NOVEL NEXT Chapter 246: Blue Flavor (2)
It wasn’t a strange thing, of course, since they were in a position to oversee all student-related matters in Elfante, where all kinds of Major Nobles frequently went in and out.
Whether they liked it or not, being involved with such people for too long would make anyone grow bolder and more strong-minded.
But, even with that in mind, the current secretary, Beatrix, still found it difficult to deal with the person in front of her.
“...Welcome to Elfante, Count Nicholas.”
She said as a perfectly soft smile hung on her face.
Though, her smile only made the situation feel more bizarre, especially considering the reputation of the person in front of her.
The Slaughterer.
He was none other than the one person who had the highest kill count in the Empire.
And also the person who had played the biggest role in wiping off the Cardinal Humans from the country.
“We’ll do our best to make sure you won’t feel uncomfortable while staying here—”“Where’s Dowd Campbell?”
“...”
Hearing his words, Beatrix almost lost her smile, but she managed to maintain her expression before replying.
“... With all due respect, Count, disclosing information about any students is against the school regulations.”
“Is that so?”
To that, Count Nicholas tilted his head expressionlessly.
“That sure is strange, though. When I asked the faculty, they told me to ask you guys, the Student Council.”
Beatrix cursed inwardly.
Read the room already…!
What the faculty said practically meant a refusal.
The Headmistress sending him to the Student Council meant that she wanted the Student Council to kick him out for her since she found him too much of a hassle for her to deal with.
“...They probably did it because we have the authority to, but we’re very sorry to say that it’s not quite possible to accept your request.”
“Is that so?”
He continued in a calm tone.
“Alright. It can’t be helped then.”
For a moment there, it seemed as if he got the note and was backing off, but the sudden ominous sensation running down her spine made Beatrix thought otherwise.
And what Nicholas said next pretty much explained why she felt such a sensation.
“I’ll look for him myself and contact him with my authority as a member of the Upper Nobles Association, since Elfante doesn’t seem to have any intention to cooperate with me.”
“...”
Practically, what he said was, even if Elfante tried to hide that student from him…
He didn’t give a shit and he’d find him himself, forcefully if needed to, since that was what he wanted.
…This crazy bastard…!
Beatrix thought so while holding her head.
The surge of headache that struck her was too much for her to handle calmly.
“...Count.”
She continued in a slightly lower voice than before.
“Elfante is an Imperial Academy and it’s under Headmistress Atalante’s protection.”
But, Count Nicholas only tilted his head expressionlessly at her words.
“So?”
“...”
This bastard...
He understood everything and yet…!
Beatrix ground her teeth.
This wasn’t something appropriate for her to say as a student, but she had no other choice left.
“...If you do something that violates the school regulations, we would have no choice but to impose sanctions on you.”
She went out of her way to not only bring the Headmistress’, but even the Empress’ authority.
But, he still spouted out his reply without an ounce of hesitation.
“Sounds good.”
He even wore something that looked like a smile on his face as he said so.
“...What?”
“Try to stop me if you can. I’m also curious how far you guys can go.”
As Beatrix’s mind went blank the moment she heard that, he continued.
“Nevertheless, I have to see that man. I don’t care what you guys have to say about it.”
After that, Count Nicholas immediately left the Student Council Room.
His steps as he walked away looked so cheerful that even the other Student Council members—who had been watching the conversation with nervous expressions—went blank, just like Beatrix.
“...S-Senior…”
A good while after Count Nicholas left…
One of the juniors—who barely managed to come back to their senses—asked in a trembling voice.
“D-Did that person really say that he’d rather pick a fight with Her Imperial Majesty and the Headmistress than be unable to see that Dowd person…?
“...”
You don’t need to say those out loud to me…
This is already giving me a headache…
●
Alright, let’s throw this obvious fact out of the way first and foremost.
Riru wasn’t an easy opponent, never had, never will.
