The Demon Prince goes to the Academy

Chapter 209

Ender Wilton’s fall to ruin…

As a result of that incident, rather than growing, Ludwig broke mentally.

No matter how much of a monster Ender had been, Ludwig has still ended up killing someone.

Ludwig reported the whole incident to Temple. While he wasn’t punished for it, he eventually developed a trauma from the act of killing.

So Ludwig wasn’t quite there mentally for quite some time, leading to a period of stagnation for him until he recovered.

There was only one conclusion…

I had to eliminate the incident having to do with Ender Wilton to make Ludwig even stronger than he was in the original. Like that, he wouldn’t stagnate because of the mental breakdown he suffered from.

‘What should I do?’

I couldn’t come up with any countermeasures for that yet.

I needed to think about it more once the reason I was there in the first place was handled.

I first had to do some things to get achievement points to experiment. I also managed to confirm what Ender Wilton looked like.

-Clap!

The senior who brought us there smiled brightly, clapping his hands to attract everyone’s attention.

“It’s okay. As you can see, I didn’t call you here to scold you, but because we have a visitor. Don’t be so nervous.”

An unknown fourth-year senior…

He didn’t tell us his name, but he seemed to be one extraordinary guy. He spoke briefly, looking at his first-year juniors who had been standing in two rows, frozen in fear.

“Lilka Aaron.”

“1-A-5 Lilka Aaron!”

As soon as her name was called, a certain someone raised her hand.

“Come forward.”

“Yes!”

When she was called forward, she immediately stood up and rushed towards us.

What did they do in half a year to turn those kids into soldiers already? Seeing those kids act like that should have made me cringe, but instead, I felt goosebumps running all over my body when seeing that they were so well-trained.

Orbis Class Year 1 A-5 Lilka Aaron…

She had brown hair and brown eyes.

She was about 154 cm tall.

She was rather small.

‘…Erich, did you get beat up by her even though the physical difference between you two was so huge?’

Of course, if I compared myself to Ellen, it would seem that my physique was better, but I was still getting beat up.

But wasn’t she a bit too small?

The atmosphere she gave off was rather sharp, but that just made her seem cute.

“I heard that you bullied a Royal Class student, so they came to get their revenge.”

“!”

Lilka Aaron’s eyes widened at these words. However, her gaze didn’t turn to Erich.

“Is that true?”

“…”

“Oh, do I have to ask you twice?”

“No! It’s true!”

It seemed like a normal question, but the fourth-year senior’s words seemed to have an unusual weight to them.

“Why did you do that?”

At that, Lilka Aaron cast her eyes on Erich. She seemed nervous because the seniors had suddenly gathered them there, but there were some other very obvious emotions visible in her eyes.

—Contempt, hatred, disgust…

And ridicule.

“That over there is Erich de Lafaeri, Year 1 A-9 of the Royal Class. He told me that, because students from the Orbis Class do not have a talent, all of the students from Royal Class would simply catch up to us eventually. I was merely checking to see if he had already caught up.”

That cold and calm atmosphere about her was further supplemented by her words.

Talent…

That word was the Orbis Class students’ trigger. I could feel the nervous atmosphere in the training hall turn to anger after hearing Lilka Aaron’s words.

I already knew that Erich had said something to that effect, but now that I was there, I realized what it meant if it was recounted in front of those guys who would hate to hear those words the most.

If the atmosphere were to be turned into some kind of attack, Erich would have died on the spot.

“Oh, is that so…?”

Even the senior who had brought us there seemed repulsed by those words. He glanced in Erich’s direction.

He wore a subtle smile. The emotions he seemed to feel were rather hard to guess, but anyway, Lilka Aaron’s words had completely changed the mood.

“Okay. Aaron. Whatever the reason, it seems like you still bullied the Royal Class student Erich, so a friend of Erich came here to seek revenge for the violence he suffered as his proxy.”

A proxy…

At those words, laughter erupted from the Orbis Class.

What a pathetic guy.

Did you bring a friend to do it for you because you couldn’t do anything on your own? He only got lucky by getting some talent.

Laughter and ridicule openly spread around the area and Erich seemed to get smaller and smaller in that atmosphere.

