Chapter 16: Fancy Footwork

Chapter 16:
Fancy Footwork

 

WE SLIPPED OUT of the classroom and down the hall, away from prying eyes, and then abruptly stopped. Lenore’s shoulders shuddered, but she really didn’t have anything to be afraid of.

“You can let your guard down,” I said. “It’s nothing bad.”

“Y-you’re not mad? I thought you were upset because I was bragging about, you know…”

Sure, I got a firsthand dose of her tall tales, but I was the one who told her to lie in the first place, so of course I wasn’t mad. “No, no. I just had some constructive criticism for you. First off, dead reapers use scythes—take a look.”

Lenore’s eyes went wide when I used my Pocket Dimension to produce the scythe out of thin air. “Y-you have the Pocket Dimension skill?!”

“Let’s keep that between us, thanks,” I said, handing over the scythe. While she examined it intently, I retrieved more parts of the creature’s corpse. “And here’s the skull. Well, half of it.”

“Wow, a real dead reaper…”

Once I’d hooked her attention, I got down to what I really wanted to talk about. “Your story would be a lot more convincing if you had these, wouldn’t it? What would you say if I sold them to you on the cheap?”

When I told her I’d give it to her for a hundred thousand rels, she jumped for joy.

“Are you sure you’re willing to part with it for a mere million? I can’t pass that up!”

Whoa! I was a little surprised when she accidentally tacked on another digit, though I did consequently learn that earls’ daughters regularly walk around with millions of rels on them. Obviously, I wasn’t about to turn down more money.

With that settled, Lenore returned to the classroom to stash her purchase with a bounce in her step, and I headed off wearing my own great big smile. I decided I’d give half of this windfall directly to my family and put the other half away as savings.

By the time I got to the auditorium, everyone was already lined up.

“Over here, Noir.” Emma beckoned from a spot way at the front.

“Thanks for saving me a spot.”

“Force of habit. We’ve always sat together after all, ever since we were kids.”

Emma stuck out her tongue and leaned toward me, so I stroked her head. She was really fond of that sort of thing. And how could I say no to the sensation of running my fingers through her soft, silky hair?

The president took the stage and began his speech. He went on about how highly the academy valued its students’ independence and so forth. Apparently, alumni went on to be all sorts of things—adventurers, dungeon seekers, mercenaries, palace guards, monster hunters, or even royal knights. The academy was set up to allow its students to take whatever courses they needed to pursue their desired path.

After the president finished his speech, the principal came up to explain the schedule for the year. As he did, murmurs washed through the student body.

“Hey, look at his head.”

“Yikes.”

The principal was in his early fifties and had one extremely unnatural, attention-grabbing quality: his hair. Well, not exactly his hair, but it was on his head. You see, this was a common “treatment” that involved applying the mucus of a particular kind of caterpillar to one’s scalp, and using it to attach small bundles of another person’s hair. The mucus only remained sticky for about twenty-four hours, so it had to be reapplied every day.

The substance was sold at general stores and fetched a relatively high price. Sure, it was emotionally critical for some folks, but the result of this particular technique wasn’t exactly what you’d call natural. If you didn’t know what you were doing, all the hair could end up pointing in weird directions, so it was usually easy to pick out at a glance.

“Um, so, for today…” The principal continued through the snickers.

Emma looked a little sad. “It’s so mean to laugh at him.”

“Yeah,” I said. Emma’s kindness inspired me to try Getting Creative.

 

Increased Hair Growth — 300 LP

 

It looked within my budget, so I decided to check how much it’d cost me to Bestow it on our hapless principal.

300 LP (Get Creative) + 7,000 LP (Bestow) = 7,300 LP

 

That seemed a little high. Out of curiosity, I adjusted my target to Emma and the change was astounding. The cost to Bestow the skill on her was a mere 50 LP. I guess everyone has their own unique strengths and weaknesses. The principal’s scalp must be particularly hostile terrain for hair. The same sort of thing applied to combat-related skills and the like, so it was probably more effective to boost your friends’ existing strengths, rather than trying to force them to develop new ones.

Once the ceremony was over, we headed back to the classroom to meet our homeroom teacher. She turned out to be a woman in her early twenties wearing makeup that gave her a mysterious air. With her fit body and attractive facial features, no one would object to calling her a true beauty.

“My name is Elena. I worked as a mercenary from the age of seven until I was twenty-two. Due to various circumstances, I started working as an instructor here last year.” She looked a little exhausted as she ran her fingers through her bangs. “I already know who all of you are, so let’s get right to first period. Change into your combat gear and assemble in the yard.”

Ms. Elena promptly left the classroom and we all rushed to get changed. I made sure my newly acquired two-edged sword was securely fastened on my hip.

Five minutes later, the class was assembled out in the yard. Ms. Elena was waiting for us with a wooden sword resting on her shoulder.