The ‘Entrance to the Spirit Realm’ event, which was the closest thing to her final power boost, hadn’t occurred yet, but even so, seeing her current state, it was clear that she was an extremely strong opponent for me.
Her Fighting Arts alone had reached a master level, and then there was also her Law Power, the Blue Devil’s Authority ‘Pulverization’, and her abilities to see through the future—though still imperfect—all of those were enough to make anyone had troubles going against her.
While my stats were good enough for a fight, against her, I’d actually end up dying if I were to let my guard down.
As I thought so while looking at her, who was standing across the gymnasium, she suddenly called out to me.
“You… You learned Fighting Arts from my grandmother, didn’t you?”
“...I guess I did, yeah.”
It was more like I facerolled it with my skills rather than learning from her, but yeah.
“You also know how to use Law Technique.”
“...Yeah, kinda.”
I also facerolled that one.
“You also know how to use bizarre abilities related to the Devils or something.”
“...”
That one, I also facerolled it…with the Seal the Gray Devil gave me…
[Fucker really got stronger like that… Have some conscience…]
“...”
What?
Look, if I didn’t faceroll shit, I’d be dead by now. Conscience could go to shit.
While I gave out that retort to Caliban, Riru let out a deep sigh.
“So, I’ve been thinking…”
She said that in a mutter.
It was too vague for me to respond though, so I just stood there blankly. I didn’t have to wait for long as she continued her mutter almost immediately.
“The only thing I’m good at is fighting, but nowadays, I always have this feeling that you’ve gone so far ahead of me… You’ve become stronger by yourself…”
…I understood what she was trying to say.
The gap between us must’ve felt unreasonable for her as someone who spent most of her time training.
“On top of that, the more I let you be, the more strange people you ended up seducing...”
“...”
“None of them is ordinary, either… The Hero, the best assassins on the continent, a mage who enrolled at the Magic Tower, even the Empire’s Empress…”
“...”
“Did you even try to give me a chance to compete…? If so, at least make it fair for me so I could be motivated to challenge you…”
“...Riru…?”
I could feel that I was starting to break out in cold sweat as I called out to her. Her state was strange as she kept on muttering with the eyes that had lost their focus.
What’s wrong with her all of a sudden? It’s scary…
Suddenly, she let out a deep sigh.
“...Well, it doesn't matter.”
She raised her head with an awkward look, scratching it while trying to get into position.
“This is all that I can do anyway.”
The next moment, her attack came in a flash.
“...!”
This wasn’t the first time I went up against her and I knew that she was incredibly fast, but it felt like this time, she was several times faster than back then.
TITLE
[ A moment of danger has been detected. ]
[ Determined the Target is trying to severely hurt you! ]
[ Skill: Desperation raised to A Class. ]
[ Skill: Swordsman Focus is activated! ]
The familiar window that popped up in every critical situation I’ve been in appeared in front of me. At the next moment, my surroundings slowed down as all my skills that were activated in an instant overlapped.
In the past, this would be enough to make her movements look a little slower, but now she has only slowed down to the point that I could only follow her with my eyes.
That was how fast she had become.
Just how hard has she trained—?!
By looking at the momentum, I could roughly tell what she had been through all this time.
She was significantly faster than back during the Crimson Night Incident. For her to grow this much in such a short period of time, it just showed how arduous her training had been.
“...Hmph!”
One breath.
In that moment when I could inhale a single breath, at least ten bouts were exchanged between us.
I raised my leg slightly to defend against her sweeping low kick, rolled my shoulders to block the streak of fist strikes flying at my blind spots, and raised my hand to catch the high kick that came out towards me the moment she withdrew her fists.
Every exchange of moves produced an ear-splitting sound that cut through the air and echoed in all directions. The tiles of the sparring room moved up and down, the walls and ceilings were shaking.
“Huu…”
The moment I exhaled, Riru, whose leg I caught, raised her whole body by using that leg as a pivot point.
Her body stayed in the air for a second, as if she launched her body using my hand as a lever.
