The Third-Rate Academy Villain Who Refuses to Become a Beggar

The most important thing for successful betting is to place your money on a certain winner.

In that sense, Gerhard had a higher winning rate than anyone else.

This was because he roughly knew who would advance and who would drop out through his prophecy.

With just one exception: Aint Armian.

'The Aint in the prophecy is very different from the current Aint.'

Many things had happened since meeting Gerhard. Through that tumultuous process of growth and challenge, Aint had become quite different from the future version that had been predicted in the prophecy. Each decision, each battle, each interaction had subtly altered his trajectory from what was written.

The problem was not knowing whether that influence was positive or negative—whether these changes would lead Aint to greater heights or to an early downfall. The prophecy's clarity had become muddied where Aint was concerned.

Therefore, Gerhard couldn't be certain whether Aint's ranking would be as predicted in the prophecy book or not. His usually reliable visions failed him when it came to the young swordsman.

'In the prophecy, Aint reaches the semifinals.'

And in the semifinals, he meets Luina and falls.

In a way, it was natural.

Aint was certainly strong and had slain Andromalius—a feat many thought impossible—but that was possible because the Armian family's swordsmanship was a perfect counter to demons. Their techniques had been refined over generations specifically to combat such entities.

In terms of pure swordsmanship skill alone, Aint still couldn't beat Luina. The difference in their mastery was subtle but unmistakable to trained eyes like Gerhard's.

With his overwhelming rate of improvement, that gap wouldn't last long, but at least for this jousting competition... Gerhard had been certain of the outcome. The betting odds were already calculated in his mind.

However, since the past had changed in ways both subtle and significant, he couldn't be sure that would still be the case. The timeline had been altered, and the ripples of those changes were impossible to predict fully.

'Should I sound out Aint? Ask if he can beat Luina?'

Though that wouldn't give him an answer—not really. Aint's own assessment of his abilities might be clouded by either overconfidence or excessive humility. And revealing his knowledge of the future would raise too many questions Gerhard wasn't prepared to answer.

'Since thinking about it won't give me an answer, I'll just have to wait and see until the semifinals.'

Having organized his thoughts, Gerhard left the dormitory and headed to the company. There was a mountain of work to do because of the festival and the betting house operation—ledgers to review, odds to calculate, and contingencies to plan for.

That's when he saw Aint sitting on a bench in his line of sight.

"Aint Armian?"

When Gerhard called out to him, Aint's eyes, which had been staring blankly at the sky, finally regained focus.

"Ah, Senior Gerhard."

"What are you doing sitting there blankly?"

"Well, that's..."

He was trying to calm the power of Andromalius that he had absorbed.

Since demonic power is made of intense magical contamination, it occasionally went berserk if not fully absorbed.

But he couldn't tell the truth directly.

<Just make something up, say you were reviewing the battle with the demon.>

"I was thinking about the malignant creatures."

"The malignant creatures?"

"We eliminated Andromalius, didn't we? I was wondering if the malignant creatures, whose plans were thwarted, might try something additional. I don't think they'll just sit still."

"Additional plans, huh."

Hmm, Gerhard tapped his knee with his finger.

It wasn't an impossible scenario. After all, people are most off guard right after completing a task.

The academy was off guard at this point, having killed Andromalius and thoroughly searched the academy to capture all the malignant creatures.

"The Founding Day festival would certainly be the perfect occasion to cause chaos."

With the stage perfectly set, it would be the ideal timing for them to cause chaos if they were really going to.

But Gerhard knew such a thing wouldn't happen.

"Don't worry about that. There won't be any problems, at least until the festival ends."

"How can you be so sure?"

He couldn't answer "Because I've read it."

"When Andromalius was summoned, the corrupted branch of the World Tree was used as a sacrifice. They couldn't possibly obtain something similar in such a short time."

"That's true, but..."

"Above all, most of the spies in the academy have been exterminated. In this situation, would they have the luxury to cause trouble?"

They wouldn't. Honestly, he could be confident of this even without the prophecy book.

Of course, they might act rashly out of evil intent, but the headmaster didn't seem that careless.

"You're right. To be honest, I was worried."

"About what?"

"Many distinguished guests of the Empire gather at the academy, so if something were to happen here, it would partially paralyze the Empire. So if the malignant creatures were to release a large number of magical beasts and start a war..."

"A war? That's going too far."

Of course, in the distant future, a great war would break out with the fate of the world at stake, but not yet...

"Ugh...!"

At that moment.

──!

With a thunderous roar, Gerhard felt a headache as if his head was splitting.

His vision went black. Right after, a new world unfolded.

Unlike the usual prophecies, this was a more vivid, grim future.

The sky was blood-red.

Just like when he had known about Andromalius's summoning through prophecy, and when Andromalius was actually summoned.

'Could it be that another demon is being summoned...?'

On top of a high castle wall, Aint stood with his back to the people.

Luina approached him.

["Aint."

"Senior, to be honest, I'm scared. But you told me before, right? A knight is the sword that defeats the lord's enemies and the shield that protects the lord."

A knight neither flees, leaving his lord behind, nor dies after his lord.

"...You don't need to remember that."

"No. Thanks to that, I feel a little more at ease."]

With a swish, Aint drew his sword. His beloved sword emitted a subtle light.

["Just between us, I want to raise my family again."

He wanted to revive his fallen family and restore it to its original place.

"You..."

"Someone once said, the Emperor is the knight of the Empire."

So I can't run away from the Empire.]

Time accelerated slightly. Before long, the castle walls were filled with thousands of troops.