When I returned after eating dinner at the cafeteria, the faculty office was completely empty.
Normally, I would’ve gone straight back to the dorm after dinner, but today I came back because I have my first supplementary class.
Every day from 7:30 to 9:30 p.m. after dinner, two hours.
No days off, even on weekends.
Four hours each on both Saturday and Sunday.
The only thing a supplementary class instructor can choose is whether to hold it in the morning or the afternoon.
But I’m not too worried.
Can’t you tell me now? The supplementary class is about to start anyway.
There’s not much time left, so you’ll see when you get there.
If you keep this up, I might just read your memories…
Go ahead and try. Then I’ll immediately take time off and go get a premium blessing.
A regular blessing from a priest can lift a curse.
Of course, I now know that Ark isn’t actually a curse, but a premium blessing given by a cardinal or higher is a different story.
A premium blessing removes everything a person wasn’t born with, except for mana.
Curses, bodily impurities, mental manipulation magic…everything gets wiped clean.
You need connections, and it costs a ridiculous 50,000 gold per use, but since I made money selling that relic before, I could afford it if I really wanted to.
“What’s the big deal about just telling me? You’re always resorting to threats.”
Of course, I have no real intention of receiving a premium blessing.
Ark can be noisy and annoying, but he’s still useful.
Honestly, it’d be a waste of money too.
I just use it as a threat because I don’t like him reading my memories whenever he feels like it.
“Instructor Vio, aren’t you heading home? You usually leave early. Looks like you’ve got a lot to do today.”
Nordic, the second-year swordsmanship instructor who sits next to me in the faculty office, stood up and spoke to me.
Our desks are close, and compared to the other instructors, he’s less authoritative, so he’s one of the few I can talk to comfortably.
“I’m starting supplementary classes today.”
Is he heading home?
Lucky.
“Ah! Supplementary classes start today? Good luck with that.”
Oh, come on.
It sounded like a normal comment, but his tone was definitely teasing.
He must’ve been pretty jealous of how I usually leave work early.
“Aren’t you going?”
Checking the time, it was really time for me to head out.
I grabbed the list of students who signed up for the supplementary class and left the faculty office.
As I headed to the training grounds and looked over the list, there were no less than twenty-five applicants.
Tsk, I clearly warned them not to take this lightly, but since there were no restrictions, way too many signed up.
When I arrived, everyone was already waiting, so I gathered them in front of me.
“Before we begin the actual lesson, I’ll go over a few guidelines.”
Maybe because I said this wouldn’t be like the usual theory classes with self-study, they all looked at me with anticipation.
“Although there were no restrictions on applying, the purpose of these supplementary classes is to prepare for the Grita competition. That means I can’t accommodate students who can’t keep up.”
I’d said something similar before, but the group immediately started murmuring.
“So if they can’t accommodate us, does that mean people who can’t keep up will get kicked out?”
“Sounds like it.”
“Quiet. I’m going to explain the training process now. Based on what I observed while assisting with Instructor Amelia’s midterm evaluation, your physical fitness is seriously lacking. So before we begin proper lessons, every session will start with basic physical training.”
At the mention of basic training, they all looked confident, like it wouldn’t be a problem.
I had clearly just said their fitness was lacking, yet they were being far too complacent.
“We’ll start with 100 push-ups, then 100 sit-ups, then 100 squats, and finally 25 laps around the training grounds.”
The moment I finished, groans erupted from all around.
They’d heard there was physical training in practical classes, sure….but nothing this excessive.
“Quiet. I’m not finished. The use of mana during physical training is strictly prohibited.”
In combat, it’s normal to enhance your body with mana to compensate for lack of stamina, but that defeats the purpose of training.
“Isn’t that too much?”
“How are we supposed to do all that without using mana…?”
Complaints poured in immediately, but I answered without even blinking.
“If you can’t do it, you’re free to quit.”
“Isn’t that too harsh?”
“This?”
This level of training is just the basics for black agent training.
I’ve been doing it daily since I was twelve.
I expected a wave of dropouts at such an absurd demand, but surprisingly, no one left right away.
They’re pretty motivated. Or are they just too scared to admit they’re doomed?
Ark sneered, but was that really it?
This is just the beginning.
As I watched the students start their push-ups in earnest, I spotted my first target.
“You there, second from the left. Your form is incorrect.”
“Huh?”
“Your chest didn’t touch the ground. Do you think that counts as proper training? Start over.”
