Chapter 30
“Gideon is a rather peculiar student who uses an extremely defensive swordsmanship style. And I can assure you—there’s not a single student in this Empire, no, at least among the Academy students of the Empire, who could break through his swordsmanship.”
“I’ve heard rumors about him too. A white-haired boy from an unknown baron family, right?”
“Yes, that’s correct.”
“But Luke, can a student who uses such an extremely defensive swordsmanship actually win against students from other academies?”
“To be honest, I can’t guarantee victory. However, I can guarantee that he won’t lose.”
At Luke’s words, the teachers in the meeting room murmured once again.
Then, one of the teachers stood up from their seat.
“Luke, to be honest, I can’t understand that decision at all.”
“Yes, and I fully understand that you can’t understand it, Ellie.”
Luke gave a faint smile as he replied to the female teacher, Ellie Mizok, the spear instructor of Lysquare Academy.
Ellie shot Luke a slight glare and continued.
“It doesn’t make sense. The most important thing in the Inter-Academy Competition is winning. Yet you’re saying you’ll send out a student who can’t guarantee a win?”
“I’ll make him into a student who can win. The competition’s in September anyway. We’ve got a little over half a year left—plenty of time.”
Luke’s tone showed he had expected this kind of question.
“I’ll say this again. Gideon is a student with an incredibly high base level—one who won’t lose. As long as I train him well enough to secure victory, the competition won’t be an issue.”
“Luke. We placed second last year, so we have to win first place this time, got it? If we lose the top spot because of the student you picked—”
Ellie Mizok, seemingly agitated, forgot she was in a formal meeting and dropped her tone.
“That won’t happen, I can assure you of that right here. And besides, shouldn’t you be more worried about that than me, Ellie? If we’re being honest, the reason we ended up in second place last year was because of your strategy…”
“Hey! That wasn’t my fault either! The other academies all ganged up on us—!”
“I’m joking. Don’t get too worked up.”
At Luke’s words, Ellie took a deep breath and glared at him.
“Phew… Fine. But I still don’t get it. We’ve got so many students from prestigious swordsmanship families in our academy.”
“That’s true.”
“Merciless Bonscora, Swift Blade Hawkbat, One-Strike Balmuth. And even the Lady of the Isrinbloom Ducal Family, who’s the strongest in sword duels…”
“The one who defeated that Lady of the Isrinbloom Family was Gideon.”
“Ah, right. That’s true.”
Ellie was lost for words and soon sat back down, as if she had nothing left to argue.
Luke then turned his head toward Headmaster Dilug.
“Headmaster, what are your thoughts on sending Gideon as our academy’s swordsmanship representative for the upcoming Inter-Academy Competition?”
“The representative selection continues until the summer break. Think it through carefully until then, Luke. Whoever you choose, I’ll respect your decision.”
“Understood.”
“Then let’s end this topic here and move on to the next agenda.”
Dilug turned to his secretary beside him, who cleared his throat before speaking.
“Yes, the next matter is… a request recently submitted by the Disciplinary Committee. Along with installing new streetlights across the academy, they wish to place surveillance crystals in blind spots. I’d like to hear everyone’s opinions on this…”
And thus, the teachers’ meeting continued.
Meanwhile, rumors about Gideon were spreading throughout the academy.
【 Kara Barha 】
“Is that him?”
“Yeah, the white-haired guy.”
Ugh… this is getting uncomfortable.
Ever since last night, every time I walked by, students had been whispering about me.
And this morning, when I came to the cafeteria early as usual, the few students who were already eating all seemed to be staring in my direction.
“Wasn’t he the new first-year Disciplinary Committee member?”
“Yeah, that’s him. I heard Mr. Luke said yesterday that he’ll be our swordsmanship representative for the Inter-Academy Competition.”
“They say he beat Mr. Luke in a duel yesterday.”
“What? No way. Seriously?”
