Mistress Of The Evil Forest

Case 30: Duel.

Maria Oriana—daughter of House Oriana.

A minor villain who appeared in the very first part of the game. She is cold, arrogant, and likes to bully those with lower social status than her. The condition to trigger her event is simple, you just have to bump into her when she is taking a walk with her followers in the academy ground, holding a drink or not, it doesn't matter.

Then, she will attempt to kidnap you to an unknown location but is stopped by a staff member walking by. Three weeks later at the evaluation test, she will fake an accident and attack you, sending you to the infirmary.

But it's not over yet. Lying on the bed, you will be attacked once again by none other than the nurse, a member of the notorious dark cult that worships the Demon God—Ravenous Moon.

After masterfully fighting off and defeating her, you will know that the whole thing back in the evaluation test was a scheme to get rid of you, a light element user.

This whole sequence is a prelude to a chain quest, after which you will be able to discover that Maria was merely being manipulated—blackmailed. In the first meeting with you, she was just trying to punish you lightly by making you wash her clothes. She was forced to act on you after that by the cult.

Even her whole 'ruthless noble' personality is just a pretense to appeal to her followers, all to maintain a certain power in the noble circle for the sake of the cult.

—is what Chloe told me the other day. It's a typical plot twist, not bad.

Back to the present.

I am now approaching Maria while the staff members are busy investigating the dummy and calming down the students.

''Miss Oriana. Are you alright?'' I reach out my hand to her.

''I-I'm fine.'' She ignores it and stands up on her own. ''...What?''

''???''

Maria nervously backs away as I rapidly approach her without saying a word. But my speed is clearly higher, so it doesn't take long before I'm able to grab her wrist.

''Please wait, Miss Oriana.'' I pull her closer to me. ''I've destroyed the bracelet, please don't worry about it anymore.'' I whisper.

''!!''

Maria widens her eyes. Her gaze immediately turns down to her wrist, where her silver bracelet with a red gem on it is frozen in place.

crack—!

It soon turns into dust and disappears with the wind.

The bracelet was acting as another restrain for her, it would explode when removed, basically.

''Y-You, how...?!''

I just used an item Chloe gave me though.

''Additionally, the people threatening your family are being taken care of by Lady Luminous herself.'' I continue. ''All I ask from you is a sincere apology towards Claire, and a report of what has happened so far to the authorities.''

Maria's pupils tremble, tears start to well up in her eyes.

''Thank you, thank you so much...''

''It's nothing. Now go to them.''

Well, Chloe will send people to observe her behavior after this, just to be sure. But this is the end of my job.

''Aurora, are you alright?''

''Ah, Claire.'' I turn around. ''As you can see.''

''Thank god... I was surprised- Hyah?!''

Suddenly, a girl goes beside Claire and wraps her arm around her neck.

''Ya, cute maid.'' She greets with a confident grin, her voice low, befitting her sharp features. 

The girl has bright red hair in a wolf cut and a pair of red eyes, her body from what I can infer has toned muscles, hinting at her physical capabilities... Or not, it doesn't really matter when we have the STR stat.

''Did you call me?'' I reply.

''Yeah. You.'' Her smile deepens. ''Fight me. I'm interested in your strength.''

'''' ... ''''

''Excuse me, but that isn't my job.'' I throw back at her.

''It is.'' She releases Claire and walks right up to me. ''Students have the right to challenge a professor, an assistant professor, a staff member with combat experience, or a supervisor to a duel once every two weeks. The opponent cannot refuse.''

...Are you kidding me?

''Therefore, I—Scarlett Heisenberg of House Heisenberg, hereby challenge supervisor Aurora to a duel!''

Hah... This is such pain.

After that incident, the staff members took Maria away for further investigation and the evaluation exam continued like normal. While I was watching the freshmen, I heard quite a lot of them gossiping about Maria and the dark lightning bolt, some began to suspect the cult was behind it, which is true.

The duel was to be hosted the next day at the same place, and now is precisely that 'next day'.

''Are you ready, Aurora?'' The girl with red hair lowers her long practice spear and asks, on her face is again, a confident grin.

Meanwhile, I'm just standing here with my practice sword, deadpan staring at her.

''What's with that grumpy face?''

''A crazy girl challenged me to a duel.''

''Pfft—! You got Scarlett'ed! Hahahahahah!''

''What?''

''Pfft... Well, that girl is a battle maniac. She will challenge anyone and everyone she finds strong.''

''Did you know it beforehand?''

''Of course, I did.''

''...No touching wings for a week.''

''Wait, Aurora—''

Apparently, this girl is the daughter of a Duke, and she's quite strong as well. 

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Name: Scarlett              

Race: Human                    Title: --

Level: 28

HP: 76/76                    MP: 98/98

STR: 4.0                    INT: 6.4

AGI: 4.1                    STA: 3.8

Skill: [Inspect Lv.7], [Spearmanship Lv.5],
[Fire Magic Lv.4], [Auto Regeneration Lv.3],
[Language Lv.3], [Prediction Lv.3],
[Earth Magic Lv.2].

State: Excited.

--------------------------------------------------------------------

A Magic Spearwoman. With [Prediction] as well, how annoying.

''Ready—!... Go!!'' The referee shouts, capturing the attention of the students who came to watch us fight. I don't know why they even came here in the first place.

''Hah!''

Well, focus. Let's end this quickly.

Scarlett shoots herself at me while pulling her hands back, ready for stabs, I assume.

Ice spike.

''Hap!''

Two giant spikes of ice spurts from the ground toward Scarlett with high speed, but she easily dodges both of them, no, she predicted them.

She flashes me a wide smile before advancing again, jumping right at my face.

I infuse my sword with ice element and raise it above my head as she pushes her spear engulfed in flame toward my torso.

KENG—!!

''!!''

Right when Scarlett's spear is about to touch my body, I slam my sword downward at her spear, successfully pinning it onto the ground. My ice dominantly suppresses her flame, freezing the whole area below us. I then step on the spear with all my weight as well, making the tip sink lightly into the ground.

''W-What...?!''

The girl is perplexed, to say the least.

See, what she doesn't know is that the stats shown in my status right now are much lower than what they are. My stats are all slightly higher than hers, that's why I'm able to do this.

Cheating? Yeah, what are you going to do about it? It's her fault for taking up my time in the first place. And this girl is clearly inexperienced in fighting people, she didn't realize the first spikes were to fish out her [Prediction] and kept relying on it. Not that I'm better.

Well, ice spear.

From thin air, exactly eight spears manifest themselves around Scarlett, all pointing at her neck.

''Anything else?'' I add.

''...I lost.''

''Please don't bother me again in the future.'' I cancel my magic and turn around.

''...''

Well, that should take care of it. What's next... Right, I have a job to do in a few days as well, when the class placements are confirmed.