“Training officers, form ranks!”
The professors called them whatever they pleased—instructors, assistants, and the like—but in keeping with the Martial Department, Meria Su referred to them as training officers.
In an instant, an encirclement formed, surrounding Shuren’s lot in a square.
Clatter, clatter, clatter!
Several training officers dumped the contents of large bundles onto the ground.
They were wooden swords, light but sturdy.
“Everyone, pick one up.”
At that, the whole group looked toward Shuren.
Shuren, who had been frowning at Charten, grew irritated at their stares.
“What are you all standing around staring for? When they give you weapons, hurry up and take them.”
“But young master, there are quite a few ladies in our faction.”
“Ladies?”
Even then, Shuren grinned and pointed at Lea.
“That woman isn’t a lady, though?”
Lea’s face stiffened again.
Leaving aside whether her identity was male or female, the accomplishments of a lady were the only role currently given to Lea.
Lea herself did not know why she was so fixated on being a lady.
She still loved Seorin, and she still cried or laughed like a delicate girl, but that had been true even in her days as Earei.
Only, when she gripped a sword, she could very faintly feel that the self who changed still remained.
That was why she had chosen the Martial Department class as her first beginning.
“Young master, I don’t mean Miss Bashport!”
“Lady, my foot….”
Shuren muttered in a voice no one could hear.
As for the ladies who had come to a group of dropouts, their level was plain to see.
Scraps of women from insignificant houses, who had come hoping to somehow secure bridegrooms better than themselves.
Among them, there were some who truly were gentle and simpleminded, but that did not mean their goal differed from what had just been said.
A gathering of idiots who could not even rely on the power of their families.
That was Shuren’s lot.
“Obviously, the ladies stay in the back and are protected, and the men face them head-on! You call that a question, you fool!”
When he struck Belgirt’s backside with the wooden sword, the servant screamed and ran about shouting Shuren’s orders.
“The order is to protect the ladies and have the men fight back!”
“Good, ladies, please come this way.”
The group began forming ranks in their own way.
The women all flocked behind the men, but one person, Lea, simply stood where she was.
“Have you all fallen back?”
“I-I’m still here!”
“Lady Meranko, there are many ladies on this side, so I think you should go to that group over there.”
“They said there’s no place for me over there either….”
“I’m sorry, but we need a higher proportion of men to protect the ladies without gaps.”
“Uu….”
Wherever people form a group, a hierarchy arises.
Even among dropouts, another dropout had appeared.
Lady Meranko, from an unremarkable knightly house without even a title, had been completely ostracized and looked on the verge of tears.
Lea looked around.
From what she could see, aside from Shuren’s lot, the only unaffiliated people here were herself and Charten.
It was only natural.
Those who wanted to enter other factions would not join the dropout group even just to catch their breath.
If they were pointlessly lumped in with Shuren’s lot, they would suffer for it.
Meria Su and the training officers were waiting until this side finished forming ranks.
The formation was nearly complete, but Shuren, Belgirt, Charten, Lea, and the recently rejected Meranko were still scattered separately.
Lea approached Meranko.
“I’ll protect you.”
“Pardon…? But you’re also a lady….”
“I do know enough to defend myself.”
Rather than mere self-defense, she had once been called a ghost, but now that she had grown infinitely weaker, she decided to be modest.
“Meranko, I told you this one isn’t a lady.”
“Still, one cannot deny that she is a woman, so the young master and I shall protect you!”
“Belgirt, you go somewhere else.”
“If the young master dies, my whole family dies, so I cannot!”
“Tch, do as you like.”
Lea murmured quietly.
“I don’t want that.”
“Shut up, wench. If we don’t form ranks, it looks like class won’t start, so I’m only doing this because I have to.”
“Haa.”
Shuren really did not like Lea’s sigh.
Charten still remained still.
However, his gaze continued to hold Lea within it.
A vein bulged on Meria’s forehead.
“Training officers, prepare for combat!”
“Yes!”
“Eek! Professor! We have wooden swords, so why are you and the training officers holding real weapons?!”
As Belgirt recoiled in horror, Meria raised her halberd and prepared to leap.
“This is the first class. The lesson is resistance against disadvantage. Struggle to your hearts’ content!”
Shuren protested as well.
“Isn’t this too overwhelmingly disadvantageous?”
“You chicks are overwhelmingly disadvantaged no matter what we do for you.”
It was true.
Grinding his teeth, Shuren asked again.
