Chapter 32
Chapter 32
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Translator: MadScientist
Chapter: 32
Chapter Title: Mysterious Relationship
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To everyone else, it looked like Gloria was mercilessly thrashing Yuha without holding back in the slightest. But in reality, this was how they had always trained.
A training method that only Yuha could endure—one with no real talent for swordsmanship but freakish regenerative abilities.
In the past, Gloria had refused to even think of striking her master. But Yuha had insisted on training, even bending the rules with direct orders.
At first, they kept it light, just minor scratches. But as time passed and Yuha grew stronger, Gloria realized he was less likely to face real danger in emergencies. So she ramped up the intensity.
The result? Gloria learned the absolute limits of what Yuha could take, pushing him to levels that anyone else would call outright violence.
His wounds healed in seconds anyway. And enduring a bit of pain meant rapid growth in skill. For Yuha, there was no reason not to train like this.
These days, Yuha had no burning desire to push himself that hard anymore. But sparring with Gloria after so long had him charging in with pure excitement.
"P-Professor...?"
Claire had harbored some resentment toward Yuha, but she hadn't wished for him to get utterly demolished like this. She called out to Gloria cautiously.
Gloria's face remained utterly expressionless as she turned to her.
For a moment, Claire regretted speaking up. But she steeled herself and pressed on.
"Yes."
"Isn't that a bit too much...?"
"It's fine."
Claire's face twisted at Gloria's firm declaration.
No one in their right mind would call that "fine."
"Yes...?"
"We've always trained like this. No problem."
"...Pardon?"
Claire couldn't wrap her head around it. But then she saw Yuha—embedded in the wall, seemingly knocked out—pushing himself up. She swallowed hard.
Not a hint of pain on his face as he casually brushed off the dust. Her jaw dropped even further.
"Ugh... Been a while, so it aches a bit. Alright, here I go again—cough!"
Yuha spat out a bowl's worth of blood and charged right back in.
A few cadets forgot their earlier trash-talk about him and tried to intervene.
But no one could stop Yuha at full sprint.
Gloria dodged his sword a few times, then smashed him flat with the side of her greatsword once more.
Kwang—
Seeing Yuha slam into the training ground wall again, most cadets lost all will to fight.
They didn't want to end up like that.
It all happened so fast that doubt about the training method gave way to sheer terror.
"No one else coming in?"
The cadets inwardly screamed that no one would step up after witnessing that brutality. They felt utterly wronged.
But their reactions meant little to Gloria.
"Then I'll come to you."
The cadets braced for defense as Gloria charged them.
The one facing her first hadn't even assumed a proper stance, so he squeezed his eyes shut.
"W-Wait a second!"
An assistant professor waiting on the sidelines rushed in to intervene. But Gloria had already reached her target.
Everyone expected a massacre. What happened instead was... different.
"Closing your eyes mid-fight? You need to break that bad habit fast."
The cadet, expecting to go flying himself, froze in confusion.
"...?"
The greatsword had pushed him back with surprisingly light force. He stared at it, baffled.
He'd braced for a wall-smashing flight at minimum. Instead, Gloria had simply disarmed him with a shove. Bizarre.
Before he could process it, Gloria leaped into the group.
"Too much tension in your wrist."
She struck one's wrist with precise control, then dashed to the next.
"Your stance is wide open."
She swept a cadet's ankle, toppling him amid his sloppy guard.
"Mages, hold position in the rear."
She grabbed a frontline mage by the collar and lightly tossed him backward.
The assistant professor skidded to an awkward halt.
He'd braced for slaughter. This? Total cognitive dissonance.
The weird gap between how Gloria treated Yuha and them gnawed at Claire. Unable to hold back, she drew her sword and attacked.
A few clashes later, she knew.
The skill gap between her and Gloria was absurd.
She tried deflecting with Anastasia family swordsmanship for a counter. But the greatsword's weight was overwhelming.
"Nngh."
As their exchange dragged on, Gloria relaxed into Claire's deflections, flowing with her timing.
Claire tried shaking her off, but Gloria exploited the opening, breaking her rhythm with raw power.
Her technique dismantled in real time. Claire bit her lip, readying a secret art.
"Raaah!"
But then Yuha reappeared, swinging his greatsword full force at Gloria—still locked with Claire. Her focus shattered.
Gloria, unsurprised, dodged minimally while clashing with Claire. She lifted one leg.
Thwack—
She kicked Yuha hard, using him as a springboard to surge power into her counter against Claire.
Claire never saw it coming—using a person as a pivot like that. She couldn't deflect properly.
"Tch."
Claire flew back, unharmed. Gloria had blocked her every move flawlessly. But Yuha's persistence worried her now.
She had no idea how he kept getting up. Left alone, she might lose a fellow cadet.
"Is it really okay to go that hard on him?"
"It's fine."
Claire couldn't let the curt response slide.
Clearly, Yuha was getting special treatment—even if it was brutal.
"...Do you know Cadet Yuha?"
"I trained him personally in the past."
Nothing to hide, so Gloria answered easily.
Made sense. Beating a total stranger that specifically? Unlikely.
But that sparked another question.
With them, it was proper instruction. With Yuha? Straight violence.
It didn't scream "teacher-student." Yet she couldn't pry further.
Claire wondered if they had bad blood or something similar. But their friendly entrance together nagged at her.
Gloria's next words only deepened the mystery.
"He'll heal right away. No issue."
Gloria meant his regeneration. But Claire flashed back to their market chat.
"No way... Did he get that high-grade potion from her?"
Spitting blood from internal injuries, yet "healing right away"?
Without top-tier priestly healing or a high potion, who'd say that?
Or even before that.
"Maybe that's why he pulled that insane stunt back then—trained like this."
She recalled her blade piercing flesh.
She knew combat meant grim moments. But shoving a sword into someone? Never imagined.
Gloria spotted Claire's distraction.
"Got some leeway, huh? Distractions mid-fight."
"Oh no!"
Too late. Her balance broke, and Gloria's greatsword sent her flying.
Again, unharmed. The cadets felt conviction and confusion mix.
Why only Yuha? No clue.
"Focus, everyone."
Gloria's icy glare froze them. They ditched half-measures for full effort.