“What the hell just happened…?”
“Did he block it…? The punch of an 8-star knight?”
“You idiots! Obviously he was holding back! More importantly, look at that! That’s Aura!”
A new prodigy who could wield Aura at the age of fifteen.
And on top of that, he’d just blocked the fist of Duke Zeppelin, an 8-star knight.
The kids, the instructors, even the escort knights could only stare with their mouths hanging open.
Of course.
“Guh!”
The damage was severe. Pain that started in my fist ran up along my arm and crashed through my entire body.
I didn’t know the exact extent, but one thing was crystal clear.
My fist was completely shattered.
“Zero!”
“Zero!”
The kids rushed over and crowded around my hand.
Only one person actually touched it. Victoria.
Even Luna just hopped anxiously in place, not daring to lay a hand on me.
She probably knew that with her total lack of medical knowledge, her touching it could turn into a disaster.
Victoria, who was carefully examining my fist as blood streamed down from it, frowned.
“The bone has pierced through the skin. It must hurt terribly, but if it’s Zero, who enjoys getting hit, of course you can endure it.”
Victoria, what the hell are you even saying.
You’re turning a perfectly normal person into some kind of pervert…
Crack-!
Kyaaaaaaaaah!
I almost let out a scream like a little girl.
It was only because she did it before I had time to think that I didn’t; if she’d given me any warning, I definitely would’ve screamed like that.
That’s how unbelievably awful the pain was.
“Mm! All done. I have set the bone.”
“He didn’t move even a little while you were setting it… That’s so like you, Zero.”
Nope. It’s not that I bravely kept my hand in place. Saying I ‘couldn’t pull it away’ would be far more accurate.
‘What kind of grip is that…’
The reason I couldn’t pull my hand away despite the excruciating pain.
Victoria was clamping down on my hand with an iron grip.
Blessed by Gaia, the goddess of violence, her Strength stat was absurdly high.
For the record, she was also holding my twisted, mangled hand bones in place using nothing but brute force.
Which meant it hurt like hell.
“Now I’ll begin the actual treatment… but it will not be easy.”
“It was Force Burst, right? I heard it’s a technique that wrecks your insides, not just the outside.”
“Correct. Bones, muscles, meridians, nerves—everything has been turned into a mess. Hard to believe this happened from a single clash…”
The Vyuern family’s secret arts are extremely peculiar.
Each and every technique inflicts some sort of status abnormality.
‘Even if you manage to defend successfully, you still get slapped with a status ailment. From the victim’s perspective, it’s pure madness.’
In the game, it was just a simple status effect, nothing special. But to the people of this world, it’s anything but simple.
As you can see from my current situation.
“So? You can’t treat it?”
“Normally we would entrust a patient like this to the High Priest.”
“Got it! Zero, just hang on a bit! I’ll go catch the High Priest and drag him here!”
Luna, the High Priest is a person, not a monster.
And if you actually did that, you’d be looking at a minimum of prison time.
“…I can do it.”
Victoria’s voice brought Luna, who had already taken off at a sprint, to a halt.
“I will have you know I never once missed the top spot in the Holy Kingdom. As long as I am given enough time, a full recovery is possible.”
However.
Victoria’s gaze shifted to Duke Zeppelin.
“If we are interrupted in this state, Zero will never be able to use his right arm again.”
Exactly. The problem was that there was no way Duke Zeppelin would just overlook what was happening now.
We were in a situation where even the slightest interference, even a casual bump, would make treatment impossible.
Luna took very little time to think.
“That’s easy, isn’t it? We just have to stop that duke or whatever from getting in the way.”
“That will not be easy. It is not that you are weak, Luna, but the opponent is far too…”
Because he was a being outside the usual scale.
From here on, the ‘smart’ move would be to drop to our knees and beg for mercy.
‘Though the correct answer is the exact opposite.’
Duke Zeppelin is someone who “loves” talent.
If you can prove you’re talented, you live.
If you fail?
‘Game over.’
After discovering this route, I’d tested it multiple times, but the success rate never even reached fifteen percent.
There were no rewards to be found, no path leading to a new hidden piece. In the end, it was a route I’d thrown away.
‘The time’s almost here. All I can do is hope Luna holds out a little longer.’
Until then, all I could do was cheer Luna on.
Of course, first condition was that Luna didn’t start begging for mercy…
“Sorry, but I don’t feel like kneeling to some bastard who laid hands on my friend.”
