138 – The Third Category
It’s heavy.
Mob tried to remember the last time he’d sweated just by walking. At least, it hadn’t happened in the last five years.
He had childhood friend Jakku, who left with only a promise to reunite.
Until he could meet his friend again, he spent every day except January 1st training, hunting, and working side jobs.
It was due to his pride, not wanting to show a shameful side in front of a reunited friend.
“Wow. Mob, what are you carrying on you?”
“Training equipment.”
“You stubborn one. This is a dormitory, right? You’re not seriously walking around with that in your room, are you?”
“I want to take it off too.”
“Wow, incredible. You want to take it off but won’t until you’re satisfied with your physical training?”
The four-person roommates shared sounds of frustration, their insides turning.
“Hey, but you’re not wearing that during shower time, right?”
“I got a free pass for cleaning magic from Professor Plato.”
“Wow. You’d go that far just to avoid taking it off?”
“But who is Professor Plato?”
“I haven’t seen him in the Knights Department classes.”
“He’s the professor for the upper-class common classes.”
“Wow. You’re so serious about training that you’d even go ask a professor not in your curriculum?”
“Wow. Kids who work hard like him escape from flunking.”
“Agreed. You’re truly a man, Mob.”
“…”
For ten years, his pride, which had never bent, made his shoulders shrug in false bravado.
What am I doing? I should be asking for help to get this off me, not trying to manage on my own.
In his mind, an angel with wings whispered that he should stop the foolish training and request rescue.
But Oknodie helped me directly. Is it right to seek help from another professor?
Conversely, a devil with wings in his mind twisted those thoughts, which also felt somewhat valid.
“Damn…”
Unable to proceed in either direction, Mob lay awake.
His roommates thought that despite his agony, he would absolutely not consider removing the training equipment.
*
The next day.
As Mob continued through the regular lecture times, he picked up a bow with a thoroughly tired face.
Creek…
The arm drawn back felt as heavy as a thousand pounds.
It was no surprise.
The burden on his body was significantly greater than usual.
Each of the gloves, shoes, and four pieces added 5 kg each.
With a total of 20 kg weighing him down, the stress was piling up.
However, Oknodie, who met him in the classroom, was grinning cheerfully.
“How’s it going? Getting used to it?”
“Somewhat.”
Oknodie saw Mob’s sleep-deprived eyes, with dark circles underneath, and casually commented.
“Wow, you’re better than yesterday!”
“Really? Only a day has passed?”
“Whenever you are on this kind of hardship, your growth accelerates. Thanks to your ‘unable to take off’ state, your growth speed must be quite strong!”
“…That’s quite an unwelcome acceleration.”
“Still better than flunking, right?”
“…Yeah, I think I’ll survive thanks to this.”
“Right? You’re thankful, right?”
Mob let out a slight laugh.
Did he genuinely want to hear thanks? Or was it out of concern?
Concern that he might be blamed for not following through with his hardcore training.
Frankly, Mob suspected that if he weren’t himself, most students would have passed on such training yesterday.
Oknodie’s worry made sense.
“Of course I’m thankful. As hard as it is, if it’s rewarding, enduring it isn’t a problem. I’ll definitely repay this favor somehow.”
“Great! Then clear some time for dinner.”
“Oh. Are we going to do some other training?”
“I ordered 5 kg shoulder and knee guards. They’re already padded and have straps, so adjusting them will be easy!”
“…Adding weight here?”
“Oh, and I also ordered 5 kg utensils and chopsticks for meals, and they’ll arrive soon. You’ll be eating with those from dinner onwards!”
“…Is that the end of it?”
“Yup!”
“Ha… Since chopsticks are a set of two, that’s three pieces, and with the elbow and knee guards as four pieces, that’s a sudden increase of 35 kg.”
What is this, training for full-body armor?
Mob could hardly contain his bewilderment when Oknodie added, “Oh, and!”
“Bring all your living supplies in this bag!”
“…Why?”
“I’ll have all of it made to be 5 kg!”
Enough already.
Help me.
Mob struggled to hold back the tears threatening to fall as he trembled with frustration.
“Were you really that moved? Hehe. You don’t have to be so touched between us!”
From now on, he vowed never to mention needing training help to Oknodie again.
A wave of regret crashed over him.
*
As the lower-class students plunged into a last-ditch effort for studying before Friday’s exams, the upper-class students were relatively enjoying a calm week.
“Did you see the announcement? Professor Plato said to bring both the school uniform and gym clothes on Thursday.”
“Is it swimming again?”
“If it were swimming, he wouldn’t say to bring gym clothes.”
A slight ominous feeling lingered, but compared to the tough first three weeks, the fourth week made their academy life feel more comfortable, and they had time to smile.
“Come here!”
In the outdoor lecture hall.