“Eh, not exactly. Apparently, it ended in a draw. Mr. Luke supposedly gave up trying to knock him down.”
“A draw? But if he managed to draw against that Sword Expert…”
“By the way, what’s his name again?”
“Uh, good question. What was it?”
“Hmm… wasn’t it Gideon Kyrgram?”
“Huh? Never heard of that family before.”
It wasn’t like I enjoyed eavesdropping on others’ conversations.
But in the cafeteria, those conversations carried quite well, even from afar.
‘If you’re gonna talk behind someone’s back, at least lower your voices.’
I sighed inwardly, pretending not to hear a thing.
Still, no matter how hard I tried to ignore it, I couldn’t completely block out all the stares directed at me.
I’d known that I’d get attention once I started walking down the path to success—but I hadn’t expected it to happen this soon.
‘Well, I guess it’s inevitable. The academy’s swordsmanship representative is bound to attract attention.’
The Inter-Academy Competition was a grand event where every academy in the Empire participated once a year.
It was a tournament where students competed in various fields, their performances tallied into a total score to determine rankings.
Lysquare Academy had held the first-place spot for many years in that competition…
‘Until last year, when they ended up in second place.’
Sure, second place was still an achievement, but for an academy used to being first, that single drop felt like humiliation. So this year, Lysquare Academy was hell-bent on reclaiming its title.
And in the middle of that atmosphere, I was the one chosen as the swordsmanship representative…
‘This is seriously stressful.’
If I slipped up even once during the competition, I’d probably have to live under awkward stares until next year’s event.
Of course, it could also serve as an opportunity.
In the game, there had been routes for winning the Inter-Academy Competition once, twice in a row, and even three times consecutively.
Winning the tournament was a huge achievement—and just that alone could pave a smooth path toward the future I wanted.
‘But the risk is too high.’
The Inter-Academy Competition victory route was the textbook definition of high risk, high return.
Because the moment you failed to take first place, the repercussions were massive.
In a game, I could just reload and try again—but this world was my reality now.
No retries.
‘Let’s play it safe.’
Rather than chasing a high return while shouldering unnecessary risks, it was better to build up steady, stable progress, even if the returns were smaller.
Besides, I was already advancing smoothly along the Disciplinary Committee route, so there was no need to gamble recklessly.
Even if the entire academy already considered me the swordsmanship representative… well, time would pass, and people would forget.
Or so I thought—until…
“Gideon, I heard the news! You’re going to be the swordsmanship representative for the Inter-Academy Competition, right?”
As soon as I stepped into the classroom early that morning, the Princess of the Empire greeted me with that very question.
All I could do was let out a dry laugh.
“Nothing’s been decided yet.”
“Huh? What do you mean? I heard that Luke told you to participate.”
“Yes, that’s true, but that doesn’t mean I’ve been officially confirmed as the representative.”
I gave Layla a brief explanation and glossed over it.
Then, later that day during lunch, I happened to run into Lisa in the cafeteria...
“I heard the rumors, Gideon. You’re going to be our academy’s swordsmanship representative for the Inter-Academy Competition, right? Congratulations.”
“Ha… that’s not quite it, Lady Lisa.”
Even Lisa reacted like that.
Everyone seemed to have already decided in their minds that I was the swordsmanship representative for the competition.
At this point, wouldn’t not participating almost feel rude?
‘I didn’t expect things to turn out like this. Of course, if I said I didn’t want to go, Luke wouldn’t force me… but still.’
Now that it had come to this, it was something worth seriously considering.
If I won the Inter-Academy Competition, becoming a knight would be much easier.
No—just having a championship title would open doors to all sorts of opportunities beyond knighthood.
‘It’s risky, but the return’s guaranteed. Besides… it already feels like a done deal anyway.’
It hadn’t even been that long since I’d transmigrated into this world, and yet I already felt like some kind of celebrity.
I couldn’t tell whether all this attention was good or bad.
