Chapter 7

◈ Episode 7 – The 66th Class

"Amon Coster, step forward."

Amon answered with a shout and grabbed his weapon.

The weapon he wielded with most confidence was a sword.

He gripped it in one hand and stood before the Orc Model.

A deep breath.

Then, in the blink of an eye, he carved off the model's left arm.

Mixed in with the admiration of his peers, I heard the Instructor's single remark.

"Amon Coster. Get down on the ground."

Amon's face showed he had no idea why.

"What part of my words didn't you understand? I said to use the flat, not the blade."

"I'm sorry! I really am... but I did use the flat!"

A moment of silence fell.

If he hadn't talked back, he would have just knelt briefly and it would have been over. But Amon did it on purpose—

Making sure the other trainees heard—

Loudly showing off.

I can cut through an enemy with the back of the blade just as cleanly as the edge.

That was the Amon Coster I knew.

Seeing him so unchanged, I almost felt relieved.

Amon's showing off.

Its price was running laps around the Parade Ground.

"Mago. Forward."

I was next.

Sword, spear, arrow.

I couldn't properly see a single one of them.

Back then, in my past life, I hesitated for a long time before asking—

"Can I use my fists?"

I had barely gotten those words out before I got punched in the face.

And on top of that, my weakness was exposed to the entire training camp.

The very same day I earned the nickname "Unlucky Marjelo."

I couldn't repeat the same mistake.

So the direction my fingertips pointed—

"You want to fight me?"

—was at the Head Instructor.

More precisely, at his shoulder.

At the wooden staff he always carried around.

I chose that.

"This is ridiculous."

He grabbed the staff and strode over.

"If you wanted to get hit, you should've just said so, Mago."

"No, sir!"

"Is this the one you like? Huh? Where do you want me to stick it?"

He jabbed the staff's tip hard into my chest, again and again.

"Pick one of the three. Or are you asking me to pick for you?"

Meanwhile, Kinzo was watching me with worried eyes.

The Head Instructor slipped the tip of his foot into the gap between the spear's shaft and the floor.

With a deft flick of his foot, he scooped the spear up and placed it in my hand.

I stared only at the shaft.

"What are you going to do by staring at the shaft? Look at the tip. Then at the target."

The Instructor pushed the spear's tip right up to my eyes.

A strange pressure pressed down against my brow.

The pain was unbearable.

It was excruciating, but I couldn't shake it off.

The tinnitus that had seemed to quiet down came roaring back, torturing my ears.

I took a deep breath.

"Mago, what the hell do you think you're doing?"

The Instructor looked at me like I was pathetic.

Lines connected to lines, forming a point.

That point—it felt like it could—

"Get lost."

The Instructor said it flatly.

"Go home."

"I can do it."

"Do what?"

There was nowhere left to retreat.

I couldn't hold out any longer.

I closed my eyes.

A blue pulse swept through everything around me.

I snatched the spear right out of the Instructor's hand—like stealing it.

Without a second thought, I sprinted forward and slammed it into the Orc Model's head.

The spear only had an edge on one side.

Even though I swung with the flat, as the Instructor had ordered, the model's neck snapped clean off.

I had severed it with raw strength alone.

"That white-haired guy—did he just close his eyes?"

"He aimed for the neck without even looking...?"

I could hear my peers murmuring.

"What's there to be so surprised about? So what if he closed his eyes? There were no obstacles in the way. All he had to do was walk forward and swing. Even I could do that."

Amon, still running his laps around the Parade Ground, paused long enough to toss out that remark.

"Mago!"

The Instructor bellowed.

"Who told you to close your eyes?"

He raised his staff high and stalked toward me.

Every motion of his was soaked in fury.

"Open your eyes right now. You think you're going to fight monsters like that?"

"Yes, sir. That's exactly what I think."

"This is the level of the Top Student who's supposed to go to the Special Forces?"

"Yes, sir."

"You little shit...!"

