Ch.44EP.13 – The Fair Instructor (3)

After that, Ihan continued to demonstrate repeatedly.

“A mage’s magic generally incorporates telekinesis. And as you just saw, the mass that telekinesis can handle is enormous. It’s a threatening power. Nothing short of a calamity for ordinary soldiers. However, knights must be able to resist calamities. To live up to the name of a knight.”

Ihan gave a nod, and Irene instinctively used her telekinesis.

In an instant.

Bang!

“Did you see that?”

“……”

They saw it.

The invisible current of air that burst like a balloon in mid-air.

“There are three main ways warriors counter telekinesis. One is the ki projection technique. You disrupt the flow of magical power by strongly emitting ki energy. Another is to directly counter the telekinetic force itself. Well, you’d better avoid that if possible, as there’s a risk your entire body could burst under the pressure.”

“T-then what’s the third…?”

“For those of you without ki projection techniques, the third is your only answer.”

Bang!

Once again, the invisible air current burst.

“The ‘release’ of power. It embodies the principle of the Hundred-Step Divine Fist I showed you earlier. Think of it as ‘shooting down’ telekinetic force. Of course, you shouldn’t try this against telekinesis being discharged in all directions. Your body might turn to dust.”

“Uh… doing that would more likely turn the mage’s body to dust, wouldn’t it?”

Magical power is close to omnipotent, but it’s not truly omnipotent.

One needs the capacity, effort, and composure to handle such omnipotent energy.

That’s why discharging telekinesis in all directions is an act of self-destruction.

It’s like firing cannons repeatedly with your bare body—you’d soon die coughing blood.

“Ah, so that’s how that bastard died? Good to know.”

“……”

…It seems he already has experience dealing with such opponents.

“Anyway, as you’ve seen, if you want to counter telekinesis, you must be able to do what I just did. Well, there are only two methods, so it should be easy to learn.”

The manifestation and release of power (勁).

For them, it should be a task so easy they’d yawn.

“…Where is it?”

However, for those who had only seen the spectacle of power bursting in mid-air, it was anything but easy.

Why did that huge log split in half, and how could telekinesis be shot down?

They still didn’t understand the ‘principle’ behind it.

“Hmm, hands up if you understand?”

He had explained it.

But it was a sensory explanation, so it was difficult.

Yet surely someone must have understood?

With that small expectation, he looked at them, but…

“Kunta doesn’t understand yet. Kunta is stupid.”

“You’re not stupid, Kunta. I don’t think anyone understood.”

“It’s too abstract, instructor.”

They only offered awkward smiles.

He had thought Kunta, who was most similar to Ihan, would understand…

Hmm, perhaps he should have explained more kindly?

Just then.

“Um, excuse me…”

A girl who had received no expectations raised her hand.

“In-Instructor, is what you’re saying perhaps this? All along, we’ve been learning how to squeeze out all the strength in our bodies. The reason you emphasized such training must be not only to strengthen our physical muscles but also to feel how our physical strength moves. You’ve always emphasized that.”

Levi Jeanne d’Arc.

A delicate and pretty girl reminiscent of lush hydrangeas, but proving she wasn’t merely delicate, she was also a girl who had completed the training without running away for twenty days.

This admirable girl, with somewhat intellectual irises shining, explained what she had felt.

“You always emphasized ‘feel the power.’ It’s a very abstract expression, but through doing calisthenics and climbing cliffs, we’ve all experienced how muscles are used and how training is possible even when we feel completely exhausted. Thanks to that, we now know that strength doesn’t simply come from muscles. All thanks to your lessons, Instructor.”

Her eloquence is quite impressive.

Perhaps because she’s a noble lady, she doesn’t speak roughly but uses a method that acknowledges the other person’s merit.

It makes people feel good, you could say.

However, Ihan appreciated her explanation more than her elegant eloquence.

“You explained it well, Chick #1, thank you. I’m just someone who goes by intuition, so I couldn’t explain properly, but you made everyone understand.”

“Oh, no. I’m sure you knew everything, Instructor. I just elaborated on your explanation.”

“…I’ll give you candy later, Instructor will.”

“What?”

What a kind and good child.

How can her way of speaking be so pretty and admirable?

Her purity enriches the heart in a way that can’t be felt from rough-spoken, prideful men.

‘I’d like to have a daughter just like her.’

It feels like looking at a much younger sister or daughter.

Ihan gave her a look full of satisfaction, and Levi Jeanne d’Arc’s cheeks turned red.

