Chapter 47: Berserker…? (2)

A strange silence enveloped the Swordsmanship Department’s training ground.

“Ahem…”

“Ummmm.”

“W-What is that?”

The cadets had a lot of things to say in their minds, but they couldn’t even think of a proper greeting right now.

Their classmates had returned after a long 29 days. While the Swordsmanship Department cadets treated each other like competitors, and to them, a sense of camaraderie was as useless as dirt, they still felt glad to see the other guys again after so long.

They wanted to say something nice, or at least greet those returning cadets with a hello, but looking at their current state, they couldn’t even think of something to say.

Because…

W-Why are they wearing bear skins…?

Did they catch those bears by themselves?

Their bodies are much bigger than before… Just what the hell did they do on that mountain…?

The eighteen returning cadets were all wearing bear skins. They were those who were called ‘Sprouts’ by the instructor; the group of weak cadets.

Just 29 days ago, they were just ordinary cadets that could be found anywhere in the academy, but now, they were different, they became extremely unique. The ‘weakling’ aura that was written all over them was gone, replaced by a sharp vigor, as if they were ready to fight at any moment.

However, what caught the other cadets more than the aura they were exuding were their ‘bodies’—they looked at least three times stronger than before.

Rustle-!

The returning cadets’ uniforms were on the brink of bursting apart. Not because they had suddenly turned obese, but because their muscles and bones had grown exponentially. However, it didn’t feel like they just increased their muscle mass blindly, but rather, they increased it on the necessary parts of their bodies so that their bodies remained flexible.

Their spirits, their bodies, as well as their postures that showed no weakness—they reminded  the other cadets of warriors, or rather, a ‘fighter’ who was ready to fight at any moment.

At that moment…

“L-Levy Fault?! I-Is that really you, Miss Fault?”

“Yes, it is me, Miss Runo. I hope you have been well.”

“Y-Yes, I have been doing well, indeed. But Miss Fault, you’ve changed a lot…”

The noble lady, Runo, glanced at Levy Fault’s body from head-to-toe with her eyes wide open. It was a rude gesture; something that nobles, who valued manners highly, would never even attempt to do, but she couldn’t help it. It was just so unbelievable to her that someone could change so much in less than a month.

Of course, the other noble ladies also felt the same way.

“Oh my goodness! Your hands became a little too rough, didn’t they?”

“S-Scars—! M-Miss, you have to get them treated right away!”

“But, why does your face and other parts of your skin look so moist and pretty…? Same with Miss Irene…”

Levy Fault was smaller than the other ladies. It didn’t mean that she was weaker than them, she was just thinner than them. But that was no longer the case.

Although she was still as thin as before, her body was noticeably firmer, so the word ‘weak’ wouldn’t come into anyone’s mind when they saw her. Not only that, she also looked healthy and beautiful, which made her appearance stand out.

She also had grown taller a little bit. Originally, her height was around 150 cm tall, but now she had reached at least 160 cm. In other words, she had grown 10 cm in a month.

Even when considering that she was still in her growth period, it was unbelievable to grow that much within that short span of time.

T-The chick suddenly grew into a swan…

Using the instructor’s words, such a thought appeared in their minds. On top of her exuding a different kind of spirit than before, there was also this feeling of maturity surrounding her. Because of that, the other young women who were staring at her found themselves blushing.

She became so attractive that even other women admired her.

“…U-Um, your gazes are a little burdensome.”

But, she found herself embarrassed by their burdensome gazes.

Only after seeing her reaction did the ladies become sure that this was the same Levy Fault that they knew.

It was just, she was no longer the timid girl who spoke in a weak tone anymore. She had the confidence to express her opinion now.

“In any case, compared to the elder brothers, I am nothing.”

“Elder brothers…?”

“We’ve decided to form a master-disciple relationship four days ago. Since I’m the youngest in terms of age, and my skills aren’t up to par, I became the youngest out of all the disciples.”

“I-I see.”

“B-By the way, Miss Fault… I-If you don’t mind, can I ask you something? Why do they wear such hideous things?”

“Are you talking about those?”

Knowing that this question would come up, Levy Fault let out a bitter smile. Meanwhile the young masters and the chicks who found it difficult to talk to the other returning cadets quietly focused on their conversation.

