This Novel is not my Novel

Helga's lace glove seemed to slap flat against the villain's face, then slid down, fluttering as it fell.

The villain's gaze followed it.

As if confirming the identity of the object that had just struck his face.

"You... what is the meaning of this...?"

Even as he stared at the glove that had fallen to the floor.

Even though Helga had thrown it while shouting into the microphone that she was challenging him to a duel.

The villain's questioning voice was filled with puzzlement.

It seemed he found the fact that Helga had challenged him to a duel incredibly hard to believe.

"Oh my! You're the scion of a count's family, and you don't even know how to request a duel?"

"That's not what I meant!"

Probably. No, definitely.

The villain bastard must have been asking,

'How dare you, a mere lady of a baronial family, challenge me to a duel?'

Of course, Helga must have noticed this.

And yet—

"Then what? What did you mean by that question?"

—Helga feigned ignorance and asked back.

The villain, thoroughly provoked by her unfazed attitude, scrunched up his face in anger.

But that state didn't last long.

As if a thought suddenly occurred to him, one corner of the villain's mouth twisted into a smirk.

And his eyes were filled with an unmistakable look of contempt.

It was obvious the bastard was looking down on Helga, mocking her.

"Ha, haha... You're really challenging me to a duel...?"

His bewildered mutter was amplified by the microphone and echoed through the area.

"To lose control of your own emotions and cause an incident you can't handle..."

This was not a remark one would expect from a person who, despite the other party's clear rejection, couldn't let go of his own feelings and had instead shouted, slandered, belittled, threatened, and even spread fake rumors.

"What kind of incident did I cause?"

"Acting all fine when you're probably regretting it deep down..."

I could bet that just now, Helga wasn't feigning ignorance; she genuinely didn't know what he was talking about.

But the villain arbitrarily assumed Helga's inner thoughts and adopted a swaggering attitude.

Just as {N•o•v•e•l•i•g•h•t} I was wondering why he was acting like that, the reason was revealed.

"Doesn't your family lack any properly skilled knights? Are you sure you can go through with this duel?"

He meant that no skilled knight would ever pledge allegiance to a mere baronial family, while his own family had many excellent knights.

What he was asking was why she would request a duel she was bound to lose.

He must have thought that Helga would put forth a knight to fight in her stead, a Champion.

Based on the contents of the pre-remake 《NaSE》, I could guess.

An author like Senna would have written a development where the protagonist, Reisir, would volunteer to be Helga's Champion and enter the duel.

The Ofrausir family would have sent their Knight Commander to the duel under the pretense of crushing her with overwhelming skill.

Because of that, the story would have staged a scene where Reisir was constantly pushed back, only to use his wits to strike at the opponent's champion's weakness and achieve victory.

But in Chapter 270.

Helga had said she couldn't understand why she would ever try to rely on someone else to solve her problems.

'After saying that, there's no way she'd ask someone else to fight a duel she herself requested, right?'

That would not only shatter her character personality but also destroy the story's plausibility.

"Why would I need someone like that? I'm mad at you, and you're mad at me. So obviously, you and I should be the ones to fight. Why bring in a third party?"

Yes, of course, this is how it should be.

...Unlike me, who was thinking that.

"What...?! You and me??"

The villain showed a shocked and baffled reaction.

Did he think that even though Helga was scheduled to enter the Demon Realm as a member of the Special Class for Awakened Ones, she wouldn't fight in a duel herself because she was a woman?

Or was it because he had no intention of fighting himself?

Well, the reason didn't matter.

Because eventually—

"Why? Are you scared of me? You don't have the confidence to beat one woman?"

—if she scratched his pride like this and went, "Are you chicken?" he'd have no choice but to accept.

Besides, the number of spectators gathered here was immense.

Even the act of trying to cancel the duel or persuade her to use a champion would become an object of ridicule.

"Of course not!"

"Really?"

"Yes...! No matter how much you're in the Special Class for Awakened Ones, you only started training about two weeks ago, right? For you to say you'll fight yourself, I was just wondering what kind of guts you have. I was just dumbfounded!"

It seemed that villain bastard didn't know.

The fact that spewing such long-winded excuses could make him look like he was trying to brainwash himself into shaking off his fear in the eyes of others.

"This is why I hate aggressive women like you! You can't control your temper and start a battle of wills you're bound to lose, and then I have to clean up the aftermath."

He must have been holding on to all the times Helga said, "I hate you!"

To think he could be so smug and boastful after returning the word "hate" just once.

It was truly ridiculous.

"Stay out of it! I will never ask you to clean up my mess, ever."

"Well, I can't completely ignore this matter. If you lose, you'll have to pay me reparations. A Lady of a Baronial Family living in poverty—can you even pay that money properly? Tsk, tsk, tsk. I feel sorry for your father."

"Stay out of that too! It won't be a problem if I win, right?!"

For any readers wondering what this is about, I'll explain.

In the world within this novel, there is a rule that the loser of a duel must pay reparations to the winner.

And as for the reparations just mentioned.

It's common for the families to discuss and decide on the amount before the duel begins, even drawing up a contract document.

But if the duel happens first, the setting is that a member of the Imperial Family, designated by the Emperor, will assess the severity of the matter and determine the amount instead.

"This won't do. I was going to let you off if you got on your knees and apologized right now, begging to take back the duel request... Tsk, tsk, tsk."

"Stop blabbering and draw your sword!"

Because of the Demon Realms that could appear anywhere at any time, many people started carrying weapons for self-defense.

That villain was one of them.