“What are the conditions for the class to end smoothly?”
“You need only stop one of my attacks.”
“If that’s all, then it’s worth try—!”
Meria Su charged.
Kwaaaaaang!
“Ueeeeek!!!!”
“Uaaaaah!”
A group of men who had been protecting the women flew into the air.
In that opening, the training officers tapped the women on the shoulders or backs with fairly thick sticks.
“Ow! That hurts!”
“If this were a real battle, a sword would have been buried in you and you would be dead, or you would be in the middle of being violated.”
It might have been fine if they struck only once, but the training officers continued striking until the men charged back in.
“Help us, will you!”
“Uuu…! Hyaaaaa!”
When the women grew annoyed, the men who had fallen from the air rushed at the training officers.
And immediately had their heads cracked by clubs and collapsed.
Though they fell far short of Meria, they were still skilled enough to assist a professor.
“You idiots! Don’t stand around in dots, gather as one!”
“That sounds amusing. Let’s see how thick you can make it.”
Kwaaaaaang!
“Uaaaaaaah!!”
Unable to watch any longer, Shuren gave an order, but Meria Su broke them one by one before they could fully gather.
Whenever they tried to restore the collapsed formation, the training officers interfered.
Shuren’s lot was being perfectly slaughtered.
“You…!”
Shuren really did not like this.
“You cowardly bastards!”
To think they would lock up and beat people who could do nothing against them simply because they had strength.
That selfishness, ignoring the resistance and howling emotions of the powerless and doing whatever they pleased.
“I’ve seen more than enough of this crap in the South!”
“Eek! Young master!”
Had his powerless self in Highlan remained powerless even here?
Enraged at himself, Shuren held his wooden sword and charged at Meria Su.
“Ho?”
Meria deliberately put more strength into the hand gripping her halberd.
“I remember now.”
“Don’t look down on me!”
At close range, Meria sneered at Shuren.
“You’re a southerner, yet you served in the northern army. Yes, I thought you had some backbone.”
“Ugh, what does that have to do with….”
Caught off guard by her words, Shuren was greatly flustered.
Meria did not miss that opening and thrust her halberd in.
Chaeng!
“Huh?”
“Uaaaaa! You blocked it, you did block it! Young master, please don’t die— Uooooooo!”
“You’re both in the way.”
Though it seemed to have been blocked, Meria Su added more force to the halted halberd and sent Belgirt and Shuren flying at the same time.
“Now I can finally see you properly.”
Lea stood in front of Meria.
Hiding Meranko behind her, Lea raised her wooden sword and took her stance.
“Hah? Someone who calls herself a lady dares to take up a weapon?”
The distance was still wide.
Just as Meria was planning to leave a cut across her torso if need be, Charten blocked her path with his spear.
“Master!”
“Now you call for me, disciple? You ungrateful thing!”
“I understand you are angry, but if you put that anger into class as well, I will be troubled.”
Charten believed that Meria Su had been angry at him ever since their argument three years ago.
Because of that, Meria Su, who understood the matter in the exact opposite way, exploded in fury at those words.
“Angry? I’m angry?!”
The muscles in both arms and shoulders holding the halberd swelled.
“Yes, I am very angry! What exactly is wrong with that!!!!”
“If you would tell me why you are angry, this disciple will do his utmost.”
Crack.
“That is what makes me angry!!!!!”
It was not even a romance, but Meria Su, experiencing unrequited love for the first time and endlessly immature when it came to human emotions, unleashed an attack filled with all her strength in that instant.
A heavy yet sharp blow, laced with resentment.
Normally, even Charten would have had to dodge, but if he stepped back, Lea and Meranko behind him might die.
Chaeaeaeang!
The halberd scraped against the spear shaft like a saw blade.
“Urghhh!”
“Ah…!”
Only after seeing Charten’s face as he gritted his teeth and endured did Meria realize her mistake.
She could not take back an attack she had already unleashed.
If she tried to pull away clumsily, their balance would crumble, and one side would be gravely injured.
Kagagagagak!
Under Meria’s absurd strength, the blade of the halberd was drawing closer to Charten.
‘N-no!’
Caught in a situation where she could neither do this nor that, Meria broke into a cold sweat and racked her brain for what to do.
But no suitable method came to mind.
It was at that moment.
“I will add my strength.”
Lea, holding a wooden sword, intervened.
