As everyone returned to the ranks, Kunon cleared his throat, his face cold once again.
“Did you all see that just now?”
The students: “...”
“No one else complained about twenty kilograms, but you lot are complaining about fifteen?! And he even ran two extra laps than you!”
“So listen up. From now on, if anyone dares to complain about the weight being heavy, I will add another five kilograms to your load for every complaint. Do you all understand?!”
“We understand...”
“Do you understand?!”
“We understand!”
“Good! Dismissed!”
“By the way, those of you who fell behind just now—don't even think about leaving until you've finished your five extra laps!”
“Eeeh—?!”
“What are you 'eeeh-ing' about?! Do you have an objection? Anyone with an objection gets ten laps!”
“...”
...
“Ah, it hurts! The muscle soreness is killing me!”
Day of Enlightenment.
The Hayeral estate.
Fran lay lazily on the sofa, crying out in pain.
“What's wrong with you?”
Seeing her friend in such a state, Shulim couldn't help but ask curiously.
“It's all because of that devil instructor! He's literally a demon! Yesterday, I fell just a little bit behind and tripped, and that guy looked down at me with a gloomy face and interrogated me: ‘What, are you mimicking a worm? Do you have to run right against the ground?’ Then he punished me by making me run five laps with weights!”
“...”
Shulim wanted to comfort her, but Kunon punished a bunch of people for all sorts of absurd, trumped-up reasons in every single class. Moreover, Fran's physical fitness was at the very bottom of the class, meaning she was almost always among those punished for being last, leaving Shulim at a loss for words.
Squeeze, squeeze.
“?”
“Fran, what are you doing...”
Shulim asked as she watched Fran continuously squeeze her arm.
“Mmh...”
While squeezing Shulim's arm, Fran also squeezed her own arm.
“They don't feel any different.”
Both of their arms were equally smooth and delicate.
“Hey, Shulim, how do you train? How is your physical fitness so high? It's the same with your magic. Others might not know, but your magic is incredibly powerful, isn't it?”
“Hmm... I've just been training hard, I guess. I somehow ended up like this before I knew it?”
“Training hard?! That's amazing. Just how hard? I've been working hard too, but I feel like I can't catch up at all, and I keep getting punished by that devil instructor. Ah, speaking of which, it feels like you've never been punished by that devil instructor, Shulim! And it seems like you don't even break a sweat after finishing your physical conditioning every time.”
“...Is that so?”
“Of course it is!”
Fran nodded vigorously. “After all, I'm always watching you, Shulim!”
Shulim: “...”
Shulim couldn't help this. After all, the grueling training that was living hell for the others had absolutely no effect on her. Her usual training intensity was far beyond this, so she wouldn't feel tired at all.
Unfortunately, she didn't know any magic that could make her look tired either.
But luckily, with the exception of Fran, the others were far too exhausted to pay attention to how she was doing.
“By the way, what do you think about the combat teams, Shulim?”
At this point, Fran brought up another topic.
“The combat teams... Didn't they say that to be fair, they would draw lots to determine the groups?”
The practical combat course was divided into two evaluation components. One was the individual combat test, which required no explanation. The other was the multi-person combat teams, which mainly assessed teamwork and organizational skills. These two assessments would be recorded in a certain proportion as the final practical combat grade, which would then be entered into their academic records.
According to Instructor Kunon, the students' current physical conditioning was too poor, so starting team formations now would be useless; they might as well focus on improving their physical fitness first.
And this was also the beginning of his three-month devil training regimen.
“Eh—that's exactly where the problem lies!”
Fran suddenly hugged Shulim's arm.
“I want to be in the same group as you, Shulim! Can't we find some way to make that happen?”
“Um, even if you tell me that, I'm not the one drawing the lots. There's nothing I can do.”
“Eeeh—”
“But if we draw lots, I most likely won't end up in a group with you. And if I get grouped up with that Ander guy, that would be even more infuriating!”
Just mentioning Ander's name made Fran furious.
Because the instructor thought highly of him, Ander was asked to demonstrate for everyone every time since he consistently displayed a level far above the others.
As a result, many had unconsciously come to view Ander as the strongest in the class. In order to get grouped with him for the team combat, a large crowd of people—both boys and girls—followed him around every day.
This made Fran incredibly mad. In her eyes, what was Ander compared to Shulim? Shulim was the undisputed strongest! But others only trusted their own eyes. Even though Shulim's magic grades were unquestionably the best, everyone felt that was a completely different matter from actual combat. Thus, even when Fran argued with them, they still believed Ander was the strongest.
This caused Fran to develop a strong dislike for Ander.
“What is that guy so smug about anyway?! And that devil instructor too, is he blind? Shulim is obviously the strongest! Hmph! Dammit, the more I think about it, the angrier I get! Hey, Shulim, during the team battles, how about we teach Ander a lesson together and make him lose face big time?”
Looking at her friend, who seemed to be entirely serious about this, Shulim spoke softly,
“...Fran, I don't really care about those kinds of things. And even if you want to get back at Ander because of it, just as you said, what if you end up in the same group as him?”
“Ugh, Shulim, you're too indifferent to everything. Those guys are literally nothing compared to you...”
Fran sighed, then adopted an expression of deep thought.
“That's true. We definitely can't let that happen...”
“It looks like I'll have to find a way through the teachers!”
Shulim: “?”
“...Fran, you're not going to do something bad like abusing your family's status, are you?”
Fearing that her friend might go down the wrong path, Shulim quickly spoke up.
“What? No, it's not what you think, Shulim! I just want to have a good talk with the teachers to see if we can change the grouping method. After all, look—since it's teamwork, wouldn't it naturally be better to group up with people who are more familiar with each other?!”
Oh, surprisingly, that was actually a somewhat reasonable point.
However, her friend seemed to have forgotten that if they actually went to the battlefield, no one would be there to assign familiar people as their comrades...
Even so, Shulim didn't crush Fran's hopes. There was no harm in letting her try.
“By the way... Fran, just how long are you going to keep squeezing me?”
“Eh—? Hehe~!”
“...”
Shulim had her own way of dealing with her friend when she started acting shameless like this.
She extended a single finger and poked her friend's exposed white thigh on the sofa—the exact spot that was still sore from the workout, where even a slight touch would hurt enough to trigger a cramp.
“It hurts—!!!”
...
...
Rate on N.U.