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Nekotrans

The Cornflower Witch

Chapter 21: Freshman Brawl

"Baren, stab his lower left!"

"Solyn, go on, take that guy down."

In the training ground, two young men were sparring with wooden swords in an intense battle, while other students watched from over ten meters away, some even cheering them on.

The environment here was spacious, with many unsharpened weapons hanging on wooden racks at the edge of the field—this was precisely Viscount Xuefeng's training ground, located within the castle in the northern district.

Because of the deep relationship between Scholar Hyde and Viscount Xuefeng, this knight training ground was freely provided for these students to use, and nearby one could see stables with several warhorses.

On the high viewing platform, Viscount Xuefeng and Scholar Hyde sat under a wooden canopy, discussing the two trainees.

"Baron Quad's child Baren is quite good, quite skilled with his movements," Viscount Xuefeng commented on one of them.

"As for that commoner youth named Solyn, this is my first time seeing him."

"Ah, Solyn. His father is a warrior who returned from the borderlands and is currently living in seclusion in Scorchstone City," Scholar Hyde recalled this student's background.

"He should be at the mid-level of 'Second Order - Bloodline,' but he stated he won't return to the battlefield," Scholar Hyde shook his head.

"Apparently he witnessed too much death on the battlefield, and his wife passed away too early, so his only hope now is to raise his child healthily."

"That's somewhat regrettable. But someone with battlefield experience like that would be a great choice as a training instructor here if he were willing," Viscount Xuefeng suggested.

"I'll inquire on your behalf later, Viscount," Scholar Hyde nodded slightly.

...

'Thud.'

With a powerful strike, the wooden sword in Baren's hand snapped directly, wood splinters flying everywhere, the broken end full of wooden fibers and splinters. Seizing the opportunity while his opponent was disarmed, Solyn kicked Baren to the ground and planted his sword in the soil beside Baren's neck.

This action frightened Baren, who took several seconds to react before his face flushed with anger.

"You lowborn commoner!" He felt this was an insult to himself.

"You're the lowly one!" Solyn retorted without backing down.

"How dare you insult nobility!"

"Scholar Hyde said that here we're all students, no distinction between nobles and commoners!" Solyn invoked what the teacher had said on the first day.

"You!"

Unable to contain his anger, Baren clenched his fist and swung at Solyn, but Solyn dodged and instead landed a punch on Baren.

Seeing Baren getting hit, two noble students who were his close friends quickly rushed to his aid, and now several bold commoner students also came to help Solyn.

The three noble friends swung their fists and kicks without restraint, while on Solyn's side, aside from him being fearless, the others didn't dare to strike heavily, merely trying to separate the two groups.

Facing the boys fighting on the training field, the girls from both sides remained relatively calm.

"What a bunch of idiots," Iona crossed her arms over her chest, not wanting to watch such crude and boring scenes.

"Lady Iona is absolutely right," Valeny had completely become Iona's follower over the past two days.

On the other side, Karen watched with concern, "Should we stop them? The teacher said fighting is wrong."

Komea shook her head vigorously, "No, no, no, let them fight, just don't drag us into it."

"We can't afford to offend the noble side, and Solyn's group isn't easy to deal with either," Komea analyzed quietly.

"Also, Tia is quite frail, it wouldn't be good for her to go over either," Using her companion as an excuse, Komea stopped Karen from stepping forward.

"Alright, we'll protect Tia," Karen glanced at the delicate long-haired girl beside them and decided not to get involved in the conflict.

Regarding the situation on the training field below, Viscount Xuefeng and Scholar Hyde had been watching almost the entire time.

"Heh heh heh, such energetic children," Viscount Xuefeng spoke with a laugh.

"That's just how young people are," Scholar Hyde also shook his head slightly.

Because Regas was founded on martial principles, the country actually encouraged non-lethal combat like this, which was why several youths in the field readily resorted to fighting—they were all familiar and accustomed to this style.

"Let them fight. You can separate them later," Viscount Xuefeng instructed the attendant beside him.

"Yes, my lord," the attendant responded respectfully.

...

Half an hour later, the fight on the field ended, with several injured students leaning against the wooden rails at the edge of the training ground, receiving medicinal ointment applied by their classmates.

"Sss—that hurts," the large student 'Ray' shielded himself while his classmate applied medicine with fingers. He had a bruise near his eye and was grimacing in pain.

"That won't do, there's still plenty of areas without medicine," Komea complained impatiently, then continued applying medicine with her fingers.

On the opposite side, Baren and his companions also leaned on wooden chairs, with Valeny applying medicine to them. As for Iona, she wasn't paying attention to them but was instead speaking with Viscount Xuefeng. Seeing her smiling cheerfully, it was hard to imagine her usually arrogant demeanor in front of classmates.

On another side, Sylutia also held medicinal ointment, applying it to the restless youth before her.

"You have quite a few old injuries on your body."

After finishing applying medicine with a cloth swab, the girl withdrew the swab back into the medicine bottle, briefly examining this youth named Mick. He resembled a wild animal, somewhat fierce, with various scars on his body.

"Don't bother with me," Mick responded irritably to the girl beside him.

"Mm," Sylutia didn't argue back, instead quietly stepped away.

Her obedient behavior surprised Mick somewhat. He turned his head and carefully looked at Sylutia a few times. This black-haired girl, though quite beautiful in appearance, seemed rather frail under her loose robes.

Quite pretty, just slightly inferior to Iona. If she had a bit more flesh, she might be about equal to Iona, the youth evaluated in his mind.

Perhaps because Sylutia seemed quite obedient, Mick's attitude became slightly more polite.

"Thanks."

"No problem," the girl shook her head, then moved to another area to tend to other injured classmates.

Cleaning wounds, applying medicine—she performed these tasks skillfully, surprising several other students.

"Did Tia often do this before?" Komea asked curiously, others also wanting to know.

"Many people in my village were injured recently, and I helped care for them, so I learned a bit," the girl answered.

"That's still quite impressive," Komea gave a thumbs up.

Seeing that these students had mostly recovered for now, an instructor walked over. He had a robust build, wearing leather pants and a white shirt, with some stubble.

"Scholar Hyde sent me to train you all and assess your basics."

"Coincidentally, I was present for your entire fight earlier and saw some of your capabilities," he said with his hands behind his back, pacing back and forth before the group.

"The boys are all quite decent, all of you know the Breathing Technique." If they didn't even know the Breathing Technique, they probably couldn't have followed Scholar Hyde for advanced studies.

"Now pick up your swords and challenge me one by one. I'll point out the flaws in your swordsmanship and footwork."

The instructor shouted sternly, gathering the present students, and thus the afternoon's training began.