Chapter 23: A New Challenger

A full month had passed since that duel.

During this time, Liya had finally grown accustomed to life at the academy, especially the girls’ dormitory. She had memorized every nook and cranny of the building, and could walk through it blindfolded as if it were her own home—completely without inconvenience. In fact, Liya took it as a form of training and often wore her blindfold to and from classes.

As for the misunderstanding that she was actually blind? Cecilia had naturally learned the truth from Alice. After finding out, she didn’t come to see Liya for three whole days.

Over the past month, Liya had been training relentlessly, digesting the gains from her duel with Annie while simultaneously recovering her former life’s state. She had to admit that combat was the best teacher. Liya felt that she was already stronger now than she had been a month ago.

But the biggest change in her academy life was her status as a student.

The [Twelve Knights]. It wasn’t until the third day after the duel that Liya truly understood how high this position was. The title represented the most powerful students in the academy. Even among The Best (top twenty), the Twelve Knights stood out as preeminent. As a student, one enjoyed privileges that many teachers lacked.

For example, the right to choose classes. If she deemed a lesson unnecessary, she could simply skip it. She also had the right to challenge anyone in the academy, even request teachers as sparring partners. The time for training was abundant, and the freedom was immense. This, it was said, was a rule established by the current dean.

Despite holding such privileges, Liya still attended classes like an ordinary student, punctually every day—including theoretical lessons. This time, she did not give up. Why?

Her homework before the duel had been graded, and to Liya’s surprise, she had not earned full marks. The last essay question had missed one key point… Whether it was that ‘man proposes, God disposes,’ or that she should have been more humble, Liya had held that paper in her hand and let out a wry smile.

Thus, she did not skip theory class but attended as usual.

However, this brought new problems.

“Look! That’s the Twelve Knight! The student who challenged Teacher Annie last month!”

“I know, I know. I watched that duel—it was spectacular. But I never thought she’d still become one of The Best after losing, and even a top-ranked Twelve Knight at that…”

“Speaking of which, she’s not even as big as my little sister. Becoming a Twelve Knight at this age—is that the first time in our academy’s history?”

“It really seems so!”

Simply put, Liya had become famous.

At ten years old, with the appearance of a loli, she had ascended to one of the Twelve Knights, the pinnacle of student power. She was already something of a legend at the academy. Just walking down the street drew countless gazes. There were even perverts with peculiar fetishes who confessed to her… Of course, those perverts were all thrown into the thornbush behind the academic building by Liya.

“Liya~, wanna go grab dinner together tonight?”

Putting away her notes after class, Cecilia and Alice walked side by side to Liya and smiled.

“Dinner? Eating out?”

“Of course it’s the cafeteria! But not the free rations. Cecilia’s treating us to a special meal!”

Alice and Liya both put on expressions of ‘exploiting the rich,’ while Cecilia gave a wry smile.

The academy’s cafeteria was huge, with a wide variety of food. With a student ID, you could get a free set meal, but those were merely average—nothing special. However, if you were willing to pay, the cafeteria could prepare a special meal for you, which was on a whole different level—absolutely healthy, delicious, and eco-friendly. So many people preferred to spend extra at the cafeteria rather than eat out.

Of course, the cost of a special meal was not cheap… But for Cecilia, it was no problem at all.

Although not much was known about her family background, it seemed she came from a wealthy family. After all, a month of acquaintance had made everyone’s circumstances fairly clear.

“But Liya, now that you’re a Twelve Knight, has anyone challenged you this month?”

“Challenged?”

“Yeah. After all, you’re an exception—you lost a duel but still became a Twelve Knight. Some of The Best might not like you.”

Cecilia’s speculation made sense. Most of The Best had won their advancement by defeating teachers. So it would be natural for them to look down on Liya, who had advanced despite losing and even surpassed them. However, contrary to expectations…

“No, not at all. I haven’t been challenged once.”

Liya shook her head, denying Cecilia’s guess.

“Huh? Really none?”

“Yeah, if there were, I’d be delighted. But no one came, and I was still adjusting, so I didn’t challenge anyone either… Actually, in a few days, I’ll probably start challenging other students.”

“The Best?”

“Yes, starting from the twentieth. I’m sure it will be fun.”

“Oh? Funny coincidence—I was just thinking the same thing.”

Someone blocked the path of the three girls.

White hair and crimson eyes—the quintessential image of a demon. Nearly 1.8 meters tall, he looked at most sixteen or seventeen. Judging by his clothes, he was also a student, probably a year older than Alice and Cecilia—a sophomore?

“The Twelve Knights. I never thought a little girl would take the tenth seat. How amusing.”

Hoho, it seemed this guy meant trouble.

Though his words were rude, Liya could feel a rather pure flow of fighting spirit from him. He was fundamentally different from the overconfident students she had encountered before. So that’s how it is.

“You’re also a member of The Best?”

“To be precise, I’m one of the Twelve Knights—ranked eleventh.”

As soon as he said it, Liya understood. So that’s it. Eleventh. No wonder he harbored anger toward her.

“And so? What do you intend to do?”

“This, of course!”

The next second, the demon youth stood before Liya, throwing a straight punch. Mana gathered in front of him, bursting with power. But Liya’s reaction was equally swift; she almost simultaneously extended her fist, covered in a string of runes.

[Step back! Before my indestructible iron fist!]

Fist met fist. The shockwave radiated from the two of them, blowing Alice and Cecilia away. But the two at the center remained unmoved.

“Heh, it seems you’re not just talk. You’ve got some basic skill.”

His crimson eyes unexpectedly flickered with an emerald hue—resembling Liya’s eye color but not quite, filled with wildness and cruelty.

“You…?!”

Just as Liya prepared to counter, the youth suddenly retreated, leaping back more than ten meters.

“That’s enough for today. You have things to do, don’t you?”

“…”

“Honestly, I could barely hold myself back. I have a feeling you’ll make a good match… Well, your preparation is still lacking right now.”

With those words, the youth left of his own accord, leaving only a parting remark:

“I’ll come find you again.”

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