Battle Race in the Fantasy World

Battle Race in the Fantasy World – 32

EP.32 Do You Think I’ll Just Let It Happen? No Way

“Has everyone gathered?”

“It seems so.”

“Good. Then let’s start the meeting.”

Within the academy, in a secretive space,

There is a group of students were holding a secret meeting.

“The recent movements of the young lady?”

“No different than usual. However, she keeps meeting with our target.”

“Is she approaching the target? What do you think her intentions are?”

“I’m not sure. To say it’s recruitment seems a bit off given their strange relationship. But to think that the lady is hostile towards him doesn’t fit either, given the frequency of their meetings. We need to investigate further.”

A male student at the head of the table responded to the female student’s report.

“I do hope it’s not recruitment. It would be quite the odd picture if Lady Elga, of all people, were to recruit someone from the lineage that dared to harm our young master.”

“That would be equal to declaring a succession dispute.”

“Exactly my point. The young master has yet to recover and rise from his seat. In this situation, our duty is to prevent such misfortunes.”

– Shh. –

He spread out the prepared documents on the table.

Most of them were papers detailing the academy’s rules and case studies of their application.

“As you all know, there’s no way to deal with that madman with force. So, there’s only one remaining method.”

The male student pointed to a document with Kyle’s name and some personal details.

“Due to a terrible accident before, Jonathan’s path to the academy was completely blocked. But somehow, a descendant of Jonathan has appeared again. It was confirmed that the recommendation letter was written by the Lord of the Northern Border.”

“If it’s a recommendation letter… even the Minister of Education couldn’t have helped it.”

At that, the other students nodded in agreement.

Unless the Emperor himself steps in to cancel that recommendation letter.

Otherwise, as a minister, he couldn’t block the admission.

“In this way, this man has entered the academy. It might seem like unpleasant news, but on the contrary, it’s an even better opportunity.”

“A better opportunity?”

“The fact that this guy named Kyle was desperate enough to use a recommendation letter as his last resort to get into the academy. And if we can destroy this last method, these barbaric ones will never set foot in the academy again.”

If Kyle is expelled from the academy, the Baron Jonathan’s family is out forever.

Unless the imperial command comes down to send the Jonathan’s offspring to the academy.

“We’ll use this to torment him. Just like they did to our young master, our prince. We’ll make his time just as miserable.”

“…Are you sure this is okay? What if he acts out, not missing a beat like that woman…?”

– Gulp. –

– Gulp. –

The sound of people swallowing their saliva could be heard from all around.

Their complexions turned pale, and some couldn’t help but tremble.

The memory is still vivid, haunting their minds.

The terrible storm that frail female student had created.

That monster who, without raising her voice, would whisper in a gentle tone and smash everything to pieces!

“…It’ll be okay. It has to be.”

Even the male student leading them was sweating profusely.

He was trying to reassure the others, but his expression lacked conviction.

He himself had been close by when that incident had occurred.

“Ahem! Ahem! As I said, it will be okay. Kyle Jonathan, this new student, is different. He’s not keeping his distance from others like that girl did, he’s trying to blend in. He hasn’t been following the seniors around picking fights either. It’s different. And that’s what we want. So, surely that can be his weakness.”

Why the bloodline of Jonathan was so desperate to come to the academy is unknown.

But one thing is certain, they were desperate enough to use the last resort of a recommendation letter.

If that’s the case, they will surely try to endure and tolerate a lot before breaking.

The students gathered here were aiming for just that.

For the second son of the Littorio Grand Ducal family, the most likely successor, their future lord.

Their grand dream was to act on his behalf and gain his trust.

“Let’s move on to the next point. If you look at these, you’ll see the academy’s rules in detail. Most are minor violations that end with a simple verbal warning or caution. But the important thing is that they all accumulate. So, we’ll take turns, continuously chipping away at that barbarian.”

“Umm… I really hope it’s safe. I’m scared of facing another Jonathan storm.”

“That’s why we mustn’t cross the line. We need to do things that are just enough to be mocked by others but not so much that the target will react seriously. We should exploit the fact that he’ll likely just brush it off.”

Hearing this, the students slowly nodded.

They must never utter the word ‘weak.’ That was a taboo deeply ingrained in them, a lesson learned the hard way.

However, the term ‘barbarian’ didn’t seem to provoke much reaction.

That girl didn’t care when she was called a barbarian to her face, after all.

Taking these things into account, they could gradually whittle down Kyle Jonathan as well.

“Remember this. When our young master, our prince, returns, we must make it so that the name Jonathan invokes laughter among the students, not fear.”

They showed a determined will over something as trivial as tormenting one person.

To an outsider, it might even look like they were plotting treason against the empire.

====

***

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– Swoosh. –

Lupin, a second-year student at the academy, looked around cautiously before moving stealthily.

While their meeting activities weren’t breaking any school rules, the very nature of the group was problematic.

They had dared to form an organization with the intent to elevate someone to the position of Grand Duke, even though Littorio had not yet officially become the successor.

It would be troublesome if they were discovered. Not just for them, but especially for the young master.

