All the students went towards the weapon racket and chose their preferred weapons and armor like Arnold did.

Rodrick stood in front of Arnold and looked down at him. It felt odd being stared down on like that since Arnold was either taller or as tall as most of the people he met so far. Only his father and Sebastian were taller than him as far as he knew.

“You weren’t in class this morning. Your homeroom teacher complained about this in the office this morning before first period started.” Rodrick began speaking.

“So what if I skipped one or two classes? It’s not like I need to be there when all the knowledge I need is up here,” he tapped his head.

Of course, he was lying. He was only acting cool. It was typical arrogant bastard Arnold behavior.

“That’s not the point. Yes, I’m aware that you are one of the top achievers but you need to put that brain to use instead of neglecting it. You also have above average skills in swordsmanship when it comes to the default imperial style. This is a level of skill only a few others have achieved.”

“…”

“Aren’t you worried that one of your classmates might surpass you because you’re so negligent over your studies?”

“That’ll never happen.”

Arnold could hear a few of them grit their teeth and hurl insults at him under their breaths.

He wasn’t being boastful or confident at all. It was just a fact.

If they had known he was a Transcendent then they wouldn’t be looking at him so hatefully because of the things he’s done so far. He was positive that even the teachers who hated him would throw themselves at him, much less the girls he wronged in the past.

Nobles of various cities would also come to the academy just to advertise themselves to work in his city.

He could use his potential to gain followers, supporters and connections but there was no need for that since a monster lord of unfathomable power was aiding him in the shadows.

Also, the other thing that made him hesitant was the fact that there was a worry that others would find out about Luke’s potential as well. Everything would collapse if that happened.

“You… are quite the confident fellow. Well… I, myself admire such people who can shamelessly flaunt their strength. But I want you to keep in mind that your future depends on your decisions today.” Rodrick’s expression remained calm with an amiable smile on his face.

Arnold sighed loudly as the professor kept lecturing him even as he walked in line next to the others.

“Fine, fine. I’ll do as you say and not skip anymore.”

The professor looked at Arnold bewildered, “R-Really… I see…Well, that’s good. Anyway, let us begin!”

‘Was it that surprising that I complied with you?’

The previous Arnold would’ve spat this man in the face and walked away. Since Rodrick was a patient man, he would’ve let it slide but would inform Arnold’s parents of his behavior. This could lead to Marcus becoming a troublesome person in his life so he decided to not take the “Arnold” approach but instead the “Liam” approach.

Arnold noticed someone glaring hatefully at him from the side.

It contrasted to the fearful gazes he had been receiving from most of his classmates.

“Is there something on my face, miss Stella?”

Arnold asked calmly as he looked at the red-haired girl. Her glaring red eyes seemed to carry all her resentment.

“….”

She didn’t answer and only looked forward.

‘Stella Ayried.’

Or better known as the least favorite character in the entire game. She was a loud, obnoxious and proud heroine.

Yes, she was a capture target in the game. But what was the point of making her a capture target if no one liked her? Who would even make her Luke’s wife?

Of course, no one wanted to.

She came from a ducal family—just like Arnold—and she was considered one of the prodigies of the empire in swordsmanship—just like Arnold.

It was like the developers decided to make a female version of Arnold but just more annoying.

Although his actions garnered hate from the fanbase, people loved his character background, motivations, goals and, most of all, his evil nature.

But the girl next to him right now was like a cliché character no one would want in their story.

Arnold wanted to cry tears of blood. Why was this girl—who was like an annoying fly—in his class? He had forgotten that Arnold and Stella were always fighting over some silly thing.

It wasn’t necessary to mention but Arnold would always be the one who started it first.

“I’ll now announce the sparring partners. Take in mind that the lessons are shortened for the final semester because all of you need to prepare for your finals. That’s why I want all of you to try your best when fighting,” Rodrick walked passed the students as he looked at them, “As you all know, I have a tradition of letting my students spar first before we officially start the lesson. This is to see how much you’ve improved.”

Classes for swordsmanship, magic, alchemy and necromancing were given an extra 50 minutes per period. This was because the classes were heavily physical-oriented so students needed a lot of time and energy to train. Normal subjects such as mathematics, history and geography were all the same time limit.

