"Why did it come to this...?"

I’m fairly certain it’s not just my imagination that I’ve said something similar before. In fact, this sort of situation is becoming almost routine. As expected, the world seems to hate me. Give me a break, seriously.

For my second go at academy life, I’d planned to keep it low-key and uneventful—staying out of trouble and avoiding the spotlight as much as possible. That was the one thing I’d learned from the self-inflicted mess of my first life. And yet, on the second day of school, I somehow found myself dueling in place of Prince Chronos.

—Seriously, how did it come to this?

"Clay! Go all out and crush him!"

The reason is painfully obvious. It’s entirely the fault of Freesia, the battle maniac who’s currently cheering like a maniac behind me.

The scene is one of the academy’s training grounds—specifically, the second training arena. My opponent is none other than Gaian Buster-kun, who’s been glaring at me with deep-seated hostility ever since the first day of school. His entourage stands behind him, hurling jeers at me.

“Disgrace to the academy!”
“Apologize to all the students who took the entrance exams seriously!”
“Aren’t you ashamed of cheating your way in?!”

Hearing these baseless insults, the instigator behind me is visibly furious.

“What did you just say?! You don’t know a thing about Clay, so stop spouting nonsense!”

“L-Lady Grayfrost, please calm down. As a lady, you should quietly trust in your fiancé Clay’s victory—”

—Yeah, I appreciate you defending me, but I haven’t forgiven you yet. You’d better prepare yourself later, got it?

"Unforgivable..."

Watching Prince Chronos attempt to placate the still-fuming lady of chaos, I turn to face my opponent once more.

Towering a full head taller than me, with short-cropped red hair that practically screams aggression, Gaian Buster-kun grips a wooden training sword. He exudes unrestrained killing intent, making it clear he fully intends to strike me down.

—This is a duel, right? Not a fight to the death?

I’m beginning to have doubts, but surely Professor Volt, the supervisor, will step in if things go too far. Convincing myself of this, I greet Gaian-kun as he looks ready to charge at any moment.

“Let’s have a good match.”

“Hah! What’s with the sudden politeness, lazy noble? Do you even know how to fight? Shouldn’t you be holed up in your room?”

Wow. The level of animosity here is almost refreshing.

“No, I haven’t exactly been cooped up in my room—”

“I can’t stand it. While we ‘exam-takers’ shed blood and sweat to get here, nobles like you get everything handed to you without lifting a finger. I despise people like you!”

Even if I tried to explain myself, Gaian Buster-kun clearly isn’t interested in listening. It seems his hatred isn’t directed at me personally but at nobles as a whole.

To be fair, he’s not wrong. Many nobles are just as he described, if not worse. In my first life, I was a perfect example of that stereotype. Even now, in this second life, I haven’t done nearly enough to prove myself different.

“Oof, that stings...”

As accurate as his words are, they hit a little too close to home. Still, despite feeling a bit down, I have no intention of losing. Sure, his words struck a nerve, but they’ve also irritated me enough to fight seriously.

“I’m going to beat that rotten attitude out of you. Here I come, lazy noble!”

“Please, go easy on me—”

Honestly, who wouldn’t get mad after being insulted like that? Even if such a person existed, I’m definitely not one of them. If he hates me, that’s fine, but at least try to be more tactful about it. Otherwise, how am I supposed to live a quiet school life?

“Are you both ready? Then—begin!!”

“!!”

At Professor Volt’s signal, the duel begins. We both kick off the ground simultaneously. Within the blink of an eye, our swords clash, the sound of wood striking wood echoing through the arena.

—Let’s see what you’ve got.

After all his bravado, I’m genuinely curious about how much effort Gaian Buster-kun has put into his training. I want to see this “hard work” of his for myself.

Our blades lock in a contest of strength—though I intentionally make it seem like we’re evenly matched.

“Ugh...!”

“Oh? If you can handle this, I guess I can push a bit harder.”

I speak just loud enough for him to hear, then increase the force behind my blade.

“—What the hell is this?!”

I ramp up my speed, attacking with deliberate precision—just enough for him to barely block or evade.

Out of over twenty exchanges, Gaian Buster-kun successfully defends only four times. I’d hoped he could manage at least ten, but perhaps that was asking too much.

“Let’s take it up another notch, shall we?”

“Wha—?!”

Still, I didn’t stop. It had been ages since I last fought someone. I wanted to enjoy this a little longer.

Ever since I decided to kill the dragon, Grand Uncle’s training had become far more intense. It’s been six and a half years since then. The number of spells I could use hadn’t significantly increased, but I prided myself on how much stronger I’d become. Crimson Blood Magic: Blood Arts was a magic tailored for long battles, with an absurdly slow initial activation rate compared to other spells. The more injuries I sustained, the stronger I grew. It sounded impressive, but the drawbacks were just as many. Fighting in a way that assumed I’d get hurt was insane—utter madness.

