"Elric von Eisenwald!" A deafening voice echoed, causing me to wince.
I was not prepared for such a reunion.
Well, well, well.
Look who it is—the brat who completely mauled my face the last time we met, along with his somewhat tamer sister, who is currently tugging at his sleeves in an attempt to calm him down.
Unfortunately, there was no one like Reinhardt around to help mend things this time.
Tatiana, standing beside me, didn't want anything to harm me further, especially since I had just faced the brink of death from an earlier encounter. She stepped forward protectively.
"Huh!? Are you one of the very few people he brainwashed—" he began but was cut off by Tatiana's glare, which made him take a step back.
"Please refrain from making such rude comments towards the Young Master," she said in a cold, serious tone I had never heard from her before.
"Tati—" She cut me off before I could even object from making this into a complete ruckus anymore.
"Did you really think I hadn't noticed that you attempted to harm the Young Master not just once, but twice?" she exclaimed, causing both Elias and Seris to break into a cold sweat as they realized they had been caught. "Don't you think that trying to harm someone could warrant your expulsion from the Academy?" Her voice carried a sting that even I, a knight, would struggle to endure.
Her expression right now is something I wouldn't want to see again. That biding rage waiting and biding itself to burst into something unpredictable.
"I didn't press on it further for the reason that the Young Master hasn't said anything about it." she added.
Seris took a step forward to defend themselves from the allegations but Tatiana wasn't done giving it to them.
"And first of all, from what I've heard, the act that you call him peeking on your sister was a baseless rumor yet the Young Master received repercussions for it?" I could barely try to calm her down; both I and the siblings were simply stunned to speak.
And wait, Elric peeking on Seris was only based on a rumor now I have to suffer for it? Injustice!
Although I somewhat feel bad for these brats receiving this from Tatiana.
Needless to say, I really have to dig for more information about Elric's reputation and the roots of all these rumors.
"... How could you say that..." Gritting her teeth with a trembling voice, Seris's eyes flared up, and it seemed that she was not gonna let it pass. Neither does Elias.
Seris pointed at Tatiana angrily, "You don't even understand! You didn't know what actually happened! How can you even say that you old ha—" She stopped.
I could almost feel that sinister aura covering Tatiana. Is this the power of a pissed-off guardian!?
"H-hey... Tatiana... I think—" No words of mine were able to go through her.
Where is the cheerful, true, pure, and wholesome woman I liked!? Bring her back, please!
Tatiana walked up to Seris, her eyes wide open; a cold leer towards Tatiana and Elias, for some reason, wouldn't stop her.
I averted my gaze towards Elias, trying to send a signal to break this ruckus up, but the was looking at the ground.
Now Tatiana seemed to be whispering something beside Seris's ear, I couldn't make anything out of it, not that I'd dare to.
It must be something diabolical.
Tatiana retreated back to my side, this time looking a bit cheery.
Seris and Elias weren't able to say anything after that as they simply walked past us without even paying one last word towards us.
Not like it'd matter after what seemed like a one-sided serious beating from Tatiana.
"Now that's settled... shall we go, Young Master?" It's almost as if a switch was flipped, Tatiana was back to being herself.
Not that I mind since I prefer this over that sinister woman from earlier.
"... Alright, but I'm not sure if we can still continue—" As much as I wanna rest right now, there's little to no time to get prepared.
Even with the fact that the siblings will try and avoid me in the future because of Tatiana. There are still other people who despise my guts down to the bone.
"Nevermind. Let's go." That change of mind made Tatiana worry.
I've become more uncertain of things as they pass recently, It's like Elric's subconscious is affecting my actual decisions as a knight.
Tatiana and I moved on from that situation but I couldn't help but think about what did she actually say that managed to make the siblings flee.
She didn't threaten them with murder, did she?
...
After just a 30-minute walk, Tatiana and I arrived at the training grounds near the Iaross Academy.
Immediately, there are mostly glares in my direction, wondering if I'm here to cause another ruckus.
Whispers wondering if the beating I took from Elias wasn't enough are everywhere.
Although no one bothered to approach and provoke me, that's good enough.
Unfortunately for me, Tatiana wouldn't be here to support me as this area is strictly for students of the Academy only.
"Are you sure you'll be alright, Young Master?" She asked, her eyes burning with concern as she pumped her fists, "I can't help but think that other students will attack you!"
Reassuring her again will be a tough matter, "Don't mind them, most of them despise me, but they couldn't harm me at all here; there are guards in charge of monitoring, you see." I replied.
Still, my body aches all over the from exerting too much.
I still have to pay attention to the fact that I used up adrenaline from an earlier fight, it doesn't help that tomorrow's the exams already.
I don't even get much time for my body to recover, making me completely consider training in the middle of the exams.
I placed both of my hands on her shoulders with a massive grin, "I'll be sure to meet you up at the café we talked about, should anything go awry or if I'm late, you can look for me here." I added.
Tatiana pouted.
