“Three days from now. Indoor training hall. Don't even think about running.”
Once the duel declaration was over, Griphoc left.
Only Ex and Beatrice remained on the rooftop.
Ex waited quietly with a polite smile on his face.
Beatrice stood there blankly, her expression grim.
‘I'm screwed.’
Beatrice couldn't see any way out of this situation.
If there was one solution, it would be to assassinate Griphoc.
‘No. Can't do that either.’
Beatrice, an Imperial Princess, had officially witnessed the duel.
Any assassination or attack that occurred before the duel would be presumed to have been carried out by the opposing side.
In other words, if anything happened to Griphoc, Ex would die as well.
That left only one conclusion.
‘Should I give up on him?’
She could abandon Ex now and find herself another card to play.
When a card had gone rotten, the best thing to do was throw it away as soon as possible.
“Imperial Princess Beatrice.”
Just as she was thinking that, Ex called out to her.
“…What is it?”
“You have nothing to worry about. I don't pick fights I have no chance of winning.”
“And what exactly am I supposed to do with that? If you caused all this just so you could flatter me afterward, you've seriously misunderstood something.”
Beatrice glared at the card she had already decided to discard.
“I have absolutely no interest in you.”
Ex was kneeling before her, maintaining the proper courtesies.
Even after those icy words, he didn't so much as flinch.
Something about that only irritated her more.
She needed to return immediately and rethink the entire plan from the ground up.
But then Ex spoke again, and she froze.
“You may proceed with the plan.”
“…The plan?”
“I mean the grand plan being prepared by Lady ‘Andras’, of course.”
At those words, the air around Beatrice changed.
Andras narrowed her eyes and looked down at Ex.
“What are you?”
At the question, Ex began trembling as though he'd been waiting for her to ask.
He answered in a voice quivering with emotion, as if he were overwhelmed just to be in her presence.
“Ah! Forgive me. I've admired you for so long that finding myself before you in person left me too overwhelmed to properly introduce myself. I sincerely hope my discourtesy hasn't offended you.”
“That wasn't what I asked.”
“Oh, of course… Allow me to introduce myself.”
Ex lifted his head and looked up at Andras.
His eyes were no longer human.
His black irises had turned crimson, shining with a sinister glow, while his pupils had narrowed into long reptilian slits that gleamed yellow.
They were unmistakably the eyes of a demon.
“It is an honor to meet you, Lady ‘Andras’. My name is ‘Mephisto’. I am nothing more than a lowly, insignificant demon.”
『Ten Thousand Lies(S) activated!
Points consumed: 2,000』
It was a lie, of course.
Andras was visibly taken aback by Ex's introduction.
“You're a demon? How?”
“I understand your surprise. Even I never imagined there could be a human foolish enough to use a Demon Contract Scroll after only a single day.”
“…Get rid of those eyes first. Are you trying to advertise to the entire academy that there's a demon here?”
Ex's eyes returned to normal.
Beatrice had sensed the demonic aura emanating from them.
There was no question about it.
Ex truly was a demon.
And yet, none of this made sense.
“Explain yourself. Who are you, and how did this happen?”
“I'll explain everything immediately.”
Ex lowered his head once more and continued.
“I was merely a low-ranking demon of the Lower Hell, nothing more than a servant working in Lady Andras's castle.”
“You were a servant in my castle?”
“That is correct.”
Andras searched through her memories.
Naturally, she didn't know the names and faces of every single subordinate under her command.
So she used lie-detection magic to verify his claim.
『Ten Thousand Lies(S) activated!
Points consumed: 1,000』
The result said he was telling the truth.
‘This… I can use.’
If so, this situation was excellent.
It meant one of her own subordinates had possessed Ex as a demon.
“Very well, Mephisto. What rank are you among demons?”
“My apologies, but I have yet to earn a place in the rankings.”
“…That's unfortunate. I assume you don't have an epithet either, then.”
“That is correct.”
That was disappointing.
If he had been as powerful as Flauros, there would have been countless strategies she could employ.
‘Still, this is plenty. At least I don't need to waste strength forcing him into submission.’
Andras decided to be satisfied with what she had.
Instead, she moved on to another question that had been bothering her.
“So what happened? Did that human called Ex really use the Demon Contract Scroll after only one day?”
“Surprisingly enough, yes. The moment he returned to his room, he completely sealed off his presence, used the scroll, and summoned me. The human himself is currently sealed inside this ring.”
That part was suspicious as well.
No matter how deeply malicious a human might be, they couldn't simply cast aside their beliefs at the drop of a hat.
That was why she'd expected it to take at least a week.
Naturally, she used her lie-detection magic again.
『Ten Thousand Lies(S) activated!
Points consumed: 500』
Once again, the result said he was telling the truth.
Ex continued with a crooked smile.
