Ch.138138 – The Third Event

<138 – The Third Event>

Heavy.

Morb tried to recall when was the last time he sweated just from walking.

At least not in the past 5 years.

Zaku, his childhood friend who left with only a promise to meet again.

Until their reunion, he spent every day except January 1st each year on training, hunting, and side jobs.

It was because of his pride—he didn’t want to show a shameful appearance in front of his reunited friend.

“Whoa. Morb, what are you wearing on your body?”

“Training equipment.”

“You’re hardcore. This is a dormitory. Don’t tell me you’re walking around your room with that thing on?”

“I want to take it off too.”

“Wow, amazing guy. You want to take it off but won’t until you’ve trained your body to a satisfactory level, right?”

His roommates in the four-person room burst into laughter.

“Hey, but you don’t wear that when you shower, right?”

“…I got a free Clean Magic pass from Professor Platton.”

“Wow. You’d go that far to avoid taking it off?”

“But who is Professor Platton?”

“I don’t see him in the Knight Department lectures.”

“He’s a professor for advanced class common lectures.”

“Incredible. You’re so serious about training that you’d even seek out professors outside your curriculum to ask for help?”

“Wow. It’s students like him who escape the crisis of failing.”

“Respect. You’re a real man, Morb.”

“…”

His pride, which hadn’t bent for 10 years, made his shoulders rise involuntarily.

‘What the hell am I doing? I should be asking for help to take this off and save my life.’

In his mind, an angel-winged version of himself whispered to stop this foolish training and ask for help.

‘But Oknodie personally helped me with this—is it right to ask another professor to remove it?’

Conversely, a devil-winged version of himself tempted him in his mind, and that also seemed right.

“Damn it…”

Morb couldn’t do either and lay sleepless.

As he tossed and turned in bed, muttering in agony, his roommates thought:

He’s such a tough guy that he won’t even consider removing his training equipment despite all that suffering.

* *

The next day.

During regular class time, Morb held his bow with an exhausted face.

Creak.

His arm felt as heavy as a thousand pounds as he pulled the bowstring.

It was understandable.

The weight his body had to bear was much greater than usual.

The gloves and shoes, four pieces in total, were 5kg each.

Bearing a total of 20kg was stressful.

Yet Oknodie, whom he met face-to-face in the classroom, was just smiling brightly.

“How is it? Getting used to it?”

“Somewhat.”

Seeing Morb with dark circles under his eyes and occasionally looking dazed from having slept poorly due to discomfort, Oknodie said cheerfully:

“You’re better than yesterday!”

“Really? It’s only been a day.”

“When you do something extreme, your growth rate gets a bonus. Thanks to the ‘cannot be removed’ status, you seem to have gotten quite a high growth acceleration!”

“…What a dubious growth acceleration.”

“Still better than failing, right?”

“…Well, yes. Thanks to you, I think I’ll survive.”

“Right? Aren’t you grateful?”

Morb smiled wryly.

Was she so eager to hear words of gratitude?

Or maybe she was worried.

Worried that he might resent her for not being able to keep up with her hardcore training.

Honestly, Morb himself thought that if it weren’t for him, most students would have quit such training immediately yesterday.

It was natural for Oknodie to worry like that.

“Of course I’m grateful. It’s hard, but if it’s worth it, enduring this is no problem. I’ll definitely repay this favor somehow.”

“Great! Then keep your evening free.”

“Oh. Are we doing more training?”

“I ordered 5kg protectors for your shoulders and knees. I’ve already added extra fabric and prepared straps so you can adjust the position, making them easy to put on and take off!”

“…You’re adding more weight?”

“And I also ordered 5kg spoons and chopsticks for meals, which should arrive soon. You’ll eat with them starting from tonight!”

“…That’s all, right?”

“Yes!”

“Haa… Since chopsticks come in pairs, that’s three pieces, and with four elbow and knee protectors, that’s seven pieces adding 35kg more.”

What is this, full-body armor weight adaptation training?

To him, who couldn’t hide his bewilderment, Oknodie added with an “Oh right!”

“Bring all your daily necessities in this bag!”

“…Why?”

“I’ll have everything made in 5kg versions for you!”

Stop it.

Save me.

Morb trembled for a while with his head up, trying to hold back tears that were leaking out.

“Were you that moved? Hehe. You don’t need to be so touched by our relationship!”

He decided never to ask Oknodie for help with training again.

Too late for regrets now.

* *

While the lower class students were desperately making last-minute preparations for Friday’s exam, the upper class students were enjoying a relatively peaceful week.

“Did you see the notice? Professor Platton asked us to bring both our uniforms and gym clothes on Thursday.”

“Swimming again?”

“If it were swimming, he wouldn’t have asked us to bring gym clothes.”

Though there was still a slightly ominous feeling, compared to the difficult first three weeks, the fourth week felt more relaxed as they had adapted to academy life, allowing them to smile with ease.

“Come here, everyone!”

At the outdoor lecture hall.

Today again, the statue-like professor appeared majestically shouting, and behind him came the sound of the earth shaking and dust rising.

