The Strongest Student of the Weakest Academy

Gulp...!

Eira swallowed hard.

Her heart was beating so fast, it hurt.

Her hands were cold, and her legs quivered.

She had finally met Aestrea—face to face—and it was nothing like she expected.

He looked at her with glowing red eyes, and they didn't look like normal red at all.

His eyes looked like fire, and that fire was currently burning straight through her.

She wanted to move, to speak, but her body wouldn't listen.

She felt like a rabbit standing in front of a wolf.

Her knees were weak.

She could feel them shaking, and her mana—the power she trusted the most—started shaking too.

It was like even her magic was scared.

Eira had never felt this before.

This man... he was strong, very strong.

Better than her in all aspects she could think of.

She used to think her elf blood made her special.

Better than humans.

But now... as he stared at her like she was nothing...

If a man like this were a human... were humans really worthless?

"And who is this?" Aestrea spoke after a while, looking directly at Eira.

He didn't blink, nor did he look away.

He stared at her, slowly looking her up and down like he was reading her soul.

"Ah.. she's—!"

James tried to talk, but was suddenly interrupted.

"I-I'm Eira Fairchild Frost Lúthien," she said, her voice trembling, hand on her chest.

"The First Princess of the Lúthien Clan."

She tried to meet his eyes.

But the moment she did, her whole body felt cold.

Her chest started to hurt, and her breath caught in her throat.

She looked down at his lips.

She couldn't hold his gaze.

It was too heavy for the young elf.

"An Elf Princess... huh?" Aestrea calmly spoke, raising an eyebrow.

"...But."

He suddenly added, stepping closer to Eira. He reached out and gently lifted her chin, making her look into his glowing red eyes again.

"If you're an Elf Princess... surely enough, you should have learned etiquette, no?" he asked coldly, gazing down at her.

Eira trembled.

Her hands, her arms, her whole body... shaking.

"I-I..." she tried to say something, anything.

But the words were stuck.

Aestrea gave a small laugh.

"Hah."

Aestrea let out a small laugh.

"Where's that arrogance from earlier? Was it because... You mayhaps... met someone better than you in all aspects?" Aestrea immediately guessed her thoughts.

After all, his maid was a High Elf, so he had extensive knowledge about the elves, particularly the frost elves.

They possessed a quite interesting bloodline ability known as the sixth sense. This ability allowed them to instantly determine if someone was stronger than they were and to sense danger from miles away.

It was really broken ability.

In other words, he was right.

Completely right.

Eira bit her lip hard.

He knew about this...

And now, her sixth sense was screaming.

She didn't just feel fear.

She felt pure danger coming from him.

"Pheeeeew...."

Suddenly, a whistle echoed out, and Aestrea lifted his head slightly.

Both James and Derek were whistling at him.

'What the hell? Here I am, saving them, and they're whistling like idiots?' he scoffed inwardly.

But as soon as he noticed the ambiguous position he was in with Eira, he finally realized the reason for their whistling.

"Get her, tige—!"

Before James could finish his sentence, Derek quickly covered his mouth, shooting Aestrea a friendly but nervous smile.

Aestrea only sighed before letting go of Eira's chin.

"Look..."

He spoke, brushing his silver hair back, the strands falling on his forehead shortly after.

"Just don't be fucking arrogant and act like you're better than everyone and hurt them because of it."

He explained in very simple terms.

The elf princess shakily nodded her head in response.

"Great... because if you do hurt any human student..."

He once again lifted her chin.

"You'll need to deal with me."

Aestrea walked away, pulling both Derek and James away.

But as he did so...

"YOU FUCKING KID!"

A very tall figure shouted, rushing towards him at full speed.

"...Seriously?" Aestrea raised an eyebrow.

But as he saw the bloodlust in Ulgar's eyes, he couldn't help but grin slightly.

A silver mana started leaking out of his body, and thickly enveloped his right arm as he was about to swing it hard...

"HOLD THERE!"

A strong mana suddenly lifted Ulgar into the air, causing his movements to stop.

But it didn't do anything to Aestrea.

"If you guys want to fight, fight in the main arena, not in the freaking corridor!" Miss Helena shouted coldly.