“You said your name was Reinhardt, right?”

“Yes.”

“It seems like he wants to get revenge on you, what are you going to do?”

Lilka Aaron…

She stared at me.

“I can deal with that guy however long he wants.”

The girl nodded with confidence permeating her face, not because she noticed the way her senior was looking at her. Due to mutual agreement on the matter from both sides, the senior nodded happily.

“Alright. Then there’s no reason to wait for much longer.”

He pulled Likla Aaron and me to face each other as if trying to mediate the situation.

“While this isn’t a duel, fights like these do need to have something at stake, right? Reinhardt, what will you promise if Aaron wins?”

Promise…

Well, what could I promise? I was just there as a proxy in response to some bullying, and then I had to promise something if I were to lose.

“Well… I don’t really care if you roast or stirfry that guy. I won’t report any of that to the teachers or anything.”

“Well, I don’t think these are particularly desirable conditions, though… Aaron, did Erich ever formally apologize for insulting his classmate and the whole of Orbis Class?”

“No, he didn’t.”

“Then, in the name of the whole Royal Class, apologize for the insults made against the Orbis Class. How is that?”

The senior tilted his head as he said that.

“I would if I could, but I don’t think that I can speak for the whole Royal Class. If I were the student council president, maybe, but I’m just a first-year student.”

I couldn’t speak for the whole Royal Class, but I could only apologize as one of its students.

“Hmm, is that so? Then all four of you who came here should sincerely apologize for the insults made by Erich de Lafaeri. How about that?”

Getting down on our knees…

Shattering the pride of Royal Class students—that was what the Orbis Class wanted. Trampling the Royal Class, standing on top of it.

Was that senior any different?

Lilka Aaron’s eyes were shining, and Erich was already broken.

However, someone had appeared to take revenge for him. She seemed to think that I’d gone because I was insanely confident in my skills. So did she believe that, if she broke me, that she would truly surpass the Royal Class?

We had to get down on our knees if I lost.

“Hm, there’ll be one more condition.”

The fourth-year senior pointed to himself and grinned.

“If Lilka Aaron loses, I shall take responsibility by kneeling down and apologizing for the bad management of my juniors. Of course, I shall take care that Erich won’t get bullied anymore in the future.”

“!”

“!”

The atmosphere, which had reached its climax because of his previous words, froze over again.

What a lunatic.

I didn’t imagine things would get that good.

He sure knew how to convince someone that one could never lose no matter what.

Lilka Aaron…

There was one more emotion added to the ones I could see reflected in her eyes as she was about to fight me.

—Utter fear.

It was a completely different matter for getting humiliated as a result of one’s own defeat versus having others take responsibility for that loss.

The Orbis Class was almost like the army.

In a place like that, Lilka Aaron would fight as a result of her own actions, but she wasn’t wagering her own honor or face, but her senior’s.

If she won the duel, she would have won over the Royal Class completely, so there was a certain sense of fairness about it.

But what if she lost?

Because of her defeat, her senior would have to kneel in front of some first-years that were far below him, and even from the Royal Class to boot.

If that was all that would happen, it would still be fine. As a fighter who had tarnished her senior’s reputation, Lilka Aaron had no idea what that senior would do to her. Even if that fourth-year didn’t do anything, the second and third-years certainly wouldn’t.

They would take care of everything that would come after.

It might not end with Lilka Aaron alone. It might extend to the whole first-year of Orbis Class.

There was no need for the guy to tell her “Don’t lose.”

* * *

* * *

‘If you lose, I’ll have to kneel down.’

That unknown fourth-year didn’t only plant fear in Lilka Aaron but all the other first years as well.

You’d rather die than lose.

That was what he meant when he said that he would kneel down.

A strict hierarchy between seniors and juniors—a system that was similar to the one of the army.

Its absurdity was even more terrible than the efficiency it held.

That violent and absurd system of the Orbis Class was what led Ender Wilton to ruin and eventually turned him into a monster.

A desire for strength and an inferiority complex—Those were what I had written as the reasons for the outcome, but when I saw it in person, I felt like it was actually a lot different.

