Duel in a Sword & Magic World: Girls Spirit Duelist

Chapter 487 - 487: DSMW [487]

"Miles, you really are that Miles, aren't you~"Whispering softly right next to his ear, Princess Nova leaned in and chatted intimately during class with a mischievous smile.

"My knight… the Miles who was inside the Millennium Puzzle. That's you, right!"

It had to be said that Princess Nova's powers of observation were impressive. Despite never having seen Miles's physical body before, she had completely locked onto him just from his voice during their two Duel exchanges.

"Nova, it's still class time."

Talking during Professor Field's class was truly an act of audacity.

"Tch, what's the big deal?" Little Nova puffed out her cheeks in displeasure.

Although Professor Field's classroom discipline was considered the best in the entire Fusion Academy.

Among the first-year new students, Princess Nova alone did not fear the stern professor.

Of course, it wasn't because Nova relied on her royal status to act willfully in front of the professor.

Simply put, the reason most first-year students feared Professor Field was because of his usually unsmiling, overly serious personality.

As well as the legendary reputation he had earned back when he served as an instructor for the Kingdom of Livorden's Duelist military—earning him the nickname "Iron Demon."

The reason Princess Nova wasn't afraid of Professor Field was entirely because she understood the professor's truly gentle nature beneath his strict exterior.

During the Battle of the Royal Capital, Nova had personally witnessed Professor Field break free from the control of the Millennium Rod to protect Ren and his students, sacrificing his Duelist career without hesitation and dragging the darkness down with him.

A professor like that wasn't scary at all.

"Hey! Miles, you're not living in the Millennium Puzzle anymore, right? I didn't expect you to be a bit younger than I imagined… even though you're so amazing at Duels."

Leaning close to Miles and whispering nonstop, Nova was brimming with curiosity and interest toward his sudden appearance.

However, aside from brushing Nova off with a single perfunctory response at the beginning, Miles remained silent almost the entire time.

This wasn't because Miles was cold or heartless—he was genuinely listening to the lecture.

As a student, listening attentively in class was the most important task, wasn't it?

And honestly speaking, Professor Field's Duel lessons were actually quite interesting.

If Professor Field were merely teaching ordinary Duel knowledge and explaining the effects and attributes of common cards, Miles wouldn't have had the interest to listen so intently.

However, when Professor Field discussed each card, he also supplemented it with the historical context and background stories connected to those cards.

That was what made it truly fascinating.

Moreover, the background histories of the Monster Cards that Professor Field explained seemed to genuinely originate from legends within the Spirit Continent itself.

So why exactly was the Leo Wizard a god?

Of course, some people might question what practical use there was in teaching monster lore in a card game class.

But one had to remember: This was an isekai world where card spirits truly existed.

According to Professor Field's theory, deepening one's understanding of their cards and strengthening the bond with their Deck was more beneficial to a Duelist's growth than simply learning how to Duel.

On this point, Miles wholeheartedly agreed. He also couldn't help but marvel that a professor really was a professor—his teaching was on a totally different level from those mediocre instructors.

"Ah-choo!"

In a second-year classroom, Miss Erin suddenly let out a loud sneeze from the podium.

What was going on? Could it be that she'd caught a chill from falling asleep without a blanket after drinking too much last night?

Looks like today wasn't a good day to overexert herself—health came first.

After rubbing her nose, Miss Erin closed the lesson plan in her hands.

"That's all for today's lesson. The remaining time is for quiet self-study. Oh, right—Aisha Carlos, who's been standing in the hallway as punishment, you may come back in now."

Because she was so worried about Miles and hadn't listened to the lesson at all, Aisha had ultimately been dragged out by Miss Erin.

"Hmph, Miles, why are you completely ignoring me?"

Puffing out her cute cheeks, the pampered little princess had never been treated so coldly before.

This only further provoked Nova's willful rebellious streak.

"Poke!"

Extending two fingers, Nova lightly tickled Miles's waist, trying to draw his attention that way.

After all, she was a little girl—for someone of Nova's age, being mischievous was perfectly normal.

And with Miles's current body, not to mention being tickled by a loli's fingers even if someone used a knife to tickle him, he wouldn't so much as frown.

