I Was a Sword When I Reincarnated (LN) - Volume 14 - Chapter 4

Chapter 4:

The Magic Academy

“ALL RIGHT. Let me introduce you to everyone.”

“Everyone?”

“We have to get you acquainted with the staff. Wouldn’t want to start rumors of some strange girl wandering the Academy. Come on.”

“Hm.”

Winalene got up and exited the room to give a tour of the place. “We are currently in the teachers’ tower where all the faculty offices and laboratories are located.”

She gave us a brief explanation of how the instructors worked in the Academy. Academy staff got private offices and research facilities, but there was also a large room for everyone to congregate. There, instructors could prepare for their following classes and conduct simple meetings. It sounded like a Japanese teacher’s lounge.

“You know, you’re the first person in Academy history to cause this much of a ruckus on her first day of work.”

“What do you mean?”

“Most people who’re here for an interview would be scared stiff, since they know who I am. What kind of candidate shows up and starts blowing up the courtyard?”

True. Angering Winalene might put more than your career in mortal peril. In that light, what Fran had done was crazy.

“Besides, no one would dare cause trouble if they knew I was around,” she said.

“I see.”

“I usually make candidates wait for an hour before conducting the interview. Some people get upset and leave.”

“You make them wait? Why?”

“If you can’t wait for an hour, you don’t have the patience or fortitude to teach at the Academy.”

Standard fare for interviews on Earth. I’d endured a lot of it when I was job hunting. The anxiety of waiting combined with a high-pressure interview made for a dreadful combination. Sometimes this was an organic result of large-scale interview processes, and sometimes companies deliberately made you wait. Anyone who’d lived in a time where employers have the upper hand knew the feeling.

“There are plenty of impatient nobles who brag about their positions. Being a teacher is no walk in the park. You don’t always get good students—there are plenty of brats in the mix. They’ll eat you alive if you don’t have patience and fortitude. And detachment, I suppose. Some kids will always have mush for brains, but it’s still your duty to try your best with them.”

“Hm?” Fran tilted her head. I also sensed something off about Winalene’s words.

“What? You look confused.”

“Do you even like kids?”

Brats and mush for brains?

There was something about the tone of her voice. Sure, she was saying things the child-pampering Amanda would never say, but there wasn’t any love in Winalene’s words. She really thought of the dumb brats as dumb brats.

She smiled wryly. “My position as headmistress seems to make people misunderstand. And I suppose I can’t blame people for wondering that, seeing as I’ve formed a contract with the spirits and remain bound to the Academy. But no, I don’t hate kids. I like honest, cute, and strong children. Like you.” Winalene winked at her, but her wry smile remained. “I can’t possibly love all children unconditionally, can I?”

Why be headmistress, then?

“Allow an old elf her private reasons. Which reminds me, you know Amanda, don’t you?”

“Hm.”

Winalene had quickly scanned through Fran’s dossier earlier. Amanda definitely would have come up. “Comparing me to her, are you?”

“You two know each other?”

“You didn’t ask her?”

“Hm.”

Winalene chuckled. “I should’ve known. One of her ancestors happens to be my child. I suppose you could call her my descendant.”

Wait, they were blood-related? Amanda didn’t say a word about that.

“Not that she’d mention it. The girl hates me.”

“Why’s that?”

“Questions, questions. Things happened—let’s leave it at that. That said, it does irk her when people say I love children. I suppose it feels like an insult to someone like her, who really loves all children.”

Was that really it? Regardless, I didn’t pry. If she was being this vague, Winalene must’ve really wanted to keep it to herself.

Students started to stare at Fran as we continued on our way.

“Who is that, and why is she with the headmistress?”

“Maybe a noble or something?”

“You know the headmistress doesn’t give a fig for formalities. She’s kicked royalty in the butt before. Literally!”

“Hang on, that’s the headmistress? I’ve never seen her before.”

“Dude, she gave a speech at the entrance ceremony.”

I thought everyone would’ve heard about the incident by now, but the students didn’t recognize Fran. They spoke in hushed tones, but they were loud enough for us to hear. Apparently, some of them didn’t even recognize Winalene.

“My subordinates run most of the day-to-day routine,” she explained. “The only times I meet the students are for sparring matches with the advanced learners and important ceremonies.”

The long and storied Academy had complicated education systems in place to match its intricate defense protocols. By this point, there weren’t many things that Winalene handled personally. As headmistress, she didn’t teach classes, either.

Now that I thought about it, I didn’t think I could remember the face of my principal. At best, all I could recall of my high school principal was his hair. Even if the students were aware that their headmistress was a high elf, few knew what she looked like.

“Besides, students don’t tend to notice me when I’m in plain clothes.” Winalene was wearing a robe which perfectly concealed her executive position. It was made of exquisite material, but you had to look closely to notice. She was also holding back her aura, which was a given—not doing so would cause a real ruckus.

Fran looked at Winalene and gave her an affirmative nod. “Hm. You look real plain.”

“You know, some people might take that the wrong way.”

“Hm?”

She sighed. “The ones without pretensions are always the most annoying.” Winalene shrugged in defeat.

The tour continued. She brought us into a room which was much larger than I expected—at least five times larger than a standard teachers’ lounge. The room housed a hundred people seated at neatly arranged large wood desks. Only half of the desks were occupied, making the effective capacity somewhere between two hundred to two hundred and fifty.

We followed Winalene to an assembly podium where she could see the whole room.

“All right, everyone, listen up!”

She clapped her hands. At once, all eyes were on her.

“This is Fran, an adventurer. She’ll be with us for a while as a special job candidate and prospective short-term transfer student. The wolf next to her is Jet, her familiar. He’s quite smart, and he can change sizes. I hope you’ll get along.”

“Yo.”

“Woof.”

Fran and Jet bowed their heads. The reaction of the faculty was cleanly divided.

Some understood, but most people just seemed confused. The majority of the teachers here couldn’t sense Fran’s strength. Only the ones who looked like former adventurers or the ones dressed as mages showed any sign of detecting anything odd about her. Then again, it wasn’t like a schoolteacher needed combat experience or anything. 

The pudgy man standing closest to us stepped up to represent the faculty. He wore a business suit, looked to be in his fifties, and was a tad out of shape. He didn’t have much mana, either, so he was probably a civilian.

“I understand how she could be a short-term transfer student,” he said. “Her age shouldn’t pose a problem. But special job candidate? How are we to treat her?”

He wasn’t looking down on Fran, but he was clearly confused. A student who was also a teacher was rare even by Academy standards.

“Fran will be an instructor for the advanced and special combat classes.”

“What? She will not be enrolling in those programs?”

“She’s our new dueling instructor.”

Murmurs broke out.

“A dueling instructor…”

“Don’t you have to at least be a D-Rank for that?”

“You need to be a C-Rank to teach the advanced and special combat classes.”

Apparently, the classes Fran would be teaching only accepted the strong, and that applied to both student and teacher. To the regular teachers, Fran didn’t look like she was suitable material.

“Don’t worry. Fran is a B-Rank and a nickname bearer. And I can confidently say that her combat abilities are better than an A-Rank.”

“What?! It must be true if you say so, and yet—”

Winalene chuckled. “I haven’t bled on school grounds in centuries.”

Murmurs turned to loud stirring. Winalene bleeding was a huge shock to everyone present.

“The headmistress has a contract with guardian spirits to protect the Academy, right?”

“Yeah. She’s much stronger while on school grounds.”

“But she managed to hurt the headmistress?! You’ve got to be kidding me.”

Winalene was an undefeated legend to them. The mere thought of her struggling in combat was inconceivable.

Some thought the headmistress was joking, but most believed her…which was why they were glaring at us just then. I didn’t blame them, either. Winalene was the world’s most powerful mage, an immortal high elf. As founder of the Magic Academy, she was a hero with many devotees. Devotees don’t like it when their hero bleeds.

Not knowing what had transpired, the pudgy man seemed shaken. “And…how did that happen?”

“It’s a long story. Suffice to say, I will personally vouch for Fran’s strength.”

“U-understood.”

The man’s gaze was different now. He’d been looking at Fran like a curiosity, a strange girl the headmistress had dragged in. Now there was awe in his eyes. The only reason his awe didn’t turn to fear was Winalene’s guarantee.

“What class will she be in?” he asked.

“Special combat.”

“You are certain?”

“It’s more convenient, since she’ll be teaching there, too. There shouldn’t be a problem with her keeping up. Her magic is also top notch.”

Combat ability wasn’t the only thing necessary to enroll in the special combat class. Students needed to be proficient in magic.

“And her talents are sufficient for a transfer student?”

“To say the least. Frankly, I doubt if she can learn anything in the class. A shame. Fran’s magic proficiency is great enough that I could make her head of a course.”

“What?! But that… She must be very strong!”

The stirring was now a full-blown ruckus. Some of the faculty members barely concealed their shouting. I guess that position was reserved for the truly powerful.

Teacher?

What is it, Fran? Attention getting to you?

Hm? I don’t care about that. I want to learn Spirit Magic.

Fran wasn’t bothered by the faculty’s reaction at all. If anything, she had been thinking about what she wanted to learn as a transfer student.

Sure. You should ask Winalene if there are classes for that.

“Hm. I want to take classes where I can learn Spirit Magic.”

“Oh, right. You were interested in that,” said Winalene. “You can take Spirit Magic as an elective.”

Apart from the special combat curriculum, students were free to take electives for subjects they wanted to learn. Spirit Magic was one such offering.

“It’s not part of special combat?”

“The fundamentals of magic are learned in fundamental courses. But if you want to learn Spirit Magic, you’ll have to take it as an elective.”

“Uh-huh.”

I guess that made sense. You needed to have the potential to learn it, after all.

“But there’s still no guarantee that you’ll be able to learn Spirit Magic,” said Winalene. “It seems that you have a knack for seeing spirits, but that doesn’t mean they’ll get along with you.”

“Really?”

“Yes.”

Each spirit was unique in their personalities and tastes. Contracting with them was a highly individualized process, which was what made Spirit Magic so hard to teach. Non-elves who possessed the talent were rare, and few could unlock the full potential of their power. Spirit Magic was also notorious for its volatility, making it even more impractical.

Making Spirit Magic part of the regular curriculum was impossible. It only made sense that people like Fran would have to take it as an elective.

As an aside, elves who attended the Academy would usually be initiated into the art of Spirit Magic by their respective villages or parents. Coming from a mostly individualistic culture, elves were advised to train to improve beyond the basics in their free time. This meant they didn’t really take Spirit Magic classes at the Academy.

“But you should still take special combat,” continued Winalene. “One of the instructors there is a druid. You should ask them about it.”

“Hm. I’ll take it.”

“Very good. Now, let’s get you signed up.”

I wondered what the classes would be like.

Winalene passed out some magically charged papers to some of the teachers. I guess she wanted to take care of all the transfer student documentation while we were here. I took a peek, and there was something that looked like Fran’s student number as well as documents acknowledging her temporary transfer. The documentation was as necessary for the faculty as it was for the spirits.