“Woah…!”
It was such a series of fluid movements that someone from the spectator seat couldn’t help but let out such an explanation.
Meanwhile, Riru, who had jumped up, defied the law of physics and used her heel to strike me.
I let go of her leg and stepped aside. Her leg hit the floor where I was, breaking the floor into pieces.
After that, we entered a state of lull.
Both of us slightly distanced ourselves from each other and got into positions.
“...”
“...”
The people around us who came to watch us could only open their mouths wide, speechless
“...I did hear that everyone in the Exorcism Club is a monster, so that was true…”
“Are all of them on that level…?”
“Those two aren't even sweating after all that…”
Voices filled with their owners’ dejection and shock spread around the air.
That exchange lasted for a second.
It was pretty much a warm up for both of us.
But that was enough to wreck our surroundings.
“...Are they really students…?”
“...Life is just unfair…”
“What have we been doing all these for…?
“...”
Somehow, we also caused a side effect; Discouraging all the students around us who had been training hard to better themselves.
I could understand their feelings.
It was like this in the game as well. Fights between the superhumans in Savior Rising were similar to the fights in those martial arts books—they happened in less than a second.
Of course we weren’t on the level of those monsters bearing the Saint titles, but both Riru—who was talented to begin with—and me—the guy who facerolled everything—could at least mimic those Saints.
Though, the one who created such a scene clearly looked displeased as she swept her hair back.
“...You.”
Riru called out to me while narrowing her eyes.
“Why aren’t you attacking me?”
“...”
“You’ve only been parrying my moves. Our relationship aside, this is still a spar. I’m not going to go easy on you if you think that we’re just playing around here.”
“...”
Instead of replying to her, I told myself…
…I don’t want to hurt you…
Of course, I didn’t say it out loud, I just smiled bitterly instead.
Because, knowing her and her hot-tempered personality, who knows what she’d do if I were to actually say that.
“...Hhmm.”
Upon seeing me just standing there without saying anything, Riru narrowed her eyes.
“Are you trying to say that this much is nothing to you?”
As she said such words…
A blue aura emerged from her body.
“Fine. I’ll take you on for real this time.”
TITLE
[ A moment of danger has been detected. ]
[ Determined the situation as life-threatening. ]
[ Skill: Desperation raised to EX class. ]
“...!”
W-Wait—!
This crazy bitch…!
“W-Wait, wait a moment…!”
I said, breaking out in a cold sweat.
“What?”
“You said it, no? This is a spar! If you use an ability that could crush anything just by making contact with it—!”
“I’m using this because I don’t think I’ll be able to defeat you without it.”
“...But, why are you going so far…?”
This is just a spar, isn’t it a little strange to go that far?
That was what I was trying to imply with that question.
“...”
She went silent for a moment.
Then, she took a deep breath, looking as if she was struggling to say her next words.
“...Riru?”
“I…”
When I carefully called out to her, her face blushed instantly.
There was a hint of shame, shyness and determination in her voice—as if there was no turning back from this moment onward for her—as she screamed out her reply to me.
“I-I want to have a sex with you too…!”
“...”
“A-All the other punks keep on overtaking me…! I’m doing this because I also want to get hot and sweaty with you! Is that wrong, huh?! Do you have any complaints?!”
“...”
Oh my God.
Did she really just say all that in front of all these people…?
There were actually some people in the spectator seat who were dumbstruck by her words just now.
“...What the heck is the relationship between those two?”
“As expected of Elfante’s best casanova, the legendary trash, the greatest playboy of all time…”
“...”
Somehow, I could hear some weird titles being thrown at, though…
[Dude, just let her fuck you already.]
“...”
[Just look at how desperate she is. Stop being petty, it isn’t like she’s going to milk you out or anything anyway…]
I swear, one day I’m going to kill you, you fuck—!
Just wait, I’ll find a way to revive you and turn you into a ghost again! Just you wait…!