Ender Wilton would have been placed under a lot of pressure by his seniors as well because he was in last place. Judging by the atmosphere, it was more than certain that the seniors actually beat up their juniors.

The atmosphere hanging over the Orbis Class was certainly even more eerie when I actually went to their dormitory.

Even though I was a complete outsider, I felt suffocated by the fear and pressure those guys felt.

As the fight was about to begin, the fourth-year senior led the three idiot brothers to the edge of the training hall.

Naturally, the space around Lilka Aaron and me was completely emptied.

It wasn’t a practice match, it was a fight. It wasn’t my intention for an audience to be around, but it wasn’t entirely unexpected.

The senior raised his voice.

“A Declaration of surrender or incapacitation.”

“Let’s make these the losing conditions.”

“Let us not only look at their skills but their grit as well.”

“Well then, First Year Royal Class A-11 Reinhardt and Orbis Class A-5 Lilka Aaron… Wait, this is a fight, right? Oh well, then let’s just get started.”

At first glance, they seemed like ordinary words said before a duel, but I could see all the Orbis Class students flinching at them.

Hard work and perseverance.

Those were the most important virtues imposed on the students of the Orbis Class.

Those losing conditions, a Declaration of surrender or incapacitation, only meant one thing:

If they surrendered, something much more terrifying would await them afterwards.

Even if they thought they wouldn’t be able to win, they were forced to fight until they were incapacitated.

I could see strong determination bruning in Lilka Aaron’s eyes as well as fear equivalent to it.

I can’t lose.

I can’t lose. I can’t lose. I can’t lose.

I can’t.

It seemed like she was constantly repeating that to herself.

Was that really the one who bullied Erich de Lafaeri? That little girl was like a cat bristling up its fur, its claws out and its eyes gleaming, but she didn’t actually seem to look at me because she was so focused on what would happen after her defeat.

It was just pitiful.

I could either lose or win.

There was a chance I might lose or I might win, but I didn’t actually care about the result. If I lost, I just would have to work a bit harder, and if I won, I just had to stay vigilant.

However, if one thought that there was an “After” if one lost, people would be on the verge of collapse even before the fight started.

We hadn’t even fought yet, but she was already half-defeated.

That method would make one desperate, but was that the right way to help someone grow?

Did that girl know about me?

She probably did.

Adler Belkin was overwhelmingly defeated by me using my supernatural power. The Orbis Class was a little different from the Royal Class. Two such differences were the atmosphere between seniors and juniors and the atmosphere inside each class.

However, not everything was bad about all of that.

Those guys underwent rigorous training and lived under strict rules.

Most of the time, students would grow very close under such conditions.

Those guys had a very strong sense of camaraderie between them. They had no other choice but to—faced with those harsh rules and their hard everyday life.

So they most definitely internally shared information about the Royal Class students who they designated as their rivals.

She should have already heard information about me. That was why Lilka Aaron was looking at me quite nervously even though I was Number 11, two places below Number 9, Erich.

“Hey, how strong are you really?”

What was my real level of skill in the Royal Class?

I’d told Adler Belkin that I was the weakest. Of course, that wasn’t actually the case. Among the combat talents of Royal Class, how would I be ranked?

Even if I used my supernatural power, these four had a definite advantage over me:

Ellen, Cliffman, Bertus, Scarlett.

Although I had never crossed swords with Bertus before, I simply knew just by looking at him.

While it could be said that we’d tie, I had a slight edge over Ludwig.

My opponent, A-5, Lilka Aaron.

“Similar to you.”

In the two special classes, both me and Lilka ranked fifth.

It would be revealed which of the fifth-ranked of both classes was actually stronger, right there and then.

Of course, I had only excluded Delphine and Erich from the five I’d mentioned above. Since Delphine had a talent related to archery, she was out of question. In the end, only Erich and Ludwig among the combat talents were below me.

I was simply third from below, so calling me “The weakest” wasn’t all that wrong.

It didn’t matter if I lost or won.

However, I had no reason to lose on purpose.

At those words, Lilka Aaron slowly stepped forward and then rushed towards me in a single jump like a whirlwind.

