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Chapter 48: Bullying, Aftermath

  I always found the art of royal swordplay to be utterly ridiculous. There was zero application for it in a real battle— especially when Skills weren’t even involved. However, every single day for the last ten years leading up to the final battle of the War of Fates, Zerek the Archnecromancer had forced me to learn this skill, training under his tutelage to prepare me for when I enrolled into the Holy Academy.

  As the son of a duke of the Sanctus Empire, Zerek had plenty of experience with all facets of noble life. In fact, he apparently was considered the best in the world at royal swordplay at one point in time. That was not to mention his mastery over magic. He had been the youngest student to ever be accepted into the Holy Academy at the time. He had been destined for greatness.

  That was— before he threw away his reputation, got himself expelled from the Holy Academy, and finally was disowned by his family… all because he briefly dabbled in the necromantic arts.

  So Zerek knew how to prepare me for my role when I eventually enrolled into the Holy Academy. That was why he reassured me that learning royal swordplay would eventually prove itself to be useful.

  And that moment finally came right now.

  I stared down at the sniveling prince lying at my feet. His body was bloodied and bruised all over, having taken over a hundred strikes from my training sword throughout the ten minute duel. He sobbed as he hugged himself, repeating over and over again.

  “I yield… I yield…”

  I had to admit— I had a lot more fun than I should have had, beating the Seventh Prince of the Sanctus Empire in this duel. I guess, even after all these decades, I still had the thirst for vengeance buried deep within me. Although, this paled in comparison to the five year rampage I went on after I was tricked by Hyperius…

  This was just a little bit of fun, after having to deal with an annoying child. That was all.

  I swept my gaze over the watching crowd as I lowered my training sword. They were held in a still silence, some of them averting their gazes when I looked at them, while others just kept their heads down. I had seen this look many times before. It was an expression of both awe and terror.

  I looked towards the judge as he just stared with wide eyes.

  “So are you going to declare a winner?” I asked expectantly.

  He flinched, before nodding.

  “E-Eli wins…” he said in a tepid voice.

  “Alright, then.” I tossed the training sword to the side and dusted my hands off. “Hopefully this proves to everyone that I do belong here in the Holy Academy. So please don’t believe any rumors that say I cheated my way in, because I did not.”

  I just smiled as I addressed the crowd. But as I was stepping out of the dueling grounds, an outraged face stepped forward. It was Roland— Claudius’s short and burly friend.

  “Y-you—” Roland started, pointing down at Claudius. “How dare you do this to a prince of the Sanctus Empire!”

  I shrugged back at him. “It was a duel. Someone getting hurt was bound to happen. That’s how it works.”

  And Dustin— the scrawny friend— shook his head and protested. “Not to this extent! This was just cruel! Don’t think you’re not going to get in trouble for this when a teacher sees the bruises on his body!”

  “And don’t pretend that Prince Claudius here wasn’t going to do the exact same thing to me if I didn’t actually know how to duel— otherwise, why would he suggest a ten minute minimum rule? I mean, if he didn’t put that rule in place, the moment he yielded, the match would’ve been over. So he did this to himself.”

  I waved a hand dismissively as the two of the prince’s goons hesitated. Then I looked down at Claudius who was still clutching at the bruises he sustained.

  “Besides,” I said, raising a hand placatingly. “Your little prince will be fine. Watch—”

  And I pointed down at him, before a golden glow overcame the Seventh Prince. It blanketed him for a moment, before his wounds started to fade away as everyone gathered in the room watched in shock.

  Even Claudius could only look down at himself with wide eyes. “W-what…?”

  And after a few minutes passed, most of the bruises he had sustained were gone.

  “Good as new, see?” I grinned back at both Roland and Dustin.

  As much as I would have liked to keep Prince Claudius in his miserable and injured state, I knew that plenty of questions would have come up over the next few days, which would have eventually led to me getting in trouble. Of course, everyone else who attended this unsanctioned duel would have landed in the same hot seat as me, when that happened.

  Which was why I knew nobody here would snitch on us. So as long as proof of anything happening here was removed, we would all go about our day tomorrow just fine. And that was exactly what I was doing by healing the Seventh Prince— getting rid of the evidence.

  Of course, I made sure to heal him just enough so any visible proof of the beating he received was hidden away. But… he was definitely going to still feel some lingering pain over the next week or so to remind him of what happened tonight.

