RATH 62

TL: Eevee

Change in subt.i.tle which means guess what? Time for the beginning of a new arc!

8. If you do it, it works. (1)

#1 Their story: Aris ril Letia’s story

With a meaty smack the s...o...b..ll flew into my face and disintegrated, falling to the ground.

“What… did you just do?”

It was not a question about him throwing snow in my face.

The things that the human named Professor Nicerwin couldn’t be understood more often than not, but they usually had a purpose behind them.

And what I was asking about right now was the strangeness of my body.

As the daughter of an elite martial family, I learned to fight with and among countless knights and swordsmen.

And as a result I would never be hit by an ordinary s...o...b..ll without even any mana imbued into it that cleanly.

“I simply used the flow of your blood to halt your body for a moment.”

And the one who gave me the answer was Professor Muam.

“Is that possible?”

“Yes, when you think about it blood is also a form of water.

“So why didn’t you use it on us?”

It was a technique that could cause the enemy to freeze without any kind of warning whatsoever.

And what if he had used that technique on us?

Just when I had been brooding over that serious matter.

Smack!

“…Professor!”

The serious mood was shattered by another s...o...b..ll flying into my face.

“I have said this before, but the teachers are holding back in their own way.”

The words of Professor Nicerwin who was rolling up the snow piled on his desk into a s...o...b..ll were very heavy, but his actions were all too light and causal.

“In that case, what is the reason you are freezing me, and throwing s...o...b..a.l.l.s at me?”

“I said it, didn’t I, Miss Aris. I know the theory at least.”

“What does that have to do with…”

Smaackk!

Again. Again! And if you could call the previous s...o...b..a.l.l.s ones that ones that annoyed you but didn’t hurt, now they were annoying and they hurt.

“Does it hurt?”

“Are you absolutely freaking serious!”

I cannot stand for this any longer.

Even if it is imperial law that students must respect their teachers even if they were commoners, this crossed the line.

“It hurts! Now I will not…”

Stand for this any longer! But before I could finish what I was going to say, Professor Nicerwin cut in and said.

“And that’s the trick to it.”

“Eh?”

“Didn’t the later ones hurt more than the previous ones? That is the difference between those who lie on the boundary of swordsmasters and the ones who have crossed them.”

Professor Nicerwin looked at my expression and sighed.

“Now, imagine this is the sword ki that ordinary swordsmen use.”

He rolled around a small s...o...b..ll on his desk until was about the size of his fist and placed in on one corner of his desk.

“And this is a swordsmaster’s sword aura.”

He made another s...o...b..ll, but this time he squashed it down as hard as he could and put it on the other side of the desk.

“Which of these two s...o...b..a.l.l.s will hurt more?”

“Well of course the one you squashed together…”

Smack!

“Correct.”

Hang on, there was no need to throw the s...o...b..ll even as you’re saying it was a correct answer, right?

“Uwuuu…”

Although perhaps because Professor Muam didn’t use his technique, thankfully I could dodge this time.

“Aren’t you treating people too much like a toy?!”

But you had to take a stand on things you needed to take a stand on!

“I did it because it was effective.”

“There are times when Professor needs to consider the students before effectiveness!”

“Hm… I need to consider the students more…”

As Professor Nicerwin closed his eyes in thought, I was feeling proud of myself, but.

“Uh, excuse me, Miss Aris?”

Professor Muam had gotten closer to me with a serious expression on his face and revealed a shocking truth.

“You know, Professor Nicerwin. When the members of the student council began to play truant, he was the one who said this would be a big problem, and personally kidnapped and imprisoned the entirety of the student council over a single night?”

“Huh?”

“What did he say? If the students don’t come to school, and stay at home all day they’ll develop anthropophobia(1) and something along those lines, and immediately carried it out. In my opinion if he thinks of the students any more than he is currently it’ll be a big problem, even in my eyes as a teacher…”

Although I have no idea why kidnapping, imprisonment is the first thing that comes to mind when dealing with students but I understood what Professor Muam was saying very well.

That is, if Professor Nicerwin thinks of the students any more then we’re all in grave danger.

“Uh, uh excuse me, Professor Nicerwin?”

“Hmm…”

Ah, this is bad.

That human is thinking seriously.

Any other teacher looking at their students like that while in deep thought would be seen as a kindly and wise teacher, yet if Professor Nicerwin’s the one making that expression then that is the face of an archdevil wondering how to plunge the students into an even deeper pit of h.e.l.l.

“Professor? I think I said something I shouldn’t have. I mustn’t have been quite right in the head when I said that to a teacher who cares for his students as much as you…”

I threw out as many compliments and words of praise I could think of but he isn’t listening.

If the difficulty of the academy spikes because of me then marquis family or whatever, I could actually be lynched by the entire school!

“Miss Aris’ words are indeed correct. It seems that I have been neglecting the students too much lately.”

Don’t do that!

“Indeed. From now on, no matter what trials and tribulations there may be, for the sake of my students I will not fall back!”

“No, you can fall back a bit! None of the students want Professor to be troubled, not at all!”

-Aris, you lunatic! What the h.e.l.l are you doing by giving that madman motivation!

Even the G.o.ddess started blaming me.

The expression that Professor Nicerwin had on his face was as full pa.s.sion for education, but equally as much of finding ways to screw us all over.

“No, there were numerous initiatives that I had thought about but neglected to implement due to the resistance it might face from parents, but I will have them implemented even if I have to convince the parents as well.”

Ah, no… I brought disaster upon us with my own mouth!

“No no, it’s okay. There’s no need for Professor to work so hard for us students.”

“Of course I must, as someone who has taken up the role of a teacher as a profession, I must sacrifice myself for my students.”

The students do not want your sacrifice! Was what I wanted to shout, but if I did I had the suspicion that I would create another incident.

