With that, I secured permission from Bear for a certain idea I had. He seemed oddly pleased, but I ignored that. I was looking forward to our next class.
General magic was split evenly between textbook learning and application. Today was the latter. On these days, we would practice in an outdoor arena. It was the same one used during mystic-jockeying classes, which was just perfect for me.
On the fringes of the arena, I stood opposite three people. It was the same trio I had been assigned earlier. We were close to the walls of the circular facility, so I was pretty sure we wouldn’t be a nuisance to the other students. Again, pretty sure.
“You again?”
“We want to be taught by someone of a respectable background.”
“Would you please learn to understand that? Oh, maybe I’m asking too much of someone improperly raised.”
They certainly weren’t keeping their feelings to themselves. But I was in a good mood, so I let it slide.
“Listen up team, do you know what you lack? Muscle!”
“Huh?” they all said in unison.
“In order to make up for this deficiency, I’ve brought with me a powerful assistant! Gonsuke! Come on out!”
“Gooan!”
My very smart bear had been patiently hiding in the stands until I called for him. How do you hide such a large creature? You cover him with an optical barrier of course! Flying from the stands, Gonsuke made a smooth landing, eliciting screams from the trio and the other students.
“What is that?!”
“Wha?! A black greatbear? What’s it doing here?”
“Ah, it’s got one of those collars they put on mounts?”
“Then does that mean it’s a mount? I suppose it’s fine then.”
I knew I could count on general magic students to quickly recover. The only people still freaking out were the trio before me. I guess seeing a mysticstock up close could be pretty terrifying.
“Today, you three will be running laps around the arena for me. Gonsuke and I will be chasing after you.”
“Gooan.”
“And don’t get any funny ideas about trying to escape.”
Following that, the arena was filled with some very pleasant shrieks.
“H-Help meee!”
“AAAGH!”
“EEK!”
If they can scream, they’ve still got plenty of energy. No need to let up on the reins yet.
“Ha ha ha, run, run. If you stop, you’ll get flattened by Gonsuke.”
“Gon gon!”
As they ran around the edge of the arena Gonsuke followed slowly behind. This is what I had secured permission from Bear for the other day. He gave the okay under the condition that if Gonsuke did hurt them in some freak accident, then I would take responsibility for it and heal them. Bear handled getting the approval of the mystic-jockeying instructor. He said it would go better if a fellow instructor asked for approval. He could be pretty sharp sometimes, that Bear.
Since those three had once again decided to show me no respect, I incorporated some classic Peylon-style methods into our training. The first rule of Peylon-style training was to temper the mind and body before learning any magic. Muscles can solve any problem, hence my decision to make them run around the arena. I brought along Gonsuke since I didn’t think they’d listen to me otherwise.
Not only was he big—he had a terrifying face, making him perfect for giving a fear-induced jolt. After one roar, all three of them started hoofing it. Using barriers, I formed a lane parallel to the edge of the arena, and ran them along it. Behind them was Gonsuke, on one side was the wall, and on the other was a barrier. There would be no escaping for them.
“I-I can’t...”
“I’m dying...”
“Ahhh, no more!”
If they can wail, they’ve still got plenty of energy. Here, I’ll use a recovery spell.
Those could also be used to recover fatigue, but they’d leave you with some insane muscle aches later. After about ten laps around the arena, all three were on the ground.
“Wh-Why is this happening to me?”
The one boy still had enough energy to complain, but the girls were dead silent.
“That’s what I’d like to know,” I said. “I already told you, don’t take this class if you aren’t serious about it.”
“I-I just wanted to put that commoner in his place! It’s not right for a mere commoner to teach the nobility!”
What the heck?
So they basically just want to harass a teacher that wasn’t going to pamper them? I hadn’t the slightest as to how they thought that was going to work when they were so out of shape. They needed to focus on building up their bodies. If they did that, they wouldn’t have time to think up harebrained schemes.
They ended up spending the entire class period being chased around by the bear. While I gave them several breaks, by the end of class they were unable to speak and had a vacant look in their eyes. I’ll say it again: Muscles are the solution to everything!
Once class was over, the students all left the arena, but I stayed behind to clean off Gonsuke and cast a spell to smooth out his fur.
“Great work out there, Gonsuke. Thank you.”
“Gon!”
“You were so good, but those three just had to be difficult. You might need to chase them around again, so I’ll be counting on you if that happens.”
“Gon gon!”
Just as I was about to return my bear to the stables, Bear appeared behind me.
“Hey, Lera.”
“Yeah?”
“Are you sure about this?”
About what? Give me a sentence with a proper subject.
Well, I could tell he was probably worried Gonsuke might attack one of them.
“It’s fine, it’s fine. Even if one of them gets nibbled on, I can heal them right away.”
Won’t even leave a scar.
“You should probably train that bear to not go nibbling on people.”
“He is trained. Accidents just happen sometimes.”
Accidents are very scary. You can take the necessary precautions, yet incidents can still happen at no fault of your own.
But man, those three are really out of shape. It might be a while before we do anything besides running.
That evening, I was heading to the cafeteria with Lanmia and Luchirs per my usual routine, when I heard a voice behind me.
“Just one moment. You’re the Duval from general magic, are you not?”
Turning around, I saw four girls I didn’t recognize, and behind them the two girls I had been forced to work with in general magic. The quartet in front all had blue ribbons. Fourth-years, in other words.
“I’m afraid there are two Duvals in general magic,” I answered with a grin.
“Excuse me?!”
Well, considering the two in the back, I was probably the Duval they were looking for. One of the four in front, who I assumed was the one to call out to me, was going red in the face—probably because she hadn’t expected me to talk back.
“You are Lowell Duval, correct?”
“That is correct.”
So you are looking for me. Shoulda said so at the start.
One of the fourth-years folded her arms and pointed her chin at me. “There’s something we need to talk to you about.”
“Well, I can hardly reciprocate, so if you’ll excuse me.”
“Huh?! H-Hey, wait!”
Why did she think I would do whatever she said just because she was an older student? Utterly baffling.