But dear Princess, do you truly not hear it?

The grinding of teeth rising and falling all around.

Inviting Miles to sit together was one thing, but acting unusually intimate during class was another.

The adolescent boys who admired and adored Nova were already grinding their teeth in fury at the sight.

Caught in the vortex of jealousy, all Miles wanted was for this little princess to behave herself just a bit and stop drawing so much aggro toward him.

"Ahem, Student Nova." In the end, the ever-reliable Professor Field came to Miles's rescue. "Please, quiet down."

"Yes…" Called out by the professor, Nova stuck out her tongue helplessly and stopped talking.

Although she had been temporarily restrained by Professor Field, Nova—desperately holding herself back—kept squirming restlessly in her seat, her fidgeting little bottom still catching the edge of Miles's vision.

Ding-ling!

At last, the bell signaling the end of class rang.

"That concludes today's lesson. If there's anything you don't understand, you can come to my office after class."

This was something Professor Field said out of habit at the end of every lesson. So far, however, no student had dared to go to his office to ask questions.

"Miles!"

Freed from her seal, Nova pounced toward Miles like a kitten that hadn't eaten in three meals.

Of course, Miles reacted faster, causing Nova to miss entirely.

"You're definitely Miles, right? Why won't you understand me?"

"One should listen attentively during class, Princess Nova. I don't want to leave Professor Field with a bad impression on my very first day."

Miles gave an extremely proper, high-sounding reason—so proper that Nova couldn't even refute it.

"Fine." Nova pouted in dissatisfaction. "I thought you didn't want to talk to me anymore. I mean, you've already gone inside my body twice before… huh?"

You can't just say things like that!

Fortunately, Miles reacted swiftly and immediately covered Nova's mouth.

He had been just a hair's breadth away from letting Nova say something that would have been enough to get Miles beheaded by the Kaiser royal family a hundred times over.

Miles whispered a reminder, "Nova, possession is top-secret info. You must never mention it in public again. Understand? If you understand, blink."

Although there was a trace of confusion in her eyes, with her mouth covered, Nova still blinked her long golden lashes at Miles.

The unnecessary crisis was resolved, but the intimate act of daring to reach out and cover the little princess's mouth seemed to have earned Miles yet another wave of hatred from the boys.

"Princess Nova's rosy, soft lips… and you just went and touched them like that? Unforgivable, Miles!"

Meanwhile, the girls who were fully satisfied with shipping the CP rolled their eyes at the boys gnawing on lemons in the class.

"Please rein in your XP systems already. They're a perfect match. What business is it of yours to butt in?"

"A perfect match? You don't seriously think a commoner Duelist without even noble status is worthy of Her Highness the Princess, do you?"

"There are strong people among commoner Duelists too."

As everyone knew, among this year's first-year students at Fusion Academy, there were two monster-level commoner Duelists.

Arnold and Lishia.

Recently, the two of them had taken leave due to matters that needed handling at the western church and hadn't been attending class.

But when it came to strength, after only two months since enrollment, first-year students who hadn't yet even experienced the midterm enhanced summoning—and whose Decks mostly revolved around mutual axe-king trades—Arnold and Lishia's Decks were already operating on a wholly different dimension.

"Those two are exceptions. It's not like all commoner-awakened Duelists can be as strong as those monsters!"

While part of those words stemmed from jealousy toward Miles, the assessment of the overall level of commoner Duelists wasn't fully wrong.

Commoner Duelists who awakened the Spirit Eyes couldn't receive proper Duel education from a young age like noble children, nor did they have many people around them to serve as learning references.

All they had were the cards in their hands—cards they often didn't even know how to use properly.

Thus, before being officially recruited by major families and enrolling in Duel Academies, many commoner-awakened Duelists were entirely feeling their way forward in the dark. Their initial strength naturally couldn't compare to Duelists born into major families.

"Just how capable that guy Miles really is—Friday's practical Duel class. No, Thursday's summoning class should make it clear."

Of course, what these hormonally charged adolescent boys most wanted to see was Miles embarrassing himself in front of Princess Nova.

Failing a summon on Thursday, then getting thoroughly taught a lesson in Friday's practical class.

