(Ariel POV)
As I finished introducing myself, I went back to standing straight again, but in the middle of it, a reply coming from Sir Rudeus made me falter a bit.
"The feeling is not mutual. Now move aside."
Our conversation hasn't started yet, but he makes it painfully clear that he is not pleased about my presence.
Luke may be right when he said that the Rudeus Greyrat from Sylphy's stories had changed.
I should be careful with my words as even North God and Sir Sandor complimented his massive ability to strike monsters that could give King-class swordsmen a hard time.
Negotiations with North God had failed because my status and presence couldn't convince him, but at least I got Sandor to join us.
It's a shame that I couldn't manage to receive the support of a Great World Power at the time, but as luck has it, there is another more powerful one before me.
As I composed myself again, I stood straight to look at the person before me.
From the outside, he looks too young to be called one of the seven strongest warriors in the world.
Much is to be pointed out about his appearance, but the rumors about his peculiar eyes were true. His left eye is blue, darker than my own, and his right eye is green like the luscious leaf of a plant.
But inside those eyes was a light that started to disturb me. He was frowning when he looked at my smile, which was unusual for me. Usually, it would entice people to witness it, but this person seems unaffected by it. In fact, I think I saw a glimpse of disgust forming in his eyes.
Either he thinks I was coming on to him, or he is exceptionally loyal to his girlfriend standing to his left.
Sara from [Counter Arrow]. She fits Ellemoi's description, and I must say that she doesn't look too bad. Given that he is related to Luke, it was obvious that he would charm a girl in time.
On his right stood the third prince of the Shirone Kingdom, Zanoba Shirone. According to an incident before his first arrival at the school, he seems to be acquainted, perhaps even friends, with Sir Rudeus.
It makes me wonder who else besides the infamous Silent Seven Stars he is acquainted with. His reputation as a hero to Rosenburg and an adventurer in general already makes him an even more valuable ally.
"I said, move aside. There are some things I need to discuss with Vice Principal Jinas."
Another evident tone of his hatred towards me. My hopes of convincing him to join us may have already failed.
My only chance now is to go into a discussion with him to steer it towards a subject that may involve the assassination attack against him. I need to make it clear to him that I was not involved in it.
"Have you received the letter I sent you? I want to know what information you have regarding the hired assassins."
"Oh? I burned that letter thinking you knew of the culprit. Or is he acting on his own or, perhaps, secretly betraying you, and now you are trying to shift the blame fully onto him?"
His mocking tone and rude behavior are getting irritating. It's unacceptable for him to expect me to immediately accuse my supporter, especially given that he has no knowledge of our partnership.
But what makes me mad is that he burned the letter Sylphy had written herself. While she was writing it, I secretly peeked into her room after hearing her rambling on about all sorts of lovey-dovey stuff.
In hindsight, had I known he had such animosity against me, I would have let her use her name instead.
"Aren't you ashamed of yourself?" Luke suddenly asked away.
"That letter was written of importance to you, and you just burned it away? You are standing before royalty. Show some respect."
"I did it because I have nothing to discuss with you and your princess. And seeing your group now, I have nothing but pity for your group."
For the first comment, Luke felt offended, but the other part made me curious.
"You pity us? How do you mean?"
With a bored expression, he answered me clearly but coldly.
"I already heard about your loss against your brother. Not only did you have no choice but to leave your home, but your chances of becoming king are hopeless now. I do admire your courage for still trying, though. That shows some strong determination."
I see. He knows about it. A few people like him do say that to me from time to time.
It's indeed true that my chances have dwindled after getting chased out, but my promise to Derrick and my other fallen comrades still stands. That's the least I can do to commemorate their sacrifices.
"As for your subordinates, I pity them for not being capable of stopping me from killing you if I ever felt like it.
I expected a Princess like you to have more competent guards assigned to protect you. But seeing them with my own eyes, a Saint-class swordsman could kill you."
He started to get an amused smile on his, creeping me a bit out. His eyes gave off a glint of light, literally. This is bad. A rumor says that his eyes start to glow whenever he gets especially mad, resulting in violent behavior from him.
"You probably just used your looks and body to convince them to join you anyway, a bad trait for leadership that I despise."
"What!?"
Upon the mockery from Rudeus, Luke exclaimed in anger before unsheathing his sword and swinging his sword at him.
"Luke, no!"
Despite my warnings, he ignored me and attacked Rudeus with his sword.
Before the edge could even reach him, Sara took out a blue dagger from her pocket and met his sword. She cut his sword in two and let the point of her dagger pass his face.
I was astonished. Despite the effect of the Magic Item the sword was holding, she was able to cut his sword into pieces with ease. This blue dagger must be a Magic Item of greater sharpness.
Using the momentum of her swing and Luke's dumbfounded state, she sidestepped to kick Luke on the side of his abdomen. The force of the kick was strong, and he went flying until he crashed against the wall.
Silence occurred in the hallway, and everyone witnessed him recovering from his flight.
With the gust I felt, I do not doubt that Sara is also a chantless spellcaster. The two parties these two belong to are said to be close, so I should've suspected that this would be the case.
"Sara, you know very well that he couldn't have hurt me. So why did you do that?" Rudeus said casually. He looked unimpressed at Luke's attempt to kill him.
