"Hello, can we sit here?"
Leon heard an angelic voice while he was watching a duel of his classmates. The duels were boring and uninteresting but he still decided to study the duels because he thought he would learn a thing or two.
Leon glanced at his right and saw two stunningly beautiful girls. They were Isabelle and Juliet.
"Why ask me? The seats are empty anyway."
The two girls sat next to Leon. Although Juliet seemed rather unconcerned, Isabelle was very curios about him. How did he get so strong without a background or any other help? If her father hadn't been the one who told her that this year's first rank was a commoner, she wouldn't have believed the rumors.
Her father, Stephen Clark, too was a commoner before he became the guild master of the Black Star and an (S)-rank awakener. So she found a lot of things in common shared by his father and this boy.
Isabelle hated the way Ralph treated others. She always thought he was exploiting his background to force weak ones to submit to him. Basically, Isabelle was the exact opposite of Ralph.
Even though Juliet was not displaying it on her face, she was too satisfied with the result of the duel. After all, Walters and Howards were in really bad terms. The loss of Howards was the gain of the Walters.
"Your fight was excellent! You gave that arrogant Ralph a good blow."
Isabelle said to start a conversation with Leon. However, Leon just nodded without paying much attention to her.
Noticing Leon was ignoring her, her kind smile twitched a little. But her inner voice told her to calm down. She tapped his shoulder to get his attention.
"Hey, I am talking to you. You don't have to be so rude."
Leon finally stopped watching the duel and looked at Isabelle. Leon was tired of talking to people from his first day at the academy. He had been always alone since his whole family died in the hands of demons. So he wasn't the most extrovert person.
Before coming to the academy, he only talked to people when he needed something from them. Thus he thought she wanted something from him as well.
"What do you want?"
But Leon didn't get the answer he expected.
"Who told you I wanted something? Can't I talk to you if I don't want anything?"
"I guess you can..."
He answered after a brief pause. The hesitation in Leon's voice made Isabelle frown but she didn't want to pry into too much either.
"Anyway, I just wanted to thank you for reminding Ralph that not everything is always under his control."
"Yeah, your swordsmanship was great too."
Juliet added briefly without looking at his direction. Yet Leon didn't seem to be bothered by it.
Being praised by Juliet meant you had a really good control over swords.
"No need to thank me. He was asking for trouble himself. I just granted his wish."
Hearing this, Isabelle just chuckled and talked no more.
By the time their conversation ended, the duel had already come to an end.
"Theodore Miller and Gordon Ronald! Come to the arena!"
Another two students entered the arena. The clapping of students was heard throughout the arena. But it was obvious it was much more quiet than the first or the second duel. As the sound of clapping faded away, Gordon shouted at the boy with black hair.
"I will let you have a taste of my fist, you low-born."
Isabelle displayed her disgust on her face. She really loathed those who thought of commoners as inferior people for nobles to play with. It wasn't just that her father was initially a commoner, but it was also against her kind nature.
"Isn't he the guy who snickered at you and Ralph?"
She said with a frown on her face.
"I think so."
"Why is he fighting against an opponent who is 500 rank higher than him? Wasn't the limit 100."
"I am not sure either."
After a couple of seconds, Juliet intervened in their discussion.
"Gordon is one of Ralph's lackeys. Ralph probably sent Gordon to beat that boy who made fun of him."
"Hmm... Still, how can Professor Ember let them fight. The rank difference is too big."
However, a laughing pulled them out of their thoughts. Theodore was laughing loudly when he should have been troubled since he was against a stronger opponent.
"HAHAHA... I just can't... I just really can't! How can you guys spout so much bullshit with just a few words."
Everyone was taken aback by Theodore's attitude. Leon, Isabelle and Juliet were no exception. They were all confused.
"What's wrong with him?"
"What's he laughing at?"
"Is he crazy?"
Students started to whisper to one another. But they soon stopped as the laughs ceased and the duel began.
It was kind of a pathetic situation, being targeted by Ralph. Some students felt pity for this poor boy.
...
"The winner of the 15th duel is Theodore Miller!"
Silence descended upon the arena. Students were surprised as the dagger flew and halted just a few inches before Gordon's forehead.
As the students comprehended what just happened, cheers of students replaced the whispers.
Isabelle asked with a surprised tone.
"How can he pull off that kind of move? Isn't he just rank 2154?"
Leon didn't answer. He was thinking about the same thing too. He thought he wouldn't see any exciting duels but this boy called Theodore had proved him wrong. Although his fighting wasn't flawless, the last move wasn't something anyone could pull off.
"You are right, It was precise."
On the other hand, Juliet was still silent. She was deep in thought.
'He is suspicious.'
She thought.
He was hiding his strength and pretending to be rank 2154. He hadn't shown it yet but maybe this was just a small part of his true strength. And most importantly, he was an assassin.
She couldn't help but be wary of him. She was right to do so. Although she was at the Light Academy, she could never know where she could get attacked by another assassin.
She suspected that this boy called Theodore was related to Howards in some way or another. The fact that he was hiding his strength was only making things more suspicious.
Even though Howards and Theodore were apparently on the opposite sides, at least that was how it seemed on the surface, she still couldn't put her guard down.
---------------------------------------------------
After my duel ended, I took my seat among the audiences. I was really exhausted from that fight. Although I hadn't used
I turned around to see where Leon was. My eyes darted around the arena. After a few seconds, I spotted him. He was with two girls. It was impossible not to notice them. Their appearances were brighter than the sun.
I instantly figured out who they were, Isabelle and Juliet.
'Everything is going just as in the novel.'
However, at that moment, I noticed Juliet was squinting her eyes and gazing at me like she was trying to figure something out. The instant our eyes met, she quickly averted her eyes from me.
I felt like something was off. Her gaze was rather cold.
'Was it just a coincidence?'
But then I came to the conclusion that I was being overly suspicious. Maybe it was just her usual self. She had a difficult life after all, it was normal that she was cold towards strangers.
I dismissed my suspicious thoughts and didn't think about it anymore.
I turned forward to see how many duels were left. The duels were almost done. I decided to watch the last duels since I didn't have anything else to do.