101. Interim Assessment (2)

before the next class starts.

Assistant Eric came to Zeke Kleiman, who had been meditating alone in the gymnasium since the morning.

Zeke opened his mouth without even looking at him.

“Eric?”

“Yes.”

“What is going on?”

“I have something to tell you.”

“Delivery?”

Zeke opened his eyes and turned his head.

“Yes, did you know there is a midterm evaluation next week?”

“Know.”

Zeke nodded.

According to the schedule, the interim evaluation period was scheduled for the next week.

“Do you have any exams in mind for the mid-term evaluation?”

“There are no tests in our class.”

“… … Aren’t you going to take the test?”

“Yes, the class itself is at the discretion of the instructor anyway, so there is no need to take a test if the evaluation is done properly. Isn’t it?”

“That is, yes, but… … .”

Eric looked at Zeke with a strange expression.

“But you have to take the test.”

“… … Why?”

As far as he knew, all authority in the class belonged to the instructor.

To be able to protest or enforce the authority required the consent of the majority of students taking their classes.

“Did something come out of dissatisfaction among the students?”

“No, it’s not like that.”

Zeke frowned. If it’s not him, why do I have to look at something like midterm evaluation?

Eric’s words were enough to upset Zeke’s planting, as he was still teaching them as if he was running out of time as he crammed each individual swordsmanship into the assigned class.

“That’s the principal’s ‘request’.”

“The principal’s request… … ?”

“Yes, yes. You’re not the kind of person who’s forcing things like this, but… … . Convince the instructor… … .”

Eric said, avoiding his eyes as if he was embarrassed to say such a thing.

“Listen first.”

“The test method is joint sparring… … . Pick four representatives from each swordsmanship class. He said they would proceed in the form of competing with each other’s skills.”

“under.”

Upon hearing about the midterm evaluation method, Zeke snorted.

“Eric.”

“Yes… … .”

“It’s not your fault, so I won’t say much, but… … . Just ask a few questions.”

“Please Xiamen.”

“There will be four men in all. Except for Rosnante, we are all women.”

“Yes,”

“And I’ll make the excuse that I picked the top four in terms of skill.”

“… … Yes.”

Zeke said as if he didn’t understand.

“And can this be called an evaluation? If there are four of us, it can be seen as 80% of the class, so it can be said that discrimination is developed to some extent. As far as I know, there are more than 100 people in the class. Eric. Is this really a midterm?”

“… … .”

Eric kept his mouth shut. He was well aware that this evaluation was not fair, and he had already spoken to the principal once.

“Well, okay. tell the principal. We said we would accept the midterm evaluation. Instead, make sure to tell them that you owe them this.”

“… … Yes.”

Eric lowered his head and quickly disappeared from the gymnasium.

‘I wrote the same number. Is this Dios… … ? No, he’s not. I said this knowing my personality.’

A person who would do such a shady thing. His face popped into my mind naturally.

‘First Prince, Ilios Leonine. It must have been a bit of a poop since the Justia Banquet.’

Zeke organized his thoughts.

There was no way that cunning bastard could only think of embarrassing himself with this midterm evaluation.

And even if they did win, people would only hear that it was an obscene victory in which strong men defeated weak (?) women and girls by force.

There was no honor or anything there.

‘I’m not going to take it… … . I will take only one reputation for taking down Rosnante by force. However, the last time I had a duel with Rosnante, the 1st Prince’s influence has expanded beyond compare to our manneken idiots.’

Zeke thought from his point of view.

What the hell could he possibly gain from this stupid sparring?

He is clearly listening to information from Yuri. In the meantime, Zeke didn’t hide the contents of his class from Yuri, so he must be fully aware that his class is different from general swordsmanship classes.

If he didn’t even realize it, it would mean that the first prince was that incompetent, but Sieg didn’t underestimate him to that extent.

shit.

Zeke, who was deep in thought, smiled.

‘That funny guy is an outcast.’

Dios loses to our class. Then, Dios means that an instructor who has not been able to defeat even weak women is an instructor, so he is not qualified to be an instructor.

Dios wins against our class. Then, since Dios is an unscrupulous man who oppressed weak women by force, he is also not qualified to be an instructor.

This midterm evaluation was more of a trick to snipe Dios than Zeke.

And trying to plant one’s own person in its place.

He seemed to have become uneasy just by putting Yuri Gilbert in his class after the Justia Banquet.

Since the grades are different, it is difficult to exert influence, and that is why they are trying to create a group to check Zeke.

It was clear that he wanted to appoint someone he could trust as a swordsmanship instructor rather than stupid Dios.

‘The insidious bastard.’

So no matter who wins, he has nothing to lose.

It was a familiar thing that Zeke hated but understood best.

Of course, in the process, the best-case scenario for Ilios is for Dios’ half to win.

Then, at the same time as removing Dios, it would be possible to deal some damage to Zeke’s instructor qualifications.

‘In the swordsmanship class, they don’t teach swordsmanship, and they’ll bite and say shit about making a political meeting.’

Even now, if you look at it that way, it was a class that could be seen that way.

The members of the class he teaches are the 2nd prince, the duke’s princesses, and the count’s daughters.

Of course, there was a commoner in the middle, but that was a fact that people didn’t notice.

‘Whatever it is, the work to do will not change. It’s easy to defeat that little guy. It doesn’t matter if someone else comes in instead of Dios… … . Is it glass that I care about… … .’

Zeke thought of a dark-haired girl with a troubled expression on everything.

“I guess I’ll have to play some games.”

Zeke smiled as if he was looking forward to it.

‘I’ll be very open-minded.’

