Chapter 47

I said, laughing.  

The look on his face twisted as if he’d seen a knife-wielding street thug.  

“W-What’s this about ‘bad guys’? What’s wrong with this guy, is he crazy or something?!”  

The crazy me slammed my fist into the face of the annoying bad guy right in front of me.  

As he collapsed, I jumped on top of him, landing one punch, then another.  

“Ah, no, stop, please…”  

While pleading for mercy, he curled up, covering his face with his gloves, looking like a caterpillar. It seemed he had already lost the will to fight. What a pathetic guy. Kaneko was still holding out much better.  

It was anticlimactic. This wasn’t even close to enough. It wasn’t proof of anything.  

“Come on, bring it on, you bad guys! The strongest knight is gonna take you all down!”  

I stood up and shouted toward the outside of the ring.  

For a moment, the room fell silent at my voice. But soon, anger and shouts erupted from all sides.  

Among them, a short-tempered guy with a buzz cut dashed toward the ring.  

I dodged a flying kick and met it head-on. I didn’t use any fancy techniques. I just swung my right fist around. And to my surprise, it kept landing.  

As I hit the second guy with a hook, another one came from the side, landing a kick.  

It was the first time I’d taken a hit. But it just revved me up, and I started feeling better. I immediately fired back. This was starting to get fun.  

One by one, two more rushed in.  

I kept an eye out for tackles and grabs, but eventually, I stopped caring. It was faster to just punch them out. They were overconfident because they outnumbered me, but each of them lacked resolve. Some even ran away when they saw a punch coming. One tried to stop the fight, shouting, “Enough! Stop!” but I punched him too because he was in the way.  

“Hey, there’s blood! Blood!”  

A shrill voice from a girl rang out, and the room fell quiet for a second. It was probably just a nosebleed.  

But at the mention of blood, the attacks stopped. Several guys, covering their faces and bodies with their hands, started leaving the ring. Apparently, the word “blood” was enough to make them hesitate.  

I had probably taken a few hits too, but adrenaline kept me from feeling the pain.  

“Hey, don’t make a mess in the warm-up round.”  

A massive figure climbed into the ring. It was the gorilla from before who wanted to fight Miki. Another huge guy climbed up right after him. This one looked like another giant from some earlier fight. It seemed these two were the main event for today.  

“Get down, shorty. You wanna die?”  

They lumbered toward me, glaring down as they approached.  

I wasn’t short. I was average height. These guys were just huge.  

Here came the boss. Both in height and weight, they were one step above me. And there were two of them. They had apparently been watching the whole thing, but they didn’t seem even slightly intimidated.  

As for me, I was already pretty worn out. I was breathing heavily. Too much of a break, and my physical condition had deteriorated too much.  

Facing both of them at the same time would be questionable even if I were in top shape. If they grabbed me, it would be over. Weight differences really mattered here. Charging in would definitely result in a crushing defeat.  

But if I were the protagonist and these guys were the villains…  

At this point, the protagonist would summon the strength to protect the heroine, standing tall and fighting back. Even if the opponent was too strong, they wouldn’t give up. They’d get back up no matter how many times they were knocked down.  

Sacrificing themselves to protect the heroine, and the heroine would be moved by their resolve.  

And then, just before I collapsed, Miki would appear, declaring, “I choose him!” silencing everyone, and it would all end with a happy ending.  

Losing the match but winning the battle.  

That’s the typical plot of a coming-of-age story. In a normal narrative, it would unfold like that.  

But I didn’t want such a messy, cliché ending. The strongest knight couldn’t afford to lose.  

On top of that, I couldn’t even struggle by a millimeter.  

I was going to crush these annoying guys with a single punch, easily, and then think, “Wait, I won like this? I’m that good?” acting all nonchalant.  

So, of course, the idea of being saved by the heroine in the end was out of the question.  

If it ended like that, it would kill the mood. My old man would probably throw the book in the garbage and call it trash.  

And realistically, it wouldn’t play out like that.  

Even if Miki showed up, she wouldn’t step in front of these guys. She’d probably just bail out and run away. That’s the kind of scaredy-cat, cautious person she is. It’s way more cute than her weird trying to look cool act.  

Yuki would probably have had enough by now too. She’d be totally fed up after I pushed her away so incomprehensibly. I’d made her feel bad while acting all sad and claiming I was down, but without even dating her, touching her body or kissing her—what a mess.  

And what was I doing? I was just a fool who got caught up in my own selfish behavior and ended up helping the idiot getting lynched. I don’t even understand it.  

What to do, huh? Well, I decided. If this was happening, I’d take it all the way. As the strongest knight, I’d also protect the princess. If I didn’t, my crappy old man would definitely mock me, saying, “You can’t even protect one woman?” That’s rich coming from him.  

