Chapter 21
RIGHT BESIDE THE MAIN BUILDING of the school was a training hall where students could practice various spells and techniques.
Having been taken there one time in the past by Professor Hinata in order to see the School of Sorcery’s training, Mira looked around the first-floor lobby nostalgically before heading to the training areas inside.
At the end of the hall, she came upon the training area that she’d seen the last time. It was a fantastic place that was large enough for loads of students to train at once.
Cleos turned and went up a set of stairs in front of her.
“Where do you plan on going?” Were they not going to the training area at the end of the hall?
Cleos answered that the School of Evocation was currently using the training area on the second floor. The training hall consisted of five separate training areas. The one Mira had seen before was the main one: training area one. There were also training areas two through five, which were different sizes and served a variety of different uses. Today, they’d be doing physical training and, therefore, using training area two.
“I thought this place was big, but they’ve got all of those, too, huh?”
Aside from the training areas, there was also a cafeteria, changing rooms, showers, a laundry room, and equipment rooms with arms and armor. The training hall housed everything one might need to train, as its name suggested. It was a facility befitting the top educational institution for mages on the continent.
Satisfied that it was a fine place to pursue one’s studies, Mira went down the second-floor hallway. And when reaching the end of the hallway, she heard a sharp cry coming from inside the training ground.
“Hmm… Who was that…?”
Cleos said, “It looks like he got here early today as well.”
There was still half an hour until the School of Evocation’s fencing training was to begin. However, the instructor had come an hour early to warm himself up. Emilia mentioned that he was a fantastic teacher who always taught with incredible enthusiasm.
But that wasn’t what grabbed Mira’s attention.
It was his voice.
Well, now… I feel like I’ve heard that voice somewhere before…
Who was it? While she was pondering this, Cleos opened the door to the training area.
He must’ve been quite an accomplished swordsman—for a split second, they could feel a rush of wind sweep through the hallway from the swing of his sword.
“Greetings, we’re here for today’s lesson.”
“We certainly are.”
Hearing the pair greet him, the man returned in a calm yet steely voice, “Ah, you’re early.”
The voice sounded familiar. Looking inside the training ground, Mira and the instructor’s eyes met. The moment they did, the instructor seemed surprised to see Mira…but only for a moment.
“Would you look at that! It’s little Miss Mira. Long time no see!” the instructor said, laughing cheerfully.
He was dressed in a military uniform and had a sword in his hand, not an axe—making him look completely different than he had before. However, hearing his voice and seeing his face, Mira clearly remembered him.
“Wow, if it isn’t Aaron!”
Standing there was Aaron, the A-rank adventurer Mira had worked alongside during the Chimera Clausen incident. Despite her surprise at the unexpected reunion in an unexpected place, she walked over to him, recalling those events.
“Oh my, so you’ve already met Master Aaron, Miss Mira?”
Mira and Aaron were both happy to have been reunited. Seeing the two of them, Cleos looked a tad shocked as well. He didn’t know how Aaron had come to be there.
“Hrmm. He’s one of the adventurers I fought with when we were dealing with Chimera,” Mira answered concisely, now even more curious as to why Aaron was there.
On the last night she’d seen Aaron, he’d said that once he finished with that job, he’d be retiring as an adventurer. He had other things he wanted to do while he was still able to be physically active. Now he was here, working as a sword-fighting instructor.
Very curious to find out why, Mira cut straight to the chase and asked, “So what’re you doing here?”
“Well, that’s an easy one,” Aaron answered, briefly explaining what had happened. What he wanted to do after retiring as an adventurer was train new adventurers. While standing by at headquarters, a group of young adventurers had requested that he train alongside them. In doing so, he’d decided that it wasn’t a bad way to spend his twilight years.
“Then, one time, I mentioned as much while out drinking. And I have no idea how she heard about it, but Lady Uzume came up and said she’d introduce me to a good place to do just that.”
And so, thanks to her referral, Aaron ended up becoming the instructor for the soldiers of the Kingdom of Alcait. Kagura, one of the Nine Wise Men, had put in a good word for him with Solomon. It was unlikely that he’d ever get another proper referral quite as generous as that one, so Aaron signed on immediately and headed to Alcait.
Now he was teaching the soldiers the various techniques and know-how that he’d accumulated over his career as an adventurer. This included practical ways of fighting monsters and other skills such as survival-oriented techniques and tactics that weren’t covered by military training. These were tips and tricks backed up by decades of experience being an adventurer and could be considered to be utterly priceless.
Cleos added that the percentage of successful monster hunts had risen dramatically within the kingdom.
“I see. That was a smart move.”
They’d managed to get their hands on some impressive talent while also improving the quality of their military. It had been quite the masterstroke, but Mira was just happy to see Aaron again.
