I looked down at the terrified eyes and murmured.

“Isn’t it perfect for us who are born from the dirt and return to the dirt? Let’s try eating dirt and see if we can find some humanity.”

“Ugh, ugh…!”

“It might even be good for the core. At least it’s better than eating a rat. Right?”

The guy struggled and kicked at my clothes. At the same time, a flash of light burst in my peripheral vision.

Boom―!

I raised my arm to block the magic. The dirt I was holding scattered into the air.

A student, with a dazed expression, shouted while pointing his wand.

“You… you… could use magic?!”

“You saw wrong.”

I simply replied, shrugging my shoulders. As he continued to say nonsensical things, he looked at me with his mouth agape, unable to comprehend.

“This…!”

While I was responding to another guy, the student who had grabbed my collar swung his wand.

Boom―!

I immediately cast a barrier to reflect the magic. After training with Leo, attacks driven by emotion didn’t even seem like real attacks. The student, perhaps hit by his own magic, clutched his eyes and collapsed to the ground.

“Aagh! Hey, someone do something about this bastard!”

“We’re already on it!”

A student shouted back from somewhere.

I deflected the attacks and looked around, moving the animal that had fallen to the ground to a safe corner.

Considering how easy it was to block their attacks, it was clear that my divine power was effective.

At the same time, a student, continuously attacking Lucas, swallowed hard.

‘It’s not working at all.’

Sweat ran down the hand holding the wand.

I couldn’t grasp what was happening. Despite three people attacking simultaneously, the barrier showed no signs of breaking. Even attacks that were out of the barrier’s range were neutralized by Lucas with similar power, rendering them meaningless.

Boom―

A student was pushed back by Lucas’s attack.

The fact that Lucas was using magic felt so unreal that I forgot about the pain.

‘Of course, he can use magic.’

The level of magic taught to six-year-olds in class could be used by anyone born into a family with even one title. Even if 99% of people couldn’t go beyond that, I assumed he was part of that group.

But…

‘I didn’t know he could use it this well.’

Askanien was one of the top families in the empire in terms of magic power, so it made sense.

But not him. That’s why he got into this school through an unprecedented donation admission.

‘Did he actually gain magic power by drinking blood…?’

Even when he couldn’t use magic, Pleroma was just pitiful and creepy.

In some ways, I suspected he might be pretending to be Pleroma just to protect himself.

Being feared might be better than being ignored.

But this situation shattered all those assumptions.

A student, amidst the flashes of light coming from all directions, looked at Lucas’s face.

Unlike his friends who were charging at him screaming, Lucas seemed displeased with the situation, narrowing his eyes and only flicking his wrist.

Fwoosh―

Lucas dispersed the fragments of the barrier that flew by his cheek into the air. Even though he was reinforcing the barrier, the continuous attacks from three people transmitted the shock clearly.

‘Three people are a bit much, no matter how weak they are.’

It’s time to wrap this up without dragging it out.

Lucas slashed his wand diagonally, pushing back two students, and then waved his wand horizontally at the remaining student.

“Huh?”

Before he could grasp the situation, the student’s balance wavered. When he opened his eyes again, half his vision was filled with damp dirt, and his hand, which had been holding the wand, was caught in Lucas’s binding magic.

“…!”

“You’re giving in too easily. You should be able to deflect at least this much.”

Lucas sneered at the student who had lost his balance and fallen to the ground. The student screamed.

“Hey, do the same to this bastard!”

“In this situation, removing the binding magic should be your priority….”

As the student, realizing his situation, tried to scream again, Lucas snickered and kicked him. Then he quickly turned around to block the incoming attack from behind.

‘I understand why they’re so obsessed with hierarchy.’

Because they have no substance.

The fact that I, who hadn’t exercised in ten years and only learned magic for two weeks, was holding my ground meant these guys were hopeless. No matter the difference in magic power.