Perhaps she’s not used to praise.

‘What about me? I’m doing well too, so why aren’t you praising me?’

Conversely, the magic girl who had never received such praise felt wronged.

[Arin. You lost. You’re prettier, but we lost in terms of dignity, sob sob.]

‘…Dignity can go freeze to death.’

The girl who was excellent as a siege weapon but received an F in dignity became sulky.

Unaware that the girl’s delicate feelings were hurt, Ihan focused his attention on Levi Jeanne d’Arc.

‘She’s admirable.’

It’s a different kind of admiration than before.

During the past 20 days.

While everyone had been fierce in their efforts, few had been as intense as Levi Jeanne d’Arc.

‘She wakes up earliest and trains more precariously than anyone else.’

She has mental strength, or rather, guts.

Though she appears delicate and fragile, her hidden nature is strong.

Knowing she starts from the furthest behind, she never stops trying and perseveres tenaciously.

After all that effort, she has finally just begun to run from the starting line.

And at quite a fast pace too.

Although the Mystery of Vulcan helped her, her efforts shouldn’t be belittled.

‘I can’t treat her just like a chick anymore.’

The girl is no longer just a noble lady but has become a warrior (武人).

Though Ihan doesn’t know what circumstances led her to become a warrior, he only looks at her determination and results, not her circumstances.

People who make an effort are always admirable.

So.

“Levi Jeanne d’Arc.”

“Yes? Yes!?”

“What’s wrong?”

“N-nothing…”

For the first time, she was called by her proper name.

Just that, but her heart trembled.

It felt as if she, not just the lady of the Jeanne d’Arc family, was being recognized as an individual.

“Levi Jeanne d’Arc. Listening to your explanation, I can tell that among those present, you have the highest understanding of [power].”

“B-but compared to others, my body is still…”

“Quite lacking, yes. But that can’t be helped. Others have been training for over 10 years, unlike you.”

“Yes…”

“However.”

“?”

“What matters isn’t ‘duration.’ Sometimes, what’s more important than duration is how intense and concentrated your time was. In that sense, Cadet Levi Jeanne d’Arc may have started late, but she made the right start. This is something you can be proud of.”

“…Instructor.”

Words that make one emotional.

He acknowledged her efforts, and furthermore…

“So I want to personally help Cadet Levi Jeanne d’Arc.”

“What…”

“Usually, the instructor likes to treat people equally. But I’ll give Cadet Levi Jeanne d’Arc a specially kind teaching.”

“??”

Still an explanation she couldn’t understand.

Clearly, instructors—no, adults—tend to explain things in a complicated, roundabout way.

As she blinked her eyes, Ihan suddenly approached her, and he…

“From now on, this instructor will place his hand on the cadet’s back. Is that alright?”

“What? Yes!?”

“I’ll do so if you permit. For reference, I have absolutely no impure intentions. I want you to know that.”

“Uh, yes. It’s fine.”

Though it’s a bit embarrassing, she’s already rolled around in Vulcan, showing all sorts of unseemly appearances.

It would be funny to be shy now.

Above all, she knows the instructor isn’t that kind of person.

So she relatively readily permitted him to touch her body, and Levi Jeanne d’Arc…

“Hup!”

Swallowed a gasp.

“All an instructor can do is guide the way. But this experience will greatly reduce the gap between you and other cadets. I hope it helps, cadet.”

“……”

…The girl was now in a daze.

Any embarrassment had long since disappeared.

That’s how much the girl was experiencing something amazing, no, a ‘miracle.’

‘This, this is….’

Gooooo-!

The palm resting lightly on her back.

It was an incredibly firm palm, reminiscent of iron.

But what astonished her even more than the iron-like palm was the intense ‘pulsation’ flowing through it.

The pulsation of power.

The intense pulsation flowing from muscles, bones, and tendons was fully transmitted to the girl, and feeling this, sweat poured down her body like mad.

‘I, I am truly insignificant compared to this.’

The vastness, the unrestrained and majestic force of the waves.

As the passion of the waves was directly transmitted to her entire body, it was like a miraculous experience, the wonder that early humans might have felt upon discovering the magnificent traces of nature.

And as this wave of turbulence, this pulsation, contacted the girl, she could also sense the insignificant flow circulating within her own body.

An infinitely weak pulsation.

If he was a tidal wave of the sea, she was merely a ripple spreading across a calm puddle.

Just as disappointment was about to spread…

“Is that all you feel?”

“What?”

