I woke up the next day, not to the sound of tourists bustling about, but to my cat, which was pawing at my head.
Sighing, I reluctantly got up from the comfort of my bed and added some cooked chicken to its bowl. At this point, it was already part of my daily routine... and honestly, I was kinda scared of the cat.
What would it do me if I didn't listen to it..?
Was this cat a god? I mean, it had traveled back in time with me... So, in conclusion, treating it well was probably the way to go for me.
What if I forgot to feed it once, as it just gave me bad luck for the rest of my life!?
After changing into some casual clothes and making scrambled eggs for breakfast with a sauce that tasted like a sweet hot sauce from my world, I sat down while checking my smartwatch.
[Dear All First Year Members of the Travel Club,
I hope you've all had a great time at the Celestial Festival, whether you were enjoying time with family or having the honor of representing our school in one of the events. Overall, I hope all of you, as fellow students, had a great first semester, and trust me—this is only the start!
With the first semester over and the second semester starting, it's, of course, time for club activities to resume!
This year, however, our trip will be different!
As Travel Club President, I am delighted to announce that all members of the travel club are invited to a week-long visit to Elven Realm!
Yes, THAT ELVEN REALM!
The lush, green forests north of the Human Realm, where real Elves live!
More details about the trip and our departure time will be sent out shortly, so please look out for the following emails.
Thanks,
Your Travel Club President]
Putting down my smartwatch, I prepared to head to Capital City to check on the cake shop's progress.
How was I going to explain that tunnel to Raven..?
*THUD~THUD*
"hm?"
Hearing a couple of knocks on my door, I looked up from my plate of food before getting up and unlocking the door.
In front of me stood a student adorned in another academy's uniform with a smug expression.
After a couple of moments, I remembered that he was the one who had blocked my way out of the classroom on the day Astrid and I left the academy to search.
"uh... sorry, you are?"
" *AHEM* I am the honored Blaine Bradford, the third rank student in the entirety of Eldtide Academy."
"...good for you?"
With a smile now apparent on his face, this obnoxious Blain kid stared at me for a moment before twisting his head and saying.
"On behalf of Eldertide Academy, I challenge you, Ren, to a duel in the coliseum."
"...? Really, dude?"
Ignoring him, I slammed the door shut and headed back to my plate of delicious scrambled eggs.
Since his academy, Eldertide, had lost to Celestial Academy in the Celestial Festival, their reputation would be at an all-time low, especially after they claimed they would win in all the newspapers.
Blaine, as a proud student of Eldertide Academy, must have been thinking of a way for the academy to regain its reputation.
He probably thought that challenging and easily defeating a student from Celestial Academy would improve their reputation.
*BANG~BANG*
"I KNOW YOU'RE IN THERE!"
Ignoring the constant knocks on my door, I continued eating my scrambled eggs while my cat happily chowed down on the chicken.
I could never let that thing discover steak... I would go broke just from feeding it.
*BANG~BANG*
"YOU HAVE TO ACCEPT, YOU CAN'T DENY!"
Sighing, I got up from my seat, placed my empty plate in the sink, and grabbed my school-issued daggers.
Unfortunately, no matter how annoying this Blaine was, his words were right.
If you were challenged to a duel, your choices were either to accept the duel or receive detention for a whole week.
Since denying a direct duel request as a student would tarnish Celestial Academy's reputation as their students would seem scared and weak, the academy imposed harsh punishments to persuade students not to deny these requests.
Of course, with this rule in effect, students couldn't just challenge anyone they wanted to do a duel; they had to have a good reason.
And... unfortunately, I had given Blaine that reason by throwing him out of the way when we first met.
Opening the door, revealing the furious and confused figure of Blaine, I wasted no time as I grabbed his shoulder and forcibly dragged him out of the dorm building.
"...WAIT WHAT ARE YOU DO-"
"You said you wanted to duel? Let's go now. What the hell are you waiting for? This was your idea, wasn't it?"
Letting go of Blaine, causing him to stumble forward, I walked towards the looming coliseum buildings, with Blaine following behind.
Maybe when I had first transmigrated here, I would have purposely lost to make sure people didn't know anything was wrong with Ren, but who the hell cares about the old "Ren" anymore?
I'm Ren, now, aren't I?
I could do whatever the hell I wanted!
And what I wanted to do was to defeat Blaine quickly so I could go to the capital and complete my original goal of the day!
Walking up to the guard, who was waiting outside the coliseum, I pointed to Blaine while saying.
"We want to duel."
Nodding his head like it was an everyday occurrence, the guard moved aside, letting Blaine and I pass through.
Heading to the right, where the home team's side was located, I handed my daggers to another guard, who confirmed that they were weapons allowed in a duel.
Wasting no time, I rushed to the tunnel that led out into the coliseum and patiently waited for Blaine's arrival.
Peering across the coliseum and into the other tunnel, I finally noticed Blaine walking up with a broadsword in his hands.
While he didn't have a grin on his face anymore, he still seemed rather confident as he was holding his sword leisurely while leaning against the wall.
Seriously, where do third-rate villains get all this false confidence from?
I mean, the first thing I did when I entered this body was humble myself!
That mountain tyrant in that mountain range cave really did numbers to me...
The referee, who was sitting on a chair in the middle of the coliseum, noticed us a second later before announcing.
"The duel between Ren from Celestial Academy and Blaine Bradford of Eldertide Academy will now commence."
While you might think that duels would take longer to organize rather than just simply walking into the coliseum and asking for a duel, the academy had already prepared for dozens of duel requests today, making the process extremely fast.
I mean, even the academy knew that hundreds of third-rate villains like Blaine would be salty about their defeat and duel someone else to get over it!
Grabbing my standard daggers, I walked out of the dark tunnel and into the middle of the coliseum, where a makeshift duel arena was already set up.
In the middle of the coliseum sat an elevated platform where the duel would take place. The rules were simple: you either lost by surrendering, being completely defeated, or being knocked off the elevated platform.
Walking up the stairs of the platform, I noticed that despite Blaine asking me for a duel not even an hour ago, there was already a huge crowd in the stands.
That goddamn idiot Blaine must have told everyone to come and blabbered about our duel so that they could witness him win it!