Chapter 2 Part 2
Translator : PolterGlast
Proofreader : John4891
"Excuse me. Norn-sensei, it seems
she injured herself. Can you treat her?"
Irisdina Francilt was there, lending
her shoulders to a student who was suspected of being injured.
Behind her, her best friend Tima Lime
could be seen. Tima was carrying luggage that seemed to belong to Irisdina.
"All right, let the injured
student sit in that chair first."
Norn-sensei immediately went to see
the student, while Nozomu took out and brought a set of treatment tools
containing medicine and bandages from the shelves.
"What happened ~~~~"
While Nozomu and Norn were treating
the injured student, Anri-sensei listened to Irisdina about the situation
Apparently, she was involved in a
competition for popular items in the canteen, which turned into a battle.
"Hmm, She has sprained her leg,
but her bones seem alright, and her muscles seem to be okay too. If she rests
for a few days, it will heal. Let's apply the ointment for the time
being."
While Nozomu helped Norn-sensei take
care of her immediately, he met Tima Lime.
"!!"
As soon as she met Nozomu, she turned
her eyes away and hid behind Irisdina.
(………… Did I do something to her?)
Nozomu was a little depressed and
skeptical about being blatantly avoided by a girl he'd never spoken to, but
since he was concentrating on helping Norn Sensei, he couldn’t think about
Tima.
"That should be enough. For now,
just rest for a while."
"Thank you very much"
The schoolgirl and Irisdina thanked
Norn-sensei for her treatment and left. When Nozomu saw that even though
Irisdina wasn’t involved with her, she helped the injured, brought her to the
infirmary, and thanked the person who treated her, he could see the Irisdina’s
personality.
Irisdina was the daughter of an
Aristocratic family in the kingdom of Forsina, a great power in the western
part of the continent, and she simply couldn’t be disregarded by teachers at
school, but she didn’t mind it. After all, she had a hard-working personality.
Everyone in the school knew about it.
"Well then, as sensei said, you
just need to rest for a while."
"Yes! Thank you!!"
When Irisdina called out to the
schoolgirl, she blushed and replied with her energetic voice.
Irisdina's appearance and abilities
were outstanding. With her noble personality, she was known as
"Kurokami-hime" (Black-Haired Princess) at the school, and although
she’d been confessed by many boys and girls, she seemed to have never accepted
any of their feelings.
By the way, it was Nozomu's childhood
friend, Lisa Hounds who fought evenly with her in the first-class mock battle
of the second year. Lisa was called the "Red-Haired Princess" because
of her appearance and her fiery red hair, and they seem to be rivals in
practical skills.
Irisdina bowed politely and said,
“Thank you for your help.”
"N-no need to thank me. I just
happened to be here."
Nozomu's response became somewhat
awkward, staring at her overly organized appearance and deep-black eyes.
Suddenly, Tima, who was behind Iris
said, "Ai. It's about time for class …………"
Certainly, the lunch break was nearing
its end, and afternoon classes were about to begin.
"Nn, I see. Then sensei, we're
going to go back to the classroom. Thank you for your treatment."
"No problem. Nozomu-kun, thank
you for your help. You should go back to the classroom too."
The girls said so as well,thanked them
again, and left the infirmary. Looking at the clock in the room, there were
only a few minutes left until lunch break was over. It looked like Nozomu
wouldn’t have enough time to eat the rest of his lunch.
"Okay I understand, I'm going
back to the classroom,” answered Nozomu.
He returned to the classroom.
=============================================
Irisdina's POV
In the corridor, while making our way
back to the classroom, I asked about the strange behavior my best friend
exhibited in the infirmary.
"Tima, I knew you weren't good
with men, but I think your attitude towards him was a bit too much."
What I meant was Tima's attitude
towards Nozomu in the infirmary. Tima’s certainly not good with boys, and when
she stands alone in front of a man, she can't speak well; however, her attitude
towards him was too excessive.
"I, I'm sorry Ai. But that boy.
That person, he toyed with Lisa-san ..."
Lisa’s a female student who belongs to
the third grade first class as us. She’s an excellent student who’s reached
rank A, just like us, and she’s one of the few people who can compete with me
in practical skills.
By the way, when she was in the first
grade, I had heard such rumors. I heard that she was dating her childhood
friend, but she was cheated on and betrayed. Was he that person?
"But as far as rumors go, his
character doesn’t match the rumors at all."
You wouldn’t think a cheater would be
so kind as to prepare medicine for an injured person or help with the
treatment.
"Un, but I was scared at that
time ..."
Tima was a bit sad. She cast her eyes
down.
