Chapter 18 Cafeteria

Swish...

My Katana sliced through the air, barely missing Oscar's side as he deftly rolled away.

"You've become stronger!"

He exclaimed, charging forward with his silver spearhead. After all, I had recently made a breakthrough to rank -F, and my body was now much stronger than before. I found it effortless to close the distance between us and strike Oscar with my Katana, which had been a hard challenge in our first spar due to the spear's long range.

Clank...

Our weapons clashed, sending sparks flying and causing me to stumble backward. Despite my recent breakthrough, Oscar's strength still slightly surpassed my own, and attempting to overpower him with raw strength was futile. Even after a week of training with Robbin, my progress had been slow and arduous.

Aiming to end the spar, I swung my Katana at an odd angle, infusing its blade with Mana and causing it to seem as though the blade had vanished.

Oscar's eyes widened in surprise, but before he could react, a shallow cut appeared on his chest, tearing his clothes and drawing blood.

"Damn!"

If he hadn't stopped his attack at the last second, the spar would have ended with my victory.

Whoosh...

His silver spearhead narrowly missed my right arm, causing me to lose my balance and retreat out of his reach to avoid being barraged by countless thrusts.

"You've also improved..."

I couldn't help but notice that Oscar's strikes were more precise than before, almost always finding their mark and forcing me to block rather than evade. It appeared that he had learned a Weapon Style that significantly improved his aim.

While I didn't view it as a major issue, as I was still able to parry his strikes, my hands were beginning to ache from the continuous thrusts I had blocked.

'I have to finish this...'

Lowering my Katana, I charged forward and delivered a horizontal slash. The Mana infused into the blade transformed into Shadows, obscuring the true trajectory of the blade and causing Oscar's eyebrows to furrow in confusion.

Clank...

Although he was able to block my blade, the attack had forced him to hold his spear in an awkward position, providing me with an opportunity to swiftly withdraw my Katana and deliver a kick to his abdomen.

"Cough- You're using your legs again!"

Oscar waved his hand, signaling that he had conceded. Since it was just a friendly spar, we didn't want to take it too far, and so he surrendered before I could lunge at him again.

"It's 4 to 5"

Oscar said, lowering his spear and I nodded in agreement. We had sparred a few times over the past week, and the results were nearly equal, with Oscar having one more win than me.

"Sometimes it's hard to be strong..."

Oscar teased as we made our way towards the Academy Cafeteria for dinner. During the time we spent sparring, we had grown quite close, and I could even consider him a friend.

Taking a seat at an empty table, I eagerly dug into my meal, which was surprisingly delicious. In my previous world, school food was... something else, but here at the Academy, the food was quite delicious.

Suddenly the murmurs spread across the relatively silent Cafeteria, making me lift my eyes from the food.

I noticed Rose's striking blue hair as she entered the room, drawing the attention of the other students.

She paused and began to scan the room as if searching for someone, and her eyes briefly stopped on our table before moving on.

"I think she looked at me!"

Oscar whispered with a smirk, but I hushed him, knowing that an important event from the game was about to happen.

I noticed a group of guys approaching Rose from the back and leaned onto my hand preparing to watch the scene that I had seen thousands of times.

***

"I pay my respects to Ross Eril, the only daughter of the elven royal family..."

One of the seniors standing behind her suddenly spoke, causing Rose to flinch slightly before she turned around to greet them. But as she saw their faces, her eyes turned cold; the boys were full of glee.

Rose had dealt with similar situations before. As one of the few elves attending the Mage Academy within the human continent, she was aware that she might face some ridicule for being from another race. However, most humans were afraid of her background or even adored her beauty.

Unfortunately, there were always a few bad weeds among the crowd, and humanity was not an exception.

The air around them changed, thickening with an unseen pressure. Despite Rose being an E-rank individual, the guys opposing her were also E-rank since they were second years. Their animosity towards her wasn't just because of her race; it was also due to her higher rank. Rose's strength made them feel insecure about their own progress.

Coming from wealthy families and owning guilds, these young men's pride couldn't cope with someone younger being stronger than them. It was a common problem at the academy, where the hierarchy was determined by strength rather than age or status.

"Nice to meet you..."

Rose spoke slowly, trying to get past the group of boys blocking her way. She had come to the cafeteria only to search for Tess, and since she couldn't find her, she had no business being there.

"Come on, let's have dinner~"

One of the guys in the group suddenly spoke, eyeing Rose's body with greedy eyes.

Rose ignored them and walked past them, not responding to their provocations. This made the senior boy even more enraged.

"It'd be rude to ignore an invitation!"

He said, trying to grab Rose by her hand. But as soon as his fingers came in contact with her skin, his entire hand froze up to his shoulder.

"Aghhh..."

He groaned in pain, quickly pulling away his frozen limb. His friends jumped in fright, watching as their friend nursed his frozen arm.

"You bitch!"

He exclaimed, about to leap towards Rose, but his friends held him back. They knew that fights were prohibited at the academy, and if something serious happened, they would be the main culprits. Even though they came from a wealthy background, they were nowhere close to the royal family, and opposing them publicly could make their lives miserable.