They were forced to wait in line for quite a while.
It wasn’t like in the junior class, of course, where everyone stood in a crisp, square formation with military precision; they were simply standing around in a group. Earnest even had a hand on her hip as she scowled at the others.
Blade got the feeling his classmates here didn’t think very much of their instructors. You could find such people in the army, or anywhere else—exceptional talents who chafed at rules they saw as beneath them. Blade had teamed up with “irregular forces” like that—people with more than their fair share of quirks—for most of his career, and he was pretty used to them by now.
Class was taking a long time to begin. They must have been waiting for someone really important.
Earnest’s stare bored into the training instructor. He seemed to physically wither, his eyes darting around before finally focusing in one direction.
“Y…Your Majesty!”
Everyone’s heads turned at once. There he was, calmly walking toward them, a beautiful female attendant to either side. It was the chancellor of this academy…or, more broadly speaking, their nation’s king. And thanks to this nation—or rather, its king—bringing an end to the great war started by the Overlord, he could very well become the leader of the entire continent in time.
Earnest stood at attention, her heels briskly clacking against the floor. Oh, so she’ll do that for the king, at least. Blade was a little impressed. Come to think of it, hadn’t she glared at him on his first day, after he caused her to lose her chance to speak with the king? Did she really want to talk to a bum like him that badly? He was all bluff and bluster, flying from one wild idea to the next and expecting other people to clean up his mess.
“It is a great honor,” exclaimed Earnest, speaking on behalf of the other students, “for you to sit in on our class, Chancellor!”
“Ha-ha-ha! Well, it’s my job. I am the chancellor.”
The king looked at Blade. Blade responded by hiding behind Earnest, ensuring the king had to look at her instead.
“But…yes, you seem to be working hard. It gladdens me to see it.”
“Yes, my liege! I am devoting everything to my studies, in order to lay the groundwork for the next generation of our kingdom!”
Earnest was giving as sincere a reply as she could. Blade was busy trying to keep himself hidden and ensure the king’s eyes were focused squarely on her. His Majesty, of course, meant his comment for Blade—and, sadly, Blade wasn’t putting in anything like his best effort. He had no intention of using the school for “rehabilitation,” as the king had put it. But when it came to making friends and being a normal person, he was doing everything he could—everything.
“I humbly suggest,” said Earnest, “that we flesh out our team of instructors, Your Majesty. If we want to extract everything we possibly can from our student body, there is only so much we can achieve with our current faculty.”
She said it! She really said it! She’s polite to the king and all, but she doesn’t care one bit about the teachers.
The way the instructor cowered at this only made him look more pathetic. Maybe Earnest had a point. The instructor didn’t seem very reliable to Blade. He looked like the type who wouldn’t last a day on the front lines.
“Mmm, yes, I will certainly look into the instructor issue. Today, however, I’d like to see a demonstration of your abilities. I haven’t been chancellor for long, after all. I don’t know how good your kung fu is yet.”
“Our…kung fu, my liege?” asked Earnest.
“Indeed. I mean the results of your training, of course.”
“Ah. Well, in that case…” Earnest looked around the senior class, thinking for a few moments before making a suggestion. “What do you think about us holding a tournament? …Under real battle conditions, of course.”
“Mmm, that sounds delightful! A truly excellent idea!”
“I am honored to hear that,” she replied, curtsying politely like the refined noble girl she was. The gesture surprised Blade. “I was hoping to see the abilities of our new transfer student as well,” she continued.
Her face was pointed right at the king as she spoke, but she probably meant her words for Blade, given that she kept him firmly in the corner of her vision.
Ughhh… Blade groaned inwardly. This again? Didn’t he just test his strength around her a little while ago? He’d already shown off his “kung fu” or whatever. Since the advanced class was supposedly three dimensions above the junior class, he’d turned his attack up three notches. It seemed like Dragon Eater had been a little too much, but it was only the second weakest in the family of dragon-destroying skills, so it shouldn’t have been that bad.
I just don’t know how to go easy, all right?!
And now they were talking about a tournament? What even was that—a competition? Having grown up on the battlefield, Blade didn’t know much about social niceties. Heroes spent more of their time in wild wastelands and dank dungeons than in town. The events held in cities were dazzling and brilliant to him, something only ever glimpsed in passing as a Hero.
His lack of enthusiasm must have been obvious, because the king’s eyes began to glint.
“Right!” he said. “How about I offer a reward to help motivate everyone, then?”
“A…reward?” asked Earnest. “If I may, Majesty, we in the senior class do not train for our own personal gain—”
“And I’ve got a good one in mind, too. The winner of this tournament will receive personal training from the Hero!”
Ughhh… Blade groaned inwardly once again.
“Huh? Hero…? You mean that Hero…? The vanquisher of the Overlord…?”
“And what other Hero would I be referring to, hmm? He is the only Hero I know. And he happens to be a personal friend of mine, too. If I ask him for a favor, he’ll come running!”
No I won’t.
“H-he will…? The Hero himself? He’d train me?” Earnest’s eyes shot open. She looked like she could hardly believe what she was hearing.
“Indeed,” he said, nodding. “On my name as king, I promise you.”
There he goes again, that bastard. And he’s got that “leave everything to me” smile he used to trick everyone—allied and hostile nations alike.
Don’t make promises on my behalf, old man…
In a way, this did motivate him a little. If someone else won the tournament, he’d have a lot of explaining to do. Everyone would find out he was the former Hero, and then what would happen? …Well, maybe nothing so bad. It wouldn’t be the end of the world…but it wouldn’t exactly fill him with glee, either. It’d put a serious damper on his serene life as a regular student—a serious damper. And for that matter, he wasn’t even a Hero anymore. He was just a normal person, an average citizen—a student.
Right. Let’s win this.
Blade’s mind was made up. He didn’t know much about the senior class’s abilities, though. And he’d need to win while keeping his moves as gentle, as easy, as normal as possible, so that he wouldn’t be too conspicuous. It sounded really difficult to pull off, but he had no other choice.