She's kind, but she's a little timid,
and she cares too much about her surroundings. She most likely overreacted because
she had heard the rumors.
"Well, if you have a chance to
meet him next time, just apologize at that time. Don't worry too much,
Tima."
"…………Un"
The lesson is about to start. I
hurried to the classroom while comforting my best friend.
======================================================
"All right~~, let's start the
afternoon lesson~~."
Anri's voice echoed in the training
ground.
The afternoon lesson for the 10th
class was about comprehensive combat techniques.
Unlike the one-on-one mock battles so
far, this lesson involved forming a party to fight, so it wasn’t only about
individual fighting ability anymore. Teamwork was more important now.
In the first place, fighting against a
powerful demon beast alone was extremely dangerous even for a veteran knight.
Furthermore, since there were few rewards, freelancers such as adventurers
basically organized parties of several to dozens of people. When subduing a
powerful demon beast, they sometimes formed a team with another party or asked
for assistance.
Therefore, in order to develop the
judgment ability for each role in response to various situations, the school
introduced many subjects such as group battles starting from the third grade.
However, while the classmates formed a
party, Nozomu was still left alone and couldn’t form a party with anyone.
(I knew this would be the case, but
this sure is bad)
This lesson was meaningless without
several people, but even if Nozomu tried to speak to them, his classmates
wouldn’t respond and ignored him instead.
(If it's like this, it will not be a
lesson as it is)
If nothing was done, a party couldn't
be formed, the lesson itself couldn’t be held, and it would be meaningless for
Nozomu.
However, his classmates had already
formed parties, and there weren't any spots for Nozomu to fill in.
"Hey, if you don't have a party,
would you like to join us?"
At that time, there was a student who
called out to Nozomu, but that voice came from someone that no one would’ve
expected, let alone Nozomu.
It was Mars who called out to him. His
entourage was astonished and his classmates started to buzz.
"O, oi Mars, are you
serious?"
"Why do you bother to put in
useless garbage?"
Their reactions were only natural.
Mars was one of the students in the class who particularly despised Nozomu.
He was the first to exclude Nozomu as
a candidate. Nozomu didn't talk to them because he didn't think they would come
to him and invite him instead.
Mars' entourage complained, but Mars
didn't respond. He just stared at Nozomu.
Nozomu stared back at Mars. Nozomu
didn’t know what Mars was thinking, but he had no choice. After all, nobody
else wanted him
“... I understand. I accept."
"...Okay"
And just like that, the most unlikely
party in the class, with Nozomu, Mars, and his entourage was created.
The lessons were still in a mock
battle format. There were four people in Mars and Nozomu's party. Mars's
entourage consisted of one archer and one magician.
The opponent also consisted of 4
people. There were two boys who used swords, one boy who used a spear, and one
girl who used 2 daggers.
Along with the signal to start the
mock battle, the opponent's swordman and spearman first cast strengthening
magic on themselves and started to approach Mars.
"Hmm!"
Mars pulls out his greatsword and
receives the attack of two people. A high-pitched sound of metal clashing
reverberated, and an attack whose power has been raised by strengthening magic
attacked Mars. But Mars, who had strengthened his own body with kijutsu, was
completely unphased.
Nozomu tried to attack the two who had
stopped moving, but suddenly a blade of the wind passed in front of him and his
attack was blocked. Looking in the direction of the wind blade, a
dagger-wielder chanted magic.
The blade of the wind hit again, and
Nozomu was separated from Mars. Apparently, the opponent intended to separate
Mars and Nozomu and destroy them one by one. Certainly, given that Mars had the
highest fighting ability in the party, it would be strategically necessary to
separate him.
Another swordsman of the enemy party
approached the separated Nozomu.
"I got you!!"
Nozomu immediately pulled out his
katana and parried the opponent's sword. The momentum of the rush was strong
since the swordsman strengthened his body, but being parried by Nozomu caused him
to lose his posture.
Nozomu immediately tried to chase
after him, but suddenly a fireball rushed in from behind and exploded, and he
was blown away.
"Aghh!"
"Oi oi, is that okay? He also got
involved."
"It's okay. That kind of unusable
guy can only be a decoy."
It was Mars's entourage who shot the
fireball. For them, Nozomu was literally a decoy, and it didn't even hurt for
them if Nozomu was involved in the attack.
"Damn!"
Nozomu got up and got ready, but the
opposing swordsman immediately drew near. With one dual dagger-wielder added,
Nozomu would be on the defensive side against two people. While parrying three
blades, he repeatedly moved so that two people wouldn’t be able to attack at
the same time.
