The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

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The Villainous Noble Who Kept Rewinding After Death: The Story Somehow Changed When I Committed Suicide

Episode 372: No Means Choose

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With Lewis’s flashback wrapped up, the scene returns to the training ground where Lavienne and Shudo’s duel is taking place.

“Shudo! You absolutely have to win!”

“Ravi. Beat him up!”

The ones shouting encouragement to Shudo, who stands at the center of the training ground, are Ride and the others, who had already returned to the academy since the new term starts tomorrow. Conversely, it’s Fiera and the others beside Lewis cheering on Lavienne.

“You think you can beat me? Do you have the confidence to win?”

“I’ll just do what I can.”

“Oh, really? But I’m just a weak little girl, looking cute and all. Are you sure you want to give it your all?”

“That’s the point of the test!”

“I see! Then I’ll have to do my best too so I don’t lose!”

Shudo’s face slightly contorted at Lavienne’s words, but he seems to understand that this is a test, gripping his sword tightly to prepare himself.

Lavienne, satisfied with Shudo’s reaction, twirled her large scythe in her hand and tapped the tip against the training ground floor.

Upon hearing that sound, Shudo lowered his sword and kicked the ground, accelerating with every step he took, closing the distance to Lavienne in an instant. Finally, he swung his sword upward, sending a slash her way.

“Wow, a bit fast!”

To that, Lavienne easily dodges with a relaxed voice, leaning back and letting Shudo’s upward swing slice through the air vainly.

“Not yet!!”

Though Shudo had his sword dodged, it seems he anticipated this, stepping in further to bring his sword down in a fierce blow, unleashing a flurry of follow-up attacks.

Lavienne, however, danced gracefully like leaves in the breeze, evading all of Shudo’s strikes effortlessly. Yet, oddly enough, she doesn’t attempt to counterattack, merely observing Shudo’s movements.

“Go, Shudo! Don’t give your opponent a chance to strike back!!”

To the onlookers, it seems like Shudo is on the offensive, with cheers growing louder with every swing he makes.

“Seeee!!!”

As if inspired by the cheers, Shudo’s voice swells as he swings his sword, and soon a white magical power begins to overflow from his body, encasing the training sword.

“Whoa!”

Wielding the sword wrapped in magical power, he swings it vigorously, bringing it down with all his might. Lavienne barely manages to evade the slash released from Shudo’s sword, glancing at the cut scar remaining on the ground beneath her feet.

“Wow~. You’ve learned how to use that magic without the holy sword, huh?”

Indeed, due to Shudo’s growth, he was now able to use the sunlight magic he could only wield with the holy sword previously, erasing his monumental weakness of relying solely on the holy sword to use sunlight magic.

Still, since it wasn’t perfected yet, the power of his sunlight magic wasn’t on par with that harnessed through the holy sword, but it was definitely a situation where Lavienne could not afford to let her guard down.

“Sunlight Magic: ‘Sunshine’!”

Just as Lavienne contemplated her strategy, Shudo murmured the name of his magic. He closed in on her with a speed that outstripped anything before—truly like a beam of light—swinging his sword laterally.

“Ugh!”

Lavienne managed to dodge the swing, but her reaction was slightly late thanks to the unexpected speed, and the tip of the sword grazed her abdomen, tearing her clothing.

“Uh oh, this might be troublesome!”

The sunlight magic Shudo used could literally move at the speed of light from the sun, outpacing any physical enhancements or fighting spirit.

That’s why Lavienne barely dodged, relying solely on her instincts. Even she couldn’t track Shudo’s movements with her naked eye.

Yet, having once been an assassin, Lavienne was a specialist in close combat, and she continued to evade Shudo’s remarkable flurry of fast attacks, trusting her instincts.

But without being able to see the opponent’s moves, she couldn’t attack, and as her number of strikes dwindled, Shudo’s grew, slowly cornering Lavienne.

“El. If this continues, Ravi will…”

Watching the one-sided defensive situation, Fiera looked toward Lewis, a hint of worry in her eyes. But seeing his expression wiped that concern away in an instant.

That’s because Lewis’s eyes reflected unwavering trust in Lavienne, and what lingered in his gaze wasn’t Fiera, who was speaking, but Lavienne herself.

“…Huh? Sorry, did you say something?”

“…No, it’s nothing.”

“I see.”

