Finally, the school day ended- I groaned in relief, glad that I wasn't that confused about the things written inside of the test papers that Mrs. Edith prepared for the day. And that is mostly thanks to two reasons; my memory being amazing at reviewing what I already learned and my friends just being an overall great tutor.
Why I didn't have such amazing people for friends back in my first life I had no clue.
Well partly, I know that my classmates- or at least the important/canon characters in the game, - are idealized versions of a person and so, because of that, they're kind of perfect? I guess? At everything they do, be it studying, fighting, tutoring, or whatever else it is they're good at.
So was it really a question that almost everyone managed to get perfect scores on the tests?
And the ones that didn't, like myself, only had 10 or so overall mistakes across the board, meanwhile the ones that did bad were the guys who embodied the trope of either “being muscle brained” like Garth, Frovan, and Eber, or were comically incompetent like Nickos who by the way was-
“I ONLY GOT 19?!”
That.
His score was so surprising to him that his distressed voice was audible from where I was even though he was what? On the other side of the classroom?
Kinda neat and I can't wait for him to become either a general or an instructor in the future, he'll definitely do well on that front from just how loud he is alone.
“What's wrong with that guy?” Laceresta scoffed while glaring in the boy's direction, “of course he'd get 19, he spent all the breaks either playing or sleeping,”
“Eh, that's still pretty decent for someone who did all of that right?” I said to the Lioness.
19 out of 50 didn't sound good but Nickos genuinely learned nothing from our lessons so him somehow just getting that through sheer… skill? I guess? Is downright impressive.
And if this is how high his score is from just playing around, how far can he get when he actually turns serious?
“Well yeah, but he's still going to fail if he keeps this up,” she replied.
“Good point there,” Korbinian chorused as she peeked out of the door, a few seconds later, she turned back and shook her head at us, “still no signs of Prescine,”
“Well, our last period did just end so I'm guessing that she's either doing student council stuff or is currently heading her way here as we speak,” I shrugged, Prescine being busy or late isn't that strange with her role, “it could be either way really,”
“Right, guess we’ll have to wait then,” the raven haired girl replied as she made her way to a nearby seat, sat down, opened her notebook, and proceeded to read. I assume for fun since none of our teachers announced that there’s going to be a test tomorrow.
That or she wanted to review the test we just finished for a refresher.
“Uhm…” when I heard those unconfident words, I closed my eyes for a single second before forcing them open and slowly turning to the speaker-
“Hi,” Lucille stood to my side, fidgeting while looking very uncertain, “I’m not sure if this is the right time to ask you but-”
“You’re the girl that asked Neophyte for training.” I resisted the urge to facepalm when I heard just how aggressive Laceresta sounded- if Lucille was anxious before this, then she must be screaming internally right now.
The only sign of her internal panic was the squeak that came out of the heroine, “yep!”
She nodded the the same way a mouse’s head would move when eating cheese and a series of words rushed out of her mouth:
“I-asked-for-her-to-teach-me-but-I-know-that-it-I-mean-I’m-just-forcing-her-to-do-it-and-I-should-probably-just-learn-stuff-on-my-own-” out of breath from her rapid fire response, Lucille sucked in a lungful of air before letting out a nervous laugh, “ahahaaa…”
She turned away from us, “I’m going now-”
“I didn’t say that you should go, or that Neophyte didn’t agree,”
Lucille stopped walking away.
“Laceresta, maybe let me handle this?” The Lioness looked at me and stayed that way for a few seconds before nodding and moving a few steps back. I nodded gratefully at her before turning to Lucille, who now looked hopeful, "right, so training?”
A slow nod was the response, I returned it and pursed my lips, thinking, “you want me to teach you how to fight?” Another nod, “well I can definitely do that but my fighting style is reliant on Techniques,”
I swallowed down an anxious sigh, okay me, you’ve been thinking about this for a while now and you’ve replayed this conversation in your head over and over again while in the showers. I can't possibly fuck this up, “so what I’ll be teaching you are my Techniques,”
“Okay,” she replied, “I’ll learn-”
“Let me finish,” did I sound too stern just now? I hope I didn’t.
I gestured at Laceresta, “Laceresta is the one who’s going to be teaching you how to fight, she’s good at it and she knows a large variety of closed combat styles that use fists, but she said she’ll figure out a way to translate those to be useable by daggers,”
Lucille faced the Lioness, who nodded once, “I already agreed, don’t worry,”
“She did, yes,” I repeated, “but for now, since she's still trying to figure out how to translate those styles for daggers, she’ll only be teaching you the theory and the basics of how to fight like that,” Lucille nodded in understanding, “- all the while sparring with you and telling you what kind of exercises you’ll be doing to get your body used to moving the way it would when using that style,”
“Uh… what?” Lucille sounded confused and I get it, I was the same when I learned for the first time the human body has to be conditioned to move in a certain way because otherwise it’ll just be too stiff.
