Episode 12. Special Training...?
As soon as he opened the training room door and entered, he was met with a brown-haired girl.
It wasn't Rike. It was a female student with hair about a hand longer than Rike's and sharper features.
"Who are you? This isn't a place just anyone can come."
She greeted Binaeril with a prickly attitude. She was wary of a stranger.
"If you've come in by mistake, leave."
"Well, first of all. Hello? I didn't come in here by mistake."
Binaeril greeted her with a refreshed expression and then walked past her toward the inside.
"Hey!"
Dean Yulio had said there were two female students. She was probably the student named Silvia.
*She's completely different from my first impression of Rike.*
Inside the training room, Rike was sitting quietly.
When Binaeril suddenly appeared, she let out a flustered groan.
Binaeril wanted to tease her, so he greeted her shamelessly.
"Hey, long time no see?"
"Uh, u-uh, y-yes."
Silvia, who had followed behind, asked Rike,
"Lady Rike, do you know him?"
"Uh, I do, sort of."
"Who is he?"
"My name is Binaeril Dalhaim."
Binaeril cut into her answer.
"And this is Rike. We're old acquaintances. You must be Silvia."
Silvia didn't let down her guard.
She sent Rike a questioning gaze.
She seemed to be checking whether he was a dangerous person or not.
"He's a fellow student, just like us. You know, the one who, uh, helped me the other day."
"Ah."
Only then did Binaeril vaguely recall Silvia's figure from a corner of his memory.
She seemed to have been the friend who came looking for Rike before.
"The one who hurt Lady Rike's wrist!"
"Why do you only remember that?"
It seemed Silvia's thought process revolved solely around Rike after all.
"So what kind of relationship do you two have?"
"Silvia is my friend."
"You're friends, yet you call her 'Lady'?"
"...W-we are friends. Right, Rike?"
Instead of agreeing with Silvia's words, Rike pouted and glanced sidelong at her.
It seemed to carry the meaning of, "See, I told you to watch your mouth."
Their relationship was obvious enough at a glance.
A court lady or perhaps a bodyguard fit to attend a princess.
*Definitely.*
Silvia was a little taller than even Binaeril, and looked slightly older than the two of them.
Binaeril decided not to reveal what he had noticed.
"But how did you end up here?"
Binaeril briefly explained the situation.
When he told them the Dean had personally proposed it, the two girls seemed to loosen their guard slightly.
It was a passage that allowed him to guess how much trust the two placed in the Dean.
"Were you all exchanging greetings? Sorry I'm late. One of the instructors nearly blew up a classroom."
As soon as Binaeril finished speaking, Dean Yulio came through the training room door right on cue.
"If you're all ready, shall we begin the lesson?"
At Elfenbain, ordinary classes aim for repeated mastery of magic.
They show concrete images and examples of magic, teach incantations, and then have students repeat until they succeed.
So classes inevitably proceed in a static atmosphere.
But the Dean's educational philosophy seemed a bit different.
"Very well!"
Dean Yulio and Silvia were engaged in a brutal sparring unfitting for a magic tower.
Punches and kicks flew, gasping breaths echoed, and the Dean's orders urging Silvia on rang out.
It felt more like a martial arts demonstration than magic training.
"Brutal."
Binaeril and Rike sat together in one spot, watching the two spar.
Mages possess specialized talents according to their individual aptitudes.
Silvia seemed to possess a talent specialized in moving her body.
It wasn't a contest of pure physical ability.
In between the sparring, Silvia cast auxiliary magic. They were all spells that strengthened strength or speed.
"Martial arts are Silvia's specialty."
"That certainly seems to be the case."
Binaeril carefully checked whether he had made any slip-ups toward her.
Watching this, it seemed he shouldn't mess with Silvia.
*Does Rike train like this too?*
He glanced sidelong at Rike's frame. Looking down at her slender wrists, it didn't seem to be the case.
It seemed the Dean probably tailored his instruction methods differently for each student.
After about ten minutes, Silvia's movements visibly slowed.
Dean Yulio didn't go easy on her because of it.
Silvia was impressive, but the Dean was impressive in his own right.
Close combat couldn't be the Dean's specialty. He was deliberately adhering to a training style matched to her.
Eventually, Silvia, having allowed the Dean's blow, was sent tumbling backward.
"Good work, Silvia."
"...Thank you for your effort."
Unlike Silvia, who was catching her breath, the Dean looked light and easy.
"Next, Rike, give it a try."
Called by the Dean, Rike sprang to her feet.
*Does she train the same way?*
No. Rike trudged over not to the Dean, but to Silvia.
He had a puzzled thought, but soon understood the reason.
Rike placed her hands over her chest and chanted in a low voice.
