Chapter 121: Are you ready to take it to the ground?

“……Dustin, I was thinking.”

“I also thought of something…”

The two of them almost simultaneously thought of the same thing.

“In the first place… speaking of which, those who hate him wouldn’t come here… wouldn’t bow their heads to Ishud, right?”

“Hmm. As expected, we reached the same conclusion. It’s not for us to say, but nobles are prideful.”

They looked down on him as savage and barbaric.

Such a man, a wild child, was challenged by two of their classmates… and they were utterly defeated. After that, even upperclassmen challenged him but were defeated by weapons they couldn’t believe a barbarian would use.

Afterward, dozens of students challenged Ishud, but they were all swept away.

And in the exhibition match of the Fierce Battle Festival, even though the champions of each grade teamed up to challenge him, the wild child overwhelmed them with his bare hands, without using the weapon that was supposed to be his main weapon.

Overwhelming, on a different level… they should have been shown a difference that couldn’t be described with such words, but some still make excuses.

Are they mentally ill? Or do they have a serious illness that significantly reduces their cognitive ability… No, that’s not it.

Many nobles have pride that they believe to be personally higher than that of others.

If Ishud heard this, he would undoubtedly spit out, “Such pride, which is no better than manure, is meaningless, so throw it away quickly,” but that is the norm for many nobles.

“When you think about it, although she still somewhat dislikes Ishud, Michela is a rare type who can bow her head despite having such feelings.”

“That’s right… Personally, I hope she always maintains that unyielding strength and flexibility.”

As they said, for Michela, her encounter with Ishud was closest to the word “worst.”

The day after they met, she was utterly defeated. Even after that, she had to swallow her pride and ask to train with him… which required her to prepare a large sum of money, and whenever she snapped at him, he retaliated twice as hard.

Some might say that bowing to the person who defeated you is a sign of no pride.

But the two believed that whether or not you could do that determined if you could truly grow.

“…Even if those who hold grievances bow their heads, Ishud would easily see through their hearts.”

“In that regard, he is sensitive, or rather, has a sharp eye… For those who have complaints, all we can say is to give up.”

Christille… is still fine.

Next year, she will graduate from the academy and join the knight order.

However, Dustin is still at the academy and, even without becoming the student council president, is someone who leads the students of the academy.

(…Even now, we can only say to bow your head to the ground and beg Ishud.)

In the end, it all depends on their own will.

Even if they genuinely wish to become stronger by throwing away their pride and shame… there is even the possibility they won’t be able to keep up with the training and might run away.

Either way, those with only half-hearted resolve can’t seize the chance.

Reaching this conclusion, the two stopped thinking any further about the matter.

“Ishud, do you have a moment?”

“Hmm? What is it, Big Boobs?”

Michela had completely given up on being called Big Boobs.

“When you fight multiple enemies, what do you think about?”

“…Reacting to incoming attacks, finding openings and hitting them with all I’ve got, maybe?”

“Ugh, don’t you think about anything more specific?”

She had somewhat anticipated the answer, but it was so predictable that she felt a headache. Still, she didn’t give up and kept asking.

“Even if you say that… I tend to rely on my instincts for that sort of thing, so I don’t have any great advice. But if I had to say, maybe moving to a spot where I can see all the enemies by jumping?”

“So, you mean calmly assessing the situation once.”

“Something like that. If you can do that, at least you won’t get attacked from behind.”

“…Hey, Ishud. That doesn’t seem like a bad strategy, but won’t you get attacked while you’re jumping?”

Phillip joined the conversation with a question. Without much thought, Ishud responded with a look that said it was obvious.

“That depends on how you jump. If you jump in an arc like a mountain, you’d get attacked like Phillip said, but if you jump like this…”

While demonstrating, he jumped in a way that minimized the arc, keeping as parallel to the ground as possible, and then landed.

“If you can face the enemies below you early and keep your body oriented towards them, you should be able to deal with incoming attacks.”

“…He just casually said something really difficult, didn’t he, Michela?”

“Yes, I agree, Phillip.”

The two of them, who weren’t usually on good terms, found themselves in agreement this time.

(It was so ideal that I was a bit mesmerized.)

(I understand Ishud’s reasoning, but it’s incredibly difficult to maintain such good posture in the air.)

Even though they practiced on flat ground, they were certain that Ishud could do the same on a slope.

“Personally, how you can move in the air is pretty important too. You can’t plant your feet, but your body spins like crazy.”

“Yeah, but then you lose your… sense of balance with the ground, right? You might accidentally crash headfirst.”

“Oh, yeah! That happened! Ha ha ha, it was nostalgic. I really thought my head was going to split open back then.”

Ishud laughed heartily, but to the other two, it wasn’t a story to laugh off.

(…Should we practice this?)

(…There’s no choice but to practice it, right?)

Exchanging glances, the two let out a big sigh and, after seeking more specific advice from Ishud, began training to jump and escape from surrounded situations.

They quickly progressed in adjusting their posture in mid-air, but they struggled with handling attacks while airborne.

To be fair, the difficulty was partly due to Ishud’s rough and random long-range attacks during practice.

Even so, as their practical skills and proficiency improved, and with half of the summer vacation already over, an unexpected guest arrived for Ishud.

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