-Babang!

“Kurk!”

With tremendous speed and powerful rotation, she kicked out, hitting my upper arm.

It was surprising that she was able to launch such a sharp roundhouse kick at an angle steep enough to hit my head while she was so small.

What was more surprising was the destructive power contained in that kick.

I instinctively felt it the moment I was hit.

That girl…

She wasn’t specialized in swordsmanship but close-quarters combat.

The arm that blocked her kick was still tingling.

It made me wonder how so much power could come from such a small body, but I had already seen Ellen, who defied all laws of physics in that regard.

It was probably because of a similar reason.

She dished out a roundhouse kick and quickly stepped away and widened the distance between us. Those movements seemed even more amazing, maybe because of her small frame.

It seemed like she’d estimated my strength after hitting me once.

Strengthening myself physically didn’t just mean that I would increase my physical abilities. I had become able to “harden” my body to a certain extent as well.

It should have felt like kicking a rock. However, she was still carefully examining my movements to see if I really could deal with her kick.

It definitely felt like she was more specialized in personal combat, not swordsmanship. It was because of her footwork, movements, and the roundhouse kick that flew at me which I was completely unable to avoid.

However, Erich had met her in a swordsmanship class and gotten completely beaten with the sword.

Once again…

Lilka Aaron lightly stepped up to me.

She was small, but so very nimble.

-Paaang!

However, her attacks were incredibly heavy.

I reached out with my hand while allowing a low kick to fly at my thigh, but she simply turned her shoulder to avoid me and moved away from me.

Close-quarters combat wasn’t my speciality.

It was too late to ask for a training sword. First of all, that wasn’t a match or something.

We would just aim at each other’s neck with training swords and that would be the end of it. It wasn’t that kind of fight.

In the end, one of us had to either surrender or be unable to fight anymore to lose that dogfight. If I had a training sword in my hand, I would’ve had to knock her out with it or something like that.

And at my level, if I didn’t do it right, I might end up killing her.

I wasn’t really that skilled in close-quarters combat, but I had my supernatural ability.

She was very good at it, however.

Lilka Aaron approached me very carefully and seemed to have adopted a hit-and-run strategy, hitting me and then kept her distance again. There was a very real weight difference between us, so if she actually allowed a hit in even once, she might fall.

She didn’t look down on me just because she knew that I was a supernatural power user.

Her main attack style was kicking.

The reason for that didn’t seem to be because she was skilled at it, but because it helped to secure the distance between us.

If that little girl came in to punch me, she would enter my reach.

So she inevitably had no choice but to adopt a hit-and-run strategy focused on kicking.

“Hap!”

-Bang!

She rushed at me and hit my thigh with a front-kick, so I took a few steps back.

She didn’t stop there, when she saw that I was pushed back, she gradually followed after me, linking low-kicks and high-kicks. I backed away calmly and slowly.

I shouldn’t assume that she could only kick and nothing else. That wasn’t a fight protected by rules. If she was pretending that kicking was her only means of attack and got ahold of my arm, she might suddenly grapple me. It would be over then, no matter what.

If she was skilled in close-quarters combat, she wouldn’t have only learned how to kick.

She definitely would’ve had no other choice but to learn how to effectively subdue an opponent with a huge weight difference due to her size.

It was only natural that she was proficient in grappling, including submissions.

She just calmly but quickly pushed me back. While she did her high kicks, low kicks, and frontal kicks that seemed to push me away, I slowly stepped back before I finally got hit in my stomach. It was so heavy that it almost threw me to the floor.

-Bam!

“Kurk!”

The weight behind it was incredibly heavy because she’d kicked out as she rushed at me. My posture was a little shaken. That was when her eyes lit up.

A small gap…

When I couldn’t react in time and backed off, she quickly lunged at me, launching her body up with her left leg. It was absolutely ridiculous.

It was like…

It felt like I was getting hit by a combo in a fighting game, right?

Anyway, the body of the girl who had pushed me into a corner was rotating in mid-air.

A kick with a strong revolving force behind it…

“Hap!”

-Paaaaang!

“Kuurg.”

Hit the back of my right arm.