First of All, I’m Drinking - Chapter 92

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

Episode 92

“The first week’s tournament bracket is posted on the bulletin board, so go check it during break time.”

Amelia quickly finished what she had to say and walked out.

Soon came break time.

The Swordsmanship Department students flocked out in groups to check the tournament bracket posted on the bulletin board.

I also mixed in among the kids to look it over, and found my name written at the very end.

[Asel (Class B) VS Helena de Loergarden (Class H)]

Naturally, it was a name I’d never seen before.

Class H was currently running in first place in the class rankings.

Of course, their ranking had shot up largely due to Class A and Class D’s pathetic defeats.

Still, if she was a student from the first-place class, she probably wouldn’t be too weak.

“Helena… You got quite a troublesome opponent right from the first match.”

Fail, who loved to butt in, looked at my bracket and interjected.

“Unlike Class A, Class H doesn’t have anyone who really stands out, but each individual is uniformly strong. Helena was probably around 30th in last semester’s rankings too.”

Fail turned to look at me and added a comment.

“Of course she’d be weak compared to you, Asel. You need to win quickly and move up to the higher groups to have proper matches.”

“Proper matches…”

Was there anyone among the first years who could have a proper match with me?

“Anyway, only one person can graduate from the individual tournament with a perfect record, so the strong ones are bound to face each other later.”

Fail pointed to a section of the bracket with his finger.

“I personally want to see these two face off.”

[Ragnor von Grantuan (Class E) VS Mikhail de Briel (Class J)]

[Meirei Estrada (Class A) VS Wilhelm de Freuden (Class C)]

Coincidentally, Ragnor and Meirei’s names were written close together.

I was curious to see those two fight as well.

Even among 5-stars, Ragnor had the advantage in terms of pure achievement.

On the other hand, Meirei had a unique ability.

With most people, you could roughly estimate who would win just by looking once, but with those two, I really couldn’t tell.

“Fail, who are you matched against?”

“Ah, I’m…”

Fail gloomily pointed to his bracket with his finger.

[Fail de Bremen (Class B) VS Seria de Argent (Class A)]

“I’ll be going to 0 wins and 1 loss first! Asel, you absolutely have to move up…”

Fail showed a dejected expression as if his life was over, forcing a smile.

What terrible luck.

Of all people, he had to face Seria in his first match.

‘Let me see how the others fared.’

There weren’t many people I knew at this school.

The royal children, Irin, Tanya. Broadly speaking, maybe Ersea too.

When I checked, they all had reasonable matchups.

It seemed like they’d all easily win their first matches and move up.

Except for exactly two people.

[Carno de Argent (Class H) VS Irin Kramer (Class I)]

Murmur murmur.

Looking around, I wasn’t the only one paying attention to that match.

“Irin was the top scorer on the transfer exam.”

“She was incredible during the last class competition… If she could lead Class I to victory against Class G.”

“I don’t think she’d be pushed around by Carno either.”

“I actually think Irin will win.”

“Come on, no matter what, she can’t beat Carno, right?”

Usually the first round ended boringly with one-sided victories due to the large skill gaps between students.

It was rare to have exciting matches where the outcome was hard to predict.

Even looking roughly, that was the only such match.

‘Is that the biggest match of Round 1?’

I should go watch it too.

If there were matches like that every week, at least I wouldn’t be bored during the individual tournament period.

“You’re Asel, right?”

Tall as an average man with a sturdy build.

A female student with shoulder-length hair spoke to me.

“I’m Helena de Loergarden. Your Round 1 opponent.”

Helena confidently extended her finger to point at me.

The content of her words wasn’t much, but her arrogant tone that seemed to look down on her opponent and her overbearing gaze…

‘Something about her rubs me the wrong way.’

She reminded me of Joseph and Ariel, whom I’d met during the transfer exam.

Fail whispered to me.

“Helena is a famous noble supremacist. Looks like she came to pick a fight?”

But contrary to Fail’s guess, Helena smiled brightly and kindly extended her hand.

“Thanks to you, I survived in the Void Tundra. You’re incredibly strong. After graduation, would you consider applying to be a soldier for our family? When I become the head of the family, I’ll keep the knight commander position open for you.”

It was a statement that clearly showed she was a supremacist completely filled with pride in her own family.

It was so absurd I couldn’t even let out a hollow laugh.

I lightly waved my hand dismissively.

“I’ll pass. I have no desire to belong to a noble house.”

Then Helena let out a breath with an incredulous expression.

“What, you’re rejecting my proposal right now?”

A faint anger seeped into her expression.

“You seemed pretty strong for a student, so I humbled myself to make the offer, and you’re rejecting it? A mere commoner?”

The strong emphasis on “for a student” made her intention to belittle me too blatantly obvious.

Why do these kinds of bastards never stop coming?

I thought after my rampage in the Void Tundra, no one would pick fights with me for being a commoner anymore.

“Get lost.”

I said coldly, glaring at her.

Helena flinched and trailed off stupidly.

“What did you just… say?”

“I said get lost. If you’re going to keep making pathetic proposals.”

“You said that to me? Get lost? To me?”

“Are your ears blocked? Who else would I be talking to if not you?”