“Focus more completely, more deeply. Then you’ll feel something more interesting.”

“……”

The girl followed his words.

At this moment, he appeared to her as a superhuman she couldn’t possibly defy.

Reflexively following his words, she delved deeper into the pulsation flowing through her body, and at some point…

“…Huh?”

The girl realized.

The power existing within her body wasn’t just muscles, bones, and tendons…

Thump-thump-!

Most notably, the heart.

Had the heart always been this dynamic and powerful?

It’s strong.

The organ supplying blood to this insignificant girl was not at all insignificant or weak.

It was endlessly intense and admirable.

Whoosh-!

And what about the flow of blood pulsing with the heartbeat?

It’s tremendous!

So this is what blood vessels are, so fast, headstrong, and brave.

“Do you understand now?”

“…Yes.”

“What do you understand?”

“That, that everything that makes me who I am… isn’t insignificant at all.”

The girl had thought herself a weak being.

But that wasn’t true.

Each element making up her body was this powerful and vast.

Levi Jeanne d’Arc, no, humans are this amazing.

“Although I may be infinitely weak and dust-like compared to the shining sun and stars, I too can become a star!”

“Being a noble lady, you use elegant expressions.”

“I, I have no other way to express it!”

The girl was excited.

Without embarrassment, she confidently asserted her claim.

Anyone would react this way if they realized how fierce the power flowing within their body is.

“Then show me.”

“What?”

“The power you described as a star.”

“……”

“Not confident?”

“That, that’s…”

“Have confidence. I’m helping you now.”

“!!”

“Try it. Connect the pulsation, that power, from your shoulder to your elbow, then from your wrist to your fist.”

“……”

“You can do it. Right now.”

“…!”

With his words continuing with certainty, Levi Jeanne d’Arc gambled for the first time in her life.

A gamble with uncertain results.

A gamble that might have unknown effects on her body.

But she was intoxicated now.

By the pulsation within her that she hadn’t known existed.

And so the girl.

Whoosh!

By her own will, she clenched her fist and extended it.

A punch still infinitely clumsy.

But that punch.

Bang!

“…Ah!”

Was not weak.

She burst forth power.

The ‘release’ of grip strength, of power.

Seeing what she had accomplished for the first time, the girl opened her eyes wide.

Her fist hurts.

It’s natural to feel strain after expelling power with an immature body.

But at this moment, she didn’t mind the pain at all.

Because…

“I, I did it! I, I…!!”

“Yes. You did it with your power alone.”

“Yes!!”

Compared to this emotion, this joy right now, the pain was nothing.

“Don’t forget. That’s the path you must devote yourself to for the rest of your life.”

“I will never, ever forget…!”

The ‘blooming’ of a new sensation.

An unforgettable encounter with emotion.

The girl would never forget the emotion and joy she felt at this moment.

Because it was a ‘joy’ she would never forget even at the end of her life someday.

* * *

‘Don’t they realize what they’ve just accomplished?!’

Roen was astonished.

This was probably the first time in his life he had been so astonished.

What Ihan and Levi Jeanne d’Arc had accomplished wasn’t merely an act of releasing power!

‘It can substitute for the ki projection technique.’

The miracle (異蹟) shown by a weak noble lady who had received formal training for less than a month.

Though still weak, it would surely develop more over time.

Although the process would be arduous and difficult, what mattered was that this power could be obtained through effort alone, not bloodline or anything else.

And the fact that it could substitute for the ki projection technique meant…

It could become a dagger to crush the privileges of knights, or even further, nobles.

‘Yes, that’s it. That’s what I wanted!’

This was a first.

Something he had so desperately wished to possess.

‘I was arrogant.’

He finally admits it.

Before enrollment, he was an incredibly arrogant fool.

He thought he knew everything, believed he didn’t need to learn anything at the Academy since he was only attending for recruitment purposes, and thought no one could dare teach him.

…But that wasn’t true.

Look ahead now.

Isn’t there someone teaching him how humans can become superhumans, even without ki projection techniques, someone who makes him tremble?

‘It’s funny to say this about an instructor, but.’

Roen wondered, though he couldn’t help thinking.

Perhaps, throughout his past and present lives.

‘Could you become my first master?’

For the first time, he might have a master worthy of respect.

The young lion, arrogant but with ample qualification to be so, harbored such expectations and simultaneously…

‘You might also become the protagonist of my [secret wish].’

The secret wish he harbored.

To be the protagonist of revolution (革命).