The Uneasy Feeling
The first one-on-one tailored sparring class of the second week came in the afternoon.
I’d come prepared to get thoroughly beaten the moment I showed an opening, just like always...
- That’s all for today’s lesson. Go inside and rest.
But today, the lesson ended without the situation I’d been bracing for, or anything like it.
Why?
It was obvious I’d grown much more than I had in the first and second days.
Unlike Friday, when I couldn’t even hold my stance and my defense kept wavering, today I snapped into position quickly.
Unlike Friday, when I could only barely trade blows, I fought by slipping past attacks, exchanging strikes only at a level I could clearly respond to.
Even so, did that mean all of my flaws, gaps, and openings had disappeared? No, of course not.
I was still lacking in many ways, and if Professor Seres had been herself today, she would already have been pounding me into the ground, stuffing knowledge into me by force.
But today she ended the sparring awkwardly in the middle and left the training hall in a hurry by herself.
In the middle of the bout, she even forced me back by unleashing a burst of mana.
Professor Seres herself seemed to realize it had been an unintended attack and grew flustered, breaking into a cold sweat as she avoided my puzzled gaze.
It wasn’t her usual faint orange-tinged mana, but a muddy, deep current of power that was overflowing from her body uncontrollably, and through mana erosion I could feel unmistakably that something was off.
Professor Seres normally controlled her mana deliberately, but today she showed no sign of control at all.
Even while we were sparring, she kept her face hard, as if she had something on her mind, and our weapons remained locked together...
I rose from the bench, feeling frustrated and strangely at a loss.
The lesson had ended much earlier than usual.
"What time is it now..."
[ Monday, 3:27 PM ]
I checked the clock built into my bracelet.
On Thursday and Friday, class had definitely gone on until around six, but today it was over after barely two hours.
It had ended at almost the same time as on the first day.
The difference was...
Back then, after sparring ended, the beating would begin, and I’d head back to the dorms with my battered body. Today, since there had been no beating in the first place, there was no chance of bruises covering me.
"Huh..."
Something felt empty.
Not the stiff ache in my body, not the bruises that throbbed whenever I moved, not even that maddening thirst.
Without the lesson that came from being struck hard the instant I showed an opening, it felt as though something in my heart itself was missing, as though my training had somehow been insufficient.
No, was it insufficient?
I had felt pleased, thinking I’d found a stance suited to me through the sparring, but of course there would be flaws in even the stance I’d discovered for myself.
Still, without the lessons etched into me together with the pain in my body, without Professor Seres telling me what I’d done wrong and how I could improve, something felt hollow and awkward.
Lost in thought, I quietly looked up at the sky.
The clear blue above me was bright and sunny, welcoming me in a way I hadn’t even seen on the first day.
"...Should I go somewhere?"
Feeling that my training was lacking and wondering whether I might learn something from somewhere else, I left the training hall and headed for the lecture rooms.
- Crackle! Thud!
Since another afternoon major class was still in session, I went to the advanced section of the afternoon major lecture that Han Riae was taking.
At Sielm Academy, if your class was over and you had time to spare, or if another lecture caught your interest, you could go observe it.
By default, the advanced section was a class only the top 10 percent could attend.
That meant it was packed with children of famous families and geniuses who came along once every few years, if that.
Of course, because it was only 10 percent, the total number of students attending was far smaller than in the basic or adaptation classes.
But because there were fewer students, the classes could be run flexibly to suit them.
- Crash! Crackle!
They could skip the theory lesson the basic and adaptation classes were doing and go straight into sparring.
And the students currently checking each other’s skills, fighting on equal footing and dead even, were...
"Hey, Han Riae! Stop dropping already!"
"Will I run out of stamina first, or will I beat you into the ground first?"
Two female students taunting each other had completely taken over the stage.
Yoon Hwayeon, dazzling the space as she set the platform ablaze with a spectacular inferno, and Han Riae, calmly carving out her own space even inside those searing flames, were locked in full-force combat.
* * *
"See you tomorrow, Riae."
"Mm. Sounds good."
After eating lunch alone with Paran, it was time for the afternoon major lecture class.
I’d thought about feeding him something spicy again because I’d remembered the look on his face the last time he ate spicy food, but I stopped myself, wondering whether doing that to such a delicate child was just too mean.
That fairy-like beauty, that fragile body, that size you could wrap your arms around in one go.
Honestly, I did want to see him gasping after eating something spicy...
"Ahhh! I’m insane. I’m insane!"
Even I knew that was way too deranged a thought.
To pull myself together, I slapped my own cheeks several times.
"Hey, Han Riae! Huh? What the hell happened to your face?"
And then I ran into Yoon Hwayeon, who was taking the same combat major class.
We’d been childhood friends, meeting often because we shared the common trait of being heirs of famous families, and over time we’d become almost like best friends.
