Chapter 40

Setting up the Hierarchy

  Delimira did not like that she had to get close to Hans. She had always hated those more haughty than herself, but her mother, who calculated every step of her future prospects, prevented her from taking early admission when she was offered at ten. It was just to wait for Hans and now the time had come for which she had been patiently waiting for ten years.

  Honestly, Delimira was not so eager to meet her father but her mother was a different story, she went all in and chose to defy Clandor, just to be with the man looked down on by elves. There was a popular rumour that her husband abandoned them but Aredhel firmly believed that it was not the case.

  After knowing Hans will be the one to kill him, her mother kept quiet, getting rid of Hans was a surefire method to keep her husband alive but instead of getting rid of him, she wanted to use him to track down her lost love as it was necessary for Hans to find him first in order to kill him later.

  Delimira also understood her reasoning so she agreed to follow her words but every time she looked at this little brat, she got pissed for no reason and right now she was feeling the same.

  Hans felt a chill and looked ahead to find out that the nut job was glaring at his direction with her deathly stare. He thought she was looking at Chris but as the glare continued and he realised he was the target, not the friend beside him. He sighed and mumbled, “come on, do I have to handle this, early in the morning”.

Hans asked Chris,

Hey, I think she is eyeing me, not you.

  Chris looked at Delimira and found that Hans was deducing the truth, he knew what was happening. Delimira acted like this when something pique her interest and she became determined to do something about it.

He turned towards Hans and replied to him,

Hans, my friend, I think I found her "new toy".

Hans turned to him and asked excitingly

Which poor bastard is he?

But Chris was smiling shamefully staring at him,

It's you, my dense friend.

then do something about it.

take one for me, my friend, finally freedom!!!

This is not backstabbing but buttstabing, you snake in the sleeves.

  Chris didn't mind his ranting but he was also curious why she was showing this much interest in Hans. No matter how much he reviewed Hans's past actions, the only conclusion he could find was that Delimira should have ignored his roommate but her eyes were clearly telling that she was planning something.

He finally replied to Hans,

It looks like she is interested in you.

He chuckled and added,

And in a bad way.

Then do something idiot, I don't want any kind of her attention.

Chris looked at him and sneered while saying,

You shouldn't be talking that way to your only saviour, my friend.

Oh sorry, get her off my back, please.

Chris looked at him with a troubled smile and said,

But I don't have a way and she looks determined.

Well, tell me what kinds she doesn't like and couldn't be in their presence.

that's confusing the answer is you, she should have ignored you completely but here we are, the world is full of mysteries like this...pft...

  Hans found his roommate was thoroughly enjoying the situation but he had enough, the only way to settle this was to have a face-to-face confrontation. He stood up from stretching and told Chris,

That's it, I am solving this the hard and old-fashioned way.

How?

Getting rid of the problem itself.

  Hans moved confidently in her direction while the student got interested because it looked like there was an early show in the morning to watch. The buzz rose as he faced the girl who was a head taller than him. she was peering down at his eyes, and after the little staring contest.

Hans asked her,

Do we have a problem?

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Who knows?

Hans felt a vein popping up in his forehead, it was not possible to have a conversation with this girl. He said clenching his fist by the back,

Then let's settle our differences like a mage.

Do you think a battle is a solution for everything?

Then what do you want?

mmm, Nothing.

Then stop giving me that death stare.

She replied nonchalantly,

I don't want to.

  Hans felt another vein popping up, he was this close to losing it. Above the training field, in the platform, two people were observing the students. They had just called all the students of A class into the ground and didn't even show themselves up. This was a yearly non-official event where the class Hierarchy was set by the students themselves.

  They thought students this was the event going on and rested in their places. Hans was the hot potato right now but he couldn't be at the top of the food chain until he could defeat Delimira, the strongest mage this year. The senior student who was assistant to the professor in charge of physical training asked him,

Shouldn't we stop them, looks like that boy is going to snap at any moment.

