Swordsmanship Class (5)
Right, Elise looked like her usual self.
Except for the fact that her previously short hair had grown to her shoulders and that drool was dripping from one corner of her mouth.
Rosnante's eyes shook like an earthquake as he looked at her.
"I-Instructor, what happened to Elise...?"
"Well, I gave her a drug that makes her hallucinate, and it seems to be working a little too well."
"You call that working well...?"
"This kind of training is necessary to strengthen mental power."
Zeke replied with an indifferent face, arms crossed.
Rosnante frowned.
No matter how he looked at it, her condition wasn't normal.
What in the world did he feed a student during class?
"So, right now... Do you know what kind of hallucination she's seeing...?"
"I think she probably thinks she's an Orc Lord right now."
"O-Orc Lord! Isn't that a legendary monster?!"
'Legendary? Yutra was out for a stroll earlier. What legend?'
Zeke, who had even caught Yutra nearby before, couldn't really relate to those words.
'Well, to be precise, it's not exactly an Orc Lord.'
Soi probably hadn't seen a real Orc Lord either, so he had only stimulated her in a similar direction to that instinct. Strictly speaking, there was a difference.
In other words, the current Soi was in a berserker state, with her aggression and instincts maximized.
The reason Zeke chose this method was that Soi needed to not be consumed by her own power.
As the power of emotions intensifies, it affects not only those around her but also her own mind.
'It's a good thing I watched Soi make bread when I was treating Iriel.'
The magic stone embedded in Soi's heart, and the way Soi made bread.
Having grasped those two things, Zeke was now able to exhibit the same power as her, limited to 'Soi Spoon.'
It was a process that could be done as long as he understood the mechanism, even if it wasn't bread.
However, perhaps because the raw material was emotion and not mana, the drug Zeke made had no effect on anyone other than Soi, who had a magic stone embedded in her heart.
Of course, Zeke had once imitated Soi Spoon's abilities to make Eustia's assassins and loan sharks fight amongst themselves, but that was a method that used magic stones as a medium.
He couldn't elicit the same colorful emotional changes as Soi's abilities.
'And it was only possible because they were originally violent by nature.'
"Hmm... It seems like it would be quite effective against monsters..."
"Yes?"
"It's nothing. Just talking to myself."
"But even now, it looks like she's about to jump at any moment, so why is she staying still?"
As Rosnante said, the light in Soi's clear silver eyes disappeared, and she fidgeted with the wooden sword in her hand, looking as if she would pounce at any moment, but the berserker's battle instincts weren't so simple.
The berserker's instinct is often misunderstood as a state of losing one's mind, consumed by destruction and violence, but it's more about deep immersion in battle, not simply becoming stupid.
On the contrary, when it comes to battle, they instinctively grasp how to break down their opponent and then charge at their weakness without regard for their own body.
Of course, if there's too much of a difference in ability and they see no chance of winning, they show the same appearance as now.
It was clear that she had instantly grasped the difference in skill between herself and Zeke and was looking for a way to escape.
However, because Zeke wasn't giving her a chance to run away, she was just threatening him like a bird puffing up its feathers, as if she would pounce at any moment.
"Scared, huh?"
"N-No, sir!"
Zeke spoke to Soi, but Rosnante, who was standing next to her, answered for her, his face pale.
"Is that Orc Lord very dangerous...?"
Rosnante cleared his throat loudly and tried to change the subject.
"I see you haven't seen an Orc Lord. It wouldn't be bad to go on a field trip together to find one later."
"N-No, that's not what I meant... Anyway, are you sure it won't get any worse than this?"
"I gave her an antidote as well."
"Ah... I see."
Rosnante breathed a sigh of relief.
As expected, he wouldn't do something like this without thinking it through.
"But... Is she in her right mind to take the antidote herself right now?"
"Well, I'm not sure about that."
"Then how long will it take for her to return to normal automatically?"
"I don't know that either."
Rosnante glared at Zeke in exasperation, then immediately lowered his eyes.
"That's why I called you. Play with this little Orc Lord until she calms down."
"...Are you serious?"
"Is the genius swordsman and the Empire's great bloodline scared?"
Rosnante scoffed at Zeke's provocation.
"Hmph, scared? She's just a commoner girl. I'm just saying this because I'm worried she might get hurt fighting me!"
"I see."
Zeke took a slight step forward. Soi took a step back.
"Grrrr..."
