“You can say that all you want, but... sorry, I’ve got amnesia. I don’t remember you at all. My bad.”
“That’s what I’m saying! I was the one you fought in the duel that caused your amnesia! You could at least remember the guy you were fighting!”
“That’s clearly asking too much. Don’t be ridiculous.”
Hugo dismissively brushed off Zenon's demand to be remembered despite his amnesia, looking thoroughly exasperated by the absurdity of the request.
Zenon's anger flared even higher at the dismissal, but before he could lash out, Melt spoke up.
“Hey, Zenon? What do you mean Hugo cheated in this duel? I didn't see anything like that at all...”
“O-oh... ahem. Sorry you had to see me so worked up, Melt. But please, think about it. A result like this is clearly abnormal!”
The moment Melt addressed him, Zenon dropped his hostility toward Hugo and adopted a gentle, refined air as he called out to her and the gathered students.
While Hugo frowned, sensing something off about the man's behavior, Zenon began to state his case in a theatrical tone.
“Think back, everyone! I fought Hugo and won! It was a total victory—I beat him into the ground! If you recall how he was during that fight, the discrepancy is obvious! There's no way he could have gotten this strong in such a short time!”
“He’s... he’s right...!”
“Zenon-sama is right! It’s bizarre that Hugo, who put on such a pathetic display back then, could one-sidedly beat Rush!”
The students began to stir again at Zenon's proclamation.
They started to question the strength Hugo had displayed, which seemed far beyond what he should have been capable of since his duel with Zenon. All at once, suspicious glares turned toward him.
“There’s no way you could have become this powerful after losing Galandil and switching to some old-model magic item! You must have used some kind of trickery!”
“Yeah, yeah! It’s just like Zenon says!”
“To defile a sacred duel... he really is the lowest scum!”
Frenzy and verbal abuse filled the air.
Their hatred for Hugo, which had briefly subsided after the match, was reignited by Zenon's words. They hurled even harsher abuse at him than they had during his fight with Rush.
As Hugo frowned, once again finding himself cast as the villain in a hostile atmosphere, Zenon began to pelt him with aggressive accusations.
“Now, speak! What kind of fraud did you commit?! Did you have someone cast enhancement magic on you before the duel?! Or is there some secret to this magic item?!”
“I didn’t do anything underhanded. I fought normally and won. That’s all there is to it.”
“Don’t lie! Then how do you explain this strength of yours?! You, who were pathetically defeated by me, shouldn’t be this strong!”
“Wait! I get why you’re questioning his strength, but you’ve got it all wrong! I’ve fought a Magic Armor Beast alongside Hugo, and he was even stronger then than he is now!”
“Melt, you’re being deceived! That battle was also staged by this scum specifically to trick you!”
“Eh...?!”
Melt’s face filled with shock at the outlandish statement.
As if to convince her—and as if it were the absolute truth—Zenon began to weave a convenient delusion under the guise of his own logical conclusion.
“Even fallen, Hugo is the eldest son of a former noble family; he must still have some influence. When he was assigned to the guard mission with you, Melt, he decided to put on a show. It was all a performance to make himself look like a strong, capable hero defeating a Magic Armor Beast. He used his noble connections to stage the whole thing, Melt!”
“I see, so that’s how it was! Everything makes sense if you look at it that way!”
“There’s no way that Hugo would ever help people; he must have set it all up himself!”
It was like hypnosis, Hugo thought.
Everything Zenon said was affirmed and accepted as truth. It was an abnormal situation, but considering how much the students hated him, it wasn’t particularly surprising.
They were always looking for a reason to attack the pariah Hugo Clay. Even if it wasn't true, even if it was just a groundless suspicion, anything was fine as long as they had an excuse to bash him.
Zenon was the one satisfying those desires; moreover, he was the hero who had once defeated the detested Hugo.
That was why the students jumped on his words to attack him.
Without even stopping to think whether any of it was true...
“No way...! Hugo, doing something like that...!!”
“I know it’s a shock. But you see, Melt, that’s just the kind of guy he is. He’ll do anything to achieve his goals—that’s the true nature of the scum known as Hugo Clay!”
And now, Zenon was trying to cast that same hypnosis on Melt.
Talking about how Hugo was untrustworthy scum and plausibly claiming that his own lies were the truth, Zenon schemed to separate her from Hugo. He gently took Melt's hand and, looking straight into her eyes, delivered his finishing blow.
“Come back, Melt. You shouldn’t be by the side of someone like him. I’ll protect you from anyone, so... come to my side.”
“That’s for the best, that’s for the best,” a male student muttered nearby.
“With Zenon-sama, she’ll be safe,” several female students whispered in high-pitched, adoring voices.
Taking advantage of the mood and the momentum of his words, Zenon flashed a smile radiating his Protagonist Privilege—the kind of magnetic charisma that anyone would find themselves wanting to believe in. He gave Melt a firm, reassuring nod.
Looking at his smile, hearing the encouraging voices of the surrounding students, and glancing toward the crowd... Melt turned her face back to Zenon. She gave him a bright, beaming smile, as if accepting her place as his companion—
“...Do you even realize what you’re saying? Honestly, you’re being really creepy right now.”
“...Eh?”