But all subjects, even swordsmanship, were the same time today.

He stopped in front of Arnold.

‘No… Why am I first…’

“Arnold will be the opening fighter… Along with…” Rodrick’s gaze went to the person who was standing next to him on his right side.

Stella.

Arnold’s face scrunched up.

◇◇

Stella came from a fief located farther south of the empire, compared to the other cities ruled by the nobles of the empire. Her father was known as one of the best sword instructors on the entire continent.

Him being a duke and a senior sword instructor gave him quite a name in the aristocracy.

By the way, her father was a very good friend of Arnold’s father.

He was supposed to be Luke’s sword instructor before Flora came into the mix. That was how Stella and Luke met. She was curious over who gave Marcus enough reason to remove Arnold as the heir.

She had a thought of:

Is he stronger than me?

This thought fueled her curiosity and she wanted to know more about Luke. She visited the castle along with her father and the two met.

When she saw Luke’s handling of the sword… it left her breathless. Although not as gentle yet dangerous as Arnold’s Flow of the Tide swordsmanship, Luke’s moves were akin to someone using wind magic to avoid enemy attacks.

It was like he was dancing.

Stella knew right then that she would’ve lost the moment she tried to ask him for a duel.

Thus, he became her motivation. She trained day and night.

And so… she was able to inherit one of her ancestors’ Flower Swords after her countless days of training until her nails broke and her skin tore.

‘The flower of flames and beauty…’ Arnold looked at Stella’s hip as the two of them were facing each other with wooden swords, ‘The Fire Lily.’

The hilt was a beautiful red decorated with ancient runes that gave the sword its power. The blade was hidden in her sheathe but Arnold could remember that it was even bloodier in color than his demon sword.

That sword was also a pre-awakened semi Star-Class weapon just like Luke’s current sword.

“All of you watch closely. I know it’s hard to accept but I want you to learn from how these two fight. They have the best performance rating out of all the fourth year students. Notice what you’re lacking that they have. Once you do try and fix that area that needs work.”

Rodrick spoke to the other students before the battle started.

Arnold had to look away from Stella because she had a crazy look in her eyes. It was like she would kill him the moment he let his guard down.

“Battle tactics, reflexes, judgment… These are the things that they are superior in battle compared to all of you. I know it’s hard to swallow but just observe and make notes.”

“Yes, sir!”

All of them answered in unison.

Arnold noticed that many of the students from other classes were looking through their classroom windows of their class.

‘Ugh, I was never good at acting in a crowd.’ He cleared his throat.

“Begin whenever you wish. But remember that I will step in if one of your lives are in danger.” Rodrick stepped back.

“Humph.” Stella bent down, her legs bulged as if she was ready to pounce on Arnold.

“Why don’t you just use your family heirloom instead?” Arnold said as he relaxed his stance and swordhand.

His sword tip was facing the ground so he must’ve seemed very relaxed and unworried to the others.

She frowned, “Are you mocking me? Do you think I won’t win without it?”

“Uh, did I mean anything else?”

She gritted her teeth and huffed deeply.

‘Wow, just one sentence was enough to anger her.’

No wonder no one liked her. She was a hot-headed battle freak.

‘Arnold von Berkley is an expert at taunting these kinds of people.’ Arnold smirked which only annoyed her further.

“You’re shaking, miss Stella. Are you scared?”

“Shuddup…”

“As I thought, I can’t hurt a lady. The only way I wish to make a woman cry in pain is in bed—”

“SHUT UP!!!” Flames flared from Stella’s hair as she burst forward in a straight line. She jumped up for an overhead strike.

‘Black panties… Oops.’ Arnold saw her underwear for a second and almost lost concentration. He jumped to the side, avoiding her attack effortlessly.

Stella’s sword dug into the concrete.

‘Her red aura is as destructive as always.’

“Keh…” she clicked her tongue after her unsuccessful attempt to strike Arnold.

Well, who wouldn’t be able to dodge an obvious attack like that. She was as amateurish as that Leonard guy while she was angry.

‘And this makes her an easy opponent to defeat.’

His reason for taunting her was so that she could become careless and disregard her defense by focusing all her offense. Otherwise Arnold wouldn’t be able to win unless he used his aura.