“I’d take you to see the instructor offices, but I still have work to do.”

Winalene the headmistress was as busy as could be. It was actually odd that she should be the one showing Fran around. She called a woman to her and instructed her on what to do next.

“H-hello! I’ll be taking over for the headmistress! It’s nice to meet you!”

“Hi.”

And so we left the faculty lounge, led by the woman who would be our tour guide.

“R-right this way!”

“Hm.”

“Woof.”

Our guide was Ines, a dueling instructor like Fran. The woman looked very nervous. Every time she looked at Fran, there was fear in her face. Her abilities put her around D-Rank, but her instincts were still sharp enough to sense Fran’s strength—hence the nerves.

Wouldn’t someone who lacked combat prowess be a better guide? Too late now.

“Th-that is Tower Eight. The advanced class classrooms are on the ground floor.”

The special combat class was currently away, making it a good time for Fran to be shown the classes she would be teaching.

We left the teachers’ tower and walked to one of the course towers which was a little distance away.

As we walked, Ines explained that each tower served a purpose. There was the Research Tower for lecturers, a manatech storage tower, a Living Tower for the staff to unwind, etc. These towers were off-limits for students.

It kind of felt like a gigantic university campus, with dedicated research facilities instead of just classrooms. The tower we were headed to was primarily used by the combat courses for training and simulations.

“Th-the special combat class you’ll be transferring to has its special classrooms here. You’ll be using it quite a lot.”

“Okay.”

Ines’ nerves had calmed down some after talking to Fran for a while. “Now, regarding Advanced Classes…”

As the name suggested, Advanced Classes were where advanced students learned. There were many courses in the Academy, most of them highly specialized. Students not pursuing a specialization belonged to the General Course. Advanced students of the general course studied in Advanced Classes. There was a huge age range within the Academy’s student body, so they’d done away with age grouping.

“Adults and children study together?”

“At times, yes. While there is an age limit, a ten-year age gap is not uncommon here.”

First, students enrolled in the Fundamentals Course to learn magic. Only those who succeeded there would get to go to the next step. Those who failed after a certain number of years would be expelled. The ability to use magic was non-negotiable, for obvious reasons.

Next came the Basics Course, more commonly called the “low-grade” course by students. Students learned subjects unrelated to magic and the basics of using magic in a classroom setting. This took two years.

Pass that without a hitch and you got to the Practical Courses. Congrats, advanced student! You now had access to the General Course, Adventurer Course, Mage Course, Special Combat Course, and even Fire Magic Course and Water Magic Course.

And these weren’t even the most specialized courses.

Once a student committed to a class, they were free to take up activities like clubs and seminars.

Seventy percent of your classes were compulsory within your course, and the remaining thirty percent were electives. Students were also allowed to apply to another course once they graduated from a practical course, making it possible for them to learn a myriad of different courses as long as they had the motivation. I was surprised to hear of students taking ten years to graduate and transfer between courses. Still, the average graduation time of a student was five years.

“Ever since the last special dueling instructor quit, we general instructors have had to cover for them,” said Ines. “We really appreciate your help.”

“There’s a difference between general and special instructors?”

“Yes. Special instructors must showcase overwhelming power. Not anyone can do that.”

There were beings of extraordinary power in this world—beings you could never defeat, no matter how strong you were. The task of a special combat instructor was to teach students how to deal with such creatures without freezing up, so they could escape when a chance presented itself or even work up the courage to negotiate with them. It was a job which required instructors to beat the tar out of their students, which in turn required extraordinary strength.

“I see. Why not have Winalene do it?” Fran wondered.

I agreed. The job description sounded like it would be a perfect fit.

“The headmistress is bad at holding back. Or rather, she’s so strong that even holding back would be too much for the job. A dragon can’t gently lift a puppy with its claws no matter how hard it tries. It’s something like that.”

Although Winalene had never hurt a student by accident, she often went overboard when dealing with bandits. The teachers did all they could to prevent her from sparring with the students. But they’d had no luck finding a suitable candidate for the last few months, so they’d been forced to make do with having the students fight multiple instructors at once or try to damage a heavily armored Winalene.

“The results were mixed, at best. Even if you’re just going to be with us for a short time, we really appreciate your help.”

We were led to a classroom in the back of the first floor where twenty students sat at their desks. “Lidua, may I have a bit of your time?”

“O-of course, Instructor Ines. And this is?”

“I will explain. Lady Fran, this is Lidua, our history teacher. Everyone here is an advanced student.”

“Hm. Got it.”

The students stared at us in disbelief. But they seemed to be more shocked with Ines than Fran.

“D-did Drill Sergeant Ines just call that kid ‘Lady’…?”

“No way. Is that really her?”

“The drill sergeant’s lost her marbles!”

Ines wasn’t acting like her usual self and the students couldn’t believe their eyes.

“Drill sergeant?”

“D-don’t mind them!” Ines snapped. “I can hear you, you know! And I remember your names!”

“Eeek!”

Drill Sergeant Ines, huh?

“Now. This is Lady Fran. She is the special dueling instructor who will be training you runts!”

“Hey.”

“Whaaaaaaat?!”

Another chorus of shouting, but Ines shut them down. Guess this was what she was usually like. “Quiet!”

“…” 

Amazingly, the students hushed up immediately.

“You may not be able to tell, but Lady Fran is the real deal. She starts teaching you tomorrow. Look forward to it.”

“Hm.”

“Woof!”

Fran’s smug look and Jet’s miniature size didn’t inspire confidence. The students didn’t think she was stronger than Ines.

“And this is Jet, her familiar.”

“Nice to meet you.”

“Woof, woof!”

“The pleasure is ours, ma’am!”

The students bowed a greeting. Although they couldn’t read her strength, they could certainly read the room. Any show of doubt would summon the wrath of Hurricane Ines. Still, the senior instructor could tell they didn’t fully believe her.

“Lady Fran, may we trouble you for a demonstration?”

“Hm. Sure.”

Ines probably wanted her to flash the kids with a bit of Intimidate, but Fran had something else in mind. She was still thinking about the students who’d been spooked by her murderous intent earlier.

“Hm.”

Fran No Cast a ball of light and sent it up to the ceiling, attracting the gaze of the class. By the time they looked back down, Fran was nowhere to be seen. Murmurs spread across the classroom. It all happened in the space of a moment.

Then there came a sharp knock from the back of the classroom. The students snapped their heads back to find Fran knocking on the wall while concealing her presence. No one had noticed her standing there. Some of the kids in the back fell out of their seats from sheer surprise.

What she did was simple: she’d distracted the students with light, cut her aura, and quickly moved to the back of the classroom. The students couldn’t figure out what had happened, but it was more than enough to convince them of her abilities. In a real-life battle, they’d be sliced to ribbons by now. Also, the advanced students knew the difficulty of No Cast and Conceal Presence. Any notions about Fran’s lack of ability had been effectively dispelled.

“Looks like you runts can tell how strong Lady Fran is. She starts tomorrow. Let’s get going.”

“Hm.”

“Thanks for your time.”

We went around, doing the same routine five times, and finished our introductions.

Our last stop was the teachers’ lounge. They were just as shocked as the students were. Ugh, come on! Ines must’ve been the leader there too, because they were confused to hear her talk so politely to Fran. 

Dueling instructors aside, the teachers of Combat Fundamentals and Combat Strategy weren’t strong enough to gauge her strength. The Special Combat Class would return tomorrow from their excursion, so Fran’s introduction as a lecturer-student could wait until then.

Our next destination was a set of three towers located in the middle of campus. The other towers were built far apart from each other, but the foundations of these three were connected. Passageways linked their upper floors together as well. Apparently, these towers served as accommodations.

“I will introduce you to the Special Combat Class tomorrow. Can you find the instructor lounge again?”

“Hm. Sure.”

“Oh, and one other thing. I’ve been instructed to show you your quarters in the dorms.”

They even had a dorm ready for her. However—

“Dorm? I’m already staying at an inn.” Fran was enjoying her stay at The Old Evergreen.

“But dorms are much more affordable—though I suppose that isn’t a factor for you, Lady Fran.”

Ines remembered that Fran was a high-rank adventurer. B-Ranks made more money than the average merchant. A single quest could be worth several times Ines’ monthly salary.

“Is it a five-star establishment?”

“Hm? It’s not that expensive.”

Nothing fancy, but very comfortable. There was a spirit inside of it, too, and Fran needed to be with spirits as much as possible for the time being. Staying at the inn could be highly beneficial for anyone studying Spirit Magic. Then again, considering how many more spirits were in the Magic Academy, maybe this was the better option…?

“Ines, are there spirits at the dorm?”

“Huh? Spirits? Hmm…I know there are, but I’ve never seen one.”

“Not even once?”

“You can’t really see lesser and intermediate spirits without Spirit Magic. But spirits of immense power like a greater spirit should be visible to all.”

“Really?”

“That’s what I’ve been told, at any rate.”

True. A ton of people saw the greater spirit Klimt had summoned.

“But the Academy spirits are also very good at concealing themselves. I think they’re harder to see than most for those without Spirit Magic.”

I supposed it would be harder to pick up Spirit Magic here…or would it make for better practice, since Fran would have to try harder to sense them? We knew they were around, after all.

“Hmm.”

“And the dorm is very convenient since it’s right next to your workplace. Food is also provided.”

“Food?”

“Arf?”

That got their attention. It was the most important factor for them.

“Uhh, yes. The menu varies day by day.”

Ines was clearly startled by Fran’s sudden excitement—she’d been disinterested before, but now her eyes were gleaming. Ines told Fran and Jet about their most recent menu selections.

“Breakfast is usually the same, but lunch and dinner vary. You get lots of it, too.”

“Is it good?”

“Arf?”

“The taste? I’m not one to notice…but it’s not bad.”

It wasn’t super tasty, then. Still, Fran was interested in the cafeteria’s cooking.

“I wanna try it. Then I’ll decide.”

“You’ll decide where to stay based on the food?”

“Of course.”

“Woof.”

“I-I see. Then we’ll go to the cafeteria. They should still be serving lunch.”

“Hm.”

The cafeteria was massive, big enough to fit a thousand students. The teachers’ cafeteria was much quieter, though it served the same food.

“You call this cramped?”

“Only because the student cafeteria is ten times bigger, I suppose.”

Still, the teachers’ cafeteria could fit a hundred people. It was neat and pristine, not that Fran or Jet cared about that. For those two, it all hinged on the food.

“Wait here.”

Ines jogged to the counter and talked to a lady wearing an apron. She pointed at us, making it clear that Fran and Jet were the subject of the conversation.

“Today’s menu is beans and ground beef, cheesy baked potatoes, fish pie, and fruits,” said Ines. “Are there any foods you do not prefer?”

“No.”

“I shall return with your order.”

“Make it a large.”

“Very well. They’re willing to prepare Jet’s portion as well. Will a bowl suffice?”

