C45: A Dangerous Bet (2)

The atmosphere was changed by Chris Benimore’s appearance. In particular, the reaction of the noble students was hot, and the reason was simple. This is because Chris Benimore comes from a noble family and was a teacher who pushed other noble students from behind.

Rudger stared at him and opened his mouth.

“Mr. Chris Benimore. I do not understand what you are saying.”

“It will not be difficult. Literally.”

“Literally?”

“Even if we are teachers, we cannot control all the behaviors of our students. Listening to the story, it seems that both students are arbitrarily trying to compete. Isn’t it too much of a violation of freedom for a teacher to step in and stop it?”

At Chris’ smirk, Rudger’s eyebrows twitched slightly, but that was only for a moment.

Rudger glanced at the mood of the other students. Looking at the reactions, he could see some students nodding their heads at Chris’ words. It would be an abuse to interfere since the students want to compete.

‘I made a mistake.’

Chris Benimore is a teacher who favors noble students. His appearance boosted the students’ momentum considerably so Rudger decided to take a step back.

“Even so, it is problematic for students to engage in magic duels without the teacher’s permission. If students are seriously injured, it is also a loss for Theon.”

“Of course it is. But how about doing this?”

“What?”

“The two of us will observe.”

At Chris’ words, the students murmured.

“Will Mr. Rudger and Mr. Chris supervise the duel?”

Just imagining it makes my heart ache with the burden.

Some students were perplexed, but the noble students were different, there was a twinkle in their eyes. The teacher said that he would take care of it himself, so my justification to stop the match with the pretext of danger disappears.

“Or are you going to say that this is also dangerous? Mr. Rudger Chelici.”

Chris smiled cynically, deliberately provoking Rudger.

“I didn’t know that you would care so much about the children that you protected them like that.”

“I just considered the possibility of possible danger.”

“But if the two of us go, there’s no risk. How is it? Those two students want to fight each other.”

At Chris’s words, which had an explicit intention towards this side, Rudger could roughly guess the situation. Prior to this, Chris Benimore had not been very fond of Rudger Chelici.

He is also a new teacher at Theon but unlike Rudger, who’s a fallen aristocrat, Chris is still a noble. For Chris, who is deeply aristocratic, the very existence of Rudger has always bothered him.

‘Rudger Chelici, I didn’t like you from the first time I saw you.’

The other commoner teachers were still just plain commoners. No matter what he did, he was fussy, lacked nobility, and was not restrained at all but Rudger was different. He shone more than anyone else and was far more aristocratic than himself, a nobleman.

Even after the fall of his family he didn’t lose his brilliance. That’s not what Chris liked. It was like that when they first met. There was no sign of surprise at all when he saw him, but Chris thought that something was creeping inside him at the behavior of Rudger, who just shook his head.

‘Anyway, I didn’t like it when Hugo-sensei asked us to invite him into our faction.’

Rudger is said to have even told Hugo openly that he would not go into such a place.

‘Such a place? What do you mean by such a place’

Chris didn’t understand. The more he tried, the darker his feelings for Rudger grew and at this moment, Chris got a chance to win one over Rudger.

“How is it Mr. Rudger? Isn’t this enough?”

“Let’s hear from the students.”

Rudger said so and turned to Aidan. It was a gaze that meant do you really want to have a magic duel with Jevan.

“……Yes. Certainly.”

Aidan nodded with determination.

Aidan, too, at first thought that he wanted to solve the problem verbally without fighting however Jevan crossed the line too much. He said such harsh things to his friend and Aidan couldn’t forgive that.

Rudger sighed inwardly at the sight and looked back at Chris.

“Student Aidan said he would do it, too, so I’ll allow him to attend on condition, as Mr. Chris said.”

“Oh, that’s good.”

“Then…….”

“Ah. Mr. Rudger. Wait.”

“What else?”

“Why don’t we make a bet too?”

“Bet? It’s such a sudden proposition.”

“It seems that Mr. Rudger really cares about that commoner child.”

“I am Aidan, not a commoner. Please beware of discriminatory remarks.”

“Ah, you are student Aidan. I didn’t know because I didn’t take my class. Anyway, I think of Jevan Pellio as a pretty talented wizard.”

It was a word of mouth, but Jevan had already taken it seriously, and his expression changed.

Rudger responded in a cold voice, as usual.

“So what exactly are you going to do?”

“It’s up to each other to decide who will win. Of course, I’m betting that student Pellio will win.”

“It’s funny that someone who became a teacher makes bets in front of the students.”

Chris was annoyed at those words, but he managed to hold it in and kept his smile.

“So what are you going to do? Well, if you don’t like it, there’s nothing I can do about it. I wouldn’t bet on the losing side like Mr. Rudger did.”

The students murmured at those words. As Rudger took care of Aidan in the eyes of the students the situation became Aidan and Rudger vs. Jevan and Chris.

Rudger found Chris’ behavior funny. It was enough to simply reject neatly and step away but even so, he couldn’t erase this feeling of regret.

It was Chris who encouraged the fight that could have been stopped in the first place, and he was even subtly making moves on him. There were too many eyes so Rudger couldn’t ignore the situation and he was getting annoyed.

‘Why do I have to step back?’

The reason he hasn’t paid much attention to Chris, who has been hostile, is simply that he didn’t feel the need to. After all, there is no need to expend his energy against a person he didn’t like from the start. But now that he tried to make a move against him things were different.

‘Yes. Let’s hang out a little.’