“He must have been extraordinarily desperate. His faith in the Goddess had already shattered, and he clung to me, begging for power. He practically forced the contract upon me, saying he'd sell even his soul if that was what it took to become stronger.”
“What an absurd human…”
“He wasn't completely reckless about it, though. Apparently, being a mage gave him some confidence. He tampered with the magic array in the contract and tried to force an unfair agreement upon me. It seems he simply failed to anticipate the Soul Trap activating.”
“Arrogant fool.”
“Indeed.”
The Soul Trap activated the instant someone entered into a demonic contract while overwhelmed by negative emotions.
Their mind would immediately be crushed, broken down, and ground apart until their consciousness collapsed, after which their soul would be sealed inside the ring.
From that point onward, they would exist forever as nothing more than a lightning rod that endlessly absorbed divine power.
Andras accepted the explanation and moved on to her next question.
“What was that duel declaration about? The duel will take place inside the academy, so you won't be able to use demonic power. You barely have any time to prepare, either. What were you thinking when you proposed those conditions?”
“That duel is a gift for Lady Andras.”
“A gift?”
“Please consider what I demanded as my condition for victory.”
If Ex won, he would inherit an executive position within the organization.
The implications were obvious.
“Then you were planning to seize control of the Sword Gang?”
“That is correct. That's why I caused such a commotion in the first place.”
That wasn't bad at all.
If they took control of the Sword Gang, quite a few new strategies would become possible.
“Sure, assuming you win. How is a mere Tier 3 mage supposed to defeat a 5-Star martial artist? Are you confident you can actually do it?”
“I have a clever plan.”
Andras saw the strange confidence in Ex's eyes.
Just what sort of scheme could possibly make him that certain?
“What is this clever plan?”
“Well, you see…”
Andras listened as Ex explained his strategy.
“Fifty stone pillars… mana potions and long potion bottles… explosion magic and a grand magic circle…? You're actually planning to do all that?”
“That's precisely why I specified an ‘indoor training hall’.”
After hearing the entire plan, Andras was dumbfounded.
“What an utterly demonic idea.”
And yet, she also thought it might actually work.
***
“Whew!”
Andras's familiar was finally gone.
There was no reason for Ex to keep up the act anymore.
“Taking over the Sword Gang and handing it to the Imperial Princess… Yeah, right…”
Obviously, that had been a lie.
Over the next three days, the Sword Gang would tear itself apart from within.
Every one of them would become desperate to uncover who had connections to the Imperial Family.
And the instant anyone found even the smallest excuse to suspect another member, war would break out.
Like this.
『Synopsis – Griphoc Lu Dremore's Viewpoint
「…Griphoc decided his first priority was finding the traitor. There was someone among those with connections to the Imperial Family whom he already suspected. He immediately dispatched his informants and ordered a full investigation into the man's background.」』
“At this point, it doesn't matter whether I win or lose the duel. The Sword Gang is finished.”
They had spent years painstakingly preparing their plan to seize control of the academy.
And now that plan would collapse in just three days.
All because of a few words.
‘That should take the Sword Gang scenarios off the board.’
That had been Ex's real objective from the very beginning.
The Hero's party needed to keep growing.
If they kept wasting their time fighting every worthless third-rate villain who crawled out of the woodwork, that was exactly what it would be.
A waste of time.
They'd be better off swinging their swords one more time or learning one more spell.
Anything that got in the way of that had to be removed.
‘From now on, I will focus on the Main Scenario.’
This was only the beginning.
‘First, though, I need to focus on the duel.’
Once the situation had more or less settled and Ex returned to classes, someone suddenly spoke to him.
“Commoner, are you sure you're okay?”
“Huh?”
It was Thursday, which meant he had a lot of magic classes. He'd been moving from class to class with Lola, while Elia tagged along with them.
What surprised him was that Lola had been the one to ask, and she actually sounded worried.
“I heard you're dueling Sir Griphoc. Why are you even doing this?”
“Oh, that? It's nothing serious.”
“For something that's supposedly nothing serious, your face looks pretty scary right now.”
Only then did Ex glance around.
He'd already noticed the other students avoiding him.
That part was understandable.
As far as they were concerned, he was the lunatic who'd challenged Griphoc to a duel.
But that wasn't why they were keeping their distance right now.
“…My face was that stiff?”
It didn't take long to figure out why.
No matter how calm he tried to act, there was no way he could genuinely feel nothing about a duel against Griphoc.
His life was on the line.
Apparently, he'd been tensing up without even realizing it.
‘Well, I guess that's only natural. At the end of the day, I'm just your average ordinary citizen.’
He rubbed his face a few times, trying to loosen up.
“How about now? Better?”
“You're still ugly.”
“Come here for a second.”
While Ex contemplated which part of Lola's head he could smack without hurting her too much, Elia asked him a question.
“Why did you challenge him to a duel, Mr. Ex?”
