First of All, I’m Drinking - Chapter 76

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 76

 

Listening from the side, I opened my mouth with a dumbfounded expression.

 

‘What? He’s betting his withdrawal from school on a duel with me?’

 

It was an absurdly radical development.

 

Amelia spoke firmly.

 

[That won’t do.]

 

I stroked my chest in relief, but her words weren’t finished yet.

 

[Is what I’d like to say, but since you’re even willing to withdraw if you lose, I’m curious too. Why did you challenge Asel to a duel?]

 

Meirei glanced at me once before answering.

 

“I want to expose everything this guy is hiding.”

 

[What do you mean Asel is hiding something?]

 

“I’m not sure myself. That’s why I want to find out.”

 

Amelia turned her head toward me.

 

[I see. Asel, will you accept Meirei’s duel challenge?]

 

I shook my head faster than light and even waved my hands.

 

“No, I absolutely won’t accept it. I have no intention of doing it even if I die. Absolutely not!”

 

Meirei’s expression twisted menacingly.

 

Professor or not, she looked ready to rush at me right now.

 

Amelia closed her eyes and nodded.

 

[I understand. Meirei, return to your seat now.]

 

“…Yes, ma’am.”

 

Even as Meirei returned to the Class A students, she didn’t take her eyes off me.

 

Class A looked very frustrated at losing a match they had in the bag because of Meirei alone.

 

A few glared at Meirei, but when she looked back at them fiercely, they quickly averted their gazes.

 

“What’s going on, Asel?”

 

Fail came running over in a hurry.

 

I had seen him get knocked away in one hit after charging at Seria earlier, but fortunately he didn’t seem to have any serious injuries.

 

“I don’t know either. She suddenly acted like that. Must be some kind of weirdo.”

 

I lied without batting an eye.

 

Cathy bit her lip worriedly.

 

“I was so startled. Meirei suddenly rushed at Asel…”

 

“Tell me about it.”

 

I smiled awkwardly.

 

‘I’ll have to be more careful from now on.’

 

I had to admit I was careless.

 

This is a school where the continent’s greatest talents gather.

 

I had underestimated the talent of someone who held the number one rank among all first-years in such a place.

 

Max, Veronica, Ersea, and other injured or unconscious students were moved to the infirmary.

 

The rest returned to their respective seats.

 

Thud.

 

As I was about to sit down, someone hit my shoulder and passed by.

 

It was Lessor de Balkaud.

 

Was it an accident?

 

Or was he starting to pick a fight with me?

 

He was such a piece of trash that Max had earnestly begged me never to get involved with him.

 

It was best to just ignore him.

 

[Finally, Class F and Class H will compete. Students from each class, please come down to the battlefield promptly.]

 

With eight out of ten classes having finished their matches, the remaining two classes faced off without a draw.

 

Class F had one transfer student assigned to it.

 

Her name was Leila Yuran.

 

I remembered she ranked 5th during the transfer exam, but I wasn’t particularly interested.

 

The match result was one-sided.

 

Under Class H’s aggressive offensive, Class F couldn’t put up any decent resistance and had their flag stolen.

 

The match ended when Class H’s Keeper planted the flag in the stronghold.

 

[Victory, Class H!]

 

With this, all matches were concluded.

 

[Students, please sit in your seats and wait for a moment. We will determine the new second semester class rankings through a faculty meeting.]

 

The professors gathered in a circle on the platform and entered into discussion.

 

“What do you think will happen?”

 

Fail asked with sparkling eyes.

 

“How would I know just because you ask me? Today was my first day of classes.”

 

“Still, you must have some kind of gut feeling. What rank do you think our class will get?”

 

“At least 2nd place, I think.”

 

Even though it was a victory due to the opponent’s disqualification, we still won, so a high rank was confirmed.

 

Moreover, our opponent was Class A, which had been 1st place last semester, and our class’s own ranking wasn’t low either.

