That guy…
Recalling that mocking look in the crowd, El seethed with rage.
The moment he saw that spell, he instantly recognized the caster—Pino Lavaud, the second son of the Duke’s family and leader of the Fierce Lion Society, notorious for destroying the monitoring crystal.
El was certain this wasn’t an accident during magic practice; it was absolutely deliberate.
Pino had always been at odds with him, and similar incidents had happened before. But this time was especially outrageous—it had reached the point of endangering lives (though, of course, someone else’s).
He and El had completely different paths. Pino was born with an excess of mana, already close to the level of a master, while his magical attainment was only at Silver Rank.
Even so, that level was already outstanding for a student.
El, on the other hand, was the opposite. His talent in magic was such that even Sages were left in awe, but his mana seemed cursed, locked at the entry level of Silver Rank.
Pino saw El as his rival. They were similar in many ways, but their positions couldn’t have been more different.
“Pino Lavaud, stop right there!”
El called after him.
A handsome young man with brown hair turned around, his gaze wild and untamed. He was a bit taller than El and surrounded by several nobles, each wearing a blood-red lion’s head pinned to their chest.
“Mr. Regis, is there something you need?”
He always liked to speak with his head slightly raised, exuding arrogance. In Pino’s view, noble etiquette was only to be shown to those worthy of it—and among this crowd, the only one worth noticing was El.
El demanded, “That magic—did you deliberately misfire? You need to make a statement to all of us, or I’ll call a Defense Class professor to come verify it.”
Pino wasn’t intimidated at all; he signaled to a follower nearby to speak for him.
A blond noble stepped forward, hailing from a baron’s family in the capital.
“El, what gives you the right to say Pino did it on purpose? You’re slandering the noble son of a duke. You’d better take responsibility for your words.”
This was, in effect, a tacit admission that Pino had cast the spell just now. The others weren’t fools; as soon as he said that, people all around glared angrily at Pino.
“This is between us. There’s no need to drag others in. Today, you’ve gone too far.” El’s sharp gaze never left him.
“So… Mr. Regis, what are you trying to say? Did my spell harm anyone? Do you want to attack me over a single mistake?”
Pino knew full well that El could easily block that spell—and at the very least, there were people secretly protecting El. Otherwise, he wouldn’t have dared to act.
“There are so many witnesses here. You can’t get away.”
“Really? Then let me ask—who saw me deliberately misfire my spell?”
Pino smiled.
His underling was the first to speak: “We can confirm that Pino didn’t do it on purpose. If anyone wants to slander the leader of the Fierce Lion Society, you’d better think twice.”
The threat in his words was unmistakable. Some people wanted to step forward, but seeing Pino’s half-smiling, half-menacing expression, their courage faltered.
They remembered—
What truly shattered their resolve was Pino’s next sentence:
“Even if you call a Defense Class professor to verify, or even activate the monitoring crystal, my statement won’t change. I swear by the name of Lavaud.”
That was it. The duke’s son had clearly come prepared.
The ones who were truly unfortunate were the ordinary students. They understood now—this whole incident was just part of the contest between Pino and El.
Pino was targeting El. The rest were just collateral damage. Of course, no one was stupid enough to blame El for it. The fault was entirely Pino’s, and everyone knew it well.
A girl gently tugged at El’s sleeve, her large, pitiful eyes silently pleading, “Why not just let it go? No one was really hurt, after all.”
Forgive them—no one wanted to offend the currently high-flying duke’s son, let alone the Fierce Lion Society.
El never intended to coerce others to achieve his own ends. Since it was like this, he had no reason to keep pressing the matter.
“Mr. Regis, do you have anything else to say? Don’t worry, I’m generous—I won’t take offense at your accusation.”
He spoke in a tone thick with sarcasm.
Clearly, it was Pino who cast the spell, and now he was acting like the victim.
El unclenched his fists. “This isn’t over. One day, you’ll pay for this.”
Pino raised an eyebrow. “Is that so? I’ll be waiting.”
With that, he turned around and led his followers away from the training grounds.
Pino understood the importance of knowing when to stop. There was no need for him to twist things further and accuse El of slander. If things really blew up, he would surely be the one to suffer.
El let out a breath and addressed those around him. “Today’s incident is my fault. Lavaud was targeting me, and I dragged you all into it. I’m sorry.”
“El-senior, you don’t have to apologize. This wasn’t your fault.”
“Yeah, yeah! That fierce lion should be ashamed for what he did, not you!”
“El, you’re just too kind. Why should you be threatened by magic and not be able to fight back?”
Everyone around supported El.
Just then, a soft, sweet voice piped up from the crowd.
“El-senior, what happened here?”