“Hm. Thanks.”

“Woof.”

Ines went and came back with all of the day’s menu items. Fran’s large soup and potatoes were almost twice as much as Ines’s portion. “You can have seconds for soup and potatoes.”

It didn’t look bad, but Fran and Jet seemed ambivalent as soon as they sniffed it.

The food was hastily prepared without much seasoning—one whiff was all they needed to make their choice. Either their noses were insanely keen, or the food was that obviously slapdash.

Sure, there was lots of it, and tons of vegetables for nutritional balance…but it wasn’t much in the flavor department. It was, first and foremost, designed to satisfy the stomachs of starving students.

“Let’s eat.”

“Woof.”

“Munch, munch…”

“Nom, nom…”

Fran’s excitement disappeared after a single bite. She looked as disappointed as a child whose expectations were betrayed. Way sadder than I thought the situation entailed.

How is it? I asked, though I could tell by looking at their faces.

It’s okay…

Woof…

Not bad, but not good. There was lots to eat, but they didn’t want to eat all of it. Academy food was designed to keep you fed and healthy. They made thousands of meals a day, so I guess flavor took a bit of a back seat.

“What do you think?” asked Ines.

“Hm. I’m not staying at the dorms.”

“Woof!”

“I’ll just walk from the inn.”

“V-very well…” Ines looked perplexed at Fran and Jet’s determination to stay at the inn. You could tell from her expression that she could hardly believe they’d made the choice all based on the food.

But hey, food was serious business to these two.

“U-understood,” said Ines. “We shall arrange an Academy Pass for you.”

“Thanks.”

“Woof.”

Ines took us to General Affairs, where Fran got both her student and teacher’s handbooks. Her name was clearly printed on both. Magic probably made things easier, but the process took as much time as a one-day service back on Earth.

“Is there anything else you’d like to see?”

Now that we were finished with visiting the essential locations, we were free to decide our next destination. We asked Ines to take us to some spots which captured our interest.

First stop: the bizarre snowy mountain located smack-dab in the center of the Academy.

“Wow.”

“Bark, bark!”

A gently sloping sheet of white snow stretched before us. It reminded me of a ski resort.

“We conduct winter hikes and the basics of snowy combat here,” said Ines.

“Can I go in?”

“Of course.”

“Come on, Jet.”

“Woof!”

Fran and Jet ran to the snowy field after getting Ines’ permission.

This wasn’t their first encounter with snow. There was snow in the Demon Wolf’s Garden, too. But the fact that everything outside the snowy mountain looked normal made for a strange and exciting sight.

Almost instantly, Fran’s legs were buried up to her knees. The snow was soft and freshly fallen. I’d figured they’d collected the snow in the winter and preserved it, but I wasn’t quite right. That method would’ve made for much harder snow than this. Pile all that old snow on a mountain and you’d get solid ice, kinda like the clumps you got from shoveling the driveway.

Satisfied and covered with snow, Fran and Jet returned to Ines. 

“How did you make this?” Fran asked, sounding exhausted.

“We use Frost Magic to create and maintain it.”

Magic was used to manufacture snow each day. Frozen snow melted into water which would then be converted back to snow. It was something only a school with hundreds of mages could do. Frost Magic was rare, but there was a good number of users if you included the students.

“That said, we can only do it at this time of year,” said Ines.

That is, when the temperature wasn’t too high. In summer, the place would be treated like a regular forested mountain and be used for hiking practice.

We then visited the rest of the locations used for onsite training: the stone mountain, the lake, and the swamp. Most of these spots were maintained and preserved by spirits and mages.

“That’s basically all of the training courses,” declared Ines. “Is there anything else you’d like to see or shall we call it a day?”

“Hm. Where’s Theraclede?”

“I’m sorry, but I have been instructed not to take you to him for the time being. You will be able to see him with the headmistress once things settle down.”

“Well…all right.” That was reasonable. Fran had just attempted to murder him earlier in the day, so she didn’t look super surprised or disappointed. “What about Romeo?”

“That will also be difficult. He is still asleep.”

Romeo had been sickened by Malice, but that probably wasn’t the only reason he was asleep.

“Can I go see him?”

“Um…you see…” Ines seemed evasive. “I’m sorry. I lied about him being asleep. He was already awake by the time you came to the staff lounge.”

“Huh? Why would you lie about something like that?”

“I have been told not to let the two of you meet.”

“Why?”

“He is…afraid of you, Lady Fran.”

When Fran attacked Theraclede and cut a gash into his neck, the students weren’t the only ones hit by her murderous intent. Someone else was harmed, and far more severely: Romeo, the boy whose powers linked him with Theraclede. Winalene had said that hurting one would hurt the other, so when Fran wounded Theraclede…

The realization hit her like a truck. Her jaw dropped. “Is he hurt?”

“Yes. Not to the same extent—only a tenth of the damage went through. But the boy is only three years old…”

A scratch might as well be a scar at that age.

“Is he okay?”

“We quickly healed his wounds, but he seems to know who inflicted it.”

Thus his fear of Fran. Ines knew that if Fran found out she had indirectly hurt Romeo, it would leave her rattled. She’d wanted to keep the information secret, but Fran’s questions had left Ines no choice but to tell the truth. If Ines had lied, Fran would merely ask about seeing him the following day.

“I’ll…be going now,” said Fran.

“Understood.”

Fran’s shoulders were slumped as she walked to the gates. Ines watched with concern—she was the adult here, after all, and Fran was still the child.

“I heard what happened,” said Ines. “You could not have known about Romeo’s circumstances, Lady Fran. Don’t beat yourself up too much.”

“Thanks.” But the gloom didn’t lift from Fran’s countenance. Reason wasn’t much of a consolation when the fact remained that she had nearly killed a three-year-old.

At least he’s okay now. Be grateful for that.

“Hm…”

“Arf.”

“Thanks, Jet.”

Jet went to lick her hand and it cheered her up a little. Still, even Fran’s vengeance was drawing farther away from her. As long as Winalene couldn’t undo Romeo’s contract, Theraclede was basically untouchable. Fran’s rage could kill Romeo.

Winalene was right. It was a dangerous bond indeed.

* * *

“Munch, munch…”

“Nom, nom…”

Night fell, dinner came, and Fran was still gloomy. Not depressed, exactly, but she lacked her usual energy. She was unexcited as she ate. Her spoon moved slowly and she couldn’t focus on her food.

For dinner, we had meat-loaded stew and ankake potatoes, along with three types of bread: black, rye, and butter roll. There was salad with oil-marinated fish, homemade pickled vegetables, and cheese pasta. It was practically a feast, and the taste was top notch. However, Fran was eating it at the same pace as the cafeteria food.

This was unusual, to say the least. Usually, good food would be enough to make her forget all her troubles.

Beside her, Jet looked worried. He matched his eating pace with hers, chewing through his food and stealing glances at his master.

Still thinking about Romeo?

“Hm…” Fran’s countenance darkened at the sound of Romeo’s name. She still felt horrible about hurting him. As much as I told her not to think about it, she couldn’t help herself. Finally, her spoon stopped moving.

The old innkeeper noticed and called out to her. “Something bothering you, young lady?”

“Hm.”

“I won’t pry. But I don’t think brooding is going to fix the situation.”

“Well…”

“We elves have a saying: A sprout is harder to put out than a forest fire.”

“Huh?”

I guess the saying was unique to elves.

“Even if a forest gets burned to ashes,” she explained, “new life grows in its place. Every tragedy has an aftermath, and the aftermath matters. There will always be things you can’t take back, always things that you will lose forever, but you must take them in stride. Life grows on, and so will you.”

You could see why elves, long-lived as they were, would have such a philosophy. Their long lives were bound to be fraught with hardship and pain. Brooding over it all would crush the soul. The best one could do was stop worrying and learn from whatever happened. At least, I think that’s what she was trying to say.

“Hrm?” Fran folded her arms and tilted her head, trying her best to understand. I knew what the innkeeper was talking about, but I doubt if Fran did. It was a difficult concept for a thirteen-year-old.

“It…doesn’t seem like you get it quite yet,” said the innkeeper. “Even we elves only truly understand this truth as we age.”

“I’m sorry…”

“I’m the one who should apologize. I didn’t mean to preach at you. But would you mind one more piece of advice?”

“Hm.”

“Food is only good when you have the sense to focus on it.”

“Oh! True.”

The innkeeper had said what she could to console her, but this one really hit home. It resonated with Fran. They looked at each other and nodded.

“I’m being rude to the food if I’m thinking of something else while I’m eating!” said Fran.

“That’s what I’m talking about.”

“Hm.” Fran began eating with her heart and soul. It wasn’t perfect, but she was already looking much better. A faint smile graced her face, and I hoped her usual energy would soon return.

Suddenly, Fran’s hands stopped. Had she just been putting up a facade? But the innkeeper stopped what she was doing, too, and they both stared at a particular spot in the room.

“Oh? What’s wrong?”

“Um…spirit?”

Apparently, the spirit of the old tree was standing (floating?) near the doorway where Fran and the innkeeper were looking.

The innkeeper noticed Fran’s gaze and her eyes widened. “Can you see them, too?”

“There’s…something there, right?”

Guess not. But the old woman’s eyes widened and she laughed at Fran’s answer. “Ho ho ho. The spirit must really like you.”

“What do you mean?”

“Even if you had potential, the spirit wouldn’t let you see them if they hated you. Yes, the spirit is watching you, and they are concerned that you are in low spirits.”

“Oh!”

“There have been times where they ejected guests they didn’t like, but it’s been decades since they opened up to a non-elf.”

“Opened up?”

“Yes. They seem worried about you.”

Fran’s eyes widened at that. We’d only stayed for a night. I assumed the spirit must have been swayed by Fran’s sheer cuteness. I could see it happening. Fran was so cute that even spirits fawned over her. “But I haven’t done anything.”

“The spirit likes pure and kindhearted people.”

Or maybe it wasn’t her cuteness. I didn’t understand why the spirit was so interested in Fran, but they must be quite sensitive if they could sense Fran’s purity. Not that I could see them myself. 

Fran activated her detection Skills to try and catch a glimpse of the spirit, but she only looked confused.

What’s up?

I can’t sense them, even with all my Skills.

Still nothing. Seeing her do that, the old woman gave Fran a piece of advice.

“You can’t see them through ordinary means.”

“No?”

“You’ll need either Spirit Magic or Spirit Sight to see invisible spirits. If you have the potential for these Skills, the most you can do at the moment is feel them.”

We just needed something to fully develop the Skill. The fact that Fran even sensed them meant there was a Skill to develop. But this was something that elves didn’t know how to teach, since they could see spirits from when they were born.

“Spirit?” Fran called out to the location where she thought the spirit was.

“…” 

Predictably enough, no answer came.

The old innkeeper smiled. “That’s good to know, Master Spirit.”

“What did they do?”

“They were happy and wished you well.”

“Wished me well?”

“They gave you a power to exorcise evil, though it is only temporary.”