He really wanted to check out Aidan’s true skills through this match so Rudger nodded his head.

“Since Mr. Chris wants that, I will join you.”

“I didn’t think Mr. Rudger would accept this. So, Mr. Rudger, who do you think will win?”

“Of course, Aidan.”

Aidan’s eyes widened at Rudger’s unwavering voice. He never thought that Rudger would choose him here. It was the same with other students on the other hand, Chris seemed to know this. In fact, he nodded his head satisfactorily, as if he had hoped for this to happen.

“Good.”

“What will be the outcome of the bet?”

“Hmm…Well, we’re still teachers of Theon, but aren’t we magicians? We are also teachers who teach classes on the same manifestation system.”

At that, Rudger asked, seemingly surprised.

“You also teach the manifestation system?”

“…….”

Rudger was asking because he really didn’t know but Chris’s face turned red.

‘Hey, you damn fallen noble!’

This was one of the reasons Chris hated Rudger. Chris Benimore came to Theon to teach the manifestation system, he was proud of that fact. Then, out of the blue, he found out that an unheard-of fallen noble named Rudger Chelici was in charge of the same manifestation class as him.

Rudger was even in charge of the second year, and Chris himself was in charge of the lower first year.

It is natural for someone with more skill to take charge of a higher grade. In other words, Chris Benimore already knew the fact that he was one step below Rudger Chelici.

Rudger even allowed the first graders to attend his classes, so he took many talented students out of his first year class. He had good reasons to hate Rudger.

‘You think you’ll be safe after insulting me like that?’

In fact, Rudger was unaware of his own actions. Because he didn’t even know that Chris Benimore was a teacher of the manifestation system like him. That fact further crushed Chris Benimore’s self-esteem but Rudger barely understood Chris’ behavior.

‘No wonder that he was hostile to me. So it’s because we’re both in charge of the same manifestation class.’

Chris was pissed off and being compared to a teacher who teaches the same class only made him angrier. Rudger even showed the source code a magic that would never be taught in a normal class. Unknowingly, the comparison Chris was experiencing among the students must have intensified.

Chris managed to calm his anger and fixed his glasses.

“Hmmm…In any case, we’re going to offer each one a field of magic or theory that we have studied in the manifestation system. Oh, of course, it’s not important data, but wouldn’t it be enough to make a bet?”

“Shouldn’t we also state what level of theory we have to offer?”

“It’s up to each individual to decide.”

At your discretion, there is nothing more difficult than that. When it comes to food, it is no different than saying to add ingredients in moderation.

If you give something that is so ridiculously useless, you’re revealing that your level is only this but if you give something too good, you will lose a lot.

In the end, it was said that ‘moderate’ among wizards was just the middle line that would not damage his reputation and would not damage him. Rudger didn’t really care what it was, so he decided to accept it.

“Great. However, it would be impossible to compete right now, so let’s give it some time.”

“How much time?”

“Three days later would be appropriate. Then we will have a public match.”

“Hmm….3 days?”

He didn’t know if his opponent would do anything to the student he was supporting, but the time of three days was quite tight for that.

Even a genius cannot learn new magic in 3 days. All you have to do is analyze your opponent and maintain your best condition.

“Then we’ll do it again at this location in three days.”

“Great.”

The news that a public magic duel was decided with the consent of two teachers spread through Theon in an instant.

* * *

With everyone scattered to spread the word about the duel somehow, Aidan looked at Rudger who was still there and was at a loss for what to do. He felt guilty about thinking that Rudger had been swept up in this case because of him, and he opened his mouth, wanting to apologize.

“I, Mr. Rudger. Sorry. Just because of me…….”

“Done.”

Rudger cut Aidan’s words coldly.

“Yeah? But…….”

“It has already happened. What you need to worry about now is not how to apologize for what happened, but how to win the duel against Jevan Pellio.”

“Uh, um. That is correct.”

Rudger’s words were right. It was too late for regrets. Still, Aidan wasn’t sure about something. He didn’t know if he’d be able to defeat Jevan since he was just a beginner at magic.

“What are you so worried about?”

Rudger pushed Aidan.

“Are you saying you can’t do it now?”

“That, that…….”

“Aidan, you told me you would do it. Then, was your answer at that time just a lie that you were forced to bring out because you were swept away by the atmosphere?”

“……It is not.”

“I hope you were serious when you accepted the duel.”

“But in practice…….”

“Not different. Jevan is from a noble family, and he must have received personal education before joining Theon. He is already different from you and you know it too.”

Aidan couldn’t argue with that because everything Rudger said was right.

“However, it is too early to make a hasty conclusion. Aidan, what do you think is important in a fight?”

“Uh, um. I do not know. Is it your skill?”

Rudger shook his head.

“No matter how talented someone is, it is not uncommon for him to die at the hand of someone weaker. The world doesn’t just flow by the logic of power. A battle is won or lost in an instant.”

“Then what is it?”

“You already have it.”

At Rudger’s point, Aidan kept his mouth shut. It must be referring to the [special] type of magic that he possesses.

“You only need to use it for the important moments.”

There was only one reason Rudger took Chris’ bet so easily. Because he was sure that Aidan would win this fight.

“But I……I want to win only with my pure skills!”

But Aidan was different. He was obviously grateful for the magic that made him enter Theon, but he was unwilling to win with it.

“Mr. Rudger! Please teach me!”

Aidan stared at Rudger with an unwavering gaze. Rudger, who looked down at Aidan with a cold gaze, was bewildered inside.

‘Why is this guy here?’