Those who are nearby around us halted because of Margaux's sudden offer to me. No one in their right minds will even imagine that a royal blood will propose to become her personal butler to a Class D student, specifically,  to me. Of all the people who heard it, a certain someone is overexaggerating her reaction. 

     "W-W-W-W-W-W-What did you s-s-said?!" Hira-neechan complained and obviously, she can't believe what she heard. 

     "It is what it is. I'm proposing to Karasuma Hiji the right to become my personal butler," Margaux said and grinned.

     "T-T-T-This can't be! Hiji is mine and mine alone!" Hira-neechan said and clinged her arms on mine.

     "Oh? Are you perhaps his girlfriend?"

     "No. But Hiji is my little brother and future husband!"

     "The latter is just her fantasy," I interjected quickly.

     "Then that's fine. I guarantee you that I'll give you the royal privileges me and my family can offer," Margaux said  and placed both of her hands on her waist. Her attendant seemed shocked this time.

     "I'll give you money, royal title, and everything that your desire can reach." She slightly extended her right hand towards my direction.

     "Stop with your nonsense, Margaux," Akane-senpai said, who looks very upset.

     "You're the nonsense here. In fact, your existence alone is the description for it," Margaux said and she returned her eyes on me.

     I was dumbfounded by Margaux. I don't even know the reason why she set her eyes on me. There are more worthy than me and I'm sure they'll accept it but why me? I sighed before saying my response. 

     "And what if I declined?"

     "Then we'll settle it in a duel. You'll accept my offer if I won," Margaux said, slightly smiling. 

     The crowd around us started to form until we can't see the entire surroundings. The first step of my plan to rise to the top will start now. If I can connect to an influential person like her, then everything will follow perfectly. I know that Akane-senpai is the one who is superior than Margaux but she isn't reliable enough for me. She abides on the laws of this academy while Margaux is doing whatever she wants. She's the perfect person for me.

     "Don't accept it, Hiji-san. You're in great disadvantage against her," Akane-senpai to me with a worried eyes on her face. 

     "Then why don't you fight me instead?" Hira-neechan asked but this time, she's on her serious mode. 

     Hira-neechan gritted her teeth because of anger and irritation. She turned herself into a reliable older sister that is ready to protect her little brother anytime when needed. I want to thank her for that but now is not the time to do it, Hira-neechan.

     "I sincerely apologize, Pacific Maiden. But I'm not interested on your dauntless attitude," Margaux said and crossed her arms. 

     "How dare you!" Hira-neechan shouted. "Come forth, Mo-"

     "I accept."

     Akane-senpai and Hira-neechan were astonished and looked to me. Margaux grinned upon my response but her attendant's eyes slightly widened. 

     "But, Hiji-"

     "You're a guest here, Hira-neechan. I can't afford you to fight for me," I said and showed a smile to her then averted my gaze to Margaux. 

     "I won't ask for any conditions if I win."

     "Then it is decided," Margaux said and summoned her spirit that was enclosed in blue and black armor, holding a huge lance on his right hand.

     The armor alone of Margaux's spirit will be a huge handicap against me and Stacia. Taking to consideration that Stacia won't show her ability, which is I still don't know even now, we can't possibly make a small dent on the enemy's thick casing.

     "Let me do it, Hiji. I promise that I'll finish this quickly," Hira-neechan said and is ready to summon again her spirit.

     "I don't want to give you a burden. Just please shut up and wait," I replied, not looking to her. "Stacia."

     A black whirlwind formed on my left and a girl in black coat, holding a katana on her right hand, appeared on it. The notorious aura she's emitting is totally different from the knight in front of us that shows his dignity and chivalry. I know that we don't have the chance of winning but I'll put all of my trust on my spirit.

     Upon sensing that the duel is about to start, Akane-senpai, Hira-neechan, and Margaux's attendant stepped back and joined with the crowd.

     "Let's see how long you'll last, Karasuma Hiji."

     "I want to know that, too."

     We both extended our right hands on our front and shouted "Commence duel!" at the same time. A faded purple formed between us and quickly expanded, vanishing the crowd around us. We're now in an illusion sphere, with the entire Academy Island as the settings.

     Stacia took first the initiative to attack the enemy spirit, who's standing on Margaux's right. Margaux holds an opened parasol and nothing else. Wait, she's not holding something earlier so is that parasol her weapon? That is quite a weird weapon so I decided not to rush recklessly. I took five big steps backward and Stacia, who noticed my actions, halted and followed me.

     "What's wrong, Karasuma Hiji? Did you sensed some danger?" Margaux said in a mocking tone.

     I tried to scan her body searching for any other weapons she might concealed but I can't see any. So that parasol is literally her weapon. But she shows no sign of moving even a little bit. She just leisurely stands under her parasol, while smiling as if she's enjoying toying me.

     If she will continue her act, then she'll become an easy target. But there is also a chance that there's something that allows her to do it. I need to know if it is true. It will be a gamble but I need to unveil it.

     The knight placed his left hand on the handle of his lance, making him do two-handed grip. He slightly bent both his knees and started to rush towards us. Stacia didn't wasted another second so she accelerated and clashed with the knight.

