Sword, Magic and Academic Society

"Game. The victor is Allen Rovenne."

The umpire, Godorfun-sensei, announced the result in a booming voice.

The venue instantly erupted in thunderous applause and cheers from the audience. I also caught the whispers of a few of my acquaintances amidst the cheer.

"Ahahaha! Look at how hard you're laughing, Parth-san. Please take this jute bag to adjust your breathing!"

"Inhale Exhale"

Look at them laughing like madmen without heeding the time or place. And they were supposed to be here for security...

They should at least learn from the royal guards, they had been wanting to laugh so hard but were desperately holding themselves back to the point that they were now slightly shivering like they got hit by a sudden gust of cold wind in chilly weather......

"Ahahaha! That was quite a show, li’l bro! A-cha, Rose looks like she's about to explode at any time~! She's saying she doesn't remember raising you to be such a lecherous kid!"

......Huh, hold on there for a minute. I mean, yeah it might cause my relatives some embarrassment, but that was the only sure-fire way for me to win. Seriously!!

I had no doubt that should I lose my consciousness and be kicked around like Olivia-san, my short-tempered sis would definitely attempt jumping straight to here. I could already imagine the mess she would create then!

"That's our supervisor!! All the boys of the Magic Club present hereby vow to never forget the legendary feat we’ve been shown today! It was truly a work of art from our supervisor, the <Flip Master> of the Royal Academy's Magic Emission Club! We're truly grateful for your grace, supervisor!"

"Etch it into your brain! This is the true capability of Allen Rovenne, the one that walks together with wind and panty!"

"Indeed, it's not just mere words that our supervisor has reached the <10th Order of Flip Mastery>!"

Those morons!

Didn't they have the brain to consider what they should and shouldn't utter in front of such a huge crowd! What even was the flip mastery nonsense?! Just wait, I’d definitely make them run like dogs in the next club activity!

Haa… Everything was just a killjoy. I could only suppress the nameless fire crackling within me as I turned back to return to my position with a wistful expression.

I took a quick glance at Grayfia-sana, and she was rooted on the spot, harboring an absentminded expression, as if her mind was no longer there.

Ugh, now I feel like giving this mask to her......

"It seemed like your apology was a bit too light-hearted to calm down Sylphy's anger. I would suggest learning some manners on how to be humble and how to apologize properly...... Well, I’ll take my leave now."

I muttered, keeping to my made-up setting, and waved my hand as I turned around to leave. On the other hand, tears brimmed in the eyes of Grayfia-san.

"It can't be true......"

Ack, did she notice the spirit was a bluff?

"There's no way a mob-face like you could have ever been my opponent! I-I'm special! I know! You must have used spirit magic to cause the wind for sure! You coward! I can't believe you brought someone like one of the pillars of the four great spirits, the unfettered maiden, Re Sylphy to this martial art convention!!!"

Ugh, damn, did she have an eidetic memory of what?!

I was someone talentless who couldn't even use magic that required the attribute conversion talent, so of course that wasn't against the rules. But as for whether I had any interest in victory for this tournament, then it was definitely zero!

And her doubt did make sense, so it surely wouldn’t raise any complications for me acting like it was my loss. Yeah, it was far better for me to be labeled as a rule breaker than receive this much limelight.

"Oh, your words make sense, Grayfia-san! Godorfun-sensei, it sounds like this is my loss!"

Godorfun-sensei stroked his goatee and grimaced as I cheerfully agreed to Grayfia-san's statement.

"Hmm. But the only thing that's clearly spelled out in the rules of this Rising Star Cup was the prohibition of element magic. You said this was the work of a spirit, so it's not that easy to reach a judgement. Should I acknowledge your arguments here, it could lead not only to the scrutiny of reconnaissance magic but also to the more fundamental body strengthening magic, potentially resulting in the collapse of the very rules themselves."

Tsk. I thought I could somehow push my explanation by riding flow, but I guess I truly underestimated him. And unfortunately, what he said was a sound argument, so there was nothing more for me to say.

Then I remembered something else.

"Oh, right! It happened so suddenly that I didn’t get the time to remove it, but I entered the match wearing this mask! This mask is made of wood, but this part here is actually porcelain! Doesn't this infringe on the rules of armament? So I accept my disqualification!"

