RATH 44
TL: Eevee
6. Hell is just beginning. (5).
#7 Their story: Aris ril Letia’s story.
In my sixteen years of life so far, I can proudly say that I have lived proudly as the eldest daughter of House Letia.
Although I was born in one of the empire’s Ten Great Families, one of the most influential in the empire, unlike the other nobles I did not use my title as a daughter of a marquess.
Until now…
“Mother, it’s so hard.”
-A, Aris?
My mother looked shocked.
It seemed that my mother was shocked to see my tears that I had never cried even during the house’s brutal training regime.
I was kind of surprised to see my normally elegant looking mother look so taken aback, but I couldn’t give up now.
If only to avoid that devil!
“As the Letia family’s oldest daughter, it’s kind of pathetic for me to cry because school is hard, but… it’s still so hard.”
Showing a weak appearance unlike my normal self.
It seemed that my mother was very shocked to see my weak, timid and fearful appearance.
But I couldn’t give up now.
“Sniff… mother…”
-Aris, did something happen at the academy?
As I pretended to wipe my eyes, I looked slightly further beyond to the magic video communication device.
1. Cry.
2. Don’t say anything first.
3. If she tries talking to me first then pretend to start talking before crying sorrowfully.
4. Sniffle and keep repeating that school is too hard.
5. End the night study.
Looking at number five on the list, I harden my resolve.
I saw my roommate wave her hand in encouragement as she held up the paper with the five points written on it.
The last resort planned out by the student council, and executed by me.
That was to borrow the help of my parents, use the power of my family to end this disgusting night study once and for all!
We had endured until now but after we got beaten up by the silver creature we could endure no longer.
Because that was impossible for humans to stand against!
“No, there was… sob… nothing that happened at the academy… I just wasn’t good enough… to follow the curriculum. Sniffle… I’m sorry.”
-Yes, Aris! Cry like that! More! Harder! Wring out your tears! If it will help get rid of that disgusting thing called night study, I’ll do everything in my power as a god to help you!
Thanks to the goddess’s strong will, even more sorrowful tears came flowing out.
And the day after my performance with all my heart and soul poured into it.
It was that time came once again.
7 PM.
The time that to us, the hell named self-directed night study began.
“Move out like we always do! Sort out…”
“Aaaaaarghh!”
The same time as normal.
But different screams from normal.
“Wha, what?”
“P, Professor?”
There was only a single reason for that.
“Ahh, sorry about that. Professor Nicerwin gave me different instructions compared to normal.”
“So don’t hate us too much.”
Unlike normal, the two teachers had taken up positions at the front and rear doors of the classroom!
-It, it can’t be!
-What is it, Lady Athena?
-Those teachers… have finally begun to use the terrain.
-Terrain… ah!
-Yes, there was only one reason why you could defeat the teachers that were far more skilled than you! Because each teacher had to fight against more than ten students on their own.
-But right now…
-Yes, all they have to do is defend against the small number of people that can fit through that door…
We had fought against the teachers in corridors much wider than other schools as if it was perfectly natural, and we had gotten far too used to that.
And because of that we let our guards down, and had the classroom doors taken from us. And since these were supposedly the orders of Professor Nicerwin, odds were that our classroom wasn’t the only one in this situation.
-For now, we need to get through one side to allow people to attack the other door from the rear.
-Can it be done?
-It’s possible as long as it’s not the soldiers on the second floor or the silver devil. Getting through the first line is the hard part, as long as a single classroom can break through, the situation will be the same as normal!
Borrowing the strength of the goddess I summoned a spear. I didn’t need a shield.
What we needed right now was a swift breakthrough!
“A few of you exit through the windows!”
We need to divide the teachers’ attention. Although the windows leading outside are blocked by black metal bars that can’t be destroyed by any summon, but the windows between the classroom and the corridor are normal.
Even if they are narrow, they’re big enough that students can fit through them.
“Alright, I’ll do it!”
“Kurgh, that little?!”
“Jumping through windows is a breach of school regulations!”
And perhaps we’d done something genuinely unexpected, on seeing the shocked teachers, one of the male students leaped through the window at full speed.
“Professor Nicerwin definitely said this to us! Use any and everything at hand in order to escape… uwaaaaghh!”
But unlike his heroic jump, his body became stuck in the window.
That student was a normal student, but he was smaller than average. Yet he became stuck in the window. The reason was…
“Even the classroom walls…”
We realised that even the school itself was our enemy.
No, we’d realised that it was a hindrance long ago.