 

If we were lucky, we could even aim for the very top.

 

[I will announce the results.]

 

The faculty meeting must have ended as Amelia stood in front of the platform.

 

A screen with compiled rankings appeared in the air.

 

1st place: Class H

 

2nd place: Class B

 

3rd place: Class C

 

4th place: Class E

 

5th place: Class I

 

6th place: Class A

 

7th place: Class D

 

8th place: Class G

 

9th place: Class F

 

10th place: Class J

 

“Yes! 2nd place!”

 

Fail clenched his fist and danced while sitting down.

 

“Class A is 6th place…”

 

“They’ve never dropped from 1st place before.”

 

Students expressed their various thoughts about the dramatically changed rankings.

 

[Winning classes were placed in higher ranks, losing classes in lower ranks, and we also adjusted rankings by referring to last semester’s rankings and match content.]

 

The students overall seemed to accept the rankings.

 

There didn’t seem to be any room for controversy.

 

Looking at the clock, it was almost lunch time.

 

[This concludes the inter-class competition. Each class should return under their supervising professor’s guidance and prepare for afternoon classes.]

 

* * *

 

I returned to the classroom mixed in with the Class B students.

 

“When will the kids who went to the infirmary come back?”

 

“They’ll be back by lunch.”

 

Fail smiled brightly as if telling me not to worry.

 

That guy Max, he’ll be fine.

 

It might have been more heated because it was an inter-class competition, but I couldn’t shake the impression that it was too brutal for kids’ classes.

 

Thud.

 

Someone hit my shoulder and passed by again.

 

It was Lessor de Balkaud again.

 

Once could be an accident. But twice is different.

 

That’s definitely deliberate provocation.

 

“Keke.”

 

He walked along chatting quietly with a student who appeared to be his follower.

 

“Our class transfer student is just an idiot. All the other class transfer students were flying around.”

 

“Still, when you think about it, we won thanks to that guy, didn’t we? If Meirei hadn’t charged at him, we would have lost for sure.”

 

“Why is that because of him? Meirei just acted foolishly on her own. You saw earlier how even a mid-tier student from Class A couldn’t break through alone and was groveling.”

 

“Keke, that’s true.”

 

Lessor giggled as if he had made an amusing joke.

 

“I could tell from when he was a commoner orphan~ He probably never learned anything from his mommy and daddy, so how did he even get admitted here?”

 

Does he think I can’t hear him?

 

No, he’s probably saying this on purpose so I can hear.

 

“Hey.”

 

I called out to Lessor.

 

“You there, big guy.”

 

Lessor slowly turned around.

 

“Let’s keep it civil while I’m being nice. I don’t want to cause trouble either.”

 

“…”

 

The students around looked at me anxiously.

 

If it had been a mistake, I would have ignored it.

 

But now that it was clear this was deliberate provocation, I couldn’t just keep ignoring it.

 

If I left it alone like this, I might get caught up in even bigger trouble.

 

“Ha, haha!”

 

Lessor burst into deliberately exaggerated laughter, as if he had no idea what I was talking about.

 

“You’re not seriously talking to me, are you?”

 

Lessor glared at me with murderous eyes.

 

“Of course it’s you, who else would it be? Let’s just get along nicely. Why are you so desperate to pick a fight?”

 

The classroom atmosphere was turning strange.

 

Fail turned pale and tried to dissuade me in a whisper.

 

“Hey, Asel. Don’t do it. Just ignore him. That bastard’s completely crazy. When he snaps, he really will smash your head with a chair.”

 

Smash my head with a chair?

 

If that’s all, even when he snaps it’s nothing much.

 

“It’s fine. Why are you so scared?”

 

“Asel…!”

 

“Why is he picking a fight with me right now? Because Max and Veronica aren’t here. Those two are beyond what his power can handle.”

 

Deep down, he probably wanted to pick a fight with me from the beginning.

 

He’s a guy with elitist consciousness and aristocratic supremacy ingrained to his bones.