“Think of it like this,” we all faced Fafnir, “well, I suppose a visual example is better,” she turned to me, “Neophyte?”
You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.
“Uh?..” what did she want?
She sighed, “the stance that we agreed on to showcase this?”
“Ah, right!” I called my Pledge and went on a stance.
I rotated my right arm into a sideways L shape, continuing until my elbow was right next to my head and when that was done, I used my other hand to grab the hilt of my rapier, completing the two handed stance.
Fafnir spoke then, “can you do this stance as well?”
“O-okay?” Lucille did so and wore a perpetual frown as she did her best to get into the stance and when she managed to do it, her entire arm was shaking due to it still not being used to the kind of angle it was currently on, “this feels a bit awkward,”
“It is,” Laceresta was the one who spoke, “and you’re still not holding the same weight as Neophyte, so imagine if your dagger was a sword,”
“I’d definitely have a hard time or even fall,” she replied in confidence.
“And I did, back when I wasn’t strong enough- or really, back when my shoulders and elbow weren’t used to doing this kind of stance,” I added to the idea.
It is also worth noting that I wouldn’t have been able to do this if not for the years of sword fighting that I did in the past.
“And that’s what the exercise will do for you, it will train your joints to be flexible to be able to move in ways they would have had a hard time doing before,” I said.
“O-okay, got it,” Lucille replied with a shaky nod, “but can I ask you guys something?”
“Hm? Sure,” I gestured for her to continue.
“What’s the point of this kind of stance? Isn't it a bit too tedious?” She asked.
“Well, first off,” Laceresta pointed at me, “Neophyte can move her elbow and wrist downward to make her rapier block her upper body, and since her shoulder and core are directly opposing each other-”
“The block would be stronger,” Lucille finished.
“Yeah,” Laceresta nodded, “and the next would be the ease of attack, all Neophyte has to do is twist her elbows and move her shoulders in tandem and she’d be able to slice sideways or downward,”
I stopped doing the stance and Lucille shortly followed, I chuckled, as she started rotating her hands, “but it is kind of tedious though,” I admitted, “and it’s not really practical for combat unless you’re a regular human fighting another guy who moves as slow as you one on one,”
“Yep.” Laceresta nodded, “it’s mainly used for ceremonial duels and only at the start of them at that, when the fighters are still approaching each other,”
“But then why?” Lucille asked.
“Why what?” Laceresta returned.
“Why- have this sort of thing if it’s mostly useless?”
“It’s because it’s a good way to train and also, as you said earlier, the block of this kind of stance is strong,” Fafnir answered for us, “a parry or block that automatically uses all your joints as well as your core is invaluable no?”
“Can’t argue with that,” Lucille murmured, “alright- I accept to be trained by you.”
Laceresta snorted, “a bit arrogant there and this wasn’t a choice, and you didn’t have one to begin with,” Laceresta narrowed her eyes, “if you want Neophyte to teach you, then all of us are gonna do it alongside her,”
“Oh, that’s great-” we all turned to Vicissi, while I paid attention to the way Lucille was shaking like a leaf in the corner of my eye- what happened between these two? “What? Is she another Prophecy like all of you?” He laughed and pointed at Lucille, a scowl masking his features, “this failure-”
He wheezed when Laceresta’s punch struck him square in the chest, the Lioness patted his back as he keeled over, “I told you I’d punch anyone who misbehaves didn’t I?”
I stared at her in confusion, what is up with her sudden burst of… this? It's so out of character for her to do this that I'm thinking there's an ulterior motive to it.
My gaze trailed back to Vicissi.
He didn't answer with other than more wheezing and coughing, Laceresta patted his back hard enough that Vicissi's cough turned rough for a split second before violently pushing him to a chair and that was it, nothing else happened- thankfully, - to Vicissi as Laceresta walked back to us with a feral grin, “I’m a great officer aren’t I?”
“Uh, I guess?” I replied while hiding my suspicion of her casualness- not with violence, that's normal for her kind, but with her act, it's too casual and I found it hard to ignore her sudden change in attitude when dealing with everyone else and me.
I eyed the sweaty, panting Vicissi as he wheezed for breath, his pale lips quivering with each lungful of air, “what are we gonna do with him?”
“We wait for Prescine and send him to detention,” Laceresta easily replied. “What else? Just leave him there to recover? Don’t be stupid,”
“I mean- I wanted to ask about the infirmary but you know what?” I gave up and turned away from the guy, I’ll let everyone else handle him, and this felt too much like a crime anyway, “fair enough, do what you want,”
Lucille raised a finger, “Can I say something?”
