Chapter 23

【 Swordsmanship Copy 】

“Ugh, my body’s stiff.”

The day after I took the entrance test for the Disciplinary Committee.

“Woof! Woof!”

“You’re up, huh, you little rascal. How did you even get onto the bed?”

“Woof!”

“Hey, stop licking my face. Sit down on the floor and wait. I’ll give you food.”

“Woof!”

At my words, Siri sat down on the floor and started waiting.

I let out a small laugh and pulled out a few slices of meat from the drawer, handing them to Siri.

“Eat a lot and grow up quickly. That way, you can fight alongside me. Right?”

“Woof woof!”

As if understanding me, Siri barked with the meat still in her mouth.

I patted her head and stood up from my seat.

“Ugh… maybe it’s muscle soreness. I did push myself a bit yesterday…”

Stretching my arms, I slowly got ready to head out.

When I checked the time, I realized that, as always, my body woke up early at the same hour every day.

After playing with Siri for a bit, I went straight to the dining hall to have breakfast.

‘I shouldn’t overtrain today. Maybe I’ll take it easy for once.’

Perhaps it was the aftermath of yesterday’s entrance test, but my whole body ached as if I had muscle pain.

It wasn’t bad enough to keep me from moving, but forcing myself to train didn’t seem wise.

‘If I go to class now, I’ll probably run into Layla again.’

I was already wondering in what new way our lively princess would drain my energy today.

‘…Should I skip? But if I don’t go, she’ll probably be disappointed and ask why I didn’t come this morning.’

Thoughts about Layla started to fill my head.

‘Hanging around Layla draws way too much attention from the other nobles.’

If I were from a high-ranking family, it wouldn’t have been an issue—but I was only from a baron family.

I didn’t want to make enemies with marquess and count households, so keeping things moderate with Layla was best.

‘Completely cutting her off could be another way, but it’s too late for that. I might even need the royal family’s help to uncover my family’s secret.’

Anyway, moderation was the key.

So, maybe I should reconsider spending every morning with Layla.

‘Starting tomorrow, I’ll say I’m exercising in the morning and go to class late.’

Surely she wouldn’t go so far as to follow me to my training place… or so I hoped.

But knowing Layla’s personality, she just might, which made me a little worried.

‘Does Layla actually like me? And if she does, why? Like she said before—because she needs a friend without distance?’

Even though Layla looked carefree and thoughtless, she was actually quite selective about the people she got close to.

Why she kept trying to talk to me and get close… honestly, I wasn’t sure.

“Huh? Gideon?”

“Teacher?”

“You’re out early.”

While heading to class, I ran into Luke in the hallway.

He waved cheerfully and approached me.

“Isn’t it still a bit early before class starts?”

“Yes, that’s right. But I’m not much of a late sleeper, so I usually get to class a little early. Are you on your way to work, teacher?”

“Yeah. I came in early to sort through some documents and plan the day, you know, the usual. Oh, right, come to think of it, I heard you joined the Disciplinary Committee.”

“That’s right. Has the rumor already spread?”

“No, I heard it from Lisa last night.”

“Ah, I see.”

Well, that made sense. Lisa, Sara, and Jason had all known Luke since childhood.

“And I also heard this, Lisa apparently threw a greatsword at the applicants during the test?”

“Well… something like that did happen.”

“Ha, Lisa really does have a few screws loose sometimes.”

Luke chuckled helplessly.

“I saw that a few kids had some bones broken because of her yesterday.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Normally, that could’ve become a big issue, but Lisa gave each of the injured students ten gold coins, so everyone let it slide happily.”

“…Ten gold coins, huh? Yeah, that would do it.”

Seems like the power of financial therapy worked just as well in this world as it did in mine.

“Anyway, that’s unexpected. Gideon, I thought you’d definitely join the Swordsmanship Club.”

“I figured the Disciplinary Committee would be better for my career path. By the way, you’re the advisor for the Swordsmanship Club, right, teacher?”

“Yeah, that’s mine. But speaking of the Committee… Lisa told me something else too. She said you seem more interested in getting close to her than in joining the Committee?”

“Ah… she said that much?”

“Heh, no need to be embarrassed. I agree with her, actually. Being honest is always better than hiding behind lies.”

“Ah… well, yes. Thank you.”

It struck me again how good a teacher Luke was.

I’d met plenty of teachers back in my school days, but none as easy to talk to as him.

Maybe because this was a game world, he felt unreal in a lot of ways.

“Anyway, Gideon. You’re confirmed for the Disciplinary Committee, right?”

“Yes, that’s right.”

“Got it. I’ll have to update your personal records before I leave today. But… if I remember right, the Committee doesn’t have an assigned teacher, does it? The one from last year quit, I think.”

“Yes, that’s correct.”

After Lisa restructured the Committee, no teacher dared to oversee it until she graduated.

Most teachers found her intimidating, so the Committee had often struggled without an advisor.

“Hmm, I see.”

Luke’s gaze carried some kind of unspoken implication, but I didn’t think much of it.

He’d never once harmed or bothered the player during the game—if anything, he was always a helpful character.

“Alright then, I’ll get going. See you later in class.”

“Yes, see you soon, teacher.”

With that, Luke and I parted ways.

When I arrived at the classroom, I met Layla and like usual spent the morning listening to stories about her childhood.

By afternoon, I was attending Luke’s Swordsmanship Class as usual.

But today’s class was… not normal.

Kwahwahwah—!

“Uwaaaah?!”

“Let go! I said let go!”

Inside the gym where the Swordsmanship Class was held, there stood a half-human, half-bull monster an enormous Minotaur.

And two students were currently facing off against it.