* * *

Immediately after accepting that the interim evaluation will be conducted through joint sparring between the swordsmanship classes.

Hell has begun.

Short and thick physical training.

After that, everyone except for the two who will learn the swordsmanship will perform a downward slash, as in the previous day.

Today’s swordsmanship lesson was Rosnante and Yuri.

Serena had to undergo a little special training, so unlike others who received it in pairs, they separated it by receiving it alone.

“why! why! Am I the only one doing strength training in swordsmanship class!?”

Rosnante shouted with a lot of resentment.

“Didn’t you tell me to bring the magic stone?”

“Hey! Strangely enough, magic stones have become expensive these days! The price has already quadrupled!”

“If you were holding a magic stone, you would have had some fun.”

“I gave it all to the first prince, so there’s nothing left to do!”

‘Looks like Mr. Yoheiden is doing well.’

Not too long ago, Zeke informed the Duke of Joheiden of the existence of Lost Hope.

As a countermeasure, I had told you that you could defeat them by grinding a magic stone and applying it to your sword.

‘I thought I would do it in a secret form… … . Well, he must have been anxious because he experienced them firsthand.’

It must have been a terrible experience for Yoheiden, who had personally experienced an opponent who couldn’t use swords at all.

And the empire that received that fact wouldn’t have been able to stay still either.

If Joheiden’s words were true, it was like saying that even with a very small number of people, sprouts were growing that would overthrow the country.

As the Empire and Joheiden released money in earnest to sprout magic stones, the price seemed to skyrocket.

“Anyway, until you collect all the magic stones, you are training for strength. It can’t be helped, so accept it.”

“Heuk!”

Rosnante kicked the sand bag and ran, scattering tears.

After giving Rosnante physical training, Zeke saw Yuri standing at a distance.

“Yuri Gilbert.”

“… … Yeah.”

“Where are you uncomfortable?”

At first glance, Yuri had the same expression as usual, but from Zeke’s point of view, she had something uneasy on her face.

Zeke also had a hard face passively, so he was able to notice the subtle differences in Yuri.

“Hmm… … . Let me know if you have any concerns.”

“no. Fine.”

However, as if he had no intention of revealing it, Yuri cut it off and answered.

“Okay, then raise your sword.”

Instead of forcefully asking, Zeke urged Yuri to raise his sword.

Just as he was raising his wooden sword, Yuri opened his mouth.

“I, that… … .”

“What?”

“I heard about the test method.”

“yes. I said I would pick four people and decide the outcome 4:4.”

“Yes, there are five of us in my class, so I would appreciate it if you could exclude me from the number.”

“Why?”

“Because I am the weakest.”

Yuri said so, but Zeke refused with an insensitive expression.

“I can’t do that.”

“Yeah?”

“That is not the reason. Give me another convincing reason.”

Then, as if embarrassed, she continued to speak gibberish.

“… … I don’t have strong destructive power like Serena. He doesn’t have the courage to remain calm even with the sword in front of him like Iriel did. And the wild thing that attacks like Elise… … .”

“Can Rosnante win?”

“… … Rosnante was called the genius of the sword even before he came here.”

“I’m not saying you can’t win.”

At Zeke’s words, Yuri put on a cold expression.

“… … I think I will lose.”

“You just don’t want to learn the sword.”

“!”

Zeke laughed.

“Okay, I’ll accept your request to remove you that day. But I wish I could have been a little more honest. 1 Even if the prince told me to do it, I don’t care. And if you ever change your mind, tell me.”

Yuri bit her lip.

“And I won’t care what he does, so do whatever you want.”

Yuri’s eyes shook at Zeke’s words, which seemed to have been expected by everyone.

“Then stop chatting and grab the wooden sword. And try the downward cut you did yesterday.”

“I, am I not doing something else?”

Sieg seemed to be teaching each person a special swordsmanship.

However, unlike the other students, it seemed to him that he was trying to continue the training of the previous day.

“Well, I don’t really need to, and I don’t have a hobby of forcibly dragging people I don’t want to do.”

Yuri felt a bit sad that he seemed to be alienating himself, but quickly brushed it off.

‘Because I have to follow Prince 1… … . It’s as if I’ve already betrayed the instructor.’

Yuri drew the sword from top to bottom without shaking.

However, I wonder if it was the overflowing anticipation that made me think that maybe this person might be different.

Suddenly, the sadness that had been put on hold came over me.

Again, Yuri drew the sword from top to bottom.

‘Yeah, this is what I didn’t have a conscience. What the hell were you expecting?’

Yuri drew the sword from top to bottom.

‘Yeah, so… … . are you okay. Anyway, I like swordsmanship… … . Something I really didn’t want to do.’

He felt his heart tighten, but Yuri tried hard to ignore his feelings.

*

‘This is genius.’

This girl will never know how great it is to hear the modifier ‘genius’ from Zeke, who has spent 10 years in a world full of monsters and where everything is broken.

Right now, Yuri wasn’t focusing on the sword at all.

Emotions rise and fall, a state full of all sorts of thoughts.

But, it doesn’t seem to have anything to do with it.

Yesterday, it was Yuri who first learned the trajectory of downward slashing.

The trajectory she descends is unwavering, like those who have practiced swordsmanship for years.

‘I’m sorry about the Mana Road.’

Normal mana load.

It’s not as rich and wide as Serena’s, and it’s not as fast-paced as Iriel’s. However, it was not at all cramped like Rosnante and himself. Of course, Soi doesn’t have a mana load at all, so it’s out of the question.

However, what would be the problem with that ordinary mana load?

His talent for the sword surpassed all of that.

‘As expected for a type like Ilios, being bitten by the dog he raised would be the most painful.’