Tik! Tick! Tik! Tick!

I can hear the sound of water dripping from the ceiling that splattered through the cold rough surface where I was currently lying down.

My hands and feet are helplessly tied together as I chanted my detection magic to determine my current situation. "Epitrepste mou na do mesa apo tous toichous"

My magic started to spread all over the place. On its way, I found a lot of rooms with walls that separate them together, metal bars and chains that prevent people from escaping, pieces of furniture like bed, toilets, and more. This place is like the one in the past where we bought the slaves. A prison.

My magic continued to go further until I found the exit. There, I saw two people arguing. One is a Lady that seems familiar and the other is the guard who watches over this place.

Amplified Hearing Magic. "Epitrepste mou na akouso mesa apo tous toichous."

"...L-Lady Yume, please forgive me as the vice-principal ordered not to allow any visitor."

"Please Sir Guard, I just want to see a friend."

It's the princess... Friend? Is she... By chance... Referring to me?

"M-My head will roll if the vice-principal learned that I let someone inside. So please Lady Yume, I still have a wife, two children, a senile grandpa, and a dog to feed."

"Then, can you at least give him my message? Please tell him that I will do my best to let him out of this prison. So please wait for me."

"I'm sorry Lady Yume, the vice-principal precisely sai—"

"Fine!" Yume said, turning around leaving. She pouted while the guard sighed as their conversation ended.

"Pffft!" I chuckled. My first time seeing her act like this. Even though I thought that she had a fixed personality based on the novel, but seeing her in real life changed my perspective. Her expression and behaviors are quite different from what I have read.

Is my existence the reason for her change?

Well, dwelling on this would result in nothing. So I decided to address my current situation first, I said, "Felix."

Swoosh!

A person swiftly appeared outside of my prison cell. He was covered in a black hood and tight suit with two daggers in his waist.

"You called, my Lord?" Felix said, bowing down his head with his right hand to his chest and left hand on his back.

***

6 hours ago.

"Are you scared now?" Shin the crown prince said.

Shin and I were facing each other, standing in the middle of a platform, where the whole audience can see us directly. The prince instigated the duel between us, which might be because of his despicable pride when the princess lends me her sword unconditionally.

If I were to win, then the academy will accept me as a student. Else, I will fail and need to return to the Xan Kingdom.

Earlier, even the princess's worried face was so cute that I almost declined the duel and attempt to take her home. Yet, I agreed to it because of the need in releasing my decades of pent-up irritation.

"Pathetic." The first word that came out of my mouth. Grabbing Silverlight so hard that the handle was imprinted onto my palm. Imagining the things the princess had suffered because of this pathetic couple. If only I could kidnap the princess and summon a giant meteor turning everyone to dust. But I need to calm down because of the mission given by the author. "Slow, I need to take it slow. Phew..."

"What are you mumbling about?" Shin quickly formed into his sword stance. "If you're not attacking, then I will."

Based on the data we collected, the prince uses the Zen Royal Sword Art, a sword style that was passed down only to the heirs of this kingdom's royal family. This style is aggressive that focuses purely on offense since the royal family believed that the most effective style is the one that can dominate your opponent.

As expected, the prince raised his sword with both hands and stretches it to his back, then lunges forward attempting to slice my whole body downward in one strike. The blade hummed as it whipped through the air.

Swish!

"Sir!" Yume said, covering her mouth with both hands.

The crowd gasped, anticipating that the battle already ended. "Is... Is it done?"

A moment of silence.

After the attack, the prince was in a position where his knees are bent and the sword was at the side.

"The prince missed!"

His attack was so slow that I even had the time to yawn, dodging his attack in time a few inches before the sword reaches my head. Making him in a position vulnerable to attack.

"I missed?!" Shin said, gathering the momentum to follow up another attack.

Whack!

Without notice, using the end of the sword handle, I stroked the prince's nape with a strength strong enough to render him unconscious — plop — making him drop to the ground.

Next, I looked at the vice-principal, I said, "Can you please announce the winner?"

Everyone was still in a trance that they don't know what to say. A few seconds later, the crowd began to cheer by clapping, shouting, and whistling.

"He defeated a Sword Master?"

"The crown prince didn't lack any sword trainer since birth, and he still lost to a nobody."

"Does it mean Sword Masters are this weak?"

"The black hair guy is so cool!"

All applauses were stopped when the vice-principal shouted, "You! You! You! How... How dare you to assault the Crown Prince! G-Guards! Arrest this ignorant fool!"

"W-Wait!" Yume tried to stop in between, but the other senior students joined together and stopped her. Also, I raised my palm to tell her I'm fine.

Then I was apprehended and sent to the academy prison.

***

7 hours later.

Bam!

The door of the academy principal's office was forcedly opened.

"Who have the guts to disturb my office?!" the man with a long white beard said, standing from his office chair.

Three people appeared outside the door and entered. In the middle, a middle-aged man is wearing formal attire. On the right is a woman with pink hair and blue eyes wearing a sword and shield, while on the left is also a woman with red hair and eyes, carrying on her back are two spears crossed together.

"I'm the Xan Kingdom's Envoy. Our King has a message for the academy's principal," the man in the middle said, opening a letter. "The Xan Kingdom sent Ryu Astre to honor the request of Zen Kingdom's foreign cooperation. We expect that the academy will fully support our representative without discrimination and unfair treatment.

"If ever the Xan Kingdom found that any mistreatment has been done to our representative, further cooperation between the two kingdoms will halt, including the business trades that were newly conducted.

"This message came directly from the King of Xan, The Dragon Slayer."

The Xan envoy wrapped up the letter, gave it directly to the principal, and left. After this, the academy principal quickly asked for a staff meeting.

***

Royal Academy Conference Hall.

The people attending are the principal, vice-principal, head scholars, assistant scholars, teachers, and the representatives of student councils.

"Announcing that this meeting about the foreign students to start," the principal said. "First is regarding how to address the issue of the letter the Xan Kingdom sent.

"Second, is to address how our students and staff behave against foreign students.

"Third, is the incoming monster expedition next year. So let me hear your opinions and suggestions."

The vice-principal raised his hand. "Principal, the issue about the Xan Kingdom is because of a low birth from another kingdom assaulting the crown prince—"

"Sir, with all due respect, the crown prince lost in a fair and square duel!" Yume, one of the student council representatives said.

"But Principal, we can't allow these barbarians to taunt us!"

"Sir, thousands of people watched the duel, and our honor is at stake if we push this, just because the crown prince lost miserably—"

"That Ryu Astre fought dirty! Didn't you see that he disrespected the swordsmanship duel by using a random barbarian move against his opponent?"

"Is there a rule—"

"Enough!" the principal interrupted, "This is not about how the crown prince lost. Then tell me this vice-principal, will you take responsibility if the Xan Kingdom stopped trading with us?"

"Principal, they are just barbarians."

"Excuse me principal and vice-principal," the head scholar said, "the product of Xan Kingdom can't be neglected, because there are so many items that were only produced there which is very helpful to our daily life.

"And there are new inventions that are currently being developed there that are not available anywhere else. So I think provoking them is not a wise decision."

"We agree," the other scholars said.

The principal paused. "Then please raise those hands who agree to accept Ryu Astre of Xan Kingdom into the academy and acknowledge that the duel happened between him and the crown prince is fair."