"These walls cost a fortune! Break even one, and you'll pay ten times what it's worth!"

Ulgar growled in frustration.

But instead of backing down, his eyes lit up with excitement as he grinned widely in pure confidence.

"Fine then! I want to challenge Aestrea to a rank duel!"

Miss Helena raised an eyebrow at his words.

But deep down, a chilling smile was hidden.

"Sure, when?" she asked.

"NOW!"

Ulgar shouted without hesitation.

Miss Helena gave a small nod, then turned her gaze toward Aestrea and gave him a quick wink.

"Then the match will happen in two hours, in the main arena," she said.

With a snap of her fingers, Ulgar dropped gently back to the ground.

As he landed on the ground, Ulgar immediately turned to Eira, like the good puppy he was.

"Miss Eira, are you okay?"

But she didn't answer.

Her eyes were still locked on Aestrea, who was already walking away with Derek and James.

"Miss Eira?!"

After a moment, she blinked and finally spoke.

"Ah… let's go."

Ulgar smiled with confidence and puffed out his chest.

"Don't worry, Miss Eira! With my Titan Bloodline, I'll make sure to smash him to bits!" he licked his lips, grinning.

"Ah... yeah... I'm sure of it." Eira replied bluntly.

But deep down, she knew...

Ulgar was nowhere near Aestrea's level.

—

"WHAT?!"

Mia shouted loudly.

"It's only been a single day that you've come back, and you're already fighting against one of the new students?!"

Aestrea only raised an eyebrow.

"So? It's not like I wasn't going to do that later, besides, he was the one who proposed the rank duel, not me."

"Gosh... we were only away for... two classes, and this already happened." Maria, on the side, sighed deeply.

"Heh..." Derek suddenly grinned.

"You should've seen the scene in the corridor. Aestrea sent Ulgar flying across the hall, and even summoned a hard ice barrier for him to crash into!"

"Pffft… it was hilarious!" Derek laughed loudly, and James couldn't help but laugh with him.

Even Aestrea shook his head a little, a smirk on his face.

The girls, however, could only sigh at the group's foolishness.

"Yeah! And Aestrea even tried flirting with that frost el—MPHH!" Before James could finish his words, Derek quickly covered his mouth with his hand.

It was already the fourth time today that he was doing this, but his brother couldn't fucking shut his mouth.

"What did you just say?"

Both of the girls cracked their heads towards James.

"N-nothing!" Derek answered quickly, not giving James the chance to speak.

"Aestrea just scared her really badly! That's all!" he said, nodding fast, while James also nodded under the pressure, after feeling their intense and scary gazes.

Then, both of the girls turned to Aestrea sharply.

"Is that true?"

"Yeah? Why wouldn't it be?" Aestrea frowned at their question.

"Well… that elf girl did have a bigger chest than mine… and you do like that kind of thing," Mia muttered, looking away.

Aestrea's frown deepened even more.

"Also, you've always wanted to meet an elf… and let's be honest, her beauty's probably better than ours. Elf blood and all..." Maria added with a little pout.

Aestrea rubbed his temples, clearly annoyed.

"Look... I'm not interested in someone who hurts my friends. I never will be. Even if she's the prettiest woman in the whole world."

Aestrea let out a heavy sigh as he spoke.

Right then...

Everyone in the group looked at him with soft, sparkling eyes.

Like they were staring at some kind of saint.

Aestrea didn't really know what to say.

Or how to react.

He just stayed quiet so he wouldn't mess up the mood.

But then...

"So... can I take her, then? She was really hot..."

James blurted out, ruining everything.

WHACK!

THUD!

"OWWW!!!"

Both girls punched him at the same time—one fist for each cheek.

He dropped to the floor, holding his face and groaning.

Derek sighed deeply and rubbed the bridge of his nose.

"...You really don't know when to shut up, do you?"

Next to Derek, Aestrea stared down at James, his expression was completely flat.

"...Yeah, you definitely had that coming."

James rubbed his cheeks as he lay down on the floor, mumbling something about "unfair violence" and "freedom of speech."

No one listened to his thoughts.

And Aestrea couldn't help but think—

'Yeah.'

'This idiot really has a gift.'

He had the special talent of always saying the worst thing at the worst time.