"Take this!"
"Hahaha! Easy target!"
Mar’s entourage also attacked Nozomu
using their magic and arrows, as if it couldn’t be helped. Nozomu was swept
away by the ranged magic attack, and the gap was pierced by accurate shooting
with a bow.
The attacks of the two entourage
members were compatible with each other in the sense of a long-range attack,
and the strengths were well intertwined. The magic casting time and the gap
between the next arrow, which was a drawback of the attack, were successfully
eliminated.
In a situation of 1 against 4, Nozomu
had no way of dealing with it. He could try to counterattack, but the entourage
behind him would attack him, so he would to deal with it. He was stuck in a
loop of being attacked again by both his own and the other party.
However, this situation collapsed
soon. Nozomu felt a fierce chill from the side. Using his legs, he left with
all his might.
The sight of Mars swinging up his
greatsword was reflected in Nozomu's field of view. Mars, after defeating his
two opponents, rushed with a quick movement into Nozomu who was in a state of
turmoil
Mars, who wielded a giantsword enveloped
with wind blades, swung his sword to the side with all his might. With his
enhanced strength and wind blades, Mars' surroundings were swept away, and the
remaining two of the opponent's party were blown away, making it impossible to
continue the fight. With that, the mock battle is over.
Nozomu and Mars glare at each other
silently. Nozomu was clearly angry with Mars who was clearly mowing down at
him, and the two entourages who were attacking him.
Until now, Nozomu had turned a blind
eye to everything happening at the school. He would have immediately turned his
eyes away and kept to himself.
Nozomu himself was unaware of such a
change, but he was clearly changing.
Nozomu was angry, but soon a question
appeared from his heart about the unusual behavior of Mars.
Mars was mowing down at him, but he
couldn't see the color of Mars's eyes that despised him until now. Nozomu
didn't understand the reason, but at least he knew it wasn't hostile.
When he thought about it, the Mars’
behaviour towards Nozomu had obviously changed since the beginning of the third
year.
He wasn't swearing at him, and he
wasn't poking fun at him during the lesson.
(What is going on?)
There was anger in Nozomu's heart, but
more than that, he was worried about the change in Mars. However, Nozomu
doesn’t speak and the two of them remain silent. The entourage talks to Mars,
but he doesn't respond to them, he just continues looking at Nozomu.
Eventually, the bell that signalled
the end of the lesson rang, and the lesson was over. Nozomu left the training
ground without finding an answer to the question that had sprung up in his
chest.
===============================================
Mars’s POV
After the class was over, Mars thought
about the mock battle while walking in the school corridor.
"He…has changed"
He remembered Nozomu who was willing
to get involved and the glare at him who attacked. The old him wouldn't do
that, he would just look down and turn his back.
Mars didn't know what happened to him,
but he could have guessed that his feelings had changed.
“………… But what kind of training did he
do?”
Mars admired Nozomu's movement, which
was actually 1 against 4 in the mock battle. He was able to catch a glimpse of
it during the battle because he only fought against two opponents, but from
what he saw, there was no waste in Nozomu's movement, which handled the attacks
of four people.
Mars wouldn't be able to handle
attacks from four people in a suppressed state like him. It seemed that the
people around him, including those who were dealing with him, didn't notice it.
The movements itself were slow, but all the movements were executed
terrifyingly precisely.
He always moved to the opponent's
blind spot and always moved around in a one-to-one confrontation. Moreover, in
that situation, he sensed Mars's surprise attack and moved immediately. There
was no doubt that he had a fairly wide field of view.
"He's pretty used to combat.
Where did he get such experience?"
In this city, the only way to gain
combat experience was to receive a request from the school or the guild. There
was no one willing to deal with him at the school, and he wasn’t high-ranked
enough to receive the subjugation requests from the guild.
Students had to hold a certain rank or
form a party with multiple higher rank people in order to receive requests such
as subjugation from the guild; otherwise, only miscellaneous requests could be
received. The students of the school were, after all, a group of inexperienced
kids, and the school side wanted to avoid the loss of valuable human resource
candidates, so such an arrangement was made.
“...Does he, perhaps, go into the
forest alone?"
The only place where he could gain
such combat experience was the forest, but it was extremely reckless for a
student to enter the forest where demon beasts were dominant. No one did that.
No matter how strong those demon beasts near the city were, it wasn't absolute,
and there were cases where travelers were actually attacked.
But otherwise, the accuracy of his
movements couldn’t be explained.
“...Should I check it out?”
Mars made the decision and quickly
walked down the corridor.
