I reincarnated as one of the Three Stooges in a fantasy world.

Chapter 10

Valença and Kai

A bucket of water was thrown over Valença, who trembled as she looked ahead and saw Elian, Caelan, and Enrico holding the bucket and smiling, while Serenya looked on with a contemptuous grin.

"Now do you understand, peasant? There might be strong commoners in this academy, but that doesn't mean you're one of them."

Valença trembled as she listened to Enrico speak, while everyone in the room remained silent. Even the rank 91 student stayed quiet. Everyone feared Serenya's family's power.

Enrico started gently slapping Valença's face as she began to cry.

"Why are you crying? We're just playing. Come on, smile."

In Valença's village, she was considered a genius—the village's hope along with Kai. Upon entering, she had reached rank 107, but even so, she couldn't do anything.

"Stop."

A punch hit Enrico in the face, making him stagger back. He looked furiously at Kai, who had entered the room.

"How dare you."

"I won't let you bother Valença."

Kai looked determined as Valença looked at him. Kai had just become rank 120 and had also been bullied by Enrico.

'As always, he's brave, but Enrico is rank 105. He won't win. I don't want him to get hurt because of me.'

She grabbed Kai's shirt, trying to stop him.

Enrico approached and looked at Kai, who challenged him with a glare.

"If that's how it is, then I challenge you to a duel."

Kai accepted immediately.

"Fine. And if I win, you'll stop doing this to anyone."

Enrico started laughing and walked toward Serenya and the others, looking at Kai arrogantly.

"I'll make you regret it, peasant. The fight will be in three weeks."

Valença watched them walk away and looked at Kai, very worried.

"Kai, you're going to get hurt."

"Don't worry, Valença. No matter what happens, I'll win."

Kai smiled to reassure her. Valença wanted to believe in him—because if he could do it, maybe she could too.

After that, she found the courage to respond to Enrico whenever he bothered her. With Elaris saying he didn't train, she felt at ease and was no longer afraid.

At least until two weeks before the duel, when Enrico started to seem different. He wasn't spending most of his time bothering others anymore, so a worry crept into her mind. "What if he's training?" Elaris reassured her, saying she hadn't seen him training at all. She had even sent other council members to watch Enrico. So Valença decided to trust her.

And when the day came, she didn't see a victory from Kai—but a complete defeat. And fear returned to her heart as she ran to help Kai stand.

---

'Damn, I'm out of mana. Good thing the plan worked.'

[You were amazing. It really worked.]

'If it hadn't worked, I'd be screwed.'

Enrico looked at the protagonist, who had stood up and was wiping the blood from his mouth—the only blood he had shed.

'After everything I did, that's all the damage I managed to cause? He really is the protagonist. After this, he'll definitely evolve faster.'

But even so, Enrico needed to make the protagonist even stronger than that.

"Alright, students. The winner is Enrico, so the ranks stay the same. So—"

"Your sword is too predictable."

Borem had been interrupted. Sir Drenholm looked at Enrico, and Valença tried to respond.

"Y-you—"

"What do you mean?"

Valença was interrupted by Kai, who stared intently at Enrico.

"You're just reproducing what you saw Sir Drenholm do during training, aren't you? That's why it was easy to guess your moves—I've been watching all of Sir Drenholm's movements."

Kai and Sir Drenholm were surprised.

"But there's a problem—you don't have Sir Drenholm's level to replicate it perfectly, so it ends up being just obvious."

That was something Sir Drenholm realized in the future and told Kai—but that was supposed to be much later.

"You should look for a technique from your own family… assuming a peasant family has one."

Kai didn't know it yet, but his father had once been a great hero, and before dying, he left his sword and swordsmanship to Kai. And this swordsmanship was perfect, as it could be used at lower levels—even if not at full strength, it could still be effective.

Sir Drenholm and Borem looked at him after that last sentence, while Virelle smiled and Enrico thought:

'Don't look at me like that. I need to change gradually.'

Kai put his hand to his chin.

"Is that what you think?"

"If you don't even understand that, then becoming a knight will be hard for you."

Enrico turned and went over to Serenya, Elian, and Caelan, who were still frozen with surprised expressions.

"Since when do you have these skills?"

"I told you I was preparing something in my room."

Elian and Caelan asked questions while Serenya stared at Enrico in disbelief and thought:

'The guy who never trained is now training? What did that family do to him that Sunday?'

Serenya's eyes hardened, and further back, Elaris, who had distanced herself, looked at Enrico suspiciously.

Sir Drenholm spoke to Kai.

"He's right. You need to become stronger to use my techniques. You learned them quickly, but you can't use them properly."

"I understand, sir."

Borem looked at Valença, who was looking down and comparing herself to Enrico.

'If Kai couldn't do it, then I definitely can't. We both have fire magic, but I'm inferior to him.'

Borem placed a hand on her shoulder.

"Comparing yourself to true prodigies is something you shouldn't do."

Valença didn't care about Borem's words and kept looking down.

Meanwhile, Virelle wanted to laugh but simply began walking out of the combat hall.

'Well, this is good for him, isn't it? People calling him a prodigy just because he defeated one.'

It was good for her too—because now many people would come after him to challenge him, and she'd get to see how he evolved.

Enrico walked behind Serenya with Elian and Caelan.

"I knew you'd win—after all, you're my subordinate."

Caelan tried to sound confident and pointed his finger at himself.

"Just so you know, Enrico, my rank is still higher."

"I think he could beat you."

"Elian, you're supposed to be on my side!"

'They've improved a little in their personalities.'

Enrico walked while thinking this and returned to the dorm with Elian after parting from the others. When he entered the room, the system appeared in front of him.

[Congratulations! With this, you've completed the first arc and the mission is complete. Also, I received an update.]

'Wait, there are missions? And what do you mean by update?'

[Look—now you can see the stats of monsters and people with the same Circle as you.]

Enrico looked at Serenya, and a new black screen appeared in front of him.

Name: Serenya Malquess

Magic: Control — Circle Zero 79%

Mana Amount: 209

Unique Ability: ??????/??????

Soul: 71

'Does she have two unique abilities?'

Enrico looked at the system in surprise.

'You're finally being useful?'

[…Want me to go back to how I was before?]

Enrico knelt on the ground and banged his head on the floor.

'Forgive me, System-sama, for my rudeness. This foolish host has overstepped his bounds.'

[That's right, human. Kneel before me like the worm you are.]

Enrico bowed several times, and when he finished, he rubbed his hands together with a mischievous smile.

"So, System-sama, what's my reward?"

[Hmm… it's the Heart of the Sun technique, which makes you compatible with solar magic.]

Enrico froze.

"System, as far as I know, that technique is used by Apolo and is considered the final evolution of fire magic…"

[Yes, amazing, isn't it? Thank me.]

"System… that's a technique that only someone in Circle Eight can use the base of without exploding, and it can only be used fully at Circle Nine."

[Yes, so now you'll have to work much harder. I love that.]