“What—”
A crunching noise echoed throughout the auditorium.
“What shallow—”
The shoe in Kaltinas’s mouth was crushed between his teeth. Pieces of shoe fell onto the podium floor.
“What a shallow and insolent ruler! Do you know what will happen to you and your world if you defy us?!”
“Bwa ha ha ha!” Eldmed burst out laughing at the Immovable King’s rage. “Stale, cliché, and mediocre. Are you perhaps an incarnation of antique mold? Your stock phrases are older than a weathered fossil—by the time I was born, I’d already heard them a million times. Our ruler claims your head is light enough to float away, but from where I’m standing, it seems more like your head’s sunk so low that your brain’s lacking oxygen.”
Kaltinas’s raised hair bristled even further at Eldmed’s taunts. He snarled, baring his fangs— Oh, so he was a demon. His hair was just differently colored to the demons’ of Militia’s World.
“Have you left your subjects completely undisciplined?!” Kaltinas spat at me. “We have shown you the mercy of allowing you to lower your head in remorse, yet you return favor with spite! You’re all arrogant and insolent, each and every one of you! There will be no second chances from here, do you realize that?”
“Is that all you have to say? Tremble in fear, excitement, and delight, Immovable King Kaltinas.” Eldmed grinned, adding fuel to the fire. He spread his arms dramatically. “For you will be the first person in the Sacred Silverwater Sea to experience the devastation of the Demon King of Tyranny!”
I expected the Immovable King to show even more anger, but for some reason, he just looked confused.
“Demon King...?” he asked, looking at me with a mocking smile. “Surely you’re not saying that this man—your ruler—calls himself a Demon King.”
“So what if I do?” I asked.
Kaltinas burst into laughter.
“Wa ha ha ha ha ha! A misfit from an ephemeral world, proclaiming himself a Demon King! The pinnacle of ignorance is indeed pure comedy. Oh, how nice it must be to feel no fear!”
He clutched his stomach and laughed so hard, he was about to topple over. The other students were also snickering among themselves and shaking their heads in mirth.
That being said, this was taking a while. I had replaced my shoe and he was still laughing.
“Are you trying to laugh yourself to death?” I asked.
“Wa ha ha! Apologies. You’re just so comical to us, you see. Well, we suppose that can’t be helped, coming from an ephemeral world and all. Pfft...ha ha...”
He clearly had no intention of explaining himself. I looked over at Ottolulu.
“‘Demon King’ is a title that gathers great reverence across the Sacred Silverwater Sea,” she explained in a businesslike tone. “The Great Demon King Zinia Shivaheld is the supreme master of sorcery, the first to reach the abyss of magic in the silver seas, and the ruler of twelve deep-level worlds. Demon King is also the title given to the six candidates eligible to be his successor.”
That explained why Ottolulu and the gatekeepers had reacted to the name of the Demon King Academy the way they did.
“There are many deep-level worlds who haven’t joined Pablohetra because they prefer conflict. But even those savage rulers avoid the territory of the Demon Kings. There are several ‘Inviolable Waters’ in the seas that must never be touched, and the Demon Kings are one of them.”
When Ottolulu finished her explanation, Kaltinas had finished laughing and was grinning with sadistic glee.
“Get it now? A misfit from an ephemeral world claiming to be a Demon King is as good as declaring war on all twelve worlds ruled by the Great Demon King,” he said triumphantly. “Wa ha ha! Scared now, aren’t you? That’s only natural. We’re telling you this for your own good. Now that you’ve reached the Sacred Silverwater Sea, rename yourself. Why don’t we give you a new name worthy of you, hmm? Let’s see.”
He made a show of crossing his arms in thought.
“The Foolish King. How about that? The Foolish King Anos! Wa ha ha! It’s perfect!”
“Your subjects must be extremely talented,” I said. He gave me a questioning look. “It must be such a trial to serve under a ruler like you.”
“What did you just say?!”
His hair stood on end once again in anger.
“Renaming myself for such a silly reason is too much of a bother. If this Great Demon King Zinia contacts me over my use of the title, so be it. I’d love to see what abyss magic looks like anyway,” I said.
The Immovable King scoffed. “Arrogant to the end, aren’t you? We’ll see how long that attitude lasts. We’ve seen countless newbies like you, and in the end, they all end up begging for forgiveness.”
“Hmm. That’s interesting. How so?”
