***
“Is that all you can do!”
Filina gritted her teeth at the voice coming from the front.
Lawrence was so considerate that she kept comparing them whenever she took classes from other instructors.
In particular, the wooden sword training she was currently learning was a real weakness.
“Debussy! Raise your hands properly! Your posture is wrong!”
She couldn’t really tell if it was the intensity of the training that was so hard, or if it was that human’s fiery voice that was so irritating.
Now she was taking a wooden sword class.
Since the new students couldn’t handle real swords, they started their training with swords made of wood that were handed out at the academy.
But the problem lay in the weight bands she wore on her wrists.
It was different in weight from the sand-filled band that Filina wore to take her exam.
According to Bessie’s words, the weight band contained silvery iron powder made of melted metal, so the weight was heavy even if she only wore one.
Still, it wouldn’t have been so painful if it was tied to one wrist at a time like the other students.
The instructor told Filina and Bessie that they needed to gain more strength, and made them wear another weight band. After swinging the wooden sword around in that same position for a whopping hour, she was soaked with sweat all over and she was exhausted.
“Sir Debussy! Where are you swinging your sword now?”
Her name had already been called dozens of times repeatedly by the instructor’s mouth. Apparently, Filina seemed to be his target.
She looked at the instructor with a light bite on her lower lip.
He was Carmen Geller, who was the supervisor at the time of the entrance exam, someone who, like Lawrence, had the Deputy Knight Commander ranking.
Right now, the 1st and 2nd Knight Order were undergoing wooden sword training together, and it was Carmen who was teaching this class.
It was a wonder why Carmen and Lawrence had such different personalities even though they had the same rank of vice commander. Sweat poured down Filina’s forehead. The wooden sword she was holding made a sharp sound of wind across the air.
“Hit harder than you are now. If your posture is wrong again, I will add another weight band.”
Now Carmen openly approached Filina and talked. He persistently looked at her posture right in front of her nose.
He seemed like a person who tried to catch her mistake somehow.
Filina couldn’t stand his ignorant training and missed the wooden sword in her hand.
The new students glancing at her. The older students, who had many more years of experience than them, just looked accustomed and concentrated on their practice.
Filina hurriedly lifted up the wooden sword that had fallen to the floor. Carmen, who had approached her again, tried to force the weight band onto her wrist.
Filina refused to do so, squirming involuntarily. At the same time, she felt the sharp look of Carmen’s eyes.
“You refuse it now?”
His terribly low voice echoed through the indoor training room.
As Filina gulped and shook her head, Carmen lowered his gaze again and filled her wrist with the weight band.
“This is a little too much,” she murmured as she looked at the heavy band dangling on her thin arm.
Then Carmen’s hand snapped back into place. He raised his gaze and stared at Filina.
She looked at Carmen with a look of insufferability and opened her mouth.
“Honestly, isn’t this Spartan training!”
He furrowed his brow as if he couldn’t understand Filina’s words. Whether she did or not, she bemoaned his ridiculous training methods like someone who had lost her soul.
‘’Who would want to drop a wooden sword? The deputy commander didn’t give me any time to rest and kept pushing me to train, so my hands have been sweating and it fell off!”
Filina’s angry voice somehow made the atmosphere around them sink into a somber state.
Forgetting their training, all the cadets stared at her blankly.
Filina stared silently at the frozen air around her, and she felt Carmen’s hand, which was gripping her wrist, quickly disappear.
“Sir Debussy, it seems we need to have an interview.”
His low voice made Filina’s shoulders shake. Carmen, who was staring at her blankly, turned his face and shouted to the other students.
“Who told you to stop training without permission!”
Hearing his voice, everyone hurriedly moved their hands holding their wooden swords. Carmen, who was staring at the students, looked for someone from the First Order.
“Sir Argeny.”
At his words, Henry walked out from his position where the new students had also gathered.
‘’I’m going to interview Debussy for a while, in the meantime Sir Argeny will be overseeing the training of the cadets.”
It was Filina whose expression frowned first at his words.
How could he fill the vacant position of deputy commander with a new student when there were clearly senior students already enrolled in the academy in position.
If it was her, she would have shuddered under the pressure. But Henry replied with a nonchalant look on his face.
“I understand.”
As he said this, his gaze naturally slipped and he glanced at Filina.
It was the first time they had seen each other since they had confronted the demon. She could see his pale skin, as if he was sick. His dark shadowed purple eyes were unremarkable.
Her wore training uniform unless it was a theory class or a special school event.
