Chapter 101
The next day.
The 114 magicians of the Academy and the 48 trainee knights of the Poldren Training Center gathered in one place.
Maybe because of the incident that happened when they first met yesterday,
“This… Everyone’s a bit awkward……”
Rather than a sense of curiosity, there was a sense of hostility between the people gathered here.
Competitiveness rather than intrigue was heavy in the atmosphere.
As this intense mood dominated the sparring grounds…
“Alright! Attention!”
The two professors who would oversee the main lesson stepped up.
Since it was a joint lesson between the magicians and the knights, there were naturally two professors.
Professor Hydel, the battle magic professor, and Sir Coulter Pirante, the captain of the Poldren knights.
The class officially started.
“Right. Before we start the proper lesson, choose your partner. You should’ve all heard, but there are 114 magicians and 48 knights. So we’ll split the total 162 into two major groups and then create 54 three member sub groups.”
The first part of the lesson was the creation of the two teams and the three-member groups.
The two major teams were for the team competition later, and the three-member groups were for the different sparring and training purposes.
“So first, we’ll need to create the teams… The graduate representative Jakil Galehill and the student representative Ruin Ardell will become the two team captains. Everyone, move to the group you want to join.”
As Jakil Galehill and I moved to the front, the students split themselves into the team they wanted to join.
Two teams of 81 people.
The academy who had been debating who’s better and who’s stronger actually ended up splitting perfectly in two.
“This will conclude the team distribution, and next is group formation. You will form 54 groups with two magicians per one knight. When a trainee knight steps forward, the students who wish to group with them will raise their hands.”
Next was the group formation.
Two magicians and one knight.
54 groups of three people.
It was supposed to be two magicians who would go and support a trainee knight, but the boasting of connections by Jakil and Maltive officially started from here.
“Bro, I really didn’t want to come here. What joint lesson with magicians…… I have nothing I can learn from them. I came here pointlessly and just ended up getting told off by the knight captain.”
“Me too. It’s been so long since I’ve graduated… I really don’t know why I must be here with my juniors. This is far too boring for me.”
“Kekek. I would be bored too if I was you, bro. So how about we partner up now? Let’s just end this quickly.”
“Oh, sure we can. Let’s get Michael as well and be a group with us three.”
“Alright.”
The Galehill brothers and Maltive Kegen.
These three decided to form a group for these lessons.
Of course, this was honestly better for me, since I had relations with all three of them.
Then, Jason asked me,
“Ruin, who are you teaming up with? Do you have a trainee knight you’ve already picked out?”
“Yeah.”
“Oh, really? Who?”
“He’ll be here soon.”
Just as I finished speaking, it became Hansen’s turn.
“Next! Hansen!”
“Y-yes!”
Hansen looked to be quite nervous as he walked forward with shaky eyes.
“I-I’m… Trainee Knight Hansen of Poldren Training Center. If someone wants to be in a group with me… P-please raise your…”
It was then.
“Pft! Isn’t that our commoner Hansen, last place of the training center?”
“If you go in the same group as him, I don’t even have to wait to see your grade.”
“Yeah. One. Hundred. Percent. Last. Place. Kekekek.”
“Everyone, quiet!”
“……”
The trainee knights that looked to be Maltive Kegen’s lackeys started to insult Hansen openly, and the mood became quite cold because of that.
It was an act of bullying no matter how you saw it.
Who would want to form a group with Hansen in a situation like this?
Naturally, none of the magicians lifted their hand and Hansen’s shaky eyes lost their light.
But then, I lifted my hand.
“Me. I’ll do it.”
“……Ruin?”
The students who didn’t see the incident yesterday reacted like my choice was unexpected,
And even Jason, who was sitting next to me, grabbed my arm and asked,
“What? They say he’s last place at the training center. Are you really going to be in the same group as him?”
“Yeah. He’s my friend.”
“……Friend?”
“Yeah. I won’t ask you to make the same choice as me, Jason. So you can do what you want now.”
“Hey, I’m disappointed that you think that…… If he’s your friend, he’s my friend too.”
Jason quickly also stood up and raised his hand.
“Me! I’ll group as well!”
“Alright. Ruin Ardell, Jason Damon, Hasen, you three are Group 31.”
“Yes.”
“……”
After Jason and I chose him, the light in Hansen’s eyes came back a little.
Then, he bowed his hand to the both of us.
“Thank you for ch-choosing me, Ruin… Thank you.”
“It’s nothing. I did it because I wanted to.”
“My name is Jason. If you’re Ruin’s friend, you’re my friend too, so let’s talk comfortably with each other, alright?”
“Yes? Ah, yeah.”
The reason I chose Hansen to be in the same group as me wasn’t just simply because of friendship.
I won’t deny that there was a sense of kinship and sympathy from seeing my past self in him…
But the real reason was because I trusted in Hansen’s great potential currently dormant inside him.
The feeling I got when I first met Hansen wasn’t wrong.
Hansen had the highest potential amongst the trainee knights.
If we could fix his weak personality, his skills would definitely flourish.
If possible, I wanted to attach those wings onto him myself, because we had a common enemy we must defeat.
