13 The Culprit (1)

"Attention everyone!"

Lilian's voice caught everyone's attention.

"Now, as everyone should now, it's the examination between classes. Instead of the capturing the flag game, now it will be fights one to one."

"The professor of each class can choose a student to go and fight, and by the end, the class that remains undefeated wins!"

"After that, we'll go with the class awakening ceremony. However, before the class examination starts, we'll draw which class will fight each other."

"So, let's start. This time, the lower-ranked classes will draw the lots. So, the respective professor of Class D, please come and draw the lot."

Lilian took the lot that had a "D" on it and burned it.

As her words rang out, the professor of Class D approached Lilian and grabbed a lot from her.

"Class C!" The professor raised his hand, showing a little card with the letter "C" carved on it.

"Next, Class E..."

Once again, Lilian burned the lot that had an "E" carved in it.

Just like the professor from Class C made, he approached Lilian and grabbed the lot from her.

"Class B..." The professor sighed in relief upon seeing this.

"Well... then, it means that Class A will go against Class F!" Lilian announced.

"The first fight will be Class D against Class C! Good luck to everyone." Lilian's voice echoed through the whole stadium.

She got to her own seat and gazed down at the arena.

Roxanne and Matthew simply sat down next to each other and looked at the arena. From their perspective, they didn't find any students dangerous.

However, the other classes seemed to be a bit wary of Class C, since it had a really hot head worse than Kennard.

"Come on! Who's next!?" He laughed madly after beating another student.

And surprisingly, he really took care of Class D alone.

"The winner is Class C!" Lilian announced.

"Now... It's Class E against Class B!"

At this moment, Matthew's eyes narrowed slightly; after all, James was the professor of Class B.

Matthew instantly noticed how his gaze was on the audience and scoffed.

"That guy doesn't even know how to hide his intentions."

"That's true... Professor James is a bit dumb, but I've heard that his combat abilities are pretty powerful."

"Oh? Tell me more."

"He awakened the class called [Berserker], and can transform into a crazy monster. From the information I have, when he uses his special class skill, it decreases his intelligence by half and increases all of his attributes by 300%."

"Along with the skills that come in his class, he's pretty annoying to deal with. People say that if he uses [Berserk], he can compare to the Top 25."

"Sacrificing more intelligence to get stronger? It seems about right with his dumb personality." Mathew joked.

"Pfffff... But, really... I don't know what they see in Stacy; if it's because of her kind personality, there are many women like that. It seems that there's nothing that special except her extraordinary beautiful face."

"True... Apart from being pretty, she doesn't seem all that useful. Plus, she's kinda weak."

As Matthew uttered these words, a vein throbbed on Roxanne's forehead.

"Argh! What was that for!?" Matthew spun around, shooting Roxanne a glare as she pinched his waist.

"Hmph!" She turned away.

"Do you not understand the concept of common courtesy? If a woman says another woman is beautiful, a man should obviously say, 'In my eyes, you are the most beautiful' or something similar to that." Roxanne scolded.

"Yeah, yeah... So fucking cheesy." Matthew scoffed.

"Ouch! Stop pinching me!"

"No! You should never ruin a woman's dream of romance!" Roxanne spoke.

"Okay, okay...!" Matthew sighed.

He then took a deep breath...

He gently grasped Roxanne's wrist, his touch tender as he caressed her hand with delicate strokes.

A soft smile graced his lips as he whispered softly,

"In my eyes, Roxanne, you're more than just beautiful. From the moment I first saw you, your amethyst eyes captured my heart, shining like precious jewels in the darkness. Your dark brown hair perfectly frames the delicate features of your face, accentuating your natural beauty. And those pale pink lips of yours—they're irresistible! Every time I look at them... the first thing that comes to mind is to taste them while I make you mine." Matthew spoke charmingly with the softest smile that he could make.

"..."

Puff!

Roxanne immediately turned her head after hearing Matthew say those words; her face turned red as a tomato.

She shrank, hiding her face with her two hands, as Matthew could see a faint smoke escape her head.

