“My lady...”
Mel closed his mouth at the sight unfolding on the screen.
That was the sort of person Sisne Seronis, the villainess noble lady of that romance-fantasy novel, was.
A lofty and arrogant villainess.
Born and raised in the highest-ranking noble house, given an elite education from childhood, and blessed with innate talent on top of it all,
she was a sheltered noble young lady who had entered the academy at the top of her class at the tender age of eighteen.
And this was the moment that sky-high arrogance was first shattered.
Her encounter with Azelan, the protagonist of that romance-fantasy novel, at the academy entrance ceremony.
Her lifelong pride was broken in an instant by a boy of common birth, and unable to endure the humiliation and disgrace she tasted for the first time in her life,
she obstructed the protagonist and heroine at every turn until she eventually met her ruin—the somewhat clichéd villainess noble lady was none other than Sisne Seronis.
“So if things followed the original story, it would be normal for my lady to lose to that hero bastard...”
Mel muttered as he stared at the screen.
The story of the romance-fantasy novel he remembered was unfolding before his eyes.
“Wow! What’s going on? They’re suddenly fighting each other?”
“It’s originally an annual event for the top students of each class to show their abilities at the entrance ceremony, but this time it’s quite intense.”
“Of course, the noble class has won every year. It’s a self-satisfied tradition of the nobles to show the difference between nobles and commoners.”
Various remarks passed around him.
As they said, the duel between the top incoming students of each class, meant to display their abilities, was also a bad custom that clearly showed the gap between noble and commoner students to the whole world and satisfied the nobles’ sense of superiority.
Even in the entrance ceremony of Sygrian Academy, famed for its long history, it was fair to say there had never been a case where the commoners’ top student defeated the nobles’ top student.
But this year, Azelan, the protagonist of that romance-fantasy novel, would set an unprecedented record as the first in the academy’s history to defeat the noble top student.
Before long, the great incident in which a commoner without even a surname brought down the young lady of the northern Seronis family, counted among the greatest martial houses, would unfold.
“As expected of the Grand Duke of the North’s daughter. To think an incoming student would possess such skill.”
“She truly is incredible. Even his daughter has inherited the Black Lion’s blood so strongly.”
“By the way, that commoner is holding up better than I thought. I expected him to get knocked out in one blow.”
“You can tell just by looking at their expressions, can’t you? The grand duke’s daughter is going easy on him.”
Many people around them were expressing admiration for Sisne’s skill.
Sisne was smiling beautifully as she swung her sword.
She pressed Azelan without pause, displaying swordsmanship so beautiful and refined that it did not suit her age at all.
Her face was so calm that it looked as if she were doing light exercise.
Azelan’s expression, on the other hand, was not good.
For the first few exchanges, he seemed to be holding out somehow, but only for a moment.
Each time he received Sisne’s relentless attacks, his expression twisted further and further.
The situation was clear enough that even a layman could tell by watching.
Overwhelming.
Sisne Seronis was overwhelming and trampling over Azelan.
“No... This isn’t right.”
Watching the situation, Mel shook his head.
A common story where someone barely holds on, then reverses the situation in an instant with a single decisive turnaround?
The flow of the romance-fantasy novel he remembered was not like this.
“You’re supposed to be overpowered, aren’t you? The overpowered protagonist of this story, blessed with talent and luck. You only struggle briefly against the final villain, so how can you be struggling at a mere entrance ceremony... No, how can you be getting pushed back this pathetically! What the hell happened, hero!”
Sisne Seronis was strong beyond her age.
Mel, who had served her for ten years, knew Sisne’s abilities better than anyone.
Having served by her side, he could even tell that she was not bringing out the entirety of her true strength.
But Azelan.
That guy, who was destined to become this world’s savior, should lightly surpass even that.
He was an overpowered protagonist. An overpowered protagonist who even grew stronger on top of that.
Born overpowered, he was the one who showed off overwhelming strength from the early parts of the story and drove it forward with unstoppable momentum.
Originally, this was supposed to be the part that showed the protagonist’s extraordinary nature by having him easily overwhelm Sisne from the start, snapping in one stroke the pride and arrogance she had built up over her entire life...
Instead, he was the one being pushed back.
“No, if you receive that there like that...! You’re not supposed to block it, you’re supposed to deflect it! If you block it, next comes...! Ugh!”
Mel watched their duel and offered advice to Azelan that could not possibly reach him.
Even if his advice did reach Azelan, Mel could sense it instinctively.
There was no answer here.
It was safe to say the outcome had already been decided.
Their weight classes simply did not match.
The matchup itself was completely wrong.
Swordsmanship, mana, strength, technique, and every other factor that could decide victory all pointed to Sisne’s advantage, not Azelan’s.
Azelan, sweating coldly and panting harshly, seemed to have grown exhausted even from holding up his sword, and the silver-white blade in his hand was trembling.
Sisne, on the other hand, remained just as calm as she had been at the start.