Noticing Fiera’s gaze, Lewis turned slightly toward her to inquire, but Fiera found herself unable to repeat those words to him, changing the subject instead. Lewis gave a brief response and returned his attention back to Lavienne.

“I’m so envious.”

Fiera gazed at Lewis, feeling a rush of alienation she hadn’t felt in a while, along with jealousy over having her beloved’s gaze all to herself, a dark emotion bubbling up from deep within her heart. Yet, she kept it inside and turned her eyes back to the duel between Lavienne and Shudo.

Nonetheless, her eyes lacked any pure support or encouragement; they contained instead a strong desire and will to someday defeat Lavienne and monopolize Lewis’s gaze and trust entirely.

“Hmm. Guess our types don’t mix well. My racial magic doesn’t seem to work against her at all.”

While catching such a glimpse from Fiera, Lavienne remained calm, analyzing the battlefield even while taking hits, testing whether her abilities could make an impact and gathering information.

However, just as expected, Lavienne’s shadow stealing magic clashed horribly with Shudo’s sunlight magic. Just like how a strong light would cause shadows to fade, under the glittering golden magical power Shudo wore, Lavienne’s shadow stealing failed to manifest.

“Well, it can’t be helped. Time to use that method.”

Realizing she would be defeated if this continued, Lavienne promptly switched to another strategy she had been considering, throwing all her defenses out the window and adjusting herself so that she would not receive any decisive hits while purposely taking in attacks.

And then…

“Eek!”

With a short scream, Lavienne let go of her large scythe to match Shudo’s upward slash, sending it soaring off into the air while she slumped to the floor, powerless.

“Haah… haah…”

With Lavienne disarmed, Shudo, breathing heavily, kept his sword steadily aimed at her, slowly catching his breath before finally speaking.

“With this, I win. Please admit your defeat.”

“No way! I’m putting everything on this duel, so I’m definitely not surrendering!”

“However, the outcome has already been decided, hasn’t it? Continuing like this seems impossible. I do not wish to injure you any further.”

“Then you should surrender here. If you do, I wouldn’t have to get hurt any more. But if you hate that, then you’ll need to knock me out for your victory.”

“…I understand. Then I’ll be doing just that.”

“AHHHH!!”

As Shudo swung his sword down towards Lavienne, she shut her eyes tightly, letting out a loud scream upon sensing the approaching blade.

“Ugh!!”

In that moment, for some reason, Shudo halted his sword just before hitting Lavienne, exposing an obvious weak point.

“Aha! I knew it!!”

There was no way Lavienne would miss that opening. From her seated position, she placed one hand on the ground and used it as a pivot to swiftly trip Shudo.

“Wha?! You—”

“Not gonna let you!!”

“Gah!!!?”

Shudo, losing his balance, tried to retreat with sunlight magic immediately, but even faster, Lavienne used shadow energy to strike his solar plexus full force, leaving him with intense pain and shortness of breath, taking away his calm.

“Still gonna keep going!! Ha, ha, ha!!”

“Urgh, ugh… gah!?!”

Having nowhere to flee, Shudo found his head struck by a kick, kneeling, only to receive an uppercut that made him lean back. Finally, she seized his head, kneeing him right in the face.

As he absorbed a triple hit to the head, Shudo collapsed to the ground, dazed, and didn’t rise again; he lost consciousness right there.

“Shudo’s consciousness is confirmed as absent. The fight is deemed impossible to continue, so the winner is Lavienne.”

“Phew. Victory for me!”

As Shudo lost consciousness, Lime declared Lavienne’s victory, and she flashed a satisfied smile while giving a cute peace sign towards Lewis.

“You coward!!”

However, it was Shudo’s supporters, Ride and the others, who couldn’t acknowledge her victory. They cried out in anger, accusing Lavienne of being a coward.

“Coward? What do you mean?”

Lavienne asked disinterestedly, and Ride continued his retort.

“You knelt once and allowed Shudo to point his sword at you! At that point, victory was already decided, and yet you didn’t admit defeat and took him by surprise! What else could be called cowardly!!”

“Ahahaha! Is that what you call cowardly? You’ve never had a real fight, have you?”

“What?”

Caught off guard by the unexpected questioning, Ride struggled to respond, feeling pressured by the aura Lavienne emitted, subconsciously taking a step back.

