Chapter 20
It is already too late.
Without any defence, Erica was struck by a flash of light and was thrown across the court line to the end of the field.
“Ugh…….”
At first glance, it seemed that she threw quite badly, so both Rachel and I took a breath in a moment of surprise.
Even Cassius muttered lowly, looking at Erica as if he felt the situation was serious.
“She…… is she all right….?”
At that time, the whistle sounded to announce the end of the game, and the referee professor announced the victory and defeat of the match.
“Zainem, victory, Blothea, defeat.”
The student who beat Erica stood tall with his arms folded with a satisfied smile. Students around him also cheered around him.
No one was interested in Erica, who was crouching in the corner of the stadium and lying on the floor.
The professor, who was in charge of refereeing, ran to Erica after announcing the victory and defeat.
The professor then asked Erica, who barely moved her body and raised her upper body, if she could move her body. Erica nodded quietly.
Erica’s face showed that she’s not alright.
In addition, she kept limping on her left leg when she headed to the nurse’s office with the help of a professor.
“Oh, my God, I hope she’s not hurt much.….”
said Rachel, muzzling her mouth.
“……what’s that kid’s name? Zainem?”
“Yerine, calm down.”
Unexpectedly, it’s not Rachel, but Cassius who said it, stopping me first.
“Don’t stop me. I’m going to go to the professor right now and ask him to change my opponent for the second round.”
“Yerine, calm down. That can’t be possible.”
Rachel helped Cassius to stop me.
“Ck.”
In fact, I said so because I was angry, but I decided to put it aside because it didn’t make sense for me to ask for a change in the tournament.
Just then, the students surrounding the student named Zainem heard the shouts.
“You really hit her well, Zainem. You didn’t even make a fist for her, did you?”
Then Zainem replied with a smile.
“Of course. She’s a commoner, so how could she win against me.”
That was he said.
In the Academy, with most of them from the aristocracy and sometimes mixed with the royal family, Erica was one of the few commoners who entered the academy on a special admission basis.
Naturally, she had never received a professional magic education, and with relatively less magic power than aristocracy, she had trouble using her magic and was naturally bullied.
‘Why did I think of that now…..?’
It was pathetic of me to see Erica and was overwhelmed with anticipation.
Erica must be in a difficult situation now, and I felt really stupid when I was jumped on my own excitement, unable to think of her.
“That’s right. I’ll step on her so she won’t even think of stepping into this school again.”
It was a word stuck in my ear that made me want to explode.
“That thing……!”
I wanted to go straight to him and threw a punch, but Cassius and Rachel grabbed one arm at a time and desperately stopped me.
“Yerine, please! Hold it! Let’s settle it later through the professor!”
It was what Rachel, who desperately embraced my arm struggling, shouted.
Eventually, I was pulled out of the stadium by Rachel and Cassius. In my heart, I vowed to make sure that if one of those guys were to go against me in the tournament, I would make him roast it immediately.
***
“Oh, really. How can I beat Cassius?”
It came out while having lunch in the backyard of the Academy.
When the story of the battle came up, we naturally came up with the story of the second round, and I showed him my regret.
“I have to beat Cassius and get to the tournament so I can beat that unlucky Eugene…..”
“I’m afraid you’ll knock on me first.”
Cassius answered seriously.
But I waved my hands and said it was ridiculous.
“No matter how much, Cassius is a royal family, how can I win?”
“The royal family is not absolutely full of mana or better magic powers. It depends on the individual royal family. And you’ve never seen me use magic.”
I inflated my cheeks and answered back at the remark.
“No, but…..”
I already knew what Cassius was like through the novel.
I couldn’t say it in front of him, so I tried to gloss over it.
“You shouldn’t say that to the chief Academy’s admissions.”
Then he stared at me with his bright yellow eyes.
“…….”
I felt like I had something on my face, so I touched it around my mouth, but it was clean.
“What’s on my face?”
“No.”
“Then why are you looking at me?”
Only then did Cassius flip his head and answer with cool air.
“Just to make sure.”
“About what?”
“No, never mind.”
I squinted my eyes at his words and looked at Cassius, but Cassius didn’t answer much.
“By the way, Yerine.”
“What?”
