Chapter 72: Your Name Is… (1)

‘Has word already spread?’

As the saying goes, rumors travel a thousand miles without legs. Though barely a day had passed since the incident, it seemed everyone knew about it.

Anxiety-ridden faces worried about enemies that might never come, students traveling in groups out of fear – these sights had become noticeably more common.

While Knight and Magic Department students often carried weapons, now even Alchemy and Theology students were arming themselves for protection.

‘How pathetic…’

If only they had learned Baldo, they wouldn’t be cowering like this. Why didn’t they learn it instead of resorting to such foolishness?

Much had changed in just a day, but one thing remained constant.

“Ian!”

No, perhaps “constant” wasn’t quite right. She seemed even more excited than yesterday.

While everyone else succumbed to anxiety, Hori alone maintained her smile as she ran up to me and exclaimed energetically:

“What a wonderful morning!”

“Wonderful? Well, I suppose it is for me.”

Finally, worthy opponents had appeared to test the Baldo I’d honed so desperately.

The mere thought of when they might strike next made my heart race like a child anticipating their birthday.

“You’ve heard the news, so be careful for a while. If they learn you’re associated with me, you could become a target too.”

“Hehe! Don’t worry about that! I’ve made all sorts of preparations just in case!”

As she said this, she opened her uniform jacket to reveal an array of colorful potions securely fastened inside.

“But are you alright?”

“Yeah, I was injured a bit, but I’ve been treated. No problems at all.”

“I can see that! But what about the potion I gave you…?”

“Ah, that…”

When I admitted I’d forgotten to drink it in the heat of battle, Hori bounced up and down, exclaiming:

“Why don’t you ever use them when it matters?! What’s the point of making them if you don’t!”

“I just forgot, okay? I’ll use it next time, so don’t get so worked up.”

After calming the agitated Hori and sending her on her way, I turned and headed towards the S-Class building.

Entering the Knight Department classroom, I saw Jessica had arrived early and was sitting at her desk waiting for class to start, though Rain hadn’t shown up yet.

Muffling my footsteps and presence, I slowly approached Jessica, who maintained perfect posture despite the empty room.

Before she could notice me, I grabbed her tempting cinnamon roll hairstyle.

“Eek!”

Startled by someone suddenly grabbing her hair from behind, Jessica leapt up and whirled around, fixing me with a sharp glare.

“W-Who dares…!”

“Hey, Jessica!”

Upon seeing me, Jessica’s expression softened for a moment before quickly hardening again as she swung her palm towards my face.

Of course, that sluggish slap had no chance of connecting, and Jessica’s hand merely sliced through empty air.

“Ugh…! Why did you dodge? It’s okay to take hits like this sometimes!”

“A Baldo practitioner gives their all even when dealing with a cinnamon roll-haired lady. More importantly, why are you hitting me?! You let me touch it yesterday!”

“D-Don’t bring up yesterday!! That was… a reward for saving my life… I just got caught up in the moment…”

“The moment?! So Jessica’s the type of loose woman who lets just anyone touch her hair if the mood strikes?! Even with your cinnamon roll hairstyle?!”

“S-Shut up!! Anyway, I can’t let you casually touch my hair like yesterday!! And if you go around blabbing about what happened, I’ll never forgive you, got it?!”

Jessica spat out her words rapid-fire before turning her head sharply away, as if she couldn’t bear to look at me.

“Hah…”

I sighed, at a loss for words at Jessica’s behavior.

Strange. Yesterday the mood seemed to suggest she’d let me touch it again, so why was she acting like this today?

Putting aside this seemingly unsolvable mystery, I found an empty seat and sat down.

After waiting a bit, Rain entered and took her seat, followed shortly by Marina.

“Hmm.”

Standing at the podium, Marina surveyed the classroom before nodding as if in understanding.

“I understand how you all must be feeling. It’s natural to be anxious after yesterday’s events. But we can’t remain dejected forever.”

“…Heh.”

I nearly laughed out loud, since that wasn’t the reason Jessica and I were so quiet.