“Um… Those were the skin of the monsters we encountered during our return march…”

So, Levy Fault answered, trying to satisfy their curiosity.

“M-Monsters!?”

“Yes, I believe those were mutants. They appeared from time to time, no? You see, when animals came across the flesh of monsters and ate it, they’d sometimes mutate…”

“Oh my…”

Of course everyone here knew about that. Consuming raw flesh of a monster was no different than ingesting poison, this rule applied to humans, animals, and even plants. Normally, they’d just die immediately after they consumed it. However, there were cases where animals or plants with strong vitality managed to withstand the poison. In such cases, they’d transform into violent and cruel monsters.

This series of events usually led to a monster wave, a phenomenon that was feared by all villagers.

But those monsters…

“The instructor gave the order to the disciples to kill all the monsters because he was worried that they might attack a nearby village.”

“…And the instructor and the others aren’t coming forward?”

“Yes. As you know, the instructor is a very strict person. Of course, Young Master Roen and all the powerful people were on standby.”

“…”

D-Did that mean that these weak, low-class cadets, the sprouts, killed all those mutated bears by themselves?!

…Without any help from the instructors and the other powerful guys too…

“There were exactly eighteen bears there, and the numbers of the brothers were exactly the same. Because of that fight, all of their clothes and luggages were torn, so they had no choice but to return while wearing the bears’ skins. They were not doing it to intimidate everyone.”

“…Why didn’t they just wear their uniforms?”

“Because the bear skin is surprisingly thick and strong, so it’s a good substitute for their broken armors.”

“…”

“Is there a problem? Or is there anything else you’re curious about?”

“N-No…”

…Levy Fault seemed to have not realized that she had become a little strange as well.

Normally, if a cadet lost their armor for one reason or another, they could just ask the Academy for a replacement. There was no reason for them to wear those bear skins.

I can’t follow those people’s logic at all… Even Young Miss Fault has become a little strange…

It’s as if their common sense is distorted somehow…

Like, they just stopped thinking about things at one point…

“Don’t look down on those bear skins. Those things are incredibly strong; twice as strong as the armor that the Academy provided. It’s hard to get armor with the same durability as these things, even if you were to order it from the craftsman’s guild.”

“Instructor…”

At that moment, the instructor finally showed up. He had just been called by the dean again because of the bear skin incident.

“You guys should know this if you’re nobles. How much did top-quality armor cost?”

“…Those are a little expensive.”

“See? Even you guys say those things are expensive. Do you think it’d be easy for them to get good armor?”

“Ah…”

“It’s good that you understand.”

His explanation was splendid. Now that everyone knew that the leather was of such high quality, they stared at them with an amazed look.

But then they realized something…

Wait, does that mean those guys won against a monster with comparable defense to high-quality armor?

They won one-on-one? How?

If the bears were really that strong, it would be at least an upper-mid-level monster…

The fact that ‘they’ won against a monster of that level.

While it was obvious that they had gotten stronger, it was astonishing that they had reached the level of being able to fight an upper-mid-level monster one-on-one.

Special intensive training. The special wasn’t just in its name, the result spoke for itself.

And they had accomplished such a thing in such a short period of time too.

I shoulda forced myself to follow them!

What a pity…

The cadets who were left behind at the Academy due to unavoidable circumstances felt envy, regret, and jealousy towards the returning cadets’ rapid growth.

However…

“Wait, I thought I told you guys to not wear that armor until class time. We’re back at the Academy already. What the hell are you guys doing?”

“…T-This is more comfortable for us…”

“Sure, but not for me. Or for the onlookers. Take them off.”

“…”

“Did you not hear what I say?”

“A-Ah!! I-I’ll take them off!”

Education was a scary thing. The moment Lee Han lowered his voice, all of the cadets’ rebelliousness disappeared as they immediately took off their bear skins.

And then…

“…Bald?”

“Huh? Why are they bald?”

“…Were they originally bald…?”

-…

Hearing  those reactions, the sprouts, or rather, the baldies, shed some tears.

This was the thing that they didn’t want to show to others.

Especially to the girls.

When he noticed that their eyes turned moist, Lee Han started to speak, as if making excuses.

