Gaelon Sharptie was confident in his victory.
There was no need to say the saying that you had to test the long and the short.
He was the third son of the Sharptie family, well-known even among elven clans.
In contrast, Lev Denec was just an ordinary human.
Not even from an archer family, nor the child of a hunter.
His evaluation was simply that he was an incompetent brat who was getting cocky without any ability.
It was a mystery how someone who wasn’t a marksman passed the selection exam, but he ended up touching something he shouldn’t have.
That something was Selena, who Gaelon considered to be his “possession.”
What confused Gaelon even more was the fact that Selena was helping Lev Denec with his training.
“Selena? What are you doing with that guy? Is he my opponent?”
“You don’t need to concern yourself with me.”
“Haha… I know you’re nice, but there’s no need for unnecessary sympathy. After all, once you graduate from this academy, you…”
“I’ll be going ahead now.”
Selena’s cold tone and gaze cut through the air. When they were at home, she would silently obey whenever Gaelon commanded her to smile.
But since coming to the academy, she began to act according to her own will.
“It’s mine! Mine!”
There was a different reason for his obsession.
Selena’s qualities as an archer were on par with even pure-blood elves.
No, she had to be considered even more talented than that.
That was why, even though she was half-elf, the Sharptie family took her in and raised her.
“Ungrateful girl…”
If she just played the role of a concubine and gave birth to children, he would have doted on her all right, but for some reason, she was in a situation helping another man.
“Damn, do they want me to get jealous?”
She had never smiled at Gaelon.
Yet when training with that guy, even faint smiles appeared, and he could feel her enjoyment.
In this reality, Gaelon could only relieve his anger by beating Lev Denec to a pulp and making Selena submit.
But…
When the match began,
Biiiiiip!!!
“Wha…?!”
Gaelon, who thought he had some understanding of wind archery, was confronted with a wind archery technique he had never seen before.
The first arrow shot and the last arrow shot didn’t follow any order.
The truth of the world intertwined, and every arrow seemed to assert that it was the first arrow shot, each drawing a distinct curve to hit Gaelon as the target.
Eventually, what he saw last was nothing but the blue trails surrounding him.
When Gaelon opened his eyes again,
The match was already decided.
“The winner is Freshman B, Lev Denec…”
“What, what…urk!”
He wanted to contest the result, but no words came out.
Arrows fired from all directions struck his body.
“I lost in a rapid-fire contest…?”
He thought that Lev could shoot the first arrow of a crossbow quickly, but it could never compare to wind archery.
The audience was just as confused.
“Is it over?”
“Gaelon senior lost?”
“To a freshman??”
“What was that just now? Is it magic?”
“Ah!!! I should have bet the other way…”
“It’s rigged. It’s rigged!!!”
Professor McClone, who was watching this with Instructor Sylvester, found it hard to believe that the match could end so quickly.
“Is that wind archery…?”
For a human to use wind archery, apart from legends, was unprecedented.
Professor McClone asked with a somewhat serious tone.
“What do you think?”
“In my… opinion, it is indeed wind archery. If not…”
“If not?”
“It must be some other kind of inherited ability that was received from someone…”
Sylvester concluded that if this were categorized as talent, it would surely be demonic talent.
Even though the audience was still in chaos, only these two had noticed the fact that Lev Denec’s wind archery wasn’t particularly powerful.
Of course, it was because he used training bolts and had protective gear.
The biggest reason was that he hadn’t infused even a tiny bit of magic power into any of the arrows.
“If he had even a bit of intent to kill, it might have resulted in a horrible outcome.”
It was a rare sight that even Professor McClone, who cared deeply about the students, had goosebumps after a long time.
Since he had the qualities of a magician, he could surely manipulate magic power, and it would mean he controlled his strength or, in a worse case, showed mercy to his opponent.
“Also, what he used was certainly the basic technique of wind archery…”
Not any special enhancing technique, just the basics, yet it rendered an upperclassman incapable of fighting with a single hit.
“How long until the tier exam?”
“After the dungeon investigation practical, there should be about a month left.”
The tier exam, where students would clash against each other, would attract many guilds, knight orders, and magic academies, and most importantly, the royal family.
The useful ones would be picked early to be taken in after graduation.
“Until then, it would be good to assign a dedicated professor.”
“Understood.”
“You’re right, it’s not an ordinary fellow. I’ll have to watch him a bit longer… Perhaps… we might even get a good show before I retire.”
Even Professor McClone, recognized as a skilled senior at the academy, made such an assessment.
Sylvester became even more curious about Lev Denec.
Everything about him—his actions, skills, words—was alien.
The level of someone who had become a different person.
Interestingly, more people were unable to grasp the situation, both outside and inside.
“Interesting…”
Exaggerating a bit, this was someone who might even attract the interest of the royal family, not just a large guild.
*
The confrontation with Gaelon ended… quite blandly.
Of course, the biggest factor was that he was overconfident.
Even I felt like I had cheated.
I just smashed the Q, W, and E buttons haphazardly, yet rapid-fire, quick-fire, and curved fire mixed to create a combination attack.
So how could a guy who was caught off guard possibly defend against it?
“I… was careless! I’m fine… ahem, let’s continue the duel…!”
That fool was making quite a scene about wanting to continue the duel,
“There’s no reversal in the decision of the match. You were definitely knocked down, and anything further is impossible.”
Bella ended it thoroughly.
“As agreed mutually, the penalties for this fight will all be imposed on Gaelon Sharptie.”
Seeing him slump to the ground,
That was the end of Gaelon Sharptie, the third-rate villain.
He probably wouldn’t be able to hold his head up for a while out of embarrassment.
