Harem System In A fantasy World

Chapter 206: Itching

“O-oh…” Isolde muttered weakly. Her face slowly turned red.

She quickly looked back down at the floor, clearly embarrassed that she had jumped to conclusions.

Mira immediately burst into laughter.

“You thought he secretly memorized your number or something?” she teased.

Isolde’s ears turned even redder.

“I—I didn’t think that!” she said quickly.

Aria snorted quietly while Elion just chuckled and shook his head. She took a small breath and finally sat down on the bench beside them.

When the third-year students appeared on the battlefield, the atmosphere in the arena spiked again.

Their presence and posture alone made it clear they were also different from the first-year and second-year students.

Their movements were calm, their expressions steady, and the way they carried their bodies made it obvious that they had years of experience behind them.

Even before the fights began, the crowd seemed more excited, sensing that the battles were about to become far more exciting.

In the waiting room, Elion watched the screens for a moment.

But unlike before, there was no one he really knew among the third years. There was no sign of the familiar faces from the DC.

So after a while, he stopped paying close attention to the fights themselves and instead listened to the girls beside him as they quietly commented on the matches.

From what Elion knew, there were always fewer and fewer students the higher you went up in the years, so it was clear that each of them would be a decent talent at least.

So as expected, the fights were clearly going to be more intense.

Even though Elion was not watching carefully, he could still see spells exploding across the battlefield and students clashing with weapons much more aggressively than they had been in their younger years.

Mana bursts lit up the platforms constantly, and the crowd reacted loudly whenever someone managed a powerful attack.

Still, as Elion watched, a simple thought crossed his mind.

They were strong.

But they were still well within his capabilities.

That realization made him pause for a moment.

It also made him think of something he had never truly considered before.

’I’ve never actually fought seriously,’ he thought.

Even when he fought before, whether it was in the dungeon, during training, or against other students, he had always been holding something back.

His magic alone could overwhelm most opponents easily, and many of the skills the system had given him were simply too powerful to use casually.

So he had never truly tested himself.

’How much strength can I exhibit if I go all out…’

The thought lingered in his mind for a moment.

Eventually, he made a decision.

When his turn came to fight in this tournament, he would use nothing but his sword and his physical abilities.

Anything else would simply be overkill.

It was unnecessary.

’My sword is more than enough,’ he thought calmly.

In fact, he had already realized something over the past few weeks.

From this day onward, he intended to become a swordsman primarily.

That didn’t mean he would neglect magic. Magic was powerful beyond reason, and it had always been his dream to become a great mage when he was younger. That dream had not disappeared.

But something had changed.

Every time he picked up a sword, he felt something different.

It felt natural.

Almost as if the weapon belonged in his hand. Almost like the weapon was calling out to him.

It had gotten to the point where whenever he went to train, his mind would subconsciously reach for his sword first before anything else.

Even when he planned to practice magic, he somehow ended up sparring with his blade instead.

The feeling was strange, but he didn’t dislike it.

’Besides,’ he thought quietly, ’I want to test my sword skills against real opponents.’

Fighting mages with nothing but a blade would be a valuable experience.

Learning how to close distance, break through spells, and pressure opponents who relied on magic was something no ordinary training session could truly replicate.

’This tournament is the perfect opportunity.;

He nodded slightly to himself.

’It will be a good experience.’

Just then, the door to the waiting room opened.

A figure stepped inside quietly.

Elion glanced over.

It was William.

For a moment, the room became strangely quiet.

William looked… different.

Usually, he walked around with arrogance written all over his face, his chin raised high as if everyone else around him was beneath him.

But now his shoulders were slightly slouched, and he looked oddly subdued. He didn’t even spare Elion the usual glare.

Instead, he simply walked toward an empty bench and sat down quietly.

As he did, several nearby students shifted away from him almost immediately, leaving a noticeable gap around his seat as if they didn’t want to be anywhere near him.

It made him look like a fish out of water.

Elion watched him for a moment.

