I tested the balance of the longsword. [Swordsmanship] told me the sword weighed a bit more than a kilogram and a half, and the balance was further from the hilt than I was used to. I wondered if it was a conscious design trait considering that, in this world, people had literal superpowers. Swords didn’t have to be nimble if the user had unnatural strength.

The fact that the hilt rattled was getting on my nerves, but again, modern machinery wasn’t a thing in this world. The protective gauntlets were too rigid, the padded armor too stiff, and the facemask too heavy. I missed my old practice gear as much as I missed salt, pepper, and shampoo.

[Awareness]: The survival rate of the pampered and spoiled is considerably lower than average.

“Thanks for the reminder.” I muttered to myself.

Despite my preferences in sword craftsmanship, I couldn’t step back now. There was always a student who defied the teacher, one way or another. It was a universal rule of classrooms. How the teacher dealt with those kinds of students usually determined how the whole class perceived the teacher from that point onwards.

Suppression was the usual, most logical response. The troublemaker’s position was always respected inside the classroom, and suppressing them did not always produce the best results. Experience told me that bringing the troublemaker to the teacher’s side yielded extra respect points and served to appease minor troublemakers.

Firana glared at me from the other side of the dueling area and tied her chestnut hair into a bun. Because she was the one throwing down the gauntlet, I could choose the weapon. I had chosen the longsword because it was my best weapon by far. The fact it allowed me to perform grabs to disarm my opponent was also a nice feature.

“What are the rules of the encounter, Zaon?” I asked.

“R-rules? I… why me?” The elven kid stuttered from the big tree stump.

“You are the referee, so you should set the rules.” I replied. “If I did it, Firana might think I selected rules that would benefit me.”

Of course I wasn’t going to let Zaon establish any crazy rules, but the kid needed to gain confidence in himself.

“Well… you are not allowed to hit unprotected areas, nor use thrusting techniques. The winner will be the first who manages to disarm the opponent or hit the opponent’s head. If you want to surrender, drop your sword and… that’s all? Fight fair and… have fun?” Zaon said with a hesitant tone.

Ilya slapped her own face with both hands and Wolf tried to hold a smirk.

“That’s a good set of rules, good job Zaon.” I said but the elven kid gave me an appalled glance as if he had already screwed up his chances of getting into the Knights Academy.

“If I win you will leave the orphanage.” Firana said, catching my attention. By the way she grabbed her sword, I could tell she had at least the basics covered.

“Sounds good to me.” I replied with a grin and asked myself if I should add a sprinkle of sass myself. “But if I win you will accept my tutelage with a smile on your face.”

“You will not win.” Firana replied.

Zaon, Ilya and Wolf watched our verbal exchange from the big stump.

“At your mark, Zaon!” I said, raising my guard in vom tag.

Firana took an overly centralized low guard. Not half bad, but it could be a lot better. If my hunch was accurate, then Holst wasn’t preparing the orphans for judicial dueling as much as he was preparing them to fight as conscripts in the army.

That had to change.

“Fight!” Zaon’s voice broke the silent and cold morning.

Firana attacked instantly, drawing an overly wide arc with her sword. Again, not bad but predictable. I took a step back, letting her blade fall short by at least two palms. Firana was fast, I had to give her that. Without [Swordsmanship] pumping my brain with my old fencing knowhow, her sword would’ve hit my hand.

Before Firana could attempt a follow up strike, I took another step back to disengage. Not only was her swordsmanship adequate, her footwork was also acceptable. It had taken me about a year to reach her current level.

“Fight me! Don't hold back!” Firana angrily said.

“Remember, you asked for it.” I replied.

Then, I identified her.

Name: Firana Aias, Human (Strong, Fast).

Class: None (Child).

Titles: Aias Heir, Gifted.

Passive: Fencing Lv.1

Skills: None.

Status: Angered Lv.1, Betrayed Lv.9.

“What are you doing?!” Firana probably felt my intrusion into her character sheet because she retreated. Her [Angered] status also raised one more level.

“You told me to not hold back. You wanted to see my powers as a ‘greenhorn Scholar’. Well, these are my powers.” I replied, raising my guard.

Firana responded to my taunt by going on an all-out-offensive. Her foot work was quick and her swings unchoreographed but not enough to match my Lv.5 [Swordsmanship]. There was no doubt why Firana was Holst’s favorite student, the girl had a great potential.

I stepped back and adopted the ochs guard to hinder her eagerness to attack. Firana seemed to understand my movements because she stepped away as soon as I raised my sword. For a moment we measured each other and I almost felt bad for using [Swordsmanship] against her.

If anything, she deserved to win considering the amount of time she had trained to reach her current level. However, I wasn’t going to let her kick me out of the orphanage.

