[Rank 96 and 89 of Arcane Studies come down to the arena.]
"Your turn, little hedgehog, do me proud."
"Shut it, trash."
While walking down to the arena, Soren glanced at the paper in his hand once more, rereading the names and ranks out of habit.
Rank 89 and 83 of Arcane Studies, and rank 83 of Martial Studies.
At first glance, the spread had surprised him.
It wasn't common to see such a mix in the early mock duels, especially for an Arcane Studies student who was so close to the bottom.
Then the thought settled properly.
'They're all class E.'
That alone explained most of it.
Rank differences meant less when everyone involved was still stuck scraping the bottom of the grading system.
The academy didn't care about ego here; it cared about data.
Thanks to the quest, Soren knew better than to assume anything would be free.
Still…
'A C rating is doable.'
That thought steadied him.
Reaching the arena floor, he rolled his shoulders and stretched his arms, loosening his joints while letting his mana circulate naturally.
He lifted his gaze toward the stands.
"Wow," he muttered. "Nobody gives a shit about us, huh?"
The seats were sparse.
A handful of bored students leaned back casually, their attention split among several duels unfolding at once.
No cheering.
No anticipation.
As expected.
'Ah— wait. One person is watching.'
Soren's eyes narrowed slightly.
He raised his hand and flipped off the piece of garbage that had waved at him earlier, earning an offended gasp from nearby seats.
Only then did he turn his attention fully to his opponent.
"Tsk," Doron clicked his tongue. "How unrefined. No wonder you have no friends besides that disgusting filth you always hang around."
"..."
Soren stared at him, not in anger, not even irritation, just confusion.
'Is this guy seriously doing this?'
"Kekeke," Doron laughed, puffing out his chest. "What's wrong? Too scared to talk back? Am I that terrifying?"
"..."
Soren pinched the bridge of his nose and closed his eyes.
'Do people like this really exist?'
He had seen characters like this in the game.
Over-the-top.
Loud.
Cartoonish.
But seeing it play out in real life, with a real person standing in front of him, felt strangely uncomfortable.
"Give up now, and I might go easy on you," Doron continued smugly.
Soren sighed at the cheap provocations and spoke.
"Listen," he said calmly, opening his eyes. "I don't know where you're pulling your confidence from, but you're only barely in class E. Maybe tone down the third-rate villain act a little, okay?"
The words landed harder than he expected.
Being ranked 89th meant Doron Inenklees had only just escaped class F, the lowest bracket, containing students ranked 90th through 125th.
"What—! You dare mock me? Do you have any idea who I am?!" Doron sputtered.
"Not a clue."
"You—!!!"
"Please stop," Soren added flatly. "It's embarrassing."
This time, it wasn't even meant as provocation; he genuinely felt second-hand embarrassment just standing there.
'This was fine in the game,' he thought. 'But here… it's just cringy.'
[Mock duel between Soren Arden and Doron Inenklees begins.]
The TA's voice echoed through the arena, and Soren immediately stepped back, increasing the distance between them.
He didn't rush.
There was no reason to.
It was better to observe first.
In his experience, bad personalities didn't always mean weak opponents.
The clearest example of that was the guy he usually hung around with.
Whooosh!
A shockwave tore through the air.
Soren sidestepped it easily, barely even shifting his footing.
Fwoosh
Another spell followed.
Then another.
But something felt off.
'What is he doing?'
Nearly a minute passed, and Doron had fired off only four spells, all of them basic magic with proficiency not much higher than his own.
Worse, the structure of the magic circles was sloppy, the mana output uneven, and the control shaky.
There were no feints, nothing.
At first, he had thought Doron was messing with him, baiting him into lowering his guard, but upon further inspection, it was clear that wasn't the case.
Doron was sweating heavily; his teeth were clenched, and his breathing uneven.
Soren stood there in disbelief.
'…Hello? No. What the hell is this?'
Difficulty C?
'Bullshit.'
"Uh," Soren said hesitantly, tilting his head. "Hey. Don't take this the wrong way, but… is this really it? Where did all that confidence come from?"
– Ahaha!
A laugh was heard from the audience.
Doron's face twisted, rage flooding his expression.
"WHAT DID YOU JUST SAY—?!"
"I— you know what," Soren sighed. "Just forget it."
The reaction alone told him everything he needed to know, but Doron couldn't just stand by and accept that humiliation.
"I'LL MAKE YOU PAY–!!"
"Maybe get those anger issues checked, okay?" Soren replied with a faint smile.
Soren watched Doron's face turn as ripe as a tomato in real time.
Then, right on cue, Doron's mana destabilised.
Shatter
The magic circle in his hand collapsed.
'He can't even hold a spell anymore.'
That explained it.
The insults.
The bluster.
'Actually… maybe it wasn't intentional,' Soren thought after a moment, not wanting to give Doron too much credit.
Every attempt Doron made to form a magic circle was shattered instantly, his emotions overwhelming his control.
'This is just getting sad… let's just end it.'
For the first time since the duel had begun, Soren stepped forward.
Dash
He closed the distance, not even bothering to cast any spells in the process.
Panic flashed across Doron's flushed face when he realised he could no longer cast.
Thud!
A clean kick to the stomach.
Before Doron could fall, Soren grabbed him by his long brown hair and pulled his leg back once again, this time aiming for a completely different location.
Doron, noticing this, began to flail his arms in panic.
"Wait, wait! No! Stop! Not there!"
But Soren didn't listen.
It was too late.
Thud!
"Kuh—! C-crazy bastard—! Cough!"
Soren released his hair, and Doron collapsed onto the ground.
[Soren Arden wins.]
Doron's eyes were filled with tears as he covered his precious spot with his hands.
At the sight in front of him, Soren smirked, which caused Doron to start threatening him again, but Soren didn't listen and instead turned around to go back to his seat.
– Ew, what's wrong with her?
– Ugh, his kind of personality is the worst.
A few disgusted murmurs followed him.
He didn't care.
'He was the one who started it in the first place.'
"Did you have fun, little hedgehog?"
"Yup, it was great. Did you hear what he was saying?"
Felix snorted.
"Yeah. 'Do you know who I am?!' Fucking moron."
"What kind of backing does he even have to have confidence like that?"
"Supposedly, he's from a viscounty in central Fialova."
Soren paused at Felix's words.
"…Wait. His status is lower than mine?"
To put it into perspective, the Arden family was a border-count family, highly respected for the achievements they had amassed in defending against Valefor.
On the other hand, Doron, whom Soren had just thoroughly trampled on, was from some nameless viscount family in the capital, meaning he was just a pampered noble who had never seen a day of hardship in his life.
"Yeah, that's what was so funny. He'll probably get into trouble for trying to abuse his status, though, I mean, he was so loud about it that even people watching other duels started paying attention."
Soren hummed thoughtfully.
'So he really was just a loud idiot.'
"Seriously, though, what an idiot. I know it's just a rule in name only, but if he's that public about it, he's basically begging to be punished."
[Rank 23 of Arcane Studies and Rank 25 of Martial Studies, please come down to the arena.]
"That's me," Felix said, standing. "Cheer for me."
"Don't worry, you can count on me. I'll cheer my heart out for Rank 25."
"That's the spirit, little hedgehog."
Pat pat
Felix patted Soren's shoulder, causing him to recoil in disgust.
He then looked down at the arena, trying to see if there were any interesting duels ongoing, when golden-blonde hair caught his eye.
'There he is.'
Soren grinned at the sight.
Alex, the protagonist, was standing in the arena.
————「❤︎」————