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Assassins need to know how to draw.

Of course, I’m not talking about painting with pigments or anything like that. Drawing is the entire process that leads to the act of assassination.

It starts with knowing who the target is, imagining how they will move, how they will react, and then planning the optimal assassination strategy in your mind. Naturally, the plan isn’t limited to just one or two scenarios; you have to consider dozens of possibilities.

Then comes the indefinite waiting. It can be as short as a few hours or last for days on end.

And finally, that fleeting moment arrives. You never miss the instant that overlaps with the image you’ve visualized countless times in your mind. You don’t even consider failure. For an assassin, failure means death. In fact, if you can die, you might consider yourself lucky.

Of course, if you’ve ended the target’s life, the aftermath must be handled perfectly as well.

All of this constitutes the assassination process. If any one of these aspects isn’t fulfilled, it’s simply murder, not an assassination.

In that sense, I am already disqualified as an assassin.

Not only did I fail to grasp my opponent, but my plans to draw him in were clumsy at best.

Fortunately, I somehow made it to the duel, but as an assassin, I should never be swayed by emotion, and yet here I was, letting my feelings dictate my actions.

The cost of that was quite steep.

If I had been in top form, it might have been different, but the damage from the previous four matches was not negligible. In fact, trying to rush things had only left me more exhausted than usual.

I should have aimed to win easily, but the fight had already turned messy.

Smash!

As I dodged the swinging sword, he grabbed my hair. Following his movement, my head was pulled in his direction.

In this dangerous situation where the sword was swinging towards my pulled body, I used the force of being drawn to barely escape the sword and kicked out. If I still had my previous body, it would have been impossible, but now, with my movements having become more flexible as a woman, I was able to perform movements close to a skillful art.

Thud!

Perhaps there was a significant impact, as he slightly let go of my hair, and I quickly escaped the distance. My head was still numb, but at least it hadn’t been pulled out.

Heh.

Was I finally regaining enough composure to think such pointless thoughts?

I took a moment to catch my breath and threw some words his way.

“With all this noble talk, you’re just acting like a filthy back-alley thug.”

“Heh, filthy? Thug? What nonsense is that? The second class is survival of the fittest. If you’re weak, just stay crumpled up.”

The expression on Selian’s face behind him didn’t particularly deny his words.

“Survival of the fittest, huh? Well, allow me to show you just who the weak one is.”

I charged at him. The longer I delayed, the more unfavorable it would be for me. My muscles screamed in protest, but even if it meant straining myself, I sped up and swung my sword repeatedly.

With that, my opponent naturally took a defensive stance. He knew I was pushing myself and probably thought that if he could just let this attack slide, a counterattack opportunity would come his way.

I noticed his feet starting to step back, and with a longer stride, I stomped on his foot that was trying to retreat.

There wouldn’t be any pain. But for a brief moment, an unexpected gap opened up. A very tiny gap.

It wasn’t enough of an opening to swing my sword. In that case, I would widen the gap.

As he tried to regain his stance, I closed in excessively.

Bam!

And my head slammed into his face. The skull, one of the hardest bones in the human body, made for a pretty useful weapon.

Despite calling it filthy and thuggish, I was more accustomed to that kind of fight.

His tangled steps and the sudden shock on his face caused his body to naturally fall back.

In the midst of it all, he wildly swung his sword, trying to salvage the situation.

Clang!

There was no power in the sword he swung in that crumbling stance. His sword flew far away.

And mine—

Thud!

Barely missed his fallen neck, embedding itself into the ground.

With heightened senses, I felt him trying to move and subtly angled my sword toward his neck.

Blood began to seep from his neck. His arm, which had been moving, awkwardly hung in the air, frozen.

The long hair flowing forward blocked the gaze of those around us, and I faced him with a look of disbelief.

And I smiled at him.

“Move, and you’ll die.”

A quiet voice meant only for him.

“Stop!”

At the same time as Ferrent’s shout, I pulled out the sword embedded in the ground and sheathed it. Normally, in a duel, taking a life would be fine (at least on the surface), but at that time, his family wouldn’t just sit idle. My “Frentz” was still just a name, and nothing else, so taking his life felt burdensome.

