Chapter 81

When Claude’s lesson finished, he went to the royal palace after lunch.

Felice and Albert were warming up and stretching in the Faust House’s practice field for their afternoon swordsmanship lesson.

Austin appeared just when their bodies became ready.

「I kept you waiting. Are your bodies loosened up?」

「Yes. We will be in your care, Master」

「Thank you in advance」

「Alright! I will be teaching you the sword today, but we will begin with basic training first」

「Basic training, is it?」

「What are we going to do?」

「First, do ten laps around the practice field. There’s still some training after that, so pace yourselves appropritately」

「Yes!」

「If it’s ten laps then…… 10km, huh」

「Albert, your stamina has been lowered as well, right?」

「Yeah. That’s true, but…… if put in numbers, it’s still about the level of A-cla.s.s adventurer」

「I see…… Let’s think about your schedule later after you handle the same schedule as Felice」

「Al is practicing holding back, right?」

「That’s right, but we should confirm the limits of his values first」

「Alright」

After that, Felice and Albert began running at their own paces.

It’s only a matter of fact, but Albert’s pace was fast and Felice lagged a lap behind, but she ran at her own pace without panicking.

Compared to Albert who’s breath wasn’t at all out of order after ten laps, Felice’s breathing slightly increased but it calmed down after she took a few deep breaths.

「You seem fine. Next, we would usually train the muscles, but forcibly forging muscles at Felice’s age would be bad for the body’s growth, so we will train the reflexes now」

「Yes!」

「What are we doing?」

「First…… try following my movements with your eyes」

Saying such, Austin’s figure disappeared.

Felice was restlessly looking around while Albert had an expression of interest.

「Hee~ it became like this in my current state. It feels somewhat fresh」

「I can’t see you! Can you see him, Al?」

「I can’t see him clearly. I see afterimages only. As I thought, Master is strong considering he’s a human」

「”Considering he’s human” was unnecessary, Albert」

As soon as I heard Austin’s voice, he was gently patting my head from behind.

「You are currently “human” as well after all. Always be careful about your speech and conduct especially in public」

「I got it」

「You were so fast I was startled!」

「I have used body strengthening. It’s not limited to adventurers, so other people will also use skills to strengthen their bodies when in combat」

「Is everyone as fast as Master?」

「No, there are also skill levels, but there are differences even if on the same level. Do you know why?」

「Hmm~…… does it come to the original speed after all?」

「Correct. But, “seeing” is not enough. You can’t react like that. Because it’s like that, from now on, you will have to grasp your opponent with “eyes” and react with “reflexes,” you have to forge your “speed” both for avoiding and attacking」

「「How?」」

「Fu fu fu…… it’s something we used when we were little, but I was able to bring it thanks to the item ring you guys gave me」

Felice recognized what Austin retrieved from his item ring while grinning.

(Huh? Am I hallucinating? Why is…… whack-a-mole here? Also…… Harisen and shield too)

Right, what Austin retrieved was a whack-a-mole.

However, there were five harisen around the whack-a-mole with one shield.

「This fellow is called『Whack-a-monster』, first you choose a monster to whack」

Saying such, Austin pressed a goblin b.u.t.ton.

Then, a pointlessly cute deformed goblin came out of a hole.

(Eh?…… A cute one came out)

「When it comes out, you take this piko hammer and…… smash it!」

――Dogoo!

(Hii~! Hitting it so strongly!? The h.e.l.l is this piko hammer!? It doesn’t make any “piko” noises!)

Austin smashed it really strongly, but the goblins kept on coming out without breaking and violent noises kept on resounded.

「You smash them like this one after another. And, if you fail to smash them up……」

While explaining, Austin missed on purpose.

Then, the harisen around the『Whack-a-monster』came alive all at once and one of them came attacking Austin.

However, Austin swiftly defended that attack with a shield.

Then, he started smashing up the goblins coming out of the holes again.

(No way…… is that…… rock, paper, scissors game, strike-defend, and whack-a-mole collaboration!?)

