Aiming to be the perfect butler for my lady

Chapter 61- Paths

At Starfall Academy, classes are evenly balanced between classroom-based and field-based instruction.

The students studying in the Academy would become the pillars of light in the future and would protect humanity from darkness. There were various fields where the students may join after graduation, but at the time of crisis, all the Light Awakened could be summoned by the Joint Council.

That's why it was necessary to develop the students, both mentally and physically.

As such, every student of first-year Class 1 was called out to the indoor gymnasium for one one-on-one spar for light training.

The motive of this sparring would be to determine the strengths and weaknesses of the students and based on their performance, groups would be formed. These groups aren't just any random gathering of students that can be made and broken because of some passing arguments. These groups would have to perform tasks together in the upcoming events.

A party is formed with four to five members and once a party is formed, under only some specific circumstances can a member be excluded or replaced from a group. Further, around the autumn, the cross-school tournaments are played and each academy sends their best students as a group to perform in the competition.

That's why I was nervous. Given how antisocial Alatia mostly remains, it would be one heck of a difficult task for her to get included in a group.

'Haah...I need to make her realize the importance of group work...' I sighed inwardly while my outer front remained expressionless.

I, along with several other servants stood in the stands while our respective masters fought in the arena.

In case a student gets injured, their servant should be there to accompany them to the infirmary. That's why we were allowed to watch the matches.

Elera was standing on my left but there were four more servants between us. Apart from the conversation we had during the servant examination, I have yet to talk to her. But well, it's rather better if we don't interact.

"You serve Your Highness, right?" The boy with dark green long hair beside me asked, while somehow fighting that smile of excitement from appearing on his face.

"Yes." I curtly responded while I recalled the information about this guy who seemed to be a little suspicious.

It didn't take me long to discern that this person serves the son of Count Gazelstone Shepherd—Gazelstone Hades. In the novel, there was no noticeable development of Hades. Although he was a named character and someone who appeared in the story quite many times, he actually never had that much of a role other than being Logan's sparring partner.

The Stone Wall—the nickname he would attain while being a student at the Academy.

But why is the butler of Hades showing interest in my lady?

"Don't misunderstand. I am just a fan of her, nothing more." He hastily shook his hand and declared the reason behind his vigour.

I shrugged and looked away from him. There was nothing new for someone to be a fan of her. The tales of the aloof and cold princesses are widely spread. Her beauty and strength are incomparable in this academy and canonically, not even Logan was able to bring the real Alatia out of her shell even after they became a cou-

'Let's not think about it...' I shook my head and dismissed those thoughts. Alatia was my girlfriend, and I would erase all those paths that could lead her to Logan...

"Next pair: Logan and Alatia. Please come forward."

"..." I was left speechless.

Utterly speechless.

With my brows tiredly raised and lips parted slightly, I looked at the arena and found that indeed Logan and Alatia were walking towards the arena.

'...why did the plot shift?' I couldn't help but ask myself.

When everything was going fine, then shouldn't Logan be paired up with Hades...then why, oh.

My eyes suddenly went to the source of this alteration in the plot.

The glasses-wear bastard with rapey tendencies—Ceaser.

I am frustrated but not surprised. Ceaser is the only person who could go to some extreme lengths to hurt Logan. And his hatred toward the Protagonist could be seen even without the magical eyes of Alatia.

Although Logan was rated highly in the combat assessment, his fighting style was not suited to go against Alatia—a magician who can summon a Three-Circle spell without exhausting herself.

This was not a good match up and Ceaser knew it. However, considering Logan's greed for battle, the old bastard knew that Logan wouldn't give up easily and that persistence would get him hurt.

'What a plan...I want to applaud.' Naturally, I didn't move from my spot and continued to watch the spectacle unfold.

*****

[Third Person's POV:]

The audience was abuzz as soon as Alatia's name came up for the spar. It has been highly anticipated that against whom she would be paired, given her overwhelming magical strength.

Some believed that the Elemental Prodigy—Lancer Broody would be paired up against Alatia. He not only ranked third in the physical assessment but was also rumoured to be a student of an ancient magician.

However, the person with whom she shared the arena was a bonafide combatant.

'This is pretty exciting...' While facing the indifferent front of the Princess, Logan hyped himself up. He always wanted to fight Alatia ever since he heard about her evaluation through results and rumours.

And finally, the opportunity arrived.

"Since this is a spar, no lethal attacks are allowed. If you breach the rules, along with disqualification, you will receive negative points. Understood?"

Neither of them said anything which urged the referee to raise his hand and while slicing it down, he announced, "Begin!"

Logan leapt into the air—however, his beast-like agility wasn't enough to dodge Alatia's [Frost Surface] which froze the whole arena and some ice coated around Logan's feet as well—weighing him back to the arena.

'She is a monster...' The activation speed of that spell was less than a second. If Logan hadn't meticulously planned his initial leap, he would have been ensnared in the trap and lost the battle in an instant.

For instance, while still airborne, Logan looked down at Alatia and apart from pure solemnity he could find nothing in her eyes.

She wasn't even affected by the fact that she failed in trapping him!

Folding his body Logan suddenly glowed before all the ice fell off as he jerked his body. The basic technique of body strengthening by one's aura came into play, as Logan free-fell toward Alatia without any extra weight connected to his feet anymore.

His figure descended with a mighty push as he targeted Alatia from above—taking advantage of her aloof stance in the battle.

Logan's sole intention in this battle was to draw Alatia in close combat to ensure his victory.

However, just as he believed his claw would connect with her shoulder, his wrist was gripped with uncanny swiftness. In the next instant, Logan was hurled onto the ice floor with a resounding thud.

"...huh?" Instead of groaning in pain, he let out a confused sound upon finding himself planted on the ground and Alatia looking down at him without any change of expression.

The white ice around his head began to get painted red because of the slight cut in his head but that didn't bother him as much as it did upon realizing the results.

'...I lost?' The realisation dawned upon him a moment earlier before his consciousness faded and Logan faced his first defeat after a long time.

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A/N:- After the twenty-fifth, I would update regularly. Drop a comment if you liked the chapter.