After mulling over various thoughts while eating lunch, I headed straight to my afternoon class.
And there, I realized that not everyone agreed with me becoming the swordsmanship representative.
“Fight me, Kyrgram.”
“…Excuse me?”
“Let’s duel. I’ll show everyone that I’m better than you.”
During the break in Swordsmanship Class.
Sara had come up to me, sword already drawn.
“I can’t accept you being the representative. My family has always been the strongest in one-on-one duels, and it’s always been someone from our house who competed in the tournament. For me to lose that position to someone like you—”
“Then please, go in my place.”
“…What?”
“I said, you can go in my place for the competition. I don’t mind.”
Yeah, honestly, that’d make things easier for me.
If Sara insisted on representing the academy, I could just step back peacefully and focus on progressing through the Disciplinary Committee route.
‘Though, if I remember right, when Sara competed before… didn’t she only manage third or fourth place?’
My memory was fuzzy, but it wasn’t my concern anyway.
If she wanted to go instead, I was perfectly fine with that.
But for some reason, Sara looked even more furious after hearing my answer.
“Kyrgram… you treat what I take seriously as if it’s nothing. As if it’s beneath you. How arrogant.”
…What was I supposed to do with that?
I wanted to ask, So what do you expect me to do, then? but held my tongue.
I didn’t want to provoke her further and deal with her temper flaring up again.
Still, from the look of things, I had a feeling I’d have to face her in another duel sooner or later.
“Draw your sword, Kyrgram. I don’t want to be given that spot—I’ll take it from you with my own skill—”
“You really think you can take it?”
“Hmm? Luke— I mean, Instructor?”
Without me realizing it, Luke had approached, pressing down Sara’s sword tip with a wry smile.
At his touch, Sara hesitated briefly before sheathing her sword.
“Seems like you’ve got a lot of complaints about my decision, huh?”
“…You already know, Instructor. The Isrinbloom Family has always been the swordsmanship representative in the competition. If I’m the only one who doesn’t go…”
“I understand your situation. But no matter how I look at it, Gideon seems more suited for this year’s competition than you.”
“Then let me prove it right here. If I beat him—”
“You really think you can break through a defense I couldn’t?”
Luke’s question made Sara pause for a moment.
Still, she answered confidently.
“In the competition, it’s not just swordsmanship that matters. We use Aura, magic, and even the power of spirits. If I use both Aura and magic, breaking through Kyrgram’s defense won’t be a problem.”
“You’re right, I can’t deny that. If you fight with everything you’ve got—not just swordsmanship—you might indeed be able to crack Gideon’s defense. But remember, there’s still over half a year until the competition.”
Luke glanced at me with a faint smile.
“And who knows how much stronger Gideon will become in that time, right?”
“If I fight seriously, that arrogant bastard won’t be a problem at all.”
Sara shot me a glare, then turned back to Luke.
“So, it’s not officially decided who’ll be the swordsmanship representative yet, right?”
“We discussed it during the faculty meeting. The decision will be made after the final exams. Gideon is the top candidate for now, but if another student shows remarkable growth before then… I might reconsider.”
“There’s no need to wait until finals. During the midterms, I’ll make it clear why I deserve to be the representative.”
With that, Sara turned and walked away.
From the corner of my eye, I noticed Jason sighing from a distance, muttering something like, “There she goes again…”
“You get the gist of the situation, right?”
Luke said as he watched Sara leave.
“You don’t seem particularly interested in being the representative, but… still, think about it. Competing in the tournament isn’t exactly a bad experience.”
“Yes, I’ll give it some thought.”
“Good. And even if you don’t plan to compete, make sure you keep improving. Personally, I have very high expectations for your potential.”
“Then I’ll have to make sure I don’t disappoint you.”
After answering casually, I looked over at Sara, who had returned to her seat.
Something told me the upcoming midterms next month wouldn’t be easy.