In all honesty, he hated to admit it, but seeing William strut around the academy freely like this still rubbed him the wrong way.

Every single day.

If things had been different, if justice actually meant something here, if Elion could have it any other way, William would have already been buried six feet under.

That was the honest truth. But reality was different.

William was a Dawncrest.

And because of that, the academy treated him differently.

The specific reason why was lost on him, but it was obviously the case.

If Elion had committed even half the crimes William had been responsible for lately, he had no doubt that he would have been expelled from the academy without hesitation.

But William?

He received nothing more than a light slap on the wrist.

Maybe to William, the punishments he received felt severe. But to Elion, it looked like nothing more than shameless leniency.

The academy prided itself on fairness and discipline.

Yet when it came to someone from a powerful noble family, those rules suddenly became very flexible.

Elion’s gaze lingered on William for a moment longer before he looked away. In his mind, there was only one thought.

’The academy’s double standards are disgusting.’

To him, William wasn’t just a nuisance anymore. He was a scourge on the academy’s reputation.

Still, the feeling of irritation didn’t leave him so easily. Seeing William sitting there quietly left a bad taste in Elion’s mouth.

But he forced himself to let it go for now.

There was a tournament going on.

And soon enough, William would be forced to step onto one of those platforms. He just hoped that they would get matched up so that he could slug the guy to sate some of this frustration.

As calm and detached as Elion liked to act when he was being provoked, his actual feelings were quite different. In truth, he probably even hated William as much as the guy hated him.

But, while William’s hate was justified by nothing but his dirty pride, Elion had a far more solid reason to hate this guy.

’We’ll settle things there sooner or later,’

Elion thought calmly.

He looked back at the screens.

The exchanges were faster, more calculated, and far more destructive.

Students moved across the platforms with confidence, using both magic and weapons in combination, and many of the spells being thrown around were far more refined than what the younger years had shown.

One third year launched a chain of lightning bolts that forced his opponent to roll across the platform just to avoid being hit.

On another platform, a swordsman dashed through a hail of ice shards and struck his opponent with a clean blow to the chest, sending him sliding across the stone floor.

The crowd loved it.

Even from inside the waiting room, the thunder of their cheers could be heard every time something impressive happened.

Mira leaned forward slightly, watching one of the fights with interest.

“They’re good,” she said quietly.

Aria nodded.

“They should be. They’ve been here three years.”

Elion didn’t comment.

He simply watched the screens for a while, observing how the third years moved. Their reactions were sharp, their casting faster, and their battle instincts much more polished than what he had seen from the first and second years.

But even so…

He couldn’t help noticing the gaps.

Their spells were strong, but many of them relied heavily on distance and preparation. Several of them also seemed uncomfortable when an opponent closed the gap quickly.

’Typical mage habits,’ Elion thought.

Most of them had trained to fight other mages, not someone who would rush them down with nothing but a sword.

That realization made him feel even more confident about the choice he had made. To become a mage-swordsman hybrid.

There were not a lot of people in that class. He knew there was at least one famous battlemage among the academy professors, but he hadn’t had the opportunity to meet the man.

If he relied purely on his blade and physical abilities, most mages would struggle to deal with that kind of pressure.

And if things somehow became dangerous…

Well.

He still had plenty of other options.

The fights on the screens eventually began to slow down as more and more third-year matches concluded. Some ended with spectacular spells, while others were decided by clever tactics or simple endurance.

Eventually, the last few matches finished.

The hostess’s voice once again filled the coliseum.

“And that concludes the opening round for our third-year participants!”

The crowd cheered loudly again.

The next batch of matches would begin soon.

A small smile appeared on Elion’s handsome face.

’Looks like my turn is still far away.’

If things continued along this timeline, at this rate, he doubted he would be able to fight at all today.

It was almost midday now, and unless the fights continued well into the night, Elion would have to wait till tomorrow to stretch his own limbs.

Which would honestly be a shame. His sword hand was itching.