I attacked with a zornhau from the right. Firana raised her sword to block. Our weapons met, the point of her sword near the hilt of mine. I had control over the engagement. Firana seemed to understand because she tried to step back and disengage. I was not going to let her.

Having the positional advantage, I pushed forward, driving her sword upwards until our masks almost hit each other. Then, I grabbed the hilt of her sword and ripped it from her grasp, all in a single movement.

Firana fell on her butt and I threw her sword behind me. Then, to make the scene more dramatic, I pointed my sword to her chest.

“It’s over! Mister Clarke wins.” Zaon jumped down from the stump with elven grace.

The boy tried to help Firana to stand up but the girl pushed him back. Then, fuming, Firana threw her mask to the ground and walked back to the orphanage.

“Hey! Come back!” Zaon tried to stop her.

I put my hand on his shoulder before he could chase her.

Stolen from Royal Road, this story should be reported if encountered on Amazon.

“Let her be, Zaon. She will come back when she is ready.” I said.

The combat hasn’t been a flashy exchange nor a demonstration of advanced techniques but I hoped my display of swordsmanship was enough to show what I was capable of. A teacher without credibility wasn’t going to inspire confidence from their students.

Maybe I should’ve added a couple of parries and counters to the mix.

When I turned around, I found the three orphans focused on me.

“Are you sure you are a Scholar? That was a Fencer-level display of skill.” Ilya came to me with her usual face of suspicion.

Zaon nodded intensely as the questions began to flow. Why? How? When? Where? A moment later, I had three orphans sitting in front of me listening to stories about the fencing club where I used to go.

“How many applicants did you have to beat to enter this HEMA club?” Ilya asked and I couldn't help but notice she had a skewed perception of what a fencing club was.

“None, I just had to pay a small fee, which covered costs for the equipment and upkeep.” I replied.

They gave me a suspicious glance.

“You are a skillful fencer so your instructors must’ve been great fighters, therefore, hundreds of applicants must be trying to get into the club.” Ilya said.

I just noticed I got myself into a predicament. Revealing that HEMA was considered a hobby back at my home was the equivalent of saying sword fighting as a whole was a hobby.

“I guess they were focused on teaching non-combatant classes… you know, so we could cultivate a wider range of skills.” I channeled all the powers of my [Teacher’s Bullshido] into a single sentence.

Ilya gave me a suspicious look but accepted my answer in the end. [Awareness] pointed out that cultivating unfitting skills drained effort that could be put into class-related skills.

“Your hometown is a weird place.” Ilya said.

“Ilya, don’t say such rude things!” Zaon stuttered.

“Let her speak her mind, Zaon. And yes, it is pretty different from Farcrest.” I said.

The kids continued asking questions about my club and I tried to reply as sparsely as possible. They were surprised about how informally I talked about my old instructors. Our relationship wasn’t too asymmetrical even if they were the teachers and I was the student. However, the kids couldn’t grasp why high level warriors as my instructors were so friendly to low level non-combatant classes.

The more the kids asked, the more I had to cover my tracks so after a short while, I decided it was enough storytelling.

It was time to figure out if my display of swordsmanship had convinced them. To obtain good results, they had to pursue achievements under their own volition. There was nothing to be gained by forcing them if they were going to study half-heartedly.

“So, what do you say? Will you study with me to become a cadet in the Knights Academy?” I asked.

“I’ll do my best!” Zaon instantly jumped.

“You are strong. I'd like to learn how to be as strong as you.” Wolf nodded.

I let out a metaphorical sigh of relief. Elincia had warned me it was going to be hard to win Wolf’s respect because of his orcish ancestry.

“And you, Ilya?” I asked her as she couldn't seem to decide whether to accept my guidance or embrace her self doubts. A myriad of different emotions were reflected on her face. It wasn’t my first rodeo with a student who refused to believe they could improve, but there was only so much I could do to convince her.

“I don’t know, I’m still a gnome.” Ilya shrugged her shoulders.

“Look, Ilya. Let's forget about the Knights Academy for a moment and focus on turning you into a Hunter. What about that?” I said.

Having great expectations of the students was the sign of a great teacher but there were situations where you wanted to prioritize achievable goals.

After another moment of doubting, Ilya finally nodded.

“Okay. If I get conscripted, Hunter is a better class than Soldier. I could even become a scout for the army and run away to safety if monsters appear.” Ilya said, clapping her hands twice. “So, what do we do to become as strong as you?”

The three orphans beamed at me as if I was the recipient of ancestral knowledge.

A wide smile crept onto my face. Strength, endurance, critical thinking, problem-solving, adaptability, leadership, and mental strength. There was a lot of work to do and too little time.

As the old adage said.

