After telling her to handle it herself, I left the faculty office right away, but the conversation had run long, so I ended up being about 10 minutes late.
It could easily look like I only said I’d teach her without actually meaning it.
But when I arrived, Mei was already drenched in sweat, doing sit-ups.
As expected, my judgment wasn’t wrong.
“Instructor, you’re here?”
“I had something to take care of, so I’m a bit late. But who told you to start training on your own?”
“You said yesterday that we’d be doing physical training every day.”
“How many do you have left?”
“I’ve finished push-ups, and I’m at twenty-two sit-ups now. And I did them properly.”
Hmm, considering the time and Mei’s condition, it doesn’t seem like she tried to cut corners while I was gone.
If that were the case, she wouldn’t have asked me to let her continue training in the first place.
“Keep going.”
“Yes!”
Like yesterday, I watched Mei train from the side.
To be honest, today I was planning to lower the standard a bit and let some things slide, but maybe because yesterday was still fresh in her mind, her form stayed correct the entire time.
That meant it took longer, but unlike yesterday, I didn’t push her.
It was clear that this pace was her limit.
Even though the weather had gotten fairly cool, her clothes were soaked through with sweat and stained in several places, but Mei didn’t stop.
After finishing her sit-ups, she moved on to squats.
Squats were relatively easier, so her expression improved a little, but only relatively.
If I made her run right away like yesterday, she’d definitely collapse again.
Maybe because she remembered what she said, Mei started running immediately after finishing squats.
I said I’d teach her properly. At this rate, she’s going to collapse again.
Thinking the same as Ark, I approached Mei.
After about five laps, she was panting heavily, practically walking. I stopped her.
“In… Instructor?”
“We’ll leave the remaining twenty laps for you to finish before class ends.”
She was breathing heavily as she asked if that was really okay, and when I nodded, her expression brightened instantly.
If she kept going like this, she’d really collapse.
“Sit down or lie down if you want.”
“Th… thank you.”
The moment she finished speaking, Mei sprawled out flat on the grass.
Watching her, I opened my subspace.
I rummaged around for a bit, trying to find what I had in mind, but it wasn’t easy to spot.
Did I throw it away?
No, I definitely stored it in my subspace before… Ah! Found it.
I pulled out a massive jar with a lid, about the size of a person’s torso.
Thud—
“Instructor, what is that?”
At the loud noise, Mei who had been lying down sat up.
“This is a special tonic I prepared for a frail student.”
Still looking puzzled, Mei watched as I took out a wooden ladle and a bowl from my subspace.
The moment I opened the lid, a horrific stench spread out, and I instinctively took a step back.
I must’ve smelled it dozens…no, hundreds of times, but I still couldn’t get used to it.
“…Is that really a tonic? Th-The smell is strange. I don’t know what it is, but could it be… rotten… no, spoiled?”
Mei pinched her nose as she spoke, and at some point, she had already moved farther away.
“It’s not rotten or spoiled.”
I had stored it in subspace not long after making it, and time doesn’t pass there.
It smelled like this from the start.
What even is that?
What do you mean? It’s a real tonic.
And not just any tonic. It’s a special formula given to students during Black Agent training in the Intelligence Bureau.
Normally, people say children have better stamina than adults, but the basic physical training for Black Agents goes far beyond what that kind of stamina can handle.
The reason they’re still able to endure daily physical training despite that…
This very special tonic from the Intelligence Bureau.
The smell and taste are… well, not just a little. Honestly, they were extremely bizarre and awful, but when it comes to effectiveness, it’s outstanding.
It dramatically boosts the body’s recovery, improves stamina, and even helps with growth.
Of course, Mei is already twenty, so further growth might be difficult, but she’ll still benefit from the other effects.
“It’s really not spoiled?”
Since she still seemed worried, I scooped a little with the ladle and let a few drops fall onto the back of my hand to taste it.
It was only a few drops, but the foul smell hit immediately, followed by a disgusting harmony of fishiness and bitterness.
And finally, a sharp sourness that made my tongue sting.
It was the same taste I used to have… no, maybe because it’s been a while, it feels even stronger.
“The taste is fine.”
As I said that, I filled the bowl to the brim with the wooden ladle and handed it to Mei.
“No, I-Instructor, how can you tell from just tasting that little?”
“I relied on this quite a bit in my younger days. It’s valuable, so don’t spill it. Drink it all in one go.”
Holding the bowl, Mei looked like she was about to cry.
She looked like she was in more agony than during training, but as I kept watching, she pinched her nose and gulped it down.
“…Ugh… c-could I at least have some water…?”
Barely holding back a gag, she spoke with a miserable expression, so I took out a canteen and handed it to her.
Watching her hurriedly drink the water brought back old memories.
When I first drank that tonic given by the training instructors, I wasn’t much different from Mei.
