9. As the First Prince of Kassinki, I hereby declare a duel! (Patreon)

Damien put on a fake smile.

“Greetings Head Professor, to what do I owe the pleasure?”

The man had a disgusted expression plastered on his face, he looked rather pale and tired, dark bags could be seen hiding behind the rim of his glasses.

‘In the game that starts in a year's time, Damien is already the Head Professor, I always wondered how he got the position, so I looked up the lore on the wiki, turns out the previous Head Professor died and Damien got the position as he was his teaching assistant.’

Seeing the Head Professor's face go from a face of disgust to annoyance he felt a little playful and decided to make a little comment “You look rather pale, Head Professor, everything okay?”

The man’s face went slightly red from the comment and decided to ignore it “Damien, I heard you are my new teaching assistant?”

“Yes, that is correct,” Damien responded with an air of indifference as if the conversation didn’t concern him.

“Did you pay off the Dean? I never heard of you taking a test to display your capabilities! What school of magic or teaching qualifications do you even have!” the professor screamed. He was clearly trying to put on a show.

Sure enough, his shouting quickly seemed to attract the attention of the surrounding students.

To Damien the man just looked like a raving dog, he knew this man would die in two weeks' time from a heart attack.

‘It's a surreal experience to know you are talking to a dead man, if I was the old Damien I would be trying to curry favor with this man, but since I know his end is near it's like listening to the ranting of a lunatic instead.’

Damien walked down the marble stairs and stood only a step away from the man. His large frame and broad shoulders completely dwarfed the sickly-looking man. Yet despite the man's ashen complexion he still had darker skin than Damien, the difference was Damien's pale skin seemed healthy rather than from illness. He was a vampire, after all.

“Head Professor.” Damien's voice was cold and lacked any respect he should have towards his superior within the university.

‘Damien knew the Head Professor was a prideful man that hated corruption and especially despised the nobility, at least that's what the wiki article suggested. Damien also knew he used to be powerful but due to his illness his mana channels were damaged, meaning he was in an incredibly weakened state, but only the Head Professor and himself knew of this fact.’

All the students surrounding them still thought the Head Professor was a man with B grade Geokinesis. B grade wasn’t something to make the man famous, but it was certainly respectable. What made him the Head Professor was his knowledge of magic and his A grade Mana Control, but from Damien's estimates it should have been demoted to C grade due to illness.

“My special circumstances mean being tested would be inconvenient, but I assure you I am more than capable.” Damien continued with contempt in his voice.

Then the Head Professor reacted exactly as Damien intended.

“I don’t care about your special circumstances, some of us worked very hard for our current position, and it's noble bastards like you that ruin it for the rest of us!”

Some students murmured in agreement, while some better-dressed students seemed to frown at the man's words. They clearly felt personally attacked.

A commoner in the crowd surrounding Damien shouted, “Head Professor is right! Nobles always cheat their way through life! I suggest a duel to show Teacher Damien's capabilities!”

Damien looked towards the boy in the crowd with contempt, which only seemed to fuel the fire in the commoner's mind that Damien had no such capabilities and was simply a noble brat with money!

‘All according to plan so far… now will the Head Professor take the bait?’ Damien thought, amused at how well the situation was working in his favor. From an outside perspective, it seemed Damien was caught out and trying to use intimidation to escape the duel.

Damien noticed the slight panic on the Head Professor's face. The man knew his own situation was less than ideal and if Damien had any schools of magic in the B tier then he was likely to lose.

But how likely was it that Damien had skills in the B tier? The number of people with B tier and above skills in Kassinki was below 100. Although not a small number, it should mean the odds are in the Head Professor's favor.

A human man with dazzling blonde hair and wearing a white and gold suit of similar quality to Damien's walked forward. The crowd seemed to part for him.

Damien mentally sighed. ‘Here comes another death flag…’

“August Greentail greets Head Professor and Teaching Assistant Damien.”

The Head Professor seemed startled for a second and quickly bowed to the Prince, “Greetings to the first Prince.”

He then turned to look at Damien and frowned slightly when he didn't bow or pay respects. The First Prince then grinned a bit after finding a way to humiliate Damien.

“I was going to defuse the situation, but it seems Teaching Assistant Damien seems rather full of himself! I as the First Prince suggest a duel, with some stakes of course.”

The Head Professor looked even more distressed, this had become a lot more serious than he intended. He just wanted to investigate Damien to see if he really had any qualifications to be his assistant, but now it had turned into a full-on duel that was decreed by the heir to the throne!

“If Teaching Assistant Damien loses the bet, I suggest he resigns from his position and publicly apologizes to both the Head Professor and admits to abusing his material assets to gain entrance into the institution.”

The Head Professor nodded in agreement with Damien's end of the duel.

“What if I win?” Damien asked in a cold tone.

“Hmm,” The Prince scratched his chin in thought, “How about I request the Dean to promote you to Head Librarian of the mage towers library?”

‘That's perfect! I get protection from the mage tower and I don’t even have to do any teaching!’

Before Damien could agree the Head Professor butted in, “First Prince I will be without an assistant then, and if Damien is able to defeat me it would be a shame to lose such a talented assistant. I suggest he can have the promotion, but also has to remain as my assistant on the side.”

The Prince was about to respond, but Damien beat him to it, “I agree”.

‘The man dies in 2 weeks anyway, I will only be his assistant for a week at most before I get the position of Head Professor. If I can become the Head Professor and Head Librarian of the Mage Towers library, I will hold considerable influence within the university!’

The Prince seemed a little suspicious of my quick reply, as who would wish to be someone's assistant? Especially a noble, which the Prince assumed Damien was from his temperament.

“As the First Prince of Kassinki, I hereby declare a duel between Head Professor Victor and Teaching Assistant Damien…”

The first Prince looked towards me, I looked towards Fay, and she seemed to understand and nodded.

“Karles, Damien Karles.” Damien replied, understanding the Prince's hint.

“Very well, Damien Karles and Head Professor Victor shall duel in a week's time in the university's arena, I shall be the judge.”

The crowd started clapping and cheering in excitement. The Head Professor looked ready to pass out from stress, and Damien just turned back towards the public library.

He had some magic to learn for the upcoming duel after all…