Only clothes that allowed free movement of the body and specialized in activities, but it really showed Henry’s excellent appearance and solid body, despite the fact that he didn’t pay much attention to his appearance.
Perhaps Leon also belonged to the 1st Order.
But she was not looking for Leon any more.
As Carmen took off, Filina slowly followed him.
A small sigh escaped from between her lips.
It was yesterday that Weaver had called her, and this time it was Carmen.
She didn’t understand the flow of life at the academy, which had only just begun.
Instead of going to the office, which she would come after a short walk, Carmen went into an unidentified building right next door.
It took a long time to undo how many locks were on the door because why was the atmosphere so gloomy for exchanging interviews? Once inside, a quaint smell vibrated.
The space, shrouded in darkness, was somewhat inconsistent when it came to human traffic.
“Where do you think this is?”
Carmen, who was walking in front of Filina, asked.
“…I don’t know.”
She gave a frank answer as she looked around. Then Carmen, who had stopped in his tracks, pointed somewhere.
“Go and check it out yourself.”
Raising her eyebrows at his words, Filina walked with Carmen’s caution. Then the iron bars, which could not be seen clearly from a distance, gradually came into her view.
At the same time, she heard a strange and unidentifiable voice. It was not the voice of an animal, but it was somewhat vague.
It was a little sharper and rougher than an animal’s. Filina, who had been carefully peering through the bars, opened her eyes wide.
“Um, isn’t that a demon?”
She muttered as she backed away. In the deep darkness of the place, she could see an ugly looking monster.
It was asleep, and its eyes were closed with its body curled up. Hot breath flowed at regular intervals over its beak-like protruding mouth, but each time it did, small black sparks flew. It looked ferocious.
“That’s right.”
Carmen spoke in a weighted tone as he approached. Filina could not manage her expression. She couldn’t understand how on earth this could be an interview.
“You’ll be seeing them a lot from now on, once Sir Debussy officially becomes a cadet.”
His eyes stared at Filina.
“Not all who enter the Swordsmanship Academy become excellent knights.”
Carmen’s cold voice made Filina choke up.
“Survive, or you will die.”
“…”
“It’s one or the other.”
As she watched Carmen, her iris moved sideways to face the demon through the bars.
The huge body of the demon was causing a strange sense of pressure.
“It’s not like the Swordsmanship Academy had zero history of admitting women.”
Carmen’s words brought Filina’s gaze back to him.
“Women of exceptional talent, such as Sir Bessie and Sir Debussy, were occasionally admitted to the Academy of Swordsmanship.”
“…”
“However, there has never been a woman among the graduates.”
They entered the school, but they didn’t graduate….
Filina looked at him with a look of incomprehension. Then Carmen raised his eyes sharply and continued.
“Many people died, or their bodies were damaged, that they voluntarily dropped out without graduating.”
Of course, the fact didn’t change for men either. Some seniors had their arms wrapped in bandages, while others had one of their eyes covered with an eye mask. All of them had been injured during training.
That was how hard the training at the Swordsmanship Academy was known to be as they advanced. In fact, if they became knights and competed in a war or were scouted for the Imperial Palace, they never knew what kind of situation they would face, so they went into rigorous training.
This was the very reason why the status of the knights produced by the military academy was so high. If they were not strong, they wouldn’t survive.
“So, pull yourself together. Even the new students will regret it if they are not well trained. Now, I said this because I was more worried about Sir Debussy than Sir Bessie. I have seen a lot of new students in my life. When I train a class even for a short time, I can roughly guess who will survive to the end.”
“…”
“If you’re going to run away, you’d better do it now. That would be a wise choice.”
His voice was quite compassionate, but his true intentions were not very gratifying.
After all, he was telling her that if she was going to leave, she should leave now because she didn’t seem to be able to hold out at the academy.
A vain laugh escaped from between her lips.
Weaver was also frustrated that he couldn’t get rid of her, and this person in front of her now was exactly the same. Filina looked at Carmen and asked.
“Did you say what you told me to do to the other students?”
Carmen answered her words with a long, thin raise of his lips.
“Of course I did. Most of them were frightened and ran away in fear when I told them this. It was a funny sight. Why did they come here with a mere spirit like that?”
Carmen continued with a firm expression.
“I hate the weak the most. I despise most of all the arrogant people who set foot in the academy without knowing their place. Therefore, Sir Debussy, if you don’t intend to undergo proper training, then leave. There is not a place for people like you.”