Some students with weaker stomachs even threw it up on the spot.
Maybe that’s why memories about that tonic started coming back as well.
Was it five or six years ago? There was a time when I didn’t get assigned any missions for nearly two months.
But there’s no way that vicious old man Daph would just let me sit around doing nothing.
He sent me to assist with student instruction, so I was dispatched to the training camp.
While helping the instructors there make the tonic, I accidentally forgot to add Merina Flower, which reduces the foul taste.
The instructors said that without Merina Flower, no one would be able to drink it and that it should be thrown away.
But I didn’t want to draw attention, so I said I’d use it for missions and stored it in my subspace instead.
“Instructor… is this really something humans are supposed to drink?”
I could remake it with Merina Flower, but is there really a need?
Merina Flower isn’t a medicinal herb. It’s more like a seasoning that adds strong sweetness.
It only slightly masks the foul taste, so it shouldn’t make much difference in effectiveness.
Honestly, it’s a hassle.
Remaking it would require quite a few ingredients, and it needs to be boiled down for at least a full day.
“From now on, drink one bowl before training and then attend class, so don’t complain about being weak.”
“I… I have to drink this every day?”
Just earlier today, she was asking me to trust that she could do it, and now she looks like she’s lost everything in the world.
“Where did the resolve you showed me yesterday go? You’re the one who insisted on continuing this training, aren’t you?”
“I… that’s true, but yesterday I didn’t know it would involve something like this…”
She really must hate it.
“This is the training you chose. Endure it through sheer will.”
***
It’s already been a week since I started teaching Mei in the supplementary class.
“Instructor, I’ve finished all ten laps.”
“Looks like ten laps are easy for you now.”
“It’s all thanks to you, Instructor.”
She probably said it out of politeness, but seeing her smile as she answered, she really does seem to have some room to spare.
“I don’t like empty flattery. Since you seem to have gotten used to it, we’ll add three more laps before class starting next week.”
“You increased it by five laps just two days ago, and now again?”
“If you do more before class starts, there’ll be less left to run at the end, won’t there? Catch your breath and start your mana training.”
Maybe it’s the effect of the Intelligence Bureau’s special tonic, but in just a week, her stamina has improved significantly.
She still can’t complete all the basic physical training in one go, but unlike before, she can now go up to fifteen laps without tiring even after finishing squats.
Her speed has improved a lot too.
If she didn’t pace herself for the sake of the class, she might even be able to complete all twenty-five laps.
However, compared to her stamina, her weapon skills haven’t improved much.
Mei uses both a dagger and a bow. She seems to understand things well in theory, but her body doesn’t keep up.
Her increased stamina has helped a little, but the more I teach her, the more I realize she lacks talent.
I stood up and approached Mei, placing a hand on her shoulder.
She flinched for a moment, but since I’ve checked the flow of her internal mana several times before, she quickly refocused on her training.
The mana cultivation method Mei learned was the Beluga Mana Method, which every citizen of the Empire knows.
It was made public by the founding emperor 500 years ago, and nowadays the imperial family and nobles use their own improved versions developed through research.
Unless you belong to those groups, it’s standard to learn the original method from 500 years ago.
In terms of efficiency and stability in gathering mana, the improved versions are far superior, but since they all share the same origin, as long as you learn a new method, you can adopt it without side effects.
However, mana cultivation methods are strictly controlled not only by the imperial family but also by noble houses, so they aren’t easy to learn.
Unless you become part of a noble family through something like marriage or earn great merit and receive one from the imperial family, it’s practically impossible to learn one.
Anyway, since I use the same mana cultivation method as Mei, I shared a few tips I learned in the Intelligence Bureau.
But there hasn’t been much change yet.
Of course, it’s only been a week, but even with more time, I doubt there will be significant improvement.
Mei’s biggest issue is her mana.
More precisely, the root of the problem is her mana affinity.
When storing mana in the body through a cultivation method, the higher the mana affinity, the more mana you can accumulate. But Mei’s mana affinity was quite low.
It’s not as close to zero as that person from my past, but if an average person is a 10, Mei is around a 2 or 3.
At that level, it would even be difficult to get into the academy.
In fact, even Sainty Academy, not just Veliyard, wouldn’t normally accept a student like Mei.
If she were at least younger, there might be some chance for improvement as she grows, but she’s already twenty…
She must have compensated for her lack of talent with time and effort, but as time passes, the gap will only widen.
It’s not like the other students aren’t working hard.
You can see it right away just by looking beside us.
“Hey! I told you that if you draw the bow like that, you won’t hit anything!”
At Instructor Amelia’s shout, the student quickly corrected their posture.
I told her to do as she pleased, but I didn’t expect her to go this far.
The day after our conversation, she went to the headmaster, who had just returned from leave, and said she wanted to run supplementary classes too.