  Claudius just looked down at himself in shock, wincing as he tried to flex an arm. However, while he remained silent, and even Dustin piped down, Roland still seemed upset.

  The short and burly man stepped forward. “That doesn’t matter— you still went too far!”

  He approached me angrily, and I raised a brow. But a figure moved to intercept him. I blinked when I saw an elf suddenly standing between Roland and I.

  It was Cecil. He stood there, blocking the short and burly man’s way. But there was something different about him. But I didn’t notice what it was at first.

  “Move, elf,” Roland spat. “Unless you wish to get hurt.”

  “No,” Cecil replied simply, unwavering before the more muscular man.

  “I said—” Roland started as he raised a hand to shove Cecil to the side.

  But the elf just grabbed the other man by the wrist, before twisting it. Roland grimaced and dropped to a knee as he yelped.

  “How are you…?” Roland stared at the elf in shock. “You’re supposed to be a [Rogue]!”

  Cecil didn’t reply. Meanwhile, I frowned as I stared at the back of the elf’s head. And that was when I realized what was different. It was his hair. It was longer now. It was only a few inches, but it was evidently longer than it was before.

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  Dustin watched this happen, before he raised a wand. A spell began to form as he cried out.

  “Let go of—” he started.

  And a girl’s voice cut through the tension in the room, drawing everyone’s attention.

  “That’s enough!”

  It was Myrla. The young girl was stepping forward with her hands on her hips. Everyone turned to face her as she spoke, her voice echoing all around us.

  “The duel’s done, and any additional fighting from here on out will land us all in even more trouble than if we were caught for this unsanctioned duel. I do not want to get into trouble, but I will tell the teachers if you keep this up.”

  She glared at Dustin, Roland, and Cecil. The three of them hesitated, and I scratched the back of my head. Threatening to tell on us didn’t sound very much like an actual threat to me. However, this wasn’t a school of delinquents— this was the Holy Academy.

  Everybody worked extremely hard to get in here. Nobody wanted to get expelled.

  So Cecil just gritted his teeth and let go of Roland. Dustin lowered his wand and pursed his lips. Even Roland himself just backed away and harrumphed, before walking up to check on Claudius.

  The Seventh Prince was still lying on the ground in a daze, even though I had mostly healed him.

  And Myrla nodded, watching as the tension cooled down.

  “Alright, good. Now we can all go along and get out of here and all agree to keep quiet about what happened here tonight.” She clapped her hands together, facing the crowd.

  The gathered students slowly began to disperse as they whispered amongst one another.

  “I can’t believe it— how did that boy win?”

  “Isn’t he a [Healer]? He should’ve lost!”

  “Maybe he’s lying about being a [Healer]. Maybe he’s actually a [Warrior], or a [Rogue]!”

  “But you saw what he did! He healed Prince Claudius!”

  “That’s true…”

  “Maybe he is just that much of a prodigy. I mean, I heard he is the second-youngest student ever admitted to the Holy Academy!”

  Meanwhile, Roland, Dustin, and the judge of the duel helped Claudius to his feet. The Seventh Prince didn’t say much of anything as they helped carry him away from the dueling pit.

  “Are you alright, Prince Claudius?”

  “I-I’m… fine…”

  I ignored all the chatter and just turned to Myrla and smiled gratefully at her. In response, she nodded back at me. And Kelton patted her on the shoulder.

  “Good job, Myrla. You’re finally actually standing out too— maybe you’d actually be able to call yourself Eli’s rival by the end of the year!”

  “Oh, shut up, Kelton. I was just trying to do the right thing.”

  I watched them go as well, before I finally turned to Cecil. The elf was sighing as he lowered his head. And I watched his hair slowly recede back to its ordinary length.

  I walked up to him as it was now just the two of us standing here in the dueling grounds. He sighed as he looked down at himself, before raising his head when I came to a halt before him.

  “Look, I was just—” he started.

  But I cut him off. “That’s your miracle, isn’t it?”

  And the elf froze when he heard that. I gave him a knowing look.

  “Super strength. Even though you have a [Rogue]-type Class, you can draw strength that far exceeds even the [Warriors] of your Rank.”

  “I—” Cecil opened his mouth, before pausing. Slowly, he nodded. “It is. But… how did you know?”

  I shrugged as I gave a non-committal response. “Just a lucky guess.”

