070

“So, you have to have no self-awareness… Is that for real?”

Rozalin, who had listened to my explanation, let out a hollow laugh in disbelief.

“No, teacher, do you think it makes sense that the condition for a swordsman to advance to a higher level is to abandon their self-awareness? No, you said we need to put more of our will into it! You said it’s magic! So you told us to think like crazy before swinging the sword, so why are you saying something like this now!”

I couldn’t say anything to her escalating anger.

I was in a similar state of mind.

‘Then why can I use mana? Was I a person with no self-awareness?’

Berlis, who had heard my story, also reacted with disbelief.

“Pardon? You’re saying it’s more effective to use magic without any thought? What is that… absurd thing to say?”

“Is it not possible?”

“Every beginner mage is taught not to use magic without conviction. That’s the basic.”

“If, if you use magic without will or conviction…”

“Boom!”

Berlis smiled sweetly and clenched and unclenched her hand.

“Mana without proper will is incomplete. So it just explodes.”

“...?”

Hearing that explanation, I felt like I was remembering something I had missed.

Did I react to the word “explode”?

No. Rather than that…

“Incomplete! Thank you!”

I immediately went back to Jessie.

She was being harassed again today, but this time, strangely enough, her opponent was Avril.

“...You don’t feel anything?”

“N-n-nooooo?!”

“...You don’t think about anything, have no self-awareness, and just follow as you’re told, and the mana opens up?”

“Y-yeeeees…”

“How is that possible? Are you telling me to become trash?”

“Heeek, I’m sorry!”

“Why you, and not the Grand Marshal or that idiot from the desert?”

“I-I’m sorry for being boooooorn!”

Avril was pressuring Jessie with a fierce gaze as if he were about to eat her.

“Advisor.”

“…Teacher Cassian.”

“Please don’t bully Ms. Jessie. I missed something about the self-awareness part. In fact, for that very reason, her mana is rather weak.”

“Weak?”

At my words, Rozalin and Hati, who were listening nearby, reacted.

Perfect timing.

These two would know more about this kind of thing.

“Rozalin. You’ve seen Sword Aura, right?”

“Of course! I’ve probably seen it the most.”

“How was it? Compared to Jessie’s aura now. No, you can just compare it to when you used it.”

“The difference is huge. First of all, it’s not flimsy like that, and the color isn’t incomplete!”

That’s it.

This, this Sword Aura was not a well-made aura, but an incomplete one.

“I was only focused on the fact that the aura was created, so I misunderstood. Sword Aura also has stages.”

Thinking only of Sword Aura itself, I thought that if I could just emit aura, I could become a supreme master.

The fact that it could cut magic, and that it was a technique that only the best swordsmen of the era could use, made me think so.

“Teacher Jessie. Please emit your aura.”

At my words, Teacher Jessie emitted her aura.

As Rozalin said, Teacher Jessie’s aura was constantly flickering as if it would scatter at any moment, and it was extremely unstable, unable to be fixed.

It was an even weaker fixation than the mana Rozalin had emitted, or even mine.

Which means.

“The reason she can emit Sword Aura isn’t because of this.”

“Then what on earth is the reason? Do I really have to get hit by mana like crazy?”

I thought back on what she had said.

The key to what she said seems to be about erasing.

If she has no self-awareness, and yet she erases many things.

“Idle thoughts.”

Could it be that she isn’t erasing her self-awareness, but erasing things that are unnecessary for swinging a sword?

In fact, people who train in magic often sit in a proper posture and meditate to circulate their mana.

They say that if you focus on your breathing for a long time and try to erase your idle thoughts, you can sometimes maintain a clear state of mind.

Through that process, you erase your idle thoughts and leave only the desire to cut.

“Rather, you guys, aren’t you thinking too much?”

The regressors like Rozalin, Avril, and Hati always considered various variables.

The demons that will appear in the future, the sword, the strategy and tactics based on this…

“Isn’t returning to the past actually hindering your sword training?”

At my words, Sordian had an aggrieved expression.

“Then shouldn’t I have awakened?”

“What I’m saying now is all just a hypothesis.”

I glanced at Instructor Jessie and the others in turn.

Their expressions were quite a sight as I kept putting forth hypotheses and beating around the bush.

“For now, starting tonight, let’s train every day, one by one, to be able to use mana aura.”

“How?”

“We have to try all the methods we can.”

The time Rozalin emitted Sword Aura.

I held Rozalin’s arm and hand from behind and moved the sword as if I were swinging it myself.

At that moment, Rozalin was closer to a sword connected to me than a single swordswoman.

Wouldn’t moving in that way be helpful?

“…Ugh. I don’t think that kind of training is my cup of tea.”

Hati was disgusted.

Please understand my feelings, as I have to lead that training.

“Teacher Cassian.”

As I was finishing the training with the instructors, a teacher who works in the administration office called me.

I habitually scanned him from head to toe.

A stiff expression as if he was in trouble.

And slightly reddened eyes, and a tired-looking breath.

And a gesture and foot movement with a very slight hint of annoyance.

“Is it a parent?”

That kind of reaction was highly likely to be a case where a difficult parent had visited the school.

The staff member nodded, as if my guess was correct.

“It’s the parent of a student in your class named Freizier.”

When she said Freizier, she was probably talking about Freizier Telmasier.