 

I, a mere commoner who passed the transfer exam, must have been a thorn in his eye.

 

The reason he endured until now was because Max, the real power, and Veronica, the second-in-command, were backing me up.

 

At this moment when those two were carried to the infirmary.

 

There couldn’t have been better timing to release the instincts he had been suppressing.

 

“He’s just a coward. That bastard.”

 

Veins bulged on Lessor’s forehead.

 

“Ha, well I’ll be damned.”

 

Lessor grabbed his neck and spat on the classroom floor.

 

“I guess I look easy now too. Seeing some orphan brat who doesn’t know his place crawling up. Hey, Number 1!”

 

“Y-yes!”

 

A male student wearing glasses scurried over to Lessor.

 

“Face the wall and turn around.”

 

“Y-yes…”

 

The male student silently complied with Lessor’s command.

 

It was hard to believe they were classmates.

 

“You bastard!”

 

Bang!

 

Lessor grabbed the male student’s head and slammed it hard against the wall.

 

“Kuh, kuhek!”

 

Blood flowed from the male student’s nose, dripping onto the floor.

 

“Whew.”

 

Lessor took a deep breath, barely swallowing his anger, and let go of the head.

 

The students froze in the chilling atmosphere, unable to move.

 

Some with weak hearts were even trembling.

 

“Hey, orphan. You want to end up like this too?”

 

“…”

 

“Where does a parentless commoner brat get off raising his voice to me, a son of the Viscounty of Balkaud?”

 

I activated my divine sight.

 

Around Balcaud’s chest, black clouds were floating around.

 

Not large enough to suspect him of being Baal’s agent, but not small either.

 

It was amazing that someone so young could already have such an evil nature.

 

“Hey, this won’t do.”

 

Lessor pointed at the wall and nodded.

 

“You face the wall and turn around too.”

 

“…”

 

“What, ignoring me? If you don’t listen to me now, you’ll regret it. I’m counting to three. Three, two, one.”

 

“I’ve had a theory for a while now.”

 

I approached Lessor in an instant.

 

Lessor stared at me with wide eyes, unable to grasp what was happening.

 

“Bastards who don’t know what they did wrong only come to their senses after experiencing the same thing.”

 

I grabbed Lessor’s head and slammed it down to the ground.

 

Bang!

 

“Kueok!”

 

Blood spurted from Lessor’s nose.

 

The class kids’ faces turned pale.

 

I didn’t stop at once.

 

Bang! Bang! Bang!

 

This wasn’t the first time this guy had slammed a victim’s head against the wall.

 

He must have repeated the same violence several times in the past.

 

Once wasn’t nearly enough to pay the full price for those sins.

 

“Uhheok, heoeoeoek.”

 

After slamming his head dozens of times in the same spot.

 

Lessor’s face was stained with blood and bruises.

 

His nose was broken and his cheekbone was caved in.

 

His body trembled as he convulsed as if begging for his life.

 

“Hey, it’s fine, man. I heard the priests here can heal this kind of external injury instantly.”

 

I was about to slam his head on the floor once more.

 

Then the classroom door opened with a creak.

 

“What the hell do you think you’re doing!”

 

The Class F supervising professor, Garcia Greyven, entered the classroom raising his voice in anger.

 

Several Class B students followed behind him.

 

Someone must have gone to call the professor, anticipating that the situation would become serious.

 

“This is… well, it’s a long story. I have my grievances too.”

 

I started with excuses.

 

Although Lessor was the one who provoked it first, this was clearly a situation where I appeared to be the aggressor to anyone watching.

 

“Follow me. I’ll hear your excuses in my private research room.”

 

Garcia spoke decisively in a voice as cold as frost.

 

I blinked at this unexpected gain.

 

Is this what they call a blessing in disguise?

 

Thanks to Lessor’s provocation, an opportunity for a private meeting with Garcia had naturally presented itself.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Team. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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