There was no way she’d kneel to someone who barely even deserved to be called a parent.
“So you guys stay back. Don’t get dragged into this for nothing.”
“Luna…”
Luna stepped forward.
Duke Zeppelin was brushing dust off his coat.
“Is your little conference over?”
“Letting us talk it over… I should at least thank you for that.”
“Think nothing of it. Dusting off this coat was more important.”
Luna’s eyebrow twitched.
He was basically saying that people like us could be taken care of whenever, so keeping his coat clean mattered more.
More than enough to fire Luna up.
The duke slung his coat back over his shoulders and opened his mouth.
“Move.”
“Nope.”
“If you think I cannot kill you just because you are a student, I would like to tell you that is a grave misunderstanding.”
A threat from the duke.
Luna answered by drawing her sword.
In that case, you must think this:
“You must think I can’t kill one dumb duke like you, huh?”
The moment I thought I saw Duke Zeppelin’s face twitch ever so slightly, his fist came flying in.
Claaang!
Luna grimaced.
Their sword and fist collided, and yet the one who suffered was the hand holding the sword.
“Is this all? I have not even used any secret arts. How disappointing.”
“Let your guard down and you’ll lose your head.”
“Then let us see you block this.”
If you can.
Vyuern Family Style, First Secret Art.
Force Burst.
BOOOM!!
“…!”
Duke Zeppelin’s eyes widened.
The fist that had been headed for Luna suddenly bent off course in midair.
“A mana round…?”
The mana bullet Rezé had fired smashed into the duke’s right forearm,
Forcing his arm’s trajectory to change.
This was a much bigger deal than it looked. Affecting the movements of an 8-star knight is anything but easy.
Maybe because he understood that, the duke’s eyes swept the surroundings, searching for the hidden Rezé.
He started looking for her almost the very instant the shot landed.
And Luna did not miss that opening.
“Die!!”
Luna wasn’t some idiot anymore.
[One Flash] was a technique that could expose her family’s identity.
Instead of using her family’s secret art, she simply swung her sword with everything she had.
CLAAANG!!
The impact of sword and hand colliding sent out a shockwave.
“…!”
“Kh!”
A groan slipped from Luna’s mouth, but the one pushed back was Duke Zeppelin, not her.
Maybe it was the shock of having blocked two attacks in a row.
The coat hanging off his shoulders slipped free once more and fell to the ground.
“…”
The duke silently picked up his coat again and began briskly brushing off the dust.
Fwoosh-!
Flames roared up between him and Luna.
They were flames Yuridia had created with magic.
“That’s far enough! I won’t allow this to go any further!”
“Crimson flame… the young lady of House Rownter, is it. I assume you know exactly what you are doing?”
The duke draped the coat back over his shoulders and continued.
“That your actions right now will bring ruin upon your house.”
House Rownter belongs to the neutral faction, a band of political migratory birds that flits back and forth depending on the situation.
A faction created so the powerless can survive and squeeze out whatever benefits they can.
Their principle is to stick together, but if it benefits them, they’ll discard one or two of their own without a second thought.
That’s how the powerless survive.
Duke Zeppelin is a heavyweight who leads one of the empire’s two major factions.
If someone like him raises an objection to the neutral camp, House Rownter getting thrown away is only natural.
There’s no way sharp Yuridia didn’t know that.
“I’m not sure what you mean. Annwood Academy is a place to study, free from birth and faction alike. I am not Yuridia de Rownter here.”
I’m just—
“Yuridia, a first-year at Annwood Academy.”
Her words were bold, but Yuridia’s legs were trembling nonstop.
She clearly thought she’d just caused a colossal incident.
‘And didn’t she literally create the Yuridia Faction under the pretext of keeping Teron’s faction in check?’
Well, being different on the outside and inside is Yuridia’s whole character trait. We can overlook this much hypocrisy.
More importantly, right now—
‘Even I didn’t see this coming.’
When you take this route, not every party member steps in to protect the player character.
The game checks affection levels, levels, stats, noble faction relationships, and so on.
After considering all that, it decides which party members jump in to take Duke Zeppelin’s trial.
And here’s where things differ from what I remember.
‘Yuridia isn’t even a party member. Yet she’s intervening?’
That never happened even once in the actual game.
And right now, there are a few characters whose affection for me is higher than Yuridia’s.
Alex’s First Original Secret Art.
Hungry Wolf.
“…!”
“Sorry I’m late.”
