The day after—— Today was the day they divided the Knight division students and the Squire division into their own classes.
While the Knight division students were practicing to use their Artifacts in battle, the Squire division students were learning how to fly with Flygears by themselves and maintaining the vehicle. On days with classroom study, basic combats, and joint exercises with Flygears, the Knight division would and the Squire division would have joint classes.
They gathered Inglis and the other new students of the Squire division at the Academy’s front main gate. Standing in front of them was a large muscular man with a bald head. The instructor uniform that he wore was torn apart with his bulging muscles.
「The instructor in charge for Squires is me, Margus! Listen closely! It is the basic that you Squire students don’t have any Rune or Artifacts! But don’t you think even for a moment that you are inferior to those who do! Let our dispute be against those beasts alone! If we don’t have Runes, then let us temper our body to make up the difference! I’ll have you lots to train several times harder than those of the Knights division! First, we will run to the Dock! Come, follow me!」
Leaving those words, the instructor ran off towards the Vault Lake.
「EEeeeeh!?」 「But that has nothing to do with Flygears…..!?」 「So fast!? We’ll lose sight of him!」 「W-, we must follow him for now!」
Everyone ran after instructor Margus.
「… Something like this isn’t that bad either.」
Inglis agreed with the instructor, tempering one’s own body was the basic of basic. However, just plain running would be boring.
An Artifact’s Gift that Inglis witnessed yesterday produced the gravitational pull effect, she tried to recreate it now. ——She remembered well the placements and the patterns of the Mana. However, it was still a delicate formula. The big question was whether she could operate it.「Hmm….」
Inglis closed her eyes and focused her mind to change Ether into Mana. She manipulated it so it would clad her body—— The Gift from yesterday applied the gravitational pull towards a large area, but it would take a higher skill and Inglis had no use doing it either. She only needed to apply it to herself.
She only needed to recreate a part of the Gift. If so, even with her immature skills——
THUMP!
Inglis felt the sensation of her body sinking into the ground. Hop! Hop! Inglis tried jumping in place. She could tell she was heavier than usual.
「Oh…. I did it——!?」
The pull is about a few times my own body weight?I can say that it’s still too light for my taste, but I’m sure I can make it heavier as I improve my skills.At any rate, it’ll make my training more efficient than otherwise.
「Okay…! This much is enough for now.」
Inglis started last amongst everyone. However, even after being pulled by the extra gravity and started from the very end of the line—— She caught up with instructor Margus, who ran at the front in no time at all.
「Fuhahaha! Don’t push yourselves! It’s just natural that none of you can catch up to me! Anyone who loses sight of me may ask the townspeople for directions to the DoooOOOOOOO!? S-, since when you’re theeerreee!??」 「Instructor. May I head there first?」 「Y-, you can, but——you remember the way there….!?」 「…..Come to think of it, I don’t. I will follow you for today then.」
It was still unsatisfying, but Inglis decided to just follow along while trying if she could increase the gravitational pull even further. ——And then, a silhouette came from her behind.
「FUNGAAHHHH!!! WAAAIITTT!!!」
It was a short young man with a face that said he’d rather die than lose. He was desperately chasing after Inglis and the instructor If she didn’t mistake it, he was the Squire student who showed an excellent result during the game of tag yesterday——a boy named Lahti.
「Ooh, that’s awesome.」
This young man didn’t own a Rune and wasn’t a Divine Knight like Inglis, he was genuinely an ordinary man inside out. It must be the person himself who had fast legs. The sight of him frantically doing his best brought a smile to Inglis’ face
「S̲h̲i̲t̲, wipe your damn smirk——! I’m running with my life on the line here…!」 「Hahaha! There sure are a lot of promising students in this year’s Squire division! Good, very good!」 「Don’t forget us.」 「Damn right! Did you think we won’t be able to catch up with you!?」
Behind him, a pair of young men with blue and red hair respectively came into view. The color of their hair was opposite to each other, but their profiles were like two peas in a pod. They must be twins. 1 Inglis felt like she had a recollection of them. If she recalled it correctly, they were Liselotte’s followers who protected her during the game of tag yesterday.
In other words, they were her Squires—— The two of them had a Rune each on their hands, the shine told Inglis those were Middle-Grade Runes. They naturally fit the criteria to be admitted into the Knight division, so they must’ve chosen to be here to serve under Liselotte.
There were other Squire students who owned a Rune, but the twins were the only ones with a Middle-Grade Rune, the rest only had Low-Grade Runes. Inglis had heard that Liselotte was the daughter of the king’s right hand, prime minister Althea. She was the daughter of the most influential man at the moment, so Inglis supposed that her Squires must be those with high qualifications.
They both carried sword Artifacts with them. Artifacts had the effect of altering the wielders’ physical abilities when they were activated. The twins seemed to be able to catch up with Inglis relying on this effect, as Inglis could feel the flow of Mana from them. Instructor Margus didn’t prohibit anyone from using Artifacts.
「Uugh….! Damn it….!」
Inch by inch, Lahti gradually fell behind the four.
「Woah there. Take it easy, boy. Mister ordinary citizen like you just need to eat our dust and follow from behind, kay?」 「Indeed. Humans can’t force themselves to grow. Like in the height department.」
Liselotte’s attendant twins snarled at Lahti. The red-haired one had a rough speech tone, while the blue-haired one spoke with a condescending tendency. 2
「Shut up! You guys just came to the Squire division to make yourself look big since you have no chance to win in the Knight division! Like hell Imma lose to such small-balled b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲s̲….!」 「What you say, punk!? You dare to say that on our faces!?」 「Pfft…. for someone who can’t run after us, your mouth sure runs fast.」
True enough, Lahti had hit his limits.
「… Do you remember the way to the Dock?」
Inglis drew near Lahti and asked in a whisper.
「Y-, yea… I remember, why….?」 「Then, guide me.」
She grabbed Lahti’s hand and sped up their run, dragging the latter most of the time.
「——We’ll be going ahead!」 「DDOOOOoO!? Fast! You’re too fast! GYAaaaaah!?」 「Bear with it. You don’t want to lose, do you?」
From behind the two, the Instructor called them.
「W-, when you arrive, take your Flygears and do your flight self-study——!」 「Yes. Roger that.」
Inglis turned her back to give a smile towards the instructor, then sped up even further.
「Wha… fast!?」 「N-, no way, what the hell’s that!?」
In no time at all, Inglis had lost the Instructor and the twins behind her.
- Mab: what are they, the opposite of Ram and Rem?
- Silva: Like Master like Servant, arrogant and rude.