Top Instructor of a Third-Rate Academy

Chapter 4

To describe Pan in one line, it would be 'a genius of a face hiding a clumsy body'?

I could feel his joints creak not just with a sword, but every time he moved his body, and his mannerisms were clumsy beyond measure.

He was short, with a slender frame, and his only saving grace was his looks, which could be counted among the best not just in the entire academy, but in the entire kingdom.

He had a face that gave off a cheeky and mischievous vibe, but his personality was timid enough that it didn't quite match his face.

'The first time I saw him, I thought he was a female student.'

As soon as he enrolled, Pan monopolized the popularity of the female students.

In other words, this meant he also monopolized the jealousy of the male students.

In the end, it was only natural that he became a target of bullying.

"No way... uh, right, there was a ridiculously handsome student back then, but you're saying he's that muscular, burly, fiendishly murderous, but kind to us, human weapon who slaughters demons?"

Rozalin, as if she had lost her mind, let her mouth hang open and muttered unintelligible things.

I left Rozalin behind and approached the students who were bullying Pan.

"Stop it."

"Oh, look who it is. Pan! Your daddy's here!"

The kids who were bullying Pan glanced at me and snickered.

"According to academy regulations, bullying a fellow student is a serious offense punishable by up to suspension. You're aware of that, right?"

"Oh, of course, of course. But this isn't bullying."

"We're just playing."

"We're playing a game. Pan lost the game, so he's carrying out the penalty. Right, Pan?"

It was truly a classic villain's remark.

Pan, who had been squirming under their feet, slowly raised his head and looked at me.

Eyes like a puppy abandoned on the roadside.

Eyes that were so terrified they couldn't do anything but wander.

"Pan."

"...Th-that's right. I was playing with them..."

Pan stuttered as he desperately tried to make excuses.

It was to be expected.

At our academy, all students lived in the dorms, and even if I disciplined those kids for a moment and saved Pan, the bullying was sure to continue after school hours were over.

I glanced at the kids.

The delinquents snickered as if they knew Pan would say that.

Their faces were familiar.

They were all children whose parents held a position in the empire or were influential figures in the kingdom.

I guess they wouldn't care about the gaze of a mere instructor from a small, third-rate academy.

If the incident got bigger, they could just use their power to quash it.

But I had never backed down in the face of such things.

Because I was an instructor at the academy, and the only swordsmanship master these kids had.

"Right now..."

"Get away from my kid, you minions of the devil!"

A flying kick exploded into the delinquent leader's head.

Pow!

Not just a thud, but a pow.

With a powerful impact sound, the delinquent leader collapsed to the ground.

He hit the back of his head on the ground with a thud, and it looked like he was seriously hurt.

The shock must have been considerable, as he convulsed his limbs but couldn't easily regain consciousness.

Soon, the leader's movements ceased, and the surrounding air grew still.

"Ro-ro-Rozalin?! D-do you know what you're doing right now?"

"Yeah, I fucking don't! But do you know who you're stomping on to be doing that shit! How are you going to take responsibility if our kid's faith in humanity gets shattered because of you!"

The mad, no, the hooligan of this neighborhood had appeared.

Rozalin extended her right arm and grabbed the kid on the right by the scruff of his neck.

Despite her delicate young lady's body, where did she get such strength? The student, unable to resist, was pulled and spun around.

'She tripped him.'

She used the opponent's resisting force to trip his back leg. Then she threw him over with just one arm.

And then, to the remaining student who was flustered, a quick spinning back kick to the abdomen.

Pow!

The powerful kick, which must have shaken his internal organs, made even the remaining student clutch his stomach and collapse.

It all happened in less than 10 seconds.

"Huh."

I was at a loss for words at this scene, when Pan, who was on the ground, scrambled to his feet, babbling.

And Rozalin smiled.

"Are you okay?"

"Ah, yes, yes."

Rozalin.

It's scary when you smile so sweetly after half-killing three kids.

Pan's face was deathly pale, and he looked completely terrified.

"Hey, Rozalin."

"Aish, it's fine, Instructor, right? I'm not a student, you know? I'm the guard captain, huh? So I'm not a 'fellow' student! So I can provide this kind of guidance! I will absolutely protect the pretty boy Pan!"

I had simply called her name once, but Rozalin started making all sorts of excuses.

Her attitude was so slick and shameless that it made me laugh.

"We'll talk later."

Class was about to start.

I rescued Pan from Rozalin and brushed the dirt off his uniform.

Pan, glancing nervously at the other students and Rozalin, stuck close to me.

"Rozalin. Help me move those guys."

"Huh?"

"They're also students who have class today."

"Ah."

"Guard Captain, get to work."

As we entered the training ground, the students' eyes were on us.

It wasn't the usual look of criticism for a teacher being late to class, or despair that a class they thought was cancelled was happening.

It was more of a sense of bewilderment at not knowing why this was happening.

It was understandable.

Look at the faces that trickled in behind me.

Pan, hiding behind my back like a scared hamster, constantly glancing around.

And Rozalin, watching Pan and me, trying to strike up some trivial conversation.

And then the two students who were forced to carry the half-limp student by Rozalin, who didn't look so good themselves.

"Instructor..."

