happening here!”

Aaron gave the cheering students and island residents a perfunctory wave, then drew his sword. Maria Academy’s dueling rules were simple.

Victory was decided when either combatant became unable to fight or conceded defeat. However, killing one’s opponent was forbidden.

‘Which means anything goes as long as I don’t kill him.’

A mere rat had dared to break a noble’s nose. Hearing him concede would not be enough to ease this fury. Aaron felt he would have to cut off an arm or a leg before his anger subsided.

“...?”

Aaron’s eyes widened as Yuto came through the café door.

“You... What are you holding...?”

Unlike Aaron, who had drawn a real sword, Yuto held no blade. Instead, he was carrying a broom used to sweep the café floor.

“What does it look like? A broom.”

Yuto answered with the broom gripped like a sword.

“You need a broom to sweep up trash. Don’t you?”

“You crazy bastard...!”

“It’ll work as a club, too.”

Yuto sneered and whispered,

“A club is just the thing for an animal like you.”

Though he knew it was a provocation, Aaron let out a furious howl and lunged at Yuto.

His aether enveloped his sword. Its arc was precise, its speed impressive. As expected of someone who had reached his third year without being held back, Aaron’s swordsmanship was on a different level from the blades Yuto had seen during the entrance exam.

But to Yuto, Aaron’s sword was pathetic. The broom, wreathed in pitch-black aether, intercepted its path.

CLACK!

The sword slid aside. Though it was a real blade imbued with aether, a single broom had deflected it. Unable to check its momentum, Aaron was dragged along with it, pitching forward.

The moment he lost his balance, the broom drove into his side.

THUD!

The dull impact sent a jolt through his bones and shook his organs. Aaron gritted his teeth and held firm. He did not drop his sword, either. Stifling a groan, he slashed upward.

Yuto avoided the blade with a slight tilt of his body. Then he swung the broom into Aaron’s wrist.

CRACK!

“Aaaargh!”

This time Aaron could not suppress his groan—or his scream. But he still did not drop his sword. Screaming, he swung again.

He had merely managed to keep his grip; the precision of his first strike was gone. This was only his third swing, and he had already come to this. Yuto could have dodged it with his eyes closed.

THUD!

Yuto’s broom struck Aaron’s side again, in the same spot as before.

CRACK!

Aaron heard bones breaking inside his body. His breath caught, and moving became painful.

“Y-you bastard!”

Swearing, Aaron summoned his aether more fiercely. It flared up, but aether was not all that rose within him. A constellation’s blessing bolstered him as well.

BOOM!

As Aaron stepped forward, he unleashed strength incomparable to before. It was the monstrous might granted by his constellation’s blessing.

It made no difference to Yuto. No matter how tremendous the strength, it meant nothing if the blow did not land. The swordsmanship Aaron had been so proud of was nothing special in Yuto’s eyes. Aaron swung again and again, but his blade failed to so much as graze Yuto’s clothes.

Yuto’s broom, meanwhile, relentlessly found its mark. It slammed into Aaron’s already broken ribs, then into his opposite side. Each time, Aaron screamed and writhed.

THWACK!

This time, the broom struck Aaron’s face. Killing was forbidden. Yuto knew that rule too, so he held back enough with his blows. Had he intended to kill Aaron, a single strike would have sufficed.

“Aaaargh!”

Blood spurted from Aaron’s nose. He had roughly reset the already broken bone, but that last blow had shattered it completely. His nostrils were blocked, making it difficult to breathe. His vision was stained red, and he could barely see.

CRUNCH!

The next swing of the broom struck Aaron’s elbow. It was aimed precisely at the joint. He had somehow kept hold of his sword before, but now he could not. His entire right arm lost all feeling, as though paralyzed, and his sword fell to the ground.

Yuto did not stop. Disarmed, Aaron tried to retreat, but Yuto’s broom was faster.

THUD!

The broom smashed his knee. At that moment, the monstrous strength coursing through his body worked against him. His shattered knee could not withstand the force bearing down on his leg.

CRUNCH!

His leg bone burst through his knee. Muscle twisted and blood sprayed. Aaron rolled across the ground, screaming in agony.

“Aaaargh...”

The fight was so overwhelmingly one-sided that everyone watching was aghast. Aaron could not even properly understand what was happening to him. Every attack Yuto made was too fast for his eyes to follow, and the pain of being beaten without respite left him unable to think straight.

THUD!

The broom rained down on Aaron as he lay on the ground. It was the sort of beating one might give an animal. He covered his head with his left hand, which he could still move.

“S-stop! Stop! I—I yield!”

He could endure no more. His ribs were broken, his nose and knee shattered. His sword lay far away. Trying to hold out would only get him beaten even more. In a hoarse voice, Aaron cried out his surrender.

“Do you?”

Yuto’s broom stopped abruptly. Panting, Aaron looked up at him. His blood-soaked vision was dyed crimson. Even so, Yuto’s eyes stood out with chilling clarity and coldness.

[The duel has ended.]

[Winner: First-year Yuto.]

The magical system’s voice rang out.

A declaration of defeat ended a duel. According to noble custom, the victor had to accept the loser’s surrender and withdraw. That was the virtue expected of a victor, the noble etiquette that preserved the last of the loser’s honor.

Yuto lowered the broom. Aaron lay facedown, breathing raggedly. It had not been a particularly long duel, but to him it had felt like hours. Relief soothed him at the thought that the terrible pain was finally over.

Yuto turned on his heel and approached Levian, who had been watching from a short distance away.

“Levian.”

“Yes?”

“Lend me a handkerchief.”

Levian stared blankly at him.

“A handkerchief.”

His voice was so firm that Levian unconsciously took a handkerchief from inside her clothes and handed it over. It was embroidered with House Marigold’s crest.

“W-wait, a handkerchief? Yuto! What are you going to...”

Belatedly coming to her senses, Levian cried out, but Yuto had already turned away. He strode over to Aaron, who was still lying on the ground, and dropped the handkerchief onto his bloodied face.

“Huh...?”

The handkerchief covered his blood-soaked face. Horrified, Aaron snatched it up with his left hand. House Marigold’s crest was embroidered on the bloodstained cloth. His mouth fell open at the sight.

“That duel was for my honor,” Yuto said.

“This one is for Levian Marigold’s honor.”

“What... what?”

“I challenge you to a duel.”

Aaron’s body shook uncontrollably.