Chapter 43

Chapter 43: To the Academy, Part 2

After our move, we, the escorts, accompanied the princess and returned to the classroom after the ceremony near her.

I couldn't understand the contents of the opening ceremony since it was cut out in the game, but it wasn't much different from what I remembered from my past life.

"Princess, is there anything else after this?"

"If everything goes as usual, today should only be the opening ceremony. If it's over, I'm thinking of taking you all on a tour of the academy."

"Will the princess guide us?"

"Yes, wouldn't that be better for you, Jin-san? Besides, if I'm away from you, there's no point in having escorts."

I nodded in agreement with what the princess said.

After that, when the homeroom teacher returned and briefly mentioned some matters, we were told that we could go home after today.

"Jun-kun, it's amazing. I never knew there was such an incredible academy in the capital...," Chloe said, expressing her impressions after being guided by the princess and looking around.

Even though I had a certain level of knowledge from the game, I felt the greatness of this academy by actually seeing it.

"The king at the time who worked so hard for the students must have truly cared for the people."

"My father said that he was particularly concerned about the people even among the royal family. He passed away from old age just before I was born, but it's honestly regrettable that I couldn't hear his stories directly if I had been born a little earlier."

"That was the current king's grandfather, right? It's impressive that he lived until the princess was born. He was quite long-lived for a human."

"I heard that he was still demonstrating his skill in swordsmanship until shortly before his passing. My father and grandfather sometimes say that they still can't believe he's gone."

The princess said she wanted to meet him and have various conversations, then returned to guiding us around the academy.

Since it was impossible to see everything in one day, she only showed us the places and main facilities we would pass by in the future, and we returned to the royal castle.

After returning home, our escort duties were only within the academy, so we were given free time after finishing our work there.

We were free to go outside, but with no particular plans, Chloe and I decided to use the training facility in the royal castle to move our bodies.

"Hey, Jin-kun. I was thinking about it when we fought Julius the other day, but do you think it would be better to train our magic a little more?"

I hesitated for a moment at Chloe's question.

In the game, Chloe was the type of person who only believed in herself, so she had acquired not only scouting skills like the current ones but also magic, swordsmanship, and even assassination skills.

"Well, I think it would expand our strategic options if we can do it. We don't plan to recruit more allies immediately, so I think it wouldn't hurt to train and prepare ourselves."

"... Yeah, that's right. Okay! Then, I'll do my best in magic training."

"If there's anything I can help with, just let me know. Well, since I've been self-taught, I can't really teach you properly, so I can only be your training partner."

After saying that, Chloe replied, "That alone is appreciated!" She then said she would start training magic in a place where no one was around.

Having witnessed Chloe starting her magic training, I borrowed a training sword to begin my own training by practicing swings.

Since I was reincarnated into this world and have been training in actual combat until now, training in a situation where there are no enemies is unexpectedly a first for me.

"... Having enemies creates a sense of tension and makes the training more effective."

Finishing my swings, I wiped away the sweat with a towel while visualizing an enemy in my mind as I swung the sword.

The current training is not necessarily bad, but since it is only based on imagination, it lacks that tension born from a sense of crisis, so it doesn't seem sustainable for a long time.

"Oh? Jin-kun, are you alone?"

"... Julius-san."

While continuing the training with a sense of dissatisfaction, Julius appeared in the training area and called out to me.

"I've been watching from afar, and I can tell you're dissatisfied with the training, right? I could tell because your heart wasn't into the sword."

"Indeed, you are the Sword Saint. As you said, I was swinging the sword with some dissatisfaction."

"Why is that? May I ask?"

"Since I've only been training in actual combat after gaining experience, I haven't been doing training in a formal setting lately. Because of that, I don't feel any tension, and I quickly get bored with the training."

Since I was found out, I honestly told Julius, and he said, "I see..." Then, for some reason, he returned with a training sword hanging on the wall of the training area.

This is not good, the situation is going in a bad direction...

"In that case, I shall be your opponent. I haven't swung a sword today, and I was just thinking that I wanted to move my body."

With a smile on his face, he said that, and I thought to myself that I had to find a way to escape.

If I were to fight now, I would end up even further pleasing Julius.

That's what I thought, and I intended to refuse, but contrary to my intentions, the words "Shall we?" proposing a match came out of my mouth.

Ah! I'm such an idiot! Just because I briefly thought I didn't want to continue the training, I ended up accepting the match!

"Hehe, I thought you would refuse, but I'm glad you accepted. I'm happy."

Ugh, to be seen through to that extent... It seems I shouldn't underestimate Julius's keen intuition.

While thinking so, Julius and I asked one of the soldiers to be the referee and began the mock battle.