If they won’t quit, I’ll just push them until they do.
“You, back right. Your form is incorrect.”
“I did it properly.”
“Don’t talk back to your instructor. Who told you to use momentum during sit-ups? Start over from the beginning!”
As I nitpicked each one and made them repeat the exercises, the reactions slowly started to show.
“I can’t do this.”
“Me neither.”
“You don’t need to tell me. If you think you can’t do it, step out on your own.”
Aside from the two who were complaining, four more immediately stood up and left the training grounds.
Good.
Oh, someone’s already moved on to squats.
“You need to lower your hips more. Do you think you’ll feel anything doing half-hearted reps like that?”
The student who had been holding up fairly well frowned and then left on the spot.
After that, I kept pointing out flaws in their form.
As a result, in less than thirty minutes since the class started, more than ten had already given up.
What a stubborn guy.
If they can’t even handle this, they won’t make it past the preliminaries anyway. No point in wasting effort, right?
“You there, third from the back on the left….bad form. Start over!”
About ten more minutes passed, and only five students remained.
More than I expected.
After being corrected a few times, they started focusing more on maintaining proper form.
In the end, two of them managed to finish the squats and were about to begin the final running portion.
Both looked completely exhausted.
“You two. Are you resting right now?”
“We only have the running left.”
“We were just going to rest a bit before starting…”
“Start immediately. And I’ll be running with you.”
They both looked like they were about to die, but when I asked if they wanted to start over instead, they immediately took off.
Tsk, just as I thought.
Even though they started because I pushed them, they were practically walking, too embarrassed to call it running.
“What are you doing right now?”
“My… my legs won’t…”
They looked like they were on the verge of collapse, but there was no mercy.
“Your legs what? Did I tell you to walk or to run? Run!”
As I shouted and pressed them, the two reluctantly tried to run, but before they could even complete a full lap, they both left the training grounds together.
When I returned, only one student remained.
There were definitely three students working on the previous stage before the running began, but it seems two of them gave up after seeing me run alongside them and push them.
Is this really okay?
I genuinely want to teach them properly, but what can I do if they can’t keep up? Ah, this is so disappointing.
Ark must have gotten fed up because he shut his mouth.
I told you I have a plan, didn’t I?
Now if I just send one more off, I’ll be free from remedial training.
On top of that, the last remaining student is Mei Levy.
She’s the only one who got a perfect score on this midterm evaluation. Her written performance is outstanding, but her practical skills are terrible.
She’s slower than the others and has only just started the squats.
Well, it’s not just that she’s slow. I think I made her repeat the set two or three times after picking apart her form.
Judging by how she’s drenched in sweat and breathing heavily, it looks like I just need to wait a little longer.
“Student.”
“Y-Yes… my form is correct.”
She’s definitely slow, but her form is good.
“You’re too slow. Are you planning to spend the whole day here?”
“I’m sorry. I’ll speed up.”
When I pressed her, she picked up the pace a little, but her breathing grew even more ragged.
That’s unexpected.
She looked completely exhausted, so I thought she’d give up soon, but she somehow managed to grind through all 100 squats.
She’s stubborn too.
Tell me about it.
What a pain.
While I was chatting with Ark, Mei retied her shoelaces and started running.
But instead of actually running like the others at the beginning, she was moving at more of a walking pace.
I thought about running alongside her and pushing her, but it seemed like she’d give up soon even without that.
‘Isn’t she going to collapse at this rate?
She’s not a child. She’s not going to push herself to the point of collapsing. She’ll quit when it gets too much.
I was about to sit down and wait, but huh…she’s unsteady, yet somehow holding on until the end.
Just as I was about to go over and put some pressure on her, I sensed someone behind me.
When I turned around, I saw Instructor Amelia approaching from afar with a deep frown on her face.
“Instructor Amelia? What brings you here?”
“Instructor Vio, come with me right now. We need to talk.”
Her voice was ice-cold.
Just from the look of it, the students who gave up must have gone to Amelia and complained.
It’s a bit sooner than I expected, but this kind of situation was well within my expectations.
“Understood. Please lead the way.”
I left the training grounds with Amelia and headed toward the main field.
“What exactly do you think you’re doing right now?”
“What do you mean? I was conducting the remedial training for the Grita exam that was forced onto me.”
“Even if you didn’t want to do it, how could you train them like that?”
“Huh?”