That’s why the meetings were held in secret and disbanded just as secretly.

And they must maintain secrecy until they return to their respective places.

“Ugh!”

Lupin, who was just turning a corner, was suddenly flung away with a single scream.

He rolled on the floor twice before he could finally stop.

It felt like he had been hit by a rolling boulder, he thought his shoulder was dislocated.

“Ah, I’m sorry. Are you okay?”

It hurt so much he felt like crying, and he wanted to scream.

But with his noble pride, he couldn’t bring himself to do it and just clenched his teeth instead.

“Where on earth was your mind…?”

“I’m really sorry. You suddenly came out as I was turning the corner.”

The voice apologizing didn’t sound very apologetic.

Feeling this, Lupin tried to see the face of the person who had bumped into him.

“…Huh?”

‘Wait a minute. Isn’t this face the same as the one I saw in the documents earlier?’

“Kyle Jonathan?”

“Yeah. You know me.”

The barbarian from the North, the second son of Jonathan, the monster who had somehow managed to enter the academy.

A person they must embarrass for the sake of their young master.

And now, this very person had inflicted great pain on him.

Naturally, anger that wasn’t there before began to rise.

Lupin’s mind started to race quickly.

If he openly provoked him, he might be the one to explode first.

Within the limits, in a way that Kyle can tolerate, that’s how it must be done.

“Huff…”

First, he let out a sigh to indicate that he was properly annoyed.

“Junior.”

‘You’re a freshman, I’m a second-year.’

He subtly reminds him of this difference with that word.

“Be careful. Don’t they teach you to look around the corner in your family?”

Translated, it means something like, “Jonathan must be barbarians if they don’t even teach you this.”

A question that already contains what he wants to say.

‘This is how you do it. After all, these barbarians can’t grasp indirect speech and just stand there dumbfounded.’

The reason why the nobles both fear and subtly disdain Jonathan.

A place that foolishly venerates strength and where proper conversation doesn’t flow well.

Neither Leo nor Lea, who had arrived at the academy earlier, also had no one by her side for these reasons.

“Ha-ha! Of course, they teach us! But then, if we’re being fair, doesn’t our senior have some fault too? Doesn’t your family teach you to look around the corner?”

But Kyle was a completely different person from Leo and Lea.

He definitely had the blood of Jonathan, but at the same time, he was the person most distant from Jonathan.

He wasn’t someone whose actions came before words, whose fists moved before his speech.

“What? What did you just say…?”

“Oh dear. Senior, did you hurt yourself here? Let me take a look. There, there.”

Kyle grabbed Lupin’s shoulder.

And then he began to knead it as if giving a massage, though it looked quite forceful.

“Aaaaagh!!”

Of course, from the victim’s perspective, there could be no torture worse than this.

“Yaaargh! What, what are you doooing! Wa-wait a momeeeent!”

It felt as if the muscles and bones were tingling and ringing all together.

His limbs were twisted to the point where he couldn’t even scream properly.

“Wow, you’re really tense here. You should exercise more often. It’s not good for the muscles to be this tense. Just stay still. Your junior here will loosen them up for you.”

Lupin wanted to shout, “Are you crazy?!” But all that came out of his mouth were twisted screams of agony.

“There’s always that kind of person. Those who want to show off their strength by trampling on others. A true strong person doesn’t target the weak but faces other strong ones. But a false strong person targets the weak, wanting only to discuss their superiority.”

“There will be those who try to take advantage of your patience to achieve what they want.”

Remembering his brother Leo’s words, Kyle clicked his tongue.

He had wondered if it was really so, and indeed it was.

If he had been directly challenged, he would have welcomed it with a laugh, saying, “That’s manly!”

But all they did was use his shortcomings to irritate him.

‘How childish these nobles are… No, it’s rather clever of them to exploit such things.’

If a few nobles who disliked Jonathan subtly provoked him,

he probably would have endured it silently.

He had barely made it to the academy and didn’t want to return to a hellish training regimen.

He knew all too well that this opportunity was both his first and his last!

“There’s no need to get along by force.”

His father had said that as well. Don’t just endure it.

But Kyle thought the opposite. Why endure when you can prevent situations that require endurance?

‘Anyway, my family only knows how to charge forward, that’s the problem.’

You just need to take them one by one and grind them down.

They dismiss the weak because they only focus on the strong, and that’s where problems arise.

But not him. Whether weak or strong, if provoked, act first and report later.

“Ughhggggh!! I, I surrender!! It really huurts!! Stop it! Kyle! Kyle!!”

“Hahaha! The massage feels good, right? Doesn’t it? It’s refreshing, right, senior?”

“It’s refreeeshing! So, stop it aaaaah!!”

“This is a massage, right? If you say otherwise later, I’ll do both shoulders next time, okay?”

“Ughhhhh!! It’s a massage, so please stop noooow!!”

This is not an assault. Nor is it a physical threat.

Yes, this is just a junior’s massage for his senior.

The only problem is that from the recipient’s perspective, it feels like stepping on the threshold of death.