"I'll handle this," the boy—clearly the leader of the group of idiots—declared with a confident smile.
One of his lackeys quickly handed him a strange-looking wooden sword, adding in a smug tone, "Careful not to dirty your new clothes."
The leader took the weapon with a casual nod. "Relax." Then he turned to Kael, striding toward him with arrogance. "One strike will be enou—"
Ah, of course. The classic scene of an idiot who has no idea of the level of danger he's in.
The boy lunged forward swiftly, his sword aiming straight for Kael's neck. Against an average student, it might have even looked impressive. But… it was still just a wooden sword.
Kael sighed. Without haste, he raised his hand and stopped the strike with ridiculous ease.
The impact was nonexistent. The wooden blade didn't even make his muscles tremble.
Silence was imdiate.
The spectators froze, eyes wide. As if this wasn't the obvious outco.
Kael tilted his head, frowning. "You've got to be kidding , you disgusting little worm," his voice dripped with pure disdain.
The leader of the group stumbled back a step, his face twisting with frustration and sha. "Y-you little shit! Catching soone off guard!" he shouted, desperately trying to salvage what was left of his dignity.
Kael slowly turned his head toward Alia, waiting for her reaction.
She sighed. Didn't even bother intervening. She simply crossed her arms and looked down at the fallen boy with pure contempt. As if to say: Pathetic.
The boy lunged again, his expression a mixture of fury and humiliation. He gripped the wooden sword as if it were the deadliest blade in the world, his heavy footsteps echoing across the courtyard.
"I'll show you the difference between a re peasant and a true noble trained in the art of the sword!" he bellowed, as if his grand speech would sohow change the inevitable outco.
Kael, on the other hand, simply stood there. He didn't even take a stance. He just watched the scene unfold with an expression of utter boredom.
When the attack ca, Kael took a minimal step to the side, and the sword slashed through empty air. The noble's eyes widened, but he had no ti to react before Kael, still keeping one hand in his pocket, casually extended his leg and…
THUMP!
The boy tripped over Kael's foot and faceplanted into the ground, sliding a few inches across the courtyard before stopping with his face mashed against the stone floor.
The silence was deafening.
The students around them seed to forget how to breathe.
Kael shook his head, sighing dramatically. "Seriously? Is that all? I was expecting at least so challenge."
The boy, now red-faced with rage and embarrassnt, scrambled to his feet, his eyes trembling with anger. "Y-you just got lucky! I slipped!"
Kael rolled his eyes. "Of course you did. On my absolute superiority."
The noble scread and charged again, attempting a wide horizontal slash.
Kael, barely even looking, reached out and caught the wooden sword mid-swing, stopping it completely in the air.
The boy's expression twisted into sheer horror.
Kael then gave the sword a slight tug, making the idiot stumble forward. With a simple push to his forehead, Kael sent him sprawling onto his back, arms and legs spread out like an overturned turtle.
"I think that's enough, don't you?" Kael said, spinning the wooden sword between his fingers before casually tossing it onto the ground—right next to the fallen boy's head. "If that was your best attempt, I'm wasting my ti here."
Alia, watching with her arms crossed, sighed again. "At least he lasted longer than the other guy you slamd into the wall."
The noble's lackeys, once so full of confidence, now looked pale. None of them dared to move, only staring at their so-called leader, who still lay flat on his back, struggling to breathe.
Umbra burst into laughter beside Kael, clapping in delight. "That was beautiful! I'd call it a perfect execution, but you didn't even have to try. That was a work of art!"
Kael just shrugged and glanced around at the other students, who were still frozen in place. "Next?"
No one answered.
Kael turned, ready to leave this nonsense behind, but before he could take two steps toward Alia…
FWOOOSH!
A high-pressure jet of water was launched in his direction—fast and destructive.
He didn't need to move.
The attack froze in midair.
The jet of water instantly transford into a translucent ice sculpture, cracking slightly under the force of the magic. The temperature around them plumted for a mont, and the dry sound of ice splintering filled the courtyard.
Kael narrowed his eyes, turning to see the source of the spell.
The one who had cast the magic that saved him was a girl with long, wavy black hair cascading down to her waist. Her icy-blue eyes glead for a brief instant before she lowered her hand, dispelling the magic as if it were nothing.
On the other side, the culprit was one of the lackeys of the defeated idiot, his hand still outstretched, shaking with rage.
"You bastard!" the boy snarled. "You can't just humiliate a noble like that and walk away!"
Kael simply stared at him, taking his ti, his expression filled with complete boredom. "I am more noble than you," he said calmly, without even giving it much thought.
And, well… it was more than certain that he was far nobler than him. And I'm not even talking about so nonsense like a pure heart.
"What is the aning of this?!"
Beside the girl who had stopped the attack, another boy—almost identical to her, but with short hair—spoke, his voice tense.
"P-Prince Arthur?! P-Princess Elizabeth?!"
The troublemakers saw the two and nearly had a heart attack.
In an instant, they dropped to their knees, begging for forgiveness.
Cowardice ran in their blood.
"Y-Y-Your Majesty! My friends and I were just minding our own business after class when these barbaric students started attacking us for no reason!"
The so-called leader, the one Kael had obliterated, seed to have completely forgotten his arrogance and disgrace. Instead, he had decided to humiliate himself even further.
"W-What?!" Alia shouted, flustered. "You guys—"
She couldn't even finish.
"You misunderstood us!" he yelled over her, drowning out her voice without hesitation.
Such a poorly told lie… These two… Elizabeth thought, looking between Kael and Alia.
"Is this true?!"
Her twin brother… apparently didn't take it well.