“If you had ever really fought for your life, you wouldn’t have said what you just said after that. I’m sure you’ve only had sparring matches against knights or fought against dumb monsters, haven’t you?”

“Of course not!!”

“Of course, yes. Because in a real life-and-death struggle, people won’t hesitate to use any means necessary to win. Hostages, surprise attacks, deceptions, and even using things like gender and appearance as weapons. That’s what a life-or-death battle entails. Have you ever faced such a fight?”

“That’s… but right now, this is just a duel! It’s not a real fight!”

“Haha! So what? Just because it’s not real combat, does that mean what I did was a foul play? Yet I made sure to keep asserting my intention to continue the duel, and the referee, Ms. Lime, never called it off, right? That means the duel was still ongoing. But then, I ended up in pretty bad shape, and they only stopped attacking upon hearing me scream. I was just doing my best to win within the established rules without choosing my means. What’s wrong with that?”

“That’s not how a fair duel should go…”

“Fair? When did I ever say I wanted to fight fair? And people like you who talk about chivalry and fairness make me sick. Those types look down on battles where lives are at stake, don’t they?”

“What did you say!? Are you belittling us knights?!”

“That’s just the way it is, right? To fight over life and death while bragging about honor and pride is something only fools do. Sure, if you want to die, go ahead. But if you think your opponent shared the same ideals, you’re totally mistaken. For example, let’s say there’s a child dragged to war as a slave, and if, right before your eyes, they kneel and beg for help, what would you do?”

“Of course, I should help! That’s what chivalry is about!”

“That’s exactly why you’re wrong. Like I said earlier, people won’t choose their means to win. What if that child is actually a thoroughly educated assassin, and their fearful appearance is just an act? What if that child isn’t a child at all, but a grown-up disguised with magic? What if there are explosive magical tools attached to their body or hidden places? In such cases, it wouldn’t just be you—many of your comrades could die.”

“Ugh…”

Ride, struck by Lavienne’s brutally concrete example, was left speechless, picturing himself and his comrades perishing in such a scenario.

“However, it shouldn’t concern Shudo, the hero. The hero is our hope, and no one should wish to harm him.”

“Wow, you really are a fool. Just because he’s a hero means he won’t get killed? That they aren’t harmed because they’re the hope of humanity? How can you think everyone will be your ally?”

“That’s because Shudo is the hero and…”

“Hah. Do you really believe being a hero means you won’t have a target on your back? On the contrary, being a hero makes them a bigger target. For monsters, a hero is an enemy who wants to kill them, and naturally, they will attempt to kill the hero. Other people who dislike having a hero in the empire might even try to kidnap or kill him.”

“Wha? Monsters I can see, but why would fellow humans seek to harm the hero?”

“Because the existence of a hero is valuable. Just having a hero in a country grants it a stronger voice against other nations, and since heroes often come paired with saintesses, having a hero brings a holy nation to their side. So even if it’s a small village, just having a hero makes that location more important than most other countries. That makes it an inconvenience for those countries, and if they can’t have it, it wouldn’t be strange for someone to wish to kill it off.”

Lavienne’s words were entirely accurate. In reality, although not publicly declared, ever since Shudo became a hero, there had been a significant increase in assassins and spies sneaking into the empire, all of whom the Albani Count House had been tasked with eliminating.

“Such nonsense…”

“You might want to get a better understanding of human nature. Not everyone lives by chivalry or pride like you. So with that, I’ll be heading home. And when the hero wakes up, could you please tell him this? It’s high time to stop judging people based on gender or appearance. To be honest, that really annoys me. It feels like you’re denying our resolve and everything we’ve been through.”

“Ugh…”

Lavienne’s last words, dripping with a low, icy tone unlike her usual gentle voice, were filled with enough murderous intent and resolve to send shivers down Ride and the others’ spines. They could say nothing more as Lavienne walked away toward Lewis.

Thus, the S-class duel between Lavienne and Shudo concluded, as expected, with Lavienne’s victory.

By the way, Lavienne’s strategy was to gauge Shudo’s reactions by claiming to be a fragile girl; the moment he slightly grimaced in response, he had no chance of victory.

In other words, from the moment Shudo judged Lavienne to be a weak little girl, everything played out just as Lavienne had anticipated, and Shudo had been merely a puppet dancing to her tune from start to finish.