It was Vita. She had just finished her sword practice. As soon as she heard El had gotten into a conflict, she came running over, slightly out of breath, but still a step too late—the incident was already over.
“Nothing happened just now. See? Everyone’s fine. By the way, Vita, I saw you practicing your swordsmanship. You’ve improved a lot—”
El glanced around guiltily. The others got the message and quickly scattered, leaving him and Vita some space.
“Don’t treat me like a child to be tricked! Really now.”
Vita wasn’t fooled by El’s clumsy attempt to change the subject. Her cheeks puffed up in annoyance, like a little pufferfish.
She had just finished her morning sword training and planned to return to the dorm for a shower. El had to go to class, so they chatted as they walked the same way.
“When I enrolled, I’d already heard that El-senior and Lavaud didn’t get along, but I didn’t expect it to be this bad…”
El still explained what had happened—there wasn’t much point hiding it, as soon enough, the whole Magic Department would know.
Vita lowered her head, her eyes clouded, negative emotions churning inside her.
Lavaud… How dare he! How could he hurt El-senior!
Fortunately, El noticed Vita’s mood in time. He reached out and patted her head. “But you don’t have to worry. The only reason Pino dared to do that is because he knew I could block his spell.”
“In the end, this is just an internal conflict in the academy, and it’s only between the two of us. It won’t affect anyone else.”
Just like El wouldn’t deliberately ask Ivena to go teach Pino a lesson, Lavaud’s son had never tried to use the duke’s power to oppress El.
There was a tacit understanding between the two—they could fight as much as they liked, but would never harm those around each other.
Only, this time, Pino’s behavior was very unusual—he’d made far too much noise.
“So, don’t worry. This is a fight between us, Vita. It has nothing to do with you.”
El was truly afraid she might do something foolish.
“But…”
“We already agreed, didn’t we? Since you want to become my Sword, you have to listen to me. Right now, your most important task is to keep up with the others after transferring to the Knights Division. Trust me—I’ll handle this matter properly.”
Vita lowered her head, as if admitting defeat. But soon, a pure, beautiful smile bloomed on her face, enough to make anyone’s heart skip a beat.
“Actually, there’s something I haven’t told you, El-senior…”
“What is it?”
“Last night, Professor Wald gave me special training. Now, my swordsmanship is on par with a Silver Rank knight. According to him, I’ve reached an upper-middle level in the Knights Division.”
That’s cheating. She must have a hack.
El was completely bewildered by the latter half of her words. What did she mean, caught up with a Silver Rank knight in one night?
That was ridiculous! Those knight lords trained from childhood, and reaching Silver Rank in their twenties was considered talented. If they found out a girl had caught up in just one night…
“Wait, don’t tell me you…” El suddenly realized.
“Yep! I practiced straight from last night until this morning. If not for being interrupted by your incident, I’d probably have kept going until afternoon.”
“That’s reckless. Your body absolutely can’t take that.”
El frowned.
“It was tough, yeah, but I want to get stronger.”
Vita recalled the events of last night.
They had agreed to meet at the training ground. In the dead of night, the dormitory lights were out.
Because of Wald’s professor status, he specially applied for permission to use the training ground at night.
Wald brought along training equipment, Knights’ Training Sword, and Alchemical Potion.
The fiery Dragonblood Elixir sped up the fusion of fighting spirit and body, maintaining her stamina and energy.
The milk-like Moonlight Potion kept her highly alert throughout the night, her mental recovery rate far surpassing normal…
The special training was the same as before—Wald only defended.
The Sword Spirit, Mukhade, inhabited the training sword.
Whenever Vita swung, inspiration would pour in, and sometimes, she could even catch fragments of Reinhardt’s memories—Mukhade’s previous contract holder—practicing swordsmanship.
Even Wald couldn’t help but sigh; if he could return to his youth, he might be jealous of Vita.
But now, he had no desire to climb further in swordsmanship. To protect what he wanted to protect—that was the strongest swordsmanship.
Wald was grateful that Her Highness had sent him such a disciple, so that he would have no regrets on the path of the sword.
As the sky began to lighten, Wald left. He hadn’t expected Vita to keep training straight through the morning.
Replenishing mental and physical strength was one thing—but, most importantly, no one could withstand that strain mentally.
Yet Vita’s willpower was astonishing. Even now, she was still full of energy. Plus, she kept making progress in her swordsmanship, which kept the training from feeling dull.
“I’m saying all this just to let you know, El-senior—I’m working hard towards becoming your ‘Sword.'”
“So? How about we have a Duel this afternoon? El-senior can test my skills.”
Unknowingly, they had reached the place where their paths diverged. Vita stopped and looked straight at El.
“I see… That sounds good. I happen to have no classes this afternoon.”
“Then it’s settled. Let’s meet at Training Ground Five.”