“Don’t pretend you don’t know. I already heard everything from the students.”
Just as I expected.
“What exactly did you hear?”
“Are you seriously asking because you don’t know? The students are all in an uproar saying their remedial instructor is just making them do mindless physical training like an idiot!”
She looks seriously angry. Well, no one told them to dump this on me in the first place.
“Mindless, you say… I don’t think I made them do anything particularly difficult. It seems you’re taking the students’ words a bit too much at face value.”
When I responded confidently, Amelia looked at me in disbelief.
“You call that an answer? One hundred push-ups, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, and 25 laps around the training ground….that’s about 10 kilometers. If that’s not mindless training, then what is?”
“It’s basic physical conditioning. From what I understand, physical training is part of practical classes as well, isn’t it?”
“I don’t run my classes like some brute!”
“Is that so? No wonder their stamina is so poor.”
“How do you expect them to do that using only pure physical strength with mana prohibited?”
“Why wouldn’t they be able to?”
It’s something I’ve been doing as routinely as eating since I was twelve.
“Are you saying you can do it?”
“Come on, would I assign something to students that I can’t do myself? If I can’t do it, there’s no way they could either.”
“Th-Then show me yourself. The students said you didn’t even demonstrate it.”
…What a hassle.
But I can’t back down here.
“Alright. I’ll do it right now.”
As soon as I had finished speaking, I quickly did the push-ups, sit-ups and squats one after the other.
Since I was wearing a prosthetic arm made by the Magic Tower, I figured she might complain that I had it easy with assistance during the push-ups, so I deliberately did them using only my left arm.
It felt like it took about ten minutes. Maybe because it’s been a while, but I’m not too happy with the pace.
I used to finish faster than this.
“Shall we run together?”
“Huh?”
“If we run together, you can confirm whether I’m using mana or not, right?”
“Well, I can detect mana from here—”
“If I run alone, it’ll be boring. Let’s run together. You asked me to show you, after all.”
“Uh… alright.”
“This main field is a bit larger than the ranger training ground, but it’s still twenty-five laps. That’s fine, right?”
If I suggested moving to the ranger training ground to run, she might nitpick and say I rested during the walk over.
I need to prove it’s perfectly doable so she can’t make any more excuses.
“You’re saying you’ll run twenty-five laps right now?”
“You asked me to show you. I’m starting.”
As soon as I said it, I took off running.
She seemed momentarily flustered, but Amelia soon began chasing after me.
I took the first lap lightly as a warm-up, and as expected of a practical training instructor, she kept up well.
Then shall I start picking up the pace?
I haven’t been managing myself as strictly as I did in active service, but I’ve kept up my training whenever I had the chance.
Besides, back when I was undergoing Black Agent training, we ran in the mountains.
A flat track like this is like eating cold oatmeal.
With each lap, I steadily increased my speed.
Amelia, who had been keeping up fairly well, gradually began to fall behind.
By the time I reached the tenth lap, I had caught up to her with a one-lap lead.
“Are you getting tired?”
“……”
“Instructor Amelia?”
“D-Don’t… talk to me!”
“It’s already a one-lap difference. If you’re struggling, you should just give up. I’ll go on ahead.”
I teased her, and she clenched her teeth and chased after me. She definitely has grit.
It’s better than having none, but grit alone can’t do everything.
In the end, by the time I finished the full twenty-five laps, I had built up nearly a three-lap lead.
Catching my breath, I asked Ark how long it took. It was 30 minutes and 40 seconds.
Back in my prime, I always finished runs like this in under 30 minutes. I guess time catches up with everyone.
As I cooled down and waited for a moment, I saw Amelia running in from a distance.
“Kept you waiting, huh. Oh, do you still have three laps left?”
Normally, she would have responded immediately, but instead of answering, Amelia simply collapsed where she stood.
To be fair, it’s not like I wasn’t tired either.
Besides, Amelia hadn’t been using mana like I had.
“You should’ve at least used some mana.”
She only ran alongside me to monitor me, so it wouldn’t have mattered if she used mana. Was she trying to compete with me or something?
She must have clearly felt the difference in our abilities during our last duel. Tsk.
Honestly, this isn’t even stubbornness. It’s just recklessness.
“Huff… how are you not even tired…?”
“You mean I run well?”
With a frustrated look, Amelia nodded.
I was a bit tired myself, but I answered with a calm smile.
“This is something I used to do as routinely as eating.”
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