“I’m sure you’ll win the battle. I can’t win over you.”
Suddenly I wondered what he was saying.
“Well, this might be too much for me, but if you go crazy and you lose to me on purpose, I’ll really punch you. You do know that, don’t you?
Even at the sound, Cassius nodded his head, chewing his lunch calmly.
“Even if I don’t lose on purpose, you’re bound to win. Maybe you’ll win even if I try my best.”
“No, how do you know that without trying it?”
Then his hand, holding the tableware, paused slightly.
“My intuitions.”
“Huh, how do you believe that?”
“Anyway, I’ll do my best, so don’t worry and do your best.”
After finishing his meal, Cassius got up from his seat.
“Sorry, Yerine, I’ve got a first-round coming up. Can I go first?”
“Rather, I’m grateful for that.”
“Your reaction is really too much.”
I saw his back sighing and giggling.
It’s been a lot of fun for us so far, but it would be okay to tease him this much.
I got up after finishing my meal.
There was still a lot of time left until the first round.
Unlike Astra or Rachel, who has already finished their first round, or Cassius, who has just gone to do it, I had the first round at 5 p.m. today.
‘I’m sleepy……’
But once I slept, the rhythm was broken, so I thought it would be bad for the game.
Of course, today’s game didn’t require that much effort.
On a glimpse, my match opponent today was one of Eugene’s followers, as I recalled yesterday. He was from a count, but he didn’t have the ability to pose a major threat.
“Shall I walk around a bit and go in…….”
I took some effort to wake up.
He is an easy opponent, but I had to relax a little because it was my first game.
In the end, I decided to take a walk around the school.
Most of the students were having lunch or sparring in school, so the backyard was very quiet and calm.
‘Oh, this is a nice atmosphere.’
But as I was walking in admiration, I could see the hem of clothes flying in the wind from afar.
‘There are people at this hour…..?’
The closer I got to where the hem of the garment was, the more I could hear the voice of a man.
Furthermore, I went near and found several people gathered in the corner of the backyard, not just one.
Lunchtime was the time to avoid professors’ eyes.
Students gathered in places where no one is likely to be. At first glance, I could conclude that the students were gathering and bullying someone.
“Oh, it bothers me to be stuck in a place like this.…’
In my head, I thought so, but I was curious about the ‘handsome’ faces of those punks. Instinctively, I hid and began to creep towards them.
“Uh.”
As I approached them in the bushes, I could see about five students standing round around a student squatting against the wall.
And one of them, surprisingly, was my first-round opponent.
“What the…… He was a bully……..?’
I thought, ‘What kind of wind blows a man with no skill, and has been harassing and bullying a child since broad daylight?’
Especially considering his position as a follower of Eugene, the act was very unhelpful to his prestige.
Eugene was basically selfish and inconsiderate, but he is very strict in the rules.
It was obvious that he would regard it as a great disgrace that his admirer was discovered by a professor for committing school violence.
“Hmm…”
Watching the swarm of bullies in the bushes, I rolled my head hard.
‘It would be best to tell the professor right away, right?’
But I had to set the right timing.
If I told them too soon, they could have retaliated against the victim.
I wondered if there was any way to let the professor know without them knowing of it as much as possible.
My head, which had been counting and logically calculating the number of cases like that, stopped completely at the very next moment.
The reason was that I could see between the legs of the giggles was Erica’s long, beautiful cherry-coloured hair.
“Haha, that suits you!”
The wet, drooping Erika’s hair clung to her face.
Moreover, she sat with her head down, unable to resist, while leaning against the wall helplessly.
“One more bucketful.”
said Edwin Boyleis, who was giggling and playing with Erica’s hair.
Then the girl, who was giggling beside him, began to spray water with magic.
“As expected, this suits the common people–”
After being possessed by this world, I thought I should stay as far away from the main characters of the original story as possible.
Yesterday, I saw Erica afraid of me, and I thought it was right for me.
But, it wasn’t.
It was impossible to watch them bully my favourite heroine.
I stopped sneaking around in the bushes, leapt out of the grass and trudged toward the swarm of bullies.
“Hey.”
At that moment everyone’s eyes, except Erica, turned to me, and I began to glare at them like a mad dog.
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