"I needed to cope myself with this." She answered as she readjusted her posture to a more casual one.
"That's fair." Rudeus just shrugged his shoulders at that comment.
I can't fathom what kind of people I'm just standing in front of. Those two are so calm that I wonder what happened to them to respond to something like this. I clearly lack the understanding of such people.
Having recovered again, Luke threw his broken sword away and angrily headed towards Rudeus and Sara.
"How dare you, you son of a-... What the-?"
Before he could reach them, Prince Zanoba grabbed him by the head and lifted him in the air.
"Luke Notos Greyrat. Seize this behavior. It is unbefitting of your status to aim your sword at someone in the first place."
Zanoba may be right, but his restraining Luke is also unbefitting for a prince.
"Why the hell do you care?! You're not even part of this in the first place!"
Amidst his attempt to free himself, Luke became even more angered and started shouting.
This whole ordeal is already putting him at shame. Why is he so unrelenting?
"Your Majesty, he is right. You do not need to involve yourself in this. Please let him go." Rudeus said to Zanoba, who didn't move from his spot.
"As you wish, master."
On Rudeus's command, Luke was let go and fell on his butt, only to recover immediately and angrily push away Zanoba, who tried to give him a hand.
"Luke." I sternly said. "You embarrassed yourself enough. I order you to come back here."
It took a few seconds before he reluctantly returned with the same angered mood.
Not only is his behavior generally outrageous, but he also got one of our expensive Magic Items broken.
I looked back at Rudeus, who looked at me with an unwavering expression. I doubt that this was the only time he got attacked like this. It even seems like he was confident of not getting hurt in the first place. His trust in his companion must be strong.
"I think this is enough before things get even more ridiculous."
"Before that," I said, raising my hand slightly, "Isn't there something that should have caught your attention?"
My question was aimed at getting him to look at Sylphy more. I do not understand how he hasn't figured it out yet.
Sylphy has been staying in her role too well.
"I do not follow."
The quizzed look in his eyes made it even more evident. He still doesn't have a clue about her true identity. How dense can he be to forget about a person who speaks so dearly of him?
"Hm? What?"
Suddenly, he looked to the side and held his left hand against his head.
Something flew towards him the next moment, and he swiftly caught it in his right hand. It was Sylphy's glasses.
***
(Rudeus POV)
The princess pointed out something that should have caught my attention, but I couldn't see it.
Is she expecting an apology for my comment on her Guardians's strength? Not even in a million. I just pointed out that for a princess of the strongest kingdom in the world, she has rather weak bodyguards.
This Luke guy proved that by getting kicked by Sara without him reacting fast enough. A more experienced person would have blocked that to lessen the hit.
"I do not follow." I openly admit my lack of awareness regarding the things she means.
What I got were signals of disappointment from the princess and signals of sadness from this Fitts guy.
I'm confused. Why is he getting sad all of a sudden? He was nervous this whole time I was here. Did I meet him somewhere and don't remember when?
'OH, FOR FUCK SAKES! GIMME THAT!'
"Hm? What?"
Out of nowhere, I heard Kagami's voice screaming inside my head. It gave me a slight headache, and I looked to the side while holding my head.
'Give you what? Hey! What are you-?!'
My thoughts were unheard of by him, and I felt how the circulation within my head activated my thought acceleration. Plus, I felt a mana hand getting formed against my will.
When I looked at the direction it was flying towards, I saw it taking off the glasses from Fitts.
What shocked me wasn't just Kagami's sudden control over my Magic and what he intended to show me with it, which also resulted from his sudden outburst.
This person... I... how... why-
'Sylphy?!?!'
I had this feeling of knowing this person but couldn't figure it out because of something missing, and now I know what it was.
With the slow motion still intact, I had a full view of her face, with the glasses still flying toward me.
It was my childhood friend from Buena Village. The Elf girl Sylphiette. She has white hair now so I couldn't recognize her. She is... with an Asura Royal... oh no. WHY!?
I moved my hand with Barrier Armament to catch them just in time, my thought acceleration already stopping.
Instinctively, I formed another mana hand and placed her glasses back on her.
Everyone was looking at me, the guy who abruptly took someone's glasses away just to put them back a second later.
"... Sylphy?"
A wave of embarrassment and relief signals flooded me at the mention of her name, proving to me that it really was her. She must've felt hurt because I insulted her and didn't recognize her initially.
I feel so mortified. Not just because of the awkward air I created, but because I made the same mistake after all these years AGAIN! And with the same person!
And to make matters worse, Kagami saw through it before I could, and he even had to interfere to get me to see it. How low did I go in this second life that my past self needed to help me?
This confrontation with the princess has become such a silly play that I can't tell how people will talk about it the next day.
"Hmph. Took you long enough, dumbass." Luke retorted.
With dead eyes and a cold voice, I replied to him, "Say goodbye to your manhood."
With [Specter Force], I sent a mana fist to punch him hard against his groin, making him feel the pain of his lifetime while clutching onto it.
Face down and barely holding on to consciousness, he got showered by stares and threatful signals from students who fear of pissing me off like he did to end up like this.
Ariel could only groan while keeping a hand on her forehead, and Sylphy looked down while getting beet red to the tip of her ears.
What a situation...
I should've stayed in bed and enjoyed Sara's lap against my face some more~.
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