“Wow. Thanks, Spirit.”

“On a whim, they have returned to the tree. But they are always listening.”

“Oh.” Fran cast her gaze where she thought the spirit had been. She had felt their presence for a split second, but it was impossible for her to follow their movements. The spirit might have been intensifying their presence so Fran could feel them.

“They’ll be back. They’ve done so much for you already.”

“Can’t wait.” At this rate, Fran might pick up Spirit Magic just by staying at the inn.

The next day, Fran and Jet were walking to their first day of Magic Academy.

You didn’t feel the spirit anymore after yesterday?

“Hm.”

The spirit might have been satisfied with their brief interaction at dinner last night. Fran hadn’t so much as stirred when she fell asleep.

How’s movement in that thing?

“Not a problem.”

The outfit does a lot of damage for sure, but do you like it?

“Hm? It’s low defense but easy to move in. Don’t think it increases damage, though.”

It’s a figure of speech. I mean it looks cute and pretty.

“Huh?”

Well, it wasn’t like I’d expected Fran to start crooning about how cute she looked. 

Her current outfit was her brand-new Magic Academy uniform. Special combat training aside, she’d have to wear this for her lessons in the classroom. In a school as big as this, you needed to have a way to quickly tell students apart. The mammoth school sold uniforms in all sizes and they could be bought right on campus. 

Fran got a standard uniform for free as part of her instructor package. The clothes were lined on the inside with expensive fabric, probably the same used by nobles. As for the special combat uniform, it had the navy-blue emblem emblazoned on the shoulder and chest of the blazer, along with a white-striped red necktie. The skirt was a checkered pattern of dark blue and white.

The rest of the uniform was student’s choice, so I picked out a white shirt and gray sweater vest along with white socks and black loafers.

Yes, this was very much my thing. No, I don’t have a problem. I could’ve gone with something more fantastical like a cloak or a robe to go over the rest of her clothes…but I decided to stick to my Earthling roots. Especially when it better highlighted Fran’s prettiness!

Still, I wasn’t expecting an Earth ensemble to work so well in this other world. Ultimately, the uniform didn’t look too different from one you’d find on Earth. Maybe there was some grand, multi-dimensional schoolgirl archetype? Anyway, she looked cute!

You would’ve been perfect with high pigtails…

It was so close to perfect, but Fran’s ultimate cat ears got in the way of the ultimate hairstyle! I compromised and went with low pigtails instead, which still looked gorgeous.

“Teacher?”

What is it, Fran?

“Why did you shrink yourself?”

Well, it would look weird if you slung me over your back.

“Huh?”

I wasn’t about to ruin the delicate balance of Fran’s blazer by having her stick an undignified sword on her back, so I shrunk myself to the size of a dagger and hung myself inside her blazer. Nowadays, I could maintain my transmogrified shape for long periods of time. The length of a school day wouldn’t be a problem.

All she needed now was a schoolbag, but schoolbags were far too impractical. They’d just get in the way since we already had Pocket Dimension. Still, only that final piece could complete the look! Maybe I could have Fran carry one, anyway. But—

“Teacher…? You’re acting weird again.”

Fran was staring at me with the same blank eyes she’d had when we went shopping for her uniform the other day. Were my ulterior motives bubbling to the surface?

Ha. Ha ha ha. What are you talking about, Fran? I’m not being weird at all.

“You just are.”

Ugh… Anyway, look! We made it to the gates.

“Ah. Hm…”

Phew. I think that distracted her.

Get your handbook ready.

“Okay.”

The guard would let us inside once he saw her teacher’s handbook, so…

“Hang on there, little miss!”

“Hm?”

“Arf?”

That was what I’d expected, but the guard stopped her as she was passing through the gate. Unlike the quiet middle-aged man posted at the back door, this security guard was more tense, probably from a lifetime of adventuring.

He approached Fran, slightly concerned. “You’re a student, right?”

“Hm.”

“But you have a teacher’s handbook with you.”

“Hm.”

“Huh?”

“Hm?”

He thought it was very suspicious for a student like Fran to have a teacher’s handbook. “And yet the spirits aren’t responding. Wait…cat ears. Wolf familiar? Oh! May I have your name, little miss?”

“Fran.”

“Knew it. Sorry for slowing you down, Ma’am. They told me you were coming, but I needed to make sure.”

“Hm.”

“Woof.”

Either handbook would’ve sufficed, but we should’ve been clearer about it. It was our first time through, after all. Honestly, probably would’ve been easier to just show him Fran’s student handbook.

“Do you know the layout of the school?” he asked. “It’s your first day at work, right?”

“I’ll be fine.”

We had already confirmed where we needed to be.

Fran left the guard and continued walking, but she soon tilted her head.

“Hm?”

What is it, Fran?

“I’m being watched,” Fran whispered, and she was right. The students around her were staring. I thought they recognized her from the incident yesterday, but there was no fear in their eyes. It wasn’t completely void of ill intent, either, but most of it was just jealousy and irritation.

“Who’s that cutie?”

“S-she’s so adorable…!”

“Excuse me! You wanna quit staring?!”

All eyes were on the mysterious beauty.

Hah! But of course they would be! Fran’s new uniform took her cuteness to a whole new level. The rest of the students couldn’t keep their eyes off her.

Rejoice, boys! She is the ultimate mysterious transfer student! I’ll forgive you for crushing on Fran, but don’t think I’ll let you go out with her! You’ll need to clear a hundred trials and defeat me before I even consider considering it!

But it was only a matter of time before they found out the mysterious transfer student was also the new drill sergeant…

While Fran was used to the hostility and derision of adventurers, this was new territory for her. She was quite bothered by it.

Ignore them for now. You might have to get used to it, though—people might look at you like this for our whole stay.

“Okay.”

In any case, I made a mental note of all the boys ogling her.

Amidst the staring, Fran walked quickly through the Academy. She was heading to the dueling instructors’ lounge from the previous day.

The gazes changed as she got closer. Students to whom she’d been introduced were getting closer. Their stares were less curious and more tinted with fear and awe.

Although the intensity in the air was even greater with these students than with the oglers, Fran was much calmer. She was more used to this sort of thing. Her time with adventurers had taught her a lot.

She made it through the stare gauntlet and to her destination without a hitch. Honestly, I was expecting some annoying noble to come up to her, or a cocksure genius, or an arrogant teacher. And I was ready for Fran to blow them all out of the water. This was Fran we were talking about, after all.

But there were no weirdos in this spirit-watched Academy.

The door rattled open.

“Morning.”

“Good morning, Lady Fran. I see you are in uniform today.”

“Hm.”

The prep lounge was smaller than the staff lounge. The windows were smaller and the room didn’t get adequate ventilation. There were ten adults, all wearing adventuring leather armor. They were dueling instructors, wearing their usual work getups.

The muscular ex-adventurers gave the already cramped room a stuffy atmosphere. I lacked a nose, but it felt like I could somehow smell their sweat. It was kind of like being in a gym.

Ines got up to fetch Fran. Having been introduced to her yesterday, the rest of the instructors also got up to salute her. It just made the room even stuffier than before.

“I’ll lead you to the special combat class.”

“Okay.”

“Right this way.”

She took us to a classroom on the second floor of one of the three towers.

The room looked like any other average classroom. Inside were twenty nervous students. They knew that Fran was coming. Those with ears especially close to the ground knew that they’d be visited by a beautiful instructor-student.

But there was nothing notable about them, aside from their anxiety. No intimidation from the other side of the door to scare us away. No mana scrambling to rattle us. No inhuman mana or Malice. It really was just an ordinary classroom of ordinary boys and girls.

I’d thought they would be something special, considering this was called the Special Combat Class…but why? They were still students, and Fran was overwhelmingly more powerful than them. In fact, I should have tempered my expectations even more. After all, Ines had said she could take several of them at once. They might be strong for students, but they were still just that: students.

The name “Special Combat Class” evoked images of freaks with super rare Skills, every last one of them a problem child. Real light novel protagonist energy.

“We’re supposed to be dueling today,” said Ines, “but we’ll take some time to introduce you to the students. They might have questions, but feel free to ignore the ones you do not wish to answer.”

“Okay.”

“Let’s go.”

“Hm.”

The students saw Ines coming through the frosted glass and quieted down. Their eyes immediately fixed on Fran as she followed Ines into the classroom.

“She really is a child…”

“S-she’s so pretty! I’m losin’ my cool, man!”

“So Caro was telling the truth!”

I’d thought they would’ve asked the other classes about Fran, but I guess they hadn’t had the chance to yet.

“So it is you! I knew it!” Within the noisy classroom, one of the students suddenly stood up. We were just as surprised as she was.

“Carona?”

“Y-yes! You remembered me.”

“Hm.”

Before us was Carona—she of the blonde drills and exposed forehead. Apparently, she was also in Special Combat, and she had told her classmates about her encounter with Fran.

It probably went something like this. The students heard about the lecturer-student from the other classes → Carona gathered from the information that it was Fran → Carona told her classmates about her. Her classmates hadn’t fully believed her, though. A Black Cat girl who turned out to be a super powerful adventurer and who was on friendly terms with the Guildmaster? It sounded fake.

But unless there was a conspiracy between Carona, the other classes, and Ines, they were compelled to believe that the little Black Cat at the front of the classroom was their new special combat dueling instructor. And she was every bit as strong as everyone said she was.

“You know her, Lady Fran?” asked Ines.

“We talked a bit at the Adventurers’ Guild.”

“I see. Quiet down, all of you!”

Ines was as effective as ever—

“…”

—and all of the students shut their mouths.

“Allow me to introduce Lady Fran, our new special dueling instructor! Lady Fran is a B-Rank adventurer, but her abilities are comparable to an A-Rank! The headmistress has personally vouched for her. She is also a nickname bearer. I’m sure you’ve all heard of the Black Lightning Princess.”

Most of the class nodded their heads. They weren’t faking it to satisfy Ines. They really had heard of Fran’s exploits.

“Looks like you’ve done your homework. If you hadn’t, I would’ve given you a one-hour lecture on the importance of gathering intel.”

They really were being trained as adventurers. But considering Carona hadn’t recognized Fran at first, was that any use? If nothing else, she must have known her name, race, and nickname. No…information wasn’t enough. You needed strength and perception to figure out someone’s identity.

Ines would know that, too. Regardless, the students needed to be taught the importance of information gathering.

“Are there any questions for Lady Fran before we begin?”

If this were Earth, this would be the part where the mysterious transfer student would be hounded with questions…mostly about whether she had a boyfriend and her taste in men.

There was no such silliness here. Fran was their instructor and a high-rank adventurer. The class didn’t want to risk upsetting her by asking careless questions, and thus remained silent…but they also knew that it was rude not to ask questions. They were caught in a bind.

The students looked at each other. A strange tension hung in the air.

Finally, Blonde Drills broke the silence. “Y-yes!”

“Carona? Go ahead.”