Kaltinas glared at me. “Stop talking back. It’s custom in Pablohetra to resolve conflict through the Silverwater Ranking Skirmish. We won’t let you get away with such cheek.”
“Very well. Challenge away.”
“Hmph,” he snorted. “Ottolulu, arbitrate.”
“Pablohetra Academy Treaty, Article 3: All conflict between academies shall be resolved through the results of the Silverwater Ranking Skirmish. The victor’s claims are recognized and the loser’s claims are discarded,” the Arbitration Goddess said in a flat tone, before releasing her magic power. “Jizett.”
A magic circle was drawn, one with a keyhole in the center. Ottolulu stuck her windup key into the hole and turned it. The spell formula was formed with every turn of the key, completing the Jizett circle on the third turn.
“With the signature of the two involved parties, the Silverwater Ranking Skirmish pact will be formed,” she said, turning to me. “Ruler Anos. You are still learning about both Pablohetra and the Silverwater Ranking Skirmish. You will have one day to sign the pact—”
She cut off. Kaltinas had grabbed the Arbitration Goddess by the neck, choking her.
“Don’t step out of line, Ottolulu. Giving advice is beyond the duties of the Arbitration Goddess.”
“I am merely explaining the order of Pablohetra—”
Kaltinas squeezed her throat further.
“Urk...”
“Speak any more and we’ll crush your throat.”
The next moment, Ottolulu turned into mist and vanished.
“Hah?”
Kaltinas’s fist clenched around thin air. He looked around the lecture hall, his Magic Eyes glinting rapidly. A short distance away from the podium, Ottolulu reappeared with Misa, who had used Fuska. I appeared beside them.
“Laying your hands on an arbitrator? You really are a lowlife,” I said.
“And you’re an ignorant fool. Very well. Learn all you want about Pablohetra. By the time you’re done, you’ll be without the will to fight us anymore—”
Kaltinas’s eyes widened. I had just signed the Jizett.
“I don’t need knowledge to take you down a peg.”
He gave me a vulgar smirk—as though this was exactly the outcome that he had wanted.
“You will regret this,” he said, signing the Jizett.
“Both parties have signed,” Ottolulu said. “Pablohetra’s Arbitration Goddess Ottolulu declares the Silverwater Ranking Skirmish between Demon King Academy and Tigrisfort Academy. The battle will commence tomorrow, at the start of the school day. The location will be the free waters of the Second Balandias World.”
Second Balandias must have been the miniature world Kaltinas owned.
“The ignorant are the first to vanish from the silver seas. Just know that if you’re going to hate anyone for what will happen, hate yourself. As the ruler of two worlds, we cannot show mercy,” he said smugly. “The lecture will now commence.”
I turned and walked away from the podium with Misa. On our way back to our seats, I could hear the voices of the other academies’ students.
“Shameless as always, isn’t he? Dragging a brand-new student into a Silverwater Ranking Skirmish right away...”
“He’s from the depths, yet he maintains a low rank so he can keep challenging lower-ranked schools.”
“Don’t underestimate the power of the Balandias Fleet. While the ruler himself isn’t anything special, his two-star fighters certainly are. A misfit from an ephemeral world doesn’t stand a chance.”
“They call him a paper tiger, all bark and no bite, but Kaltinas is cunning. The other ruler has no information on his enemy and no knowledge of Pablohetra whatsoever. Just all appearance and no substance. He has no chance of winning.”
“If he had been prudent enough to bow his head when he was told to, I would’ve helped him out. He has pride, I’ll give him that, but he won’t survive long with that kind of ignorant bravado.”
The ones who were whispering appeared to be rulers. From their murmurings, it seemed the Immovable King had a habit of picking on newcomers.
“You got into a fight the moment we got here...” Sasha grumbled as soon as I returned to my seat. Misha blinked beside her. “The deep-level worlds are much closer to the abyss than our world, right? We only have a day to prepare. What are we gonna do?”
“C’mon Sasha. Did you really want to see me lower my head to him?”
“Don’t be ridiculous,” she said curtly. Despite her initial grumbling, she hadn’t asked for anything other than my plans on winning. Shin, Eldmed, Lay, Eleonore, Arcana, and Misha too—none of my followers were daunted by the Immovable King, this ruler of a deep-level world. Even the weaker students of our school were practically trembling with excitement.
“He’ll pay for insulting our Demon King.”