Frondier had learned one thing while teaching Pielot and Dierre.
Students are each different.
No one has accumulated the same experiences as he has, nor are they as desperate as Frondier.
It’s unreasonable to expect from people who don’t know a game’s bad ending the same level of effort he puts in.
A student is a student, after all. They’re kids who haven’t even become adults yet.
Don’t put excessive pressure on those whose bodies and minds aren’t complete.
“......That’s why I said the first spar should be light.”
And now.
In front of Frondier lay three who had toppled over.
“Huff, huff, huff.......”
“Hii...... hii......”
“.......”
Vasileo was gulping air as if he would burst, Glaucos had gone chalk-white and was making strange sounds, and Ias was collapsed beside him without a twitch.
“I intended to do a light skill check, but you overpaced yourselves.”
Frondier scratched his face.
In truth, it wasn’t Frondier who injured them. They simply dropped on their own.
Frondier hadn’t planned to handle them strictly even up to the first class. Pielot in the past had been steeped in arrogance and had a chance of becoming a villain.
So Frondier had been strict, and indeed, since it was his first time teaching, it’s not like he didn’t bungle his touch.
But this time it was different. Even if Ias and Glaucos had some unstable elements, there were signs they could be fixed, and as for Vasileo, there was no worry yet in the mental department. He had planned to raise their skills step by step.
Hence the skill check.
“Why did you all get hotheaded and burn through all your stamina on your own?”
Frondier asked «N.o.v.e.l.i.g.h.t» the three who were sprawled out.
Vasileo answered first.
“In those conditions there’s no way to take it easy...!”
Vasileo, barely settled in his breathing, stood up. He continued.
“You said you’d face the three of us using only a spear, so of course we wanted to land at least one hit!”
Just as Vasileo said.
Frondier had gripped only a single spear for this spar.
It was Atjie’s Spear, a Unique grade, but since Frondier had no intention of attacking, the grade of the spear wasn’t all that important.
Right. Frondier had stuck to pure defense.
Frondier placed a hand at his waist and spoke.
“It’s not like I placed such a condition. It’s not like you pass only if you land a hit.”
“It’s a matter of pride!”
“......If I allow the three of you to land an attack, that creates a problem for my pride.”
Frondier let out a sigh.
They didn’t know what level Frondier reached once he switched to full defense. To them, Frondier was still a magic teacher.
'You lot need to suffer Atjie’s infinite cycle to come to your senses.'
In defense, Frondier had reached a level that could respond to almost all of Atjie’s riddles. On top of that, he had learned all sorts of weapon arts from many, many people, and there was his own intuition besides.
No matter how outstanding the prospects, the level was long since beyond something three students could lay a finger on.
“A m-monster...... a monster.......”
Next to him, Glaucos wasn’t so much exhausted or in pain as he was staring at Frondier with a face of fear.
It seemed a tremendous shock that his full-power, full-speed attacks had been brushed aside so easily.
“......Accept it. He’s just that kind of person.”
Ias, who lay face-down, muttered. In fact, he had expected this outcome ever since Frondier used Heukcheon to fell him and Glaucos at the same time.
“Still, since we achieved our original purpose, that’s enough.”
“What was the original purpose?”
“What else—getting you to clearly recognize the current situation. And finding the way to become stronger.”
Recognition of the current situation. If it was that, they’d had more than enough to be sick of it.
That the three representatives of Atlas had banded together yet couldn’t touch a single hair of Frondier—this current situation.
Frondier spoke.
“First, Ias. You didn’t use Divine Power.”
“......You said it was a skill test. If I just keep borrowing Divine Power without getting stronger myself, there’s no point.”
Frondier smiled at those words. Ias wasn’t wrong, but there was something he had misread.
“Ias, I told you that you have to make a decision.”
“......Yes, you did.”
“That applies to your Divine Power as well.”
“Huh?”