Lucas deflected the remaining two attacks and approached the students. The two students, trembling, shouted.

“Isn’t this guy completely insane?! Huh?”

Without a word, Lucas kicked the shoulder of one of them, knocking him down and flipping him over. The nearby attacks were easily suppressed with just magic.

The student who had been flipped over turned his head and shouted urgently.

“Hey, hey! Be reasonable! This is too much….”

“Reasonable?”

“Aagh!”

Lucas twisted the guy’s arm and pinned him down.

“When you were slamming me into the wall, and now you want to talk about being reasonable?”

“I… I didn’t do it! He did it all!”

The student, seemingly aggrieved, gestured with his chin toward the student clutching his eyes in the distance.

‘…Pathetic…’

Lucas, deeming it not worth responding to, slammed his magic into him and dealt with the remaining student.

Seeing how he got beaten up more for saying unnecessary things, this one remained silent.

Lucas finished dealing with the two students and stood up.

“Whew….”

He had immobilized all the students who could interfere. Lucas approached the student who had tried to force him to eat the rat earlier.

The student was gripping his wand tightly with one hand and pressing his eyes with the other.

“Hand over the wand.”

“N-No… agh!”

Lucas stomped on his wrist and took the wand. The guy groaned, clutching his wrist and lying face down.

Lucas examined the wand and spoke.

“Nice wand.”

“What…?”

“Well, if you have no skills, you need to spend money to stay here.”

The student, stunned by the irony of a donation student saying that, stared blankly at Lucas, then snapped back to reality and shouted.

“Give it back, you bastard! I’ll report you for theft!”

“That’s what you’re worried about?”

Lucas smiled and knelt beside him, one knee on the ground.

“Did you have fun?”

“What, what are you…?”

“Ah, forget it. Why am I even asking? Experience is faster than listening.”

Lucas grabbed a handful of dirt again. Then, he grabbed the collar of the guy’s shirt and pulled him forward.

“Eat it.”

“……”

The students around them, who had fallen, watched the situation unfold, frozen in place. The student who was grabbed by the collar had the same blank look on his face.

When he didn’t make a move, Lucas tightened his grip.

“I enjoyed using magic thanks to you guys. Shouldn’t I at least give you a chance to repay me?”

“…How can I eat this?! Be reasonable.”

“And eating a rat is reasonable?”

“……”

“It doesn’t matter. Eating dirt is more realistic than eating a live rat.”

Lucas glanced at the unidentified animal lying in the distance and then extended the dirt toward him.

“Do I have to make you do it?”

The guy, trembling, grabbed Lucas’s arm.

“Hey, hey. Let’s not do this….”

“Let’s not do what?”

“Fine, we won’t bully you anymore… let’s just stop, okay?”

“No way.”

Bang―!

Lucas mimicked the student’s earlier response and slammed him to the ground.

“Huff, ugh…”

“I have a lot to say, but honestly, I don’t know what good it would do now. Just know one thing.”

Lucas grabbed the student’s collar and lifted him again.

“If you don’t do as I say, I’ll report everything that happened today. My magic will be considered self-defense, and the school will expel you because they’ll fear my father finding out.”

“……”

“Do I need to say more?”

“Hey, just close your eyes and do it! Fuck, we can report that bastard later!”

A student shouted from a distance.

Finally, the guy came to his senses and started thinking.

‘…I hadn’t even considered reporting him.’

I thought he’d just keep his head down and say nothing like last year. I didn’t think he would change so much.

If he reports this, we could really be expelled. And if that happens, I won’t be able to inherit a proper title.

A chill ran down my spine.

What did I come to this school for?

Expulsion was not an option.

‘…Should I just deny everything since there’s no evidence?’

No.

The student’s eyes turned to the other students around him.

If even one of them turned against us, it would be over. They might spill everything just to avoid expulsion themselves.

‘Or should I be the one to do that first?’

Another problem.

