Top Instructor of a Third-Rate Academy

020

The gazes of the Class C students and the few from Class A turned to Pan.

His face was drenched in sweat from the short, intense movement, and his breathing was labored.

But the sparkle in his eyes had not dimmed.

'He's serious.'

After hearing that Sordian had quit his position as the Class A instructor, I had forgotten about him.

The fact that he had discriminated against Pan. And that he had cornered and intimidated me when I went to see him, I had forgotten all of it.

But it seemed only I had forgotten.

"He has resigned from his position as the instructor for Class A."

Avril looked at Pan with an indifferent expression.

His expression had not changed at all throughout the match.

Wasn't he upset about losing the bet?

"I know. But you said he returned to his position as a Goldline escort. Doesn't that mean he's still your escort, instructor?"

"Not a bad deduction."

Avril crossed his arms.

"But that's not a reason for me to summon Sordian. Why should I summon Sordian to a place where students are squabbling amongst themselves?"

"Because it's a proof."

Pan answered immediately.

It was an answer he must have practiced over and over in his head.

"The test we're doing right now, you said it was to test whether Instructor Cassian and Class C are really valuable."

It seemed they had heard the conversation I had with Freutche.

The students who learned why this evaluation was being held had surprised expressions.

"But why should only one side be evaluated?"

"Because Class A has already been proven."

"No."

Pan strode over to the wooden swords set up on one side.

He threw away the cracked and broken wooden sword on the ground and picked up a new one.

"Instructor Cassian was also a proven person to us. And we, we were proven people to ourselves."

His usual timid appearance was no longer to be seen.

There was only a swordsman with a will, a swordsman befitting Class A.

"So, Instructor Sordian also needed to be proven. Whether he was a suitable teacher for us."

And now.

Sordian was not here.

"If not, then at least you, Instructor Avril."

From between his cut bangs, Avril's sharp gaze was directed at Pan.

For some reason, seeing that gaze, I felt as if Avril had calculated this whole situation.

"Very well. Sordian. He says so."

At Avril's voice, the feeling grew stronger as I saw Sordian walk out from one side of the training ground as if he had been waiting.

Sordian's image had changed a lot in just a few days.

He had an eyepatch over his left eye, and his face was grimly set.

'Twitching facial muscles, a strangely loose gait.'

In that state, the pain in his eye must be constant, and to endure that pain, he seemed to be using painkillers or a recovery scroll of equivalent effect.

Whether it was because of his physical condition, or because he hated being looked down upon like this.

Grind.

The sound of grinding teeth came from him.

"You dare, call me out for a mere, proof, you brat?"

Unrefined killing intent, so strong it could be felt from afar, scattered in all directions.

It was as if the nearby air was being compressed and shimmering.

In the thick, heavy air that made it difficult to breathe.

"Yes."

Pan's clear voice broke the silence.

Not only that, Pan even picked up another wooden sword and threw it to Sordian.

The presence of Sordian, who caught the wooden sword that cut through the air, changed completely.

"Alright, as you wish, I'll do it!"

Without a starting signal, Sordian charged at Pan.

He closed the distance to Pan in an instant, as if flying through the air.

And a sword, several times faster than his body, aimed for the tip of Pan's chin.

Claaaaang!

A dull and heavy impact sound erupted.

It was because the wooden sword, planted into the ground, had barely blocked Sordian's sword.

Even so, it couldn't completely offset the shock, and a red bruise was left on the tip of Pan's chin.

"Just!"

Sordian's sword did not stop.

As if it had elasticity, it bounced back from the trajectory where the wooden sword had been deflected and struck Pan's sword.

Whack! Clang! Claaaang!

A series of almost continuous impact sounds echoed through the training ground.

It was closer to an axe-swing than swordsmanship.

A movement to pour out emotions, pain, and anger, rather than speed itself.

"This is! Die! You bastard! Huh!?"

It seemed like small bubbles were leaking from between Sordian's clenched teeth.

A jumble of random words that couldn't form proper speech created a dissonance with the dull impact sounds.

A series of sword strikes that seemed as if they would break Pan's wooden sword at any moment.

