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

Chapter 9

Thirty Seconds

Professor Virelle was sitting in the highest row of the bleachers, watching the battlefield. When Enrico entered, she noticed Tolen beside him and smiled. 'Heh, what does he have planned? He must've asked Tolen to teach him some magic.'

"Can we sit here?"

Virelle looked to the side and saw the other two professors from Class D.

"Sir Drenholm and Borem."

"Hey, I sensed a certain disrespect in your tone, miss."

Virelle kept a neutral expression as she returned her gaze to the arena.

"Really? I tried so hard not to show it. Where did I go wrong? Was it underestimating the intelligence of this old man?"

"First of all, I'm only 39 years old, and second, I'll have to have a word with your father later."

Borem kept talking, but Virelle ignored him, and Sir Drenholm took the seat beside her.

"You two really never stop arguing. Anyway, it's good to be here to see Kai climb the ranks. That boy deserves it."

Borem stopped scolding Virelle, who seemed not to have heard him, and sat down.

"Yes, to me, he's the one who most deserves to rise from the class."

"Hehehe."

Sir Drenholm and Borem looked at Virelle, who chuckled a little.

"I don't think it'll be that easy for him to rise in rank against Enrico."

Both frowned, and Sir Drenholm began.

"What do you mean? Enrico can't even train properly."

"That's right. That boy is lazy."

"Pff, that's why the two things I hate most are weaklings who don't understand their own weakness and idiots who only look forward."

The two stared at her seriously.

"You're saying Enrico has something special? Sorry, but I don't believe that."

"Wanna bet? I bet 10 gold coins."

Borem stood up.

"Yes, I do—and not only that—I bet 20 coins that Kai defeats him in 30 seconds."

Borem spoke confidently while Virelle rolled her eyes. Sir Drenholm preferred not to participate.

Climbing the stairs, Valença and Elaris greeted the professors and sat in front.

"Don't worry, Valença. I'm sure Kai will defeat that trash."

"I know he will, it's just... when I saw him, I had a bad feeling, that's all."

Virelle looked at them both, then returned her gaze to the arena. But she noticed that, for a second, Enrico looked at where she and the other two professors were. 'What's your plan, Enrico?'

---

Kai looked at his opponent. According to what Elaris had told him, Enrico only had fireball magic and hadn't been training during these past weeks. "If that's the case, I'll finish this quickly."

Kai drew his sword from the sheath and positioned himself with both hands holding the blade, pointing at Enrico.

"Begin!"

Borem's shout marked the start of the battle. At high speed, Kai appeared behind Enrico, striking with the blunt side of his sword so as not to cut him.

But just before impact, Kai felt pain in his stomach and saw that Enrico's palm was pointed behind him—a fireball had hit him.

"As I thought, in the beginning, you always use your speed to get behind your opponent. That's nothing like a true knight."

A sinister smile appeared on Enrico's face, and another fireball formed in his hand. Kai raised his sword to defend himself, but Enrico pointed to the ground, creating a smokescreen. Kai immediately jumped back and escaped the smoke—but another fireball came out of it. He tried to cut it, but the fireball split into six, hitting him and knocking him backward.

'Damn, a second spell?'

Kai got up, but a kick knocked the sword from his hand, and a punch struck his face. Enrico climbed on top of him, raising his fists, flames forming around them, and then unleashed a rain of flaming blows. Kai defended himself as much as he could.

'I won't—'

"You're not going to give up, are you?"

Enrico raised his palm, and a large amount of mana gathered in his hand.

"I know that very well."

Enrico brought his hand down like a blade, and Kai thought, 'I'm going to die.'

But the strike was stopped by a hand, and a sword appeared at Enrico's throat. He smiled as he saw the two professors—Sir Drenholm with the sword, and Borem holding his hand.

"Enrico, you've won. You can stop now."

Sir Drenholm spoke while putting away his sword, and Borem let go of Enrico's hand.

"Sorry, professors. I got a little carried away."

Enrico scratched the back of his head with a sly smile while all the surrounding students were in disbelief.

"Getting too carried away can cause trouble, kid."

Kai looked up, breathing heavily, while Valença ran over to help him. Elaris was right behind, staring at Enrico in disbelief.

"He was only supposed to have fireball. So how? Was he hiding his power?"

Meanwhile, above, Virelle watched and thought about that look Enrico had. Then she began to laugh, head tilted back.

"Hahaha…"

The people below looked up at her, confused.

'That boy used us to win the battle.'

She put a hand on her face. No one else had noticed, but every one of Enrico's attacks used a lot of mana—mana he barely had. Especially that last attack. He knew Kai would never give up, so he faked a finishing move to make the professors intervene.

Enrico probably didn't have a drop of mana left. He was just putting on a strong face, but he could barely stand. And Virelle noticed that—Enrico couldn't win a head-on fight against Kai.

'I hate the weak. I despise them. But there's a kind of weakling I like—the ones who know they're weak and go beyond their limits to evolve, the ones who'll do anything to get stronger.'

Virelle clenched her face, peeking through her fingers at Enrico being scolded by Borem. Then, a green aura began to emit from her body and eyes, and a sinister smile appeared.

'Enrico, if you keep this up, you'll be my favorite in this academy. And you're already pretty close—you only need to surpass two others.'

Virelle returned to normal and stood, heading for the arena. "Now I'm really expecting great things from you."

Borem looked at her.

"You came to scold him too? Good."

Virelle raised her palm.

"The twenty gold coins."

"What? Wasn't it just ten?"

"You don't remember? You bet double."

"Damn it, why did I come up with that?"

Virelle smiled and glanced sideways at Enrico, who was watching Valença help Kai up.