Today, with a commanding presence, Professor Sculpture arrived with a booming sound that shook the ground, raising a cloud of dust.
What on earth had he brought? Horses, cows, donkeys, cheetahs, and all sorts of beasts appeared.
“Augh! What is all this!”
“Pathetic♡ Barbarians♡ You from the border don’t even know this~?”
Princess Masugaki II laughed confidently.
“They’re all things you can eat! It must be cooking practice time♡”
“Ah, a Golem just appeared from the back of the line!”
“…”
“Does that mean we eat the Golem too?”
Being openly ignored made Xenia, who felt irritated, strike back at Princess Masugaki.
“Does the Imperial Family eat Golems? I’ll be sure to send you a stone if you trip over one as a snack!”
“D-Don’t speak such nonsense! There’s no way a noble princess like me would eat such things.”
“Then who will eat it~? You’re saying it confidently, but are you just spouting nonsense? The beastmen call such a response a defeated female!”
“D-defeated female?!”
How humiliating.
Unable to accept such derogatory titles, the princess hesitated to retract her statement.
Seeing her small frame writhing in pain, Northern Grand Duchess Irene intervened.
“Oknodie might eat it.”
“…Huh?”
“Oknodie eats stones.”
Her convincing argument allowed Princess Masugaki to finally catch her breath and retreat.
“Did you hear that? They say you’re the one who’ll eat it!”
“Hmph. I don’t eat such foolish stones. I have standards!”
“…So, you will eat it?”
Son Ohchun looked incredulous.
“Whoa whoa. Everyone, calm down. These animals are not brought here to attack you nor to chase you away in three minutes. That’s just the content from senior lectures, so you can relax!”
“Will we have classes like that when we’re in our second year?”
“I really don’t want to advance…”
Whispers filled the air.
Amidst the buzzing first-year students, Professor Plato’s face hardened menacingly.
“Silence Magic!!”
With a vigorous shout, he flicked a small stone off his thumb with his index finger.
With a crack, the frightened students chattering away got hit with stone debris to their heads.
“Ah!”
“It hurts…!”
“Fear the power of physical silence magic and shut your mouths. Is it not lecture time?”
“…”
As the students silenced out of fear of the professor’s magic, Professor Plato resumed his kind tone to explain about the animals.
“These creatures are brought for riding.”
“Riding, you say?”
“Did I not mention repeatedly? I, the professor, remain in this position to raise true ironmen to save our homeland. An ironman needs a strong body!”
“What does that have to do with animals?”
“Your awareness is slow. What did you learn from me in past lectures?”
“Running and swimming.”
“Following that, this time, we’ll practice the skill of riding.”
Running, swimming, riding.
The trifecta for raising an ironman.
As Plato Professor’s countrymen from Arcadia looked pale at that, he laughed heartily.
“My students, indeed, as descendants of the proud Kingdom of Florence, you will engage in the legendary sport known as the Ironman Triathlon from the Kingdom of Florence. Riding would be the last of the third category event!”
“What’s so scary about that, for them to make such a fuss?”
Handful of clueless questions from Son Ohchun were answered smartly by Jezel.
“Some might manage one at a time.”
“And?”
“The Ironman Triathlon is done consecutively with all three at once.”
The students, who were already breathless from just one lecture, felt their legs give way at the news that they had to do all three back-to-back and collapsed.
“Don’t be too scared.”
In the face of this harsh test, the newbies still had a glimmer of hope.
They offered gentle advice to the frightened Isabel and Jezel, as well as Lotto, who was nearby and had collapsed.
“Riding is the skill of handling a mount. If you choose a comfortable mount, you might breeze through everything. As long as you choose well, it could be the easiest part!”
Perhaps comforted by the thought that two being hard is better than three, Jezel relaxed.
“If someone who’s used to horseback riding chooses a horse, it would certainly be easier. But what if I choose something like a cheetah?”
“Um… I guess you’d have to establish a hierarchy first?”
“…….”
“You wouldn’t want to carry a weaker animal on your back, would you?”
For reference, the upper class has 44 students.
The professor had brought 100 mounts and only 10 of them were horses.
The rest were cows, donkeys, and, of course, cheetahs.
“Then choose your mounts wisely. These will be your companions for the midterm exam, so think carefully.”
“Professor, what if multiple people want the same mount?”
“Why ask such an obvious question? You fight to see which one is the strongest!”
Just one minute before the battlefield opened.
“Why are they fighting like that? If they, like me, don’t greedily want a horse, it wouldn’t happen.”
“…Even the Golem you’re riding had a lot of people wanting it!”
Hestia, who was next to another Golem, shot back with disbelief.
“Come on, that’s a lie. Then why hasn’t anyone attacked me?”
“They might not want to fight against a future demon lord or earn the wrath of a Demon King candidate. Do you understand what I mean?”
“W-well, not really.”
