"Isn’t this a bit of an overkill?"

Moving through the academy grounds, I turned to look at Ashlyn, who was running along with me.

Behind us, there were nearly forty percent of all the disciplinary committee members, as everyone was headed towards the place where Noah and Victoria were fighting against each other.

"It’s a formality."

After a short pause, Ashlyn replied—

"We need to show our best efforts in trying to mediate between both parties and stop their conflict."

Well... that was fair enough.

Approaching closer to the site, I had now spread my mana sense far and wide... allowing me to sense the fight in detail.

Both Victoria and Noah appeared to be in a stalemate, though looking closely, Victoria had a massive edge over Noah in terms of her experience in combat, and it was clearly visible through the moves that the girl had executed so far.

Every now and then, Noah kept falling into her traps, still his immense physical strength coupled with the guy’s naturally large mana pool was enough to keep him barely sustainable in the fight.

On the outside though, it looked like Noah was dominating Victoria.

As for Victoria... she seemed to have advanced in her rank, as I could sense her core being at Gold 3.

"Victoria seems ready to use a spell. We need to stop her, Ana—"

"There’s no need to worry."

Just as the disciplinary committee members were getting ready to intervene, I calmly interrupted Ashlyn, who simply frowned at me in return.

"Kael... she is a Gold 3. Noah can’t possibly survive a spell at such a close range."

Currently, Noah had gripped Victoria by her throat, but the latter didn’t seem fazed by it.

Ashlyn might have been right if it was indeed an ordinary Silver 3 at the receiving end of the spell, but—

"Trust me. If anything happens, I will take the responsibility."

That was a lie.

I knew Noah wasn’t going to get hurt by Victoria’s spell, but even if by some chance he did get hurt... so what?

From the reports, it was Noah who had initiated the attack against Victoria, so even if he was severely injured in the process, would anyone be able to blame me, even if I was indeed held responsible for not stopping the two maniacs fighting on the grounds of the academy?

Ashlyn continued to stare into my eyes, looking for any hints of deceit, but my eyes were as crystal clear as they could have ever been.

"Those at Silver 3 and below, circle around the entire area, and the ones with Gold cores, close the distance with them without interfering in the fight."

Ashlyn gave out the orders while staring into my eyes.

Her precautions weren’t needed, but it was normal for her to be cautious—

Boom!

Victoria had executed her ice spell, the same one that had launched a barrage of ice lances at me.

Noah, on his part, seemed to have predicted Victoria’s attack, but the guy was slow in his actions, as he formed his shield a little too late.

Poor soul... his body was thrown into the air like a literal ragdoll.

"He’s alive."

My comment earned a glare from Ana, though I didn’t acknowledge her reaction.

The fight got even more intense after the explosion, and now Victoria seemed ready to unleash her second spell.

I could sense the mana particles around her moving to channel the circuit of the spell, that was still invisible to the naked eye.

And Noah, being at Silver 3... shouldn’t have been able to sense it using mana sense.

Hm?

Now that I think about it, Noah was at Silver 2 the last time that I had seen him.

Strange.

He shouldn’t have advanced this early.

Had the guy been training after being sidelined by the world and not treated as the main character in the academy?

Sigh.

I had forgotten about what type of egoist Noah was.

Surely he wouldn’t let others look down on him, and particularly... he wouldn’t let me look down on him.

The protagonist might have felt quite happy to now be at the same rank as me.

I couldn’t help but pity his illusion of success.

Well... it was for the best that Noah didn’t know of my actual rank or else... who knows what impact it would have on his mental health.

Noah had now thrown his sword at Victoria before closing the distance with her, but—

Victoria had already activated her spell, as a huge circuit of mana formed around her body, before projectiles of water flew in every direction.

"Aren’t you going to step in?"

This spell looked like it would be quite lethal for Noah, though that didn’t mean that the spell could kill him.

I seriously doubted whether Victoria had what it took to kill the protagonist of the game... someone who was blessed and protected by the world itself.

"You asked me to trust you."

Hm?

I hadn’t taken a good look at her, but did Ashlyn just smirk at me?

"Honestly, I can understand why you aren’t worried about your classmate’s life. He is quite the strong one, and maybe even I will have difficulty dealing with him."

Worry about him?

Even if Noah had been in real danger... I wouldn’t even have glanced at him—

No.

Thinking carefully, I would have indeed given Noah a good glance in the final moments of his life.

After all, I had to see how he would meet his end... that was the least I could do for the poor soul.

"But at the rate things are going... Noah is going to lose."

Ashlyn spoke with certainty, making me smile from within.

I had never liked the guy, but one thing about Noah that I could say with my utmost confidence was—

The protagonist wouldn’t lose, no matter what.

He wouldn’t necessarily win the fight, but he wouldn’t be defeated either.

And I was proven right, as—

"He is directly tanking the attack from the spell! Has he lost his brain?!"