“Miss Fran, since you will be acting as both teacher and student, how will the arrangement work?”

“I’ll answer that question,” said Ines. “She will be treated as a special combat student for the most part, but she will act as an instructor during special combat, advanced classes, and several other classes.”

“Understood. Thank you.”

We had been informed of this arrangement before. When Fran wasn’t teaching classes, she would be a regular student.

But Fran didn’t have a credit quota to hit, so she could sit out most of her classes. It wasn’t like she needed them. The Academy offered Trap Dismantling and Goblin Disassembly, among other useful adventuring subjects, but Fran had mastered those a long time ago.

The students asked Fran about what weapons she used and what her go-to spells were, working to gather as much intel as they could before the duel. Whether or not the info would come in handy was a different story.

“Time for us to get moving!” said Ines. “Get to Training Ground Five. I expect everything to be ready by the time Lady Fran and I get there!”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

“Come with me, Lady Fran. We’ll use the instructors’ locker room today. Feel free to use whichever one you want tomorrow.”

“All right.”

Fran changed into her usual gear and headed for the training grounds. Unfortunately, her hair was back to normal. She found the pigtails awkward to move in. Pour one out for those pigtails, man.

The grounds were located some distance away from the three towers. It was a big empty field which, when stretched enough, looked like it could fit a Tokyo Dome or two.

The special combat students were waiting for us on the battlefield, each geared up for the occasion. Their gear was similar to what Carona had worn at the guild: leather and metal armor with a cloak or robe bearing the Academy emblem over it.

They stood in formation, exhibiting their level of preparation. Seeing that no one was talking, Ines gave a satisfactory nod.

“Lady Fran will now give you a demonstration of her powers!”

Newly appointed instructors were expected to prove their strength to the students by showcasing it.

“What do you usually do?”

“Mostly we attack training dummies with magic and weapon arts.”

Sometimes they would spar with one of the other instructors. They were also free to use large-scale spells in the wide-open space.

“I see.”

The class was watching us with great interest, partly to gauge what we were going to do and partly just due to excitement. With everything they already knew about Fran, we had to give them a show that wouldn’t leave them disappointed.

“I can use Earth Magic to make targets for you.”

What do we do, Teacher?

Let me think.

First impressions were crucial here. The more extravagant, the better. Couldn’t have the kids thinking Fran wasn’t as tough as the stories made her out to be. Time to give them a show.

“Whenever you’re ready, Lady Fran.”

“We look forward to your demonstration, Ma’am!”

“Okay.” Fran walked onto the grounds. We were ready to blow their socks off.

Let’s start with this.

“Hm!”

Our first order of business was to make a target. Fran stretched out her hands over the ground and cast a spell on it.

Shouts soon erupted from the students as the ground beneath their feet shook and rumbled. Suddenly, a fifteen-meter earthen spire shot from the turf.

“H-hang on, that’s definitely land magic.”

“The Black Lightning Princess doesn’t just use thunder magic?!”

“Maybe she’s a mage and not a swordsman.”

Most of the students thought that she was a swordsman who happened to be able to use thunder magic. She was dressed like a swordsman, after all, and beastmen were known to be weak at magic.

The class realized the extent of her magical strength when she used land magic.

But Fran was just getting started. “Awaken. Flashing Thunderclap.”

“Whoa! I’ve never seen black lightning before!”

“Eeep!”

“Such mana…and she’s still a child…”

The faces of the students paled when Fran cloaked herself in black lightning. They were only talking to help themselves cope.

This might’ve been enough to demonstrate her might to everyone, but we were barely getting started.

Follow my lead, Teacher.

Of course!

“Haaa!”

We’ll show them something they won’t forget!

We started with a flurry of Thunderbolts—two from Fran, four from me. Six bolts of lightning crashed into the spire, leaving a gaping hole. They weren’t enough to destroy it, but it sure looked good and sounded loud.

“Next!”

On it!

Thunderbolt was just the appetizer. Now, Fran and I simultaneously cast Thor’s Hammer. Several magic circles appeared in the air, and thick columns of lightning struck through them. Our hammers merged together and engulfed the earthen spire.

The class braced themselves as the cacophony of wind, thunder, and light assaulted them. Some screamed and closed their eyes, but at least no one was physically blown back.

About twenty seconds later, the students opened their eyes and were greeted with a sorry-looking spire.

“Ha…ha ha…”

“She did that with one cast?”

“That wasn’t a grand spell, right?”

The earthen spire was smoldering, its face a puddle of molten rock. Parts of it had evaporated. The rest had broken away. It was an unbelievable display of magic for the class. All they could do was laugh as their faces got paler.

But Fran wasn’t finished yet.

The kids looked around, realizing that she had disappeared. They sensed an accumulation of mana overhead. That was when they spotted Fran in the air. Everyone strained their necks to get a look at her.

“We’ll finish it with this.”

Go for it.

“Hm!” Fran unleashed a fully charged Pressurized Quickdraw. To give the students a full picture of her abilities, we had to show off her swordplay, too.

Her sword struck so quickly that the students could barely see the flash.

The earthen spire was cut cleanly. It fell to the ground with a thud.

The students could only watch in silence. It was all so amazing that they couldn’t even grasp how amazing it was. If you asked them about it, they’d probably say something generic—something like “it was beyond crazy!”

“Phew.”

Good job.

“Hm.”

I teleported us back to our starting position to conclude—or we’d planned to conclude, until a certain someone complained.

“Bark, bark!”

“Hm? You wanna show off, too, Jet?”

“Arf!” Apparently, Jet had wanted a part of the action. His tail drooped when he saw the ruins of the earthen spire.

“You sure?”

“Woof!”

Indulging Jet’s desires, Fran took to the skies again. She maintained her height with Air Hop and cast two spells.

The first was a land spell that created a five-meter slab. She cast a light spell over it, creating a light source that cast a shadow beneath the slab.

“Awooo!” Jet howled, summoning a jet-black circle ten meters in diameter from Fran’s shadow. This was the Bottomless Shadow, a spell that created a horrible shadow field which swallowed everything in it.

It had plenty of weaknesses, however. For one, it wouldn’t work without shadows. Also, it was slow in swallowing its victims, making escape relatively easy. It was hard to control, rendering Jet immobile for its duration. And even though it had “bottomless” right there in the name, there was a limit to how many objects it could suck in. On top of that, objects swallowed could not be retrieved, potentially annihilating valuable materials and crystals. Finally, it consumed a huge amount of mana.

The spell looked impressive, but it was actually highly impractical. It was absolutely unusable in high-speed combat. Really, it could only lock down enemy movement for a short time. It could help with slow enemies, work well at night…or take out the trash, like we were using it for now.

The shadow field gobbled up the remains of the earthen spire, swallowing every trace into its bottomless pit. A minute later, nothing remained.

The grounds were just as they had been when we’d arrived.

The students stared slack-jawed when they saw that Jet was as much of an outlier as Fran was.

After a few moments of silence, Ines rushed to our side, her face feverishly flushed.

“Th-that was spectacular, Lady Fran! I’ve never seen such magic and swordplay before in my life! You have my deepest gratitude! Jet’s magic was spectacular too!” 

Her voice rose a few octaves as she heaped praise on Fran and Jet, thrilled by Fran’s display of power. She was gushing, even though she already knew about Fran’s power. As for the students, they were downright stunned into silence.

But this wasn’t the end of the day’s lesson.

According to the schedule Ines had laid out, the class would spar with Fran after her demonstration. She’d requested the practice match be a painful one for the students.

The guardian spirits would not object to this. Injuries incurred during classes didn’t trigger their alarms. As long as there was no malice involved and no real attempt to murder students, physical violence was allowed. The only exception to this was violence outside of classes, or violence where the perpetrator was just a student.

Would the class be able to duel Fran in their current state, though? Maybe they needed a break. They looked physically and mentally exhausted from sheer shock.

That was when Ines showed us why they called her a drill sergeant.

“I would like to proceed with the sparring match as scheduled. Will that be all right?”

Things would continue as planned, but she looked a little worried about Fran.

“How long will you need to rest?” asked Ines.

“Rest?”

“Yes. Will thirty minutes be enough? We have stamina potions and mana potions as well.” She thought Fran would have to rest after casting all that powerful magic. With the kind of mana she had spent, a break was to be expected. It was several mages’ worth of mana.

But Fran shook her head with a cool expression on her face. “I’m perfectly fine.”

“I-I see…yes, I can see you’ve already stopped sweating. Amazing…”

Ines was genuinely surprised to see that Fran didn’t need a break. It hit her again how much of an outlier she was. You could see the admiration growing in her eyes. I half-expected her to start calling Fran “Boss.”

“Then we shall proceed with sparring.”

“Okay.”

The students started shouting, their faces turning pale. We might have gone a bit overboard. Still, the role of a special combat instructor was to teach students to overcome fear in the face of the strong. If anything, this would be good for them.

Ines quietly cast her gaze on the students. “All students, prepare for battle!” she declared.

“A-all of us?” a boy stammered.

“Did I stutter?” Ines chided. “Aren’t you paying attention?”

“S-sorry, Ma’am! All of us it is!”

With that, the rest of the class entered the grounds without complaint and formed a circle. Their fear of Fran had undercut their fear of Ines. They still looked pale, but they could still move their feet.

The class split into parties of five to six, all of which would cooperate with each other, and began to talk tactics.

“Very good,” said Ines. “They are in your hands, Lady Fran. And don’t worry about injuring them. Our nursing teacher Dedden will patch them up.”

Dedden nodded. “Yep, the name’s Dedden! I’m an expert in Recovery Magic so I can reattach a missing arm or two or three. The kids will finish the class in one piece!”

“All right,” said Fran with a nonchalant nod that really freaked out the kids.

Three arms? I guess she just meant she could take care of a lot of people. But now the class was probably seeing visions of dismemberment in their near future. I mean, the odds weren’t low.

“You may begin!”

With that, the sparring match got off to a rather quiet start. The frontliners were armed with swords and shields. They didn’t move a muscle. I thought they were planning to jump us, but it turned out they were waiting for the backline’s support spells. The buffs increased their physical and magical defenses in an effort to guard against Fran’s magic.

Was it just a precaution against getting one-shot? They’d be wiped out with an area-of-effect move if they stood there when a battle began. And even with their increased defense, would they be able to react in time? Increasing one’s defense wasn’t a bad option against fast opponents, but it only worked if you could see what your opponent was doing. If they were too fast to see, strengthening your defense was a waste of time. 

I suppose you could focus on counterattacking if you had Gaudartha-levels of defense. But at the students’ magical skill level, it was pretty pointless.

Still, it was a sparring match, so it wasn’t a terrible strategy. We weren’t about to use the abilities from our demonstration in the sparring match because, uh, we didn’t want the class to instantly die. We’d dodge and heal as best we could, but holding back our attacks was a necessity in this setting.

The students were prepared for this and concluded that a little extra defense wouldn’t hurt.

