Chapter 77: Don’t Cry
The venue where the spearmanship classes were held was an outdoor training ground.
Practical Spearmanship Theory.
It was a third year class that combined theory and practice, but I was able to apply for this class regardless of year level as a special benefit of the Autonomous Department.
I was confident that I was ready for it. I thought about strengthening my theory by taking first year classes, but since it was something I had learned about nonstop from my father since I was young, I felt like it would be a waste of time.
“Is that him?”
“He’s the top student this year, right?”
“I heard he passed the special summoning selection test.”
“How does that make sense?”
However, when I arrived at the outdoor training ground, I received a lot more stares than usual. I wondered if the Academy’s investigation team had already figured it out, but of course they hadn’t.
“So, you’re Dane Sogres. It’s a pleasure to meet you. It’s an honor to meet the son of a legendary knight.”
“Count Sogres is my idol!”
“If only I could see the legendary spear knight’s skills just once… let’s be friends?”
The Spearmanship Department.
It was a place full of people who idolized my father, Arken Sogres.
The legendary spearman of the empire.
One of only six Hexa-class warriors in the empire.
A war hero of the empire.
There was absolutely no reason for anyone who walked the path of the spear to not idolize him. Thanks to that, I was suddenly surrounded by dozens of people from the Spearmanship Department even before the class started.
“You must have a talent for spearmanship, too. I heard you passed one of the three exams for the Autonomous Department with spearmanship!”
“Absolutely! He’ll definitely succeed Count Sogres.”
“Then will you use the famous Dragon Tail, too?”
I also felt like everyone had quite high expectations of me here. That kind of interest was becoming increasingly familiar.
However, the professor’s interest was a little different.
“Dane Sogres.”
Ingrid Soren, Dean of the Spearmanship Department.
She wore black horn-rimmed glasses and smiled brightly as soon as she saw me, suddenly calling me forward.
“Is this the first time we’ve seen each other since the entrance exam? Welcome to one of the Spearmanship classes.”
“Hello, Professor. I’ve heard a lot about you.”
“Oh, my. Did the Count tell you about me?”
“Yes.”
My father often told me stories of his bravery on the battlefield. One person who often appeared in those stories was Professor Ingrid.
By the way, she was also someone I had met in my past life. I thought she was a worthy rival back then, but she must have grown stronger.
“Everyone, I am sure you know the name ‘Count Arken Sogres’ well. This is Dane Sogres, the youngest son of Count Sogres.”
When Professor Ingrid introduced me, applause erupted from all directions. This… I couldn’t get used to it.
During my Summoning class and my Magic class, I received strangely uncomfortable looks from other students of the two departments because a student outside of their departments did so well.
Here, everyone just had sparkling eyes. It would have been better if they had been jealous.
I resolved to have fun. This was a good thing, right?
“Dane Sogres, if you don’t mind, can you demonstrate your skills?”
“Alright.”
Anyway, the actual class was just about physical activities related to spearmanship. I had a worried expression on my face for a moment, wondering what I should show.
“Ooooh! What will he show?”
“It must be an incredible skill, right?”
“Is he having trouble deciding because he had too much to show?”
Was this the life of a star? Even worrying became a topic of conversation.
Alright.
For Father, I should use it.
I walked over to the stand and picked up a spear. Then, I aimed it at the wooden training dummy standing in the outdoor training area.
What I was trying to do now was a one-shot explosion of mana. It was a technique that my father showed me when he gave me the short spear as a gift, and I copied it right away.
“Oooooh!”
“He’s doing something!”
“Will he show Count Sogres’ spearmanship?”
What would have happened if I hadn’t learned spearmanship? With how they were acting, I might have gotten applause for taking a shit—they would have said that even my shit was special.
Anyway, I lifted my foot off the ground while aiming at the wooden dummy.
Swoosh!
Just like that, I shot forward.
But at that moment一
Bang!
Where the spear hit, an explosion of mana greater than I had expected struck.
“O-oh my!”
“The dummy exploded!”
The wooden dummy was smashed to pieces, scattering fragments everywhere.
“…”
What was this? Was this similar to when I was shooting arrows in the Forest of Bonia earlier?
“D-Dane Sogres. Are you alright?”
“I’m fine.”
There was some debris flying around, but fortunately, no one, including me, was hurt.
“Oh my god, it just blew up…”
Ah. If you thought about it, I hadn’t just gained one more circle. Since the condensed ancient magic had been absorbed, my total amount of mana had also increased.
The destructive power had also increased…
If it were before, there should have been just a moderate amount of damage to the area it hit, but instead, it just completely exploded.
“Indeed… You are truly my senior’s son…”
‘Oh. The thing was, I didn’t think it would be this much…’
“I can’t believe my senior’s skills have been implemented like this…”
But why was that professor crying? Because she was moved?
“I still can’t forget the feeling I had when I first saw Senior’s technique…”
Father, if you come here, there will be chaos. Just looking at their expressions…
“Did you just see? Did you see?”
“As expected, he is the count’s son!”
“Oh my god, wasn’t that the count’s technique just now? Didn’t he implement it exactly the same?”
‘…Father. I think everyone here would probably faint if they saw my father.’
* * *
After the class filled with my father’s enthusiastic fans, I headed straight to the meeting place Leila, Ernest, and I had discussed.