"The healing touch that tends to wounds."
A white radiance arose from her hands.
Binaeril's eyes widened.
It was a healing spell. Healing magic was quite a rare talent.
It seemed she didn't receive special treatment merely because of her status after all.
Among the professors at Elfenbain, only a handful could use healing magic.
"Surprised?"
Dean Yulio, who had approached unnoticed, asked Binaeril softly.
"Her innate disposition makes her unable to harm anyone. As a mage who must face demon beasts, that's a disqualification."
Wherever Rike's hands touched, Silvia's bruises healed rapidly. Silvia's expression eased considerably.
"But she possesses a talent far more valuable than that. Saving people doesn't necessarily require magic of tremendous destructive power."
"So there was a reason you pushed her to her limits in sparring with Silvia."
"You're quick. Correct. Magic is like stamina. The more you use it, the more it grows. But for Rike to train, she needs someone who's injured. Silvia knows that too."
Binaeril understood why the two fought so brutally.
"Silvia has a talent for magic that handles the body. Rike has a talent for healing. Then what do the two of them lack? What do you think I expect from you?"
What do the two of them lack? Binaeril thought.
If you combined Silvia's martial prowess and Rike's talent, they could probably handle most people.
"Silvia's martial arts are effective against opponents of similar or smaller size. But demon beasts aren't so easily dealt with. What happens when you face an opponent against whom physical force doesn't work?"
Magic had developed in the first place to counter demon beasts.
That was why body-strengthening magic was non-mainstream.
Fighting ferocious demon beasts in close quarters meant accepting several times the risk.
"Binaeril. You can't properly control your magical power, can you?"
Dean Yulio pinpointed the core of the problem Binaeril was facing.
"You're an orthodox mage. And one with outstanding aptitude at that. But you can never develop while holding onto fear."
"...It seems you've seen right through me."
Binaeril feared the power he couldn't control.
It was hindering his growth.
The Dean's insight in grasping his condition after only a short confrontation with Gillian was astounding.
"Then what should I do?"
"The method is very simple."
Dean Yulio smiled an ominous smile.
"Is the treatment done?"
"Then shall we begin Binaeril's training?"
"Why is a boy so frail?"
The training Dean Yulio assigned to Binaeril was simple.
No class at Elfenbain would teach such intuitive and simple training.
Sit-ups, push-ups, horseback stance, running laps around the training hall...
The Dean's training room was large. Excessively so. Just going around once left him breathless.
Silvia was put in charge of supervising Binaeril. The Dean entrusted him to her and went off to train Rike.
"Huff, huff...."
He could see the two of them sitting far away, chatting. Rike occasionally turned her gaze this way and sent a smile.
She looks very comfortable....
"Hey, your feet are slowing down. Run faster!"
Silvia seemed to very much enjoy her supervisory role. Was she venting stress from getting hit by the Dean?
By the third lap, as he returned to the starting point, Binaeril collapsed on the spot. He was out of breath and couldn't run anymore.
"I can't do anymore!"
"Get up quickly."
"No, Rike gets to sit and train, so why are you doing this only to me?"
"Didn't you hear? The professor told me to do this."
"I came here to learn how to handle magic. How long do I have to run around the training hall?"
Dean Yulio, having heard Binaeril's complaints, approached.
He explained in a calm tone.
"Binaeril, do you not know why we are doing this training?"
His pride refused to admit he didn't know.
Dean Yulio pointed his finger at Binaeril.
"Being unable to control magic to the end, or being unable to control its activation itself, is a problem of willpower, and decisively, of concentration."
"Concentration?"
"Yes. And concentration is directly related to stamina. To possess a strong mental strength, do you know what must be trained?"
"Uh... isn't it repeating and mastering magic?"
He shook his head sideways.
"Wrong. It's stamina. A strong soul dwells in a strong body. Stamina is national power. Loss of concentration is all due to stamina."
It was an explanation that seemed nonsensical yet was strangely convincing.
"Modern mages don't know this. They think muttering spells in their seats makes them stronger. How can a human who cannot control his body control his mind?"
"Right, right."
Silvia nodded aggravatingly at his side.
"I'm not telling you to train your body professionally like Silvia. Just enough so that stamina doesn't hold you back. That much is enough. But even that won't be easy at all."
The Dean patted Silvia's shoulder and added the advice to not go easy on him.
"Don't worry, Professor. I will educate him thoroughly."
"After running, spar with Binaeril once too."
"Of course."
To Binaeril, it was a sentence of death.
Dean Yulio looked at the pale Binaeril, left a benevolent smile, and turned away again. To him, it was a smile like that of a reaper.
"You heard him? Then, start over from the beginning!"