Kays Translations

Chapter 8: In swordsmanship class

(Wh ...... why ......?)

I had not expected her to appear so suddenly and without warning.

The person who appeared, as if mocking Ren's stunned appearance, proudly issued a proclamation to the knights gathered here.

“Keep training, all of you. If you feel any regret at all about being beaten by a boy so young."

She comes in with her leather shoes, making a clattering sound every time she walks.

Ren was stunned to see this. A woman comes to the center of the training hall where he stands and calls out to him.

“Who are you?”

The power of the woman's voice seemed to be transmitted to him.

The power of the woman's voice, coupled with an air of supremacy that made his skin crawl, made Ren swallow his breath.

“My name is Ren Ashton.”

“Hmm, I knew it."

The woman's piercing gaze never intimidated Ren.

“I am Estelle. I am the chief of the Holy Lion’s Sanctuary.”

The name was, as Ren had expected, the name of the chief of the Holy lion’s sanctuary.

When Ren saw Estelle, he felt a remarkable tension that he had not experienced for a long time.

The more he became aware of it, the more he was surprised by the awesomeness in the air.

(----There was no mention of a parade or anything to welcome the returning troops. Well, I guess they don't do that every time.)

Ren was puzzled, partly because he hadn't heard anything about it.

But then Ren looked at his watch and said, "Ah”.

For Ren, who came to swing his sword before going to the academy, the time was approaching when he had to get ready to leave.

Knowing that he had been too absorbed in swinging his sword, he wanted to hold his head.

But first, he had to explain the situation to Estelle and apologize.

Still, Ren has the obvious question, in the face of someone as big as Estelle, why not just walk away here, no matter how many academies there are?

"Chief-dono, Ren-dono has the academy to attend to.”

But when one of the knights said so.

“Hmm."

Estelle's attitude suddenly changed.

“Ren, are you sure you are going to the academy?”

“Yes! However, I thought I should greet you properly......”

“Mm-hmm. That's a good attitude. But you must also take care of your classes. Especially this time of year.”

Estelle forgave him so easily that Ren was taken aback.

Ren bowed his head in response and quickly left the training facility.

As she watched Ren leave, Estelle said.

“Not bad. He's a man with a good heart.”

She then laughed, "Not as much as my husband, though”.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

“There was something like that ----“

In the classroom Ren told Licia what had happened at the holy lion’s sanctuary.

Sarah, who had come to sit in front of Ren and Licia heard this and her smile faltered.

"Oh, I see that chief is back....”

“I've never met her, but do you have any bad memories of her?”

“Me, or rather my father. It’s not a bad memory either.”

Some time before Ren and Licia came to Elendil, Sarah's father, the current Baron Riohard, competed with Estelle in a sword fight. It is said that it wasn’t a disagreement of opinion, but a mutual test of swordsmanship..

"Bro-losing, rag-losing."

“Really? Even though your father is also a sword saint?”

“Yes. I had no idea what was going on from the sidelines. Even my father, who actually fought, said he lost before he knew what was going on.”

Besides, while Sarah was remembering that moment.

“Licia probably knows more than I do. The swords saint class of the hard sword users is distinct from the swords saint class of other schools. Besides, the sword saint has the biggest difference in ability among the other sword saints.”

Because a sword saint is one rank below a sword king.

In short, because the Sword King is so strong, it’s difficult to measure the ability of the sword saint below him.

If the opponent was a sword saint in the hard sword technique, it would be even more difficult.

“Oh! I wanted to ask you something, Licia!”

“Oh, what's it all of a sudden?”

"Hard sword technique! How are you doing? I heard that you have been going to the Lion's sanctuary to hone your sword too, so tell me how strong you’re getting.”

“You want to know my grade?”

“Yes!"

No wonder Sarah was curious.

After all, Licia is a girl who has been roaring with her skill and talent with the sword since she was a child.

As a rival and a target of her strength, Sarah couldn’t help but be concerned about Licia's strength.

“I've been trying to get to the Swordsman level since late last year when I was able to use the art of warfare. I’m aiming to be a master swordsman."

Sarah's smile froze when she heard this simple reply.

“I shouldn’t have asked…”

In simple terms, her general ability is equivalent to that of a master swordsman in other schools. And this was at the end of last year.

Sarah plopped down on Licia's desk and flapped her legs underneath it.

She probably or perhaps definitely, she seems to be thinking about the fact that the gap between her and Licia's ability has widened.

“Licia-sama.”

“Don’t worry about it. Although she looks like this, she's a pretty strong girl.”

“What do you mean by “look like this”? Do you mean I look poor?”

“Not in the way you look. But you have a very thin waist.”

“That sounds sarcastic. I don't want to be told that by someone thinner than me.”

The two exchanged jokes and then smiled at each other.

Licia looked like she had no choice but to put her cheekbone on the table.

Ren said, "Huh?”

“Come to think of it, Vane's not here."

This caused a flurry of tension between the three of them.

Ren was stunned, mainly because of the change in Sarah's attitude.

“Who is that? I don't know him.”

“Eh?"

When Ren was puzzled by Sarah's rather cold voice, she turned her eyes out of the window and showed a pouty attitude.

Licia then, without a moment's pause, whispers to Ren.

For a moment, a sweet scent tickled Ren's nostrils.

“He seems to have been summoned by one of the seniors. She’s a member of the Royal Family in the second year, and she's a very beautiful woman.”

“I've heard rumors about her.”

“I mean, that's why Sarah's in a bad mood.”

“I see. I must have touched something I shouldn't have.”

Licia chuckled, "I don't think you need to worry about it”.

“Ren, would you like to meet that senior too?”

“No, not at all."

Licia was taken aback with his immediate answer without hesitation.

Besides her, Ren secretly thought.