“This world is full of monsters, thieves, and all manner of villains,” she said in a calm tone. “You will do battle with all sorts of enemies in the future, which is why we’re going to start with a solid overview of the absolute basics—though I’m sure you’ve already mastered them.”

She inspected each of our faces with a critical eye. “You there, Noir Stardia, step forward and draw your weapon.”

I did as I was told, and Ms. Elena raised an eyebrow. “That’s a nice sword you have there.”

“My father gave it to me.”

“All right, attack me. Try to kill me, if you will.”

“Kill you?”

“Don’t worry, you won’t even scratch me.” She was incredibly confident, but I wondered if she could back that up.

 

Name: Elena Stongs

Age: 24

Species: Human

Level: 232

Occupation: Academy Instructor

Skills: Stamina Up; Martial Arts (Grade A); One-Handed Swordsmanship (Grade A); Piercing; Earthen Wall; Earthen Bullet; Heal

 

Wow! She wasn’t kidding. She was over Level 200 and had tons of incredibly powerful skills. The whole mercenary-since-the-age-of-seven spiel wasn’t just to impress the newbies.

“What’s wrong?” she said. “Come at me.”

“Yes, ma’am.”

I decided to use all the force I could muster. She was so beyond me in terms of experience, I couldn’t afford to pull any punches. I launched myself off the ground and charged. I closed the distance between us and slashed horizontally—and I got her!

Or at least, I thought I did, but to my shock, she retreated with almost inhuman speed. My blade hit nothing but air, and I lost my balance. As I frantically attempted to regain my footing—bonk! Out of nowhere, Ms. Elena’s hand smacked me on the head. I was completely awestruck, but she seemed a little surprised too.

“Not half bad,” she said. “You’re pretty strong, kid. You’re over Level 30?”

“Somewhere around there.”

“Your footwork and swings weren’t terrible, but you have a lot of room to improve.”

“I’ll…try to keep that in mind.”

“Oh, it’s nothing to be ashamed of. Also,” she announced to the other students “That move I just used is what you’ll be learning today.”

The back-step—a handy evasive maneuver in battle.

“Honestly, I’m surprised that so many of you can’t do it. I’ve seen what happens to people who misjudge their steps up close.”

“Yeah? Like what?”

“You sure you wanna know the answer to that, Noir?” she said with an impish smirk.

I shook my head, deeply regretting my smart mouth. That didn’t stop her from describing in gory detail exactly what it looked like when people’s guts fell out of their abdomens.

“Anyway, you’re going to keep working on this today until you can dodge one of my attacks,” she said. That must’ve been what the wooden sword was for. If she used a real one, we’d be annihilated. “You’re up first, Noir.”

“What? But I just went.”

“No whining. Life isn’t fair.”

“Hmph.”

“Heh, you’re a funny one. How’s this? If you can execute a proper back-step in less than three tries, I’ll give you a reward.”

A reward? My one weakness… I couldn’t help thinking of the possibilities.

“I’ll sit on you.”

I balked. “What kind of reward is that?”

“All right, let’s get started.”

I had to wonder if her overbearing attitude was a requirement for being a mercenary. I might end up in that sort of work in the future, so I needed to learn from her, if so. We faced off again, but this time I was the one avoiding the attack. I only had to dodge once to win. Just once. I watched her movements and waited for her attack when—owww?! “Urgh.”

“Oh, sorry, was that a little too hard? I have a hard time judging that sort of thing.”

She was way, way too fast. She smacked me flat in the stomach with her wooden sword while I was still frantically trying to wheel back. The impact was so intense that my insides desperately wanted to be my outsides. Puke. I mean I was going to puke.

“Oh, lemme fix that. Heal.” She placed her hands on my stomach, where they glowed white. The agony quickly dissipated. “Remember that pain. Learn from it.”

“You hurt me on purpose? I thought you said you just had a hard time judging how much force to use.”

“Ha ha ha, yeah. Well, I’ll be more careful next time. Stand up.”

It sounded like she was going to make me do this forever. She was merciless. I didn’t want to get hit again, even if she was going to go easier on me. But then it occurred me: I could just make myself a C-Grade martial arts skill! Except that it would cost 1,000 LP. So I shifted tactics and tried making Improved Back-Step. It was only 200 LP, so I went with it.

“Here I come!” Ms. Elena shouted.

“Huh?”

She seemed to move faster than before, but I didn’t have time to worry about that. I needed to dodge!

“Too bad, you’re not fast enou—huh?!”

My feet slid over the sand. Somehow, I dodged, if barely. My evasive speed had increased just enough that I managed to avoid her wooden sword.

“How?! I was moving even faster this time…”

“That was unkind of you, Ms. Elena.”

Ms. Elena was at a total loss for words.