Rocktale Hall was where the academy’s club association was located. It was also where all the club rooms were gathered.
We would use one of these.
“Whoa.”
I had only two first impressions.
There were so many people, And it was colorful.
As expected from a place where all clubs gathered, the moment I entered, all sorts of scents wafted toward me, and the atmosphere changed as I walked by.
“Aaaack! It’s going to explode!”
“Good! Next attack!”
“Wouldn’t it be better to do the calculation like this here?”
The sounds were heard through the cracks of the doors. Club recruitment notices were plastered all over the bulletin board. Each club room door was decorated with its own unique personality.
This was where the clubs called the ‘Flower of the Academy’ were gathered.
“What is this place? Why is it so big?”
Then I was shocked to see a poster celebrating that a club called the ‘Academy Fencing Club’ had just surpassed three hundred members. The club’s size was almost like that of an undergraduate department.
“Dane! Over here!”
“Oh, Dane is here!”
Just then, I heard Leila and Ernest.
“Come quickly! They say we need the president to get a club room! There’s only one left!”
“We’re going to have a club room too!”
When I saw their excited faces, I couldn’t help but laugh.
How could someone be that excited?
It was then that I tried to walk a little faster.
“They said there’s one club room left! Run!”
“President! Are we really going to have to disband the club?”
“Be quiet! Muscles don’t die!”
What was that?
It was the Physical Beauty Club.
I stared blankly at the sight of the muscle heads running down the other hallway, then shouted to Leila.
“Leila. I’m going now.”
“Uh, huh?”
I gathered my mana and leaped forward.
Was it because I had two circles of ancient magic? The distance narrowed in an instant.
“No!”
The screams rang out in an instant.
I took the two in and immediately took the documents from Leila’s hands and submitted them lightly.
“I came to get a club room.”
“Oh, yes. There’s only one left. Are you Dane Sogres from the Autonomous Department?”
“Yes, I am the president of this club.”
“The assignment is complete. Here, the key.”
The moment I received the club room key一
“N-no!”
A scream was heard from behind me.
It looked like the pests’ president. When I looked back, I saw four muscular students with expressions of despair on their faces shedding tears.
“Haah… There’s only one club room left… This can’t be happening!”
The president approached urgently and asked the staff, “Are there any club rooms left?”
“Oh, there aren’t any… This concludes the deadline for this year…”
“This is ridiculous…”
The sight of the mass of muscles collapsing was truly spectacular, if not a spectacle.
“Now where will we train…?”
“Our base is…”
I became curious and asked, “What happened to you all? Why are there only four of you?”
“That’s because my muscles were oppressed!”
“Oppressed?”
“Yes! After we were caught by the student council, we lost our club room and all our funds! All our muscles were oppressed!”
Despite his appearance, he was quite emotional. I couldn’t believe someone could make an analogy like that.
No, maybe he was just crazy about muscles.
“President, what are we going to do now? We don’t even have enough money to pay the storage fee for the equipment…”
“There’s no place to put supplements…”
“Is this how our muscle solidarity ends…?”
The president suddenly shouted, “Don’t cry! If you cry, you’ll lose muscle mass!”
A bunch of idiots.
“So, you guys don’t have a club room right now. And the members?”
“There are quite a few who have left due to the merciless oppression…”
After being caught by the student council, it seemed that the Physical Beauty Club was almost disbanded, probably to hold them responsible for their evil deeds.
“But we will rise again and spread the good word about muscles to the world.”
The guy then asked me.
“Dane Sogres. Could you… give us your club room?”
“No,” I flatly refused.
“If I kneel like this?”
“President! For the sake of the club room, you went to such lengths…!”
“Be quiet! Sometimes a man has to give up his pride!”
But I was adamant.
“No.”
“…”
Then the president made a cautious suggestion, in a crawling voice, “…Even if I were to teach you the essence of muscle building that only I know?”
The other members jumped up at those words.
“President! Th-that! You didn’t even tell me that!”
“You said you’d let me know later!”
“I told you to be quiet! Is that important right now? What’s important to us right now is where to put our precious equipment and supplements away and where we can sweat!”
Even if I starved for three days and three nights and begged for food, I wouldn’t be more desperate than this.
Of course, I had no thought of agreeing.
“It doesn’t interest me.”
Then I turned my head and said, “Let’s go check out the club room.”
“Uh, yes.”
“These guys are weird…”
It was at that moment that Ernest, Laila, and I were about to pass by with a disgruntled expression on our faces…
“Damn… Club room… No, if only there was a place where I could just train! If only there was a place where I could build muscle!”
“President! Where would there be a place like that in the Academy?!”
“We are now in a situation where we get glares wherever we go…”
Ernest suddenly tilted his head and said, “I think there is a place where they can practice without being noticed by anyone…?”
For a moment, the area around us became quiet and everyone’s attention turned to Ernest.
Then, the president urgently got down on his knees and crawled on both knees, stopping in front of Ernest.
“Wh-where is that place? Tell me! Just tell me and I’ll teach you everything!”
“Please!”
The rest of the pests came over and knelt as a group. Ernest was looking very burdened by this and was mumbling.
Hold on.
Ernest needed strength now.
These students were muscle-crazy.
This…
Maybe this would be a good deal?