“Elisia, you don’t seem inclined to take a life, so let’s end this as your victory. I, along with everyone present, will be witnesses, so you can request anything for his life.”

I cast a glance at the pitiful figure lying there.

“Well, the value of such a third-rate life seems rather unappealing to me.”

Then I turned to Selian.

“May I say one thing instead?”

I locked eyes with Selian. He was undoubtedly a powerful figure I hadn’t reached yet. It was certainly a bold move, but—

“Professor’s survival of the fittest isn’t that impressive after all.”

I grinned, lifting one corner of my mouth. It was a clear insult. Anyone could see it wasn’t a respectful action toward a superior; I was just a spoiled pup unaware of the fear of a beast.

I was ready to take a stab from Selian if need be. I could only think, “He wouldn’t kill me, right?”

But Selian’s reaction was something I never anticipated.

“Cough… Ha ha…”

Suddenly, he found something amusing and chuckled without caring about the surrounding gazes.

Even I, the person involved, and Ferrent, who was shifting his hand toward his sword as if to block him, and all the other students surrounding us stared at Selian with puzzled expressions.

“Ha…”

After what felt like an eternity of laughter, Selian finally regained his breath and faced me again.

“So, are you saying my teaching method is wrong? You should let your precious friend go, is that it?”

I shrugged my shoulders and replied.

“I’m not the strongest in the class, and I’ve taken down all five members of your second class, so wouldn’t that mean Ferrent’s teaching method is more flawed?”

This was the justification I unwillingly created. Honestly, it was a flimsy excuse. If Selian chose to dismiss it, that would be that.

“What will you do, Professor Ferrent?”

“At the very least, I can’t disregard my student’s opinion.”

“Cough, cough… Alright, it’s a little lacking, but considering your effort, I’ll agree to let Yuli… wait a moment?”

?

Suddenly, Professor Selian stroked his chin, pondering to himself and nodding several times.

“Instead of that, how about you come to the second class? That way, you can naturally help Yuli from the side.”

Thus, Selian offered an unexpected suggestion. It would eliminate the torment that Yuli faced if he came to the second class instead of her coming to the first. However, Selian was already a thorn in my side. Why bother in that situation?

But before I could voice a refusal—

“No way!”

From the onlookers, Selian suddenly stood up and shouted.

It seemed he hadn’t fully thought about his words, as he began to blush after realizing the attention he drew.

“T-that… since El won… it should be that Atillea comes over instead of El…”

Selian’s face was as red as a tomato, and in a voice that was the opposite of his usually calm tone, he managed to get the words out before sitting down.

After a brief silence, I spoke up.

“I have no intention of going to the second class as Selian suggested. I don’t like the teacher.”

At my words, Ferrent seemed to be unsure what to do, covering his face, and Selian doubled over, laughing uncontrollably before finally stopping and speaking.

“Ha, yeah. Let’s move Yuli to the first class immediately. But if you change your mind, let me know anytime.”

I thought to myself, “You like me, don’t you?”

With those words, Selian patted my shoulder a couple of times and soon gathered the second class students as they left the duel area.

What remained were the members of the first class and Yuli.

I swept my silvery hair back with one hand and smiled at Yuli.

In response to my smile, Yuli, who had been standing alone, rushed toward us, making her way into my embrace.

She nestled her head against my chest, clinging to me for what felt like an eternity. She looked like she had much to say, but instead, I simply held her close. I could feel something wet on my chest, and although Yuli’s body was trembling, I quietly stroked her back, only to feel something strap-like caught inside her clothing. Instead of stroking, I patted her back instead.

“Don’t hate Professor Selian too much. He ended up in this situation by accident; he’s actually a good guy.”

Before I knew it, Professor Ferrent approached, speaking to us. Despite Yuli still being in my arms.

“Anyway, don’t worry about the procedure for Yuli’s transfer; Selian and I will handle it. I’ll take the other students in first, so come in once things settle down.”

First class, assemble!

With Ferrent’s shout, the remaining students lined up before him. He then took the other kids and left. Selian was walking away without looking back, which was a bit scary… But that just meant he cared about Yuli.

Anyway, at least this was sort of settled. I hugged Yuli tighter, who was still crying in my arms.