The one difference was that the smile she had worn as though she were enjoying herself had, at some point, cooled into something icy.
If one saw Sisne’s cold expression, they could tell what emotion she was feeling.
It was disappointment.
.
.
.
“Ugh...!”
Sweat poured down like rain.
His breathing was utterly beyond his control.
Even his heart pounded as if it would burst.
Azelan looked at Sisne, who stood before him.
Sisne looked completely fine.
It had not been a long time, but he had displayed every bit of effort and ability he had built up so far.
But...
He could not reach the nobility, the bloodline of the famous Sword Duke, at all.
His childhood. He remembered the words his now-deceased parents had spoken to him when he was young.
—Azelan. You are a descendant of the hero.
—Azelan. You were born with the destiny to save the world.
—Azelan... Azelan...
‘So I really am...’
Facing the despair of having everything denied, Azelan felt the strength gradually leaving his body.
“I wondered how confident you must be for a mere commoner to hold your head so high. Could you perhaps be the same sort as that man? Was that why you could act so boldly in front of me? I had very high expectations.”
As Sisne said that, she placed a hand against her head and lightly closed her eyes.
“If it’s you, you must have already felt it. The gap between us, that is.”
Azelan could not deny Sisne’s words.
It was not as if he had not expected her to be strong, being a descendant of the Sword Duke.
The only thing he had not expected was for the gap to be this severe.
She was the same age as him.
Though he had not made much of it, people around him had often said that his ability did not suit his age.
But at this moment, Azelan realized that there was another sky beyond the sky.
Realizing that he had been a frog in a well, Azelan felt shame.
“Did you think you were something special just because you took first place in the commoners’ exam? If so, I’ll give you one piece of advice. Wake up. Back in my homeland, I’ve never seen people like you, who don’t know their place, live long. You may be a commoner, but you should at least know that even a miserable life is precious, no?”
Sisne’s words dug into Azelan’s heart like a sharp blade.
“I can imagine what the commoners were thinking. Some trite praise about a genius appearing, and so on. Some may even have said something presumptuous like the hero has been reborn. It makes me want to check whether they have buttonholes on their faces instead of eyes.”
“Stop it!”
When the word hero was mentioned, Azelan shouted loudly.
“Fine! I won’t deny what you said! Everyone did often say similar things when they looked at me. Maybe I did get conceited because of those words. But I won’t forgive you for insulting the people who placed that much hope and expectation in me with such vicious remarks!”
Azelan shouted at Sisne, his eyes brimming with tears.
The spirit that had been fading from him until moments ago began to blaze once more.
Seeing Azelan like that, Sisne raised the corner of her mouth slightly and answered.
“Even if you don’t forgive me, I have no intention of apologizing. I don’t particularly think I was wrong, you see. You’ll want to prove me wrong and force an apology out of me. And as it happens, you have a very good means in your hand.”
Feeling the mana surging throughout Azelan’s entire body, Sisne raised her sword.
“Lastly, I’ll teach you an adage that has been passed down in our family for generations. If there is something you truly want, seize it with strength.”
Azelan did not answer Sisne’s words.
Once more.
The final attack he could perform right now would be this one.
If even this failed, all that would remain for him was defeat.
Aware that this was his last chance for a faint reversal in a situation where defeat was all but certain, Azelan unleashed his final strike.
“Star-Severing Flash!”
A dazzling light of mana burst from the silver-white sword.
A tremendous wave of mana, carrying a force that seemed as if it would swallow everything before his eyes, was on the verge of sweeping over Sisne.
Azelan’s final strike, into which he had poured every bit of his mana.
Facing it, Sisne’s expression was...
“I deliberately waited because I was looking forward to seeing how much your final strike would amount to, and this is all? Truly, you disappoint me to the very end.”
The ink-dark sword in Sisne’s hand grew even darker.
Sisne swung the sword, imbued with pitch-black mana, horizontally.
“North Wind Star Cleave.”
A black north wind annihilated the starlight.
Witnessing even his final strike end in vain, Azelan could no longer remain standing.
His body, having exhausted all of its stamina and mana, slowly collapsed regardless of his will.
‘So someone like me really is...’
That thought lasted only briefly before Azelan saw Sisne approaching him, and his vision gradually went dark.
Sisne looked down at Azelan, who had collapsed at her feet.
It was a clear victory.
But she felt no joy of victory at all.
It was merely the natural result. She had not poured in any notable effort either.
The empty sense of victory only further increased Sisne’s irritation.
“He was a commoner too, and they said he was at least somewhat better, so I had expectations. To think he would be this pathetic.”
The desire that had not been relieved at all began to scrape at her nerves and stir up anger.
“.......”
And Sisne lifted her sword expressionlessly.
The incoming students who saw her tremendous presence felt a bad premonition in that instant.
“Surely not?”
“W-wait!”
Before anyone had time to stop her, Sisne swung the raised sword down toward Azelan, who had collapsed to his knees.