Elia wasn't exactly intelligent, but thanks to Lola's explanation, she at least understood the general situation.
There was one part that made absolutely no sense by her standards.
“The Sword Gang? They're bad people, aren't they? Then why are you fighting them?”
Everything Ex had done over the past two days was beyond her understanding.
Ex was an evil man destined to destroy the world.
He was a wicked existence.
Which meant it was strange for him to fight bad people.
But there was something else she found even harder to understand.
“Why is Mr. Ex the one going through a ‘trial’?”
Trials were supposed to belong to heroes.
Villains were supposed to be the trials heroes had to overcome.
In other words, Ex wasn't supposed to be someone who underwent trials.
Of course, Ex didn't give her an answer.
“Figure it out yourself.”
Ex started toward the next classroom.
Lola followed after him, but paused and glanced back.
“Don't overthink it. He's just terrible at being honest with himself.”
“Terrible at being honest?”
“He's always lying, tricking people, pretending things aren't what they are…”
“Ah! Did he lie to you too, Ms. Lola?”
“A ton! He'll say something's going to be easy! Or that there won't be any problems! Then you actually get there and everything's completely different from what he said!”
“My goodness, he really is a bad person!”
At that, Lola's voice trailed off.
“He's not… a bad person…”
“Huh?”
“Come on, hurry up! If we're late again, the commoner's going to nag us!”
Lola quickly ran after Ex.
Elia remained where she was for a moment, thinking about Lola's words.
‘If he's not a bad person, then what is he?’
With her current intelligence, she couldn't figure it out.
***
The academy erupted into a frenzy.
The students and professors alike had taken an interest in the duel declaration.
It didn't take long for the rumor to spread throughout the entire academy.
“Sir Griphoc versus Weed Ex!!!”
“Minimum bet is 100,000 El!!!”
“Fifty million El on Sir Griphoc!!!”
“Twenty million El on the commoner… I mean, Ex…!”
Some people cheered for Ex.
Others cursed his name.
Naturally, there were far more people cursing him.
Even the betting odds showed that the overwhelming majority expected Griphoc to win.
In the middle of all that chaos, Ex's preparations steadily continued.
Whenever he found the time, he met with Andras to prepare the plan.
He also pushed his personal combat training to the absolute limit, working himself to the bone.
Every remaining moment went into training with Roxwell.
The immediate problem was figuring out how to deal with an Aura Blade.
“Predict the range! Your opponent can control the length of his aura!”
Clang-!!
“Don't even think about parrying! Your aura isn't strong enough!”
CLANG-!!
“Stop thinking and move your damn feet!!”
CLAAANG-!!
Roxwell trained Ex more brutally than ever before.
He allowed him only four hours of sleep and devoted every other waking moment to training.
Even while driving him as if they were racing against time, Roxwell wasn't satisfied.
“Haaah, haaah… I'm… I'm going to die, Master…”
Ex had collapsed flat on his back, staring up at the sky as he desperately gasped for air.
Roxwell looked down at him and sighed.
“We don't have enough time. If you'd at least reached 4-Star…”
“Haaah… haaah… Is… that so…?”
“Can you really do this? The gap between 5-Star and 3-Star is far beyond anything you can imagine. You already know why.”
“Because the durability of a 5-Star Aura Blade… surpasses ordinary aura…”
“Right. An Aura Blade is created by compressing aura into a physical form. Its density and durability are on a completely different level from ordinary aura.”
“So… that's why I need to be at least 4-Star…?”
“Starting at 4-Star, you can condense your aura. And that's not the only problem.”
“An Aura Blade… can change its reach…”
“On top of that, your opponent uses Dremore Swordsmanship. That means the range he can manipulate is far longer than you'd normally expect.”
Ex knew that much.
Leon had nearly gotten himself killed because of that exact problem in the original story.
“I know… but knowing doesn't mean I can actually do anything about it…”
Knowing something and being able to act on that knowledge were two completely different things.
Ex's combat instincts simply weren't good enough to read those changes in reach.
“That's why… I told you I'm using a trick…”
“You mean that ridiculous method I still can't accept as a martial artist?”
“As long as I win… that's all that matters, Master… Besides…”
Ex raised his sword for Roxwell to see and brought his aura to life.
“It was close… but I managed to pull this off…”
Roxwell stared at the aura coating Ex's blade, then let out a disbelieving laugh.
“Ha… Your combat instincts are still absolutely atrocious, but the ‘speed’ at which you improve is ridiculous…”
“A man needs to have at least one thing going for him if he wants to survive…”
If he could do that much, then maybe it really was possible.
Of course, his chances of winning were still painfully slim.
Which left Roxwell with only one thing to say.
“Don't die.”
And Ex's answer was equally obvious.
“Of course.”
And then, time passed.
Sunday, April 4th, 12:00 PM.
The time for the duel had arrived.
–TL Notes–
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