Translator: KellEditor: Weasalopes

Claude’s Training

After the student alliance conference, everyone left including League . At the end, League asked Silvester to be the first president to which the latter agreed . The members were surprised, since Rumania was the most powerful country in Forestia . Yet League chose someone from Zubura . But seeing the crown prince readily accept (apparently they already talked about it beforehand) they didn’t object .

「Catherine . 」Hikaru called to her as she was about to leave .

「What is it?」

「I want to talk to you about something . 」

「I’m not going to apologize for disagreeing with your proposal . Besides, it’s impossible to implement—」

「I wanted to thank you . 」

「…What?」

「Thank you for offering a dissenting opinion . 」

「………」

Catherine stared at Hikaru, unblinking .

「Are you okay? Is this a new form of sarcasm or something?」

「No . It’s extremely dangerous to proceed with a meeting without anyone opposing or a.n.a.lyzing risks . In that sense, you were a great help . 」

「It’s no big deal . I just pointed out what I thought was wrong . 」

「You would’ve agreed if the others disagreed, though . Am I right?」

「………」

Hikaru seemed to have hit the mark as she went silent . He thought Catherine didn’t just express her opinions because of her negative personality . As proof of that, when asked how to realize the plan, she offered ideas . She had the ability to a.n.a.lyze important points, not just express her own personal opinion, and think about the direction of the meeting .  Nothing less from someone who comes from a family of government officials .

「Hmm, I see it now . Rumania isn’t the one we should be wary about, but you . 」Catherine said .

「What are you talking about? League is a great man . He’s smart too . 」

「Ponsonia sure is a terrifying kingdom . They have the Master Swordsman, Lavia, a sensitive lady of letters, a cunning guy like you…」

「Hey, Catherine!」Lavia cut in .

「See you at the library, Lavia . 」she said and then left .

「Strange friend you got there . 」

「She seemed the quiet type when we were talking in the library . 」

「What did she mean by a “sensitive lady of letters”?」

「…No comment . 」

「Oh, come on . Tell me . It’s not fair that she knows something about you that I don’t . 」

「No comment!」

Lavia strolled to the other side of the counter, beet red from embarra.s.sment . Grinning, Hikaru followed her, and the two of them washed the dishes .

「Anyway, we got more problems now . 」

Lavia chuckled .

「Why are you laughing?」

「You’re the one who suggested stuff . You might end up helping with the ma.s.s wedding too . 」

「I’m sure they’ll handle that . 」

「But you’re the only one who knows anything about it . 」

「…I guess . 」

「To be honest, I was surprised to hear you say you’re going to convince the queen yourself . You didn’t seem that interested in what League is doing . 」

「My role is to convince the queen . At least, that was my plan . I expected that Queen Marquedo’s a.s.sistance would be needed for the student alliance’s activities . But I didn’t think we’d need it that quick . 」

「What about helping Claude?」

Hikaru’s hand stopped as he was wiping a cup .

「You’re asking if I’m using the Soul Board or not, right?」

「Yeah . 」

「There’s no doubt that tweaking his Soul Board is the quickest way to make him stronger . 」

「How much stronger would he get?」

Hikaru shrugged .

「Very strong . 」

「…Really?」

「I think he can become the strongest swordsman in the whole continent . 」

「You’re joking . 」

「It’s true . 」

Claude had twelve points available . He already had two points on Sword . Add eight more and he would have ten points . After that, just put more points on his Strength and he’d be the strongest swordsman around . Ponsonia’s Captain Lawrence had six points on Great Sword . With ten points on Sword, it wouldn’t be an overstatement to say Claude would be the strongest .

Hikaru wore a serious expression, and so did Lavia .

「That strong, huh?」

「He would excel in one field for sure . I don’t want to use it if possible . It would be too obvious that I did something . 」

「But then we won’t get Jarazack’s vote . 」

「I should maybe help him just enough that it wouldn’t seem unnatural . Or I’ll just say he’s hypnotized . Either way, I need to see him fight for real first . 」

For some reason, Claude’s trained during short sword cla.s.s .

「Aw, sheesh . More students?」Mille said, sounding irked . She was sitting on a chair under a shade just outside the storage room, i . e . , lecture building C .

Claude, Luka, Silvester, Ivan and his friends were present as well . Catherine was probably in the library with Lavia, and Katy in her laboratory . It appeared League couldn’t lose his watchers (the girls) .

「All right, Claude . Show me what you’ve got . 」

「Hey, Hikaru . Isn’t this supposed to be my cla.s.s?」Mille asked .

「You’ll get your turn later . 」Hikaru said . 「For now, I want Claude and Ivan to fight . 」

「Wait, I’m not fighting you?」Claude asked . He wanted to know if Hikaru really was strong as they said .

「You’re going to fight a great sword user . Ivan is the better choice . 」

「All right! Leave it to me!」Ivan yelled as he stood up .

「Go, Ivan!」

「Don’t you dare lose to Kirihal!」

His friends were cheering him on .

「Good point . All right, I’ll fight Ivan with all I’ve got . 」

「Wait a minute . 」Hikaru stopped Claude as he was readying his short spear .

「You’re going to use a one-handed sword . Short spear is not exactly your forte, is it?」

「How’d you know?」

「We don’t have much time . We should work on what you’re already good at . 」

「………」

Claude hesitated . As for why, Ivan gave the answer .

「Hikaru, a sword is no match against a great sword . 」

「What do you mean?」

「A one-handed sword is just an inferior version of a great sword . The latter has faster swinging speed and power . 」

「Say that after you’ve hit me at least once . 」

「Y-You’re not normal, okay?!」

「Yeah! You’re a special case!」the onlookers said .

Hikaru nonchalantly ignored them and turned his attention back to Claude .

「Then all the more reason to try with the one-handed sword . 」

「How are you so confident? It’s true what Ivan just said . My weapon is just a smaller version of the great sword . It’s mostly for self-defense and formality . 」

「That’s exactly what the opponent would think . And that’s why you have a chance to win . 」

「Really?」

「There’s no way to get instantly strong in a short amount of time . But by studying the opponent, there’s a chance you can win in an all-or-nothing fight . 」

「I see . You might be right . All right, let’s try with a one-handed sword . 」

「Thank you . 」

「Oh, and one more thing, Hikaru . 」

「What is it?」

「Could you not talk to me politely? You’re my teacher right now . 」

「But…」

「At least talk like we’re equals . 」

「………」

Hikaru thought about it for a bit .

「All right, sure . I won’t hold anything back, though . 」

「Bring it on . 」

Claude was fired up, but Hikaru simply sneered . Seeing his smile, Ivan and his friends yelped .

「The devil just smiled!」they screamed .

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