  The truth was, I had encountered many saints in my past life. So I knew that whenever they performed a miracle, they would have a tell. And Cecil’s tell was his hair growing in length.

  “Why do you insist on hiding it then?” I asked, eyeing the elf curiously. “If you wanted to, you could’ve always gotten the Seventh Prince to shut up by showing him your strength.”

  Cecil shifted his feet uncomfortably. “I don’t hide it— I just can’t use it at will yet. I don’t know why, and I don’t know how, but it only comes to me at certain moments…”

  Clenching a fist, he looked down at himself in shame.

  “And it always comes to me too late. Time and time again, I’ve failed to help those closest to me, because my miracles refuse to manifest until after it is all over. Even tonight, it was only after the duel was over, that I was able to act.”

  Cecil shook his head as he looked up towards the night sky.

  “Everyone tells me this power that was given to me was a blessing. But sometimes, I feel like it is a curse— a curse to remind me that everyone around me will eventually get hurt, and there is nothing I can do to stop it from happening, even when I know I have the power to do something about it.”

  He closed his eyes as he whispered.

  “Tonight, I was lucky that you won the duel and didn’t get hurt. But there are times when that does not happen… even when I was first given this power…” he trailed off.

  I wanted to press him further. But I knew that now was not the right time to ask about it. So I just placed a hand on his shoulder.

  “You can’t blame yourself for your failures. Not when you’re still so young. Everyone, especially those at our age, are supposed to make mistakes to learn— to grow.” I nodded at him reassuringly, before adding in my head, I know I certainly made a lot of mistakes when I was your age.

  Cecil blinked and looked up at me for a moment, before scoffing. “Hey, you’re younger than me, you know?”

  I rolled my eyes back at him. “My point is that you’re still growing. Not only that, but even if you were the most powerful person in the world, you still can’t do everything on your own. So try not to be too much of a loner and rely on others too from time to time, alright?”

  “I…” Cecil hesitated. But then he met my gaze, and then he nodded. “I will try, I guess. But…”

  He paused, before he scratched the back of his head and averted his gaze.

  “Why are you being so nice to me anyway? When we first met, I was kind of a jerk to you. So, I don’t get why you’ve been defending me and helping me.”

  “Let’s just say I see a bit of myself in you, that’s all,” I said as I drew back. Also, I continued in my head, befriending a saint right now would very much be a good investment for my future plans…

  “That doesn’t explain anything,” Cecil said.

  But I just walked away from him as I waved a hand off. “It’s not supposed to.”

  And with that, I returned back to my room to get some much-needed sleep. It was mildly annoying to me that I had to sacrifice my sleep for this, but that was to be expected when dealing with such juvenile children. At the very least, one more good thing came from this, and it was—

  *ding!*

  You have reached Level 2!

  +2 [Speed]

  +1 [Strength]

  +1 [Dexterity]

  +1 Free Point

  Name: Nox (Eli)

  Race: Human

  Rank: Silver - Level 2

  Class: [Soulfire Healer]

  Class Skills: [Lesser Domain Of Light], [Heal], [Holy Fire], [Basic Light Magic Conjuration], [Boon Of Vitality], [Aura Armor Of Light], [Boon Of Strength], [Purifying Touch], [Lesser Poison Resistance]

  Titles: [Returning Death God], [Velmond’s Blessing], [The Bloodied Blade]

  Title Skills: [Remembrance Of The Fallen], [Death Magic Supremacy], [Basic Blessing Of Life], [Aura Blade]

  General Skills: [Quick Dash]

  Attributes:

  [Strength: 81]

  [Speed: 82]

  [Magic: 599]

  [Vitality: 100]

  [Dexterity: 89]

  Free Points: 1

  I leveled up. And it was all thanks to beating Claudius in a duel. Hopefully, now that this whole ordeal was settled, I wasn’t going to have to deal with the Seventh Prince anymore. After all, there were plenty more important things I had to deal with.

  For example—

  My eyes flickered as I focused on my Status. As my gaze locked into the brand new Title Skill I had been given, but still had yet to test out.

  [Remembrance Of The Fallen].

  Perhaps it was about time that I figured out what this brand new Title Skill of mine did… although I was going to have to be careful not to get caught in doing so, especially if it was related to death magic. Otherwise, I would truly get into trouble.

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