Let's Train You Lot Again (2)
"So what, you fucking think you lot have your shit together?"
"Miss Olivia, that language is a bit much no matter how you look at it! We are nobles! How can a noble speak with such vulgarity?"
What the hell did they want me to do about it.
"That's why I kept healing you, didn't I? Every time you got hurt I put you back together, and now what? Too much is too much? No—look at these bastards. I look the other way once and suddenly they think I'm a doormat. Is that it?"
"Even if you are Miss Olivia, this is far too rude."
"Then die by my hand instead."
I jerked my chin. The nuns leveled their weapons at the students.
"Eek!"
"I'll say this in advance. This is for your own good as well. Don't you want to wash away the disgrace of having been taken by a succubus?"
Not weaklings—true nobles who were actually strong. Get strong enough to crush the anti-imperialists and you could bring glory to your houses. Why the hell wouldn't they want that?
"Then only the men should have to do it! The women haven't done anything wrong!"
The young ladies were trying to weasel out of it.
Where the hell did they think they were slinking off to? Women handled magic better than anyone, yet they couldn't even think of supporting with it?
"Drawing a line between men and women here of all places. Who exactly were the ones hanging off Lily and trash-talking me? Even if the men are especially vulnerable to succubus magic, you girls are the nastier sort."
"I never said a word against you—"
Fine. There were probably a few who hadn't. She was the young lady of Ashtar, after all. Not the kind of girl other noble daughters got to casually insult.
So what?
I crossed my legs and spoke.
"Talking back to the Taesa right now?"
"Ugh."
"Do you know what happens when you talk back to the Taesa? You already know that if I felt like it, wrecking your houses would be easy, don't you?"
Unless they were complete idiots, they knew that much. That was why every face had gone ashen and no one argued back.
Good. Once they crawled out from under Lily, they finally remembered their place and lowered their heads. That part I liked. But was that as far as it went?
"It's just too brutal to begin with! At the very least you should give us a little time!"
Time, they said. Time. Nice word. Time was lovely. But I had no intention of giving them any.
"We have to catch anti-imperialists and you're talking about time? What kind of time? You going to listen to me, or die right here?"
"Krgh."
Practice started up again.
For all that, they were still students of Attelina. They didn't fold easily. The nobles had their pride, and the commoners had been elites to begin with, so they adapted fast.
"How are they looking? Think they can handle the anti-imperialist trash?"
"I'll make it work somehow within a week."
I had to get them at least to the level where they could face Mains. Since the black mages were clearly connected, I had to assume Mains might show up.
"At stage three, how far do I need to push them before I pass them?"
Stage three?
When I ran the numbers, the difficulty was surprisingly high. Galedo was a man who had faced a dragon alone, after all.
"Given the professor's skill... hmm. If they can land even a light hit? Meaning if they can just touch his hand, that would be good."
"You rate me that highly?"
"Come on. Against someone who can take a dragon, the nobles already putting up a fight would be the real surprise."
Among adventurers, the absolute top-tier monster was a dragon. There was no one on the entire continent right now who could take one down alone.
"Ho. Where did you hear I killed a dragon?"
"If you take even a little interest in adventurers, how could you not know the Dragon Slayer?"
Dragon Slayer Galedo. Platinum-rank adventurer. It was no exaggeration to call him the absolute peak among adventurers. That was exactly why Attelina—famous for being picky—had hired him as a professor.
"That was luck."
"Luck is a kind of skill too."
In a life-or-death moment, even if the opponent was someone you should never have been able to beat, if you won by luck—that still counted as skill.
"So the anti-imperialists are definitely going to show?"
"Yes."
"And you want to use the Attelina students to show that the Empire's future sprouts are still going strong."
"That's right."
The Empire had to stay standing if I was going to catch the Four Heavenly Kings, and there was no guarantee Seto or Clanis weren't behind the anti-imperialists further down the line. If my guess was right, with the Heavenly King Berna out of the picture they might try some scheme against the Empire just to do something.
"Understood. Then I'll make sure they don't actually die."
Murderous light flashed in Galedo's eyes. Yes. This was the kind of professor I wanted. A vicious professor. A professor obsessed with practicals. Professors like that were the best. It wasn't like I was the one getting hit, after all.
"Yes. Exactly."
Time flowed on.
The students who had gotten an earful from me finally managed to stand against the nuns, bit by bit. Not win—just learn the courage to face them. The nuns' hard-earned skill was no joke if you actually wanted to beat them.
"Ah... uuuugh... haaah... haaah... I'm dying. How long do we have to keep doing this..."
One male student groaned.
How long, he asked.
"At least until the nuns are exhausted from dealing with you."
"Meaning until our stamina is completely gone?"
Wasn't that obvious? You had to go at least until the nuns had nothing left.
"That's right. And unlike you, the nuns don't get healed."
"Saintess. Twenty-four hours have passed."
I flipped Habel's Hourglass and started again.
And at last that moment arrived.
A full three days had gone by—inside Habel's Hourglass, that is.
"Hah... hah... hah..."
The nuns were clearly starting to tire. Good. Not bad. They'd held out this long, at least.