     She holds her katana on her right hand, which means she's prioritizing the intensity of her strikes. It was quite amazing that despite of holding it with one hand, it doesn't have the sign of being thrown away eventhough it collides with a huge lance. The knight swings his lance on Stacia with such strenght while Stacia will either evade or deflect it but the she mostly do the latter. Her only advantage as of now is her agility because of her light body. 

     Margaux is watching the two spirits fighting. There's no defense on her side so I took the opportunity to assault her. I run as fast as I can and when the knight shifted his gaze on me, he immediately pulled his lance away from Stacia's katana but Stacia quickly draw out her katana going to her, making a sliding motion then quickly held it using her left hand. She then slightly jumped and kicked on the knight's head. The knight's head slightly shook, giving me the perfect chance to slip past through him.

     I now have a visual on Margaux, who is still not showing any signs of moving herself. I stomped my right foot on the ground so hard to the point that it hurts but it propelled me extremely fast. This allowed me to lessen the distance between us. I readied my katana to slice through her but instead of panicking, she smiled. 

     "It's not enough, Karasuma Hiji."

     Lifting my right arm, I swung my katana diagonally, targeting her right shoulder down to her left waist but someone appeared in front of me that blocked my katana. It was a knight, who is also colored in black and blue, but the armor is much lighter and thinner that the lance spirit. He holds a rectangular shield that he used to intercept my attack.

     "W-What?!"

     I admit that I slightly panicked so I quickly tumbled on my right right after I set my feet on the ground and put some distance between us. The shield knight suddenly turned into ashes and faded away.

     "So you already triggered my spirit's ability, huh?" Margaux tilted his head to me and annoyingly looked to me.

     Stacia stopped and returned on my side. Her breathing is heavier than usual. Well, her enemy's attacks were hefty and wide so she needs to move cautiously. If she received a direct hit from that lance, her consciousness might loss temporarily.

     "I want to finish the quickly, Agartius. Show them your true ability right now."

     "As you wish, Lady Margaux," the knight said and when he raised his left hand, the ground shook violently making me to feel dizzy.

     The insides of the Building C were slowly filled by knights that hold shield on their left and spear on their right. They formed a circle that enclosed the four of us, with no chance of going out from it unless you directly penetrate it. Behind them were knights that wields bow and arrows.

     "Let's see if you can handle this," Margaux said while turning her body into our direction.

     The two on two battle, that looks like a two on one battle, became two against many battle. We're totally outnumbered. Should I focus first on the archers? But they're protected by the shielders that made it difficult to attack them. And there's the lance knight, who is surely the general based on appearance.

    "Surrender now, Karasuma Hiji. Do you wish to become exhausted first before serving me?"

     "I apologize but the word surrender is not on my vocabulary," I replied and began to rush again towards her.

     Arrows flew from all direction and of course, the targets were me and Stacia. The lance knight performed his stance again but there's something wrong with him. I tried to give a portion of my attention to him to observe if there are changes on him that I can use. 

     A sword knight appeared in front of me and blocked my path. I crossed swords with him but I successfully cut through his right arm. He vanished and I continued to proceed to Margaux.

     I tried to take a quick peek on Stacia and I noticed that her movement became faster. No. The lance knight's speed decreased. Is it because of the knights that he summoned? Or because of the knights that disappeared into the air? Either of the two, I'll utilize it.

     Small-scale explosions occur everytime an arrow hits the ground. That is quite dangerous. Volley of arrows were coming to me and it will be troublesome if I ignored them so I turned my direction to my right to prioritize the archers first. I saw that Margaux was slightly surprised by my sudden decision.

     I dismissed Stacia and resummoned her again in front of a shield knight. She caught the knight off guard so she slashed its throat with ease. It disappeared that caused the formation to be broken. I entered the hole of the formation and ran in circle, striking every archers my weapon can reach. The lance knight wants to stop me but Stacia stops him everytime. His movement decelerated greatly causing him to receive more blows from Stacia.

     After I made a roundtrip through the now messed formation, I returned my concentration on Margaux, who is still not moving. I'm still wondering why she's still not making any actions. Well, I just need to become wary of anything that might happen.

     The knights are all in a panicked state because of the weapons they're carrying. They might probably hurt one their comrades if they attacked me within their formation.

     Stacia is now on the winning side of the fight against the lance knight. She is now dealing countless series of strikes all over her enemy's body. Thanks to the knight's thick armor that protected whoever inside it. If it's not there, he will be surely sliced to pieces right now. 

     I did a long jump, approaching Margaux. Please, you should at least step back a little. A sword knight materialized again in front of me but that won't work anymore. I extended both of my hands on my right and moved it to the left, hitting the knight's upper chest but right after it, another knight appeared beside me and stabbed his sword on my right hip.

     Damn, it freaking hurts! Despite of being in an illusion, I can totally feel the pain inside. The only thing that lacks is blood that gushes out from a fresh wound. I knelt down on the ground and placed my left hand on it. I heard incoming footsteps on my front and I raised my head to see Margaux, looking down on me with an annoyed face.

     I tired to stand up but I was pushed down by a shield knight. The shield completely covered me and the strenght is too strong, leaving me no chances of escaping.