The Instructor swung his arm, blazing with anger.

I felt the air split before I saw it.

The staff came flying straight at my face.

On pure reflex, I shot my left arm out and broke it.

The long staff snapped in two.

"Wh—what..."

The Instructor could only stammer.

A moment later, when I opened both eyes,

all the colors I had lost came rushing back.

Blurred vision. Muffled ears.

I shook my head to clear my senses.

"Amon. You think you can do that too?"

I heard Kinzo's voice.

Amon pretended not to hear me and kept running.

*

I got punished with thirty laps around the Parade Ground.

Thirty laps—for what I'd done, that was practically a free pass.

I caught up to Amon, who had started running before me.

He was on lap fifteen.

I had thirty to go.

Twice as many.

I lengthened my stride to match his pace.

"Hey! This isn't a race!"

Amon twisted his head and shouted.

Running side by side with him, I watched the rest of the trainees.

The Instructor called the next name, cutting through the restless atmosphere.

"You closed your eyes, didn't you?"

Amon asked about what had just happened.

"Yeah."

"No matter how scared you are, you can't close your eyes. We're soldiers now. What are you going to do with a weak mind like that?"

"What?"

"You got lucky this time, but imagine if that was a real enemy. You'd already be dead."

He thought it was pure luck.

"You're supposed to be the Top Student going to the Special Forces, but it turns out you're all talk. Too scared to even keep your eyes open."

"Well... yeah. You're right."

"I'm going to be the Top Student. If you keep relying on luck, you'll never beat me."

"Fine. Thanks for the advice."

I answered vaguely.

Just then, a familiar face was called up for the next turn.

"It's Kinzo's turn."

Amon said.

Kinzo's skills, aside from magic, weren't much.

"Not much" was the kindest way to put it.

He was tall, with long limbs.

He had a decent amount of muscle, so his build was solid.

But his movements were clumsy.

It was obvious he'd never held a sword before.

"Looks pretty average."

Amon nodded.

The Instructor was probably writing the same thing on the evaluation sheet in his hand.

No swordsmanship experience. Average physical ability.

The Instructor called the next name.

"Bell Red. Step forward."

She stood up and gripped the sword.

"I wonder if Bell even has the strength left to swing that thing."

"Bell?"

"She's been doing push-ups the whole time. She charged at the Orc Model without even realizing it was a dummy."

"Come to think of it, Bell didn't really show what she could do earlier."

"Show what?"

Just then, Bell stepped in front of the Orc Model.

She took a deep breath to focus her mind.

Before any of us knew it, white smoke began to rise from her body.

"What the hell is that...?"

Amon's face twisted.

The other trainees had the same reaction.

She twisted the sword with her thumb.

Just as the Instructor had ordered, she turned the flat side downward.

Then, without hesitation—Flash Strike.

A sharp, spine-straightening sound cut through the air.

The Orc Model's outline wavered like a heat haze, and then—

The canvas-covered dummy was torn to shreds by the single strike.

Sand particles rained down like a fierce storm.

A ripple of murmurs went through the trainees.

Some wore expressions of outright fear, intimidated by the overwhelming power.

The talent I needed to save, based on the knowledge I brought back from my past life.

Among all my peers in the 66th Class, the core of that was Bell Red.

"No, you're telling me that brutish swinging counts as swordsmanship? I guess the Red Family really is one of the Three Great Families of the Empire..."

Amon's words came faster and ran longer than usual.

He was clearly thrown off balance.

Mago. I think Bell is like us.

Just as Kinzo had said before.

Bell was similar to me and Kinzo.

It wasn't just about vengeance.

She was like a soldier with a fear of the front lines.

Or a mage with no means of attack.

It meant she had a weakness.

"Huuuh..."

Bell lost all strength and collapsed to the ground.

The Instructor rushed over to her.

He probably thought she had pushed herself to the limit and passed out.

But soon, the steady sound of her breathing told him otherwise.