But didn’t that fly in the face of the exercise? I thought we were simulating a real live battle. Was it legitimate to game a realistic simulation to the students’ advantage? At least they did their intel homework, but…

As for Ines, she looked outright angry. This behavior was unacceptable.

“Lady Fran, give them a dose of despair,” she said. “Feel free to crush their spirits while you’re at it.”

“Okay.”

And here I’d been thinking we’d go easy on them. Ines wanted the exact opposite.

Fran nodded and stepped into the grounds. The students remained fixed in place. They’d thrown the idea of area-of-effect spells out the window, choosing to simply hold their ground. The frontline would slow Fran’s approach while the backline pelted her with attacks. A cliche maneuver.

With bloodshot eyes, the students watched Fran approach. Their spells were cast and their bows were drawn. Whatever Fran did, they were ready to react. Their expressions brimmed with fear, but deep beneath that fear was a touch of motivation.

The purpose of this lesson was to get students used to overwhelmingly powerful opponents so they could escape if they encountered one in real life. I felt a bit sorry for them—after all, retreat wasn’t an option that day. But standing their ground to fight would be more beneficial for them in the long run since they’d get used to the taste of despair. If they ever met a freak like Fran in the wild, they’d find it easier to stay composed and get away.

The students understood this; they knew they had no chance of beating Fran after her demonstration. To make matters worse, they didn’t even have a win condition to aim for—nothing like landing a hit on Fran, surviving for ten minutes, or escaping to a designated location. There was only an end condition, and that ending was gonna be a beatdown.

Despite all this, the students were resolved to not go down without a fight. I was impressed.

What should we do?

Anything you want, Fran. I’ll follow your lead.

We could wipe the whole lot of them with an area-of-effect spell, or give them an up close and personal beatdown. Either would work just fine.

Fran scrunched her face and gave it some thought. Was she dissatisfied with the students? After a brief moment, she decided on an approach and continued walking toward the students at her slow pace.

You’re on defense, Teacher.

What’s the plan?

Hm? Straight charge.

When there was only thirty meters left between them, the students made their move. They weren’t about to let the force of Fran’s presence dictate the match.

The backline launched volleys of arrows and spells in unison. The sky filled with elemental attacks, each representing a particular student’s specialty. But even at close range, their aim was all over the place. Only half of them were on track to hit Fran, while the rest spread out around her. Then again, maybe they’d done that on purpose to cover her escape routes. They were thinking their tactics through, for sure.

Normally, one would either escape or defend with a barrier. But Fran chose neither option. She just walked on, watching the volley descend.

She’s going to get hit, the students thought. But instead of celebrating, they were confused. They weren’t expecting the attack to hit at all. They would’ve been pleased if it held off a high-rank adventurer for a few seconds.

Their sudden success had surprised them.

But of course, they were mistaken.

“Hmph!” Fran wasted no time in swinging me. She cut down the arrows and dispersed the spells before resuming her walk.

The students murmured—

“She cut down the arrows?”

“Of course she cut down the arrows, you idiot! Instructor Ines does that all the time! Look at what she did after that!”

“S-she cut through our spells, too.”

“Is it her sword?”

“Her eyes! She only deflected the spells that would hit her!”

Panic ran through the class, but Fran’s steady approach snapped them out of it. They got back to casting their spells and nocking their arrows.

At fifteen meters, the class let loose their second volley. The spells were mostly wind and water this time—difficult elements to discern.

The frontline also moved in at their mark. They planned to attack Fran while she was defending herself. The backline delayed their attacks slightly to force Fran to defend herself for a longer period, giving the front line more time to attack.

As soon as she started deflecting spells and arrows, the frontliners made their move. Four swordsmen attacked her from all four directions while spearmen poked at her from between them. Surrounding the dogpile was a second unit of students watching for an opportunity to exploit.

Everyone coordinated their attacks perfectly and their aim was true. The large party was used to taking down singular monsters together and this was the fruit of their training.

But they weren’t fighting a monster. They were fighting a master swordsman.

“Wh-what?!”

“Impossible!”

“She’s reflecting it?”

Fran walked on, the students’ attacks bouncing off her with every step…or so it appeared to them. Actually, Fran was swinging me so fast that she blocked every attack too quickly for them to see. The class thought she had used some kind of reflect spell.

The same thing happened with the spearmen. Their swords and spears were deflected upward, so that they looked like they were raising their weapons in triumph. Fran wasted no time in exploiting the opening.

“Hm. That’s four.”

“Oorgh!”

“Gah!”

Two collapsed immediately after Fran punched them in the gut. But they were luckier than the two behind them, who got kicks to the solar plexus and were sent flying several meters. The attack wasn’t going to make them faint, either. No, the focus was more on getting them…acquainted with the taste of their gastric juices.

We deliberately kept them awake. That way, the students would be forced to decide whether or not to heal themselves, which would slow them down. The sight and sound of their allies in pain also planted the seeds of fear. There were other reasons, but I’ll keep those to myself for now.

As expected, the second line hesitated and backed off. In that time, Fran finished off the spearmen.

She used Mana Thruster, firing pellets of mana at her enemies. She held back, but getting hit in the gut with them made the spearmen squirm and cry as much as the swordsmen did.

In the space of a few moments, over half of the frontliners were down. The students watched in horror, further opening themselves up to attack. Fran neutralized the rest of the front line with more Mana Thrusters. The whole thing took less than ten seconds.

“F-fire! Fire!”

“We can’t just keep attacking like this…”

“You think we have a choice?!”

“Wait! Don’t waste your ammo!”

Panic spread over the backline. Some fired random spells, some tried to escape, some tried to institute a change of plans.

At ten meters, after realizing that none of their attacks were landing on Fran, half of them began to escape…or rather, to try to escape.

Fran shifted gears and suddenly closed in on the students.

The rest of the battle was one-sided. Although the backliners could handle themselves at close quarters, they were nowhere near as good as the frontliners. Fran gave everyone gut punches, sending them all down.

But although both front and backliners were on the ground, no one was unconscious. All part of the plan.

“Hey…I’m just going to keep hitting you if you keep laying on the ground.”

“Wha—?”

“Huh?”

Question marks popped over the students’ heads. As they grimaced from the pain, they tried to figure out what Fran meant.

Then they understood.

“Everyone, back on your feet! The match isn’t over yet!”

“I’ll attack again in ten seconds.”

“Get up, get up!”

“Damn it!”

Fran had only hit each of the students once. She’d sent them flying, of course, but they still were mostly uninjured and no one was unconscious.

Which meant the battle was far from over. I felt a little sorry for them, but like Ines said, we were going to show them despair.

Fran proceeded to run roughshod over the students, who had somehow managed to ready their weapons. The peaceful faces of the ones who got knocked out said a lot about their state of mind.

But again, Ines showed us why the kids called her a drill sergeant.

“Thanks to you runts getting beaten up so quick, we have plenty of time for round two! Look alive and get ready, boys and girls!”

She said this just as the students Dedden was tending to regained consciousness. The despair in their faces was so apparent that I felt bad for them. Not bad enough for me and Fran to go easy on them, of course.

An hour passed. The walloped students stood at attention with morose looks on their faces. They had been completely beaten down by Fran and could do nothing to retaliate. Yet beneath the sadness, there was a vexation that suggested they wanted to do better; knew they could do better.

I was amazed they could still make that face after such a beatdown. These kids were made of tougher stuff than I’d thought.

“That concludes today’s class! Remember to maintain your equipment!”

“Yes, Ma’am!”

“And Carona…”

“Yes, Instructor?”

“Show Lady Fran the students’ locker room.”

“Very well.”

It’s a good thing Carona was there. The rest of the class looked downright terrified.

Then again, so was Carona. She hadn’t been exempt from getting gut-punched and blown away by a Sword Art like the rest of her classmates, but having talked to Fran before, she would have an easier time doing so again off the battlefield.

“Follow me.”

“Hm. Thanks.” Fran followed Carona’s lead, but they walked in silence. Par for the course for Fran, but Carona looked tense.

Eventually, Carona dared to break the silence. “Umm…Miss Fran?”

“Hm? What?”

“What did you think of us?”

A vague question, possibly posed because she could no longer take the silence.

Fran tilted her head. “What do you mean?”

“I know we’re nothing compared to you, Miss Fran, but—”

“Hey.”

“Y-yes?”

“Cut the ‘Miss.’ Just Fran is fine.”

Carona looked worried when Fran interrupted her, then relieved when she realized that it was nothing serious. But now, her worry was replaced with confusion. “But Miss Fran—”

“We’re in the same class, so we’re equals. That’s what Winalene said. Noble or common, weak or strong…none of that matters in the classroom.”

The Academy was special like that. All students were equals under the spirits, regardless of birth or rank. Nobles weren’t allowed to throw their political weight around and the strong were prohibited from violently oppressing others.

On the other hand, the weak couldn’t use their weakness as an excuse to slack off and the commoners were required to leave their hatred for nobles at the door.

It was a setting I frequently came across in light novels, but I had some reservations about it. Even if they were equals in the Academy, they would no longer be once they graduated. Wouldn’t it be better to teach students how to deal with people of different social standings?

Winalene had given me a wry smile before explaining.

When the Academy was founded, policies were set up to keep problematic nobles from enrolling. For better or worse, the good nobles saw no problems with having their children learn alongside commoners.

As the Academy grew in renown, nobles who wanted to tear down barriers between noble and common folk started enrolling their children, as well as nobles who wanted a mage in their houses. Word spread, and now thirty percent of the student body was made up of nobles and those related to them. Equality soon permeated the Academy, creating an institute where a commoner beating (and sometimes injuring) a noble didn’t make the school newspaper.

The school’s influence extended to Belioth, where nobles continued their generosity towards commoners even after graduation. This made enemies of nobles, sure, but with Winalene, the world’s most powerful high elf, backing them, they could do little more than complain.

What all this boiled down to was this: Fran and Carona were equal despite their difference in strength. For Fran, the only time they weren’t equals was when she was acting as an instructor. As students, that fell away.

“A-all right then, Fran.”

“Hm.”

“Were we weak?”

That was a difficult question. They were weak compared to Fran but pretty strong compared to the general populace. Each was as strong as an E-Rank and their teamwork was pretty good.

The students would have no trouble taking down an ogre. The matchup just happened to be horrible. But Carona didn’t feel that way. Whatever confidence she might have had was destroyed today.

“We enrolled in the special combat class because we feel that fighting is our calling,” she continued. “My goal is to become an adventurer. Others wish to become guards, knights, or mercenaries, among other combat occupations.”

“Hm.”

“But we were helpless against you. I’m not saying we thought we could win, but…we couldn’t even scratch you. Do I really have any business being an adventurer?”

Carona was looking at the floor. She no longer knew where her abilities placed her in the world.

“Hm. You were weak,” said Fran.

The ruthlessness of her words left Carona shaking. It was one thing to know the answer, and another entirely to hear it out loud.

“You took too much time casting,” Fran continued. “You took too long making decisions. Your levels are too low.”