After hearing the situation, he approved it, and from that day on, Amelia began accepting students and training them.
They’re all students who had been training under me but gave up.
The ranger training grounds aren’t exactly small, but training this close is clearly meant to pressure me. Still, I don’t really care.
If anything, seeing Amelia straining her neck as she shouts while training them makes it seem like she’s the one more conscious of me.
As I was thinking, Mei finished one full circulation and opened her eyes.
It was a bit early, but since she must be tired, I told her she could head back.
However, May who would normally just say goodbye and return to the dormitory hesitated.
She looked like she had something to say, so when I asked, she glanced over at Instructor Amelia before starting to speak.
After finishing the practical class earlier in the day, Amelia had called her aside and suggested that she might be better off learning from her instead of me….
“I see. So that happened.”
I kept a calm expression on the surface, but a hint of irritation started to rise.
When that woman said she’d gather other students for supplementary classes, I didn’t interfere at all. So now she’s pulling something like this behind my back?
“Instructor?”
“What is it?”
“Aren’t you curious what I said?”
“Not really. If you want to learn from Instructor Amelia, I don’t mind.”
“I told her I’d keep learning from you, Instructor Vio.”
See? I told you it was a green light.
Shut up.
I snapped at Ark, but I had already more or less expected it.
If she had chosen Amelia, she wouldn’t have come to learn from me starting today.
“It would’ve been less demanding if you learned from Instructor Amelia. Why?”
“I’m already learning from you, Instructor. It wouldn’t be right to switch.”
“I told you I don’t care about that kind of courtesy.”
“To be honest, I did consider it because of the tonic, but I remembered what you said.”
“What did I say?”
“You said that if I ever feel tired or worn out, there’s no easy path to becoming strong.”
Huh. I thought she’d just take it as nagging, but the fact that she remembered it in that situation was a bit touching.
“Now that I can only take supplementary lessons from you, you can’t give up on me.”
With a faint smile, she said that, and I told her to stop talking nonsense and go get some rest.
After giving a polite bow, she turned and walked away, and I watched her for a moment before turning my head.
“Good work, everyone. Tomorrow’s the weekend, but we’ll have supplementary class starting at 2 p.m., so don’t forget.”
Looks like they just finished over there too.
Usually I’d send Mei off and head back to the dorm myself, but not today.
After confirming that the students had left, I approached Amelia, who was tidying up.
“Instructor Amelia, do you have a moment to talk?”
“What is it?”
“I heard you made an offer to Mei today.”
“And what about it? I just felt sorry that you were making her do nothing but brute physical training, so I made a suggestion.”
Not even realizing what she’d done wrong and still acting so confidently. That was just like Amelia.
Even Mei, who’s still a student, knew it wasn’t proper.
“I’m not here to make an issue out of it. I just heard your offer to teach got turned down, so I thought I’d come by to offer some comfort.”
“Who said I wanted that? I’m perfectly fine.”
Oh? That’s unexpected.
Normally she’d be flustered, her face turning red as she rambled, but it seems she’s built up some resistance after going through it so often.
“Then that’s good to hear.”
“I don’t know what you said to sway the student, but it doesn’t matter. That girl won’t make it to Gritta anyway.”
“And where’s that confidence coming from? You were thoroughly beaten in our last duel. Did you forget?”
“Hmph, I’ve heard that being skilled doesn’t necessarily mean you’re good at teaching.”
Oh, using my own words against me. Her ability to respond has definitely improved.
Of course, it’s still all within the palm of my hand.
“Then how about a bet?”
“A bet about what?”
“There’s an academy representative selection in two weeks, isn’t there? Whether Mei becomes the ranger representative for Veliyard Academy or whether it’ll be one of the students you’re teaching. What do you think?”
“Pfft, are you serious? Fine. I have no reason to refuse.”
She accepted immediately with a laugh. It went exactly as expected it was almost anticlimactic.
Saying there were no witnesses, Amelia demanded a mana oath that would strip all magical power from whoever broke the promise.
It was exactly what I wanted, so I agreed without hesitation.
The stake was the same as last time: the loser grants the winner’s wish.
“The headmaster may be backing you, so I won’t wish for you to step down, but you’d better be prepared.”
Anyone hearing that would think she’d already won the bet.
“How terrifying. Oh, and that line you used earlier about how being more skilled doesn’t mean you teach better. That was something I said last time, wasn’t it?”
“So what? Is there some rule that says I can’t repeat something you said?”
“Of course not. I still think it’s true, but even so, wouldn’t a skilled instructor teach better than someone who isn’t?”
At first she just stood there blankly, not understanding, but soon enough she realized I was mocking her, and her face flushed red.
“Well then, good luck.”
With a smile, I tossed in one last provocation and quickly left before Amelia could respond.
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