“A-Ahem, this is just a minor side effect. It won’t be like this for those who have learned Combat Techniques, but those who haven’t will lose their hair after learning Martial Power. Well, it isn’t permanent, your hair will grow back later.”

“T-Then why did Miss Fault…?”

“She’s fine because I taught her kindly. Only those who I taught ‘aggressively’ ended up like that. Really, it was just a minor mistake, I won’t make the same mistake again…ahaha…”

“…”

“…I’m sorry. It was a slip of the tongue.”

“…I’d rather you not apologize, Instructor. That way, I can just hate you to my heart’s content…”

The baldies cried out sadly as the rest of the cadets looked at them with pity.

Also…

Thank goodness I didn’t follow them.

They felt relieved that they had stayed behind.

The Swordsmanship Department disbanded early.

Even though they were supposed to hold some classes today, since tomorrow was the day when the War Game would take place, Lee Han decided that they shouldn’t even bother about it. After all, it was more important for them to take care of their conditions, and their priority right now was to relieve the fatigue they got from the difficult journey.

He was worried that some of them would come back exhausted after ‘relieving’ themselves though.

I mean, I turned those guys into celibates for a whole month…

He knew that he treated them even harsher than monks of the temple, and basically tortured them everyday. That was why it wasn’t a surprising thing if they wanted to relieve their desires after all that.

But, if they actually came tomorrow struggling to even stand because they relieved their fatigue too much, he wouldn’t let them off easy.

At the very least, he’d punish them.

It’s definitely not because I’m jealous.

Of course he wasn’t doing it because he felt some dirty jealousy towards them because they could do what he couldn’t. Surely.

…Well, actually, he did feel that way. A little. Just 1%.

“You envious bastards…”

Lee Han gritted his teeth inwardly, thinking that he would never let it go if they were to lose tomorrow.

As he was walking towards his assistant who had been doing the instructor work that had piled up for the month he had gone—with a burning anger in his heart—suddenly…

“Sir!”

“…Maid?”

Leila Winter came running towards him with her characteristically lively, nasally voice.

…Wait, if you do that…

Bang-!

…I knew it.

She showed off her wonderful slapstick comedy performance, just as he expected. Actually, she even went beyond that; the way she fell down made him exclaim in admiration.

The impact seemed so strong that he wouldn’t be surprised if her nose was broken.

However…

“Are you okay?”

“Hehehe, yes. It doesn’t hurt.”

“There’s no way it doesn’t hurt…”

“Hm?”

“…No, nothing.”

Unexpectedly, she didn’t have a single scratch on her. She truly had a wonderful endurance, to the point that Lee Han himself was amazed by it.

Seriously, what is this kid…?

Even though they had been together for quite some time, Lee Han still couldn’t understand her at all. She was even more mysterious than both the regressor and the transmigrator.

He tried to hide that feeling, wondering why she came looking for him even though she could just wait for him back at home.

“What’s going on?”

“Ah, yes! The princess is coming!”

“I knew that already.”

“Really!?”

“Yeah, the dean told me.”

When he was getting scolded by the dean, the latter also told him about the news.

His older sister, Isis, would soon visit the Academy to watch the War Game. He just dismissed it as her not having anything better to do—a very disrespectful thought towards her, considering that she was a member of the royal family—but he didn’t dig too deep about it. After all, this wasn’t the first time she acted as she pleased.

If she comes, she comes, why should I care?

From the perspective of the academy faculty and cadets, this occasion probably seemed like a three-star general visiting their unit, but to Lee Han, this occasion was just like a bothersome acquaintance coming to visit.

In the end, other people would be the ones who’d handle her, not him.

I’ll just hide when she comes.

Besides, the cadets are the ones who’d fight, I have nothing to do with it.

“It’s not that big of a deal. We’ll just do our job as usual and—”

“But the duke is coming too!”

“…?”

“Duke Galahad! He’s coming to watch too!”

“…What?”

Lee Han thought he had heard something strange.

Had my ears gone bad or what?

He opened his mouth, about to say something, but…

“Ah! Other than the duke, Archduke Lionel is coming too! The people at the palace were talking about it!”

“…What?”

“Since there are so many important people, they said that the king might come too! Hehehe, there will be a lot of guests coming to visit!”

“…What?”

Lee Han kept repeating that question with a blank expression.