One of the delinquents called out to me with a pathetic look in his eyes.

"Just put him over there somewhere."

At my command, the two delinquents gently laid the delinquent leader down in a sunny corner of the training ground.

Just in case, I checked him before they brought him over; he was just unconscious, not dead.

"Some things happened. Sorry for being late, let's start the class."

Perhaps because they had witnessed a shocking scene, the students' attitude towards learning was better than ever.

"Wow, the academy's gotten soft these days. Back when I was at the academy, it was a virtue to just hit the deck and play dead when the master said 'Die!' and we'd say 'Yes, I'll die!'. Have kids these days lost their fear or their manners?"

...It surely wasn't because of Rozalin, who was sitting in a slouching posture outside the training ground, spouting lectures.

Anyway, as usual, I finished explaining the theory of swordsmanship and moved on to free sparring.

After the students each chose a sparring partner, I would walk around, pointing out their posture or helping them improve their swordsmanship.

"Right, this was what class was like."

As soon as free sparring began, Rozalin hobbled over and started following me around.

"You never even participated properly, yet you're so nostalgic."

From the moment she became a second-year, Rozalin had refused to attend this cheap swordsmanship class, saying she wouldn't listen to it.

Come to think of it, her tone was haughty, but her actions had been those of a hooligan even back then.

"Do you know how much I regretted that? If I hadn't talked nonsense about going home and just stuck around and attended class properly, the world's strongest, super-beautiful swordswoman would have been born!"

A super-beautiful swordswoman.

I thought for a moment, then chuckled.

"Hey, are you looking down on me? Ah, right, you said my swordsmanship got weaker. No, anyway, you'd be surprised if you knew how much I kicked ass on the battlefield."

"I'm sure you did."

At my answer, Rozalin was startled, then she grinned and looked at me as if she was pleased.

"Oh, what's with the sudden acknowledgment?"

"I saw your effort. I saw why you use your sword like that. After you lost your left arm, when you moved your body using your right arm, your overall balance shifted slightly. The muscle movements then were masterful."

"Huh?"

Rozalin's grinning face froze.

"The angle of your standing foot when you step, the position of your shoulder, your muscles, and even the strangely awkward hand movements of your left arm. You swung as if your last student didn't just dislike using their hand or couldn't use it, but as if it simply wasn't there. You fought with one arm missing, and your movements were very concise. You didn't just train in swordsmanship, but in martial arts as well, right?"

"Uh, holy shit."

Rozalin, who had been quietly listening to me, swore.

"Instructor, just how much do you see? No, it's like you're projecting all the muscle movements as if you're using some kind of clairvoyance magic."

"What?"

"Why did I only think the instructor was spouting weird nonsense to students 10 years ago?"

"Nonsense... well, the students and you did say that a lot."

Rozalin hurriedly grabbed my arm and pointed to a female student swinging a sword on one side.

A slender student with thin arms was wielding a rapier.

Was she the third daughter of a count from a fringe kingdom?

"Instructor, what do you see in her swordsmanship?"

I sat down casually on the spot and observed the student.

When I focused my mind on my eyes, my body's energy was rapidly consumed.

I had to relax in the most comfortable posture possible to observe the student and get proper results.

'From the feet to the arms. And read the direction of the flow.'

How she plants her feet, how she extends her arms.

I follow that intention, draw the grain, and my eyes go first.

"The way she plants her feet and moves her body is clumsy. That type would be better off adding power and using a greatsword or a hammer. But because she's trying to maintain her figure, she's lost weight and has no muscle, so using a rapier makes her movements unnatural and weak."

I assessed.

"What about that kid?"

"The way she plants her axis is wrong. It seems she's used to using a force stronger than her body's strength. Instead of stepping in the direction her body wants to go, her feet are planted to support her body from being pulled in the direction she wants to go. Her parents must have assisted her with an artifact when she was young. Just by correcting her posture, she'll be able to generate more power and speed than her current movements."

I assessed.

"Then, then, what about that kid?"

"What about that one?"

"That one looks pretty good."

"What about this one?"

Rozalin pointed to each student one by one and demanded an explanation.

I followed her fingertips, looked at the student, and assessed them.

With each student's assessment, Rozalin's previously tight lips began to slowly curve upwards.

And finally.

"Then what about Pan?"

Lastly, her finger pointed to Pan, who was left alone in the training ground, glancing around nervously.

That kid.

"His sword is unconventional. He needs a body to support the power to swing the sword. He needs to build twice, no, three times as much muscle as he has now. And to make his unconventional sword look even more unconventional, if he changes his starting point, his swordsmanship will become even more brilliant. For example... by using his feet?"

After hearing the full explanation, Rozalin smiled.

Her lips curled up to the corners, with an expression that couldn't contain her welling joy.

"You got it right."

What's with that 'you got it right'?

Her incomprehensible expression made me feel a little chilly.

Rozalin declared to me.

"As expected, you're the one who created Mana Road. To think that such an instructor is a mana-hater! Instructor. In the next year, I'll make you love mana. No matter how much you hate it, you're a person who has no choice but to do so!"

How do you do that, what is it, why are you looking at me with those scary eyes?

I relaxed the strength in my eyes and, for now, moved a little further away from Rozalin.