She was one of the friends I kept seeing even back in the middle academy, when I’d cut off all my half-baked connections and frozen myself over alone.
When Paran isn’t around, I always spend time with Yoon Hwayeon and the others.
"Hey, your cheek looks swollen. Are you okay?"
"Ah, it’s nothing!"
"You didn’t do something weird to Lim Paran and get dumped, did you?"
"N-no, that’s not it!"
I strongly denied it, rubbing my cheek, which still stung and ached from how hard I’d hit it.
Of course, I’d hit myself because I’d imagined doing something weird...
"Paran isn’t the type to hit people like that, you know?"
Paran hitting me? As if.
The irritation that rose at the idea of her suddenly making Paran sound like the aggressor burst out of me.
"Hm... right, unlike certain someone else~"
This foxlike bitch.
She was casually throwing shade at me while pretending to be innocent.
Normally she’s fine, but why does she have to be like this only at times like this?
She was honestly annoying, but that made it worse, because I knew she wasn’t insulting me seriously, just teasing me.
"But are you really going to keep this up just because you have a boyfriend? You keep sitting next to Paran, so of course I’m hurt."
Yoon Hwayeon sent me a probing look and voiced her grievance.
"We’re not dating..."
"Hah, you still aren’t? How persistent. Really persistent."
Seriously, why was she like this?
"If someone else snatches up Paran, you’ll be the only one who’s sad, you know? Got it?"
"Wh-what did you say?!"
Paran with another woman? Absolutely not.
I couldn’t even imagine Paran going to another woman.
"No way. No way. No way."
"Ack, stop blasting cold air all of a sudden, you ice wall!"
Because I’d suddenly imagined something strange, mana had escaped me without meaning to.
"Hey, I was only talking hypothetically. You really think Paran would go to some other woman instead of you? Use your head."
"...Is that so?"
"Of course it is! In the first place, Paran is the kind of person who would break into a cold sweat and sit down just because I tried to shake hands with him, so why would he be different with anyone else?"
Come to think of it, and I’d forgotten this, Paran doesn’t react badly only to me.
This morning, too, Miel had approached him without a trace of caution and triggered one of his episodes, but when I went over and comforted him, he quickly returned to normal.
"R-right, only me... heh heh~"
"Ugh, you crazy bitch."
Once I thought about it that way, I felt much calmer. I even started humming under my breath, while Yoon Hwayeon stared at me with disgust.
.
.
.
"There’s nothing in particular scheduled for today’s advanced class."
When the afternoon combat major lecture began, I thought I must have misheard, but then a sentence followed that made the earlier words understandable.
"Instead, today we’ll be doing one-on-one sparring between students, in order to measure the combat power of the advanced class and get a sense of how you should develop from here."
A one-on-one sparring class between students, something I’d never seen in the other afternoon major lectures.
In the basic and adaptation classes, they were still teaching techniques and holding theory lessons while carefully watching the students’ paths and potential for growth. But for advanced students like me, there were already plenty of promising talents who had certainty about their future, or who were unquestionably gifted no matter which path they took.
Just look at me: even though my main weapon was close combat through the mana circulation of the Meliton family, I still possessed versatile skills that could let me fight while wielding a greatsword or a pair of nunchuck gauntlets.
Yoon Hwayeon, too, could either reduce her opponents to ashes with the fierce flames of the Yeomhwa family, or pierce and burn them with a flame spear. At that point, learning a new theory lesson or technique wouldn’t have much impact on growth.
That was why the advanced class focused on how those whose buds of talent had already fully bloomed could spread their leaves farther and more splendidly.
It seemed that, after using the past week to gauge the advanced students’ level through dull theory lessons and pop quizzes, today was meant to fill in the gaps in their skills for real.
"As for sparring partners, choose whomever you want for now, and if the other side accepts, we’ll proceed. However, if one person is too overwhelmingly strong, or if the matchup is especially bad, I’ll assign a sparring partner myself."
With that, the professor gave us time to find our opponents.
And if I wanted to find the right opponent, then of course...
"Yoon Hwayeon!"
There was no one else in this advanced class for me to choose.
"Hah. Hey, Han Riae. Where do you think a runner-up gets off talking back to the top student?"
"That was on the written exam. On the practical, I should’ve scored one point higher than you."
Even if she was the top student and I was the runner-up, the reason Yoon Hwayeon took first place was because she did just a little better than I did. In fact, on the practical exam I’d scored a full point higher than her.
"Fine. I’ll accept that challenge."
"Don’t go giving up too quickly now~"
And so the sparring between the top student and the runner-up was set.
All the advanced students who had skill to spare gathered to watch my sparring match with Yoon Hwayeon.
From the stage, bright flames surged upward, and the dazzling sparring match began.
---