She was a new freshman this year, and as you can tell from her surname, she was the child of a noble from the Empire.

“What’s the reason?”

“Well… they’re not making sense, so it would be better for you to go and talk to them directly.”

Not making sense, is there a reason for that?

Freizier was a mild-mannered student in many ways.

Although from the Empire, she was the third daughter of a viscount family and was somewhat pushed back in the succession competition.

Perhaps because of that, unlike other noble students from the Empire, she had a weak sense of authority and participated in classes with enthusiasm.

She also had some talent in swordsmanship; there was power in the tip of her sword when she swung it, and her eyes followed the sword well.

Above all, she was diligent.

If someone else swung a hundred times, she would swing two hundred times in the meantime, and if someone else rested for 10 minutes, she would rest for 5.

Considering she was a young 14-year-old student, it was a greater talent than anything else.

‘But she didn’t come to ask me to take good care of her daughter?’

Wondering what was going on, I headed to the faculty office.

In front of the faculty office stood a noble with voluminous light gray hair that could be seen even from a distance.

She was wearing a high-quality imperial coat over a voluminous frilly dress, as if for an official event.

And yet, she was constantly fanning herself with a wide-brimmed fan, which seemed to be more about calming her anger than being hot.

“Good day, Viscountess Telmasier. I am Freizier’s homeroom teacher, Cassian…”

In an instant, the world slowed down and my concentration increased.

The Viscountess’s hand came flying from behind the fan.

Why?

If I took a step forward or backward, I could avoid that palm.

‘No.’

I unconsciously stopped my body, which was about to move.

Perhaps because I had forced my moving body to stop, I felt a pain as if I had swung a sword throughout my body.

But considering what happened with Jessie last time, if I moved carelessly, I might knock out the Empire’s viscountess.

If that really happened, it would be a major incident.

And while I was having these various thoughts, the palm finally reached my cheek.

Slap—!

With a sharp sound, it struck my cheek.

It was the first time I had been directly hit on the cheek like this, not fighting a monster or swinging a sword.

My cheek burned as if it had been burned and throbbed.

While rubbing my cheek, I focused on deducing why this viscountess had done such a thing.

Was it because I had sent the students to the flock of harpies?

That was quite possible.

If not, was student Freizier being bullied without my knowledge?

Was that why she focused on swordsmanship rather than playing with other friends?

It wasn’t impossible.

If not, then another…

“You’re the one who teaches that trashy swordsmanship, right?”

At the viscountess’s words, the thoughts that had filled my head disappeared all at once.

Trashy, swordsmanship?

“My daughter may not be a legitimate heir to compete for the succession, but she is still the daughter of the Viscount Telmasier family! But you entice a child like that and incite her to become a human butcher?!”

Human butcher…

“The ignorant act of just holding a sword is absurd enough, but you mobilize these young children for monster hunting?!”

It was the first time I had heard a direct insult to the sword and swordsmen in front of my face.

From being slapped on the cheek to a series of new things, it was difficult to come to my senses.

“Viscountess Telmasier. It seems you are very angry…”

“How can I not be angry?! My child, until last year, was a cultured child who was taking bride lessons to find a good marriage in the Empire! She was a child with a bright, happy future ahead of her!”

Viscountess Telmasier’s face turned red with anger as she raised her voice.

It was to the point that the administration staff member who had brought me and the people around couldn’t say anything and just watched cautiously.

‘This is troublesome.’

Her words were certainly a bit harsh, but they were not incomprehensible.

Perhaps Viscountess Telmasier didn’t know about Akarind Academy’s changed curriculum.

So she must have been surprised after sending her student here expecting the basic liberal arts education, etiquette, and basic academic education that had been provided until last year.

‘...I have to rationalize it this way.’

If I don’t, I’ll be swept up in the parent’s anger and end up getting angry and having an emotional fight myself.

Given who the opponent was, if I got angry too, it would definitely be my loss.

“I’m sorry.”

After composing my mind, I slowly bowed my head.

“Everyone in the family knows that my child has no talent in the sword! I don’t know if you’re trying to extort money or something by tricking and enticing a child like that…”

“That’s not it.”

But I couldn’t just let that statement pass.

“What did you say?”

“Student Freizier is certainly not a student with genius talent in swordsmanship.”

There were many students in this academy who could be called geniuses.

Pan, Rozalin, and Yuria, Bridget, Eleveth, and so on.

Freizier, who was still just a freshman, had not shown that level of skill.

“But student Freizier is doing her best in her own way. She also has the talent of diligence.”

“Diligence is a talent? Do you sugarcoat the efforts of incompetent people as a talent?”

“There is no greater talent than diligence. A diligent person of average ability often produces greater results than a lazy genius.”

“For a teacher at a third-rate academy like this, you have a wicked tongue. Is that how you seduced my daughter?”

The viscountess raised her hand as if to slap my cheek again.

But this time, I had no intention of taking the hit.

I took a couple of steps back, out of her reach.

In her cumbersome dress, she couldn't keep up with my movement, and the viscountess glared at me with even more furious eyes.

“I can’t leave my daughter in a trashy place like this! I’m taking her with me!”

So this is how it ends.

I thought so, but.

“Hahaha, you can’t. Hahahahaha.”

The Chairman laughed as he returned the viscountess’s withdrawal form on the spot.