“Don’t worry about the academy’s security. We’ve increased the number of guards and are currently upgrading the barrier. You should focus on your studies as you always have.”

Honestly, it was hard to say how effective upgrading the barrier would be, but it was better than doing nothing.

“Now then, we’ll begin today’s lesson as usual.”

With those words emphasizing that this wasn’t a crisis situation, class began.

As always, the boring hours dragged on until finally ending, but unlike usual, I didn’t have to attend etiquette lessons.

It seemed they wanted me to focus on honing my Baldo instead of wasting time, given that people were targeting me.

“Shall we start earlier than usual today?”

“…Is it really okay for you to supervise my training at a time like this?”

“Don’t worry about it. Practicing alone won’t improve your skills much anyway.”

I wasn’t just saying that – even if I invested the time I spent overseeing Jessica’s training into Baldo practice, I wouldn’t see dramatic improvements.

Unlike sparring, there’s a limit to how much you can improve through solo training.

“Don’t overthink it. Just hurry up and come at me.”

“If you say so…”

Muttering thanks in a tiny voice, Jessica drew her hammer and charged at me.

Something felt off about her words and actions, but it was surely just my imagination.

‘She’s improved quite a bit.’

A month ago, she would have just recklessly charged in relying solely on her physical abilities. Now she occasionally showed openings to bait me into lowering my guard.

While her hammer techniques hadn’t improved dramatically, her attacks had become more varied by incorporating the martial arts I’d taught her, showing significant overall improvement.

“Hah!”

After parrying Jessica’s attack and sending her hammer flying, I addressed her frustrated expression:

“Your skills have improved a lot. But it seems you haven’t made much progress with your hammer techniques.”

“Haa…! That can’t be helped! You locked the teacher who could teach me that stuff in his room!”

They say old people produce hormones of the opposite sex – perhaps that’s why Peter had sprouted a maiden’s heart and was still holed up in his room after a month.

“I’ll do something about that, so don’t worry too much.”

“Do something…? Are you planning to apologize to Sir Peter?”

“I have no intention of doing that, and even if I did, it would only make things worse rather than solving the problem.”

He locked himself away because he lost a duel. In that situation, if the guy who beat him came to apologize for winning?

It would never happen to me since I learned Baldo, but if it did, I’d commit seppuku on the spot.

“Then what do you plan to do?”

“Break into his room, throw him out the window, then hit him with some Baldo techniques…”

“Stop! Just stop. I was a fool for expecting anything from you.”

Jessica pantomimed clutching her head as if in pain, then trudged over to pick up her fallen hammer.

“Alright…! Here I come again!!”

“Okay, bring it.”

In contrast to Jessica’s energetic response, I replied in a lackluster voice.

True to her spirited words, Jessica charged at me fiercely. At first she seemed to hold her own, but as time passed her stamina steadily dropped until she finally fell to one knee, gasping for breath.

“Haa… Haa…”

“Your stamina has improved too. You used to collapse much faster, so this is quite good.”

I extended my hand to the fallen Jessica as I spoke. She set down her hammer and grasped it.

“Ah, your hand is sweaty…”

“Ugh…!!”

Startled by my casual remark about the dampness I felt, Jessica abruptly let go of my hand.

“Ow!!”

Inevitably, since she released my hand midway through being pulled up, Jessica fell backwards and landed hard on her backside.

“Jessica, what are you doing? Why did you suddenly let go…”

“It’s because you said something weird!! And this isn’t because I’m a sweaty person, it’s just from the intense exercise…”

“Who said anything about that? Everyone sweats during exercise, right? Right?”

I looked to Rain for confirmation, but she had already finished training and was running out of the practice area.

“I guess Rain is the type who sweats a lot too.”

“I’m telling you I’m not that type!!”

Afterwards, Jessica spent a while making excuses before finally leaving the training grounds with exhausted steps.

Now that I was finally alone, I considered what to do next.

‘Simple Baldo practice won’t be enough to improve my skills. Should I take care of that task I’ve been putting off?’

The time had finally come to fulfill my long-delayed promise to teach Silence martial arts.