(Certainly, I think there was an event like that.)

In the course of deepening his friendship with the members of the heroic nobles, Vane, who has just entered the school, also meets a girl in her second year who is positioned as a sub-heroine. Like Sarah, she's a beautiful girl, so she is an eye-catcher.

However, it wasn’t because Vane was deceived by her charm, but simply because he was asked to help out and it would have been crazy to refuse.

...... Now, there are also two heroic faction in this class besides Sarah.

Neither of them are visible, so it seems they haven't come to school yet. Incidentally, Ren hasn’t exchanged a word with them so far.

He felt that it would be fine if they didn’t speak to each other until graduation.

(Well, I remember that Riohard-san was in a bad mood, just like now.)

In short, Ren's current situation is the other side of the event.

He had thought many times that it was foolish of him to put the game and this reality together, but something similar makes him think about it a lot.

Sarah, who had been in a foul mood, changed the subject half-heartedly to refresh her mood.

“It's this afternoon, right? The class we're going to attend is starting!"

Needless to say, it was the swordsmanship class that Sarah was looking forward to more than anything else.

General classes like swordsmanship aren’t limited to the special classes, and students from the general classes are sometimes mixed in.

The three students who had chosen this day's class would take the same class in the afternoon.

“I see. But Sarah, I think I've told you before that we can train together outside the academy, right?”

“I remember, of course, but I wanted to wait for the day when we could cross swords at the academy.”

“Does that mean anything to you?”

“It's a matter of feeling.”

From Sarah’s view point, she respects both Ren and Licia.

The way she strives to catch up with Licia day in and day out, even from their point of view, she shines.

When Vane returned to the classroom, Sarah greeted him with a pinched face.

Ren looked at the confused Vane's back and secretly smiled, "Good luck”.

◇ ◇ ◇ ◇ ◇

After lunch, before heading to the training grounds, Sarah was in an even better mood in the locker room than she had been in the morning.

“I'm finally going to be able to cross swords with you again Licia. I have to prepare myself very carefully.”

“I see. Don't use too much energy in the preparation exercise.”

“I know what I'm doing! I'm going to show you how strong I've become since we crossed swords a few days ago.”

The two changed from their uniforms into training attire.

Since the Imperial Academy doesn’t have special athletic wear designated by the academy, the students all put on what makes them comfortable and makes them feel good.

After changing, the two students leave the locker room and go to the training hall used for swordsmanship classes.

It’s a small arena, and seems to be over-equipped for a single school. There was even seating around the whole place.

But all of this can be explained by the fact that this is the Imperial Military Academy.

In such a training hall, there were already ten female and male students in addition to the two of them.

Vane was there, But Ren wasn’t there.

“I guess Ren's not ready yet."

Licia answered when Sarah said so.

"Ren will be late. He has to work as a committee member for the Lion King Festival, so he said he would join the afternoon classes in the second half of the day.”

“Is that okay? You should be there too, shouldn't you?”

"I’m supposed to."

“What do you mean by “Supposed to”?”

“Never mind. Let’s talk about this.”

The work that Ren does is not that big, just a little bit of paperwork.

And Ren thought that it would be a pity for Licia to keep Sarah waiting any longer.

She had been waiting until today for this day's class, and he felt bad about putting her off any longer.

Licia smothered this fact and began the preparatory exercises before class began.

As she was relaxing her body, she heard a voice saying.

“Oh, Vane!”

Vane came to her and called out to Sarah and Licia.

“Ren is going to be late.”

“We know. It's what committee members do, and we should be thankful.”

“I know, So, let's see, are you with Clausel-san today?”

“Yes, of course.”

While they were conversing and doing the preparatory exercises, the time came.

The male teacher in charge of this class comes to the training hall and opens his mouth to look at the twenty or so students gathered there.

“Everyone, welcome to the Imperial Swordsmanship class.”

At this academy, you can also choose to take other classes, such as swordsmanship.

The rest is up to the student's discretion, as the basic Imperial Swordsmanship course is all that is required for swordsmanship credits.

“At Leomel, imperial swordsmanship is the basic swordsmanship. However, those enrolled in the general class, not to mention the special class, must have learned to use a sword in their own way.”

The students nodded quietly.

“First of all, let me check the level.”

The first half of today's class will be devoted to that, and technical instruction will begin in the second half.

But as the instructor mentioned, many of the students gathered here are more skilled with swords than their peers outside the school.

Even if we were talking about basic swordsmanship, the level of training would depend on the students who had gathered here.

“I'll take a look around. Everyone is free to find an opponent and swing the sword as they please. No matter what school you are from, but don't use any martial techniques--- Start!”

Again, the students followed the instructions, thinking it was too sudden.

While the students were trying to form pairs and swing their swords, the pair that attracted the most attention was Licia and Sarah.

The two girls weren’t only exceptionally beautiful, but also roared their sword skills at each other.

Naturally, the faculty was curious to see how strong they were.

They headed for the center of the training hall, which the students had unconsciously avoided, and held up their training swords, oblivious to the fact that they were attracting attention. Licia, who always wields a sword against Ren or against the knights of the Holy lion’s sanctuary, is natural and relaxed.

"...... Show them what you've been working on today. It's not the time to be nervous.”

Both Sarah and Licia seemed to be a little nervous.

But then Vane's voice arrives.

"...... Sarah!"

Then, Vane clenched his fist pointed at her and she slapped her cheek, which took the stiffness out of her and she got fired up.

Perhaps encouraged by Vane, her expression showed her usual self.

“Are you okay now?”

“Yes. I'm sorry I made you wait.”

Licia's gentle voice.

Licia, who had been waiting for Sarah to swing her sword without any worries, smiled slightly embarrassed at the sound of her voice.

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