“…What he said is true. This Isaac guy really does go around doing everything he wants.”
“I see… So he really…”
It was evening. Yuugo was back to the corner of the academy’s courtyard he called home, and he and his friends heard Hercus speak about the current situation in the academy.
He thanked him for gathering information for him, something Yuugo could not do due to being heavily disliked, and was shocked to hear the bad things he heard about Isaac earlier that day were true.
He seemed a little haughty, but listened when Yuugo asked him not to take down Skull, so Yuugo figured he was not that bad of a person… But he was unaware of what Isaac was really after at the time.
Yuugo fell silent, with a serious expression on his face, as Hercus continued telling him what he knew.
“Remember how I told you the students are all fighting over materials? Isaac is one of them, and he’s been collecting materials. His skills have been drawing attention for a while, but he doesn’t exactly seem like the kind of guy that wants to make friends, so there isn’t a lot of information about him.”
“And he took so many materials from people, that he suddenly became the topic of conversation?”
“Basically. He’s been going around challenging people to duels the moment he gets his eyes on them, and taking their materials. Word of his strength is going around, so people try to refuse, but he threatens them like you heard, and forces duels on them… That’s how he gathers materials.”
“So that’s what he’s like… I thought he was a weirdo for calling me by my name and acting all overly-familiar with me, but that’s way worse than I imagined.”
Angel grimaced, thinking back to when Isaac wanted her to be his exclusive technician.
That overly familiar attitude was not just a lack of sense of distance. He acted in an arrogant fashion, as though all that mattered was what he thought. It seemed this was causing a lot of animosity from other students.
But, as Hercus continued, Yuugo remembered that the other boy also said Isaac’s power meant no one could go against him.
“His behavior has been so bad that… Remember the hero prospects I talked about? The ones who did great when the academy was attacked by those small monster armor beasts, and are now looking for party members? They tried to stop Isaac, but…”
“But?”
“…One of them lost to Isaac in a duel, and apparently they’re not talking back to him anymore.”
“Seriously? I didn’t know something this bad was going on…”
At this point, Yuugo had forgotten about the missing magic sword, and had been focused on discussing how to make Blaster better with Angel.
He had little interest in trends in the academy, and since none of the students approached Yuugo either, there was no way for information to get across.
But now Yuugo regretted not noticing things had gotten this serious, and asked Hercus a question.
“Isn’t anyone trying to stop him? Did it just end when one of the hero prospects was defeated?”
“Apparently. One of them was defeated, but the others are also cautious now that they’ve seen how strong Isaac is. And after seeing them behave timidly like this, the other students also stopped trying to go against Isaac, leading to him running rampant.”
“Students can’t strengthen their magic items without materials. The hero prospects who are looking for strong comrades are also troubled, but are still hesitant to do something about it, uh… Is Isaac really that strong?”
“He’s been doing terrible things behind the scenes, but he does win duels while following the rules, so we can’t complain to the teachers. Not to mention that everyone’s busy repairing the school…”
“This is going to turn really ugly unless someone stops him. I talked to him for a bit, but I feel like he’s getting less and less able to hold back his desires. I don’t know how to describe it, but… It’s way past just getting carried away. Like, really bad.”
It seemed this was not a problem the students could solve on their own, but the teachers were busy restoring the academy… And dealing with the problems caused by Rush, so it seemed they would not be intervening either.
Yuugo and the others knew what really happened, so they understood that this made sense, but still, this situation was very bad.
Isaac challenged Yuugo earlier that day, not just for the rare fire magic crystal, but for Melt and Angel as well.
It would be fine if it was just the materials, but Yuugo felt wanting to bet the right to do anything he wanted to people went beyond arrogance. And thinking about him doing this to other students sent a chill down his spine.
“It’s unbelievable. This guy is much scummier than Yuugo, and everyone’s too scared to say anything. It’s pathetic.”
“I agree. It doesn’t feel nice that a guy can do all that and be left to his own devices.”
Melt and Angel grimaced, as they spoke their minds.
But Hercus frowned harder than everyone present, and said something that surprised everyone while shaking his head.
“…Don’t be so quick to expose your hatred like that. It’s possible that Isaac guy has done something even worse.”
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