"Come on! Take this!"
"Yeah, yeah... I said I'm not taking it."
Dodging the slash coming at him, Rest swung his wooden sword in a counter.
The thrust struck his opponent in the stomach.
"Ugh...!"
Seizing the moment his stance crumbled, Rest pressed the attack.
His arm, shoulder, and leg were struck in succession by the wooden sword, and he collapsed to the ground.
"Damn it... Ah, I lost again! I surrender!"
The one who howled in frustration was Danila Bethras—a first-year student in the Knight Department, regarded as the second-ranked talent.
Right now, they were in the middle of a Swordsmanship class.
Rest had just defeated Danila in another match.
"My win again. That makes four victories, I think?"
In fact, this was the fourth time he had fought Danila.
Danila challenged him to a match every Swordsmanship class, and so far, Rest remained undefeated.
Previously, at the beginning of this class, all enrolled students had participated in a mock battle.
Only the victorious students were permitted to learn sword techniques, while the defeated students were restricted to running and muscle training—not even allowed to practice swings with wooden swords.
However, from the second class onward, a relief measure had been added.
During class, students could challenge the winning side to a mock battle, and if they won, they were allowed to swap places and participate in the class.
"This way, by having them compete actively, we can really bring out the students' motivation!"
It was Baik Oddman, the instructor in charge of "Swordsmanship," who said that.
Oddman was well known as a devout mage-hater, and he had a twisted personality that led him to use class time to harass students from the Magic Department.
The reason this relief measure had been established after the fact was probably to rescue the Knight Department students who, through unexpected effort from students of other departments, had ended up on the losing side.
(After all, rank one and rank two among the Knight Department freshmen both went down together...)
"...You're really persistent, you know that, Danila? Why don't you challenge someone else instead of me?"
Rest spoke to the student he had just defeated in a mock battle moments ago—Danila.
Ever since losing on the first day of class, Danila had been challenging Rest to fights at every opportunity.
Today was no different. As soon as he had finished the mandated daily quota of strength training and running, he had launched himself at Rest, who was practicing wooden sword swings.
"With your skill level, you could easily beat the other guys. Why go out of your way to target me?"
"Heh... isn't it obvious? It's revenge, man. Revenge."
Danila pushed himself to his feet while clutching the spot where the wooden sword had struck him.
His expression was twisted with frustration, yet he stared right back into Rest's eyes without flinching.
"There's no way I'm letting it end with just losses on my record! I'm not going back to class until I beat you and you alone! You'd better prepare yourself, because I'm gonna wipe the floor with you and make you lick the ground!"
Danila roared with fighting spirit blazing in his eyes.
The fact that he didn't aim for opponents he could reliably beat suggested he wasn't as bad as his attitude made him seem.
"You really hate losing... Well, I don't mind that, I guess."
For Rest as well, the mock battles with Danila were quite educational.
Danila's manner of speaking and personality were rough and boorish, but his swordsmanship was clean and built on solid fundamentals.
Just fighting him taught him a great deal.
(Oddman's instruction for Magic Department students is obviously sloppy... Fighting Danila would be far more useful than that.)
Students who won in mock combat were allowed to swing a wooden sword and earn the right to receive instruction from faculty, but... it was clear Oddman had no intention of teaching Magic Department students.
Even if you asked him questions, he'd only give halfhearted guidance—there was no sign he planned to actually teach them properly.
(Even Sensei S_ip would take it more seriously than this... He's not even trying to hide the discrimination.)
Not every Knight Department instructor was like this, apparently... but Oddman had taken it to a whole new level of awful.
If this were an academy manga, he'd absolutely be the type of teacher who gets his comeuppance in the end.
That said, surprisingly few students actually complained about Oddman, lazy instructor though he was.
The reason was simple... the Magic Department students who had chosen "Swordsmanship" as their elective were people who studied the sword as part of a noble's upbringing.
They weren't actively trying to master swordsmanship—they merely wanted the established fact of "having learned the sword" under their belt.
In other words, by choosing "Swordsmanship," they could already say "I have studied the sword" out loud, so they saw no need to antagonize the instructor.
(Oddman probably knows that, which is why he's slacking off on the instruction... They don't plan to take it seriously anyway, so he figures just handing out the credits is good enough...)
"Oh, right... You heading to the student council room today?"
Danila suddenly asked, as though he'd just remembered.
"My brother said there's an important meeting today and told me to show up. You heard about it too, right?"
"Yeah, I heard. I'm going too."
Since then, he had informed Second Prince Andrew—who served as student council president—of his intention to join the student council enforcement.
And, surprisingly, Danila here was also a member of the enforcement division.
It seemed that Yusgos Bethras, one of the student council officers, happened to be Danila's real brother, and Danila had gotten in through that connection.
Danila was, by most accounts, the second-strongest among the first-year Knight Department students.
It wasn't merely a case of nepotism—his ability was recognized as legitimate.
(Though... the top-ranked student hadn't joined, had he?)
"Wait, I want to have a rematch with you!"
"Stay away, keep your distance, don't touch me, don't come near me! Women, stay out of my life!"
A short distance from the training ground, the boy who was supposed to be the top first-year student in the Knight Department was screaming his head off.
Wilhelm Lubeth.
The student who had claimed the top spot in the Knight Department entrance exam.
Behind Lubeth was Yuri, who for some reason was chasing him around.
"Last time was an incomplete burn! Today, I'm settling this once and for all!"
"Leave me alone! I'm never fighting a psycho like you again!"
Lubeth had quickly defeated the other winner in a mock battle and returned to class, but... ever since then, he'd been hounded by Yuri.
Previously, Yuri and Lubeth had fought, and Yuri had won... but despite being the victor, Yuri wasn't satisfied and kept challenging him to a rematch.
It seemed that Lubeth, who apparently hated women, was fleeing because he couldn't stand it.
"...In a way, I guess you could say they get along."
"Tch... That Lubeth bastard, getting all cozy with a girl... I'll flatten him too, just you wait."
"They don't exactly look like they're getting cozy, though..."
Rest lightly swung the wooden sword in his hand, shrugging at Danila, who was clicking his tongue in irritation.