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I don\'t expect to exert myself much here, but there\'s this feeling that being in a place like this requires some sort of action. I guess I should take this chance to boost Lucy and Lumi\'s self-esteem a bit. And as a guy, it\'s rather irksome to be treated like a pushover.

"Trying to assert your pride in front of the girls, huh? If you beg for mercy now, maybe we can pretend this never happened."

Out of nowhere, the weakling stood in front of me, giving me a condescending look.

Looks like he thinks he\'s already won the moment he set foot on the training ground.

"This moron sure has a lot to say, huh?"

"Wh-What did you say?!"

As we squared off on the training grounds, all eyes started shifting our way. The tense atmosphere drew more and more spectators.

"Hey, there\'s an actual fight happening!"

"Lee Hoyeon and Kim Hojin are going at it!"

Kim Hojin Ugh, I heard another name I\'d rather not remember. This guy is just a weakling.

Underneath the training ground, Lucy was yelling at the top of her lungs, "Hey! Does it even make sense for a mage to go one-on-one with an assassin? Kim Hojin, you\'ve got no dignity?!"

So, he\'s an assassin. It\'s quite convenient when you can get explanations just by standing still.

"I get who Lee Hoyeon is, but who\'s Kim Hojin?"

"You don\'t know him? He caused a huge uproar last week by making contact with the Iris guild."

"No way, a newbie connecting with the Iris guild?"

"Yep, it was chaos all over EveryDay."

Ah, got it. I see. It\'s nice how there are explanation enthusiasts who break everything down academy-style. I\'ve got a rough idea about this guy now.

The Iris guild is the largest information guild in France. The heroine, Alice, is their guild leader\'s daughter. If he made contact with them, he must have some potential. Even though he\'s originally an extra villain, he\'s still part of the promising lineup, just like Do Jinhyuk. It\'s the only way he can even come close to competing with the main character. So, no matter how much of a side character he seems, he\'s one of the big shots in Do Jinhyuk\'s posse.

Come to think of it, he\'s probably feeling like the second-in-command after Do Jinhyuk himself.

"But seriously, a mage dueling an assassin? In a dome with no terrain?"

"That\'s why Kim Hojin picked a fight like that. He\'s an idiot to accept it."

"Wait, but what\'s up with Lee Hoyeon for accepting it?"

The explanation geeks were setting the mood for us. Other onlookers were murmuring with concern, showing just how effective incitement could be.

Wooong!

As the magic circle on the training grounds lit up, a dome-shaped mana field popped up. A barrier formed between the wimp and me. He yanked out a dagger from his belt and got into this low stance.

Looks like he\'s gearing up to charge.

[Countdown begins!]

[3]

My heart was pounding. From the moment my combat sense touched the ground at the tip of my toes, a sensation surged through my body.

[2]

"Lee Hoyeon. I\'ll wipe that arrogance off your face for sure." The wimp aimed his dagger at me, his muscles tensing.

It\'s a trend I\'ve noticed as Lee Hoyeonmen love to ooze hostility at me. But then again, if I\'d seen a face like his back in the day, I\'d probably be the same.

[1]

"What the Is this all?"

My body isn\'t boiling over anymore. When I fought Felix, my entire body was screaming. Even before the battle began, my heart raced, energy surged through my body, and my chest heated up, making my senses razor-sharp.

But now Calm. It\'s surprisingly calm.

In simpler terms, I don\'t have to go all-in wrestling this munchkin in front of me. Actually, scratch that, he\'s not even worth going all-in against.

[Begin!!!!]

"I\'ve been waiting for this, you bastard! I\'ll finish you off in one blow!" The wimp lunged at me right away, forcefully kicking off the ground. Granted, his speed was decent. He wasn\'t at Felix\'s level, but judging by speed alone, he\'s probably on par with Alice.

Zing!

Vision Enhancement.\'

Magic power gathered in the weakling\'s right hand, holding the dagger. The path was straightforward. He was trying to thrust the dagger into my forehead, and he had a lot of resentment written on his face aimed at me.

I sidestepped just in time, dodging the dagger. To the onlookers, it might seem like a narrow dodge, but honestly, I had space to spare. As he shot past me, he abruptly hit the brakes behind me.

"Why did this idiot, who\'s only good at dodging, even bother to step up?"

Whether he believed I barely dodged or not, he began taunting and chuckling.

"Is that all? No more tricks up your sleeve? Something stronger, quicker, or a special move?"

If I stick to basic attacks, there\'s nothing impressive to show. With an audience gathered like this, I\'d better put on a show.

