How to ruin the original

Episode 14

Changing out of his uniform into activewear, Allen stared unfocused at the vast training grounds.

“Allen.”

“Nigel, uh…… oh, it’s a beautiful day, haha, haha, haha…….”

“Don’t act like it’s nothing.”

“……Ah. Noah told you, how many times have I told you to keep it a secret from Nigel?”

Allen glared at Noah.

“No, I asked him first, because I couldn’t help but notice how weird your gait was, and your glassy eyes.”

“I-I’m not that bad, am I, Noah?”

Allen looked at Noah eagerly, his eyes full of hope.

“Uh…….”

Noah rolled his eyes, unable to find the right words.

“That’s about right. Just tell me what’s going on. What’s so worrisome about a two-hour class?”

“…….”

Nigel crossed his arms and glared at Allen, but no words came out, only a dozen lips.

“Unless you don’t want to talk to me.”

“Oh, no!”

Allen grabbed Nigel’s arm urgently as he spun around.

“It’s just…… talking, that’s all. Do we really have to argue about this?”

“Yeah. You said we were friends and destined the day we met at the train station, and you’re the kind of girl who says things to Veselion that you wouldn’t say to a friend, but you just met him yesterday?”

Nigel’s hard stare made Allen hang his head low.

And the look on his face as he hung his head was as red as …… grass.

Nigel, who had always denied or said nothing about their relationship, was the first to say they were friends.

“It’s ……really not a big deal, which is why I didn’t tell you. ……want to hear it?”

Alan said, kicking the sand on the training center’s floor in vain.

“Yeah.”

The answer came quickly.

Allen forced the corners of his mouth that kept trying to rise down and looked up.

But Nigel’s face lit up as he looked up.

“It looks like …….”

“What?”

“I thought …… would find out I was a wimp!”

“…….”

I mustered up the courage to say something, but he was speechless.

I’m sure Nigel was disappointed that I was such a dork, and I felt a sting in my heart, even though I expected it.

“What’s the big deal?”

“……what?”

Alan’s eyes widened at the unexpected answer.

“You know I was an…… asshole when we first met.”

“Yeah, I was……, but that’s something you’re born with, and you’re a good student.”

“You’re good at finding your way around too, Allen, it’s just different, not a bad thing.”

“Is that…… thing?”

“Yeah. I told you not to worry about it, and I’ve known you were weak since you were carrying my stuff.”

“You …… knew that.”

Allen scratched his head.

“Yeah, so don’t hurt yourself by bluffing in front of me, just do it, good or bad.”

“Nigel……!”

Pair. Pair. Pa.

Then he heard three claps behind his back, and someone put a strong, muscular arm around Nigel’s shoulders.

“That was quite impressive. Yes, the sword is a joy to wield in the hands of one who knows his fractions.”

The owner of the arm was a man with red hair tied up in a high bun, the same man who had taken Noah to the initiation ceremony.

His name was probably…….

“Professor ……Rone?”

“Master …….”

She was the professor in charge of the first-year swordsmanship program and Noah’s childhood swordsmanship teacher.

“I’m impressed. You knew my name before I introduced myself. Are you a friend of Noah’s? What can I say, I don’t know your name.”

“It’s okay.”

Professor Rhone ruffled Nigel’s hair with rough hands full of calluses and scars and stood in front of the class.

“Hello, new students, I’m Rhone, your teacher for this semester’s Introduction to Basic Swordsmanship. Now, clap!”

Claps.

“Mmm, good, good. It’s nice to see the freshmen have an innocent side. You seniors don’t even listen.”

Lorne laughed heartily.

“I may be the professor in charge of the Swordsmanship Faculty, but I don’t favor any of the faculties on my time. I don’t discriminate. Now, five light laps of the training grounds, then!”

With that, Lorne began to run around the training grounds.

The students, who were watching, ran after him.

“Hmph…… hmph…….”

“Ugh…… week, I’m dying.”

“Okay, now you’re itching to move your bodies, aren’t you? Come on, stop lazing around and get up! Pick up the wooden swords piled up in front of you, one per person, and do it!”

With a booming voice in their ears, the students picked up the wooden swords one by one with shaky arms.

“Now, today you will learn to swing. I’ll demonstrate several times, so watch and follow along!”

As soon as she took hold of the wooden sword, Lorne’s face turned serious without a trace of a smile.

Spreading her legs up and down, she tensed her abdomen to keep it steady, and swung the wooden sword.

Whiz!