“It’s alright, Professor, it’s alright!”

I clutched onto Professor Nicerwin’s legs as he began to rise and barely managed to stop him while begging in tears.

With this I managed to keep the peace of the academy.

-Although you couldn’t keep your own personal peace.

I could only confirm the insane difficulty of the academy Yugrasia once again, I couldn’t find our holidays.

Sure, saying it’s easy, to become a swordsmaster just by getting hit with a few s...o...b..a.l.l.s.

“There’s no way it can be that easy, right?

As I looked on at the blue wall in front of me, I sighed.

In around 10 minutes time, the silver devil will come down again, and the vicious cycle of getting knocked out and waking up in the evening would repeat once more.

“At least I have to try.”

I put some distance between myself and the wall, and focused all my mana into the spear’s tip.

My own spear style, designed purely to break through that wall, eliminating every other unnecessary movement.

And focusing my mana there, I brought up that image again.

I compressed my mana like Professor Nicerwin squshed the s...o...b..ll.

The image of Professor Nicerwin compressing the s...o...b..ll was also accompanied by an image of him throwing the s...o...b..ll in my face as soon as it was made, but ignoring that.

Compress, and compress it again.

‘Compress and comp… eh? Huh?”

Perhaps it was just me, but my mana was actually being compressed like the s...o...b..ll.

As my red mana became darker and darker, shining with the clear crimson light of sword aura…

“What the?”

Those words impulsively came out of me.

It works? Did I really just become a swordsmaster just by getting hit with a s...o...b..ll a couple of times?

Seriously?

I don’t know. I still don’t know whether this is all just a mirage or simply mana with a colour similar to sword aura or whatever.

“It’s worth a shot.”

Tak.

I kicked off the ground and charged.

The basis of all magic spear arts lies in the charge.

Even in the Letia-style spearmanship that brought forth the greatest charging force of a fully armed knight, this had all other unnecessary movements removed, all but the movements required to break through that wall of water, Letia alternate-style spear arts, Pierce!(2)

The tip of my spear hit the water.

The wall of water separated for an brief instant.

Up to here was the same as normal.

But if this truly is sword aura then!

“Explode!”

In the middle of the reforming wall, I squeezed out all my mana and twisted my spear.

At the same time, magic power that seemed like sword aura burst out from it!

“It worked!”

At that moment, the wall of water began to shatter due to the destructive force of my magic.

That meant!

“You, you mean you actually did it?”

Professor Muam’s expression, jaw dropped wide open in surprise, all but confirmed it.

I went and actually, just by getting hit with a couple of s...o...b..a.l.l.s, replaced the empire’s, no, the continent’s record as the youngest swordsmaster, and reached the peak of swordsmanship as a swordsmaster!

But before that!

“Everyone ruuuuunnnnn!”

I shouted as hard as I could to the other students who were stunned, staring at the shattered wall of water.

“Nice, G.o.ddess Aris! From now on! Every breakfast, lunch, dinner! We will make a statue of G.o.ddess Aris and pray to you every day!”

As I shouted, someone grabbed me around the waist as I collapsed as an aftereffect of using all my mana, and we broke through the front door on the first floor.

And behind me, the students of Yugrasia began to run for the main gates.

And so, we put an end to our long history of suffering.

And finally marked the beginning of the holidays.

***

“Sh, she actually broke it?”

“Wiinng…”

At the metal bat’s whine who was sobbing with a depressed face, unlike her normal acting, this time she really was crying, and I was left stunned.

No seriously, does any of this make any sense?

Of course it was impossible for Aris to become a swordsmaster.

I simply gave her an approximate physical account based off what I heard from Sir Reia back in the imperial court to get her off my back.

If I recall, she’d said something along the lines of it was snowing on a winter’s day and she was playing with her little sibling, and if she compressed her mana like a s...o...b..ll then it would work?

And so she compressed it and there you have it, sword aura complete!

Sir Reia’s story of how she became a swordsmaster that was like the explanation like that old picture-drawing mister’s ‘easy, right?"(3) actually went and caused an incident here of all places!

You’re telling me that this is actually the secret to becoming a swordsmaster!

“Owner, owner, what’re we gonna do? Now all the student council have run away, and if Aris is going to break through everything from now on then what do I have to live for?”

Amazingly, the metal bat didn’t even bother to keep up her lisp as she asked me with a serious face.

But, is this something to get all that serious about?

What the heck is this thing saying, just because she can’t hit students anymore she’s got nothing to live for!

“Well, that’s not something I need to care about.”

“Hwiiing…. Don’t be like that, be like normal owner and use all of your evil plans to make an incredible plan that not even a swordsmaster can break through!”

A plan that not even a swordsmaster can break through.

Wait, what. That’s scary?

A swordsmaster is considered an ultimate weapon in small nations?

In the case of the Sword Star there’s even stories about how she cleaved a thick steel castle door in two with just a single strike with her sword aura?

I think it’s weird to initiate a plan that an individual of that caliber can’t break through in a school of all places.

“Don’t be like that…”

“Just how badly do you want to hit the students…”

“Wiing, I don’t want to just hit the students! I just wanna give ’em the motivation to learn!”

“I think the students have already learned everything they can.”

“N, nyooohh…”

It’s an education plan that even created the empire’s youngest swordsmaster.

Any further education is impossible.

The empire’s already the continent’s strongest nation, if it can ma.s.s-produce swordsmasters then it can even conquer the world.

In that case the princess will come after me citing needs of national security, won’t she?

Unfortunately, the metal bat’s time attack education will have to end with its monstrous results.

“The final goal is victory anyways. As long as we have a swordsmaster, our win is guaranteed!”

A G.o.d-cla.s.s summoner, and a swordsmaster!