“Yes…”

“Carona, you were too far in front for a mage.”

“Yes…”

“You might be confident in your physical strength, but the best you can take on right now are goblins. You need a lot more training before you can be an adventurer.”

“Uhh…”

Jeez, did Fran really have to make her cry?

Still, it was the truth and Fran carried on. “You can’t even get away from strong monsters right now.”

“Yes…you’re right. We really are…weak.”

“Hm.”

“Then I guess we should just—”

“But everyone’s weak in the beginning. You guys just need to train.”

Carona stopped crying and looked at Fran. “You think we can get stronger? Us?”

“Of course. Everyone can. You just need to train.”

“R-really?”

“Hm.”

She could tell that Fran wasn’t just trying to make her feel better. Hope now shone through Carona’s eyes. The fact that Fran, a Black Cat, was saying it lent it more credence. She was living proof that even the weakest of the races could become monstrously strong through training.

“I’ll work harder. I’ll train and train and train.”

“Hm. Good luck.”

“Thank you.”

It was a little stiff, but Carona finally smiled at Fran.

They talked a surprising amount after that. Fran had broken the ice between them, and they chattered on about the iffy quality of Academy food and which cafeterias were the best.

Smiling all the way, they reached the Girls’ Locker Room.

Yep. That’s what it said on the placard outside, in big bold letters: Girls’ Locker Room.

F-Fran! This is bad! Leave me outside!

Why?

Uhhh…

I was in! Me, a middle-aged sword-man in the forbidden garden! Not that I’d look, I swear I would never! Even without eyes, I’d be closing my eyes! I’m a gentlesword with standards!

“My butt…that’s gonna bruise.”

“Did your tits get bigger again?”

“Hey, hands to yourself, sister!”

Wasn’t looking at all, I swear! I just can’t help hearing things, okay? I couldn’t shut my ears if I wanted to! Sure, there was a way to block it out with magic, but that would raise more eyebrows. I had to sit there and listen to all of this!

“Didn’t know you had a mole there. Kinda lewd.”

“No, don’t you look!”

Agh…

Teacher, why are you shaking?

It’s nothing. Just hurry up and change so we can get out of here.

Huh?

To all the boys in all the worlds, I’m sorry. But this one was completely beyond my control!

You’re acting weird.

Urgh!

No! Fran was going to end up thinking I was a creep!

As Fran wondered why I was rattling, she and Carona entered the locker room.

It was pretty big, about the size of a locker room at a fitness club or pool. The other classes were there, too, and a hundred women were currently getting dressed.

Or, uh, so I gathered from staring at the floor! I counted over a hundred people because that’s what Presence Sense said! But I couldn’t do anything about the clothes littering the floor!

As I was freaking out, Carona raised her voice. “Oh.”

“What is it?”

“I just remembered when we got here. Do you have your clothes with you?”

Fran had changed in the instructors’ locker room before class started. Normally, that would have been where she left her clothes. “Don’t worry. I have them with me.”

“Timespace Magic? Amazing!”

We’d kept her clothes in the ever-handy Pocket Dimension. Carona’s eyes widened when Fran pulled her clothes out of the void. She’d seen a lot of Fran’s magic: fire, wind, earth, thunder, light, and now time-space. Six magicks were a lot, and Carona couldn’t conceal her surprise, though she was a little subdued about it. I think she was getting used to surprises.

“Carona?”

“My apologies. Do you know how to use the lockers?”

“Ines filled me in.”

“Ah, but I suppose you won’t need one with your Timespace Magic.”

The next class was Monsterology, where students were taught how to carve monsters up, among other things. As for her instructor gig, Fran would need to teach an advanced class right after that.

“Let’s get changed. I’ll lead you to the classroom.”

“Okay.”

Fran and Carona started changing. The sound of rustling fabric was very naughty even if there was nothing inherently wrong with it. As I waited for the heart-pounding clothes change to finish, Carona gasped.

“Oh my.”

“Hm?”

“I wasn’t expecting the skin of a high-rank adventurer to be so smooth.”

Adventurers racked up many scars over the years of their career. In Fran’s case, I usually healed her immediately after she got hurt, making it harder for scars to form. She had a few marks here and there but nothing that stood out.

“Do you have a particular regimen you follow?” Carona asked.

“Regimen?”

“Beauty products and the like.”

I suppose she did. The (male) maiden of Ulmutt, Elza (given name Bardische) had given her a special whitening-smoothing serum. She applied it on her skin, giving extra attention to her face, arms, and legs.

Fran thought of it as a huge chore at first, but she got used to it and stopped complaining. She didn’t really use it while training back in the Demon Wolf’s Garden, but she was back on her nightly skincare regimen. We would have to ask Elza for more once we ran out.

“I have a serum.” Fran took the cream out of Pocket Dimension and handed it to Carona.

“My goodness, but this is…!” Carona was more surprised by the cream itself than by the actual Pocket Dimension.

“What?”

“This is an Elza whitening-smoothing cream! A limited edition, a downright mythical product!”

The logo on the bottle was that of a woman and an axe. Huh. You know, I’d never realized that Elza had an actual brand.

Carona’s exclamation attracted the attention of the other girls in the locker room, even the ones in Special Combat who were afraid of Fran. All eyes were on the bottle in Fran’s hand.

Elza said he’d made it himself, so I’d assumed it was just one of those homebrew skincare products. But apparently, the serum was downright artisanal.

Still, Fran was uninterested in beauty products and didn’t try to conceal that. “Uh-huh.”

“Wh-where did you get this…? This isn’t something an ordinary noble could acquire. Women of higher nobility often stake out the marketplace and buy the entire supply at the first sign of stock. Rumor has it that this is the queen’s favorite brand.”

For Fran, the serum was nothing but another chore to deal with. Unimpressive stuff.

“I got it from an acquaintance in Ulmutt,” she said.

“I see. Ulmutt is where this product is produced, and you were there during your travels. I can see how you got your hands on it.”

Carona didn’t ask if she could have some, and I don’t think it was because of the price. No, she simply couldn’t bring herself to ask Fran, especially not after her display of strength.

The other students didn’t look like they’d ask, either. They seemed to have reservations around Carona. Because she was a noble? No, it was probably because she was in Special Combat. Well, at least we weren’t going to make a scene. But just as I sighed with relief, Fran proceeded to cause just that scene.

“You can use it.”

“Huh?”

“Here.” She handed Carona the bottle of serum.

“A-are you sure?”

“Hm. The others can use it, too, if they want.”

“Wha—!” The entire locker room shook. Students hearing the conversation from afar rushed to join the chaos. Even Carona’s frightened classmates approached. A whole wall of people swarmed her. And the sheer pressure in the air? I’d rather be surrounded by a horde of goblins.

“A single bottle of this costs thousands of gold. Easily above ten thousand by the time it gets to retailers…”

“It was a gift,” said Fran.

“Oh! I forgot you were a nickname bearer! That kind of money must be a pittance to you! Nothing at all like my impoverished barony!”

Carona caved, both to the allure of the serum and the stares of the girls surrounding her that were practically begging her to get on with it and pass the bottle around. Fearfully, she squeezed the serum onto her hand and carefully applied it on her skin.

The girls passed the bottle around, excitedly applying it. The bottle was gone in a matter of moments.

But there hadn’t been enough for everyone. The girls looked at Fran with pleading eyes.

Fran produced another bottle and gave it to them. “Use it.”

“You’re the best! Thank you!”

I guess we were down yet another bottle.

Fran, make sure to leave some for yourself.

Hm…

Fran?

Everyone’s so happy.

I knew it! You’re getting them to use it all up so you won’t have to be bothered using it every night!

“…”

I never thought it had annoyed her that much. But it was too late to take it back now; the girls would resent Fran if she did. Still, that would be the last giveaway.

Fran, why are you getting out another bottle?!

“Use this, too.”

“Nice! Thank you so much!”

“This feels so good!”

“Ah ha ha! Thanks!”

“Hm.”

Everyone thanked Fran with a smile. Her classmates even got up to shake her hand. The barrier of fear was gone. They’d accepted Fran as one of their own.

Ehh, what can you do? Maybe it was better to think of it as an investment so she’d be accepted by the female students. In under three minutes, we had three empty bottles on our hands.

Guess we’ll have to ask Elza for more.

Now that we knew it was a luxury item, we’d insist on paying for it next time…though with its apparent rarity, could we even buy it off him if we wanted to?

Hrm… Fran seemed annoyed.

Fran?

Hmph…

She turned away from me! Was she going through a phase? A rebellious phase? P.A., say it ain’t so!

Carnivorous beastmen do not have a rebellious phase.

Wait, really?

Rebellious phase: A phase in adolescence where an individual lashes out or commits antisocial acts. Usually a product of an imbalance between physical and mental growth.

That’s about the gist of it, yeah.

It was the age where kids stopped listening to their parents, ignored their families, and ran off with other people’s bikes.

Beastmen mature at a faster rate than humans and are more excitable than humans and elves. Beastmen—particularly those descended from carnivores—enter the rebellious phase at the age of five and exit it at the age of forty, meaning they spend over half their lives in the rebellious phase.

So?

The rebellious phase is the norm for beastmen and therefore cannot be defined as a phase.

They spent their whole lives being rebellious? Guess that explained the Beast King’s behavior.

“Hrm?” Fran grunted as the locker room clamored over the serum. She was still getting dressed.

“I-is something the matter?”

“How do I do this?” Fran lifted a drooping strip of cloth to Carona. Of course! I’d forgotten to teach Fran how to do her necktie! I’d tied it for her that morning, which was more difficult than I’d expected. I had tied plenty of neckties when I was alive, but never on someone else.

Romantic movies always had that scene where the wife does the husband’s necktie, but it was impossible to do without practice. At first, I’d told Fran to face away from me so I could tie it as if it were my own, but doing it in third person was still a difficult task.

I should’ve just loosened her tie instead of undoing it completely. Carona would’ve just needed to tighten it for her.

“Come, I’ll do it for you.”

“Hm.”

She chuckled. “This reminds me of the time someone else did my necktie for me. I was new to the Academy, then.”

Carona stood in front of Fran, her hands akimbo. She tied Fran’s necktie for her, straightening her collar and shirt as she did so. Carona was a proper lady.

“There we go.”

“Thanks.”

After Carona fixed Fran’s necktie for her, someone else approached her in a huff.

“You! You said you were an adventurer?”

“Hm?”

“Hand over the serum this instant! It is wasted on a commoner like you!”

Ugh. I’d been wondering when we’d run into that sort of noble here.

“You want some, too?” asked Fran.

“That’s not what I mean! Hand over the whole thing this instant! I don’t enjoy shouting, you know. Chop, chop!”

I’d figured she was a bit of an awkward noble whose requests sounded like orders, but nope, she turned out to be another rotten noble. This was definitely a shakedown, and I wondered how the spirits would punish her.

