Viola is a noble. Although she does not act like a typical noble in my mind, it remains a fact. Every noble has their own pride. I had managed to hurt a little bit of Viola's pride to achieve my goal.
I could no longer remain just an medicore person. If I did not take the necessary step for this, I would be relying on someone else to save me throughout my life.
I couldn't keep this chain on my feet any longer.
To do this, I wanted to have a rematch with Viola. Of course, Viola is much stronger than me but I don't think she would have much of a chance against Nox assassin. If I were to set myself a barrier, the most suitable person for that would definitely be Viola. Moreover, I made sure to loudly state my intention because the Academy President Dolphan was nearby. I knew about the old ritchi's weekly activities thanks to the intelligence that Emerra had provided in advance. That's why I knew Dolphan would be there as well. All I had to do was hope for Viola to come here. It seems my prayer for F was answered because Viola also appeared.
I had completed the first step; we were scheduled for a duel at four in the afternoon. Now, it was time to move on to the second step. Of course, this involved secretly following the nalias.
Actually, this wasn't exactly called following. I was just staying at a certain distance and constantly thinking about other things. I was hoping one of these thoughts would reach Emerra's mind. I was sitting on a bench about a hundred meters away from the building where her theory lessons were held. I had bought a sandwich for myself because I was hungry. As I continued eating my sandwich, a voice echoed inside my head.
"Stop thinking in code and tell me what's going on."
Emerra's mind-reading ability is really like a cheat. Its range is quite extensive and I started to think about what strategy I should develop for the duel with Viola. I was sure that this thought had entered Emerra's mind and I wondered if she was curious about what I was planning. But communication between minds is the biggest risk Emerra could take. Even though I knew she wouldn't re-establish contact with me to avoid suspicion from the other nalias, it was still important for her to know what I was going to do. From now on, I had no choice but to rely entirely on rumors. Being with Zui was quite conspicuous and now I was challenging a noble. I would definitely be one of the most talked-about people and there would be a pretty large audience for the duel.
Undoubtedly, one of the spectators would be Dolphan. I didn't offer the duel in front of him for nothing. According to the Academy rules, the Academy President must be responsible for the safety of the environment in case of a duel to resolve potential issues. This included having healers on hand in case of serious injuries, assigning security personnel to prevent anyone from interfering and informing that no one should come here if potential magic use was involved. Even if I didn't have any problems with Viola, we both came from different social circles. I was a common and Viola was a noble. Even this fact alone was more than enough for me.
The final step was to find Iris and relay the potential assassination attempt against Dolphan to himself. I was assigning her the most critical task. If the nalias noticed the sign I made during the duel, they might attack me. Revealing Emerra's identity at this point would be foolish. Therefore, the person who would give the sign would be Iris. Since I didn't know which day she attended which lessons, I had no choice but to walk around the buildings in the Academy area.
Unfortunately, not everything in life goes smoothly. Despite being only minutes away from the duel, I couldn't find Iris. The Academy area is really large and since I couldn't walk into classrooms casually, I had already considered the possibility of not finding Iris. My only option was to secretly tell Iris what she needed to do during the duel in a coded way.
I turned my route towards the reddish building to have our duel. We would fight in the arena inside this building. I didn't know how much Viola had strengthened. At best, she had experienced a step upgrade in some of her sub-stats. Besides that, I was sure she hadn't developed as quickly as I had. Everyone knows that the more you rise in a field, the harder it becomes to make progress there. That's why being at level D in any area is considered an incredible achievement. At this point, I remembered that Zui's magic stat was C and I shivered.
As I continued my walk, I was wondering, 'Could I actually rise to that power?' Besides, I could feel that the gazes directed at me were increasing. Rumors were definitely spreading quickly. As someone who doesn't have many friends like Stefan, my presence was something of a mystery to the other students. Especially, I could sense that students who weren't in class 1-A were looking at me with great curiosity. Viola Scarple was undoubtedly very popular and an unidentified person challenging her would definitely spark discussions.
"Who is this kid?"
"I don't know, but he's handsome."
"They say he was seen with Sin of the Flower and he challenged Lady Viola. This kid must be quite a ladies' man."
"Is he the one who beat Sin of the Flower?"
"I have no idea. I heard someone beat him but they didn't describe him to me that way."
Gossip was truly strange. Ignoring all of this, I entered the reddish building and took a short walk to the center of the arena. Since I arrived a bit early, I saw no issue in sitting on the sand. I felt a bit like a gladiator. Some students had gathered in the spectator section of the arena, and in another corner, I saw Dolphan and a few adults talking about something. As minutes passed, I practiced some small exercises related to magic.
Thanks to my magic path, I had an idea of my own potential. Now, I needed to discover how I could shape my magic. I believed that simple fireballs or creating a basic breeze around me were things anyone could easily do. One of the beautiful aspects of magic is this. If you really think about it, you have the potential to perform only those special things that are uniquely yours. Uncovering this potential or exploring the possibilities of a path you've paved on your own, despite everything, is entirely up to you.
About five hundred people had gathered in the arena. I estimated that roughly two hundred of these were from class 1-A. I saw Ela, Iris, and Stefan sitting at the front and looking at me with a sidelong glance. I also saw Alex, the main character in my mind. He was sitting alone in a far corner of the arena. No matter how much I looked, I couldn't see Zui in the arena. Besides this, I also saw nalias from class 1-A. Apart from those six nalia, I saw others as well. Most likely, these were different nalias and I couldn't help but feel a little sorry for them. They were completely unaware that their kindred with them possessed diseased minds.
Finally, Viola made a grand entrance into the arena. She was wearing an outfit suitable for a duelist — tight enough to reveal her body contours but flexible enough not to restrict her movement. The outfit was a single-piece, covering her entire body. She held a rapier in her hand. It was longer than the one she used during our encounter weeks ago. The design slightly resembled a nail. Its edges didn't look very sharp and the body, which looked oval-shaped, reminded me of a nail. I thought, 'This must be the sword best suited to her fighting style.'
"As we mentioned earlier, commoner. Using magic is allowed. Causing injuries is allowed. The one who takes a fatal wound or admits defeat will lose this duel."
"That's fine with me. If you're also allowed to use magic, my victory will be even more certain."
I was sure that the spectators had heard my words but there was no sound. No cheers or conversations were taking place until the duel started.
"This confidence is truly foolish, commoner. I will crush you here and you will pay the price for wasting my time."
I had said that if I lost, I would work for her. In other words, I would have sworn a sort of loyalty to her. I thought, 'If I don't want to carry her expensive shopping bags, I really have to win.' Several seconds passed. We were about eight meters apart. My own weapon, the tomahawk, appeared in my hand. Viola was momentarily surprised by this but she quickly understood the situation and assumed her classic duelist stance. I took my stance as well. Neither of us moved for a few seconds. We were waiting for someone else to do something to give the signal to start the duel.
That signal came as a cheer in favor of Viola. As soon as it happened, I saw her enter that state of mind she had just before defeating me earlier.
The rematch had begun and it was clear that Viola would put all her strength into it.