In the afternoon.
Geoffrey finally returned to attending the academy lessons he had missed during the past week. Academy lessons were always very long and only had two break sessions including at night each day.
In the morning, students would attend common lesson hours such as social studies, natural sciences, and so on. Then, when nearly reaching noon, students had to learn many things concerning Bloodlines, monsters, and demons.
After that, they would enter a three-hour lesson period. Before finally entering the training session on the field directly in the afternoon.
That was why Geoffrey was currently standing on the wide green field. Unlike at noon, the air and sunlight weren't too scorching due to the strong wind gusts.
Geoffrey's hair fluttered wildly. Sure enough, he had really become the center of attention now, not only because he lost to Cedric, but also because he hadn't attended for a full week.
As a student who was quite famous for his bullying attitude and being too excessive, that attention really came with a sense of satisfaction that Geoffrey had gotten what he had sown.
Ignoring all that, Geoffrey immediately focused on a muscular Professor who finally finished his warm-up. The man stretched his body, rotating his waist to the right and left, then stared sharply at all the students.
"Silence!!!!!" He shouted, silencing all the noisy students. As a result, all those students fell silent with tightly locked lips.
After making sure all students had fallen silent, that Professor—Glenn Dortmund—snorted softly and spoke:
"Alright, trash. Maybe I need to remind you all once again."
Glenn Dortmund wasn't a Professor with a good reputation. Rather, he was the type of Professor who was very terrifying because of his crude way of speaking as well as his hellish training methods.
He was the type of man who would force every student to keep training until they passed out from exhaustion, and because of that many students had a unique skill called: pretending to faint.
Thinking about how one of the story characters did that in the novel made Geoffrey's lips twitch.
'...Ridiculous, I swear.'
Even so, maybe Geoffrey should consider learning it.
"Seeing how you're all having fun, that shows that you'll also be the first to die on the battlefield." Glenn's voice dispelled Geoffrey's daydream.
"I've said it many times, but you really are no different from trash. You're just a bit lucky because you have brains, so what's the use of those brains if you can't even utilize them properly?" Glenn chuckled. Looking at the students who had various emotions that were difficult to explain, "On a training field like this, instead of warming up, you're busy gossiping?! Seriously! What's in your heads?! Do you also need to be ordered first before you'll fight on the battlefield?"
'Simply put, no one will ask you to fight on the battlefield. Everyone focuses on their own lives. If students can't even do warm-ups without being asked, how can they survive on the harsh and merciless battlefield?' Geoffrey thought.
Of course, those who had experienced war directly and those who had never experienced it would find it difficult to understand.
Glenn's words ultimately were just something that made sense but was difficult to apply.
Seeing every student already silenced, Glenn focused on a man who remained calm while doing push-ups. Basically, that student was the only one who appeared to have been exercising non-stop even without being told.
The corner of his lips curved perfectly.
Geoffrey followed Glenn's gaze and looked toward that student as well. Seeing that muscular and truly extraordinarily large student, Geoffrey of course immediately recognized him as one of Cedric's companions.
His brown hair was now short, but in a few years, it would grow long enough to touch his shoulders. His eye pupils were sharp while his body was so sturdy and thick.
'Elliot Franskein.'
Besides that, in the class Geoffrey attended, there were two characters who would have a good relationship with Geoffrey. Besides Elliot, it was a girl who had no talent in combat at all.
Geoffrey rolled his eyes and gradually, he finally managed to find that girl standing in the corner and leaning against a large tree.
A girl with pure silver hair and sharp red eye pupils.
Unlike the muscular Elliot, that girl—Melissa Aubley—was very slender and had extraordinary charm.
Seeing her now reminded Geoffrey of Nevier who was working at the Imperial castle.
Initially, Geoffrey didn't understand what actually caused Nevier's death. But, after being at the Empire, he could confidently say that his failure to heal Virelle must be related to his death.
'As for Geoffrey who suddenly disappeared and was never mentioned again.'
Geoffrey rubbed his face roughly as his lips twitched with amusement, 'It seems this bastard also died there.'
Of course Geoffrey hoped that wasn't really the case. He hoped that the emperor would have mercy on a student who knew nothing and release him.
While sighing, Geoffrey glanced at Melissa, their gazes met.
'Oh... I must have been staring at her too long.' Realizing that, Geoffrey awkwardly turned his face in another direction.
By the way, that girl would be called the second Nevier. Perhaps not a healing specialist directly, but it was close enough because Melissa was an extraordinary alchemist candidate.
Glenn's voice then sounded again:
"I will evaluate your current abilities," he said. "Choose your own sparring partners, and fight with all your effort. I want to see if anyone is slacking off, at that time don't think about getting good grades."
Glenn's gaze then swept over the students and stopped at Geoffrey. His eyes looked at Geoffrey's arm which was fully bandaged.
Glenn didn't know for sure what the emperor was doing with the academy head. But, he was at least warned that Geoffrey should be kept from fighting first.
Seeing his currently bandaged hand, it seemed something had really happened.
"Tsk. Even though I don't like this trash, orders are orders." Glenn grumbled unhappily, then immediately announced:
"Because student Geoffrey is currently injured, he will not be anyone's partner."
Hearing that, the students whispered again. Of course Geoffrey was the most confused but also the quickest to calm down. He could immediately tell that the emperor might have intervened.
'Besides, there's no way Professor Glenn would be kind-hearted just from seeing my bandaged arm.'
Rather, Geoffrey thought that Glenn would come to him and forcefully remove those bandages. Thankfully that didn't happen.
Geoffrey sighed.
Then, he heard approaching footsteps.
"Even so Professor, wouldn't it be better if we asked about his opinion first?"
Geoffrey furrowed his brow, he turned around. Finding a student with a vile face. His hair was dirty blond while his expression really looked at Geoffrey condescendingly.
"....What do you think Geoffrey? My friend, my best friend. Haven't we promised to always be training partners like this regardless of the condition? Besides, I know my limits and won't do it excessively because you're injured, right?"
Geoffrey looked at that student, a small smile appeared on his face. While his expression was dark.
'Of course, this bastard won't possibly let me go just like that after disappearing from his sight for almost two full weeks.'
Geoffrey and that student stared at each other for several seconds. Both looked at each other without averting their eyes from one another.
If possible, Geoffrey really wanted to punch that student's face as hard as possible.
'Ah... his face is really annoying.'
Geoffrey's left fist twitched at that moment.