"Alright Was planning on fooling around a bit, but let\'s wrap this up, shall we?"

He looked genuinely ticked, thinking I\'m taking him lightly. Truth is, I am. He\'s gotta pull off something remarkable to make me look even more impressive when I emerge victorious.

With him right in front of me, struggling to figure out how to finish me off, he began channeling mana throughout his body.

"Ahh"

Circulating mana through his body like that felt somewhat like using [Acceleration]. But, [Acceleration] was designed to divert the recoil into space, so it didn\'t strain the body. However, his technique didn\'t seem to match that caliber.

While he managed to accelerate mana and increase his speed, he wouldn\'t have a way to handle the recoil, so stopping his body would be out of the question. Perhaps, it involved pouring all his strength into the attack and transferring the recoil to the opponent. To put it simply, if I evade the hit, all that recoil will bounce back to the caster.

He began circling me, looping around just like Felix did. But his pace fell way short of Felix\'s. If I\'d managed to catch up to Felix\'s tempo, I\'d probably grasp something at this level.

"How about this! I\'ll hit you so fast that you won\'t even notice!"

"Uh Some cool line there."

"Complimenting now is a bit too late!"

"Yeah, yeah."

As I watched the guy frolic around like a confused squirrel, I thought, why not give [Acceleration] a whirl? Suddenly, the familiar breeze cocooned my whole body.

"I\'m so gonna murder you!"

Appearing to have lost the reins on his speed, he hunched down and made a beeline for me, dagger in hand. Naturally, I encased my hand with mana, ready for impact.

"Ugh! Wh-what\'s this."

"Too slow."

To the crowd, I must have seemed like I reacted to his charge at warp speed, way too quick for them to keep up with. But handling that lightning-quick dash was a piece of cake.

I strolled ahead, nabbed his neck mid-charge, and held him like a ragdoll.

"Ugh. H-how?!"

I lifted him skywards before reintroducing his face forcefully to the ground.

Bam!

"Kuh Ukh!"

It seemed like the guy hadn\'t quite grasped the situation yet; he lay on the ground, quivering. Well, at least he landed on his back, so that might have cushioned the blow.

I gave his head a little pat and surveyed my surroundings.

Lucy and Lumi, who were chewing their nails with concern, now had eyes wide enough to catch flies. The folks who were blabbering about the weakling\'s potential just moments ago had their jaws on the floor, clearly not digesting the scene.

I grabbed the weakling by his messy hair, hoisted him up, and introduced him to the floor again.

Bam!

"Kuuhk.!"

Although the magical field was operational, no mortal harm would come from this; still, the pain should feel very real. Well, it\'s all part of practical training.

"One for me. And these are for Lucy and Lumi."

I bent one knee and got down to the guy\'s level. I got a grip on his hair and yanked him up, forcing him to meet my gaze. His earlier bravado seemed to have vanished, replaced by a haunting combo of fear and dread.

"Y-you, I I\'m sorry."

I hate to break it to him, but an apology now isn\'t going to rewrite the script. Letting this slide would only invite more trouble down the road. He\'s like the sacrificial lamb caught chatting during class, losing points. I could easily let it slide, but for the sake of the class atmosphere, I had to dock points off this first contestant.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

"Ugh"

[Match stopped!]

"You\'re weak."

After just a handful of thwacks, he looked completely checked out. As the signal chimed, the duel ground to a forced halt. Beyond the training area, most of the A-class students had congregated to watch the spectacle. I glanced around and noticed that Nam Daeun wasn\'t there, but I did see Alice\'s face.

I lifted at the sorry state of the weakling\'s hair and got back on my feet. Everyone\'s eyes were on me.

"Guess you all realize I didn\'t use magic, right?"

"!"

Sounds of collective throat-clearing echoed. I glanced around; it was Do Jinhyuk\'s entourage who appeared like they\'d seen a ghost.

"Next time, if another punk decides to act tough, I might just roast them. Literally. Something to keep in mind."

Thud!

I released my grip on his hair and walked away from the training grounds. Lucy and Lumi, who were waiting for me, had expressions of joy rather than fear. After all, it would make no sense if heroines were frightened of a strong protagonist.

"What\'s with you? Why are you so good at fighting? And why don\'t you use magic during the duel? You\'re not actually a mage, are you?"

"T-Thank you, Hoyeon."

The context behind Lumi\'s gratitude was a mystery to me. But she\'s wearing a content expression, so it\'s all good.

***

The one-on-one duel that happened during the practice session naturally got filmed and spread online.

