The Lowest-Ranked Hero Has Returned

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

Chapter 101: The Ryu Family's Black Sheep (2)

"You, you bastards dare...!"

Crackle, crackle!

Along with Laios’ furious shout, blue sparks leapt from his body.

‘This is...’

Sensing the fierce mana within the blue sparks, I quickly grabbed Berald by the nape and pulled him back.

Boom!

With a sound like thunder, a bolt of blue lightning struck where Berald had been standing.

"Ugh...!"

Had he not completely dodged the lightning?

Berald stifled a groan of pain, curling his body.

A burn from the lightning left a clear mark on his arms, as thick as someone else's thigh.

"Are you alright?"

"Ugh... I’m fine."

As Berald pressed his hand against the burned skin and got up.

"Huff, huff. You lowly scoundrel dare to...!"

Grit.

Laios clenched his teeth viciously, reaching out his hand.

His Stigma glowed, gathering a massive amount of lightning.

“Thunder Spear!”

With a short incantation, a spear formed from blue lightning shot toward Berald.

And then.

‘Berald’s martial arts.’

Sea Cleaver.

Whoosh!

The Ashen Flame burning from the edge of my hand cleaved the spear of blue lightning in two.

The split spear, engulfed in the Ashen Flame, disappeared.

“What...?”

Laios’ eyes widened as he stared at the lightning spear, which seemed to have been swallowed and vanished into thin air.

He looked at me with trembling eyes, disbelief etched on his face.

"You, you bastard... what did you just do?"

I shrugged in response, looking toward the bewildered Laios.

"That's what I should be asking you, senior. Don’t you know violence on school grounds is a clear violation of the rules?"

"Ha. If it’s violence, that bastard probably started it first, right?"

Laios motioned toward Berald with his chin.

I grinned and tilted my head as if I didn’t understand.

"Hmm? Violence? From what I saw, Berald only ‘accidentally’ caused you harm without any intention of attacking."

"...Are you kidding me? How is that an excuse...!"

"It's not an excuse, senior."

I spoke calmly, crossing my arms.

"Or do you have evidence to support your claim?"

"Evidence...!"

"Ah. Well, if you consider your messed-up face as proof of violence, then yes, it can be evidence."

Smirk.

A mocking smile formed on my lips.

"A second-year candidate... and a lowly scoundrel from a branch family at that, leaving you with injuries... Pfft! Fine, if you insist, let that be your evidence."

"You...!"

Clench.

Laios gritted his teeth, glaring at me with malice.

But only for a moment.

The light pouring from Laios’ Stigma faded, and the blue sparks that had been crackling fiercely around him began to dissipate.

"Hah, fine. An accident? Let’s call it an accident, then."

Narrowing his eyes, Laios stared at Berald and spoke coldly.

"But accidents come with consequences."

A sly grin spread across Laios' face.

“There will be no more financial support for the branch family.”

“...!”

Berald's eyes widened in shock.

“W-What does this have to do with the financial support?!”

“Well, that’s not my concern, is it?”

Laios shrugged, wearing a wicked grin.

"Anyway, no more gold will be going to the branch family. Get that through your head."

"W-Wait! Senior! If the funding stops...!"

"What? Won’t you be able to care for your senile father without it?"

"My father was injured fighting for the Ryu family! We have every right to that support!"

"Who said it’s a right?"

Laios indifferently scratched his ear with a bored expression.

"If you're from the Ryu family, fighting for it should be a given, right? Or what... are branch families not part of the ‘Ryu’ family?"

"...Senior!"

"Ah, whatever. In any case, I’ll formally propose cutting the funding at the next family meeting."

"Ugh...!"

Berald trembled, clenching his fists.

I placed my hand on Berald's shoulder and spoke.

"Don’t worry, man. I’ll give you the money."

"...Brother?"

Berald blinked in confusion, as if asking what I meant.

"What money do you have to give me, brother...?"

Berald knew very well that I attended this academy on a government grant.

Just as he said, I didn’t have much money on hand at the moment.

"What are friends for, right?"

I had a reliable source of funds... or rather, a friend, so there was no need to worry about money.

‘Well, if Juliet doesn’t work, I can always squeeze it out of Rosanna.’

Even though the Helios family had fallen somewhat in recent years, the enormous wealth they had amassed as high-ranking nobles of the empire had not disappeared overnight.

"Anyway, you don’t need to worry about money."

"......"

Berald bit his lip, silently contemplating.

After a long moment, he shook his head.

“No, this is my issue. I can’t rely on you for help, brother.”

With that, Berald stepped forward toward Laios.

Thud.

He knelt before Laios.

“If I’ve offended you, senior, I apologize. My temper got the best of me, and I lashed out.”

Berald knelt so deeply that his forehead touched the ground.

"Whatever punishment I deserve for my violence, I will accept it willingly. Please, let go of your anger."

"...Hah."

Laios looked down at the bowing Berald and swallowed a sarcastic laugh.

"Where did all that bravado from earlier go?"

"I'm sorry."