     "I... surrender," I declared. 

     Margaux didn't said anything. We both dismissed our spirits and the illusion sphere contracted quickly, making us to return to the reak world, in the position where we are before the duel started. Akane-senpai and Hira-neechan immediately came to me and asked if I'm okay. I nodded to tell that I'm fine.

     "You're happy now?!" Hira-neechan said in rage to Margaux.

     "My interest to him was lost. The condition for my win will be now voided," Margaux replied and started to walk away from us, joining the crowd until our eyes can't see her.

     "I'll bring you to the infirmary now, Hiji-san."

     "There's no wound so don't worry about it," I said and stood up slowly. 

     The students that gathered around us started to leave the building. Hira-neechan has some matters to do regarding the student council so she left me and Akane-senpai. 

     "I'm sorry, Hiji-san. It's my fault that you were placed in that situation," Akane-senpai said and bowed her upper body, forming a perfect right angle. 

     "You've done nothing wrong, Akane-senpai. That is entirely my decision."

     "But I can't still stand it as your senior and friend," she said after rasing her body. 

     Friend? Oh, yeah. She see me as one of her friends. I almost forgot about that because I only see her as a senior and the student council vice president. I apologized to her in my mind.

     "I'm sorry, Akane-senpai. But I need to go get some fresh air for now."

     "No. It's okay. It is given though," she replied.

     The corners of her lips moved upward. She gave me her farewell and headed to the instructors to help them fix the things they used earlier. They should have done that earlier but maybe they also watched the duel between me and Margaux. It was the first official duel of the year so they don't want to waste the chance to watch it.

     I walked going to the hallway in front of the center ground in Building A. It is a perfect spot for me to take some fresh air and to rest. This day is extremely tiring for me, especially for Stacia. We were engaged in two fights today so it is no wonder why were exhausted. I grabbed a can of orange juice on the vending machine and sat on a nearby bench.

     Recently, I took a liking on orange juice. It must be because of Akane-senpai. I leisurely gulping my drink when someone is approaching.

     "You want something?" I said, directed to the incoming student. Just from her aura alone, I'm sure who she is. 

     "Why did you do that?"

     "I don't know what you're talking about."

     "Stop playing ignorant, Karasuma Hiji. You know what I mean," the student said as she took another step towards me.

     I stood up before replying to her. She crossed her arms and her face is showing the expression of irritation, which is not normal to her status, but truly fits on her personality.

     "What you did earlier is obviously the wrong action. You noticed that my spirit slowed yet you decided to kill that sword knight."

     "..."

     "You should just slipped past through him and fight me face to face. I'm sure I can defeat you easily yet you didn't fight me."

     "Well, it's true but me and my spirit work better against enemies with unexpected moves."

     "Stop this nonsense! You-"

     "What will you do if your reputation as the daughter of the royal family of England become tainted because you were defeated by a Class D Student?"

     "I-"

     Margaux's composure is still there but I noticed that her mood totally changed. I don't want to pin her down as much as possible but based on the turn of events, doing it is more preferable.

     "You don't know what to say, right? It is because you thought that you will gain absolute win earlier. You didn't think what will happen if you lose," I replied.

     "Y-You're in no place to say such trivial words to me!" Margaux shouted. Her voice resounded the entire hallway because of the total silence of the surroundings.

     "Just be thankful that I hesitated," I said and threw the empty can on the trash can but it didn't shoot. I'll just pick it up later. 

     "B-But I can't afford to be indebted to someone," she said, slightly lowering her head. 

     I said something, like a proposal to her, or rather, the first step of my plan to rise go the top. She can't believe what she heard. She doesn't know if she should feel anger or confusion or irritation or what.

     "Y-You're kidding, right?"

     "I'm dead serious."

     My face created a humorless expression that tells her that I'm not joking. She looked to me but quickly averted her eyes away from me.

     "Y-You plan to use me to promote yourself because I'm a royalty, right?"

     "I'll rephrase what you said. I want to rise with the help of an influential, and probably, reliable senior like you."

     "T-T-T-Then why don't you go to that stupid vice president?" she asked, and lowered her head again because she can't handle her embarrassment anymore.

     Can't she take too much flattering? It is quite a spectacular view from her and I admit that my heart skipped a little. This feels like I'm letting her play at the top of my palms. Talk about people manipulation. It is surely fun, right?

     "She's more bounded by the academy rules, thanks to her position here. But you? You're free to do anything as long as, of course, you are following it."

     Margaux sighed and looked to me again. She clenched her fists on her sides then immediately crossed her arms again. She really knew only a few gestures to the point that she's repeating it everytime.

     "You know what will happen, right? You'll become closely associated to me. Is that okay to you?"

     "What a stupid question."

     "D-D-D-Don't call me stupid!" she shouted and pouted. "I'll see you on monday right after the lunch break starts," she continued and left.

     That one is an indefinite answer but does it mean that she accepted my proposal? If that so, then my plan will start now. And correction, the one I called stupid is her question, not her. Well, just let her think what she wants to. I took another cold can of orange juice and sat again on the bench, thinking on how to effectively execute it.