By Zephyria After exchanging a few words with Maelo Sanson, who teased me about being busy lately, I greeted Lucilla and Rubel together, just as I had expected.
The girl stood at an awkward angle, swaying, unfitting for her status or appearance.
Knowing her brisk walk and confident bearing, I felt she was like someone wearing ill-fitting clothes. A laugh escaped me again.
We had already exchanged brief nods and greetings at the start of class, so there was nothing to ask about how they were doing. I silently suppressed my laughter when Lucilla, forcing her usually lively voice to a lower pitch, spoke.
Her nose crinkled, her wrinkled face looking truly adorable, it was obvious she was teasing me.
“Why are you looking at me like that and laughing?”
“Because it’s amusing.”
“What’s so amusing?”
“Seeing a pretty face make that kind of expression.”
“Huh?”
I burst into laughter again at the sight of two pairs of dark eyes widening as they looked at me. I had thought the siblings looked different, but their surprised expressions were so alike that I could have mistaken them for the same person.
Rubel’s expression as he watched Lucilla, who seemed embarrassed and was rubbing her slightly narrowed brow and cheeks still soft with baby fat, suggested he didn’t quite believe she was pretty, much like siblings of their age often did.
“Thank you for your hard work today. I really enjoyed the excellent sparring thanks to you.”
“Hmm, well, yes. You have a good eye. I’ve heard a lot about Young Master Ernhardt too.”
“During class?”
“Ah, well… including that. I’ve heard it from various places. I hear you’re practicing throwing knife techniques these days?”
“Yes.”
“I could teach you better than she can. How about changing instructors?”
“Lucilla!”
“Ah, you startled me. Why are you yelling?”
Her anxious demeanor was like someone desperately trying to prevent a newly made friend from being taken away.
Even with unfamiliar faces, the expressions of young children were transparent, allowing their inner thoughts to be seen, which was both cute and delightful.
Perhaps seeing that I might actually change instructors, Rubel countered with a serious tone.
His points were that I wasn’t currently taking a throwing knife technique class, that his own grades were better last year, and that she always did as she pleased, so she couldn’t teach properly.
Lucilla, not one to stay silent, retorted that one wouldn’t know unless they tried, and that she too had no experience teaching people.
Caught in the middle, I stood there watching the siblings’ argument, thinking that they were both kind and good-natured children, using only polite words even when fighting.
Suddenly, Lucilla grabbed my wrist roughly and leaned in, asking, “What about Young Master Ernhardt, hmm? Don’t you think it would be more fun if I taught you?”
“What…! Don’t act like you’re threatening me, Lucilla!”
“You mentioned that Senior is not currently taking a throwing knife technique class.”
“Ah, that’s true, but I know the Professor’s face too…!”
“If that’s the case, then. I will invite both Seniors on Friday.”
“…That’s strange. Why does it feel like you’re seducing me even though you’re speaking so prettily?”
“Huh?”
“No, no. I see why the children are so captivated by Young Master Ernhardt.”
As I accepted the hand that swept over my head and stroked it, much like many seniors in the Swordsmanship Department did, Rubel, who stood looking dejected, resembled a lost puppy.
I ran my fingers through my disheveled hair and paused for a moment, seeing his glum face. I wondered if I should pet him too and comfort him.
However, I also thought that there was a vast difference between letting someone else pet a child and finding them cute, and having someone call me cute and try to cheer me up.
So, instead of offering my head first, I just shrugged my shoulders. I didn’t want to do anything too awkward because the age of my body and mind didn’t match.
“Alright, then I’ll see you on Friday.”
“Uh, are you leaving like this?”
“I have a lunch appointment.”
“Oh? Where are you eating?”
“Today… I’ll be eating at the first-year male dormitory cafeteria, right?”
“…Why is that a question?”
“Well, it’s getting late, so I might have to eat somewhere else. Then, I have an afternoon class, so I must be going.”
Thanks to Lucilla letting go of my wrist without further hesitation, I arrived at the cafeteria on time and met Shayden.
Shayden asked if something had happened in class today, noticing my lateness.
I honestly replied that I had only been listening to the two children chatter and that nothing special had happened, and it was my fault for dawdling, so it wouldn’t happen often in the future.
After finishing lunch, I headed to the afternoon class lecture hall.
Fortunately, I wasn’t too late.
In the general world history class before the midterm exams, we learned about the timeline, history, and relationships between the Sierran Empire and the Five Kingdoms. However, the content after the midterm exams was different.
The focus was on the cultures, customs, and relationships between the Five Kingdoms.
In truth, studying what kind of specialty products came from which region, along with maps, wasn’t particularly difficult.
It was also natural for neighboring kingdoms to frequently fight, so it wasn’t strange that there were many incidents between them.
However, it was troublesome that these similar-sized nations had more similarities than differences in their strengths.
This was especially true for Yulan and Biban, who often fought over ownership of trade routes, which were good for trade, including salt. Their clothing customs were similar, and their food was similar, and even their customs for rites of passage—
(coming-of-age ceremonies, weddings, funeral rites, ancestral rites)
—were almost identical.
The way these two kingdoms, with their similar appearances, stood side-by-side and fought over every conceivable excuse reminded me of Hwasan and Jongnam.
Among the Nine Sects of the Central Plains, the relationship between Hwasan and Jongnam was famous.
For generations, they had vied to determine who was superior, engaging in contests like Hwajongjihye and Jonghwajihye. Their skills were so evenly matched that if Hwasan won one year, Jongnam would win the next.