But that also meant that Sordian's sword had not landed a single effective hit.

'He's blocking well.'

With every attack, Pan was taking minute steps and cutting off the opponent's attacks.

He didn't try to swing his sword much, but endured through finely chopped steps of a quarter-footstep.

To support his small frame and weak wrists and grip, the tip of the wooden sword he held with both hands was always planted in the ground of the training ground.

He crouched down and supported himself by placing one foot on the side of the wooden sword.

"Tricks!"

Sordian also seemed to be fully aware of what Pan was doing, but he couldn't break through it.

'He's using the blind spots well.'

Using his unique footwork, he slightly shifts his body to a place where Sordian's gaze cannot reach.

Originally, he had been practicing to exploit Sordian's blind spots and poke at the openings.

With half of his vision gone, that blind spot had grown larger, and that minute gap was constantly giving him breathing room.

'But he can't last long.'

There were many red scratches around Pan's neck and chin.

The spasms in his wrists and hands were visible, and one wrist looked slightly swollen.

"You rat...!"

Sordian, who had stopped his attack, strode forward with a face contorted in pain and anger.

He grabbed Pan's wooden sword with his sword-less left hand.

"You can't run away now."

Pan's frame was already smaller than his peers.

Sordian's shadow loomed over Pan as if to swallow him whole.

So he couldn't see.

'It's here.'

The tip of Pan's sword, which shot up from below.

Swish!

Pan's sword soared up with the momentum to pierce Sordian's chin.

Sordian dodged with a movement close to instinct, but a red line was drawn on the tip of his chin.

The already quiet surroundings became so silent that not even a breath could be heard.

"He's lost."

The one who broke the silence was Avril.

"What?!"

"You have no effective hits. And Pan, though it was a graze, has an effective hit."

Avril's gaze turned to Sordian.

"To be hit by a student you neglected to teach, huh. Your lack of qualification has been proven."

"Damn it!"

With a rough shout, Sordian tore off his eyepatch with his own hand.

There, a hideous scar, as if burned by fire, remained.

What...

"You told me to play along with the brats' games, and now you're talking about qualifications? Do you think I'm your plaything?!"

In that moment, the killing intent surged.

All the surrounding scenery disappeared, and Sordian's figure instantly filled my vision.

Instinctively, my body shot forward first.

Pain erupted from all over my body at the sudden movement.

A neuralgia and muscle pain that felt as if I would collapse to the ground at any moment tormented my whole body.

'Endure. It's not swordsmanship.'

I gritted my teeth until they felt like they would shatter and went behind Pan, pulling him into my arms.

It felt as if the world's time was flowing very slowly.

In that flow, Sordian's gleaming eyes, like a monster's, were directed at me.

His hand quickly went behind his back.

Behind his cloak, a short sword he had hidden popped out.

The sword was aimed at Pan and me.

'I'm going to die.'

The gazes and shouts of the students, Yuria's startled reaction. Avril's gaze, watching the situation with interest, flashed by.

And.

Chaaaaang—!

A clear sound stopped his sword.

"What are you doing to our teacher right now?"

In this moment, it was the most reassuring voice.

What stopped Sordian's sword was a cold, silver blade.

I slowly turned my head.

The guard captain's hat, worn playfully.

Simply tied hair.

The white uniform of Akarind Academy, worn as if thrown on.

And a smile that held the raw ferocity of a street mercenary.

It was Rozalin.

"Huh? It's Pan?"

Rozalin, who had come up beside me, glanced at Pan.

Her expression turned fierce.

"You, were you trying to kill our humanity? Are you a demon?"

"Sister is getting excited again."

And immediately, a man with a huge build stood beside me, following Rozalin.

His frame was so large that just by standing there, he blocked almost the entire view in front.

"Teacher!"

"Uh, huh?"

"Watch carefully! I'll show you the results of my efforts over the past two weeks!"

Rozalin took a deep breath, "Swoosh," and took her stance.

Both feet shoulder-width apart.

The first start was with a middle guard.

"Ah."