"Don't pretend to have completely lost your mind, Elise. I know you can understand me."
Despite his words, Soi continued to growl, showing no reaction.
Zeke tilted his head.
'Hmm? It's not like she can't hear me at all...? Did the drug really work too well?'
If that was the case, then Soi's training was over for today.
He needed to make the drug again with a slightly lower intensity.
But before that, Zeke decided to test one more thing.
"Soi Spoon."
Soi flinched and stopped growling.
"...Hmm. I... I'm not Soi Spoon."
"Do you want to escape from this place?"
"...Want... to escape."
Soi Spoon nodded her head hurriedly.
Her intelligence was slightly diminished, but she could still communicate.
This was exactly the level Zeke had intended from the beginning.
"Alright, then try to defeat Rosnante here. If you beat this guy, I'll let you go."
"...Rosnante?"
Soi Spoon turned her head and looked at Rosnante.
He felt his hair stand on end.
Drool dripped from the corner of her mouth, and her vacant eyes stared right through him.
Gulp.
Rosnante swallowed.
Soi's eyes... those silver eyes with dilated pupils and no light were strangely frightening.
'E-Elise is just an ordinary girl. Just a little energetic Elise. That's all you need to think about. A stupid commoner who drools! But why are her eyes like that?!'
Of course, the pressure she was emitting now was on a different level than usual, but Rosnante gripped his wooden sword and thought.
As Rosnante hesitated, Zeke nudged him in the back with a loaf of bread.
"A-Alright! I'm going! I'll go, okay?!"
Rosnante shuffled his feet, which didn't seem to want to move, and stepped forward.
Since it was a spar in form, Rosnante decided to formally request a match.
"U-Um, Elise?"
"..."
But she didn't respond to his words.
Then he suddenly remembered that she had answered when Zeke called her Soi Spoon.
'What is Soi Spoon...?'
He didn't know why Zeke called Elise that, but it must have meant something.
Rosnante opened his mouth.
"S-Soi Spoon..."
Soi flinched, her eyes widening.
"!"
Rosnante stepped back.
Somehow, she seemed to be trembling with anger.
"I... I'm just a dirt spoon. That's right, it's the truth. It's okay to make fun of me for that..."
Thump.
Thump.
Soi took large strides.
Her steps resembled a beast's rather than a human's.
She nodded.
"N-No, that's not what I meant..."
"But... I won't tolerate..."
It seemed like Rosnante's words weren't reaching her ears.
"I won't tolerate being made fun of for being a dirt spoon!!!"
"What nonsense are you talking about?!"
"I won't tolerate being called a dog either!!"
Soi Spoon kicked off the ground and charged.
Clang!
Her movements were direct and ferocious.
The monstrous strength with which she swung the wooden sword, with its dozens of kilograms of weight, in one hand was astounding, but the force behind it was such that even a graze would shatter bones.
Rosnante let out a pathetic yelp and rolled to the side.
"W-Wait, this isn't a spar!"
Clang!
"Eek!"
Rosnante found himself being unilaterally chased by Soi.
Just then, Iriel, who had collapsed from exhaustion after her fetch training, crawled over to Zeke's side.
"Zeke, is that Elise's training?"
"Yes, it is."
"I think my training is a little better..."
To be honest, it was all the same to Zeke.
Iriel was also covered in dirt from rolling around on the ground while fetching the ball.
'She'll be crying her eyes out when she learns Short Thunder... I wonder if she'll still say that then...'
"I'm glad you think so."
"Hmm, but I heard the Second Prince is quite strong, but he's completely helpless?"
"The weakest in our class now..."
Zeke glanced around and fixed his eyes back on Rosnante.
"As expected, it's Rosnante."
"Huh? Really? Am I stronger than the Second Prince?"
"Well, it's a draw now because of stamina issues, but I don't think you'd lose to Rosnante."
"...I know Flower Girl is strong, I've seen it. Then what about Yuri? That girl?"
"Yuri Gilbert is the strongest among you right now."
"W-What? Really? Even stronger than Flower Girl?"
"Yes."
Zeke nodded.
And as if to prove his point, Eric's dull voice reached their ears.
"Yuri Gilbert, success."
Yuri Gilbert, a girl with black hair and half-closed black eyes similar to Zeke's, collapsed on the spot.
'As expected, that unmotivated girl is a real genius... It's a shame she's on the First Prince's side. It would be great if she became a definite companion of Soi Spoon.'
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