Chapter 102: 102

Training Life

Crunch, crunch, crunch.

A constant beat sounded in the large, spacious training hall.

“Seriously…. shoveling this much snow, that guy must be out of his mind….”

Hearing Zechs moaned in despair, Cody and Sheila also stopped working and wiped the sweat off their faces.

“Well, it’s part of the training, so it can’t be helped.”

“I don’t usually pay attention to it, but the training hall is actually quite big…..”

Sheila heard there was a lot of snow in the capital this year.

At first, they were as excited as children, but they stopped talking about having snowball fights pretty soon. They had been shoveling snow from the too-vast training hall day after day, and their body and mind had completely broken down.

Simple work with no end in sight was unexpectedly painful. However, since Clauschezade had suggested that they start by “shoveling snow from the training hall,” the three of them had no choice but to work in silence.

“As expected, it’s tough. I can’t put any strength into my arms anymore.”

Thanks to the occasional mountain hiking, Sheila at first had confidence in her legs and back, but it was only recently that she realized she had no arm strength to go with it. It was first noticed by her after a series of battles with Seiryuu and Axe.

Zechs’ eyes widened when he saw Sheila relaxing her stiff muscles.

“You, don’t slap your backside. You look like an old man.”

“I can’t help it, I’ve been working with my back the whole time.”

When Sheila rebutted him, Cody, who was also slapping his back, gave a wry smile.

“Sorry. My knees and shoulders are also at their limits here.”

“You sound like an old man.”

“Well, he’s a real old man.”

“Both of you are terrible!”

Zechs didn’t have his usual high spirits when they teased Cody together. He grumbled listlessly while resting his chin on the handle of the shovel.

“Why is there so much snow this year? It’s seriously impossible for snow to fall from the third month of autumn in the first place….”

“Really? My village’s condition was much worse.”

Sheila was somewhat surprised to finally see the first snowfall on the day the students left the dormitory.

In Denan Village, the snow used to fall around the beginning of the third month of autumn, so she was casually thinking that it was probably late this year.

Speaking of winter, Sheila remembered living her daily life without leaving the house while consuming preserved food that her family had made in autumn. The entrance to the village must have already been closed with snow by now. It looked like it would be a long time before the mail arrived.

Sheila smiled as she looked up at the slightly cloudy sky.

“There’s less snow here than in the village. When we have some time to spare, the three of us should go to the capital together again.”

“You’re really positive about that…”

Zechs seemed poised to abandon his training completely at the earliest opportunity, and he fled into a world of delusion with an unconstrained smile on his face.

“Ah, but speaking of the royal capital, I’d really like to meet Arin-chan. People need healing when they’re feeling a little wistful, you know. Ah, I want to see Arin-chan’s gentle smile…..”

“Once the symptoms of escapism appear, it’s already terminal.”

“Besides, Zechs is the complete opposite of Arin-chan’s tastes.”

As she had previously told Sheila, her preference for a man was ‘a gentle, mature, receptive and sincere man.’ It was honestly impossible for Zechs.

Sheila and Cody each expressed their honest opinions, and Zechs growled at them like a sore loser.

“Shut up! I can be that kind of man if I try hard enough!”

“――And anyway, that was probably Arin-chan’s way of trying to get you to give up.”

Sheila’s all-too-accurate comment caused both men to freeze together.

“Because, Zechs, you don’t really like Arin-chan, do you?”

“Of course I really like her!”

“Yes, yes. Then, what if a girl as cute as Arin-chan confesses to you?”

“Of course, I’d go out with her! If there’s a girl who’s cute, girly, always smiling, and she only likes me, I’m willing to go out with anyone!”

There’s no way there was such a dreamy girl. You should understand the reality.

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Sheila wanted to say that, but Zechs would be shot down if she was too direct, so Sheila tried to reword her thoughts.

“Just like you said, you want ‘a girl who only likes you,’ right? Girls want someone who will only look at them, too. I think girls won’t come close to you because your insincere and honest attitude of “just go for anyone” is so transparent.”

“Geughhh!”

Zechs fell down on the snow, clutching his chest. Judging from the way that he was twitching without looking up, it seemed that even her reworded reminder killed him. Sheila was just saying what she felt as a girl.

“Did I say too much?”

“I guess you were being too truthful. I’m not sure why, though, as a man myself, I also felt a great deal of pain in my chest….”

For some reason, her intended words seemed to have changed target, and even Cody was looking pale.

Would they still have the energy to shovel snow? As Sheila was inwardly regretting the fact that she had reduced her helpers, a voice, more chilling than the snow, sounded.

“――If you can afford to waste that much time talking, I see you’re all doing just fine.”

Zechs and Cody straightened their posture with conditioned reflexes and quickly aligned themselves.

Clauschezade suddenly appeared while stepping on the snow. Sheila received his glance and immediately approached him.

“Is something wrong?”

Claushezade put his lips to her ear, perhaps out of consideration for Cody and Zechs. It was Sheila who panicked.

“W-W-What―”

“You’re asking what’s wrong? You’re acting even more suspicious than usual, aren’t you?”

She tried to move away from him in a hurry, but he closed the distance between them without hesitation. Sheila could feel her cheeks heating up a little.

For some reason, Sheila had been having more and more days lately when she can’t get close to Claushezade. The cause was unknown, but she was so embarrassed to be alone in a room with him that she desperately tried to stifle her agitation.

He whispered in a hushed voice to Sheila, who reluctantly approached him again.

“Don’t talk about women’s feelings so easily. You never know what might happen.”

“Ah….”

If the two of them, who hadn’t yet recovered from the shock, calmed down, they might notice something strange about Sheila’s familiarity with the female mind. She knew what he was afraid of.

“But even if you weren’t a woman, you could theoretically come to that conclusion, couldn’t you?”

“Why can’t you see that your theoretical view is highly questionable?”

“I think you’re underestimating my character….”

Sheila appreciated his effort to protect her secret, but she wondered why she didn’t want to thank him honestly.

When Sheila and Claushezade’s secret talks ended on a delicate note, Zechs, who had been waiting for them, immediately expressed his dissatisfaction.

“Claushezade-sensei, is this the kind of training you want me to do? I want you to teach me more about swordsmanship. I didn’t even bother to shovel snow last year. I can shovel snow easily with magic.”

Clauschezade looked at Zechs.

“Certainly, it seemed that the snow was melted with a magic tool every year. But that wouldn’t be good training.”

“Then, let Cody do it. That way, he could practice his magic.”

“You, are you going to force me to do it alone….?”

Zechs neatly ignored his friend’s whispered resentment.

Clauschezade now turned to Cody.

“Cody Aswan. You possess magical power, but the amount of magical power itself is not that much. Therefore, magic should be your last trump card. If you use it too often, it may not be useful when the time comes.”

Sheila blinked, surprised at Clauschezade’s explanation. It was a feat that could only be done if one understood Cody’s characteristics.

“In other words, all of you have one thing in common: you all need to improve your swordsmanship. Therefore, physical fitness is a must.”

“….”

“If you have time to complain, get to work. Isn’t there a saying among merchants that ‘time is money’?”

“Haahh…. You’re absolutely right.”

Zechs was usually a talkative man, but he seemed to be unable to refute right now.

Sheila felt a sense of solidarity with her friend, who had been overwhelmed by Clauschezade, but she didn’t feel sympathy. It would be a mistake to think that you could refute Clauschezade’s argument.

“….. Let’s keep on shoveling snow for now, shall we?”

In the training hall, where awkwardness and fatigue began to drift in the air, Sheila successfully read the atmosphere and lifted her shovel.

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