Unlike other sects that kept their distance, the problem was that they were located on the same land of Shaanxi
(A region in central China. The Jongnam Sect is located in southern Shaanxi, and the Hwasan Sect is in the northeast.)
, with Xi’an
(The most prosperous city in the Shaanxi region)
between them. Another issue was that both primarily used swords.
Hwasan’s Sword Art followed the ever-changing paths of speed and illusion, while Jongnam’s Sword Art followed the eternal paths of weight and finality, making their incompatibility seem natural.
These two kingdoms were exactly like that.
Yulan and Biban, two kingdoms whose names were both two characters long, shared the same customs and culture, standing side-by-side. Their ideologies and intentions differed, leading them to repeatedly fight, compromise, fight, and reconcile every day.
In my observation, Yulan, which bordered the sea and produced salt, had a more bold and cheerful disposition, resembling Hwasan. Biban, which produced abundant grain from its vast plains, had a more serious and tranquil demeanor, resembling Jongnam.
Of course, each sect was merely one faction, different from the kingdoms that owned the land, but memorizing it this way made studying it somewhat more enjoyable.
It was helpful to recall the memory of being caught between two feuding Daoist sects (both Hwasan and Jongnam are considered Daoist sects) and only refilling my wine glass, unable to do anything.
Shayden looked at my textbook and asked what the flowers and mountains drawn next to each kingdom’s name represented, but I didn’t answer.
❖ ❖ ❖
During the beginner Swordsmanship class, we ate snacks under the wisteria tree. Maelo Sanson, while grumbling that he preferred unsweetened snacks, sat with me, and it was very enjoyable. I felt anew how grateful I was for the lack of formality between a master and disciple.
For this week’s hunting and camping session, the goal was to carefully dig up necessary medicinal herbs from the greenhouse and put them in boxes, based on what we learned last week.
The leader of each team drew lots to determine which area’s herbs they should collect. My team received a slip of paper instructing us to gather herbs with antipyretic, analgesic, and abdominal pain relief effects from a desert terrain.
No matter how large, the greenhouse grounds within the academy were limited in size.
In the desert terrain greenhouse, the gaps between plant clusters were wider than in other areas, and there were fewer prominent landmarks, making it easier to find the planted specimens, which put my mind at ease.
Jenny diligently followed us, meticulously writing down who said what, remarking that if the final exams were similar to the midterm alternative assignments, we needed to prepare in advance.
Having previously walked through the greenhouses in a line behind Professor Cedric, all the children walking were bright-faced and without worry.
From near the entrance to the desert terrain greenhouse, a wave of heat rushed out, and I marveled once again at the Sierran Empire’s Formation, or rather, magic.
The children in my group, already complaining about the heat, took off their school uniform jackets and put them in their bags.
“Shall we head right first? I think it would be best to collect Hand of Makrir first from the area we scouted with the Professor last time.”
“How much do we need? You didn’t mention the quantity.”
“Well… for five people, how much would be needed? We’ll have to see how the clusters are formed first.”
Hand of Makrir was a cactus fruit with anesthetic and analgesic effects.
The cactus was large and easily recognizable from afar, and the fruit, which was crushed or squeezed for use, had a hard surface that wouldn’t get bruised even when carried around.
The reason everyone in our group nodded when Demian suggested looking for Hand of Makrir first was because of this.
The sand was soft, and my feet sank with every step.
When I had come with Professor Cedric before, he had used magic to harden the sand, so this was an unexpected variable.
Marianne Philodendore, a member of our group, was also a wizard, but she said it was a skill beyond her reach, having only mastered the first Circle and barely researching second Circle magic.
So, the box for carrying the herbs naturally fell into my hands, which was also the right choice.
Unlike me, who had a strong body capable of enduring a certain degree of cold and heat due to my mastery of internal energy, my fellow camping group members seemed to be losing stamina with every step.
Their once lively expressions were washed away with sweat.
“…This is strange. Clearly, before, ha! after walking about twenty minutes, we saw the Makrir cluster…!”
“You need to realize we’re walking twice as slow as before.”
“Why is Young Master Ernhardt, hic, okay?”
“Well… I’m walking slowly… and I don’t usually get hot easily.”
“Didn’t you say last time you didn’t get cold easily either…?”
“That’s also true.”
Demian asked again if we had taken the wrong path, but in my view, the path wasn’t wrong; it was the people walking it who were not well. I reassured them several times that this was the correct path.
I had to try hard not to laugh as I watched the children gulp down water from their bags and roll up their sleeves.
It was indeed natural for students from the Swordsmanship Department to look down on students from other departments as if they were pieces of paper that could be blown away. Within half an hour, their exhausted state was so pitiful that it was hard to even laugh.
“I will carry the luggage of the two Young Ladies.”
“Hoo, it’s, it’s fi, fine…! I can, hic do it…!”
“No, it’s because you look like you might sink into the sand.”
I took the luggage from Marianne, who was making dying sounds, and Jenny, who couldn’t even make a dying sound, and slung them over my shoulders.
The remaining two boys also looked at me with envy, but since I was carrying my own bag, two backpacks in my left hand, and a box in my right, they didn’t seem to think of asking me to carry their luggage.
I briefly considered using my movement technique to rush to the cluster and carry the children one by one, but decided against it, as it would not align with the purpose of the class to rush ahead like that.