“There you are Axel Savoncho!”

  Recognizing a voice behind me, I let out a groan and turned to find Julia Riosha standing there. This girl was becoming more and more of a pain by the day.

  “I challenge you to duel!”

  “No thanks.”

  “Wah-! Get back here!”

  Ignoring her, I was about to walk off when she grabbed my collar.

  “Why does she have such a strong grip?” I muttered to myself as she yanked me back.

  “Why do you wanna duel me so badly?”

  Ignoring my annoyed expression, Julia pointed her finger at me confidently.

  “It’s simple! If I beat you in a duel, my sister will finally realize just how low you are and return to my side as a royal elite!”

  “What makes you think that’ll happen?”

  “Why, because there’s no other outcome of course!”

  Just how delusional was this girl?

  Rubbing my eyes, I decided this was too much of a pain and tried leaving again.

  “Hey! Stop walking away coward! Are you really that chicken that you’d run away from a duel!?”

  “Call me a chicken if you want. All a duel between us would do is give me the chance to pound…you…into the…ground. Wait a minute.”

  An idea suddenly popped into my head and a grin grew onto my face.

  “Actually, a duel sounds like a good idea. What time and place?”

  Julia gasped in surprise.

  “You…You’ll actually duel me!?”

  “Sure. I’m feeling generous.”

  Julia looked the most excited she’d ever been.

  “Yeeeess!”

  Actually, maybe she was a little too excited.

  A few hours later, the two of us stood out in a stadium I had grown all too familiar with since I started school.

  I was currently wearing the familiar outfit I’d worn every time I’d done a duel, while Julia wore dark purple shorts, a bright white t-shirt, as well as a breastplate, and some metal shoulder pads.

  There wasn’t anyone else around since this wasn’t some big publicized event. However, there was still a referee there to watch over us.

  Mrs.Rashion, who agreed to be the referee for our duel, Stayed off to the side and explained the rules.

  “This will be a one-on-one magic duel. The first person to either surrender or get knocked out loses. Are you both okay with these terms?”

  “Of course!” Julia shouted. I nodded in agreement.

  “Very well. Ready…set…and begin!”

  “I call onto the winds to boost my speed to a grander scale. Wind Step!”

  Upon finishing that chant, wind magic appeared to flow into Julia’s feet and she shot straight at me.

  “Take this, you sister stealer!”

  Sister stealer? That’s a new one.

  Without saying a word, I easily stepped aside.

  Digging her feet into the ground, Julia spun around and changed her direction to face me before charging once more.

  “Using the momentum from your charge to change directions? Impressive.”

  That wasn’t sarcasm. It took me almost two years to perfect the technique myself. She’s probably had a lot of training if she’s able to use such a move at her age. Still, I’d like to see a bit more of what she’s capable of before pounding her into the ground.

  Dodging her once more, I followed her movement as she held out her arm.

  “Bring thy flames down to my side. Flame Burst!”

  As she finished saying her chant, a puff of orange smoke shot towards me.

  The minute it finished collecting itself, the smoke exploded and transformed into flames that flew directly at me.

  “Ha! And that’s just a piece of what I’m made of! Let this be a lesson to you, you...”

  Before she could finish her insult, the flames blew right past me. All while I was surrounded by a wind shield.

  “What’s with that cocky attitude? You haven’t even managed to scratch me yet.”

  Julia stared at me dumbfounded for a moment before growling in frustration.

  “I call onto the winds to boost my speed to a grander scale. Wind Step!”

  Pushing wind into her feet once more, she easily ran across the arena.

  Making sure she was always within my vision, I decided to see what else she might be capable of.

  “Is this the best you got? Talk about pathetic. I had a harder time getting my lunch today than fighting you.”

  “Grr! You asshole!”

  “Wow. Is a princess like you allowed to swear? I thought you’d be more polite than the commoners beneath you, but I guess I was wrong.”

  “RAAAH!!”

  Looks like my words are getting to her. Good.

  Leaping at me, Julia began to chant and her foot began to glow bright.

  “Oh lords let my kick pierce my enemies and protect my allies! Heavens Stomp!”

  Heavens stomp? It looks more like your foot's burning to me.

  Seeing her falling down at me, I was ready to take the impact when I noticed her stance as she fell.

  Disappointed, I let out a sigh.

  “That’s enough.”

  Holding out my hand, a ball of water instantly crashed down onto Julia.

  “Wah-!?”

  She instantly lost momentum and started falling toward the ground.