God, she's cute; I want to marry her already.
She looked so doubtful of me; well, my current state didn't look so reassuring, especially with some of my clothes having been torn off by the wolf's claws.
It took a while but Tatiana agreed, "Fine, but be careful, Young Master!" It looks like the fact that guards are monitoring this place is what finally lets her relax.
And after many reminders from Tatiana to never push myself and don't do something stupid, we parted ways.
Or so I thought.
I could still feel her eyes linger on me from somewhere.
It felt embarrassing for some reason.
Either way, I approached the nearby training dummy made of straws before looking around for a sword.
But with each action, I felt eyes following me all over the place like I was some kind of trash lying around, getting blown away by the wind.
I looked back before seeing these brats turn back to their training.
Resuming my hunt for the barrel filled with swords, I can feel their stares all over me again.
And then I turned back.
Same result.
This kept happening for a while until I reached the barrel.
"These brats are insufferable... If I ever get my real body back I woulda sent them running 50 laps around the kingdom." I grumble.
Returning back to the dummy made of straws with the new wooden sword in hand.
At first, I thought swinging this sword would be easy, especially with the two skills I possess.
But how wrong was I for even thinking of that and underestimating the curses that held this body back.
I raised the sword with both of my hands.
My already weary body began to ache making me wince—
But I swung the sword against the dummy regardless.
The weight of that action alone made me break a sweat and take a deep breath.
What the hell?
If I can remember correctly, I have to do this 173 more times...
My other skill, although related to swords, doesn't help me much in saving my stamina.
Regardless, there's still somewhat of a use for it.
"[System Interface Open]" I whispered under my breath.
The rectangle glass reappeared in front of me again displaying the same information albeit with a familiar addition.
[Status Interface]
Name: Elric von Eisenwald
Title: Academy's Pervert, Disgrace of the Eisenwald, Dropout Knight, Elias's Punching Bag
Age: 19
Class: Knight
Level: 1 [EXP: 64/180]
Mana: 12/5 [!]
Skills:
Beginner's Swordplay [Lv.2]
Knowledge of the Blade [Lv.1]
Swordsman's Enhanced Footwork [Lv.1]
General Swordplay Knowledge [Lv.1]
Breath Control [Lv.1]
Afflictions:
Curse of the Dazareth ▼
Curse of the Immortal Minos ▼
Curse of the Oathbreaker ▼
Fractured Mana Veins ▼
[Replay Tutorial?]
Looking at these skills, I'm starting to notice how I barely lived through that encounter with the wolf.
And as if by surprise, the [System] acknowledged my thoughts and what I wanted it to do. Well, it had proven that it could actually read my thoughts, but it had to be a command.
[System Command Recognized.
General Swordplay Knowledge [Lv.1]
— Surface-level information about all swordplays of the current era. There might be missing information about other swordplays and other sword techniques, but it will be analyzed and stored after 5 minutes of spectating.]
I'm not sure how it actually works but this will be necessary to improve something for me.
But before I execute that plan, I'd have to check something else first.
[System Command Recognized.
Defensive Stance [Lv.1]
— Increases the user's endurance towards hostile and fatal blows and also increases the resilience of the user's body.
— Take multiple hits from any source without passing out.
— Skill Progression: 413/500
[Flashstep Lv.1]
— Move extremely fast towards a short distance, leaving an afterimage.
— Dodge lethal attacks or projectiles.
— Skill Progression: 5/20]
Just how many punches did I exactly receive from that brat Elias?
But I'd have to thank him, somehow, since I'm almost able to obtain that skill I needed to help me survive the future predicaments this world will throw upon me.
Looking around me, I see some potential candidates that I could learn from by watching them in exchange of me being a creep in their eyes.
But I could care less for this reputation right now.
I needed to see a sword style that'll help me conserve my energy.
Leaving the dummy made out of straws as I looked for a spot to take a seat on the sidelines under the shade.
Just for a moment, I saw them quickly turn their heads back to their business.
Do they seriously want to keep treating me as enemy #1?
These brats have nothing going on with their lives, we have exams tomorrow you know!? Focus on that!
By god watching them all use swords is really embarrassing, wrong form, bad posture and mostly, all of these are made to impress not to subdue.
Fancy things like that are useless in front of an actual experienced enemy.
They'll take advantage of your moves that takes too long and then bam—!
You're already on the ground before you know it, thst is if you're lucky.
But well, well, what do we have here?
My eyes averted to a green-haired brat similar to that woman from last time.
His form is rough but just a fewore times then you can polish, his swings are floppy but they have the necessary impact.
His strikes are precise and straight on, he wouldn't be a biggie back in my day but he's clearly showing signs of a promising knight.
Looks like I found my "mentor" but—
He's walking towards my direction now and clearly with an unfriendly expression.
He couldn't be thinking that I'm that kind of pervert who swings both ways right?!
I'm a man for god's sake!
"Hey. You've been staring at me for a while now, you dropout."