The professor said to his assistant

Didn't you recognise him, he wrecked a 'regular admission' yesterday pretty badly, he should understand that not everyone is a chump change here.

Hans was not getting what he wanted so he shouted at her loud enough to be heard by everyone,

Delimira Winters I Challenge you to the duel.

  She smirked like she achieved what she wanted and looking at her, Chris felt a bad omen, he came running at Hans to stop him from taking things further but it was too late. By the time he reached them. Delimira announced,

Fine, since our audience (the training instructors in the platform) is not objecting, I believe we have their permission.

Chris stopped his steps right behind Hans, the cat was out of the bag now. He turned Hans to him and reminded him,

Listen, buddy, she is cunning, don't let your guard down.

Don't worry, I am confident in my strength.

  Chris kept reminding him but Hans was dead set and ignored it, he was furious by remembering things she said to him previously. He came to Concordia to enjoy his life and live on his own terms. He doesn't want a roadblock like her to come in his path.

Delimira added,

Since I am a second circle, if you can even make a single hit on me, I will consider that my defeat.

Hans was even more pissed at her, she was looking down on him, he replied back to her,

No, this will be an all-out battle.

Delimira did not refute but provoked him more,

So are you not confident in making a first hit on me?

Grr...Fine, but we both play by the same rules, if you managed to hit me once then It will be my loss.

  Chris felt this like Hans was playing right into her palm, and he was right, Hans was in her trap from the beginning. Chris grew up with her and knew that Delimira was fighting other mages and knights from a very young age. It was because she didn't hang around with kids of her age but the prodigies sponsored by her mother; fighting them was her only hobby.

  There was more to fighting people than strength and mana, what bothered the opponent the most was the psychological attacks and Delimira was well-experienced in that area. In contrast, Hans may have fought many dangerous beasts, but he was the complete opposite of her in terms of experience against mages and knights.

Delimira smirked and added,

How about a wager, we ought to get something out of this duel, right?

Hans said,

Yeah, the loser fulfils the winner's wish.

Delimira sneered and agreed,

Fine by me.

  The training ground was cleared in a jiff and both parties started the battle without any courtesy. Hans might be arrogant and confident but his opponent was a so-called genius and the strongest person in their class right now, so he remain cautious of her moves.

  She provoked him by asking him to come at her with the index finger but Hans didn't bite. No matter how much he was provoked when it comes to battles, he never acted overconfident and since the battle was gonna be decided by the first hit, there was no need to use advanced Orca vines so he used the variant of vines which was quickest and hit her.

VeganBind

The vines sprouted from beneath her, but she avoided them by jumping back not knowing another surprise was waiting for her, Hans knew that she would dodge and because of that, he intentionally hampered the speed of sprouting and rigged all four directions with VeganBind so it didn't matters where she dodged, she was going to meet the hidden vines.

  Hans smiled but she was also smiling back, she cast her first spell, and two concentric pale green circles summoned beneath her feet, just before she made the contact with the ground,

Windwalker

The glowing circles launched her forward at Hans with quick speed.

  Hans used the same tactics as he used in fighting Romnick. Many vines tried to obstruct her path but she skillfully gilded her way to him and upon reaching him, she said,

A mage’s weakness is close combat, so let's see how you will face me, shorty.

  Instead of jumping back as everyone predicted, Hans dived in, he thought he only needed to make first contact and this will be over. His punch came straight for her smug face but another two concentric circles of brown colour appeared right before her face.

RockShied

A hard slab of stone protruded from the ground and defended her from Hans’s punch. The slab was fixed in place and did not even shake by the impact but the main purpose of the slab was not to defend her from the punch but to obstruct his vision, it was momentary but she managed to disappear from his sight.

  Hans felt a presence behind him so he jumped right but got welcomed by a finger flick on the forehead. The contact was made and he lost the battle with not a spell but a finger flick, it was more humiliating than anything for him.

He fell on his bottoms while Delimira stood right in front of him with a smug face and said to her,

You lost shorty,

***