Clang!
At that moment, a reward window for the duel appeared.
———————————————————
[Achievement Clear]
[Supporting Role Achievement: Duel]
[Reward: Supporting Role Points 50]
[You have earned Supporting Role Points]
———————————————————
“Score! Well then, wind archery.”
I popped up the wind archery skill to distribute the supporting role points.
Clang!
———————————————————
▶[Wind Archery] [Lv. 1] (Not Applicable)
: A skill made possible by contracting with Wind Spirit King Ariel.
As your level increases, you can acquire new techniques.
▶Currently acquired skills:
: First Basic Wind Arrow
Exp: (Requires 2 Awakening Points)
———————————————————
If the basic technique performs this well, I can’t even imagine how powerful the second and third techniques would be.
“Indeed, I need to level up wind archery quickly…”
But the experience point bar looks a bit strange?
“2 Awakening Points…”
Ugh. That damn closed beta version.
In the closed beta, key characters’ signature skills could only be leveled up through obtaining Awakening Points from trials, i.e., defeating monsters.
In other words, it meant I couldn’t level up by collecting supporting role points.
[A wind attribute monster, Sinatis begins to follow you.]
So that’s why that status window popped up yesterday.
Wait, isn’t this a win-win?
The trickling supporting role points have various uses, but it’s better to distribute them into tasks like this.
“Alright. The next goal is the trial.”
No one among the freshmen at Claris Academy has yet managed to enter the Evolution Chamber’s Trial 2.
I would probably obtain the Awakening Points here.
The difficulty of Trial 2, split into two parts, would be nothing to scoff at.
Therefore, I need to grow…
“Right, I need to gradually raise my magic power.”
Given that Lev Denec could use circle magic, there’s no way I wouldn’t utilize it.
Raising my magic power not only allows me to enchant my weapons but also greatly increases the effectiveness of wind archery.
“There’s so much to do…”
Beyond this, there are numerous incidents starting in Chapter 2.
Like dungeon investigation practices, tier battles… characters turning dark in the middle, demon invasions…
Above all, my main enemy, Caeran, will also appear…
I shook my head.
“First of all, it’s been a while since I dined out.”
While dinner prepared by Yeriel is nice, since I’ve entered a fantasy world, I couldn’t miss out on restaurants suited for it.
The street food looked really tasty when I went to the black market last time.
As I sorted out my thoughts, I caught sight of a familiar face in the distance.
Silvery hair tinted with amethyst, cheong-geum-seong eyes. Expressionless.
It was Aria, seemingly searching for someone desperately.
*
After finishing her tea with Melissa, Aria rushed to Yegudi Hall.
It was already past noon.
Still, there were too many questions about him.
She also needed to find out about Andras’s whereabouts.
If he got expelled, everything would go down the drain.
In fact, amidst her thoughts, the part that worried her the most was prominent.
Given Gaelon’s character, there was no chance he would let Lev Denec off easily.
“What on earth was he thinking with that duel…!”
Since the incident at Evenbaugh, Aria felt she couldn’t just leave him be.
Clearly, she knew he had family and a clan, yet…
She could feel it.
Just like her, feeling empty and lonely… the feeling of being left alone in this world.
“I’ve arrived…!”
The arena at Yegudi Green House was already clearing out.
“That ended in an instant.”
“Right? Seems like something’s off.”
“But that winner, isn’t he surprisingly handsome?”
The students who had watched the duel spoke similarly.
It ended in a flash.
The winner was handsome…
How hollow.
Like this.
“I’ll deduce from this that sadly, Gaelon made an easy victory.”
“Did he get hurt a lot?”
Most of the audience must have supported Gaelon.
Hence, it felt bittersweet and regretful.
Perhaps because of Aria’s sentiments,
“?!”
She easily spotted Lev Denec.
“Lev!”
“What’s going on here?”
“Of course, it’s…”
Seeing the relaxed man looking surprisingly well, he must have surrendered the moment the match started.
“Obviously, it’s about the duel. I see you have no injuries.”
“None.”
“Well, did you surrender then?”
“…?”
“If you were going to give up that quickly, why did you accept the duel…! Even if you surrender, penalties will still apply for defeat…”
“I won.”
“…Huh?”
“I won.”
“……”
As Aria was checking for injuries and turned her gaze toward Lev’s face in disbelief at his claim of victory.
“…You said you won…?”
“What about you, have you eaten?”
You mean you defeated an upperclassman, moreover the second-in-command of archers, Gaelon?
By the way, had this guy always had this kind of vibe?
The jawline and nose that usually didn’t catch her attention were rather sharp.
In terms of the ‘bad boy’ style, he didn’t resonate enough to open up Aria’s heart and create a comfortable feeling.
But until now, he had seemed uncomfortable and difficult to get along with.
Unlike before, at least he wasn’t off-putting now.
“Food.”
“…Huh?”
“Have you eaten?”
“Not yet…?”
“Then let’s go eat, since you helped me out.”
“…Am I going with you? Why should I…?”
Though Aria always maintained her composure,
She still couldn’t grasp the situation where he won.
How did he do it?
Did he pull off some kind of scam?
But is that a good thing? At least he avoided expulsion.
“I need to ask about Andras as well.”
Her mind was a whirlwind of confusion.
And of course, Lev said as if it were the most natural thing.
“You’ll follow me anyway, right? You’re just keeping an eye on me.”
“Following you…?”
Following you… This word struck Aria, and she quickly regained her sense.
“Following…?! No, I won’t.”
“Come on, try properly to keep watch this time.”
“……”
And with that, she was ‘unavoidably’ tailing behind Lev, who marched ahead.