Sensei narrowed his eyes and after taking a good look at me for a while, then accepted my claim.

"......It hardly seems to have any significant defensive property as a tool, so I didn't bother pointing that out… If anything, the fact that it cuts off your vision is more of a handicap on your side. Well, I shall accept your words if you insist.

I shall revise the outcome of the earlier match. Allen Rovenne is disqualified due to violating the rules. As such, the winner is Grayfia Indiana."

Phew, now that should settle everything. I let out a relieved sigh while patting my chest.

"What, the mask isolates the vision? ...A-Are you saying he took pity on me and was fighting me with a handicap!?! And is he transferring the victory to me out of pity? Unforgivable...... I’ll never forgive you for this, Allen Rovenne!!!"

Grayfia-san seemed to be furiously hollering behind me, almost as if she was crying tears of blood, but I would only stoke the flames if I stayed there. At this point, I seriously considered that I might be cursed so that anything I said would simply rub others the wrong way.

"Allen-san was that… Allen Rovenne......"

I returned the rapier to a dumbfounded Olivia-san, said my thanks, took my equipment, and hurriedly scurried away from the arena while keeping an eye on the situation happening in the backdrop.

◆◆◆

The audience had burst into cheers when Allen knocked out the spear from Grayfia's hand. But as for what actually happened in the arena, it was something out of everyone's comprehension… save for one man. Even more so, he also recognized how difficult it was to replicate that move.

"No way..............."

A shaken gasp escaped out of the mouth of Randy Von Dosperior — the present head of the Marquis Sunset Family and the commander of the Royal Guard — otherwise known for his rational and sober attitude.

Seeing an unusual expression on his face, his son, who was also his aide, Eddy Dosperior raised his voice.

"Is there something amiss about that strange guy, father?"

The Dosperior family was one that prioritized its hereditary education policy rather than what was prevalent in the kingdom, as could be seen from the fact that no one from their family had graduated from the Royal Academy. But they have also heard the rumors about the Royal Academy's Hill Road Club and about Allen, its founder, as one of the prominent families.

Of course, he had also heard about how the said brat had learned some half-assed instantaneous mana compression technique — which was their fundamental but also a core secret technique — from his father's sword friend Sir Godorfun. Apparently, he was also proudly teaching others about it. 'A small-time achiever who has yet to see the world' was Randy's thought about him. He considered teaching him the 'true technique' should he have the chance to meet him… or admonish him if the kid was a cocky brat.

These were his earlier thoughts.

"Twice... it's the number of times our Dosperior Family has captured the hegemony of this continent in our hands."

Eddy was perplexed hearing the cryptic monologue coming from his father's mouth.

"Of course, I am aware of our history as well. The first one was 2200 years ago, when our legendary founding ancestor Aeolus-sama, extolled as 'God's Eye,' had dyed this continent in the color of unification for the first time ever in its history.

And the second occasion occurred around 1600 years ago, when our Dosperior family was on the verge of annihilation at the hands of the other four families of the Original Five when the one-of-the kind prodigy in body strengthening magic, 'Iron Fist Witch' Kanaria-sama, took on the matter and put them in their place."

Randy nodded.

"Yes. And in fact, a similarly one-of-a-kind prodigy, bearing resemblance to Kanaria-sama whose fists were feared as molded from iron itself through which she decimated the allied force of the other four families, had also appeared in our Dosperior family.

My little sister, Cecilia, who died prematurely when that 'disease' outbreak happened together with the growth of her mana organ, had a caliber that even I could never see the bottom..."

"I’ve heard the rumors as well. Her martial caliber was indeed second to none, but even her heart was just as strong. Someone whom even father, the commander of the Royal Guard, looked up to. But Aunt Cecilia..."

Randy nodded with a mournful expression.

"However, a talent of the caliber of Aeolus-sama had never again appeared in our family after his death 2200 years ago. Not a single person had remotely inherited his talent.

In fact, Aeolous-sama was said to be an anomaly even within our Dosperior family according to the records that were inherited by the head of the family. Apparently, his talent in Outer Mana Loop was lauded to be on the level of divine. He needed but to slightly strain his ears to hear any conversation happening in the city, and a simple squint of eye could let him see several hundred meters of the area as easily as popping candy.

And as the master of such an extreme level of scouting magic, he was also capable of moving wind with a flip of his hand by circulating mana outside his body."