  Right before she did, however, I used a wind spell to slow down her descent before laying her gently on the ground.

  Instantly jumping up, Julia glared at me.

  “What the heck was that for!?”

  “Uh…One, it’s a duel. And two, just how stupid can you be?”

  “Wha-!? Who are you calling stupid!?”

  “You! Just what were you thinking when you did that move just now!?”

  “I was just trying to win!”

  “Just trying to win? Is winning really worth breaking your leg over?”

  “What are you talking about!?”

  I rubbed my eyes.

  “That move you were about to do. With the way you were doing it, you might as well be asking for me to jump out of the way and let you smash your leg into the ground. This is a duel. Not a war. You don’t need to make risky moves like that.”

  “What? But…if you knew dodging would put me at risk then why didn’t you just take the hit!?”

  “What kind of idiot would take the hit!? Just how stupid can you be!?”

  I felt like I was gonna get a headache from all this girl's stupidity.

  “How dare you call a princess stupid you je-!”

  BONK!

  Feeling too exhausted to deal with her anymore, I gave her a quick bonk on the head and it knocked her out instantly.

  As she collapsed to the ground, I turned to Mrs.Rashion.

  “Can you give your verdict now?”

  “Er…Yes. Of course.”

  Signaling the end of the battle, Mrs.Rashion announced the result.

  “Julia Riosha has been knocked unconscious! This winner is Axel Savoncho!”

  No one else was there at the stadium, but if there was, there would no doubt be booing that I won yet another duel with ease.

  I glared down at Julia who looked completely dazed.

  “Geez. I thought this would be a fun way to get back at you for all the unneeded frustration you gave me, but this whole duel just made me even more frustrated. What a waste of time.”

  Leaving Julia behind, I went off to talk with Mrs.Rashion while Julia laid on the ground.

  Since I had the chance, I decided to question Mrs.Rashion about Vey’s transfer. In response to my questioning, Mrs.Rashion shook her head.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  “I’m truly sorry to hear about what happened with Miss Vey. If I’m to be honest, my hope was transferring her over would give the young squires in the royal classes a chance to understand commoners better and close the gap between the two of them. If you’d like, I can transfer Vey back to her old classes as soon as tomorrow.”

  “I appreciate it. However, according to Vey, she wasn’t told about this transfer beforehand. Why was that?”

  “Hm? I was informed she knew about the transfer.”

  Huh? What did she say?

  “Really? By who?” I decided to ask.

  As I heard her answer to that question, my blood immediately started to boil.

  “Mr. Ariyama.”

  “Disappointing. I had hoped he would’ve caused an incident, but I guess this boy is smarter than he looks,” muttered Mr. Ariyama as he read the report about Savoncho’s squire and the ones bullying her.

  He had planned for Savoncho to go off his rocker and cause an issue that would result in getting him expelled. But Savoncho handled it a lot better than Mr. Ariyama thought and thus the plan failed.

  “And after I worked so hard to convince that idiot of a teacher to transfer her over to the royal squire class too. What a shame.”

  Putting down the report, Mr. Ariyama leaned back in his chair.

  “I guess I have no choice. As worrisome as that boy is, I’ll have to put him off for now. After all, the main plan will be going into motion soon enough.”

  A creepy smile spread across Mr. Ariyama’s face as he glanced at the side of his desk where a photo sat of Haiko looking into the camera with a blank expression on her face.

  “I look forward to working with you again…Haiko.”

  Dammit. So Haiko’s dad is the one behind the thing with Vey. What a pain," I muttered while scratching the back of my head and making my way through the school building toward the disciplinary committee office.

  As boring as it is, I’m now required to fill out a report regarding my duel with Julia. Though, it was less of a duel and more of a show of stupidity if you ask me. And with how little she took my words to heart, I’m honestly starting to respect all the teachers from my old world and how they managed to put up with someone like me during my time at school.

  Well anyway, the best thing for me right now is to get this report done and over with.

  Pushing open the door, I walked into the room to find the only one sitting inside was Talia.

  Ignoring her, I walked over to my desk and began filling out the report.

  As I worked, I noticed Talia was keeping her eye on me for some reason.

  “May I help you?” I asked in a bored tone.

  “What’s with that attitude toward your superior?”

  I let out a frustrated sigh. She really got on my nerves.

  “Just leave me be.”

  Deciding to ignore her, I returned to my work. Or at least I wanted to, but Talia instantly went back to eyeing me.

  “Can you just explain what you want alre-?” I tried asking. However...

  “So…You know everything now huh?”

