The button I threw struck Emily in the chest and fell to the floor.
Just as people on Earth think of taking off and throwing a glove when they hear the word duel, here, a button was the symbol of a duel.
“Why should I duel the likes of you?”
Emily’s eyes flashed.
To a noble, a duel was not a mere fight.
To lose a duel was humiliation. To flee from one was disgrace.
It was a fight neither side could retreat from, one that would leave one of the two with an irreparable wound to their honor.
That was why proper grounds were so important in a duel.
Challenging someone to a duel without grounds was just as shameful as losing one.
Fortunately, I had grounds to spare.
“I, Lawrence Reed, declare here: Emily Earning insulted me by calling me a swindler, intimidated my friend and extorted money from them, and ignored my demand that she stop. Therefore, I will defend my honor in a duel.”
It was a properly formalized duel declaration.
I ticked off the grounds for a duel one by one on my fingers.
Among nobles, an insult alone was enough grounds for a duel. Still, the latter two mattered more to me.
Friend. Intimidation. Extortion. Dismissal.
The combination of those four words would give me grounds to act as a proxy in future duels as well.
“Tch. Looks like you’ve learned a thing or two.”
Emily clicked her tongue. Her eyes held nothing but irritation and displeasure.
What a shame. If she had understood the situation I had set up, she would have been far more flustered.
She would realize soon enough, anyway.
“Well, fine. You’ve been getting on my nerves.......”
At Beaumont Academy, seniors and juniors rarely had any reason to mix.
Having had no one to compare herself to for nearly two years, Emily was excessively confident.
To Emily, a duel must have looked like a legitimate opportunity to humiliate me.
“I, Emily Earning, accept the duel and will defend my honor through victory.”
The duel was set.
“We should decide when to hold the duel, should we not?”
“I have no problem fighting right now. If Senior Emily needs time to prepare, I can wait for you.”
I lightly prodded Emily’s pride.
Setting a date and waiting until then would be a waste of time.
“Yeah. There’s no need to put off something like this. The witnesses?”
Normally, a duel required witnesses to formalize the result and ensure that neither side resorted to underhanded tactics.
The rule was that there had to be at least ten, with each duelist selecting half.
“Wouldn’t the other seniors be enough?”
I glanced over the seniors.
The Department of Magic’s third-year class had been reduced to around forty after several students with poor grades had been driven out, but there were still enough to fill the required number of witnesses.
The seniors who had fallen behind—the ones I could call my side—were mixed in with Emily’s followers, so the balance was roughly even as well.
“Then follow me.”
Emily confidently strode out of the classroom.
The seniors who seemed close to Emily quickly followed after her.
“Are you really sure this is okay?”
“You do not have to go as far as a duel.......”
“You beat a fellow first-year Reincarnator...... but Emily is in a different league.”
As I leisurely began walking after her, the seniors who had fallen behind came over and offered their thoughts one by one.
They all spoke on the assumption that I would lose.
Though I was a Reincarnator like Emily, I was a junior they could treat comfortably, while Emily was someone they had feared for a long time.
Naturally, they thought Emily was stronger.
“There is no problem.”
A Reincarnator was still human. At twelve, a third-year student was still only a child.
Aside from their memories and Privileges, they would have had to build themselves back up from scratch after reincarnating.
Even if she had become aware of her memories early, the time she could use to grow stronger was limited.
If she turned out to be stronger than expected, it would only cost me a little more money.
“I wish we could have helped.......”
Of all the seniors worried about me, Media’s expression was the darkest.
“A duel is a matter between the parties involved.”
It was taboo for anyone else to intervene during a duel.
Other than Emily and me, everyone else was no more than a spectator.
“Oh, then could you tell me what Emily’s Privilege is?”
Fighting after learning about her Privilege would be a little easier.
“Lawrence! What were you thinking, challenging her to a duel?!”
“You do not even know what her Privilege is.......”
“Do you know what it means to lose a duel?”
The seniors’ faces, already laden with concern, went pale.
“Whatever her Privilege is, it has limits. There will be a way to win.”
And I had a Privilege that would let me put that method into practice without fail.
“Besides, I think she would answer readily even if I asked her.”
I would bet a hundred gold coins that the moment I seemed to be at even a slight disadvantage, she would get carried away and boast about her Privilege.
“Emily’s Privilege is the Blessing of Water.”
Media explained it to me slowly.
Emily could create and wield weapons made of water without using magic.
Apart from her Privilege, her magical ability was also the best in her year.
Since she could use both the Blessing of Water and exceptional magic, no one in her year had been able to defeat Emily.
It was little more than having one extra spell she could use for free.
For a Reincarnator’s Privilege, it was unimpressive. It might be quite helpful during one’s student years, when everyone’s abilities were fairly similar, but compared with the Blessing of Magic or the Blessing of the Sword, its limitations seemed obvious.
There was no need to worry too much.
Emily, who had been far ahead of us, stopped at one of the open lots on the Academy grounds.
“Shall we begin right away?”
The seniors serving as witnesses formed a wide circle. Emily and I stood facing each other at its center.
“Who will declare the start of the duel?”
I asked as I loosened up.
A duel stood for an honorable, fair fight.
It could not begin with one person launching a preemptive attack. Both sides had to recognize the beginning of combat fairly.
For that, a third party had to determine the moment the duel began.
