She explained with a mocking smile.

”…”

”~!”

Zoemi looked down at the darker spot where the fireball brunt the arena, making the woman’s face light up with a triumphant smile as she reached out her hand while silently casting the actual spell after successfully – in her opinion at least – distracting him…

*thump*

*WHAM*

”GHUGHUGEGHEhgueguegue….!”

But instead, the black-haired boy simply raised the heel of his right foot and brought it down – which in turn caused a massive bling pillar of rock to erupt from under the red-haired woman’s feet and slam into her stomach, taking her breath away and forcing the inside of her stomach to evacuate the same way it got in…

…causing her to fall on the side and start violently vomiting…

”This is supposed to be a duel and you talk too much.”

Zoemi sighed shaking his head in the absolute silence that spread through the audience.

”Oh, and that was not a fireball – this is a fireball,”

Zoemi said extending his own hand, and the air around his arm trembled and began to boil over.

In the next second, murky-black flames erupted from his palm and coiled around itself forming a black fireball at least ten times bigger than the one thrown by the young lady Laerias.

After a moment or two of showcasing it – as Zoemi wasn’t so heartless as to just launch it at an incapacitated opponent in a duel – the offensive spell shot out from the boy’s moving so fast that it could have as well teleported…

”Ghu…AAHH…!”

The red-haired girl barely reacted, in between the spasms she managed to activate her enchantments and cross her arms over her face, protecting her head and…

*BOOOOM*

*SPLASH*

…the black fireball struck her and to the accompaniment of a deafening explosion sent the woman flying all the way to the first row of the audience where she hit the protective layer of water conjured by a team of water mages.

She didn’t get up and her body wasn’t glowing anymore either.

”…”

If earlier the silence seemed to be absolute, now it felt as if it was straight up deafening – it felt as if everyone collectively forgot how to breathe…

”She’s out of bounds and hopefully only unconscious – how long will it take for the jury to announce the result?”

”!!!”

The only person who was not shocked by the display – Zoemi himself – called out, getting the attention of everyone present.

”Go ahead and check whether she is alive… and what about that verdict…?”

The black-haired boy looked over at the servants whom he recognized from the Victureo mansion and motioned at them to check on the fallen woman.

”Ah! At once!”

The servant who managed

to

shake off the shock called out and rushed to the defeated duelist and kneeled by her.

”She’s breathing! It doesn’t look like she’s hurt too much but she got knocked out!”

The servant announced and gently picked her up and carried her off to the specially prepared sickbay in the back of the arena.

”Good job, thank you for the hard work.”

Zoemi smiled and nodded at him with a grateful expression before turning to the jury – and especially towards the gold-haired strict-faced man.

Another person close by ended up elbowing the light magician in the side and pointing him towards the center of the arena, where he reluctantly went…

”Lord Zoemi Benevi Banemor representing the Victureo family had won the duel and will be awaiting his next opponent…”

”Thank you~”

The man declared in a tense voice as if he expected to get booed,

or at least mocked by the black-haired boy next to him, but instead, Zoemi simply nodded at him with a smile and walked off the arena.

Since no one seemed to be keen on stopping him, the black-haired boy decided to check up the sickbay – after all, apparently, one of his acquaintances was supposed to be there – even though it took away from her time at the Academy…

After making sure that the servant carrying the unconscious Laerias will leave through the same door he came in, Zoemi himself walked inside the clean and tidy room with beds and a single blond-haired girl standing over the patient.

”Meh, it looked far worse than it actually is… Heal. Oh?”

The heroine sighed to herself with an almost bored expression and tapped the unconscious woman’s shoulder speaking her incantation out loud before turning around and facing the black-haired boy.

”Yo! If it isn’t his lordship Banemor! I’m glad that things worked out for you.”

Burushi leaned to the side to make sure that no one else is there with them and cheered out at her fellow reincarnated human.

”Burushi! It’s good to see you. How it’s been?”

Zoemi genuinely smiled and walked closer – to which the blond girl reacted quite surprisingly – she went over for a hug, which she had never done before.

But unlike what Ehmi’s done before, Burushi’s hug was that of one friend happy to see the other one, which was honestly quite sweet.

”It’s quite nice actually – Miri is a way better person than I ever give her a chance, Teo is very scary though, as for the first prince- well, he is scary but also quite chill too? Completely different than he was in the game. Still – Miri is making sure that people will not bully me left and right so I must say that the Academy has been quite fun – I never knew that hanging around with friends could be so fun!”

Burushi took a small step back and said with a soft smile while holding on to Zoemi’s hand as if she was enjoying being in contact with another friendly person.

”That’s good to hear… wait, never? Not even back in your previous…?”

Zoemi’s smile widened and he nodded his head before he suddenly furrowed his brows and looked at the blond heroine with surprise.

”Strict parents, high expectations, and sleep schedule ruined by playing games overnight.”

Burushi rolled her eyes and explained with a sigh.

”I can relate to one of those things.”

Zoemi tilted his head and said cautiously, not wanting to further ruin the mood.

”Oh, forget it, I like this life better anyway. Speaking of the current life, I’ll do a check-up on you, if you don’t mind, alright? Let’s see whether you’ve been listening to your doctor’s advice~”

Thankfully Burushi had far thicker skin than her looks suggested and she shrugged it off, before raising Zoemi’s hand and closing her eyes, concentrating.

”…Zoemi… what the hell have you been doing…? I literally cannot measure your mana reservoir…”

After a few seconds of standing still, she suddenly furrowed he brows and looked up at him with a grim expression, as if lots of mana was supposed to be a bad thing.

”Healthy diet and daily exercise?”

”…”

Zoemi’s eyes widened and he shrugged his shoulders making a troubled expression that certainly didn’t convince the unamused heroine.

”Alright, maybe there’s more about it, but I am not going to tell you that in a contested environment, alright?”

The black-haired boy rolled his eyes, waving his free hand around the room while indicating the arena as a whole.

”Zoe~! There you are! Ah~! Buru, no fair~!”

As if summoned by the motion and voice, a tall crimson-haired girl showed up at the sickbay’s door and gasped, sounding a lot more pleased than her words may have suggested.

She also hurried over and ended up clinging to Zoemi’s, once again getting over the boundaries of the friendly hug…