He knew he was a coward but this was his way of fighting even during his time as a player. He would even exploit a glitch in the game to win against an opponent he couldn’t beat. That was how low he would go.

Stella already hating Arnold’s guts made it much easier.

“The late lords of the House Ayried must be turning in their graves witnessing who is supposed to carry on their bloodline. A nobody from a branch family.” Arnold parried her two strikes that aimed for his neck and head respectively.

“Aaaah!” Stella just kept on trying to attack him.

Of course, her moves being so big and slow made it very easy to guess what she would do next.

“A girl, a feisty one at that, is the sole heir to the family who watches over the East with the seven swords of flames in their possession. Will it last? I’m sure that no one would want to marry a tigress who hits her own suitors if they just winked at her. Even the main family children are disappointments. I’m convinced a great ducal household will die out at this rate.”

Arnold knew that saying all these things was insulting to Drakan Ayried, the head of the household but he didn’t really care about the repercussions at the moment.

“Aaaaaah!!!” Stella’s hair flared in flames even more as she roared like a beast.

Arnold had a troubled expression on his face.

‘Why isn’t Rodrick stopping the match? She’s obviously intent on killing me.’

Arnold looked towards his professor as Stella was coming towards him in large strides.

‘That bastard… He’s smiling? Does he want her to kill me? Or maybe he wants me to help her target her weaknesses and overcome them?’

That was what he assumed when he remembered Rodrick’s speech before the battle begun.

Observe, fix problem areas and learn from others.

Arnold—well, the original was the perfect person to observe. He was calm and highly confident in the face of battle and he was able to target his opponent’s weak spot without her noticing.

Perhaps even Stella wasn’t aware of her weak spot which was ironically her family name. It was a complex she had even later in the DLC.

When she would achieve a great feat like save the empire with the Hero Party then there was always that one person or people in a crowd that said:

As expected of the child of Duke Drakan of the Ayried family!

The family often referred to as the “Dragons of Diacree”.

“AAAAH!!” Stella pulled out her Fire Lily sword.

The entire surroundings was bathed in a red haze. The students freaked out as they scurried away.

But Arnold was simply standing with his sword, its tip facing the ground.

“I think that’s enough.”

There was no resounding boom or an explosion for that matter. There wasn’t even a dramatic light that would result from that much power being released.

Rodrick had stopped the Fire Lily with a pen that was surrounded in his Sword Intent.

“Wha…”

“A-A pen?”

The students gawked at the sight in front of them. Even Stella looked bewildered.

“You have a very bad habit of pulling this sword whenever you don’t get your way, young lady Stella. Allow me to inform you that you are not allowed to draw your household weapon unless an official duel is held and your opponent does the same. Are we clear?”

His sword intent disappeared which made the pen shatter and ink splatter on his hand.

“….” Stella sheathed the sword with her head lowered.

Arnold chuckled which only made her glare at him like earlier. But the intensity of her glare lessened.

“You have a knack for pissing people off, Arnold,” Rodrick muttered when he bent down to speak into Arnold’s ear, “Be careful who you use that talent on.”

“Thanks for the compliment and for the warning.” Arnold smiled before looking at Stella.

“That sword’s sharp blade at full power itself could cut the strongest steel in this world even if there isn’t a lot of force behind the swing,” Stella looked up as she heard Arnold’s words, “Yet it was stopped by Sword Intent. A method of fighting used to defend against arrows and turn your hand into a weapon. Sure, it can be weaponized but it is much weaker than aura.”

“Y-You… You…” Stella’s entire body trembled.

“My point is that you don’t deserve that sword, Stella. That sword’s power is equal to a fire camp used to cook meat in your hands.” He turned around and did a stretch, “I’d gladly take it off your hands but it’s a pity that my style of swordsmanship doesn’t fit fire-style swords.”

Then he walked back to the line of students. His classmates looked at him like he was trash.

“He isn’t exactly wrong” was probably what all of them were thinking about.

Their eyes were then directed at Stella.

Stella clenched her fists with her head lowered. Arnold noticed a tear fall onto the ground. But before he could verify whether she was crying or not, she ran away.

“Well then…” the professor clapped his hands, “Let’s move on to the next spar.”