“You haven’t chosen anything yet. That’s no different just because it’s Divine Power.”
“......?”
“Think it over.”
Frondier left those words for Ias, who had a question mark floating over his head.
No lengthy speech was necessary for Ias as he was now.
Then he went to Glaucos.
“Glaucos. Looks like you took quite the shock.”
“......Teacher, you’re a monster.”
Well, now.
Frondier tilted his head a little and said,
“From where I’m standing, your attacks were excessively monotonous—was it surprising that they got dismantled?”
Glaucos wasn’t an idiot.
He charged in straight lines and his attack patterns were simple, but it wasn’t because that was all he could do.
“......It’s worked up to now, though.”
“Of course. You probably covered for it with overwhelming strength and speed.”
Glaucos had no interest in making his attacks so the opponent wouldn’t know how he struck.
Even if they knew, he’d make it so they couldn’t dodge or block. He believed in nothing but his physicality.
Glaucos clenched his fist tight.
“In rock-paper-scissors, the rule is if you throw late, you lose, right?”
“......Well, yes.”
“So if you throw faster than anyone, you always win! Whether I throw rock or scissors! Rock’s even better, if I can help it!”
Frondier’s eyes were half-lidded.
'......Dierre once brought up rock-paper-scissors too—does this world have a rock-paper-scissors craze?'
Or was there some general perspective that thought of fighting as rock-paper-scissors.
While Frondier thought for a moment, Glaucos drooped.
“Up to now, everyone who told me to mix in feints or use footwork—I punished them all like this. I figured there was no need to listen to people who couldn’t dodge even if they knew. But you’re different, Teacher. I guess I should do those things too? Things like measuring distance or feints.”
“Of course. What are you even talking about.”
“Ugh!”
“Did you think I’d say you don’t have to?”
“Uuugh!!”
“How do you expect to get stronger without observing the basics of combat?”
“Ghhhk!”
Glaucos took damage with every word and crumpled.
Frondier sighed.
'It’s not that I don’t understand his heart. Which makes it more troublesome.'
Glaucos’s strength was indeed astonishing. Pielot couldn’t absorb it and his body had actually been lifted.
But on the flip side, Glaucos got that speed precisely because from the outset he always thought, ‘No matter what the opponent does, I’m going to charge at full speed.’
If he starts thinking more, his speed will drop, and then his strength will weaken too. Other people get stronger by repeating those worries and failures, but Glaucos’s physicality was so good that he just came this far as he was.
If he tries to fix it now, it’ll probably take several times longer than for others.
'......No, that’s not the main problem right now.'
“Glaucos.”
“Yes?”
“In truth, that’s not your problem. No—yes, that’s also a problem, but there’s one more serious.”
“W-what is it?”
“Since you brought up rock-paper-scissors, I’ll use that as the example.”
In the rules of rock-paper-scissors, if you throw late, you lose. So if you throw fast, you always win.
It’s an absurdly extreme way of thinking, but even if that were valid, a problem remains.
“I was faster.”
“Sir?”
“If you think of our spar as rock-paper-scissors, I was already throwing faster than you.”
Glaucos’s mouth fell open.
“T-that can’t be! My speed was clearly surpassing yours, Teacher!”
“Right. Your speed is faster. It wouldn’t be easy for me to match your speed.”
“It’s not not easy, it’s impossible!”
In truth, it is possible—if he uses Heukcheon’s wings.
But since Glaucos’s ramming power seemed to be the greatest pillar of his pride, Frondier decided not to crush even that. Because it would be pitiful.
“......Right. Impossible. Even so, I was faster. So, by your own rules, it’s only natural you’d lose.”
“That can’t be. I was definitely faster. At full speed with all my might.”
“At full speed, you swung your rock into my hand, which was holding out paper.”
“......!”
“Figure out the rest yourself.”
And lastly, Frondier went to Vasileo.
Naturally expecting his turn to come, Vasileo had been waiting with a pounding heart.
