“Well, the break is over. Let’s begin the second set.”
A brief break ended, and Elnet instructed everyone to resume their practice swings. Reluctantly, they all stood up, gripped their wooden swords, and prepared themselves.
“Alright, begin. One, two! Speak up!”
“One, two, one, two!”
As they started their swings at Elnet’s signal, she began to patrol, observing the movements of everyone in the class.
“Josette, swing bigger.”
“Ah, I understand. One, two.”
“Unacceptable. Truly unacceptable.”
“One, two, i-is there a problem?”
Elnet stopped in front of Josette and spoke to her. Josette, while moving, asked what the problem was.
“When you swing the wooden sword, your chest moves.”
“Even if you say such things, there’s nothing I can do about it.”
Each time Josette swung her wooden sword, her chest moved up and down significantly. However, this was a physical matter and beyond her control.
“Hey, there, why are you hunching over? Straighten your posture.”
“Eh, b-but-”
“Look, you too, why aren’t you straightening your posture?”
“I-I can’t.”
The male students watching Elnet and Josette’s exchange nearby began to hunch over one after another, prompting Elnet to instruct them to straighten up. However, these individuals were forced to maintain that posture for a particular reason.
“If you can’t straighten your posture, I’ll have to force you to. Come on, straighten up. Ah!”
Elnet tried to force a male student’s hunched posture straight with brute force. However, upon noticing a certain part, she realized why they had adopted such a stance.
“Uh, sorry. It’s fine to stay like that until you calm down.”
Elnet averted her eyes from something significantly swollen on the male student, blushed, and awkwardly moved away from the spot.
“Alright, I’ll join everyone too. One, two.”
Pulling herself together, Elnet moved in front of Kent and his companions and began her swings.
“Okay, break time.”
After continuing with their practice swings for a while, Elnet declared a break.
“Kent, even when I swing right in front of you like this, you don’t hunch over, do you?”
“What do you mean by that?”
Now on break, Elnet murmured to herself. However, Kent couldn’t understand what her words were referring to.
“Well, the break is over. Let’s begin the third set.”
Some time passed, and Elnet announced they would begin the third set. Thus, the first day of military class was entirely spent swinging wooden swords.
“Wow, it really just ended with just practice swings, huh?”
During lunchtime, Kent, Josette, Caro, and Rachel gathered in their usual spot behind the school building. Rachel asked about the content of the military class.
“It sounds tough. My class is scheduled for tomorrow, so I’m worried if I can do it well.”
Caro’s class was scheduled for military class the next day, and hearing about her classmates’ experience, she wore an anxious expression.
“I never expected Older Sister to be such an enthusiastic instructor. My arm muscles are killing me because of it.”
“Let me see? Wow, they really are stiff. Older brother, you should touch it too.”
Josette mentioned that her arm muscles were sore from too much swinging, and Rachel began to touch Josette’s arm.
“Can I touch it too?”
“You may.”
Rachel had been touching Josette’s arm presumptuously, but Kent decided to ask for permission and asked if he could touch it.
“Ah!”
“Don’t suddenly make a strange noise, you’ll startle me.”
“My apologies. I let out a sound the moment Kent-san touched me.”
“But it really is stiff. Are you okay?”
“I’ll probably be sore tomorrow.”
Josette, aware of the strain on her muscles, seemed prepared for muscle pain the next day.
“Oh, there you are.”
“Elnet, why are you here?”
“I’m an official teacher now, so it’s fine for me to be anywhere in the academy. I was looking for you because I wanted to talk to Kent.”
While Kent and his companions were talking, Elnet appeared.
“I never thought Older Sister would be so enthusiastic about teaching. When you mentioned teaching back then, you didn’t seem that passionate, and just seemed interested in meeting Kent-san.”
“Really? I thought I was being lenient. Well, it might be tough at first, but you’ll gradually get used to it.”
Josette protested that the day’s lesson was too strict, but Elnet replied that this was her lenient approach.
“Since I can no longer work at Marie’s Bakery, I’ve lost contact with Kent. If I were a teacher, I could see him like this. That’s the main reason I took the job. Some important figures in certain countries seem to be trying to send students to the battlefield, but by me keeping an eye on things here, it acts as a significant deterrent against those people. I also don’t want to send my dear Kent and friends to such places.”
“Hey, hey, why would you being a teacher be a deterrent?”
Rachel, puzzled by Elnet’s words, asked.
“Older Sister is a hero who saved our country. Her contribution in saving the King at the risk of her own life is immense. Furthermore, as someone from our Duke’s family, she wields considerable influence due to her status.”
In response to Rachel’s question, Josette, on behalf of Elnet, answered.
“As long as I am here, I intend to teach nothing beyond what could be considered ‘swordplay.’ This action is the result of discussions with the Principal.”
“Older Sister, you said ‘swordplay,’ but it was quite a strict lesson.”
“Of course. If we don’t take it seriously, we give the hardliners an opening. That’s why we take even ‘swordplay’ seriously.”
Elnet stated that the lesson content was “swordplay,” but explained to Josette that it was merely a policy, and that if she were to slack off, it would leave an opening, thus her policy was to put her all into it.
“Well, that’s how it is. Please try your best to keep up.”
“Oh no…”
Elnet conveyed that she had no intention of easing up, and Josette seemed disappointed and lost her energy.
“Kent, you were alright, weren’t you?”
“Actually, I was finding it tough too.”
“I see. In that case, I should probably go a little easier.”
Elnet sat beside Kent, showing concern, and gestured to care for his body.
“Oh, Older Sister. That’s different from what you were saying earlier.”
Josette protested Elnet’s sudden change.
“By the way, isn’t it lunchtime now?”
“Ah, right. Um, I have the bread Marie-san gave me here, but we talked about bringing our own yesterday. Did you prepare it?”
“Ah! (I didn’t!)”
Elnet changed the subject to distract. Kent had prepared bread, but Josette, Caro, and Rachel seemed to have forgotten to prepare lunch. In the end, this day’s “lesson” also consisted only of flawed bread.
“Well then, Kent, thank you for the meal. I have afternoon classes, so I should be going now.”
“Yeah, good luck.”
After eating the bread Kent had brought, Elnet returned to the school building, stating she had preparations for her afternoon classes.
“In the end, Elnet ate about half of it.”
“Yes. But since Kent-san brought a lot of bread, we were able to eat enough to fill our stomachs too.”
Rachel said, looking at the empty bag, and Caro replied. Coincidentally, Kent had brought extra bread, so even though Elnet ate a large portion, the situation where others couldn’t eat was avoided.