  “Hm?”

  Cutting me off, Talia said something rather strange.

  “What’re you talking about?”

  “I’m referring to the thing with Haiko and her past. Does that clear it up?”

  She sounded rather annoyed.

  “Oh. Yeah, I guess I do.”

  How did she know that? Was she listening in during that conversation? That would explain her standing there when I left the student council office after Haiko spilled her past to me.

  Judging by Talia’s face, she wasn’t happy to hear my answer.

  “I just don't get it. You’re nothing but a jerk, womanizer, and commoner. Why does Haiko seem like she’s so comfortable around you?”

  Okay. Where the hell are people getting womanizer? I’ve been called that a few times at this point and I’m lost as to why. I’ve been completely loyal to Xara and only Xara. I haven’t tried to make a move on a single other woman. So why am I being called a womanizer? Does that word have a different meaning in this world or something?

  I couldn’t help but let out a small sigh as I realized it’d be pointless to think about this any further.

  Shrugging in response to Talia’s question, I leaned back in my chair.

  “Beat’s me. But if she thinks she can talk to me about her problems, then I’m fine with listening.”

  Talia stared at me dumbfounded.

  “How can you act so casually about her feelings after learning about her past?”

  I shrugged once more.

  “Let’s just say I’m quite familiar with stories like hers.”

  Talia stared at me dumbfounded once more.

  “You’re one strange person you know that?”

  “Meh. It’s better to be strange than weird.”

  “Um…Aren't those the same thing?”

  “...”

  “Hey don’t just ignore my question and go back to work!”

  Doing exactly that, I worked my way through the rest of the report and put it on Tailia's desk.

  “Anyway, I gotta get going now. I’m supposed to go meet my girlfriend at the front gate. See ya.”

  Without another word, I left the room.

  After Axel left, Talia just stared at the door at a complete loss. A moment later, she slammed her fist on her desk.

  “That damn jerk! I knew commoners were rude but he’s on a completely different level! Just what kind of a household did he have to be raised in to have that kind of attitude!?”

  Talia was still at a complete loss as to why Haiko had grown fond of this boy.

  “Just what do you see in this jerk Haiko?” Talia muttered to herself as she rubbed her eyes.

  She knew it wasn’t anything romantic, but Haiko herself had told Talia a few times now that there was something unique about the boy named Axel Savoncho and Haiko wanted to gain a better understanding of him for her and the school’s benefit.

  However, it still irked Talia how casually the man spoke with not just students, but teachers and higher authorities as well. It was like he didn’t care what power you might hold or what you could do, he just treated everyone equally.

  This frustrated Talia so much, she wanted to beat him to a pulp just to make sure he knew his place. But sadly, she was all too aware of how weak she was in comparison to his abilities.

  According to some tests that several officials ran on Savoncho after his reemergence from the school’s dungeon, the boy now possessed the abilities you’d normally only see from a student who'd have been at this school for a fairly long time. Add that onto his strange ability to cast magic without a chant, as well as his capability to use magic even within a magic-blocking barrier and it made him quite the formidable opponent.

  Finding herself letting out a frustrated sigh, Talia looked toward the ceiling as she continued questioning the oddity that was Axel Savoncho.

  Leaving the school building, I saw Xara at the entrance waving to me.

  I waved back and the two of us began making our way down to the town below.

  We were having our first real date in a long time.

  While we had gone on many lunch dates in the past, it was rare we ever got to go on a real date.

  As such, I finished all my reports and work as fast as I could in order to meet her at the front gate and the two of us decided to spend the day walking around town.

  Picking up some food from some food stalls, the two of us talked while eating on a bench.

  We mostly discussed small unimportant things like what we thought the weather would be like tomorrow, or what our favorite season was. However, right as I was eating my hot dog, Xara dropped a bomb on me.

  “Oh yeah. My parents said they wanted to meet you, Axel.”

  “Hrgh!?”

  I nearly choked on my hot dog and had to take a gulp of the water from the cup at my side before managing to recover.

  “Y…You don’t say?”

  I tried my best to act cool, but it was probably all too clear I was taken aback since Xara gave me a look of concern.

  “Do you…hate the idea?”

  “Er…No no. I was just surprised that’s all.”

  Trying to ease her worries, I shook my head showing it was no concern. We’d talked about meeting with her family before, but I never thought we’d bring it up in the middle of a date. Even so, I knew I couldn’t stall for much longer. So with a sigh, I decided to ask a few more things while I focused and recollected myself.