“Moving wind with— wait, is that what you mean?!"

Eddy looked at that young boy with an incredulous expression after sensing where his father was heading.

Though Randy shook his head.

"......I don't have any concrete evidence yet, however. It's just a guess at the end of the day."

"Etch it into your brain! This is the true capability of Allen Rovenne, the one that walks together with wind and panty!"

The howling of Allen's club members also reached Eddy's ears while they conversed, almost causing him to stumble. He somehow held back his exasperation and carefully observed the situation.

The young boy was walking with such a stride as if he had measured the unexpected situation of 'What if that spear wielding girl, Grayfia, tried to jump at him' while leaving the arena. There was no opening in his defense, even if his back itself was facing the enemy.

The audience seemingly hadn't realized the silent war that was happening between the two contestants, however. The distance between that had already been opened up to 15 m, but he was clearly telling his opponent— any attack would meet retaliation.

In the end, that spear wielding girl didn't make any move.

"......Now that I think about it, the name of his mother is also Cecilia Rovenne according to the information department. Is it really a coincidence, father?"

‘It's impossible.’ Randy wanted to say that out loud, but he could also see that the boy was compressing mana and filling his reserve as easily as if he was breathing.

He wasn't a fool, and it was clear to his eyes that it was the bona fide technique of the Dosperior family.

◆◆◆

—A promising 12-year-old lad from Yuglia Kingdom has defeated Grayfia Indiana, the savant of the Rosemieur Empire, with a mere borrowed weapon along with the handicap of being blindfolded. He defeated her as easily as an adult teasing a toddler and then forfeited the title of the victor to her out of pity.

Every nation on the continent was shaken the instant they received this report. Nonetheless, their decision was to 'keep watching' for now.

While each leading figure had received a detailed record of the event, the details were just far too convoluted to make sense out of it.

<The cause of defeat of Grayfia Indiana had occurred because she earned the wrath of Re Sylph, one of the four pillars of the Great Spirits.>

<Allen Rovenne has been lauded as the 'Flip Master', 'The one that walks together with wind and panty', and the '10th Order of Flip Mastery' by his school friends.>

<The pattern of Grayfia Indiana's lucky underwear was a 'Li’l Rabbit' and white themed.>

<It also seemed like the nihilist, for lack of a better word, mask hides a profound message behind it. The mask was of an old man with bent lips while harboring a philosophical gaze, as if he could see everything. In other cases, that mask also raised a nameless fire within people.>

The report had put all the leaders into a state of confusion.

The report had explained enough about the deadliness of the wind magic in detail, however, anyone with a brain could see that trousers were an immediate counter to this technique.

There was a high possibility that the spirit and the other lines were simple bluffs, but if that was true, then what was it that blew those strong winds? It was the main question here.

At the same time, if he had really worked hard just to learn how to flip skirts with mana loop in their club activities, or that he was engrossed in such trivial and meaningless activities despite being a member of the Royal Academy when the creeping tumultuous times were clear to anyone paying attention to the rumors, then he was nothing but an idiot.

The hard work he might have poured just for trivial results made no sense either.

Furthermore, no matter how many times they analyzed the report, they could only conclude that Allen Rovenne was strong enough to fight that girl, but it was unknown where his bottom lied.

Plus, it was as if he also didn't put the honor of crushing the three-time champion of the Rising Star Cup in his eyes.

He was either a fool of a hopeless level, or a preposterous prodigy. Though, they all agreed on one thing: he was an oddball, even a pervert for sure.

With that conclusion, they put their evaluation of Allen on hold for the time being. Though internally, they were pivoting toward him as nothing but a pervert.

Also, they overlooked one thing. His nihilistic outlook. The mask that would become one-of-a-kind in the world down the line, hailed as a 'warning from Allen Rovenne'

T/N - Well, then I guess Rose is comparable to that ‘Kariana’ meanwhile Allen had Aeolus equivalent talent. There will be conversation between him and Randy in the next chapter. Oh, and the king too.

E/N - Okay, this was a pretty good chapter. Lots of reveals. I’m excited for the talk between Randy and the MC. Also pretty funny how the MC's actions confused all the leaders who got the report of the fight. Lastly, the titles were pretty funny, especially ‘The one that walks together with wind and panty’. He'll never live that down 😆