"That bastard!"
Driven by sheer fury, Shiga, an assistant instructor of the Heinemann sword style, kicked the wooden chair in his room upward.
All three of Shiga's pupils had been eliminated in the first preliminary round. The moment the three had surrounded Kai Heinemann according to Shiga's instructions, that guy had broken away from the martial ring.
Normally, Kai Heinemann, terrified of facing three opponents, should have been the loser, and the three should have emerged victorious.
Yet Kai Heinemann had advanced past the first preliminary round, while Shiga's three pupils had their armbands snatched and were eliminated.
Shiga had been watching the match of his promising student, Riku, which was taking place at the same time, so he hadn't seen it with his own eyes. But given the circumstances, Kai Heinemann had to be the one responsible.
"Incompetent piece of trash! What kind of trick did he pull?!"
Kai Heinemann was the weakest incompetent around. There was no way he could have legitimately defeated Shiga's pupils. If so, he must have relied on some kind of special-grade item. His mother was a top-tier hunter who doted on Kai far beyond reason. It wouldn't be strange in the slightest if she had resorted to underhanded measures out of worry for her son's bleak future. Winning this tournament carried that much value.
Naturally, as soon as he heard the outcome of the match, he protested Kai Heinemann's foul play to the referee, but he was completely dismissed.
"To think we lost to such dirty tricks... Master Shiga, it's so frustrating!"
The female student raised her voice through tearful eyes.
"That incompetent apostate! He dragged all our hard work through the mud!"
"Unforgivable! I'm gonna kill him!"
With thick veins bulging on his forehead, one of the students grabbed a wooden sword leaning against the wall, and the other two students followed suit. Together, they turned to storm out of the room, but—
"Hold on."
Riku, the handsome blonde boy, called out to stop them.
"Riku, don't stop us! This is a matter of pride for our Heinemann style!"
One of the students squeezed out the words, glaring at Riku with bloodshot eyes.
"That's right! Stay out of this!"
The female student shrieked. She harbored feelings for Riku and would normally never take such a hostile tone with him. That only proved just how thoroughly their defeat at the hands of that incompetent had shattered the students' pride.
"—"
Just as Shiga was about to open his mouth to rein them in, Riku spoke again.
"I'm facing that apostate in the final match of the next preliminary round. When that happens, I'll thoroughly beat him down in front of the entire crowd. Then, after my victory, I plan to publicly expose his cheating on a grand scale. Once it's made clear to everyone that he's nothing more than an incompetent weakling, tournament management won't have any choice but to acknowledge his foul play. Right?"
Indeed, if the entire audience witnessed that incompetent apostate suffering a disgraceful defeat at Riku's hands, public opinion would be on their side. With the crowd backing them, the tournament officials would surely be unable to ignore the fact that he had cheated.
It was far better than beating Kai half to death in the halls and causing trouble later.
"You're right. I agree with Riku."
"Master!"
One of the students raised his voice, pleading with him to reconsider, but Shiga held up a hand.
"If you go on a rampage outside the arena, it will only tarnish the Heinemann name. You'll likely face some kind of penalty. I don't want promising talents like you putting yourselves at risk for the sake of an incompetent apostate like that."
He offered those empty words of encouragement without a shred of sincerity.
To Shiga, students were nothing more than stepping stones to advance his own position within the Heinemann style. These three in particular possessed mediocre talent with the sword compared to Riku. As long as they were useful as pawns, that was fine, but dragging him down was utterly out of the question. He could never allow it. He needed them to accept this, no matter what.
"Master..."
Moved by Shiga's tear-jerking performance, the three burst into tears.
"Well then, Riku, I'm counting on you for the next preliminary final, all right?"
"Leave it to me. I'll definitely avenge everyone's humiliation. No matter how much he cries and screams, I won't show him any mercy."
Judging from Riku's malicious grin, he intended to ruin Kai so thoroughly that he would never recover as a swordsman. Until recently, they couldn't make any overt moves out of deference to Lord Elm, but in this city, there were no restrictions holding them back.
Currently, a fierce struggle was raging over the seat of the next grand master between the Heinemann style's main house faction led by Lord Elm and the branch house faction backing Roman, who possessed the Spear King Gift.
Since the main house faction had no prominent candidate capable of surpassing Roman, the branch house faction held the upper hand. If the general public were to witness the pathetic disgrace and foul play of Kai Heinemann—the ultimate blemish on the main house faction—it would bring a decisive victory to Shiga's side. And if the one crushing that incompetent was Riku, a member of their own school, the honor of the Heinemann style would remain intact. It was truly killing two birds with one stone.
If all went well, Shiga's status for securing the branch house faction's victory was as good as guaranteed.
"I'm counting on you!"
Shiga stepped up to Riku, clapped him on the shoulder, and let those words slip from his lips, dripping with ambition.