Don't trust his words, you idiot brother… Elizabeth thought to herself.
Kael could only sigh and mutter, "What an idiot."
Did he just call the Emperor's son an idiot?!
The group of fools collectively thought, their bodies trembling.
"How dare you speak to the Emperor's son like that?!"
The prince's bodyguard quickly stepped forward, placing a hand on Kael's shoulder.
Or at least, he tried to.
He didn't even have ti to make contact before Kael caught his wrist.
"My apologies," Kael said, turning around with an icy gaze. "My tone tends to get harsher when I hear this much bullshit."
How is a kid this small so strong?! the bodyguard thought in disbelief.
Kael let go of his wrist and looked at Alia, who nodded before turning to leave.
"Hey, you're not just walking away from this!" Prince Arthur shouted.
"Ugh… I'm so tired of dealing with children…" Kael muttered as he turned back around, and sothing shifted in the air.
For the first ti, he decided to use it.
[Intimidation Aura (Passive) Predatory Gaze (Lv.1)]
He turned, clearly irritated, and walked slowly toward the "bodyguard," placing a hand on his shoulder and pressing down.
The man collapsed to his knees under the sheer force of it.
Kael kept walking, heading straight for the prince, his patience running dangerously thin.
Oh, crap… He's going to punch the prince.
Alia's thoughts kicked in like an alarm. She rushed forward and wrapped her arms around him from behind.
"Don't do this!" she pleaded.
Kael seed to snap back to reality… but even then, he kept walking, dragging Alia along.
The prince took several steps back, his confidence faltering.
The bodyguard finally snapped out of his initial shock and rushed toward Kael—
Only for a mana barrier to flare up around him, shining for an instant and cutting off any chance of another confrontation.
The tension in the air was suffocating, thick as a storm about to break.
And then—
A young woman stepped into the conflict.
She had soft, wavy green hair and round glasses, giving her an almost innocent look—if not for the firm authority in her brown eyes, which swept over the scene as if she already knew exactly how this would end.
With a graceful motion, she knelt before Kael, placing a fist over her chest like a knight swearing an oath.
"Forgive , Your Majesty, but I cannot allow this situation to escalate."
Her voice was controlled, yet it carried an undeniable weight.
Kael raised an eyebrow. "You're talking to the wrong person. The prince here is him."
He gestured toward Arthur with his chin, the so-called prince looking visibly uncomfortable.
Arthur frowned. "Exactly. And who do you think you are to act as if there's another prince present?"
The girl adjusted her glasses, her gaze shimring with sharp cunning.
"With all due respect, Human Majesty, the world is far too vast for there to be only one prince. And frankly, your weakness makes you unworthy of that title."
Arthur stiffened, his wounded pride painting his face red. "How dare you—"
Before he could continue, his sister, Elizabeth, placed a hand on his shoulder, silencing him with a serious look.
Kael observed the girl more closely, his eyes analyzing every detail. The way she held her posture straight, how her body was relaxed yet ready to react at a mont's notice. Then, he noticed sothing curious.
"Beast Magic. Chaleon Camouflage."
For a brief mont, the girl's eyes shifted into slit-like reptilian pupils before returning to normal.
She blinked, surprised that he had noticed so quickly, but soon regained her composure. "Very perceptive, Your Majesty."
Kael sighed. "So the headmaster assigned you as my babysitter, is that it?"
The girl averted her gaze for a second, looking slightly displeased. "The correct term would be observer. My mission is to ensure that conflicts between kingdoms don't arise… or, at the very least, don't spiral out of control."
He crossed his arms, studying her for another mont. "Na."
"Lyra Faelbright," she replied without hesitation, adjusting her glasses again.
For a mont, Kael simply stared at her. Then, he tilted his head slightly. "Your hair is a bit ssy, but it's kind of cute."
The seemingly random comnt made Lyra blink a few tis before a faint blush crept onto her face, clearly catching her off guard.
Without waiting for a response, he turned around. "If you're going to follow , then stop hiding. Let's go."
Lyra hesitated for a second but then nodded, straightening her posture. "I will… but first, I need to take care of another matter."
She turned her attention to Arthur, Elizabeth, and the four idiots still sprawled on the ground, all of them waiting for so kind of verdict.
With an icy tone, she pointed at the four defeated nobles. "You four are expelled."
The leader of the group widened his eyes, his expression twisting in desperation. "WHAT?!"
He staggered to his feet, nearly tripping over himself, before shouting, "Why?!"
Lyra sighed, as if dealing with a particularly petulant child. "I heard everything. I saw everything. And frankly, there is no justification for what you did."
The boy scoffed, still dazed. "But he—"
"He did nothing." She cut him off, her tone sharp as a blade. "The only thing Kael Scarlet did was defend himself. You, on the other hand, acted like a bunch of cowards, ganging up on soone and attempting to attack him unfairly."
The other three nobles swallowed hard, realizing they had no room to argue.
Lyra crossed her arms, her voice laced with cold disdain as she continued. "The rules apply to everyone. But there are so people you simply cannot threaten without consequences—especially when that person happens to be..."
She let the tension linger for a mont before delivering the final blow.
"...the future Witch King."
Silence consud the courtyard.
The four nobles turned pale, their expressions wavering between horror and disbelief.
"W-what...?" the leader muttered, his voice faltering.
Lyra pushed up her glasses, the reflection obscuring her eyes for a brief mont.
"Congratulations. Not only did you attack soone with the strongest political backing in the world, but you also targeted the next ruler of the most feared magical faction. I hope you've enjoyed your short stay at Azalith Academy."
The leader collapsed to his knees, the weight of defeat and despair finally crashing down on him.
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