There’s no guarantee that they would accept such a deal 100%, and if I try to negotiate first, I’d be digging my own grave.

Honestly… what he’s asking is so unreasonable that this might go beyond self-defense.

We might have put it to his mouth, but he didn’t swallow it, and we could say it was just a joke and get away with it.

‘I might even be able to turn this around on him.’

As much as I hated to admit it, I couldn’t see any other way out of this situation than just doing what he asked. He would definitely use magic.

Lucas observed the student’s expression and tilted his head.

“You’re thinking really hard. Why don’t you just eat it yourself before I shove it in your mouth?”

Lucas’s lips twisted into a sinister smile.

Seeing that ominous smile, the student reluctantly moved his head toward Lucas’s hand.

The surrounding friends groaned and frowned.

“Oh, gross….”

“Ah, fuck, I could never do that….”

‘You all told me to just do it!’

Even though I did everything, taking the fall for this was too much.

If I get through this moment, I’ll deal with Lucas and give those bastards a beating too.

The student ground his teeth and stuck out his tongue.

Watching this, Lucas frowned and laughed.

“No way… you’re actually going to eat it.”

“…!”

“Spit it out. It’s too disgusting to watch.”

The student looked at Lucas with a bewildered expression, as if he didn’t understand the situation. Lucas squinted his eyes as if he couldn’t stand the thought.

“You didn’t swallow it, did you? I didn’t see your throat move.”

“You… you said to eat it…”

“Of course I was joking. How could anyone eat that? I’d throw up everything I ate today… You’re not normal either.”

Lucas chuckled, then raised an eyebrow at the student’s blank expression.

“Did it taste good? Since you tried it, tell me what it tasted like.”

“You bastard…!”

The student swung his fist. The attack was easy to dodge because of his excitement, but Lucas just slightly furrowed his brows.

Smack―!

“Ugh….”

He should have thrown the punch earlier.

It’s more effective than useless magic.

Lucas winced and rubbed his temple.

It felt like a cut on his skin, then it burned hotly before cooling down like an ice pack.

The pain felt like his skin was torn, but unfortunately, skin doesn’t tear easily, so it was unlikely.

‘It’ll probably leave a bruise, though.’

Whether he hit it wrong or just too hard, his head was ringing.

‘This is dangerous.’

Still, it wasn’t a complete miss. If it was, his bone would have been broken by now.

Lucas squeezed his eyes shut against the spinning vision, and the guy grabbed his collar and pulled his arm back tightly.

At that moment, a student shouted urgently.

“Hey! Don’t hit him!”

The student’s hand froze at the shout.

Finally, Lucas’s expression started to come into focus.

“Why stop? Go on. Beat me until your anger is gone.”

Lucas laughed and glared.

The fact that he was telling them to hit him reminded him of what Leo had said the day he first used magic properly, making him laugh continuously.

The student let go of his collar and stepped back hesitantly.

‘Why is he laughing?’

The urgent shout of his friend replayed in his mind.

There must be a reason.

Who in their right mind laughs while being beaten? When they slammed him into the wall earlier, he had no smile on his face, but now he was….

‘…Could it be.’

A sudden realization made the student’s face go pale.

A student in the back mustered all his strength and shouted again.

“That bastard is pretending to be a victim by getting hit right now!”

“It’s not pretending, it’s real.”

Lucas said, rubbing his still throbbing head.

“I wasn’t joking about not reporting you. If it comes to this, I have no choice but to report you.”

“No, Lucas, I…”

The guy stammered and waved his hands in a panic. Lucas smiled and shook his head.

“I know. You misunderstood. You just couldn’t control your temper and threw a punch first. Right?”

“…Wait, yes. Really, it was a mistake. You know that!”

“I know well.”

Hope flashed across the student’s face.

“Then…!”

“Thanks for making that mistake. It’s good to have visible evidence.”

The student’s face twisted in despair.

Lucas smiled pleasantly and patted his shoulder.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep