"Don't be like this. I am stronger than you, so you should obey and come with me for a while. I am sure that you will choose me over that weakling."
That wasn't his first time forcing a girl to spend time with him in the same room, but due to the academy's rules, that was the limit. After spending some time in the same room, all the girls fled quickly.
The girls really feared what he would try to do if the rules weren't there. They couldn't disrespect him due to being weaker, but they all drew a clear line forbidding him to do something that went above a normal conversation, and that guy was quite stupid, so there wasn't much to speak about.
"She needs to prepare to advance to Rank 1. She doesn't have time for you know."
Shiba spoke on Eini's place, but it wasn't because he feared that Eini would be trouble by that man. He feared that she would kill him due to the anger, and then she wouldn't be able to advance to Rank 1 due to the commotion created.
Shiba felt that the guy wasn't that strong despite having reached Rank 1. He didn't doubt that Eini could beat him easily, and he also had the confidence to defeat him, although not as easily as Eini could.
That guy looked the kind to focus mainly on physical force, so flying and using long-range attacks seemed the best.
However, Shiba's long-range attacks were arrows, which could kill his opponent, so he didn't want to use them in a fight that he shouldn't kill his opponent.
On the other hand, Eini had a lot of skills to use, so she could beat him without worry about killing him. Of course, that was if she could control her anger, and Shiba had never seen Eini shown any mercy to an opponent that angered her. Some beasts ended up burned to ashes due to that, which was a waste of resources.
"So, you are stepping to protect her. Perfect. I challenge you to a duel. Whoever wins keeps this girl!"
After hearing the words of that guy, Eini seemed ready to kill him.
"Eini has her own will. She isn't an object for you to decide what will happen to her."
Before Eini exploded in anger, Shiba did. When he heard those words towards Eini, he felt like if the man was implying treating her as a slave, and for Shiba, that topic was an absolute taboo.
Of course, the rest didn't know about Shiba's past, so they thought that Shiba was angry only because of how his girlfriend was being treated.
"The strength is everything! I am strong, so you will obey me. This is all."
The guy had full confidence in his strength due to having reached Rank 1, so he didn't think that someone who hadn't reached it could have a chance against him.
"Then, I will beat you and force you to kneel in apologize for your words."
Shiba didn't plan to kill him to avoid problems, but that guy definitely deserved a beating. In fact, he had never killed a human before, so he wasn't sure if he would be able to do it without hesitating.
He had heard that Eini had killed people before. After so much time traveling together, Eini had already told him about what she had done before, including the eradication of that underworld gang.
Of course, Shiba thought that she had done the correct thing since the other party had targeted them first, and they were a danger that harmed all the population of Border Town.
However, thinking that it was right and doing it himself were different things.
"Shiba, are you sure? I can just deal with him quickly."
Eini was worried because she knew that Shiba stepped in to prevent that she killed him, but she really didn't mind killing him. Since he had offended Eini, it was a fact that his life had ended, so who killed him wasn't that important, but Eini liked to deal with her enemies by herself.
She was pretty confident that the academy wouldn't antagonize her for the sake of a corpse, and he seemed quite hated among the students, so probably his death would be celebrated by most of them.
"Don't worry. Go to focus on your breakthrough. Let me deal with nuisances like him. Moreover, I can't forgive him for his words."
Eini hugged him after hearing those words.
"Alright. I will go to prepare. You make sure to teach him a lesson he can't forget."
After speaking, she left the room while everyone's gazes were still focused on Shiba and the bulky guy.
"Prepare for the humiliation of your life."
The bulky guy spoke as he left the room to go to a proper place to have a duel. No matter how stupid and impulsive he was, he knew that fighting in a classroom wasn't a good idea.
Shiba followed in silence together with the rest of the people. Everyone wanted to see it.
One of the most famous bullies of the academy, on lower levels at least, versus the famous newcomer.
The news spread quickly, so even a few students who weren't there when the conflict started in the classroom reached the dueling room in time.
Among them, there were three girls at Rank 1. They had been waiting for a chance to give a beating to the bulky guy after they had advanced, so they were happy to see someone fight with him.
In fact, if the bulky guy went to ahead on the fight, they were planning to interfere and start beating him on Shiba's stead.
They all were fifteen like the bulky guy, but they had been slower in reaching Rank 1. They were conscious that individually, they were weaker than the bulky guy, but they also felt that the difference couldn't be huge enough to not being able to beat him if the three worked together.
"This fight will end when you have fallen unconscious or surrender. Wait, no surrender. Without beating you, I can't be happy."
The guy cracked his knuckles while he didn't even consider the chance of him losing against Shiba.
"I wouldn't be fun if you surrender, so fine."
Shiba wasn't intimidated in the least, which made all the students seeing the battle cheer for him.
No one liked the bulky guy, and the situation made Shiba look like the good guy since he was fighting on Eini's stead since she was busy advancing, so it was obvious who would be cheered by everyone.
"You sure know how to joke."
Not taking Shiba's words seriously, the bulky guy prepared to fight.
"Now, feel the fear of angering someone superior to you!"
He rushed towards Shiba, but Shiba had a dumbfounded face.
The bulky guy was just rushing at him directly, and his defense was full of holes.
Shiba wondered if that was done on purpose as a strategy to try deceiving him, so he decided to take him seriously anyway.
Fortunately, Shiba was quite used to such a straightforward approach since a lot of beasts acted like that.
When the bulky guy was near enough, Shiba skillfully avoided a punch and punched back his opponent, but he covered his fist with Earth Armor at the last second.
The place Shiba hit was a weak spot on the guy's defense, but Shiba was still wary that it was done on purpose. However, betraying his expectations, the bulky guy was sent backward and fell to the ground.
He had fallen unconscious after one hit.
"So weak?"
Shiba couldn't believe how weak his opponent had been despite being at Rank 1. Even Rank 1 beasts could fight better.
The students seeing the duel were also perplexed when they saw an outcome that no one expected. Especially, the three girls at Rank 1. They couldn't believe that the bulky guy was defeated so quickly.
Of course, it wasn't that the bulky guy was weaker than expected, but that Shiba was far more experienced.
That guy had only brute force fights and didn't know the slightest bit of martial arts, while Shiba was at the expert stage on martial arts and had a lot of experience from hunting beasts.
If the bulky guy used some style that didn't rely on the brute force like most beasts did, Shiba might have had a more difficult time, but that kind of strength without brains to use it well wasn't dangerous enough for Shiba.
Some seconds after that, the bulky guy recovered his consciousness.
"Did I lose? Impossible. Impossible!"
Being ashamed by the result, he unleashed the skill that let him be qualified as a genius grade despite being forbidden by the academy.
The reason was that he couldn't control it at all, so it was too dangerous.
After activating the skill, he would lose any trace of rationality and just destroy everything near him.
That was a boost-type skill that he obtained by luck before joining the academy, but he couldn't control it at all with his strength. Moreover, being enraged made it even more difficult to control.
That skill's potential was extremely high, but it needed an incredible mental fortitude to execute it without being reduced to a murderous beast.