“No. You’re with us to train, don’t question anything,”
“That sounds like something a bad guy would say Laceresta,” I glowered.
“Don’t care, and besides, I’m right aren’t I?”
Imitating Lucille, I raised a finger to make a point, “not…” are we even talking about training here or do they know I mean Laceresta's treatment towards Lucille?
“... really but-” I frowned she would be right if we were in the Oasis- I'm talking about Vicissi now, - but we’re not there currently and also, going back to how harsh yet casual she is towards Lucille, is this how Laceresta was trained?
That’s… kind of harsh, especially knowing that it was her own father who did it.
Now I’m starting to appreciate Bismuth actually answering my questions back then, no matter how vague they may have been.
Also, this whole thing needs to be nipped in the bud before it could get any worse.
“Sorry but can I talk to Laceresta for a minute?” When everyone nodded, I jerked my head at our lockers.
“Fine, come on,” the Lioness grunted and started walking.
I followed after Laceresta as she scaled the stairs and all the while, kept listening to her grumble something I couldn’t catch. When we got to the highest level of our classroom, the Lioness faced me, her expression unapologetic and yet at the same time, calm, “what do you want to talk about?”
So she’s willing to hear me out huh?
Well that’s a whole lot better than I expected.
“I think you’re being too harsh to Lucille,” I said what needed to be said because I knew that Laceresta preferred that kind of thing so for the following conversation, there would be no words with hidden meanings, no social pitfall where we go around in circles because none of us wants to admit we’re wrong.
None of that.
The following conversation will be straightforward and blunt, “and?” The Lioness raised her eyebrow, “she needs this kind of thing,”
“No- that’s the problem- Lucille is not- Lucille is just a regular girl and when she hears you say things like… whatever you said back there or see you punch a guy, she’s going to think that you’re scary,” why do I feel like we’re talking about a non-existent child of ours here? “You’re pushing her away,”
“Pushing her- Neophyte I’m helping her out!”
“You’re not!’ I hissed, “she’s a lot more optimistic and naive than you think so imagine how she would think if you treated her like that?”
“She’s going to be grateful, obviously,” Laceresta crossed her arms with a huff, “what else?” She looked at me as I was the one who had problems, “I’m helping her out here,”
“Helping her out?!” I shut my mouth shut and with a shake of my head, lowered my voice, “which part of that was helping her out?!”
“Me stopping that guy from continuing on-”
“That’ll encourage him to keep going!” I snapped, I know that he already did something yesterday, when our classes ended and I’m guessing what he did was the reason why Lucille approached me to ask if I can teach her even when she wasn’t sure that I would’ve answered in a positive.
“Now he’s just going to try to be less bold, but still keep going,” I wanted to pace back and forth, wanted to- wanted to do a lot of things- yell- tell Laceresta that she fucked up but none of it would be enough to convey what I wanted to really say.
The Lioness probably thinks that Lucille's feeling grateful right now too, “and don’t say that you’re-” I groaned and sighed. I thought things through and you know what?
Letting Laceresta enforce her own brand of justice should work at stopping Vicissi from escalating any further, “okay, fair enough, maybe that’ll stop him,”
Key word here is maybe because as far as I’m aware, spoiled, rich brats who had little to no consequences for the things they did ever since they were young would find ways to do the thing that they shouldn’t.
It’s like they’re a mix of a stupid child and an extremely stubborn cat, except these ones could talk and pretend they’re smart or something.
“But you still shouldn’t be so aggressive when it comes to talking to Lucille!” I scolded, “I know I'm asking for too much and being pushy right now but tone it down or something?” I pleaded, “Please? She’ll think that we don’t want her in our group but then since I and when I say that I mean we want to actually teach her and keep going with the lessons even when she looks uncomfortable she’ll-”
“Think that she’s doing something that she shouldn’t making her feel guilty, unconfident, and in the worst case scenario, get her to start feeling lethargic and burnt out from everything we’re going to make her do,” Fafnir, who had sprung up from nowhere, went on to summarize my points.
… and then she glared at me, “you are doing that now. Look at Lucille.”
I did and- “oh-” goddamnit, see? This is why- she already thinks that we’re talking behind her back and are forcing ourselves to do this, isn’t she?
Oh Goddess she has a reason to think like this too since not only do I have a past of going out of my way to help out the territories below Everlast, I'm also our class’ President and I’m pretty sure she thinks that I consider everyone as my responsibility so she's probably thinking I’m just trying my best to help her out for the sake of duty or something.
And then there's the fact that I'm the Saintess- or she thinks I am, I mean.
I sighed- okay, I can fix this, everything is fine.
I glared at Laceresta, “don’t be aggressive towards her,”
I didn’t wait for the Lioness to respond and walked back to where the Heroine was.
Hopefully I get her to think that I do want to help her out.