“We are already behind schedule!” I proclaimed with my best teacher's voice. “Let’s start with ten laps around the backyard and the manor. Not too fast, not too slow. Go!”

Zaon and Wolf started running but Ilya stood behind, looking at me as if she was already regretting her decision.

“A Hunter has to be nimbler than a Knight, especially if you want to be able to run away to safety if monsters appear.” I reminded her.

Ilya sighed and, envisioning her goal, set off after the boys.

I sat on the stump and a wave of relief washed over me. Everything went better than expected, Ilya had acceded to training under my guidance and I had managed to pique Wolf’s interest. Firana on the other hand, I had to trust she would keep her word after the duel.

The group jogged around the backyard with Wolf on the head and Ilya greatly delayed behind. After half the laps, I decided to join them. Teaching them was only half of my work. If I wanted to protect the orphanage I needed to be in my best shape.

“And how is this going to help us? It's not like our current class would help us improve our speed. We can’t even level up.” Ilya ran with one hand on her stomach and was breathing heavily.

“You just can’t leave everything to the System. You also have to grow by yourself.” I replied, jogging by her side.

When Wolf got a lead of half a lap ahead of us, I grabbed Ilya’s small hand and helped her to run. She didn’t put up any resistance. At first, it was more valuable that she could see she was capable of completing the laps than actually doing everything for herself. I had to build up her confidence as quickly as possible.

Ilya put part of her weight on my arm and pushed forward. She was tenacious, I had to give that to her. As we finished the tenth lap, a few minutes after the boys, Ilya dropped to the ground with the grace of a sack of potatoes.

“Come on! No time to lie down! We have to stretch those muscles.” I clapped my hands and guided them through a basic stretching routine.

Zaon was naturally flexible, the rest not so. We stretched the main muscle groups and then we did joint mobility. As expected, I had to explain why doing those kinds of weird movements was instrumental for the training process.

“Are we finally done?” Ilya fell to the ground when I told them to rest.

“That was the warm-up. The real exercise begins now.” I replied just to elicit a pained groan from the gnome girl.

As I grabbed the practice longsword, the orphans seemed to regain interest. I assumed the kids already knew the basic mechanics of a sword so I decided to skip that part.

“First thing we will learn is about the basic guards and the master strikes.” I clapped heartily. “And yes, a Hunter has to know their fencing too, not everything is about bow and arrows.” I added as Ilya opened her mouth.

The first master strike was the zornhau, the one I had used against Firana. The sword started near the right shoulder of the fencer, making a diagonal cut to the left while taking a step to the right to avoid the enemy’s attack. I made the orphans repeat the movement from the right and from the left.

“Remember! This is the most important thing about what I am teaching you. Your priority while fighting is to defend yourself and survive! It doesn’t matter if you deal a death blow if the enemy blade cripples you in the process!” I yelled as the three orphans practiced their zornhau. “The sword is our shield and our armor! You don’t have to behead your opponent to win a fight! Most of the time, hitting their hands or legs is enough to end combat.”

The orphans quickly figured out the strike and then we paired up to practice the strike. Zornhau against zornhau with the corresponding step to the right and then back off. I paired Zaon with Ilya so they could start slowly while I paired with Wolf, who seemed to be more familiar with swordplay.

“Everyone, look here for a moment! Give me a zornhau, Wolf” I called the group. Wolf threw a strike and our swords tied in the middle. Then, I slowly drew a half moon over my head, letting Wolf’s sword continue its trajectory, and attacked from the opposite side. “Now, if Wolf raises the grip of his sword and turns it to align his edge with mine, then he has the correct defensive response. This is what we know as hangen, a defensive angle that we can turn into a strike.”

Wolf and I reenacted the series of movements in slow motion. Zornhau against zornhau, change of direction, defense in hangen.

“In an actual duel, these are not two separate techniques but a single movement. Each strike turns into a guard and each guard into an attack. During the early training, we will split the fight into small successions of movements until you become familiar with them.” I said.

Then I noticed Elincia was watching us standing on the backdoor.

“That’s all for now. Ilya, you are in charge of the stretch routine. Then everyone can rest until lunch.” I said as I walked back to the orphanage.

Elincia greeted me with a smile.

“I can’t believe what I am seeing. Ilya working out and Wolf following instructions? This has to be a dream.” Elincia looked me directly in the eye, her face showed surprise and satisfaction in equal parts.

“Beliefs are powerful beasts. As long as they keep believing in themselves, no task will seem unachievable. They will only need a bit of guidance in the right direction.” I said smiling.

“To be honest, I’m starting to believe in you too.” Elincia playfully bumped me with her shoulder.

My heart skipped a beat or three. There were a hundred other things to worry about without going around acting like a lovestruck teenager.