[Legendary Video of Lee Hoyeon\'s Recent Controversial Duel LOL]

[Video]

[Judging from the video alone, it\'s impressive, but legendary? Not so sure.]

[Plot twist: he\'s a mage LOL. He easily crushed the so-called promising newbie from Iris guild without using magic.]

Likes: 329, Dislikes: 120

[Huh? A mage, really? How the hell did he manage that speed?]

[Whoa, look at him slamming the guy\'s face to the ground. It\'s seriously frightening.]

[Iris guild exposed LOL]

[Lee Hoyeon fights well, but every time I see this guy\'s face, I get annoyed, so thumbs down from me.]

[True, LOL. Every time I see this guy, he\'s posing with girls in pictures. Gets on my nerves.]

[-Victoria Academy Loser List-]

[This motherfucker!]

[Breaking News LOL Iris guild retracts offer to Kim Hojin ]

[For real? Damn, LOL]

[But at this point, isn\'t it obvious that he and Lucy defeated the demon?]

[True. If he\'s this good without magic, he could turn a demon into minced meat with magic.]

[Hmm. Even after seeing this, I\'m not convinced yet. Most of the current active hunters who faced two a horned demon are pretty negative about it.]

"Active hunters are tearing up. If they\'re weaker than me, they should just admit it."

While reading the responses on EveryDay site, I couldn\'t say I was entirely satisfied. Still, I should be grateful that public opinion is improving. I checked the past reactions once, and people were freaking out, calling me a con artist.

I should\'ve shown my cards earlier. If I had, I could\'ve cleared up the misunderstanding quickly. But why didn\'t anyone clue me in? It\'s like they\'re overly considerate of me.

"Ah, finally done! Lumi, how about you?"

"I\'m done too, Lucy."

We were currently in the club room working on assignments. It took me about 30 minutes to finish, but Lucy and Lumi took about an hour. Even though I offered my help, they insisted on doing it themselves. I admired their diligence.

"Well, shall we head out then?"

"Okay!"

"Alright then, let\'s head home!"

Our club still consisted of the three of us. Thanks to my hard work for the club, we finally made it onto the official list. With Lucy and Lumi, the gorgeous twin combo, guys\' applications flooded in, and thanks to me, even girls showed interest. But Felix\'s scar still lingered on Lucy. Since then, she had minimized contact with guys other than me.

Well, it worked out well for me; I didn\'t have to see Lucy hanging around with other guys. Anyway, we decided not to take in new members for the time being. This club room now serves as a space for the three of us to get along harmoniously.

"See you two tomorrow."

"Lucy, we\'re going back to the dorm together, so why say goodbye now?"

"Huh? Oh, I have some shopping to do today!"

Lucy shook her wallet as she explained.

"Oh, really? What are you buying?"

"J-Just, you know. Necessities?"

Stuttering like that, it must be feminine hygiene products. To think I can figure it out from such a small detail my intuition has certainly improved.

"Got it. I\'ll go with Lumi. See you tomorrow."

"Take care, Lucy. See you tomorrow."

"Sure thing! Bye-bye!" Lucy sprinted off towards the academy gate.

Looking at Lumi, who remained, I spoke, "Shall we head off too?"

"Umm, Hoyeon"

"Yeah?"

"I, um, there\'s something I want to say. Can we come back to the club room for a moment?"

"Huh, of course."

I followed Lumi back to the club room. She waited for me to enter, then closed the door and locked it, checking a few times.

"Lumi?"

Her face was slightly flushed. She had locked the door and everything. At this point, even I could guess what was coming.

"Oh, so, um I, I just wanted to say, thank you for standing up for us. Lucy feels the same way."

"It\'s nothing much. I was just irritated, that\'s all."

"It\'s comforting to know someone feels irritated on my behalf. Lucy is family, and you\'re not, but despite not being family, you\'re still bothered for me"

Well, to be honest, it\'s a mix of various circumstances. But let\'s just play along for now.

Lumi seemed extremely touched, her body squirming as if she were deeply moved. Cute.

"W-We\'re secret friends, right? So I think we can do something more secretive at times like this."

"Sure"

Lumi formed a V with her index and middle fingers on both hands.

"So, I was thinking as a token of thanks I\'d like to make you feel good in a more secretive way. But, I\'m still not very experienced"

Then she put her fingers into her mouth, widening her mouth as wide as possible into a square shape.

"H-heer. Pwease he\'p youshhelf"

Gulp.

I caught a glimpse of Lumi\'s flushed inner mouth with my eyes.

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