---I mean, I hate pain.

Not that anyone likes it. Very few people would, right? That’s why I wasn’t keen on unleashing a big move to overwhelm my enemy right away. Doing so would require copious amounts of blood loss.

"This is such a hassle…!"

The more I used this magic, the more troublesome it became. It was difficult to handle, making me question if it was really the ultimate melee magic. But even so, it was enough to overpower the man in front of me.

"Wait, no, don’t—!"

Though, even if I could overpower him, it wouldn’t mean much.

In these six and a half years, my growth was limited to improved swordsmanship and increased blood and mana reserves. That’s it. But with just those improvements, I had managed to defeat Grand Uncle.

"Ugh… damn it!"

"It seems raising the stakes this much was too much for you to keep up with."

"〈Stone Barr—〉"

"You really think I’ll let you leisurely cast magic?"

"Argh!"

I didn’t need any fancy tricks or devastatingly destructive magic. With the basic skill of Blood Flow Manipulation, I could take down most foes.

---Back to basics, at its peak.

The battle was entirely one-sided. I didn’t give Gaian Buster any room to retaliate. The longer the fight went on, the less attention I paid to his state, speeding up the battle pace on my own.

Unbeknownst to me, I must’ve been considerably stressed by his earlier attitude. The more I activated Blood Flow Manipulation, the more an unpleasant side of me surfaced. My tongue grew sharper.

"Hey, what’s with that? After all that big talk, this is all you’ve got? Didn’t you work harder than me, shedding blood, sweat, and tears?

If that’s the case, show me. Show me what someone who’s worked their ass off can really do!"

"Eek…!"

I rushed forward, bringing my sword down in a massive overhead slash. His pathetic cry reached my ears. When I glanced at Gaian Buster’s face, it was filled with sheer terror.

Don’t look at me like I’m some kind of monster. We’re both still too weak to even kill a single dragon. We’re both just mediocre. Let’s get along. Fighting is stupid and a waste of time. Let’s use this duel to make something meaningful. We can push each other higher. We’ve still got room to grow, to become stronger.

"I-I give up! I lose!!"

But my thoughts didn’t reach him. At some point, Gaian Buster had fallen on his backside, retreating as he half-sobbed his surrender.

"...Huh?"

I let out a dumbfounded sound. The circulation rate of my Blood Flow Manipulation was only just getting started. My body had only just warmed up, yet it was already over? I couldn’t believe it. It was frustratingly anticlimactic.

"That’s enough, Claym Bradley."

---

Even Mr. Volt, the referee, called for the duel to end. Still unsatisfied, I turned my gaze back to Gaian, ready to complain. But—

"What?"

"Sob… it hurts… it hurts so much…!"

That’s when I returned to my senses. Gaian Buster was still sitting on the ground, tears streaming down his face. That part hadn’t changed. But then I noticed—

---Did I really injure him this badly?

I’d only felt like I’d lightly struck him a few times with the training sword, but he had far more wounds than that. Especially around his neck—it was awful.

"I-I overdid it…"

It dawned on me what I’d done. My bad habit had resurfaced again. I thought he could endure a bit more, but I misjudged.

"I-I’m sorry, Gaian—"

"Eek! I’m sorry for being so arrogant! P-please don’t kill me!!"

"..."

I tried to apologize out of concern for him, but it was already too late. The hierarchy had been firmly established. Glancing around, I saw that most of the spectators were stunned into silence.

And no wonder. The once-brash Gaian had completely flipped, and I probably seemed utterly deranged during the duel. The only person who might enjoy this was that woman.

"Impressive as always, Clay! You’ve gotten so strong since I last saw you. Next time, fight me!"

---Right now, her persistent battle-maniac tendencies are almost endearing.

Still, I don’t want to do anything else today. Actually, I think I’ll avoid duels for a while.

---Any more of this, and I might really slip up.

It might already be too late, but surely, there’s still hope.

I’ll keep things low-key, handle myself sensibly, and avoid trouble as much as possible. I’ll live quietly at the academy with moderate skills and minimal attention. Killing dragons doesn’t require unnecessary conflicts. There’s no time to waste on foolishness. I must reflect deeply.

And so, the representative battle to decide the class leader came to an end.

As expected, my team, the Recommended Group, won. Since I fought as his substitute, Prince Chronos became our class leader.

---I hope it’ll be alright…

Even though we were the winners, my teammates’ reactions were subdued, and I felt a strange sense of distance. Looking up at the clear, blue sky, I let out a sigh.

"That was amazing!"

But of course, the battle maniac was ecstatic.