84. Training Assistant

84. Training Assistant

It was time to check if Henir and Ella were teaching the children properly.

Finding Ella wasn’t difficult. Not only did she have distinctive blue hair, but it was also because of what she was doing.

“I’ll teach you something that feels good…. Slurp….”

“Ugh…!”

Yes, Ella was correcting their stances by kissing the girls. She held both of the other girl’s arms together, knocked her down, and stole her lips with a skill that was clearly not her first time. It was that precise and swift.

What on earth happened to Ella while I was gone? I thought Ella was more of a… contrarian.

Anyway, as I turned my head, I saw other students watching Ella and the girl pinned beneath her with horror.

-You block it!

-Don’t you know who that is? She’s the Grand Duke’s lover…! If I mess with her, will I be ruined too?

-Otherwise, we’ll end up like that too?!

-You, you do it! I’d rather be kissed than do it!

In the direction pointed by the whispering girls raising their voices, there were girls lying down, drooling. Some were conscious, and some were not.

-My, my first kiss… Ugh, ughhh….

Perhaps that student was crying because she couldn’t withstand the high training intensity. But proper training was supposed to be difficult, so I could only offer my condolences here.

That doesn’t matter, though….

“Hmm.”

I turned my head and looked at another group. It was a group of male students.

Naturally, there weren’t only female students in the sparring grounds. I just hadn’t paid much attention, but the male students were also normally positioned in their respective places. And they were whispering amongst themselves while watching Ella and the girls.

-I don’t like men interfering in yuri.

-Huh? What did you say? What’s yuri?

-Who cares. I’m going to eat it as is, the watermelon.

-Why are you suddenly talking about watermelon?

There were some relatively normal conversations, but also some that were not. I was paying close attention to them.

-She’s your fiancée. Is it okay to just leave her like that?

-I don’t have the courage to stop that, Chris. Besides, isn’t having your lover stolen a rather arousing situation?

-You idiot.

Even though physical contact between men and women is forbidden in this world, as someone who used to be a man, I could understand them talking strangely while looking at the female students. But to find having your lover stolen arousing, I couldn’t accept that.

I immediately drew my sword from my waist….

“Huh?”

I looked at my waist in surprise. The sword that should have been in its sheath on my belt was nowhere to be found, and my hand was left grasping at empty air.

I tilted my head and muttered.

“… Did I leave it in my room?”

It was a highly likely possibility. While I don’t do that now that I’m grown, I used to forget my sword often when I was young. My father used to say-

-A sword is a swordsman’s life, Skadi.

-Yes.

-So stop forgetting it!

… He even got so angry that he yelled.

Because I kept forgetting my sword, the training scheduled for the next day was canceled, and I still vividly remember the words my father drilled into me.

-Skadi.

-Yes.

-A sword is a swordsman’s life.

-Yes.

-So always!!! Carry it with you!! Do you understand?

-Yes.

-… Say what I said again.

-Yes.

-….

-Yes.

And so, I was thrown into the glacial crevasse.

… Anyway, from then on, I made it a habit to always carry my sword at my waist, except when I was sleeping. It was my father’s profound advice: ‘You keep forgetting your sword, so just carry it with you forever.’

It seemed that didn’t work today.

“Hmm.”

It can happen.

Humans are creatures who make mistakes, so it’s not strange to forget my sword once in a while, like today. In fact, shouldn’t I be praised for not forgetting it for years and only forgetting it once?

“Well, it’s probably in my room, so there’s no need to look for it.”

I didn’t pay much attention to forgetting my sword and looked back at Ella.

“Ehehe….”

“Wh-where, Hwaang♡”

It looked like she had her hand inside the girl’s skirt, probably massaging her leg muscles. It was nice to see the girl looking happy.

Anyway, Ella seemed to be fine, so I moved to find Henir.

——

Finding Henir wasn’t difficult either. Within seconds of turning my head, I could see Henir and other students diligently engaged in their training.

“Haap!”

Clang-!

The crisp sound of metal clashing echoed in my ears. Henir seemed to be correcting their stances by sparring directly with the students.

“You have a habit of swinging your sword too widely. It looks less like swinging and more like you can’t control the momentum and are being dragged by the sword.”

“Th-that, I knew that….”

“If you know it, you should fix it. Come here, I’ll correct your posture. It will be a little better this way.”

The moment Henir approached the student to correct her posture, my eyes widened.

The student Henir was about to touch was a male student!

“Henir!”