“Lastly, Vasileo.”
“Yes!”
“To overcome a mage’s limits, you seem to be trying to raise your casting speed.”
“......! Yes! You noticed!”
Vasileo nodded with a moved expression.
Frondier nodded back and then said,
“Let’s not do that.”
“Sir?!”
“It doesn’t suit you.”
At Frondier’s even words, Vasileo’s mouth opened and shut like a fish.
After watching Vasileo’s final problem-solving,
Frondier had a conversation with Elodie.
Strictly speaking, it started from Elodie’s words.
“Come to think of it, that kid seems very interested in high-speed casting.”
“......Ah, that. I felt it too.”
Vasileo had pressed Elodie deeply about simplification of formulae, and with Frondier he had shown his magic and provoked whether he could cast faster.
“Within the environment called Atlas, he’s quickly sensing the limits of a mage and trying to solve them.”
“That’s praiseworthy. In fact, most veteran magicians on the Falind continent do high-speed casting.”
Though Elodie said so, her face looked somehow unsettled.
Frondier asked,
“Looks like you have something you’re worried about.”
“......Vasileo is a pure mage, right?”
“Right. On this continent, all mages are pure mages.”
On the Falind continent, even if not explicitly called “magic swordsman,” there are cases where a mage focuses solely on magic, and cases where that’s not so.
For example, Elodie had learned self-defense along with high-speed casting.
The reason being “ordinary magic is too strong.” She could already fire simple magic at a speed close to throwing a straight punch, but if she wasn’t careful, the opponent might die.
Since her power control was clumsy, it was actually safer for the opponent if she swung fists and feet.
On the other hand, in Lunia’s case, a pure mage who assumes a vanguard will always be present. Rather than the speed of casting, focus is on variety and accuracy of spells.
It’s the classic, traditional concept of a mage, and on the Agoris continent, all mages are this type.
“......That kid, high-speed casting is going to be hard.”
“Why?”
“High-speed casting is a concept where intuition leaps far ahead of theory. Even if it looks cool on the outside, to be blunt, the most important mindset is ‘roughly,’ ‘in a lump,’ ‘if you keep doing it, it works.’”
“......None of those keywords fit Vasileo.”
“Right. He seems even more rigid than Lunia. The type who can’t move on unless he checks each and every formula.”
Frondier remembered Vasileo’s incantation posture.
It truly looked like a reproduction of a textbook. If allowed, he’d want to record Vasileo’s incantation process on video and have every beginner mage watch it. There wasn’t a single bad habit; everything in formula and chant was perfect.
For that very reason, his casting speed didn’t increase. He was the type who couldn’t let any single step slide. That produced his high grades and current magic skill, but at this point it became a hindrance instead.
“That’s troublesome. He seems to want high-speed casting.”
Frondier propped his chin and pondered.
As for magic, he left almost everything to Elodie. As knowledge, he was still far too lacking, and Elodie was a top-class mage positioned completely opposite from him. If Elodie judged something difficult, then it was difficult. He already had that much trust in her.
“What Vasileo truly wants is to break through the limits of a lone mage, right?”
“Well, yes. A mage who can be active without needing a vanguard. That’s what Vasileo wants. I’m almost certain.”
When Frondier affirmed it, Elodie grinned.
When Elodie was like this, she felt like a witch. It was a thought Frondier always had but never spoke aloud.
“Then there is a method.”
“A method?”
“Yeah. A method possible for a genius who can’t do anything ‘roughly,’ who engraves every step into his eyes so that even if he relocates, loosens, and unfolds the formulae, they remain as they are.”
Elodie raised a finger.
“The absolute domain of a pure mage that I can never do.”
Elodie said it.
That it was a domain she couldn’t do.
But that Vasileo could.
So such a thing existed. Frondier thought, and waited for Elodie’s next words.
Elodie said,
“‘Reservation.’”
