29 – Nameless Emotion (Iria Orlando)

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“What is with that teacher!?”

A disgruntled male student’s voice echoed through the classroom, and Iria furrowed her brows slightly.

“Once again, he lets us do nothing but swing. What is the point of that kind of training?”

“Exactly. And he acts so important in spite of being a commoner.”

“He isn’t just a commoner, I heard that he was born in the countryside, and doesn’t even know who his parents are.”

The subject of conversation in one corner of the classroom…was Yukito.
Two weeks had passed since his arrival, and yet the sword training lessons continued to be swinging and nothing else.
And he made them do it until they were exhausted both physically and mentally, which caused the students to become quite disgruntled.

However, in spite of their grumbling, none of them had the courage to confront him about it.

Because they understood.
That Yukito was overwhelmingly stronger than them.
—Or rather, they had been made to understand.
With just one swing during their first lesson, he had stunned them all.

(Those poor idiots.)

To Iria, the current situation was not an ideal one.
When she had started to learn under Yukito, he had also made her swing for a long time. And she understood the reason now. She did not have the basics down.

However, she had surpassed that and had learned various techniques and principles from him.
It had all been for her benefit.
It wasn’t just how to swing a sword, but controlling distance, strategy, and training involving different kinds of possibilities in terms of enemies. A lot of it were things she would not have thought of on her own.

Right now, the reason that the class was only learning how to swing, was because the majority of students had not reached the necessary level yet.

(I’m the one who would like to receive more advanced training…)

Her private lessons with Yukito had ended.
If she were being honest, she would have liked for them to continue. But if she trained both at the academy and at home, he would have less time for his own training.
Besides, she was still in his class at the academy, so it wasn’t like she couldn’t learn from him at all.

—That was what she had thought. However, she wondered how long it would take until they got to the more advanced lessons.

It was just around the time that she started to think about giving them a piece of her mind.

“Enough already.”

A low voice cut through the grumbling.

“Eugnor…you…”

“The reason we aren’t allowed to do anything else is because we are not ready yet.”

“What! But I’m a student of the Oirel Cassandra style!?”

The Cassandra style was a sword style that was most popular amongst nobles of the empire.
However, due to it spreading so far and wide, the local schools started to claim that theirs was the Cassandra style. Though, this was also an effect of forcing the concept of ‘school styles,’ when it wasn’t originally an imperial way of thinking. It was really just another way of referring to the royal court’s sword style.

As for Oirel, it was quite famous.
Though, as a fellow classmate, Iria was not impressed with this particular student’s skills.

“Surely you all recognize that he is no ordinary swordsman? If you don’t agree, instead of whining about it in the classroom, you should go and challenge him to a duel.”

At this, everyone became silent.

Sigurd Eugnor wasa the oldest son of a marquis. And as far as his skill with a sword, he was in the top two.
If it was before she met Teacher Yukito, she probably would have lost to Eugnor.
And so his words carried a lot of weight.

“If he tells us to practice our swings, then that is what I’ll do. Whether it is meaningful or not.”

Eugnor said as he turned his back to them.
Behind him, the other students clicked their tongues and left the room.

“Orlando. Do you have a minute?”

“Huh? What?”

Sigurd Eugnor suddenly called to her. She nodded back.

“I heard that you are personally acquainted with Teacher Yukito. Is that true?”

“…Well, yes…”

“I see…”

He put a hand to his mouth as if indecisive.

“Would it be possible for you to introduce me to him?”

He said, much to her confusion.

“Introduce you…”

“While I am completely inadequate and can do nothing but practice swinging, there are a few things I would like to ask him, if I can.”

“Then why don’t you just ask him?”

“…He might think that it’s rude?”

“I doubt that. He will likely agree to help you. He is our teacher, after all.”

Sigurd Eugnor’s eyes widened as if surprised, and Iria chuckled.
Yukito was not the kind of person to make a big deal out of such things. If anything, he was probably troubled over how he could relate to the students more.
And he was looked up to like some kind of saint. It was amusing, and she could not help but laugh.

“I see… Perhaps you are right. After all, he seems to be passionately teaching someone who is not even one of his students…”

“…What?”

In one of the training areas in the Academy.
Yukito was wielding a spear in front of a girl who was enveloped in fire.

“You’re still too slow! Watch your opponent and focus on how they move! Don’t let them get too close!”

Not only that, but he was giving a lecture.
I could not believe my eyes. I was stunned, and could only watch.

‘According to what I heard, he mastered the spear in just three days. And just like that, he was able to fight better than Lilieth, who’s been the best for three years. It’s incredible, damn it.’

‘Why…?’

‘Apparently, she confided in one of the instructors, since she is participating in the Combat Technique Tournament. In the general division, of course. The academy not only allowed it, but actually requested that he help her. Or so I heard.’

I listened to this, stunned.

Are you fine with it? Eugnor asked, but I could not answer him.
I did not understand the emotions that spiraled inside of me. It did not have a name.

And then, as Teacher Yukito was training, our eyes met.

I left immediately, as if running away.

Next Chapter

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Ken yo, kaku katariki ~ Ken to mahō no isekai ni tensei shita noni jitsu wa bunmei ga gendai reberu datta ken