Into that scene where fighting spirit and battle aura clashed, scattering a murderous pressure, Lea dashed in like an arrow and, with a sword strike carrying the force of that acceleration, slammed with all her might into Meria’s halberd.
“Urgh!”
Lea let out the same groan as Charten.
Even so, she did not retreat.
A fishy scent of blood rose in her throat, but Lea instead felt alive at this moment.
And terribly so.
“Uaaaaaaaah!!!”
She shouted so hard that her voice went hoarse.
Charten also added even more strength and resisted Meria.
Even so, they were slowly pushed back.
It was a moment that showed how fortunate it had been that such a monster had only watched from the sidelines during the coup and had not taken the tyrant’s side.
“Charten! Hold out for just ten seconds!”
“Ten whole seconds?!”
Lea shouted, and Charten gritted his teeth harder.
Retrieving her wooden sword again, Lea pushed off the ground while Charten endured.
Thud.
As if swinging an axe, she leapt up and struck down on the neck of the halberd.
Jjeo-eong!
“Ah!”
The blade of the halberd broke.
Meria Su retreated, and Lea and Charten were flung away.
Clang!
The broken part fell heavily to the ground.
Only then did the silent training officers and Shuren’s lot let out the breaths they had been holding.
“…It was stopped?”
Meria was shocked.
“I, not even by two of my beloved disciples, but by the combined attack of a mere one and a chick…?”
Though Charten had used his own weapon, that was no excuse.
“Leairie… Bashport…!”
With her pride wounded, Meria threw away her halberd and picked up an ownerless wooden sword that had fallen to the ground.
“I thought you were a wench who only knew how to reek of powder and seduce men, but you have some rather interesting tricks!”
Creak, creak, creak.
In response to Meria’s fighting spirit, the wooden sword made a grotesque sound.
“Good! I shall personally deem you commendable, set aside the halberd I was toying with for fun, and face you with a sword.”
“Master! If you use a sword, Lady Bashport will die!”
“Shut up! Shut your mouth! Don’t say lady or call some little girl’s name in front of me!”
Charten tried to get up, but unable to shake off the aftereffects of the impact, the most he could do was raise his head.
Meria pointed her wooden sword at Lea, who was barely standing while looking up at the sky.
Lea’s own had already snapped halfway and was dangling.
“Now, pick up any weapon that’s fallen nearby.”
“Teacher….”
At Lea’s frail voice, Meria’s eyebrows twitched.
That title was the one Earei had used when calling her.
“What are you doing? Hurry and take a sword….”
“I forfeit….”
Puhak!
Bleeding from her eyes and nose, Lea collapsed.
“Uh…? Huh?”
At that moment, when Meria, Shuren’s lot, and the training officers were all standing there blankly,
“Kyaaak! Lady Bashport!”
Only after Meranko, who had been the most protected, took out a handkerchief and ran over did everyone bustle about to carry Lea to the infirmary.
The incident of that day spread widely through the social circles before evening even arrived.
“She stopped one of Professor Su’s blows together with Sir Charten? Hahahahaha! I’m curious, but not interested. Even so, she’s a Bashport. She must have used some cowardly trick.”
Ortega still looked down on Lea.
“She knows how to use a clever stratagem. A hidden card, is it… How unsettling. I’ll watch a little longer.”
Robian chose a cautious stance.
“What on earth is a lady going around doing….”
Ursel dismissed her as an uncultured ruffian.
Since she had been with Shuren anyway, he judged them to be much the same.
“To think I was protected by that one… I’ve lost all face.”
“Quite right! Then again, back home too, you only kept your life because of Madam Ogwir’s plea!”
“…Have you ever been hit with a liquor bottle?”
Like Meria, Shuren had his pride wounded and ground his teeth over an unwanted debt.
And Meria Su, who had in fact been severely reprimanded by the Order over this matter, admitted her mistake and appeared again at the training ground the next day to conduct class for Robian Mashel’s faction.
“Let us begin class. Everyone, pick up a wooden sword. The lesson is resistance against overwhelming disadvanta….”
And then she saw.
“...ge?”
Lea, standing alone with a wooden sword and smiling in a place apart from the Mashel faction.
“You took class yesterday!”
“Yes! I have come to receive your teachings again today, Teacher.”
As Lea answered with a radiant smile, blood that had not yet fully dried flowed down from her eyes.
And so, no matter which faction came to take class, Learie Bashport participated only in Meria Su’s classes.
For an entire week, at that.