No, calling it “facing off” would’ve been too generous.

It was more like they were being beaten unilaterally by the Minotaur.

‘Come to think of it, there was a script in the game where Luke held this kind of class too.’

I looked toward Luke.

He stood in the center of the gymnasium, giving real-time instructions to the two students fighting the Minotaur.

And next to Luke stood a woman holding a staff.

‘Kara Barha. The summoning instructor of the Academy and one of the most renowned summoners in the Empire.’

Because she had her hood pulled deeply over her head, her face wasn’t clearly visible.

But I had already seen her appearance several times before.

‘She had quite a pretty face. That’s why there were so many fan arts of her.’

For a brief moment, old memories surfaced, but I quickly shook them off.

Anyway, the reason Kara Barha, the summoning instructor, was present for today’s class was simple.

Luke wanted to observe how students fought against different types of monsters.

‘In pairs of two, they’ll face a random monster summoned by Kara. Simple enough… at least in words.’

The problem was that the monsters Kara summoned were far beyond what ordinary students could handle.

Of course, Kara was said to control the monsters in real time so no one would get seriously hurt, but still…

“Kyahhh?!”

When one student was grabbed by the neck and slammed into the ground by the Minotaur, I couldn’t help but feel… a little uneasy.

“Whoa, that’s brutal, huh?”

“Yes, it is.”

I nodded at Jason’s comment beside me.

“I’ll do my best to draw the monster’s attention.”

“Yeah, I’m counting on you. Having someone up front to draw aggro makes things a lot easier.”

As mentioned earlier, today’s class was done in pairs.

And my partner was Jason.

Luke said the pairs were chosen at random, but our swordsmanship styles complemented each other surprisingly well.

My defensive swordsmanship and Jason’s fast, aggressive style together, it wasn’t a bad combination at all.

“Oh, it’s Sara’s turn now.”

“Yes, it is.”

A black-haired girl headed toward the center of the gym.

Beside her walked a muscular male student.

‘Dave Bonscora.’

The son of Marquis Bonscora, and a swordsman of considerable skill.

Outwardly, he seemed quiet and stoic, but I knew from fighting him countless times in the sub-story that his swordsmanship was aggressive, emotional—even reckless.

“Dave and Sara, huh. Hmm, not exactly a great pairing. Besides, Sara doesn’t perform too well in situations like this.”

“…That’s true.”

I agreed with Jason.

And just as we predicted, when the giant spider began to move, Sara immediately started getting pushed back.

“The Isrinbloom family is the strongest in one-on-one duels—well, in human-to-human combat, broadly speaking. But against non-human opponents, not so much.”

He was right.

Sara’s swordsmanship was as elegant and refined as always, full of technique and grace.

If her opponent were human, they would have easily been overwhelmed and exposed countless openings in front of that dazzling display.

But her opponent was a massive spider.

The spider didn’t care for elegant swordsmanship; it simply charged straight at her.

‘Still, she’s holding her ground decently thanks to her solid fundamentals. Is she using aura? And Dave—he’s as aggressive as ever.’

Dave unleashed a barrage of fierce attacks, fighting like someone unconcerned with getting hurt.

That was the Bonscora family’s swordsmanship—a style with no retreat.

To avoid having to face him as a corrupted boss later, I’d have to make sure Dave didn’t fall down that path.

“…It’s over.”

After Dave’s relentless assault, the giant spider collapsed soon after.

The fight ended quickly, but Sara looked dissatisfied, having failed to show any major contribution.

“Looks like things haven’t been going too well for Sara lately. Lost to you, and now she’s unintentionally revealed the weakness of her swordsmanship.”

“I think weaknesses against monsters can be overcome through enough training.”

“Sure, they can. The head of the Isrinbloom family hunts monsters alone, after all… Hm? Oh, it’s our turn. Let’s go.”

“Yes, understood.”

Jason and I stood up together and walked to the center of the gym.

“This time, it’s your turn. As I mentioned earlier, just remember the basic precautions…”

After giving a brief explanation, Luke stepped back.

At the same time, Kara summoned the next monster.

“Oh, that one… what was it called again? Something-Arms?”

“Quadra Arms… if I remember correctly.”

I recalled it because I had hunted it a few times in the game.

About 2.5 meters tall, with thick, crimson skin.

It resembled a human in shape, except for one big difference—it had four arms.

And in each of those four hands, it held a sword—a total of four blades.

“Right… I heard that species uses swords too. Gideon, can you block all four of those blades?”

“…I’ll try my best.”

“Good. I’m counting on you.”

With those words, Jason drew a sleek-looking saber.

“O Spirit of Wind, come to me… Oh, nice! Monsoon! You came quickly this time?”

– You’re noisy, Contractor. And I told you not to call me that, didn’t I?

“Come on, it’s a cute nickname. What’s the problem?”

– Why… why did I have to end up with this kind of contractor…

A greenish aura appeared around Jason’s body.

It was faint, but I could almost make out the shape of a small fairy.

‘Right, the Hawkbat family fought alongside Wind Spirits.’

I was about to witness the fast swordsmanship of the Hawkbat family that I’d only ever seen in the game.

Well, if I could even watch properly, that is.

Because that monster, Quadra Arms, was not an easy opponent.

“Krrr… eett…”

Muttering something in an unknown language, the four-armed monster charged straight toward me.

In an instant, four red glints flashed before my eyes, and four swords came slicing at me.

“Urgh.”

I raised my sword and blocked all four at once…

“Alright. Let’s do this.”

Jason vanished in a flash—moving with a speed that could only be described as wind itself, circling behind the Quadra Arms in an instant.

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