“Yes? Young Lady?”

Good heavens, for people of opposite genders to try to touch each other’s bodies! Such a thing was impossible. Isn’t that close to sexual harassment!

It seems Henir, like me, was so focused on training that she lacked some common sense about the boundaries to maintain with the opposite gender.

I have to correct her.

Pang!

I kicked off the ground and ran, inserting myself between the two. The male student was sent flying far away by the powerful air pressure and rolled on the floor of the sparring ground, but Henir, who had excellent athletic ability, stood there without any problem.

I grabbed Henir’s shoulder and said.

“Henir.”

“Yes, yes.”

“Don’t get close to men.”

“Yes? Did you say something?”

Perhaps startled by my sudden appearance, Henir asked me back with a foolish expression.

“I said, don’t get close to men.”

“May I… ask why?”

Henir asked. The reason, of course, was self-evident. I looked at Henir and declared firmly.

“Because you shouldn’t get close to men!”

“….”

The common sense in this world was that it was a terrible and heinous sexual assault for a man and woman, who were not lovers, to touch each other’s bodies.

I didn’t have the confidence to explain it in words, so I conveyed it in a rather simplistic way, but fortunately, Henir seemed to understand my intention and nodded.

“Ah, I understand. But then, how will the posture correction…?”

“It’ll get corrected as we spar.”

“Yes?”

Since women can touch each other’s bodies freely, I can change their poses one by one, but I can’t do that with men. Therefore, I’ll correct their posture by hitting them with a sword.

Considering that I learned swordsmanship by being hit by my father, this seemed like a good method.

“Anyway, Henir, understand? Don’t get close to men.”

“Yes, yes….”

After giving Henir advice, I moved on. There were still students I needed to attend to.

A tall green-haired girl, a short brown-haired girl, a hamster-like ivory-haired girl….

As I was wondering which child to correct first, I caught a glimpse of someone with blonde hair in my peripheral vision.

Still with bangs covering her eyes, with a very rebellious appearance….

It was Golden Sun, sneakily trying to escape the sparring grounds.

“Hello?”

“Whoa!”

As I approached and greeted her, she exclaimed in surprise. I immediately made a suggestion to her.

“Shall I correct your posture?”

“Ah, no.”

“Why?”

“Skadi, think about it carefully, I don’t really need to learn swordsmanship in such detail. I’m a non-combatant.”

Golden Sun said slyly, telling me to think about what she does. It was true that she wasn’t a combatant, so she wasn’t wrong….

“But if you took this lecture even though you don’t know how to fight, doesn’t that mean you’ve expressed a desire to learn?”

“How does that work?!”

Thanks to Golden Sun kidnapping the shop owner, I was able to meet my cute little sister Iris. I wanted to repay the debt of meeting my new sister.

First, I was definitely going to kiss her, and beyond that, I wanted to help her more with things like posture correction. So, I pushed her, even if it meant being a bit stubborn.

I expressed my firm resolve to Golden Sun.

“Sorina, I’ll definitely correct you.”

“Ah, no. I don’t think I need it.”

“No, it’s because I’m so grateful. I have to express my gratitude.”

My lips approaching Golden Sun, at a distance where they were about to touch-

“Wait! Skadi! Do you know that?”

“Yes?”

“You can pass on your gratitude to someone else?”

Golden Sun shouted urgently.

Passing on gratitude to someone else, what did that mean?

“Um, you know, if you have a close friend, it’s the most common sense to pass on your gratitude to that friend. For example, if you receive gratitude from someone, not you!!! but your friend!!! you let them receive the gratitude!!!”

“Really…?”

Passing on gratitude, it was a strange common sense I had never heard of in my life. But since there could be common sense that I didn’t know, I stopped myself from kissing and looked at Golden Sun.

“So!!”

“Yes.”

“Do it for her instead!”

Golden Sun grabbed a girl from somewhere and pushed her in front of me. The girl looked bewildered by the sudden change in scenery, and when she saw my face, she struggled and flailed in fear.

-Sorina, how could you do this to me! You’re my friend, my friend!!

-Sorry, I’ll pay you back later!

-Hey!!!

The two exchanged noisy conversation, and finally, Golden Sun handed the girl over to me and ran off somewhere.

“Hmm.”

“Hieek…!”

It’s common sense, so I have to do it.

I knocked the girl down and gave her my ‘heartfelt gratitude’.

Massaging her whole body while correcting her posture was a bonus.

It was a truly wonderful day.