“You little shit…!”

Helena got excited and tried to charge at me, but soon seemed intimidated by my fierce momentum and relaxed her clenched fist.

“You’re the first commoner to tell me to get lost.”

Helena seemed genuinely shocked.

“Just wait until the match! I’ll make sure you regret those words!”

Helena made her threat, then turned around and ran off to the other side.

The other students watched our conversation as if it were entertaining spectacle.

Fail spoke up.

“Normally this would be the timing where I should be worried about you, Asel, but why am I not worried at all?”

Fail looked down the corridor where Helena had left.

“Don’t beat her up too badly like you did Lessor. You might get backlash from the noble kids.”

“I’ll try my best.”

Of course, there were more things in the world that didn’t work out just because you tried.

* * *

“Damn! That cursed commoner bastard!”

Helena snorted angrily as she crossed the corridor.

“I heard he’s an orphan, but his standards are uselessly high. How dare he refuse the opportunity to become Roergarden’s knight captain?”

Helena was also one of the people who had clearly witnessed Asel’s prowess in the Void Tundra.

So when Asel was decided as her first round opponent.

She immediately knew that she could never win with her own skills.

That’s why she had gone to find him on her own initiative.

If she, a noble, acknowledged Asel, a commoner, and he gladly accepted the opportunity to become a knight of Roergarden.

Even if she lost pathetically in the upcoming match, it would be less shameful.

‘But… that insolent bastard!’

Far from accepting the opportunity to become a knight of Roergarden, Asel had ridiculed and humiliated her, a noble, in front of everyone.

She absolutely could not forgive him.

“Now that it’s come to this, I’ll definitely win. By any means necessary!”

After confirming no one was in the corridor, Helena took out a blue orb from her pocket.

It was a communication crystal, expensive and rare enough that only those in power could possess one.

[What business do you have at this hour?]

The face of a man dressed as a butler appeared in the communication crystal.

Helena opened her mouth urgently.

“Is there any ‘Elixir of Ascension’ left in the family’s inventory? Send it to the dormitory immediately.”

The Elixir of Ascension was a potion that temporarily enhanced the power of aura.

However, it had little effect on Expert level and above, and was only effective for Sword Runners of 4-star and below.

[Why are you suddenly looking for the Elixir of Ascension?]

“There’s someone I absolutely must defeat.”

[Don’t tell me… is this because of the individual tournament?]

“That’s right.”

[This is not a good choice. If the professors find out you took the Elixir of Ascension before the match…]

“Ah, shut up! I’ll handle it myself, so just hurry up and send it!”

The butler sighed as if he had given up completely.

[Understood. I’ll send it by tomorrow.]

“Oh, and also send that incredibly effective constipation remedy that mother got this time.”

[Laxative… I mean, why do you need the constipation remedy?]

“You don’t need to know. Just keep your mouth shut and send it.”

The Elixir of Ascension was quite effective for swordsmen of low realm, but she couldn’t guarantee victory over Asel, who was 5-star, with that alone.

To offset the skill gap with him and secure victory, this was the only method.

[…I pray it’s not for the purpose I’m thinking of.]

Helena only turned off the communication crystal after receiving confirmation that the constipation remedy would be sent along as well.

‘I heard that guy, being a poor commoner as expected, loves eating so much.’

She acknowledged that he was good at fighting.

But could he really win against diarrhea too?

Helena smiled wickedly alone in the empty corridor.

* * *

The individual tournament finally began.

Although the number of spectators decreased with each round, since today was the first day, there were quite a lot of people in the audience seats.

Since I had nothing particular to do, I sat down early to watch the matches.

Today, Ragnor and Tanya had their matches, and both secured victories with clean performances.

My match was this afternoon, and Carno and Irin’s matches were tomorrow.

“Wow! That person is incredibly strong too.”

“He was in the top 50 last semester, but he must have worked quite hard during the break.”

Cathy and Fail were sitting next to me.

Cathy mainly hung out with us after Veronica, whom she was close with, took a leave of absence.

“Excuse me.”

When someone called out, I turned my head to see Helena standing there with chocolate in her hand.

“I was sorry about last time. I made the suggestion with good intentions, but I didn’t know you’d be offended.”

Helena held out the chocolate.

“This is an apology gift. Let’s forget about what happened and have a good match today.”

It was quite unexpected.

I never thought Helena would apologize first.

Strictly speaking, regarding that day’s incident, it was more my fault for immediately cursing when I felt bad, rather than Helena’s.

“Thanks. I’m sorry for cursing at you that time too. I’ll gladly accept the chocolate.”

As I was receiving the chocolate, I asked a question due to a sudden suspicion.

“But you didn’t put anything in this, did you?”

Flinch.

Helena’s body briefly convulsed.

“Are you suspecting a noble right now? Even after I apologized first?”

An excessively agitated reaction.

Even her pupils rolling around anxiously.

Her behavior was suspicious enough that anyone, not just me, could tell.

‘Unexpected my ass.’

I knew this would happen.

I broke the chocolate in half and handed it to Helena.

“Well, no. I’m sorry too, so I’ll give you half. Let’s share it together.”

Helena looked at the chocolate in my hand with bewildered eyes.

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