"Mister Watson?"
Mister Watson snapped out of his daze when he heard Victor calling his name. He looked at Victor, who was staring back with a questioning expression.
"It's correct. You can go and take your seat," Mister Watson said after taking a deep breath, gesturing for Victor to return.
Victor nodded, walked back, and sat down in his seat.
Even then, Mister Watson kept glancing at him with a look of disbelief. The class lasted another forty-five minutes, during which Mister Watson seemed far more energetic than usual while teaching. When it finally ended, the students were given a twenty-minute break before the next teacher arrived.
Victor raised an eyebrow as he noticed everyone still staring at him with speechless expressions.
"Victor, when did you become so smart? Did losing your memories somehow make you intelligent or something?" one of the girls sitting beside him asked after the teacher left.
Victor gave her a puzzled look. "What are you talking about? That was just a simple math problem," he said indifferently.
"S-Simple?" The girl's jaw nearly dropped to the floor at his response.
'Simple, my foot! If it's simple, why couldn't I solve it? I'm the best in math in this class!' she cried inwardly, now looking at Victor as though he had grown a second head.
"Mmm… can you girls tell me about myself? How I was before I lost my memory?" Victor asked. The girls exchanged glances, then smiled and nodded.
"Sure."
"Well then, first tell me—why was everyone looking at me like they'd seen a ghost when I solved that problem?" Victor asked in genuine confusion. The girls looked at each other, chuckled, and then replied.
"Victor, before you lost your memories, you were what people called a muscle-brain—though a bit better," one of the girls said with a smirk.
"Huh?" Victor was dumbfounded when he heard this. He gestured for them to continue, and they explained further.
'Hah, no wonder everyone was speechless,' Victor thought, surprised. His parallel self had been an academic idiot compared to him, who was a topper in his original world.
Despite being an excellent fighter and respected for his strength, there was one thing the 'Victor' of this world completely lacked—academic skills.
Everyone in the academy knew this, which was why Mister Watson and the rest of the class had been so shocked when Victor, who supposedly lost his memories, solved such a difficult problem with ease.
'Should I try to hide my intelligence? …Nah. I'd rather not. I don't want the label of muscle-brain to follow me,' Victor thought for a second before shaking his head.
"Can you tell me a little more about myself? At least, who I was before I lost my memories," Victor asked the girls beside him.
"Of course! Should we start from the beginning?"
"Sure." He nodded.
"Well, then let's start from the beginning," the girl said.
"From what I know from the seniors, in your early years at the academy, you were a loner, and that continued for many years.
"You had a reclusive nature and hardly made any friends. You were often bullied and beaten by students from noble families. The reason was simple—you refused to submit to their whims, unlike the other commoners. You always retaliated, which made you their favorite target. Because of that, even the other commoner students stayed away from you, afraid of getting dragged into it."
'Hmm, this part matches the history of my original world,' Victor thought, waiting for her to continue.
"I also heard that in your first few years, you spent more time with your sword than with people. When others slept, you trained. The nobles saw how diligent you were and attacked you even more frequently, though they never went too far because you had Miss Amanda's backing," the girl continued, her eyes filled with admiration.
"Then one day, you challenged the noble students. I think that was the true beginning of your legend." She looked at him with awe.
'Sigh, this version of me was maybe even more hardworking than I was,' Victor thought, signaling them to go on.
"When you first issued the challenge, no one took you seriously. You were the weakest among the knight bloodline students back then. But everything changed when you pummeled them all and sent every one of them to the hospital for a month. That was the start of your reputation as a terror."
"Within months, you challenged every single knight in your year, and even those from higher classes. You fought senior knights and defeated them all. That's when you earned the title of Sword Prodigy."
"After that, you went silent for six months. During that time, you became an adventurer, and not just any adventurer—you rose to B-rank, the youngest in history. Very few ever reach B-rank before becoming a Ranker. When you returned, you shocked everyone by challenging the Mage Bloodline users," the girl said in an excited voice.
"This caused an uproar not only in our academy but also in others. Never in the history of the academy had a knight student dared to challenge a mage before becoming a Ranker. Naturally, the mages—who always looked down on the Knight Department—were furious and accepted your challenge, hoping to teach you a lesson. But to everyone's shock, you defeated them in mere seconds."
"At first, people thought it was a fluke, since those were the weaker mages. But that belief shattered when you kept challenging stronger and stronger mages… and winning every time. Your name spread across other academies as well. And then… you even challenged a Sorcerer and a Sorceress."
"Sorcerer and Sorceress?" Victor raised an eyebrow at the unfamiliar terms.
"These are titles given to Mage Bloodline users who possess at least an A-rank bloodline. Your ex-girlfriend, Olivia, holds this title like many others. She is called Ice Sorceress Olivia because of her affinity with Ice Magic."
"I see," Victor mumbled, noticing the increasingly fanatic and lovestruck expressions on the girls' faces as they continued.
"Then, your legend was completely cemented. Both knights and mage students began to fear you after you defeated a Sorcerer and gained the title 'Bane of Mages.'" the girl finished, her face slightly flushed.
'I wonder how everyone will react when they find out I can also use magic like the mages…' Victor thought, feeling a bit embarrassed. But before the conversation could continue, the classroom door was violently slammed open.
"Victor, you bastard! Fight me!" an angry yet excited male voice rang through the entire room.