"Really looking forward to it. If Friday's practical class randomly pairs me up against that Miles, that would be perfect."

Kid, you might just be a nameless background extra, but that thought of yours is genuinely dangerous.

After officially recognizing Miles, Nova remained in high spirits. Fortunately, she behaved herself much more during class, giving Miles the chance to focus on the lecture and safely make it through his first day.

However, over on the second-year side, an altogether different scene from the usual daily routine was unfolding.

The moment classes ended, three people grabbed their bags and rushed straight toward the first-year classrooms.

What made it strange was precisely this trio.

Aisha and Ren—these two childhood friends were inseparable, so moving together after school made sense.

Yet, even Kevin Seth charging out with them made the scene look distinctly odd.

"Mr. Miles!"

"Miles!"

From far away on the way after school, Aisha and Ren's anxious voices could already be heard.

Then, as soon as the two reached Miles, they immediately began a thorough inspection, patting him from his sleeves down to his pant legs.

"No one bullied you on your first day of class, right, Mr. Miles?"

"Did you eat enough at lunch? Do you want me to prepare a special bento for you?!"

Just look at the kinds of questions they were asking… it was exactly like overprotective moms worrying all day about their child's first day of school.

"With me here, how could anyone dare bully Miles, Aisha?" Nova said proudly, puffing out her chest in the sunset glow.

"Your Highness Nova!"

Only then did Aisha and the others notice the little princess Nova walking home together with Miles.

"So, Your Highness Nova, you recognized Mr. Miles after all."

"Of course I did! I'm very smart, you know!"

If even Nova had recognized him, then that other person couldn't possibly have mistaken him.

"Miles… it really is you, Miles!"

"Kevin?"

Miles hadn't expected Kevin to rush over as well.

Because body transmutation involved taboo matters, very few people knew about it, and Miles hadn't taken the initiative to tell Kevin.

Yet Kevin still managed to get the news right away—most likely thanks to an older sister looking out for her younger brother, hearing it from Kaima.

The first 'official' meeting of destined rivals beneath the sunset resembled the sky dyed red by the flames of Red-Eyes Black Dragon during that duel long ago.

"Congratulations, Miles." A brief yet utterly sincere congratulations.

"I should be thanking you too, Kevin."

If Kevin hadn't invited Miles to participate in the Seth family's commissioned mission, Miles wouldn't have been able to gather the enormous sum of two million gold coins in such a short time.

"No need for thanks. Compared to gratitude, what I really want is to Duel you properly at your peak, Miles!"

In Kevin's view, Miles—now possessing his own body and able to gradually summon through the Spirit Eyes to build his own Deck—was the true, complete form, certainly stronger than when he had been possessing others.

Of course, Kevin himself, having mastered three summoning methods and even slaughtered gods at Synchron Academy to overpower the infinite, had also grown stronger than before.

Once Miles finished constructing his Deck, it would be time for their destined Duel.

Kevin had already envisioned the most suitable stage for their final battle.

That stage was the Fusion Academy Festival's Year Challenge Tournament.

If this year's Fusion Academy Festival was held as usual, then Miles would inevitably represent the strongest of the first years, while Kevin would be the second-year challenger accepting the fight.

A reenactment of the fated academy festival—the decisive battle would once again be Miles versus Seth. Only this time, it would be a different Seth.

"I get it, Kevin. You're right. Compared to thanks, an all-out battle is far more exciting."

When it came to card games, Miles and Kevin were of one mind, the kind of instant understanding that made them regret not meeting sooner.

The prerequisite for an all-out battle was that, within this one year of being a first-year student, Miles could successfully construct his own Deck using Fusion Academy's monster summoning system.

That meant this Thursday's summoning class would be an extremely important day for Miles—the starting point of an entirely new Duel.

What he would be able to summon then would depend on his destiny as a Duelist.

"By the way," Miles suddenly remembered something. "Irena doesn't know about me getting my body yet, right?"

Aisha thought carefully for a moment. "It seems like no one's told Senpai Irena yet. Should I go tell her now?"

"No need. Let things take their natural course."

After all, it involved taboo matters... it was better not to publicize it too much.

If one day he was walking around the academy and Irena recognized him, then he could explain it to her properly.

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