I took off my right glove and tossed it aside.  

At that, the two big guys showed a bit of caution. Maybe they thought I was about to pull out some shiny weapon.  

But I wasn’t holding any kind of weapon. Well, it might be considered a weapon, but,

I took out my phone from my pants pocket.  

Ugh, the screen’s cracked. What a pain. I hadn’t thought about that.  

While fiddling with my phone, I said:  

“Actually, you know, I’m dating Miki. She’s head over heels for me. She even sticks her hips out on her own, asking me to do it anywhere, anytime, even outside.”  

I exaggerated a lot, but it wasn’t entirely a lie.  

This whole ‘school princess’ thing that they’ve been making a big deal of—it’s time to put a stop to it. That should snap everyone out of it. It didn’t seem like she was doing it because she wanted to, anyway.  

“The other day, she even got all into handcuff play…”  

“Huh? There’s no way Miki would do something like that!”  

I kind of wanted to believe that too, but I wasn’t lying.  

It probably wasn’t the image they were picturing, but still…  

“Here, proof.”  

I showed the photo and held my phone in front of them.  

On the screen was a picture of Miki in her underwear. It was a bit of a wide shot, showing her entire body. She was holding a pair of handcuffs she’d just taken off, wearing a ridiculously happy smile.  

This was the real deal. She had been so pleased at the time that I decided to secretly snap a picture. When she got all smug later, I’d be ready. I wasn’t going to let her have the last laugh. The strongest knight doesn’t miss a trick. I didn’t expect it to come in handy like this, though.  

The two giant guys stared at my small phone screen, transfixed. The sight was so ridiculous, I almost laughed. It seemed like they were so desperate to know if it was real that the gorilla didn’t take his eyes off the picture and shouted.  

“W-Who cares about some stupid edited picture?!”  

“No, this is the real deal. How about 5,000 yen for a copy?”  

“W-Wait, what!? You’re serious? Is this really real?”  

“It’s a joke, I’m not doing it, you idiot. You guys don’t have an opening anymore.”  

It felt like I could almost hear something snapping in the air.  

The gorilla shot a sideways glance at the other one, and suddenly, they seemed to have some kind of mysterious bond.  

They must’ve decided to team up to take me down. I had seen this kind of thing before. I had expected them to collapse in shock, but it seemed like that wasn’t going to happen. The situation was suddenly turning grim.  

“Raaaaaahhhhhh!”  

Suddenly, a strange scream rang out from behind the gorillas. One of them staggered forward. I wondered what was going on when I saw something clinging to his back.  

“What the hell, who are you!?”  

“Now’s your chance! Go, go, Knight!!!”  

It was Sumahiko. Oh right, he was still here.  

What the hell was he doing now? He was yelling nonsense and acting all heated and awkward.  

Sumahiko tried to latch onto one of the gorillas, but the other gorilla easily threw him off and tossed him right into the ring. A perfect one-punch knockdown. That gorilla probably had some judo training or something.  

It was bad timing for Sumahiko to try and show off.  

It wasn’t about winning by teaming up with a buddy. But, whatever. Just watch.  

Taking advantage of the gorillas’ distraction with Sumahiko, I quickly climbed out of the ring.  

I ran straight toward the stairs and practically flew down them. Soon, angry shouts rang out behind me, and heavy footsteps followed.  

Once I hit the first floor, I ran straight toward the red markers on the wall at the gym’s edge.  

As I passed, I noticed a row of rectangular objects on the floor and quickly dodged.  

“Whoa, that was close!”  

It took me a second to realize that there were stacked dominoes in the corner of the gym. It seemed like some kind of cultural festival display.  

Behind me, I heard a scream. Apparently, the gorillas had stepped on the dominoes while chasing me. How rude.  

“Wait up, you bastard!!”  

But they didn’t even flinch, yelling as they kept coming after me. They were really angry.  

It seemed like Miki’s photo of being cuckolded had done some serious damage. Though I hadn’t exactly stolen her away.  

I finally reached my destination, broke through the domino field, and stopped to look back. The two berserk trolls had turned into physical threats I couldn’t handle.  

If physical strength didn’t work, then magic would.  

As a knight, I can also use magic.  

And not just any magic—the most powerful light magic that enveloped and erased evil enemies in holy light.  

This would be the third time I used it.  

Once during training, and another time to mop up some weaklings.  

Thanks to that, my skill level has maxed out. The incantation was a split-second now.  

I grabbed the magic catalyst hanging from the wall, released the limiter, and aimed its tip at the target.  

Then, I gripped the lever and released the third blast of light magic at the oncoming horde of monsters.