I'd expected a week, but once the basics were in place they'd turned it around and started pressuring the nuns instead. At this rate, five days might be enough. Galedo was only one man, and his eyes were different—this time they ought to manage reasonably well.
"You lot tired?"
I asked the three sisters, who looked exhausted even at a glance.
A few more days and the nuns' side would lose, so it was better to stop here and move to stage three.
"Everyone's eyes look better. All right, let's get ready for the next part. The difficulty goes up a little."
"Wh-what... hah... hah..."
"There's more after this?"
Of course there was more.
"What, you don't like it? Or are the Empire's so-called great nobles going to quit right here? And you commoners—you're still elites who made it into Attelina. Quitting now?"
"““……”””
Anger lit in their eyes at my words. If I hadn't been Ashtar, if I hadn't been the Taesa, if I hadn't been the Saintess, they would absolutely have jumped me.
In the end the students, armed with nowhere left to put their rage, got back on their feet.
The three sisters were sitting this one out for now.
"All right, next up is our professor."
"Who? Don't tell me—"
Croissant seemed to know. Yes. Exactly that "don't tell me."
"Allow me to introduce the next opponent you will face: platinum-rank adventurer, Dragon Slayer, Professor Galedo. Everyone, applause."
I clapped. Professor Galedo entered through the door with a shy smile.
"Are you insane? You want us to fight that monster?"
"That's right! We're not idiots either! A few years ago he came to our territory for a monster subjugation and took out an entire army's worth by himself!"
Ah. So that had gotten out. If only they'd been brainless enough not to know, they would have fought him in ignorance. This was a problem.
"So you're saying you can't?"
"That's—"
"You're quitting here?"
I mocked the students for all I was worth. Mocked their pride and their houses. Strength returned to Croissant's eyes, and the other students boiled with heat.
"Don't worry. I plan to show you a little mercy. This professor—and Olivia—aren't demons."
"Then is there a condition for us to win?"
"Just once. Land a hand on the professor's body."
Landing a clean hit. That was their job.
"In other words, to the point where we can land a valid strike?"
"Yes."
"And what will Miss Olivia be doing in the meantime?"
Me? What did they think I was going to do?
"Play around, of course."
"We're killing ourselves like this and you're going to play alone?"
"Then get stronger, yeah?"
The students' faces aged ten years on the spot.
"Aaaaaaagh! Somebody help!"
"You brats. Is this all you've got?"
One day left. This should be enough.
Leaving them alone for a day was fine on purpose. I could always heal them afterward.
I'd set Habel's Hourglass to something reasonable and step outside for a bit. There seemed to be more than one or two bastards targeting this place. So that was why Rian had cooperated with me—probably so I'd help them take out the anti-imperialists.
"Yeah. For example, bastards like that one."
A knight outside the training ground, watching this direction. What the hell was he doing here?
"What are you doing here?"
I casually spoke up. The knight startled.
"Pardon? Ah. Um. Ah. Guarding this place is our duty!"
Duty, he said. Not guarding—surveillance was the real job, no doubt. He looked exactly like the type who would call me a rebel.
So what was I supposed to do about him?
No real reason to pin them down here. From the look of it they were just loitering nearby, and they certainly never imagined we'd be training in a dining hall. Better to play dumb and let it slide so they wouldn't get suspicious and pull out.
"Ah, is that so?"
"Yes! If there's anything inconvenient, please just say the word and I'll do whatever I can!"
Anything inconvenient. Looking at his face, he seemed to want something from me—or else to lower my guard. Whatever he was thinking, it wasn't necessarily bad.
I shook my head. Better not ask for anything here and just move on.
"Well, if that's the case, then yes. Keep up the good work."
"Pardon?"
"No, I just said keep up the good work. I don't particularly care either way."
"Ah... ah, y-yes."
I really wouldn't care. Do your best.
"Ah, but about that."
"Yes?"
"You're a knight, are you?"
"Yes. Youngest son of the Fram family from the Plant noble territory."
Youngest son of the Fram family. Obviously some bought noble title. The angle was clear. He was lying—that much was obvious.
Then maybe I could needle him a little.
"Ahaha. How fortunate. Then—"
"Yes?"
Time for a little arrogant, rotten noble to take over. I put on the fox-like smile Croissant sometimes wore.
"Well, you know how they say anti-imperialists have been running around lately?"
"Ah. A-a-ah, yes. I've heard."
Feeling guilty? His voice was shaking.
All right, let's jab a little harder before I go.
"All of them lowborn trash without a single coin to their name, yet so full of themselves, don't you think?"
The atmosphere was clearly getting heavier. The knight looked thoroughly uncomfortable with my words. The way he frowned was plain as day.
"What do you mean by—"
If he asked what I meant, it was only natural to answer.
"I'm just saying what's true. Look at Attelina alone—it's overflowing with commoners of outstanding ability. Yet those people put in no effort, just curse the Empire and start anti-imperial movements. How pathetic is that? You're a knight, so you understand, don't you?"
"Ah... yes."
The idiot knight forced his frowning face smooth again.
"Please protect the Attelina students well from those morons."
"M-morons? Even so, as a noble aren't you supposed to set an example?"
Look at that. Couldn't control his emotions? Couldn't even keep the act together?