She had just fallen asleep.

Bell possessed her family's unique magic, but in my past life, she had died without ever learning how to use it properly.

Without ever finding a way to overcome her weakness.

I wasn't going to let that happen this time.

"Ha...!"

Amon let out a dry laugh.

His eyes said: I was a little nervous for a second, but as expected, the Top Student position is still mine.

"Next. Louise Murphy. Step forward."

Louise Murphy.

She had light blonde hair, similar to Amon's.

Straight, long hair without a single wave.

Her eyes were the same golden hue as her hair.

And, more than anything else—

Her pale skin stood out.

Just then, Louise drew her bowstring and aimed at the Orc Model.

The arrow pierced clean through its left eye.

"Not bad."

Amon sounded almost pleased.

By the time Amon and I finished our laps around the Parade Ground, all the other trainees had taken their turns.

The Instructor marked something on his evaluation sheet and spoke.

"Everyone except those two, fall in line."

"Those two" unmistakably meant Amon and me.

"Basic training ends today. Starting tomorrow, you'll be preparing for the exams."

He raised his right hand and spread four fingers.

"There are four exams in total."

He pointed at the evaluation sheet he was holding.

"Aside from the exams, this Personal Competency Evaluation form will also factor into your scores."

The Instructor scanned the trainees standing in formation.

"Trainees eligible to apply for the Special Forces are those ranked from first to tenth. The Knight Order will accept up to twentieth place. From now on, you'll all have rankings assigned to you, and those rankings will be posted on the bulletin board."

The first door to the Special Forces had opened.

It felt like a new vertical line had been drawn across the timeline I was running on.

"That is all. At ease."

The Instructor turned his head toward Amon and me.

His expression made it clear he wasn't talking to the two of us.

We kept running.

"Amon."

"Yeah?"

"I'm catching up by one lap."

I kicked into full speed and shot past him.

"I told you, this isn't a race...!"

*

The Head Instructor was sitting on a step halfway up the staircase.

He lit a match and touched it to his cigarette.

He watched the resting trainees in silence.

It had been a month since the 66th Class entered the camp. By now, he had a rough grasp of their characteristics.

He started putting it into writing.

First—

Kinzo Shua

He wrote that name on the blank paper.

At the same time, Kinzo tapped Mago's shoulder.

His sidelong glances had a strange urgency to them.

"Mago, 11 o'clock."

Kinzo said it low.

The kind of look that meant: Look, but don't stare.

"Why?"

"Just... quick...!"

Mago turned his head with an annoyed expression.

At 11 o'clock.

Blonde hair, golden eyes.

It was Louise Murphy.

"I've never seen anyone that beautiful before."

"Not even in Akuella?"

"Never. There can't be more than a handful of beauties on Louise's level in the whole world..."

"No matter how pretty Louise is, don't go back to staring at my insides."

"Lately it's not insides—I've been seeing muscle fibers."

[Possesses Reinforcement (Fire) Magic and Clairvoyance Magic]

"When did you even...?"

"No, not Louise—I tested it on you. Your monster body makes my curiosity boil over."

"That's kind of creepy."

"Ah, about Louise. She changes how she ties her hair every single day. So lately, some of the other trainees and I have been betting on what style she'll use next. You in?"

'So they're still doing that this time around, huh.'

"Not a chance."

While Mago and Kinzo kept their conversation going, the Instructor's pen was also moving busily.

Below the name Kinzo Shua—

Louise Murphy

He wrote down the other trainees' traits as well.

"Mago, Louise is an incredible shot with a bow."

[From the Capital's outskirts—former hunter] [Exceptional archery skill]

"She was a hunter, so that makes sense."

[Otherwise, no notable traits]

"She probably knows a lot about herbs and traps too. She won't just be good with a bow."

Having confirmed things from his past life, Mago held the exact opposite opinion of the Instructor's evaluation.

"How's that supposed to be useful?"

"Well... in the future. Anywhere, really."