As I thought about how to handle the situation, Carona stepped forward with a stern expression on her face. “You are not allowed to throw your weight around while you’re at the Academy, noble or no.”

“What? Why are you acting like you actually care?” the girl spat. 

Carona looked at her with pitying eyes. “Because I do care. Do you not remember what was said at the entrance ceremony? Who you are doesn’t matter in the Academy.”

“Hah! It’s a big school, but what can it do against the influence of a marquis? If anything, the school should be grateful that someone as noble-blooded as myself deigned to transfer here!”

So she was the daughter of a marquis, a high-ranking noble whose land probably rivaled that of a queen. She couldn’t believe that her status held no sway here, but it was true. The spirits guarding the Academy didn’t care whether you were a prince or a pauper.

“The fact that you would even say those words…” said Carona. “You must not be from around here.”

“I am the daughter of Marquis Renge, chief retainer of the mighty kingdom of Vassar—”

That was as far as the daughter of Renge got before another student jumped at her from behind, pinned her hands behind her back, and covered her mouth.

“Wh-what do you think you are doing?!” the spoiled girl stammered.

“I should be asking you that, Lady Culda! Have you gone mad?!”

“How dare you?! Unhand me this instant, Salutta!”

“Your father told you to live quietly at the Academy and be obedient to its rules!” shouted the girl called Salutta. “Have you forgotten?”

The daughter of the marquis struggled to break free. “No! I’ve been perfectly obedient to the Academy’s staff and this daughter of a high-ranking noble!”

“Remember, your father wanted you to obey all of the Academy’s precepts!”

“Are you telling me that I, a daughter of a noble, must be considerate to a mere commoner? How absurd!”

Salutta seemed to be the girl’s servant. While nobles weren’t allowed to have servants constantly accompanying them, their servants were allowed to enroll and room with them. A girl raised in the lap of luxury couldn’t be expected to become independent overnight.

“It’s the truth!” said Salutta. “Things will go from bad to worse if you keep this up! It will even have repercussions for the house! Now, come along!”

“Let go of me! What repercussions?! When my father hears of this absurd school—”

“Aah, stop that! Spirits, she doesn’t mean it! She doesn’t know what she’s talking about! Please, don’t hold it against her!”

“Mrgh! Hrgh!”

Salutta was quite the competent servant. She was at least stronger than a Special Combat student. She must’ve been sent as a babysitter and guard for her lady. Culda wasn’t getting out of her servant’s restraints any time soon or getting her hand off her mouth. Actually, could she even breathe? Her face was getting purple.

But even with her hands occupied, Salutta bowed an apology to Carona and Fran. She knew just how bad things could get for those who caused trouble at the Academy.

“I deeply apologize for the actions of my mistress. It won’t happen again, I promise. Will you please forgive her?”

“Salutta, what are you—mmf!”

“Be quiet before I knock you out!”

“Hrrgh!”

Carona sighed. “Well, Fran?”

“Hm?”

“Will you forgive her?”

Carona had turned to Fran because she was the one Culda had initially picked a fight with.

Fran wasn’t the least bit interested. “Do what you want.”

“Thank you very much.”

“So can I put on my skirt now?”

Throughout the conversation, Fran had been skirtless. Back in the day, she would’ve just gotten clothed while ignoring them completely. The fact that she’d actually stopped what she was doing to listen was a huge step for her!

“Y-yes, of course. You two are free to leave as well. Though I don’t suppose we’ll meet again.”

“Yes…you’re probably right.”

Were they going to be expelled? Considering Culda had only attempted to take Fran’s belongings, her sentence was unclear.

Carona shrugged her shoulders as she watched the two leave. “Foreign nobles get a lot of prestige out of just graduating from the Academy, but you still get people like that from time to time.”

“Uh-huh.”

“The spirits will alert the instructors if it happens again. You just need to be patient for a while and wait for them to show up.”

Carona was telling Fran that she wouldn’t bend to the demands of pushy nobles. However…

“Okay. I’ll be patient and not beat them up,” said Fran.

Carona gave her a wry smile. The girl standing before her was a nickname bearer, after all. She could afford not to play nice even with an entire kingdom.

“You…worry me for different reasons, Fran.”

“Huh?”

“It’s nothing. Let’s get going.”

“Hm.”

We returned to the classroom and found everyone already seated.

The boys froze when they saw Fran in uniform, and not because she was cute. No, the sparring match had traumatized them. The girls, having bonded a little with Fran, didn’t have it as bad. Some were even waving to her. Still, in a class with a male majority, the classroom was dead quiet.

How rude of them to stare at Fran like she was a vicious monster! All she’d done was beat them half to death! You can’t get far in the adventuring world if you can’t take some sort of pleasure in getting beat up by a pretty girl!

“…”

“……”

“Hm?”

“This way, Fran.”

The class continued to sit in silence even after Fran took her seat. The boys held their breaths as if they were faced with a wild animal and focused on her location.

Meanwhile, the girls wore strained smiles. Half of them seemed to get where the boys were coming from while the other half thought they were being embarrassing.

The silence was broken by an old man who stepped into the classroom. “You’re all mighty quiet today. Is something wrong?” I guessed he was the teacher of the next subject.

“Oh, uhh…it’s nothing, sir,” said one of the students.

“Are you sure? Let’s get started, then. I believe we have a transfer student today.”

“Me,” said Fran.

“So you’re the lecturer-student I keep hearing about. We don’t get a lot of beastmen at the Academy.” The old professor looked at Fran intently when her hand shot up. He hadn’t been at the staff lounge when she was introduced. “All right. Let us begin Monsterology.”

As its name implied, Monsterology covered monster ecology and biology, as well as the valuable materials you could harvest from them. Dissections were conducted, sometimes—in the case of larger monsters—with the whole class participating.

The old man seemed to have an idea as he read through Fran’s profile. “It says here you are an adventurer. Do you have experience with butchering monsters? How about we take a break from today’s subject so you could tell us more about it? It’s not every day that we get to hear tales from a professional adventurer.”

“I don’t mind.”

“Excellent! The firsthand testimony of a high-rank is priceless!” The professor was more excited than the students, his eyes glowing with curiosity. He must’ve been a researcher as well as a teacher. “Let’s see, where shall we start? How about this: What is the biggest monster you’ve field-dressed so far?”

“Size-wise?”

“Yes!”

“Hmm…?”

“Perhaps the larger beasts are too cumbersome?”

“That’s not it. I’ve just carved so many I don’t know what the biggest one is.”

“O-oh! But of course. In that case, what is the biggest one you’ve butchered recently?”

“One of the monsters in the Demon Wolf’s Garden.”

“Indeed? I hear that the Garden is home to a great variety of monsters. Which one was it?” The professor was leaning in now. He seemed more interested than the kids were.

“The Invisible Death.”

“Wh-what?! But the Invisible Death is a B-Threat! You’re saying you killed one?”

No one was paying attention to the class anymore. The students had blank looks on their faces.

When the professor noticed, he stopped what he was doing and remembered his duties as a teacher. “Yes,” he said, clearing his throat, “I suppose I should explain what an Invisible Death is.”

Lacking textbooks, the professor wrote his explanation on the blackboard. As far as monster specialists went, the old man was very knowledgeable. But there are some things you can only learn through experience, and Fran helped him out where he was lacking.

Take the creature’s active camouflage, for example. He knew that it refracted light, but he didn’t know the practical extent of its offensive and stealth capabilities.

The lecture continued, with the professor in conversation with Fran. The class did their best to keep up, but they were having a hard time. The Invisible Death was so strong that it felt unreal. They were struggling to grasp the sheer variety of abilities at its disposal. Despite the professor’s best illustrations and diagrams, the students were at a loss.

“Excuse me, Professor Moray?”

“Yes, Carona?”

“May I please fetch the Encyclopedia of Monsters? As enlightening as this lecture is, I’m finding it difficult to keep up. It will only take fifteen minutes.”

The class usually referred to the Encyclopedia of Monsters (currently kept in the school library) during their lessons. The sudden change of schedule meant that they didn’t have the encyclopedia at hand.

“We have an idea of its overall size,” said Carona, “but its unique scale structure is difficult to imagine…”

“Yes, I suppose you’re right. Scribblings on a blackboard can only go so far,” the old professor conceded thoughtfully. Still, he didn’t want to waste precious lesson time to get reference material.

Fran produced a crystal shard the size of her hand from Pocket Dimension and set it on the teacher’s desk with a clunk. “Here.”

“C-could it be?! Is this the scale of an Invisible Death?”

“Hm.”

This was one of the scales the beast had fired at us. Fran had taken it out of storage because Carona said she didn’t understand. We’d defended ourselves by catching them with Pocket Dimension, so we had a lot of these left.

“A-are there other parts?”

“I have all the parts.”

“A-are you saying you have a whole Invisible Death in there?!”

“Hm? No,” said Fran. “I have two.”

The old professor let out a frenzied cry. “Wargh?! M-may I see one of them? Please? Th-the class would learn a lot from it!”

He definitely just wanted to see one with his own eyes.

“There’s not enough space here.”

“Then we’ll move to a different location! Right now! Grab your things, everybody! We’re going to the dissection room!”

The professor pelted Fran with questions all the way to the dissection room, which was bigger than I’d expected, with fairly high ceilings. Then again, the room was designed to dissect everything, including large monsters. Magic circles were drawn on the ground to catch bodily fluids spilled during a dissection. Nothing would be wasted there.

Fran laid out the carcass of an Invisible Death in the center of the room. This one was whole—it was the one we’d defeated before our training began.

The monster was gigantic, over ten meters in length. Its pillar-like body dominated the room. Both students and teacher were left awestruck and incapacitated by the sight of the battle-scarred beast. Even those who knew what to expect were amazed by what they saw.

Blood and guts spilled from the cracks of the monster’s shell, giving off a strong odor that underscored the reality of it all. I had to give props to the students—none of them gagged or wrenched their faces in disgust. Their experience with butchering and dissection was paying off.

“Here it is,” said Fran.

“By the gods…what a specimen…! T-take notes, everyone! You might never see a B-Threat up this close in your lives ever again!” the professor shouted. He proceeded to indulge his curiosity as the students spread out to sketch the creature from various angles. “Can you tell us more about this monster, Fran?”

Carona led a group of female students in front of Fran. “We’d love to hear about it, too.”

“Hm. Sure.”

“Thank you.”

“I’ll start with its most annoying bit. This tail? There’s a hole in it. It uses it to—”

“I see—”

“And then—”

“I would never have guessed—”

Carona and the girls oohed and aahed and gasped at Fran’s explanation of the Invisible Death. Seeing their reception, Fran got into it and carried on. By her standards, she was chatting up a storm.

Seeing their discussion, the boys slowly approached. Eventually, they too started asking questions. They understood that there was no need to be afraid of her—or not that afraid, at least.

Everyone listened intently as Fran told them about her intense battle and how she eventually prevailed. We ended up veering pretty far off topic from Monsterology, but at least Fran was getting friendlier with her classmates.