He swung so fast that there was no trace of the wooden sword.

The sound was not the only thing that came from the wooden sword, as the wind whipped through the students’ hair, ruffling it wildly.

“Oh, excuse me. It’s been a while since I’ve used a wooden sword, so I forgot to adjust the power, I apologize.”

Lorne swung the wooden sword lightly a few times to test its weight before resuming his stance.

“Hmph, that’s it. Now everyone repeat after me!”

If Cladian was a questioning hell, Lorne was a swinging hell.

With Noah at the front of the room, Rone had the students follow his every move and chant.

She walked around the room, correcting form.

“You’ve got a good upper body position, but you need to brace your lower body a little tighter, and you’re using too much strength in your arms. You’re going to hurt yourself in no time if you keep swinging like that.”

As Rone walked to the right, a student caught his eye.

“He’s got good form.

As he approached the student, Rone’s eyes lit up with interest.

“Isn’t that …… a friend of Noah’s?

Rone smirked, thinking they were playing, and moved closer to Nigel.

The sudden shadow cast by Nigel made him stop swinging his wooden sword and look up.

“Your form isn’t too bad, even if you’re still lacking a lot of muscle. You’ll be quite useful once you get that fixed.”

“……Thank you.”

I liked how she took the compliment so readily.

“So, who taught you how to use a sword?”

“A former temple paladin taught me the basic stance.”

“He said you have a grace to your swordsmanship that I don’t see in imperial swordsmanship. You, what’s your name?”

“Nigel Asse, Faculty of Magic.”

“……The Faculty of Magic, not the Faculty of Swordsmanship?”

“Yes.”

I looked closely at his activewear and saw that the emblem on his chest patch was a goddess’s hand and an owl, not the sword and lion of the Swordsmanship Faculty.

I recognized the name, too…….

“So you’re the one Jerez was bragging about.”

Every time I went to the faculty common room, my fellow professors bragged so much that even Lorne, whose name I could barely remember, could recite it by heart.

“You’re not going to do time, are you? I’ll take you under my wing. How about a tactician? You have a good head, so how about a tactician? I’ll give you a lot of support.”

This was a rare opportunity to have Lone’s support. The swordsmanship students pricked up their ears and looked at Nigel with envious eyes.

“I appreciate the offer, but I’m not interested in swordsmanship.”

“Interest comes and goes. Don’t worry, just let me know!”

“…….”

Nigel nodded reluctantly, feeling nervous about this situation, having no one to talk to about his interest and only the attention of Professor Amon.

***]

Jerez had been assigned to be the professor in charge of this year’s freshman class of magical students, and every day was a joy these days.

He had given up his coveted position as an imperial wizard to become a professor in Sienia, fulfilling a childhood dream of guiding young students down a good path.

But the ideal and the reality were very, very different.

I was passionate about providing quality lectures to students who were growing up every day, and I aspired to be able to solve their problems as if they were my own.

I also realized that I would be surrounded by my dean and fellow professors who would support and help me make good choices for my students in the future. …….

Now, in his fifth year at Siena, those resolutions are faded memories, like ink on water-soaked paper.

Now he just wants no one to call him by his first name, whether it’s a student, professor, or dean.

Still, it was better to have students come to him with all their emotions written all over their faces, whether they were in an accident or disputing a grade, than to have a dean who only showed up when he wanted to, or to have regular meetings where he openly deferred to his fellow professors.

No, no, no, don’t be fooled by those pale faces.

Jerez still wondered if these kids, whose lives depended on one or two undergraduate marks that weren’t even official Academy figures, were truly the future of the Empire.

On his first day on duty, when he heard the cautionary note, he doubted his own ears, doubted his own hearing.

Could it be possible that the students, who were smart and nice to me, even if it was only a pretense, were snarling behind my back, dividing the faculties into sides over a point or two?

I thought they were just doing it to lighten the mood because they were stuck in the dorms, but I didn’t think they were serious.

I still get goosebumps when I think back to my rookie year, when I was on call and barely picked up half-dead students who were fighting over undergraduate grades, and sent them off to the shrine together.

What’s even creepier is that it was one of my own students who was at the center of the commotion.

I lost count of the number of times I bent down to clean up the mess. I couldn’t write it down on the report because it was a 2 undergraduate mark.

“But this year is different……!

Gone are the days when I thought I could change students for the better with my enthusiasm, and when I thought I could be the only one who could get away with it.

This year, I’m in charge of the first-year magic students!