"Are you the one who challenged us?
In a two-on-two battle at that? That's quite interesting."
The two swordsmen stared at Vaan with curious looks on their faces.
"You…"
Vaan on the other hand, narrowed his eyes with a grim look on his face.
Then suddenly, a frown appeared on his face, and,
"Who the fuck are you?"
He questioned.
"…"
"…"
Not only the two swordsmen, the entire class turned silent, too dumbfounded to say anything.
"Y-You don't know us?" n/-O1n
"Haah? Am I supposed to know every tom, dick, harry I meet?"
Vaan snorted, then, he turned towards Elara and,
"You know who they are? Should I know that too?"
Elara didn't know how to answer Vaan's question. Then suddenly, Vilaya walked towards Vaan and whispered into his ears,
"They are Alaric and Kaelen, the two Swordsmen you talked about in your recent interview.
You even mentioned how you wanted to challenge the two of them."
"Ahh."
Vaan was enlightened.
Seeing this, Kaelen chuckled.
"To think you can't even recognize the ones you challenged, just how short-sighted can you be? I don't think this is the attitude that suits the only son of Lady Astra."
"I agree, shouldn't you at least be able to recognize the people you challenge, that's common knowledge. People do all this research before challenging their opponents, yet here you are, walking on a completely different part.
This conceit might bite you back in the future, fellow student." Alaric spoke up as well.
"Don't blame me. I was told that the two of you are 4 Star Swordsmen. I was under the impression that the two of you are extremely talented and reserved. How am I supposed to know that the two foolish-looking students walking idly into our class would be 4 Star Swordsmen?
What's with the Students from the Swords Division coming to the Magic Division anyway?
Do you guys not have something else to do? Or are the buildings in the Sword Division so poorly made that even the Sword Students do not wish to be there?
Is the situation that bad? I can help if you want, you know?"
Vaan spoke with a caring look on his face, everyone in the classroom, however, could tell what his intentions were.
He was clearly insulting the two Swordsmen even though he had praised them so much in his interview.
Kaylen's face twitched as he heard Vaan's words, however, without losing his smile, he glanced at Vaan and,
"You see, they usually set us free and allow us to roam around because the Students of the Magic Division are simply too weak.
Just think, if even when they do not teach us anything, we are still above the Magic Division, what would happen if our Professors start teaching us more seriously?
I get that the two Divisions often compete with each other, however, in the end, they are part of the same Academy,
We can't widen the difference between the two Divisions more than it already has, no? That would be quite shameful for the entire Magic Division.
So as to protect your honor, we roam around, without doing anything."
Kaylen's tongue was just as poisonous if not more.
Alaric had a condescending smile on his face as well. The other students, however, narrowed their eyes. They were dissatisfied, however, there was nothing they could do, especially when this was a verbal encounter.
What they did not know was that Vaan's strongest point was not his exceptional talent in Magic or the impossible things he does,
It was his trash-talking skill.
"Then maybe your Professors should start taking this seriously again,
Especially when a Student of the Sword Division was defeated in a Sword fight against a Mage. Not to mention the said student seemed quite arrogant as well.
Failing to teach Swordsmanship and a student's limit, it has to be the biggest humiliation the Sword Division has ever suffered."
Vaan shook his head in pity.
The two swordsmen clenched their fists.
"He was taken by surprise."
Alaric spoke, trying to defend the Swords Division's honor.
Vaan however, simply nodded in agreement,
"Mhm, I agree, I actually ended the battle in a single surprise move, not like we clashed swords more than a dozen times."
"Pfft."
The other students laughed out loud. They didn't even bother hiding the expressions full of ridicule that had appeared on their faces.
Rather, they were trying to exaggerate them even more. The entire classroom had teamed up against the two Swordsmen, the two were absolutely helpless.
Understanding the situation, Kaylen came up with another idea, taking a step back to jump far,
"Alex got what he deserved for being arrogant, defending him is indeed foolish."
He nodded.
"For a Swordsman to be defeated by a Mage in a Sword fight, honestly, if it were up to me, I would have kicked him out of the Academy.
How could the student of our Division lose against a Division that's weaker than ours? It was simply too shameful.
We actually came here to apologize for the shameful conduct our student displayed two days ago, and so that the Students of the Magic Division do not have a false impression of our Swords Division, and with how Student Vaan showed his interest in challenging,
We are here to tell you that we accept your challenge and wish to discuss when are you open to the battle.
After all, you and your partner are new here, not to mention that you just had a battle two days ago, you have the right to decide the date of the challenge."
Vaan momentarily glanced at the swordsman in front of him and nodded inwardly, the dude was smart, he knew the crowd was not with him so engaging in any further verbal battle would be nothing but humiliating, but even then, he didn't forget to give a slight jab as he agreed with his words and then came to the main topic.
"Let's do it tomorrow."
Vaan answered.
"Tomorrow?"
Alaric and Vaelen were taken aback.
"What? Is there a problem with tomorrow?"
"We just thought that you would want to do it after the Incoming Induction," Kaylen replied.
Vaan however, shook his head,
"No, I have some important things to do after the Induction, so I plan to cover all the minor inconveniences before that.
We will do it tomorrow, not like I suffered any injury in my last battle, heck, the dude wasn't even able to tire me out let alone injure me."
Vaan laughed out loud, sending a jab of his own.
"Even my training session yesterday was more intense than the battle, so the two of you do not need to worry. Me and my fiancée are prepared, of course, you are open to postpone it if you have any prior arrangements tomorrow."
"We were merely concerned about you, Fellow Student.
But since it seems like the two of you are searing to have a go, we do not wish to kill your joy, tomorrow it is then."
It was decided.
Vaan nodded with a smile on his face.
If it was a one-on-one duel against a 4 Star Swordsmen, then after his face-off against Isabel yesterday, he would have bought more time to properly prepare for his enemies and find a way to deal with their superior physical abilities.
However, in a two-on-two battle, that too, with him teaming up with his Elara, the chances of them losing were…
Zero.
Of course, Vaan might not be this sure if both Isabel and Declan team up against him and Elara, however, knowing that there is a big difference between Isabel and the two Swordsmen standing in front of them, Vaan was prepared.
Yes, he had already done his research, he knew who these two were from the beginning, the only reason he didn't 'recognize them' was because he wanted to get into their heads and annoy them.
It was a relishing feeling that he just couldn't seem to get rid of.
Vaan chuckled.
Alaric and Kaylen had smiles on their faces as well,
"Well, we won't hold you people any longer and will take our leave.
Though I am looking forward to tomorrow's duel, Vaan and Elara."
Alaric spoke.
Vaan simply smiled, "Same."
This time, even Elara, who had been silent all this while spoke in a worried tone,
"P-Please don't be reckless tomorrow… surrender if you feel like you will lose… it is not wise to suffer in a fight where we only judge our skills and try to get better."
Those were innocent words that had no evil intention behind them, and that is what made them so stingy.
'Tsk, I can see why they are together.'
Kaylen snorted, misunderstanding Elara's worried look as an act and imagining her to be a scheming demon.
Not wanting to be here any further, the two of them walked away.
Vaan, Elara, and other students walked out of the classroom as well, it was time for their second class of the day,
Leadership and Personality Development,
The Class attended by Students from all the Divisions of the Academy.