A gasp came from Pan, who was watching Rozalin with me from my arms.

I could hear a gasp of admiration, "Aah—," from Bridget in the back.

It was to be expected.

'In no time.'

Just two weeks.

In that time, Rozalin seemed to have gone back 10 years and reclaimed her original swordsmanship.

"Don't, make me laugh!"

Sordian, who had jumped back once, strongly shot his sword out.

Towards that sword.

Rozalin's sword is swung from top to bottom.

'Beautiful.'

Rozalin's sword erased all the energy around it.

A sword that was swung late but subdued the opponent first.

A swordsmanship that couldn't be blocked even if you knew it was coming, the swordsmanship of the Vürhelm ducal family, a renowned house of swordsmanship.

It was reproduced even more perfectly in Rozalin's hands.

"No, way..."

Sordian, his face contorted in shock, slowly crumbled forward.

With a thud, blood began to flow from the front of his chest.

"Yuria!"

I urgently called for Yuria.

"Don't kill him. Save him."

"Huh?"

Rozalin looked at me from the side, as if she didn't understand.

"Isn't this the bastard who tried to kill you and Pan, instructor? Why are you saving him?"

In the meantime, Yuria, who had come up beside me, crouched down and looked at me.

Rarely, there was an expression on her face.

It was as if she was asking if he really had to be saved.

Instead of answering them, I glared at Avril.

"So, was it fun?"

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

"In the end, all of this happened because of you."

In the first place, Sordian was not an instructor at Akarind Academy or anything.

He was just an escort of the Goldline Merchant Guild, and he performed his duties as an instructor according to Avril's orders.

The reason he treated Pan unfairly was because he had misunderstood Avril's orders, and that eye, probably.

'It was Avril's doing.'

For the person who was actually at fault to remain silent, and for the person who was just a pawn to hate each other and in the end lose their lives.

That was unreasonable.

"So I have to save this person."

"That's irrational."

"In the first place, education, and life, are not things that run on calculations."

Yuria's divine power slowly enveloped Sordian.

Avril glanced down at Sordian once and then looked at me.

"I don't think I can like you."

"What did you say, you bastard? Are you picking a fight with our instructor? Wanna die?"

"You have won. From Class A to Class C, the classes will be freely organized and students will be able to choose their lessons according to their will. And I will deliver the present by tomorrow."

He left with those words and left the training ground alone.

"He's acting all high and mighty for a loser."

"Leave him be. He's always been a guy who lives on his own self-importance."

Seeing that, Rozalin and the man who came with her whispered.

"Rozalin, thank you."

I called out to Rozalin, not wanting to talk behind the back of someone who wasn't there.

Rozalin, who met my eyes, smiled with a mischievous expression.

"You saw it, right? I told you I'd change all my swordsmanship on my own, right? It's amazing, right? I, uh, to learn this swordsmanship properly, I went home and swept up all the basic swordsmanship books! This..."

"Yes, you've improved."

The swordsmanship she displayed was of a much higher level than her previous one.

That's probably because she didn't just return to the Vürhelm swordsmanship.

"Those 10 years you walked. You melted that into your swordsmanship, right? And your left arm too."

Just now, Rozalin swung her sword with both hands.

In that process, the movement of her left hand was very natural.

Traces of immense practice in a short time were visible everywhere.

"...Uhehe."

"Hmm?"

"No, well, uhehe. Hehe. Hehe."

Rozalin, who had turned her body away from me, let out a somewhat uncle-like laugh and her shoulders shook.

The man who came with her stepped back as if he had seen something disgusting.

Is her expression so terrible that even that man with a hideous face thinks so?

Rozalin, who had been laughing her head off, turned back and smiled brightly.

"Oh, right, teacher. Come to think of it, I said I brought you a present, right?"

"Come to think of it, you did say that."

"Hey, hey. Hurry up and take it out!"

At her urging, the man took out a medicinal herb the size of a forearm from the bag on his back.

Dark green leaves and a root that resembled a human form.

"No way, this is..."

"A thousand-year-old mandrake! With this, instructor, you can overcome that weak constitution and properly wield a sword!"