「And so, you repeat this for three minutes. The speed differs with levels, so begin at level one. You can choose the level with this b.u.t.ton」

「…… Yes」

「What’s this! It looks fun!」

(Does it? It’s something)

Felice thought in disbelief with Al who’s eyes were sparkling and the grinning Austin next to her.

「Albert, give it a try first. What about the level?」

「Can I choose?」

「Albert, you saw my movements to a certain extent, right? That’s why…… level ten should be fine for you」

「Then, let’s go with that!」

「I forgot to tell you, but magic and skills are banned from this training, alright~」

Albert pushed level ten b.u.t.ton and chose goblins as the monsters.

『Whack-a-monster』activated and Albert smoothly whacked the goblins.

Three minutes pa.s.sed without a single miss.

On the contrary of Felice’s expectations to change, Austin pushed the level eleven b.u.t.ton, so Albert continued.

If he checked Austin’s expression, he might have seen the look Austin was giving him, but Albert was having too much fun so he wasn’t looking around.

Felice had a bad feeling, so she was anxiously watching.

And then, the time was at 2minutes 58seconds and the last goblin appeared and the whacking ended…… or that was supposed to happen, but the harisen started moving.

「Eh!? Why? I smashed it properly!」

「Kukkukku…… take a good look, Albert. Just what have you smashed last」

As Austin said, Albert moved the hammer and took a look.

「N…… no way, this is!?」

「Right, that’s…… a human child! By the way, if you make a mistake and smash it, you will get a random beating!」

「I didn’t hear about this!?」

(Ah~ as I thought…… I should be careful too)

While Albert was protesting, the harisen finished the preparations and attacked him all at once.

「No matter how you look, one shield is not enough…… in that case!」

Albert panicked for a moment, but he immediately jumped behind the harisen trying to disable them, but it ended in a failure.

――Bashin!

「Uwa! Wait a moment, this is a barrier!?」

「The harisen have a barrier during the random beating, so you won’t be able to get away from it~!」

「Say that earlierーーーーー!」

The harisen mercilessly chased after the shouting Albert.

One minute later, Albert returned while jiggling.

「Al?……. Are you okay?」

「Fu fu fu…… fine. It won’t end like this the next time!」

Saying that, Albert pressed the level eleven b.u.t.ton again.

「…… He entered the Ryuu mode. Master, what about me?」

「Don’t worry Felice, I have one more machine」

「I will start from level one」

Felice pressed the level one b.u.t.ton and chose goblins as the monsters.

It was slow, so she whacked them with certainty.

On the other side, Al received a random pounding in the middle of level eleven.

「Hey! Why in the middle!?」

「n.o.body said that the child appears only at the end~ it’s random」

「s.h.i.tーーー!」

「Watch the face properly」

Level eleven for the third time.

This time, the child didn’t appear in the middle and he didn’t smash it at the end…… but, the harisen still moved.

「I properly stopped!」

「That’s why I told you to watch the face」

「Face? …… It’s a goblin!」

「It’s not like the child appears every time. Well, you missed so you have to defend」

Albert easily defended against the harisen and silently pressed the level eleven again.

In the end, Albert wasn’t able to clear level eleven that day, but Felice smoothly advanced to level two.

「Alright! The basic training ends here. I will teach you swordsmanship next」

「「Swordsmanship?…… Swordsmanship!?」」

「Oyoy, today’s afternoon practice is basic training and swordsmanship, isn’t it?」

「Was that so?」

「I completely forgot because of the『Whack-a-monster』」

「Today is the first day, so we will only do swings with wooden swords. Try swinging until your arms can’t go up anymore」

「「Yes!」」

After that, they have practiced swinging under Austin’s guidance.

They couldn’t raise their arms anymore, so today’s practice finished, but because they were prohibited from healing their exhausted bodies with magic, Felice was dozing off at the dinnertime until she fell asleep, so Albert carried her into her room where they fell asleep together.

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