Chapter 344: Truly Telling the Story of the King

Tenjou Hikari and Johan went up onto the stage together. Professor Paladin divided the items on the podium into two sets, letting them take turns picking them up to inspect and put them on.

Tenjou Hikari checked them and confirmed that although they made a clattering sound, they were actually just costumes for performance.

In other words, stage costumes.

While they felt heavy in the hand, they were far from being real "armor."

"Alright, you two, put this set on now." Professor Paladin clapped his hands, signaling them to put them on.

The two looked at each other. Johan laughed and said loudly, "How interesting, Professor. Are you going to let us duel in these?"

"Remarkable intuition. However, we will explain this in detail in a moment." Professor Paladin signaled for them to get dressed first.

Tenjou Hikari was a bit confused, but since it was part of the teaching material, there was no harm in wearing it. He put on the armor and the helmet, feeling a bit like he was transforming from Hikari into a Hunter Knight Sword.

"Alright—"

Seeing that both had put on the armor, Professor Paladin signaled for them to stand still, then began to speak: "Everyone should be no stranger to traditional 'Chivalry' and 'Knightly Spirit'."

"Such as protecting the old, the weak, women, and children; fighting for justice against injustice and evil; loving one's homeland; and risking one's life to defend the church."

"Of course, the last one actually has no meaning in this day and age due to the era, but the first three are still decisions that people of justice and fairness would make even in this era."

"And among knights, there is also a quite traditional thing, and that is—the duel."

Finally, he reached the main point.

All the students waited curiously for what the professor would say next.

"Having attended the classes of the previous professors, you should all understand very well that if you want to improve your Spirit Power, learning the stories of spirits, increasing your interest and compatibility with certain things, or simply summoning powerful spirits to exchange for strength are all valid methods."

"However, some of these things require a massive accumulation of knowledge, while others require taking risks."

"So, is there any method that is relatively easier to improve your abilities?"

Professor Paladin didn't keep them in suspense, directly extending both hands to point at Tenjou Hikari and the other: "That's right. In this situation, I discovered a completely different method."

"That is... Roleplay Dueling!"

Roleplay Dueling!?

Many students couldn't help but repeat it curiously.

Professor Paladin chuckled and continued to explain: "In this day and age, it is simply too difficult to maintain the eight moral codes of knights and practice the spirit of chivalry; there is no such opportunity or environment."

"Therefore, even if any student truly has such excellent talent and could earn the praise of justice, there is no way to implement it."

"But—"

"I think all students must have experienced it, right?"

"When you were children, you must have roleplayed as heroes or some other existence with your friends, such as the protagonists or villains in the anime you watched, or characters from games, or even historical figures."

"I once played the famous Child of Light, Cú Chulainn, from where I'm from."

Many students nodded.

That was true.

Recalling their childhood, they could all more or less remember some nostalgia they still couldn't forget, which stemmed from this kind of worship of heroes and characters.

Judai leaned back slightly, resting his hands behind his head, feeling a bit nostalgic and also frowning.

Of course, he had also roleplayed as characters from his favorite anime when he was a child, roughhousing with other kids. Later, the kids who "fought" him ended up injured or even unconscious, so he stopped engaging in that kind of entertainment.

"Professor, can this really increase our strength!?" a student asked, raising their hand directly.

Professor Paladin laughed twice: "Students, you must know one thing: many of the things you do now, in the final analysis, are because of what you were exposed to in your childhood. It is the influence of those things that has led to your lives gradually unfolding this way."

"Your love for monsters and your love for certain cards also stem from this."

"Therefore, this kind of 'Knight Duel' roleplay is actually my hope that everyone can reclaim the childhood in your hearts through roleplay in addition to your studies... This way, you can more easily discover your preferences and also slightly improve your Spirit Power."

"Of course, it is only slight. If you want to further improve your Spirit Power, you still need the courses from the two professors yesterday. This course is more about teaching everyone how to relax your mind through roleplay techniques in your spare time, and incidentally improve your abilities; it belongs to an auxiliary method."

Professor Paladin was not a very serious person, nor did he have many selfish motives; he encouraged students to take more classes so that their ability improvement would be balanced.

He took two cards from his deck, flipped them over, and showed them to the students. "This time, the characters the two students will play are very simple, and they should also be characters everyone is familiar with."

Holding the two cards, the equipment behind him displayed their names.

Noble Knight Artorigus, Demon Noble Knight Lancelot.

It really was Noble Knights.

"Oh! It's the story of the legendary Knight King!" Johan recognized the protagonists of the cards. "So, Professor, the people Tenjou and I are going to play this time are these two?"

"Then I must be the Knight King! I've loved being an envoy of justice since I was a kid!"

He said with a laugh, joking.

"I'm the strongest knight, Lancelot? That's not impossible..." Tenjou Hikari's impression of Lancelot was entirely based on the one in FGO; he didn't have a deep impression of Lancelot in the duel.

"Hahaha, you two don't need to rush. Because this is the first roleplay duel, it must be fair and start randomly. Everyone has a 50% chance of becoming the protagonist and a 50% chance of becoming the villain; that is the fun of a roleplay game. After all, many students must have felt deep hatred for always playing the villain when they were kids, right?"

As he spoke, he adjusted the projection screen again. A huge scoreboard suddenly appeared on the screen, with Tenjou Hikari and Johan's avatars listed on both sides. A coin slowly rotated on the screen, and Professor Paladin said: "After the duel begins, everyone can choose to support the [Knight King] or support [Lancelot], to become a righteous knight or the strongest knight who betrayed the king—there is only one chance to choose, and the final result will be displayed on the screen."

"Please remember, when the duel begins, they are no longer Tenjou Hikari or Johan, but [Artorigus] or [Lancelot], and what you need to support is not them as individuals, but their factions!"

"Wow!" "Oh—"

After two days of hard study, many students were a bit tired from absorbing a large amount of novel knowledge. Now, seeing this kind of activity, they couldn't help but cheer and join in the fun.

This professor is really interesting!

Honestly attending class is indeed not as fun as this activity.

Ding—

The coin landed.

A card suddenly flew out and landed in front of Tenjou Hikari.

Demon Noble Knight Lancelot—

Is he really playing Lancelot?

He shook his head. Compared to someone with high luck like Johan, he was truly born to only play the villain.

"Duel!" Accompanied by the "knights" supporting the two on the projection screen growing rapidly, a synchronized shout rang out in the conference room.

Both sides' duel disks automatically unfolded, lining up beside their arms like swords, and at the same time, the two quickly drew 5 cards from their decks.

Artorigus Johan, LP: 4000.

Lancelot Tenjou Hikari, LP: 4000.