Matthew only shook his head with a faint smile.

'You asked for it.'

However, while extremely embarrassed, Roxanne couldn't hide the wide smirk on her face as she giggled to herself.

It was inaudible, so Matthew couldn't hear her giggles, but he was already very satisfied with her reaction.

That only made him think...

'Instead of a troublesome yet extremely beautiful woman like Stacy who gets in trouble every time she walks on the street, isn't someone like Roxanne, who is too very beautiful but she doesn't get in trouble like Stacy, a much better love interest?'

'Like, what are those male leads thinking about? Honestly, although I don't know how Roxanne really became a villain, it must be because she defeated the Crown Prince.'

'And because of that, Stacy would probably get bad ideas about her and then the cliche would go on...'

'Honestly... aren't the Villainesses much better than the protagonist?'

"The winner is Class B!" Lilian announced the results, interrupting Matthew's thoughts.

He glanced over at Roxanne next to him and saw that she was still covering her face. Sooo, he flicked his finger on her forehead.

"Wake up; it's our time to fight now." Matthew stood up from his seat.

Pouting, Roxanne followed Mathew, clinging to his arm once again. As if that interaction never happened.

They approached the professor, and after he noticed that every student was present, he started explaining the rules.

Basically, you cannot inflict a very high injury on the other students, like disabling an arm or even a leg, but if you can make them pass out,.

Also...

"Finally, Matthew... if you fight, you'll have half of your strength sealed due to that penalty, so I recommend that you don't fight." The professor advised.

Listening to his words, Matthew clenched his fists so tightly that blood started oozing out of them.

However, he felt a pair of hands covering his clenched fist and calmed down. He looked at Roxanne, who smiled softly at him.

"Nice try." He spoke.

"Tsk..." Roxanne clicked her tongue.

Looking at her actions, Matthew smiled softly and flicked his finger on her forehead once again.

"Ouch... Stop doing that!" She pouted.

"Never!" He smiled even more widely.

"The fight will start now. The first fighters of both classes, please enter the arena." Lilian's voice echoed through the arena.

At that moment, Matthew looked at the professor and spoke.

"I'll go after everyone." 

The professor nodded at his words and sent another student.

The fight took only a matter of seconds, and the professor continued sending more students, hoping that they could at least beat an opponent.

A few minutes passed, and every student except Matthew and Roxanne had already been defeated by a single student.

"Do you want to fight?" asked Matthew.

Roxanne tilted her head but then shook her head.

"I should hide my powers for now..." she explained.

"Alright then... I guess it's my turn..." Matthew stood up and walked towards the arena.

At this moment, the student, who was already in the arena, sneered at him.

"What are you doing? You think you can defeat me with half of your power sealed?" He laughed.

Looking at him, Matthew couldn't help but think...

'This world... is a bit too cliche? But isn't this treatment reserved for the protagonist or something?'

"Ahh... you guys never learn."

RING!

The bell announced the beginning of the fight.

In an instant, Matthew appeared right before the student.

"Look... even if half of my strength's sealed, it's more than enough to defeat you all."

THUD!

Puff!

Matthew punched the guy in the face, leaving blood splattered on his fist and the guy's teeth falling out as he flew out of the arena and collided with a wall.

Thud!

Immediately, Lilian checked the condition of the student and simply announced the result.

"Student Matthew won!"

"Next challenger..." She added after sending the guy to a healer.

And that continued on, with Matthew simply destroying every single student. He didn't care and went all in.

He was like an artist... always changing the shape of the faces of his opponents. Well, except for women, whom he simply knocked down with a hit on their neck.

Finally, it was Kennard's turn. He entered the arena and held an exquisite-looking spear that seemed to have been crafted by the most exquisite metal in the world.

Meanwhile, Matthew, who had been using his fists, finally realized.

"We could use weapons!?"

Upon noticing this, he slapped his forehead as he let out a big sigh...

"If I had my sword, I could also give them extra treatment, like a horrendous scar on their faces..."