“And thanks to that, I’m now able to productively live out my days. I’ve got Lady Uzume to thank for all of it,” Aaron murmured emotionally, smirking happily.
The situation worked out perfectly for both the kingdom and Aaron. Happy to see how well Aaron was doing, Mira smiled softly.
“On that note, we’ve still got some time until practice starts, little Miss Mira. Would you mind lending me your dark knight so I might finish warming myself up?”
Their time catching up came to an abrupt end with a fiery spark burning in his eyes. He took off his top and cast it aside. He then put down his sword and pulled out his beloved axe from a bag that was standing against the wall.
“Hrmm, sounds good to me. Why don’t I lend you a few?”
Regardless of what anyone said, what an armor spirit truly needed to improve was to fight strong opponents. And the suggestion had come from the ideal training partner. Mira immediately agreed and began summoning.
“Huh? What the…?!” Emilia gasped in shock as she looked at the armor spirits that Mira had summoned.
Having neither sensed nor felt any indication of Mira summoning, Emilia was at a complete loss for words as the knights appeared without warning. It was far beyond anything the students could do. In fact, the knight was so impressive that she could tell from just one look that it was superior to the ones that Professor Hinata or Cleos could use.
But none of that was what surprised her most…
“That’s… I ought to have expected as much of you, Lady Mira. It looks like your skills have improved since then,” Aaron said amusedly while standing before the armor spirit.
What she’d summoned this time wasn’t a dark knight or a holy knight but rather a combination of the two: an ashen knight. They excelled at both defense and offense and had combat capabilities that were capable of matching even an A-rank adventurer.
“Then let’s get started!”
He must’ve gathered how powerful it was. Despite saying he was just going to warm up, Aaron dashed forward with such vigor that he certainly seemed to be serious. The moment Aaron and the ashen knight met, the violent sound of arms clashing rang out and shook the air.
“Ah…”
Seemingly overwhelmed by this sudden burst of intensity, Emilia stumbled. She’d never seen something this impressive before.
“Just when I think I’m getting a little closer, the higher up the mountain she climbs,” Emilia murmured to Cleos, who was gently propping her up.
Mira was keeping a sharp eye on how the battle was progressing while smiling brazenly.
I might’ve expected as much of Aaron. Despite how powerful the ashen knight is, he’s managing to push it back… Either way…this’ll be a great learning experience!
Convinced that the battle with Aaron would help the armor spirit grow, Mira began using all kinds of techniques that she’d previously been unable to try out on an opponent.
The battle between Aaron and the ashen knight lasted for about ten minutes. In the end, Aaron clinched the match after finishing off his opponent by focusing all the fighting spirit that he’d been emanating into one devastating blow.
“So it couldn’t hold up against that, huh?”
“If it had, I’d be out of options.”
The technique he’d used had been his finishing move, which he’d used to defeat countless foes back during his days as an adventurer. Having skillfully created an opening in the ashen knight’s defense before exploiting it, the finishing move could legitimately be described as masterful.
“I thought I’d strengthened it quite a bit, but I guess not enough to take on someone like you.”
“What’re you talking about? As far as I’m concerned, the fact that you could summon a knight as if it were nothing is terrifying, little Miss Mira. If you’d summoned another, then it would’ve been all over.”
Having finished their one-on-one match, Mira and Aaron chatted and laughed.
Meanwhile, having seen both Mira’s ashen knight and Aaron fighting at full strength, Emilia looked at the two of them with even more respect than she had before. It had been a climactic battle, the likes of which were rarely seen. It’d been a good opportunity for Emilia to see the limits of what was possible.
Unfortunately, they’d gotten a little too into it, and so she’d been unable to really grasp what tactics they’d used or what strategies they’d employed during the battle. There wasn’t much she was able to learn from it. But a fire had been lit within Emilia. Her greatest asset was none other than her go-getter attitude, which allowed her to boldly challenge herself without fear of the unknown.
While Emilia was still reflecting on what would become her inspiration for the future, Mira and Aaron were being admonished by Cleos.
“Um… Next time, if the two of you plan on going all out, can you please do it outside?”
It’d been fine while they were just clashing weapons, but once they started unleashing special moves at each other, that changed. The blowback from such strikes—enough to easily send monsters flying—had been far too great.
Taking a quick look, they noticed that all of the training equipment and furnishings in the room had been scattered around and now lay strewn about. Half of it was damaged or broken. What’s more, in Cleos’s estimation, the physical barriers that had been erected around the training ground had also taken some serious damage.
After Cleos informed them of this with a bitter smile, the two surveyed the damage before hunching their shoulders dejectedly and answered, “Got it,” and “Sure thing.”