With a sword hanging right there at his flank, it would be impossible for him to postpone the duel by claiming he had no weapon.

"Yeah, hurry up and fight! I need to see the result and go eat! I'm hungry!!"

"I guess he just carries the sword around as decoration?"

"Booooo—! Did you get scared now that it's time to fight yourself?!"

The audience also began to urge the villain on.

"Right now...?"

"Why? Are you scared? Frightened?"

"Who said I was scared?! For students to fight outside of lecture time, there's a school rule that two or more combat-line professors must be present to observe!"

A villain citing school rules, of all things.

It was utterly absurd, but it was a rule that had to be followed.

Besides, it wasn't just the students who had gotten their feet stuck here on their way to dinner.

"Me, me, me, me, me~!!! That observation thing, I'll do it~!"

Skati, who was hopping up and down next to me and raising her hand high, was one such professor.

After a somehow very excited Skati skipped out humming, another professor stepped forward, and the duel was arranged on the spot.

For reference, this professor had also been introduced as an Awakened One during orientation, and his subject was "Swordsmanship."

As an Awakened One, he was a major supporting character in the original novel, but the star of this chapter was, by all means, Helga.

So I'll postpone revealing this professor's personal details for later and just refer to him as the Swordsmanship Professor for now.

"If you make a fatal attack that could cause permanent disability or death, or an attack that could harm the students around you, I'll stop it right away~! So you have to be careful~? Got it~?"

Skati took the microphone from Helga and stated the precautions.

At the same time, she snatched the microphone from the villain's hand and passed it to the Swordsmanship Professor.

I couldn't help but suspect that she misunderstood the concept of a Combat Observer.

"Uh... well then... I ask both students to stand at a moderate distance and draw your weapons."

The Swordsmanship Professor, who had been handed the microphone in a daze, recited the opening remarks.

In response, the villain drew the sword at his waist with a reluctant expression.

On the other hand, Helga stood still with her arms hanging down.

"Student Helga... are you ready?"

"Yes! I'm ready!!"

The Swordsmanship Professor asked with puzzlement, and Helga answered in a confident voice.

Perhaps he grew nervous upon seeing her display of confidence?

I could see the villain's grip on his sword tighten.

He had spouted off about how she had only just started training, how she was trying to start a battle of wills she was bound to lose.

He had said all that with his own mouth, but Helga, far from regretting her duel request, was intent on proceeding.

Perhaps the thought, 'Could Helga actually be incredibly strong?' had unconsciously crossed his mind.

'Helga's Ether ability is fire, so there's a high risk of it turning into an accident if she's not careful, meaning she won't be able to use her full power. As for martial arts or weapon techniques, she's only just started learning...'

Realistically speaking, unless the villain was extremely weak, the probability of Helga winning was low.

But I wasn't worried in the slightest.

Because this was the world within a novel.

No matter how far this situation strayed from the original author's planned development.

Author Senna, if she was an 'author,' would surely know.

'That a scene where Helga loses here must absolutely not happen.'

So, she would prepare a stage where Helga could win, one way or another.

"Rea-ready~! Be-giiin~~!!"

Skati announced the start of the duel in a cheerful voice.

However, neither Helga nor the villain made a move.

Helga still stood with her arms hanging down, glaring at her opponent, while the villain cautiously observed her, taking a defensive posture.

Because her stance looked so ordinary, he must have thought Helga had a hidden card up her sleeve.

It seemed he had decided to react after seeing her move.

The villain's thought was right, but his judgment was wrong.

'Helga isn't just standing still right now.'

So much so that if you didn't look closely, you wouldn't even notice its existence.

A thin wire imbued with faint red energy was moving as if crawling along the floor, extending toward the villain.

Its starting point was, of course, Helga's dangling fingertip.

She might still have been unskilled at handling the wire directly, but her Ether control was excellent.

She was controlling the Ether to move the wire.

As if she were getting the knack for it in real time, its speed even started to increase.

Perhaps due to the original author's will intervening, not a single spectator jeered, asking why she was just standing there.

They whispered among themselves in low voices, but that was all.

In the end, the villain's cautious, alert attitude was what tripped him up.

No, did it only trip up his ankle?

The wire imbued with red energy started at his ankle and climbed higher and higher.

By the time the villain, who didn't know Helga's weapon was a wire, realized it, it was too late.

"Wh-what is this...!"

The moment the villain panicked, the red energy in the wire intensified and tightly bound his entire body.

And just as he was rendered immobile, Helga's fist flew toward the villain's face.

—Thwack!!

After the dull sound echoed once—

"Ouch... this hurts a bit?"

Helga muttered this, then imbued her fists with Ether and started randomly pummeling the villain's face and torso.

Thwack, thwack, pummel pummel pummel!

Amid the endless sounds of impact, screams of "Agh, Aack! Ugh, Urk! Gak!" rang out, but—

"Student Helga, that's enough..."

"Huh~? Why are you stopping her~? He won't die from that~, and he won't suffer a permanent disability either~. And there's no damage to the surroundings~."

"That may be so, but..."

"He must have some way to get out of it~, so he's not saying he's lost, right~? As a professor, you should believe in your student's potential and wait~!"

"Hearing you say that, you have a point."

—one of the two professors serving as observers did contemplate whether to intervene, but it was literally just a thought.

It was obvious he wasn't saying he had lost not because he didn't want to, but because he couldn't.

For that reason, the villain was beaten, and beaten, and beaten again in front of countless spectators.

Very harshly and miserably.

It continued until Helga, exhausted from hitting him, delivered a finishing uppercut that knocked him out.

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