Also, I kinda enjoyed the bland meal I received from his older sister.
“Our goal isn’t simply getting a good grade.”
“Then?”
“We’ll crush Group 1.”
Group 1.
Jakil, Michael, Maltive.
The group that looked to be top dog by being made from these three powerful individuals.
Jason found these words funny and clapped like a seal.
“Oh! I like that!”
“Hansen, are you confident?”
“……Eh?”
After going into a daze for a second from hearing that we would crush Group 1, Hansen regained the strength in his eyes.
“I-I’ll try my best.”
“Don’t lose your wits. I wasn’t bluffing when I said you are stronger than Maltive.”
“Really?”
“Yeah.”
“Ruin’s eye for people is pretty good. He’s already proven it before by pulling our team, who was always last place, up to 4th place in the Grand Festival. So, Hansen. You can believe whatever Ruin says, even if it doesn’t make sense.”
“……O-ok.”
Alright. With this, our Group 31 was pretty set now.
So what was next?
Paying attention in class.
* * *
Translator – Jreaming
Proofreader – Artethrax
* * *
The first class was battle training.
Sir Coulter showed how to aim for the critical time of a magician’s casting to suppress them, and Professor Hydel showed how to predict the movement of knights to effectively move out of their attack range.
“Alright, now’s your turn.”
The separate groups took this lesson and started to train in the same methods.
The magicians naturally couldn’t use lethal magic, and only used nonlethal magic to defend themselves, and the knights used wooden swords rather than real ones.
But for these guys who couldn’t even control their own strengths, how could a magician and knight understand their own positions and train together?
“W-wait! Ouch! I got hit.”
“Again. I’ll try attacking again.”
Rabble like this couldn’t be seen anywhere else in the world.
This wasn’t too different for our Group 31.
“……Can I really attack you?”
“Of course. Isn’t this a class? Attack like you normally would. I’ll dodge all of them.”
“A-alright. Then, I’m starting.”
Hansen attacked and Jason defended.
However, Jason’s understanding of a knight’s movement was far too lacking, and Hansen was too timid to make a proper attack.
“Ouch! Aaaooo…… That hurt.”
“S-sorry! Are you ok?”
“……”
I started to tune the movements of Jason and Hansen.
“Jason. If you try to move after confirming a knight is coming at you, then it’s too late. You need to predict their movement by observing their shoulders and feet.”
“……Like this?”
“That’s much better. Hansen! You can never give him an opening. It’s a wooden sword anyways, so don’t hold back too much.”
“Ok!”
Although it was really little by little, Jason’s defensive form started to take shape.
Hansen also seemed to be less nervous, and his true skills started to shine.
About 10 minutes had passed, and among the 54 groups, only our group showed a decent level of attacking and defending.
“Haah, haah…… Ruin. It’s your turn now.”
I switched in with Jason and faced Hansen.
“Are you sure you don’t need to rest?”
“Yeah. I feel a little warmed up now.”
“Really? Alright. Let’s go.”
I faced Hansen and took the casting position.
A spar against a knight with a wooden sword. Hadn’t I already done this a lot before?
Against a knight stronger than Sir Bengrass Kegen, the sole 7th-rank knight of the kingdom.
The secret best knight, the Tiger of Ardell, Sir Bolvar.
Using what I learnt in my experience against him, I could calmly dodge Hasnen’s sword strikes.
“Hansen, move faster!”
“……Ught!”
“Too slow. If you were aiming for my lower body, your movements were too big. You need to fool me.”
I could see it.
If I was to exaggerate a little, it even felt a little too slow.
I wasn’t saying this because Hansen’s current level was too low.
Hansen showed a learned movement unlike his title of the worst of the training center, and he was participating in the lesson quite well.
It was just that, because I had sparred against Sir Bolvar a lot before, everything else felt slow.
He was truly oppressive in his movement.
Hansen finally looked to be getting used to the training, and his nervousness seemed to have dissipated. He even smiled with joy.
“Ruin, I feel like you’re messing with me…… Should I go all out?”
“Of course.”
Vwoong—
Hansen’s sword became fiercer.
But naturally, he still had a long way to go.
* * *
Group 1.
Jakil, Michael, and Maltive.
These three were apathetic about the class since the lesson started.
“I’m so bored……”
“Let’s just not do this. Haven’t we learnt this before anyways?”
“Sure.”
They decided to not train at all and started to take a rest on the ground.
There was also another reason for this.
“……But why isn’t Sir Jakil training?”
“Are you stupid? Why would he need to train in something like this? He’s someone who’s already experienced all this in real battles.”
“Ah, yeah. That’s right.”
“……”
And it was that far too many people were observing them.
‘Dammit. Am I an exhibit? Why is everyone so keen on watching me?’
The title of the youngest court magician he had obtained through the name of Galehill.
If he was to display his true skills which were far too lacking for what his position entailed, their faith in the name of Galehill would crumble.
That was why Jakil chose to not train at all.
And as these guys took their rest…
“Oh, look over there!”
“……?”
The movements of Ruin caught their eyes.
——