Alex, the protagonist of this game.
And—
“P–picking on Zero like this! In the name of friendship, I won’t forgive you!”
That would be our Raymon.
Normally he’s “your Raymon,” but right now there’s no way he isn’t “our Raymon.”
‘Because he’s a character perfectly optimized for stalling.’
Vyuern Family Style, First Secret Art.
Force Burst.
Thud-.
“…?”
The duke, who’d swung his fist, had a question mark on his face.
He’d punched Raymon, yet he hadn’t felt anything.
“P-pervy old man… w-where do you think you’re groping…”
“…”
“G-gheeehhk!”
Apparently, even a duke who’d seen everything couldn’t endure your Raymon’s provocation.
He started unleashing [Force Burst] like a madman.
Raymon might be a god of evasion, but his opponent was still an 8-star knight.
One blow slipped through and sent Raymon flying, where he crashed down beside Luna.
“Hey, who said we’re friends? I’ve been going easy on you lately and now you’re getting cocky again, huh?”
Luna grabbed Raymon’s hair with both hands and started twisting his head back and forth.
Talking about friendship in a situation like this… What a bizarre kid.
“Phew… I am finished. Then shall we join the fray as well?”
Victoria wiped the beads of sweat off her brow.
Looked like the treatment was over. I clenched and unclenched my fist a few times and asked,
“You’re going to help?”
“Of course. Not for your sake, Zero… but for Luna’s, as a comrade.”
Maybe Luna’s line of “Every first-year is a comrade!” had really made her happy.
Victoria smiled softly.
And so, we once again stood before Duke Zeppelin.
“…You have more friends than your appearance suggests.”
“Keke, as you know, I’m pretty good-looking.”
“You still have enough composure to joke. Good.”
Wait, why is me being handsome automatically treated like a joke?
Thoom!
Suddenly, Duke Zeppelin stomped his foot hard. From him, hairline cracks spread out across the ground like a spiderweb.
It wasn’t an actual spiderweb. The ground had simply cracked in that pattern.
“I’ve… got a bad feeling about this.”
“To think he’d use that technique on us… It seems he truly wasn’t joking about killing us.”
“Hmph~ I am not scared at all, not one bit.”
Despite the brave words, the expressions of the kids who knew this technique were anything but good.
Of course, not a single one of them backed down.
“Your spirit is admirable. Very well. Show me the skills of the Golden Class.”
Maybe it was the expectation of finding even more talent.
Duke Zeppelin’s pressure grew even stronger.
There really isn’t another lunatic pervert like this guy.
The moment his figure blurred—
“Gahk!”
Raymon collapsed. The other kids followed suit.
Victoria, Yuridia, Alex, even Luna. They were all taken out, not even able to react, much less counter.
Rezé… I’m not sure. I think I heard a little “squeak” from somewhere.
Only I was still standing. And Duke Zeppelin was the kind of pervert who saved the tastiest morsel for last.
“You have an amusing talent. Try copying this as well.”
Vyuern Family Style, Fourth Secret Art.
Meteor Kick.
His leg grew pale, like light seen from far away.
Which meant it was moving too fast for the eye to follow.
Still, that was fine. This moment—
Was exactly what I’d been waiting for.
[You use the ‘Lucky Hourglass’.]
[For one time only, probability is fixed at 100%.]
A skill with the worst activation rate, but one that can block any attack.
Adonis’s Fifth Original.
Adonis Style Counter.
“…!”
ZZZKRAAANG!!
Black lightning raced up the duke’s leg.
But the duke didn’t stop. He planted the left leg he’d just swung into the ground as a pivot and swept his right leg around.
‘He tanks that and still keeps attacking!?’
An attack with added spin.
If that hit, everything above my waist would vanish without a trace.
Damn it.
It was do-or-die.
Vyuern Family Style, Fourth Secret Art.
Meteor Kick.
–TL Notes–
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I’m the Slit-Eyed Character at the Academy, but I’m not the Mastermind – Chapter 458
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I’m the Slit-Eyed Character at the Academy, but I’m not the Mastermind – Chapter 460
One thought on “I’m the Slit-Eyed Character at the Academy, but I’m not the Mastermind – Chapter 459”
theodor says: June 1, 2026 at 2:06 am
Damn! Didn’t expect Zero to be put out of commission for so long!
And I expect the Adonis style counter attack but I thought the fight would be decided! Damn that Duke tank it
The Duke seem to be enjoying this though