"What? Awaken? Ha! A fool who can't even conjure a simple magic bullet, talking about magic?"

"I'm sorry."

"Sigh... Why do you always blow things up like this when all you had to do was quietly buy some bread?"

"I'm sorry."

Berald, still bowing, repeated his apologies like a broken machine.

Truthfully, I wanted to smash Laios into a bloody pulp, whether it was for the Ryu family or whatever else.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]

—No, this is my problem.

"..."

I had a gut feeling that if I stepped in now, my relationship with Berald would be ruined forever.

"Alright then, let's do it like this."

Laios crossed his arms and continued to look down at the bowed Berald.

"If you win a duel with me, I'll withdraw the talk about the funding."

"A duel...?"

Berald raised his head to look up at Laios.

Laios smirked and nodded.

"Yeah. But only using 'magic.'"

"That is..."

Berald wore a troubled expression.

"You haven't forgotten what family I come from, have you?"

The Ryu family, the most renowned magic house in the Republic.

It would be hard to find someone in either the Empire or the Holy Kingdom who hadn't heard of its prestige.

'Look at this bastard, using his brain.'

I frowned, glaring at Laios, who was grinning slyly.

Knowing full well that Berald couldn't use magic, he made this proposal with the clear intent of using the duel as an excuse to inflict legal violence on him.

"Alright."

At Berald's response, Laios' lips twisted into a sneer.

"Good. Then three days should be plenty of time for some magic practice, right?"

"...."

A person who had spent his whole life trying but failed to cast even a single magic bullet—how could he possibly learn magic in just three days?

It was an absurdly short amount of time, and no one knew that better than him.

"Alright."

Berald nodded calmly.

Laios grinned brightly and turned away.

"See you in three days... 'little brother.'"

He chuckled as he walked off.

"Haaah."

Berald let out a deep sigh as he stood up.

"...Berald."

"Hm? Hahaha! Why are you making such a scary face, brother?"

Berald laughed heartily, flashing a bright smile.

"At the end of the day, it's just a duel, right? Even if I get hurt, as long as our sister Iris is around, I'll be fine!"

He patted his chest, as if trying to assure me not to worry.

As if his defeat was already a foregone conclusion.

"..."

I frowned as I looked at him.

'No.'

The Berald I knew wasn’t someone who gave up so easily.

"Don't talk nonsense."

I grabbed Berald by the collar.

Suddenly, memories of my past life flooded back.

The memories of when he taught me 'Berald’s Martial Arts.'

—Pant, pant! I-I can't... I can't go on anymore!

—You're giving up already, brother?

—What do you mean already? Do you even know how many days I've been training non-stop? Not just days, it's been weeks, you crazy bastard!

—I know.

—I can't go on. It's my limit. You know how talentless I am in martial arts better than anyone. No matter how hard I try, I just can't do it.

—...

—What? You're going to lecture me again?

—No.

Berald smiled faintly and sat down beside me as I collapsed from exhaustion.

—I was just like you, brother.

—What do you mean?

—I thought I had reached my limit. That no matter how much effort I put in, it was pointless. I lived my life giving up on one thing after another.

—You? Give up?

The word 'give up' seemed the least fitting when it came to Berald.

—As you know, I had no talent for magic. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't even cast a proper magic bullet.

—...

—So I gave up.

—But now...

—Have you ever seen me use magic?

—No.

—Haha. I still can't use magic.

But.

The 'Berald’s Martial Arts' he developed paradoxically could not be perfected without mastering magic.

—I regret it.

—What do you regret?

—If I hadn’t given up on magic back then… If I had at least mastered even a simple magic bullet...

Berald clenched his bandaged fist tightly.

—I wouldn't have been consumed by despair, knowing that I could never reach the pinnacle of the martial art I poured my entire life into.

His voice was heavy with regret.

I tilted my head and asked him.

—Then why don't you learn magic now? I’m learning magic from Sophia these days, you could join...

—No, it’s useless.

Berald shook his head softly.

—Among the various martial arts I practiced to complete my own, one had a side effect of preventing the manifestation of magic itself. From the moment I mastered that, using magic became impossible for me.

Now that I thought about it, Berald could only release mana into the external world; he couldn’t actually use it to cast spells.

It was like having fuel but no way to ignite it.

And because of that...

Berald could never reach the ‘pinnacle’ of the martial art he had dedicated his life to.

Not even at the moment of his death.

—Don’t worry. The martial arts I taught you don’t have those side effects. You won’t lose the ability to use magic.

Berald smiled as he spoke.

—So, please, don’t give up, brother.

As if it was nothing.

As if it didn’t mean anything at all.

He said it like that.

—Aren’t you the most persistent person I know?

No.

That wasn’t true.

Despite what he said, I wasn’t persistent at all.

The person who taught me how to never give up was none other than Berald.

'Berald.'

Because of you, I am who I am.

So.

"Hey."

"Hm? What is it, brother?"

I pulled Berald closer by the collar and said,

"You're going to learn magic from me."

This time, I won’t give up on you.

[Translator - Night]

[Proofreader - Gun]