“Media.”
Unexpectedly, Emily pointed at Media.
“I.......”
Having suddenly been saddled with such a burdensome role, Media’s face flickered with confusion.
“If I tell you to do it, just do it.”
When Media showed signs of refusing, Emily growled in a low voice.
.......
Media’s shoulders sagged as she stepped between Emily and me.
Emily was not particularly polite to anyone else either, but she was noticeably harsher on Media.
Did she dislike Media that much?
Media was sensitive and had low self-esteem, which gave her a gloomy air. Maybe Emily did not like that about her.
Even so, her fixation was excessive.
“Both sides, to your positions.”
Media mumbled.
Emily did not pull out her staff as though she were about to chant a spell.
She simply folded her arms and looked at me confidently.
“Impressive.”
It was an expression of confidence that she could win without preparing at all.
It made me smile. I probably would not see that sight in the next duel.
The seniors’ eyes, watching us as witnesses, shone.
Across all lands and ages, fights had always been popular spectacles.
Even in another world, people were the same. Everyone seemed excited at the prospect of watching a fight.
Unfortunately, the entertaining duel they expected would not take place.
There was no need to take the long way around when there was an efficient way to win.
“Fair and square...... The duel begins!”
The moment Media made her declaration—
TWANG.
The sound of a bowstring vibrating rang out.
“Aaaah......!!”
Emily collapsed, clutching the shoulder where an arrow had lodged.
“What just happened......?”
“Lawrence attacked, right?”
Murmurs spread through the open lot.
“You......!!”
Unable even to pull out the arrow deeply embedded in her shoulder, Emily clutched the wound and cried out bitterly.
“A cowardly sneak attack!”
“What sneak attack? I clearly attacked after the declaration that the duel had begun.”
As soon as the duel began, I merely bought and fired a ‘loaded crossbow.’
Like a gunslinger in a Western film.
“You attacked while I was not concentrating, and now you are acting so brazenly......!”
I was not sure whether to call it an accusation or an excuse.
Either way, all she was saying was that she had been hit by an arrow while off guard.
“So? Who said you could stand there with your mind elsewhere when the duel began?”
If I had pulled this on Kyle, whom I had hounded until he never let his guard down, he would have reacted when I took aim, either dodging or stopping the arrow.
Emily would not fall for a trick like this next time.
But that only applied to next time.
“I won, then?”
I asked as I casually tossed the used crossbow aside.
“Don’t make me laugh!!”
Emily could not even stand. All she could do was twist her body, raise her head, and look up at me.
Kyle really was remarkable.
In our sparring, he had kept charging at me even when it was not merely an arrow lodged in him, but his body was burning and he could barely breathe.
“Will you not acknowledge the result?”
“I’ll never acknowledge something like this......!!”
“How pathetic.”
The result of a duel was decided when one side acknowledged defeat or lost consciousness.
However, rendering someone unconscious without killing them was exceedingly difficult, so there was no end to people dying in duels.
Of course, that did not apply to me.
For Emily, who was still unable to escape the pain, I sprinkled sleep powder over her face.
Emily tried to resist the powerful drowsiness, but she only lasted a few seconds before her eyes shut.
“You all saw that, correct? It is my victory. Why do you all look like that?”
Celebrating my victory, I spread my arms and looked at the spectators.
They all looked dazed, as though they did not know how to react.
Even the seniors who had fallen behind—the ones I could call my side—were the same.
“Please applaud next time.”
This was enough for now. If they kept seeing it, they would get used to it.
One defeat might not carry much significance.
Even if a Reincarnator lost to a junior, it was plausible enough if that junior was also a Reincarnator.
But I would sell those request forms again and again.
Until getting revenge on Emily became something as simple as deciding to do it.
***
After witnessing my easy victory over Emily.
The third-year seniors, having confirmed that they could indirectly humiliate Emily through duels, came to find me one after another.
Most of them bore the snake mark, but not all of them did. Third-years from the Department of Martial Arts also requested that I act as their proxy in duels, carrying the resentments they had accumulated while living under Emily’s thumb.
It seemed that, apart from a few close to her, everyone held a grudge against Emily.
The Duel Proxy Request Forms were sold again and again.
After going through the formal procedure of selling the forms and receiving them back, I went straight to Emily.
The grounds for the duels were always similar.
“Emily Earning! I heard that you intimidated my friend and extorted money from them! I challenge you to a duel on my friend’s behalf!”
“A duel sounds good! You think I’ll be taken down as easily as last time?!”
At first, Emily came rushing out with gritted teeth.
She seemed almost as though she had been waiting for a chance to duel me again and win.
Emily did not let her guard down either, so the first duel did not end as anticlimactically as before.
However.
“Emily Earning! You insulted my friend?! A duel!”
“I won’t lose this time......!! This time......!!”
My victories continued.
“I clearly told you last time not to lay a hand on my other friend! You ignored my demand! A duel!”
“Wait! Who’s your friend?! This is something we can solve by talking!”
Once there had been more than ten duels, Emily began avoiding them.
“Come forth! I have come for my friend! It is time to duel!”
“Eek......! I haven’t done anything yet......!”
After twenty straight losses, Emily would panic and hide whenever I appeared in the classroom.
And finally.
“Please stop!! I’m begging you!! I don’t want to duel anymore!!”
She raised the white flag.