That was pretty bad. I sucked in a breath through my teeth without even realizing it, and Cyril had punched a wall. I could hear him murmuring, “That sorry excuse for an aristocrat…,” under his breath with a voice that sounded like it’d rumbled in from the depths of hell.
“I see. Guess we can’t stick our noses into this seein’ as that’s how it is. Honestly, doesn’t look like she’s doin’ too hot.”
“You know how Bernhart’s been acting a little odd for the last week or two? It’s like he doesn’t know when to stop talking, and he’s been way more aggressive lately…”
“Ain’t he always like that? ’Sides, it’s not like I keep track of everything Bernhart does or says. I’m annoyed the sleazebag takes up any of my memory, personally.”
“I wonder if being selected to take part in the summons festival is what’s gotten him into this mood, then…?”
Myfila had taken my wet books from me, so I crossed my free arms. Then I started grumbling to myself, “Julietta…you can’t hit him head-on. Overpower ’im with speed, and you gotta aim for the caster… Wait, no, this isn’t the time for that.”
Next to me, Lulua giggled.
“It’s hard not to want to intervene, isn’t it?”
“Bernhart’s water elemental’s pretty powerful, but he’s fulla openings. I’ve never seen an easier opponent in a duel. I’ve seen her let too many perfect opportunities slip by, and it’s got me worked up.”
“Well, aren’t you the harsh critic? Don’t you think it’s unfair of you to expect Julietta’s combat skills to match your level when you’re the best of the first-years at making use of your summons and extempores?”
“Still, who’d think that bulldozin’ their way through relyin’ on their summons’ natural skills would cut it?”
“You have a point. Until she can get close to the elemental, Julietta won’t have a chance of winning.”
“She’ll get worn down. Bernhart’s gonna toy with her right up to the end, and that’ll be it.”
Since the redhead, Julietta, was fighting to defend her and her mom’s honor, it’d be a real faux pas to help out. Even if one of her harpies took a direct hit from one of those orbs and the knight—the elemental, that is—trampled the harpy when she fell to the ground.
“One down!! You see that?!! I’m the greatest!!”
Bernhart’s voice grated on the ears when he threw out his hands and shouted at the ceiling, but that still wasn’t a good enough reason to join the fight. Only thing I could do was impatiently watch him and his cruel harpy hunt.
“You see that, Julietta?! This is what you get for saying no to me!”
He’d waited until the moment the harpies worked up a gust of wind again to serve up another orb at one of them. After the orbs hit the hard walls of the classroom, the water elemental calmly walked to the harpy and grabbed her torso with his left hand.
“Let go of Olupeia!”
As the harpy let out a heart-wrenching scream, Julietta unleashed a blade of air.
That water spirit didn’t so much as flinch as the offensive spell hit him directly. His shoulder was gouged out, but it recovered like a pebble dropped in water.
“Not gonna work!”
Bernhart’s electricity spell tore through the ground, leaving a path of destruction in its wake as it grazed by Julietta. She let out a curtailed scream as she was sent flying, but she couldn’t catch herself in time and tumbled across the lecture hall’s floor.
“I never wanted to hurt you, Julietta. But this is what happens when you don’t listen to me.”
As Bernhart grinned, the water spirit joined his side, still holding the limp harpy. He looked up at the captured summon, then spat on the classroom floor. “Pretty face, but I could do without the bird legs…
“Hey, Julietta, I heard these harpies are all about lust. And they’re your Counterparts, huh? Bet you got a lot in common.”
Julietta shook as she somehow managed to get up.
Her hurt pride pained me, but that had been Bernhart’s target of joy. He laughed—crudely and for a long while.
“If you become mine, that’s your ticket to going up in life! Then you won’t be stuck with a small-dicked pauper the rest of your life, like that Feil Fonaf!”
Then I finally had my laugh.
“Now you’ve said it, Bernhart. Expected as much,” I murmured, then leaped out without a second thought.
I extempored a gigantic grasshopper that was three mejals tall, jumped onto its head, and cut into the one-on-one battle. The grasshopper made for a grand entrance as it landed right between Julietta and Bernhart. Its legs cracked apart the floor under it.
I looked down at Bernhart from its head.
“Hey, Bernhart.”
Bernhart only looked at me like a pigeon that’d been hit with a peashooter. It was like he couldn’t process why I’d come out here or why I was grinning.
“Pretty plucky of you to insult me right after Julietta.”
Julietta, who’d staggered to stand up behind me, begged, “S-stop, Feil, I’m fighting him to defend my honor.”
“Keep it down, Julietta. He dragged my name into this and said I’ve got a small dick. I ain’t gonna keep quiet and let ’im keep yappin’,” I said, ignoring her.
Then I heard someone burst out laughing on the topmost level of the lecture hall, filling the whole place with rambunctious cackling. “Ah-ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!” Lulua was holding her stomach, pointing and snickering at me.
“Right! If you let him make fun of you, that’d be an attack on your honor as a man!”
From next to her, Cyril was disturbingly egging me on with a “You can kill him, you know! It’s supposed to be an honor for aristocrats to die in a duel!”
It wasn’t just the two of them, either.
The other students who’d been watching the whole state of affairs started hollering when I got involved.
“It’s Feil Fonaf! Feil Fonaf’s entered the ring!”
“This is what I’ve been waiting for!”
“We knew you’re the kind of guy who gets the job done!”
“You better not lose! You’re not the only commoner with a bone to pick against that fob!”
“Please win! Help Julietta!”
“To hell with the lecture!”
Most of them were guys I’d never exchanged a word with before. And there was a girl I’d sometimes nod at when we passed by each other in the halls. When those guys started cheering for me…well, that made Bernhart fly off the handle.