Berserk? (2)
A strange silence hung over the sword faculty's training ground.
"Ahem..."
"Mm."
"Wh-what is this?"
They wanted to say something, yet even a simple greeting was hard to summon. These were classmates of the faculty, back after a full twenty-nine days. Among sword students who were rivals in all but name, fellow feeling was a faint thing at best, but a reunion after so long still carried a welcome. A blessing, or at least a how-have-you-been, would have been proper. Looking at them now, though, even that much stuck in the throat.
And no wonder.
Why... why the bear hides?
Those look like they killed them themselves...
Their bodies have swollen enormously. What in the world did they do? Mm.
Eighteen of them, wrapped in bear skin. They were the frail ones once called sprout students. Twenty-nine days ago they had been ordinary students you might have seen anywhere. Now they were anything but.
The greatest change was, first, their presence. It had sharpened. Nothing of the old softness remained, and a keen edge hung about them, as if one might be cut simply by standing too close. More arresting than their bearing, though, were the bodies, at least three times as sturdy as before.
Riiip.
Their academy uniforms were on the verge of splitting. Not from fat. Muscle and frame had grown all through them. It was not the crude bulk of someone who had merely inflated their muscles, either. Only what was needed had been built, and the result still kept its swiftness—a finish so complete it drew a gasp of admiration. Presence, physique, and a carriage without a visible opening. Not soldiers. Warriors ready to fight this very moment.
Then—
"L-Levi Fault? Are you truly Lady Fault?"
"I am, Lady Luno. Have you been well?"
"I-I was fine enough, but you, Lady Fault... you've changed a great deal."
The noble girl called Luno stared, eyes round, and swept Levi Fault from toe to crown.
A rude breach of manners. For a noble who prized etiquette, it was something one simply did not do, but she could not help herself. It was hard to believe a person could change so much in less than a month. The other young ladies were no different.
"G-good heavens, haven't your hands grown terribly rough?"
"S-scars...! Th-those must be treated at once!"
"But why is the skin of your face, and everywhere else, so dewy and lovely? Lady Irene is the same..."
Levi Fault had been a smaller girl than the other young ladies. That had not meant she was frail—only that she had been a little thinner than most. Not anymore. She was still lean, but her body was unmistakably firmer than before, and no one could have called her delicate. Nor was it mere bulk. A clean, healthy beauty stood out in her.
She had grown taller, too. A girl of just under five feet now looked closer to five foot three. Nearly four inches, all told. Even in a growth spurt, did it make any sense for a person to shoot up like that in under thirty days?
H-how did a chick suddenly become a swan?
To borrow the instructor's words, the girl who had been nothing but a chick had turned into a swan. An uncommon presence clung to her, and a certain maturity besides, so the young ladies watching stole glances at Levi Fault with a faint blush mixed into their stares. A charming woman could draw admiration even from other women.
"...The staring is a little much."
Whether the weight of those looks embarrassed her, the girl let her shyness show. Seeing that, it was certainly still Levi Fault. Only, she was no longer the timid, fragile girl of the old voice. A straightness had settled in her—the ability to state her own mind without flinching.
"Compared to my senior disciples, I'm nothing."
"Senior disciples...?"
"Four days ago we agreed to form a master-and-disciple bond. I'm the youngest, and my learning is still rough, so I ended up the baby of the group."
"I-I see."
"...B-but, Lady Fault, if it isn't rude to ask—why are they wearing those hideous things?"
"Those?"
Levi Fault gave a wry smile, as if she had known the question would come. The young masters and chicks who had found it hard to speak quietly bent their attention to the conversation, and Levi Fault answered as if to settle their curiosity.
"Mm. It's the hide of a monster we met on the march back."
"A-a monster!?"
"Yes. It seemed like a variant. You know how it happens sometimes? An animal eats monster flesh and mutates."
"Heavens..."
They knew it well. For a person, an animal, or a plant to take in unrefined monster flesh or blood was no different from drinking poison. In most cases, death was immediate. Now and then, though, a living thing with fierce vitality endured the toxin—and then it turned into a monster possessed of violence and cruelty. That chain of events was how a monster flood began, the calamity the people of the territories feared most.
And those monsters...
"They looked likely to head for a village, so the instructor ordered my seniors to take every one of them."
"...Th-the instructor and the others didn't step in?"
"No. You know how strict he is. He had Lord Roen stand by, and every capable fighter with him."
"......"
Then those words meant the ones who had taken the bears-turned-monsters were these people—the frail, lower-born students who had been mocked as sprouts? Without help from the instructor, or from the other skilled fighters?
"There were exactly eighteen of them, and eighteen seniors, so the numbers matched. The fight tore their clothes and packs to shreds, so they had no choice but to wear the bear hides home. They aren't trying to intimidate anyone."
"...Then why are they still wearing them, now that they have their student uniforms on?"
"Their armor broke as well. Those hides are quite thick and tough. They make good armor."
"......"
"Is something wrong? If there's anything else you're curious about..."
"N-no. Nothing."
This girl seemed to have gone a little strange as well. If you lost your armor, you simply asked the academy for a replacement. Who went on walking around in a bear skin?
The way those people think is odd enough, but Lady Fault has gotten odd too.
Their common sense had gone a bit sideways, one might say. They had become unreasonable.
"—Don't misunderstand. Those hides really are that tough. Twice as tough as the armor the academy issues. Even the craftsmen's guild would have a hard time producing protection that sturdy."
"Instructor..."