  “I’d be fine with meeting your parents. However, are they okay with meeting someone like me? I’m a commoner after all.”

  Even if Xara accepted me, there was still the off chance that her parents looked down on commoners.

  And if they decided to mock me or treat me like crap, I couldn’t guarantee I wouldn’t pound their faces in.

  And if I did that, it could risk my and Xara’s relationship being destroyed.

  That means if they didn’t accept me, everything between me and Xara would go down the drain. Not exactly a nice thing to think about.

  Xara shook her head in response to my question.

  “Don’t worry. They’re perfectly fine with it. It’s no problem at all.”

  “Really? Well if you say so.”

  I guess if Xara says it’s okay then it should be fine.

  Even so, there’s still part of me concerned about meeting with her parents. But perhaps it’s best to put off such concerns until the time comes.

  Moving past that topic for now, the two of us continued chatting for a few more minutes before getting up and continuing to walk around town.

  As the sun started to set, I was about to suggest we head back when Xara suddenly grabbed my arm.

  “Hm? What’s up?”

  Instead of answering my question, Xara spread her wings and flew up into the sky.

  “Whoa!”

  Confused, I turned my head toward Xara as she continued soaring through the air.

  Not sure what to do, I let her drag me along until I noticed something off in the distance.

  “Isn’t that-?”

  As if reading my thoughts, Xara nodded.

  A minute late, we arrived at an all too familiar spot. The bell tower where Xara confessed to me.

  It’s normally the spot she’d confess to the protagonist, but things are different this time around.

  Placing me down on top of the bell tower, Xara landed in front of me and retracted her wings before smiling awkwardly.

  “Sorry. I was just in a rush to get here. I didn’t wanna miss it.”

  “Miss it?”

  Xara nodded and pointed behind me.

  Turning around, I felt my eyes widen as I stared at the site.

  “Whoa…”

  I had completely forgotten about this site because I’d been so focused on Xara at the time, but this really was an incredible sight to see.

  As we stood on the tower, we looked out at the sun as it began setting. It created a blue-ish purple hue that shined just bright enough to make the mountains in front of it sparkle. It looked even more majestic in real life than it did in the CG.

  I felt mesmerized while I watched the sight until I felt something touch my hand.

  Looking down, I saw Xara had grabbed hold and was clenching my hand tightly.

  “This was the spot where you first shot me down. It’s kinda awkward when I think back on it.”

  “Er…Yeah. It probably is.”

  Xara chuckled as I used my free hand to scratch the back of my head and my face grew hot with embarrassment.

  “However, despite that harsh memory, this still remains my favorite spot in the entire town. And I’m happy I get to share it with you.”

  “Ehehe. Thanks.”

  Dammit, this was so embarrassing to hear. Was this how the MC felt when he talked with Xara in the game? How did he manage to keep himself from fainting from the embarrassment!?

  “Also…”

  “Hm?”

  Before I had time to react, Xara pulled on my arm and gave me a quick peck on the lips before stepping back and grinning.

  “I’m glad I met you. You’ve shown me what I had to do to grow as a person and even managed to chase away the demons I kept locked within myself. After all that, how can I not help but feel the way I do?”

  I felt like I wanted to say something in response to that, but no matter what I thought of saying, they never sounded like the right words. Thus, I kept my mouth shut.

  Leaning up close to me, Xara kissed me on the lips once more as she wrapped her arms around my chest and embraced me in a hug.

  “I mean it when I say this. I love you, Axel. I wanna spend the rest of my life with you. I wanna get married to you, have children with you, grow old with you. You mean everything to me. Oh but don’t worry. I’m not gonna get overly clingy with you.”

  Xara grinned happily as she continued hugging me tightly.

  Still feeling slightly embarrassed, I returned her hug.

  “I feel the same Xara. I love you and I don’t ever want to lose you.”

  Those were my honest feelings. I don’t know when I started thinking like this, but it’s been my mindset for quite some time. And I planned to follow this mindset to the day I die.

  Xara’s cheeks grew a light pink as her smile grew even wider.

  "....Mom...Dad....Why...?"

  "Kid...I'm sorry. This was the only thing that wasn't damaged."

  ".....Family...."

  As we hugged, memories flashed through my mind. Horrible memories that I'd tried to forget. Causing me to let go of Xara.

  "C-Come. Let's get back," I said. Trying to focus my attention on Xara in order to chase those memories away.

  In response to my words, Xara nodded her head and we returned to the school

  All the while I had tried to hold this terrible feeling deep inside me. Trying to ignore its existence.