Wondering what he had brought, all sorts of beasts appeared—horses, cows, donkeys, cheetahs, and more.

“Uwaaah! What are all these!”

“Weakling♡ Barbarian♡ Is someone from the frontier so ignorant they don’t even know these things~?”

The Second Imperial Princess of Massgakki giggled confidently.

“They’re all things we can eat as meat. This must be a cooking class♡”

“Ah, a golem just appeared at the back of the procession!”

“…”

“So we eat golems too?”

Zenya, who was annoyed at being ignored to her face, gave a sardonic smile and pushed back against the Massgakki princess.

“So the Imperial Family eats golems too, how impressive. If I find any stones underfoot, I’ll be sure to gift them to you as snacks!”

“D-don’t say such nonsense! There’s no way a noble princess like me would eat such things.”

“Then who eats them~? After confidently saying they were for eating, are you now admitting you actually know nothing and were just bluffing? Beastkin call that a defeated bitch!”

“D-defeated b-bitch?!”

How humiliating.

Unable to accept such a derogatory term, the princess struggled without withdrawing her statement.

Seeing the small figure clutching her head and groaning in distress, Irene, the Northern Grand Duchess, abruptly intervened.

“Oknodie might eat them.”

“…Nya?”

“Oknodie eats stones.”

Convinced by this persuasive argument, the Massgakki princess sighed in relief and returned to her group.

“Did you hear? They say you’ll eat it.”

“Hmph. I don’t eat such crudely large stones. I have standards, you know.”

“…So you do eat them after all.”

Son Ocheon was dumbfounded.

“Whoa, whoa. Everyone, pay attention. These animals weren’t brought to attack you, nor were they brought so you could run away before being caught after I release them in three minutes. That’s content for the seniors’ lectures, so rest assured!”

“Do we take lectures like that when we become sophomores?”

“I really don’t want to advance…”

Whispers.

Seeing the first-year students starting to chatter, Professor Platton’s face hardened.

“Silence Magic!!”

With a powerful shout, the professor placed a small stone fragment on his thumb and flicked it with his index finger.

With a thwack, the stone fragments hit the heads of the students who were chattering in fear.

“Ow!”

“That hurts…!”

“If you fear the power of physical silence magic, keep your mouths shut. This is lecture time, isn’t it?”

“…”

As the students, afraid of the professor’s physical magic, quieted down, Professor Platton returned to a friendly tone and explained about the animals.

“These animals were brought for riding.”

“Riding?”

“Haven’t I always said? I remain in this professorial position to save my homeland by nurturing true iron men. An iron man must first have a strong body.”

“What does that have to do with these animals?”

“You’re slow to understand. What have you learned from me in previous lectures?”

“Running and swimming.”

“As an extension of that, this time we’ll master riding skills.”

Running. Swimming. Riding.

The triathlon set for nurturing iron men.

At that enumeration, Arcadia, who was from the same country as Professor Platton, turned pale.

“Professor. Don’t tell me we’re going to… do that for the midterm exam?”

“Hahaha! As expected of a proud descendant of the Kingdom of Florence. That’s right. You will participate in the legendary sport of the Kingdom of Florence—the Iron Man Triathlon. Riding is the third and final event!”

“What’s so scary about that to cause such a fuss?”

To the ignorant Son Ocheon’s question, the clever Giselle answered.

“Each one might be manageable on its own.”

“And?”

“The Iron Man Triathlon involves doing all three consecutively, one after another.”

The students, who were already out of breath from just one lecture, either staggered or collapsed upon hearing they would have to do all three at once.

“Don’t be so scared.”

Even newbies can somehow survive such harsh tests.

She gave advice to the frightened Isabelle, Giselle, and the nearby collapsed Lotta.

“Riding is about handling a mount. If you choose a mount that suits you, you can breeze through it. If you choose your mount well, it could be the easiest part!”

Finding some comfort in the thought that only two out of three would be difficult rather than all three, Giselle seemed somewhat relieved.

“I suppose someone familiar with horseback riding would find it easier with a horse. But what happens if someone chooses a cheetah?”

“Well… you’d have to establish dominance first.”

“……”

“A carnivore’s pride wouldn’t want to carry an animal weaker than itself on its back.”

For reference, there are 44 students in the advanced class.

The professor brought 100 mounts.

Of those, only 10 are horses.

The rest are cows, donkeys, cheetahs, and the like.

“Now choose your desired mount. This will be your partner until the midterm exam, so choose wisely.”

“Professor, what if multiple students want the same mount?”

“Why ask such an obvious question? The strongest one gets it after a fight.”

This was one minute before a brawl broke out.

“Why is everyone fighting like that? They could just not covet horses like me.”

“…Many people wanted the golem you’re riding too.”

Hestia, sitting on another golem nearby, chided her with an incredulous face.

“Oh, come on, that’s not true. Then why didn’t anyone challenge me?”

“They said they didn’t want to fight a future demon lord or make enemies with a demon king candidate. Any idea what that means?”

“W-well…”