The instructor appeared midway through. The bear-hide affair had gotten him summoned to the dean again, and he had only just returned.
"Nobles ought to know what a single piece of top-grade armor is worth."
"...It does run high."
"Right. Even from your mouths, the word expensive comes out. And do you think it's easy for people of their station to get good armor?"
"Ah..."
"Good. If you understand, that's enough."
It was a blunt explanation, and they marveled, only now realizing the hides were goods of that quality.
And at the same time—
Then you're saying they beat bear-monsters with a defense to match top-grade armor?
You said it was one-on-one. How?
At that level they'd be mid-to-high-grade monsters at the least...
That they had beaten monsters of that caliber was what drew the gasp. Their outlines alone had shown they were stronger, but rising far enough to win a one-on-one against a mid-to-high-grade monster was astonishing. Intensive reinforcement training. Not reinforcement in name only—they had clearly come back holding a tremendous result. And in so short a time!
Should I have forced my way along after all?
What a waste.
The students who had been left at the academy for unavoidable reasons felt envy, regret, and jealousy. They envied that sudden growth.
However.
"Ah, but don't keep wearing armor until class. You're back now. What are you still doing in that?"
"...W-we're fine. This is comfortable for us."
"It's uncomfortable for the instructor, and for everyone looking. Get it off."
"......"
"—You talking back?"
"A-ack! W-we'll take it off!"
Education was a frightening thing. The moment Lee Han dropped his voice, every spark of defiance vanished, and they flung the bear hides off at once.
And then...
"......Bald?"
"Huh? Why are their heads...?"
"Did they not have hair to begin with...?"
"......"
The sprouts—no, the bald ones—welled up with tears. They had not wanted to show this to anyone else. Especially not to the girls. Their eyes grew wet, and Lee Han went on as if making an excuse.
"Ahem. A minor side effect, nothing more. The ones who knew Fighting Art were fine, but the ones who hadn't learned it started losing their hair once they picked up Gyeong. It's not a permanent impairment. It'll grow back later."
"Th-then Lady Fault...?"
"I taught her a bit more kindly, so she's fine. The ones I taught roughly ended up like that. A small mistake. I won't make it next time, haha..."
"......"
"...Sorry. That was a slip of the tongue."
"......Please don't apologize. At least let us hate you freely."
The bald ones sobbed mournfully, and the rest sent them looks of pity.
Also—
Thank goodness I didn't go.
Those who had simply stayed behind were relieved that it had been a blessing in disguise.
The sword faculty dismissed early. Class or no class, tomorrow was finally the War Game. Condition mattered, and they needed to shake off the fatigue of a hard journey, so he gave them free time. He did worry that some of them might come back spent from that.
I forced young males into abstinence for a month. Of course.
He had driven them harder than any temple stay, and given them pain every day, so if they went off to relieve the urge he would have to understand. But if they showed up tomorrow not lightly rested, but half-dead and creaking, he would not let it pass. He would run them, and run them again, and punish them for it!
This is absolutely not because I'm pissed I can't do it myself.
What he could not do, others could. He was making it perfectly clear that this was not some filthy jealousy. He could not deny that one percent personal feeling was mixed in.
"Lucky bastards..."
Lee Han ground his teeth inwardly, as if he would never let them off should they lose tomorrow. Before he knew it he was burning an unreasonable anger at his own students, and he was just thinking he might go torment the assistant instructor buried under a month of instructor paperwork when—
"Sir Knight!"
"...The maid?"
Layla Winter. She came running in that bright, faintly nasal voice of hers, lively as ever.
...Ah. If she does that—
Thud!
As expected. The maid did not disappoint, delivering a splendid bit of slapstick. A fall that drew a gasp on its own. The impact looked hard enough to break a nose.
Well.
"Are you all right?"
"Hehe, yes. It doesn't hurt."
"...It has to hurt."
"Huh?"
"......Never mind. It's nothing."
Our maid, without a single scratch. Remarkable. A truly astonishing toughness.
What is this girl, really?
He had lived alongside her for quite some time now and still could not make sense of the mystery. In truth she was stranger than a regressor, or a soul that had taken another's body. Lee Han hid the feeling with an effort and asked why she had sought him out in such a rush, when they would meet at home anyway.
"Is something the matter?"
"It's just—the princess is coming!"
"I already know."
"Really!?"
"I heard it when the dean called me in."
News he had picked up while being scolded by the dean, as a side benefit. Isis—that sister of his—was visiting the academy, and word had come that she would watch the War Game. To Lee Han it felt like a royal with nothing better to do, and the irreverence rose on its own, but that sister doing as she pleased was hardly a first. He let it pass.
If she comes, she comes. Why should I care?
For the academy's faculty and students it would be on the level of a three-star general dropping in on a unit. For Lee Han it was only a slightly troublesome acquaintance arriving. The work would fall to other people anyway.
I'll just hide.
The students would be the ones fighting. What was there for him to do?
"It's not that big a deal. We should just do what we—"
"But the duke is coming too!"
"......?"
"The Duke of Galahad. They said he's coming to watch as well?"
"......What?"
He seemed to have heard something strange. Were his ears wrong? Lee Han opened his mouth to speak, but—
"Oh, and not just the duke—they said the Grand Duke of Lionel is coming too! I heard it clearly at the Royal Castle today!"
"...What?"
"They said such important people are all coming, so maybe even His Majesty the King will come! Hehe, there are going to be so many guests!"
"......What?"
He kept asking again, face blank.