“I sure am excited for today’s lesson!” While they cleaned up the disheveled training ground, Professor Hinata made an enthusiastic entrance.
Catching sight of Mira, Cleos, and Emilia, she screamed, “What’s going on?!” and jumped back.
The presence of Mira and Cleos had caught her off guard. After being pushed forward by the students behind her and showing her face once again, Hinata allowed herself to be pushed into the room.
“Looks like you’re in high spirits, Ms. Hinata.”
“That was the kind of greeting that students should aspire to give.”
Hearing this praise from Mira and Cleos, an increasingly conflicted look began to show on Hinata’s face. Aaron’s training was a part of the class. And yet, being so excited to take a class as a teacher made her feel a bit self-conscious.
It was all she could do to say, “I don’t know about that.”
All the students began gathering around. Despite looking bemused at the devastated state of the training ground, they began helping to tidy the place up. Thanks to that, Aaron was able to begin his sword-fighting lessons on time. Or at least he should’ve been…
If not for Mira. As soon as she was introduced, the students all realized she was the Spirit Queen everyone had been talking about. Ten minutes passed with her just answering questions.
As this was going on, Mira allowed herself to get a bit carried away. Then she remembered where she was and began lecturing the students that it was time for their precious sword-fighting lessons, explaining how important they were.
That day’s training was even more intense than usual.
However, that wouldn’t be the end of the lessons. After Aaron’s training and per the students’ requests, Mira began her special class.
“Listen up. Speed is important, but you can’t forget distance…”
Mira’s class focused on beginner-level summoning techniques that could be used at higher levels and included everything from basics to the practically endless applications of evocation. She’d faced some of the very highest-level opponents at points in her career. Hinata, Cleos, and Aaron were now standing among the students listening to Mira while occasionally firing off questions.
After-school activities had ended, and the sun was going down when the final school bell rang, also bringing Mira’s lesson to an end.
“Lady Mira, please teach us again sometime.”
“Lady Mira, thank you for teaching us today.”
Reluctant to leave because they’d had such a good day, the students returned home.
Perhaps because of her title as the Spirit Queen, Mira realized that the boy students had started calling her Lady Mira. The female students, meanwhile, simply called her Miss Mira.
“Farewell, little Miss Mira. Should we get the chance, let’s go head-to-head again.”
“Hrmm, you took the words out of my mouth.”
Having exchanged their goodbyes, Aaron returned to the castle. Hinata hurried off, too, as she had to prepare for her next class.
The only ones left were Cleos and Emilia, who had been standing right beside Mira the whole time.
“By the way, what’s tomorrow’s lesson schedule like?” Mira asked Cleos, after glancing at Emilia.
Emilia had no time for their private lesson today, but what about the day after? Did she have time then? Cleos, gathering what Mira was asking, answered, “We’ll have the same schedule as usual tomorrow. So long as it’s in the afternoon, she should have time.”
“I see. Then let’s do it tomorrow!”
If the master of the School of Evocation gave it the thumbs-up, then there would be no issue.
Upon hearing Cleos give the green light, Mira turned to Emilia and said, “So is tomorrow afternoon okay with you?”
Emilia finally realized that the two had been discussing her private lesson. “Y-Yes…! Um…”
Though overjoyed that the lesson would take place sooner than she’d expected, she shot Cleos an inquisitive look. The School of Evocation normally had special lessons in the afternoon.
“There’s no need to worry. Thanks to all the requests we’ve gotten from students, this week the plan is to learn all about the basics of simultaneous evocation.”
Cleos said that for someone like Emilia, who’d already learned the basics, it might be a tad boring. He continued that he was quite grateful that Mira had suggested giving her private lessons, as it’d ensure that she spent that time more constructively.
“By all means, please learn all you can from Miss Mira. And next time, when we practice simultaneous evocation in class, I’d love it if you could assist me,” Cleos said, smiling.
Emilia enthusiastically replied, “Sure! You can count on me!”
It was decided that their private lessons would take place at training area two. And Cleos would take care of all the paperwork to ensure they could do so.
With everything worked out, Emilia went back home with her butler, and Mira went back to where Mariana awaited her. It seemed that Cleos still had some things left to do, and so he left the academy two or three hours later.
Returning to her private quarters in the tower, Mira had dinner and then took a bath with Mariana and Luna, enjoying some heartwarming family time. Soon, her batteries were recharged, and Cleos arrived.
After preparing in the office which served as his private quarters, Cleos went to find Mira.
“All right, shall we get started?”
“Yes, please.”
This and her class at the academy were different animals.
They were making progress on learning partial evocation, but there were also techniques such as arms evocation and Synchronized Senses left. There were still loads of things that Cleos had to master.
Once more, their intensive session went on deep into the night.
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