The walls that would spring up from underneath our feet, and when we jumped to avoid the walls arrows and magic would fly towards us. And the stairs with all sorts of heinous traps as well.
We knew perfectly well that even if it was normally an ordinary school, the moment that the so-called self-directed night study time came around it would turn into hell.
But… to think even our final bastion of peace, the classroom would also become our enemy!
Watching the walls chew on my classmate like it was alive filled me with a bizarre sense of fear!
“Well, it wasn’t very good to see you kids dive in the moment we acted a bit surprised.”
“Even after getting fooled so often, seriously, you kids have a lot to learn, don’t you?”
We couldn’t bring out any large summons inside that narrow doorway.
Only small summons, such as equipment-based summoners could break through those teachers, and only after that could the summoners with large summons move freely.
-We’ll end it in a one attack.
-Alright, if we drag it out then we’re the ones at a disadvantage here!
I moved to the end of the classroom and gripped my spear in both hands.
My legs were spread out wide despite wearing a skirt, but since I was wearing gym shorts underneath it didn’t matter.
Since we began night study, wearing gym clothes was already second nature to all of us!
“Professor Magirek, Miss Aris is headed your way!”
“I know!”
“Letia-style, cavalry spear arts.”(1)
The Letia family was more famous for swordsmanship rather than spears to begin with.
Because of that the only spear arts we knew were for cavalry, but the firepower alone is first-rate!
“Single Fang(一牙)”
Normally I would only have used the bare minimum mana, but today was not a normal situation.
So I gathered more than half my mana into the tip of my spear, and charged forward.
“Follow right behind me once I break through!”
Even if I was right at the end of the classroom, it was a distance that wasn’t even thirty metres.
The moment my mana-strengthened legs hit the ground, a summoned beast with the appearance of a small wolf was already waiting in front of the classroom door.
“Block it, Raypit!”
“That is not enough to defend against the Letia House’s fangs!”
The wolf is the symbol of the Letia House! I knocked away the teeth of the wolf in front of me with my own fangs(spear).
The first exchange was a draw, but a wolf’s weapons are not limited to its fangs alone!
“Letia style, Twin Claws (二爪)”
Using the rebound momentum, I spun around and gouged out the summoned beast’s flank.
It is far easier to make use of centripetal force with a spear than it is with a sword.
Although I couldn’t swing it very widely due to the narrow space, but as if the strike was effective, the wolf whimpered, and I didn’t miss the moment the wolf stumbled and immediately ran forward.
“Alright, now we… huh?”
The moment I broke through the front door to target the other teacher’s back, waiting beside me was someone who should not have been there.
“Why…?”
“As in, why am I here, Miss Aris?”
Watching me with a smile, was Professor Aruhan that had constantly stomped us on the second floor.
“It seems that you are quite surprised. Well, as a teacher it should be my role to explain a student’s curiosities, no?”
Without any change in his expression, Professor Aruhan pulled out a spear similar to mine from thin air as he began talking.
“Although a few students seem to be misunderstanding this, the reason why the teachers acted in the same way every single night study time was not because we were stupid, but because we moved according to Professor Nicerwin’s instructions for the night study.”
He revealed an extremely shocking truth as he leisurely spun his summoned spear around in circles.
“To give you an explanation, the current night study system that the students had been receiving was Plan C. Each teacher would be in charge of the students of their year level. The teachers without a dedicated year level like ours or assigned to paperwork, were on standby on the second or ground floor. But from today onwards is Plan B.”
“What is different in Plan B?”
“It’s simple. The floor restrictions for each of the teachers have been lifted. Meaning, the teachers are as free to move around as the students are. Because of that, we can send down our elite forces to pick off the more dangerous individuals as well.”
Professor Aruhan stopped twirling his spear, took a stance and pointed his spear at me with a smile full of fighting spirit.
“Because of that, the one responsible for you was unanimously voted to be me by the other teachers, so I do hope you won’t reject me because I am a commoner.”
“Although I desperately wish to reject this, but if this is what Professor wills for us.”
This is very bad. If the hardest matchup for me, Professor Aruhan was here, odds were that other teachers had been sent over to the other key individuals among the students.
But before all that, from Plan C to Plan B!
-Is the feeling that there is also a Plan A and other nefarious schemes just my, a goddess’s false suspicions?
-No, I think those could exist too! If it’s that Professor Nicerwin then there definitely will be something more!
This feeling that something else would pop out even if we beat this Plan B!
-Aris, even though your talent is outstanding, you are still too young! In contrast your opponent is an ordinary but highly experienced veteran! It’ll be difficult to face him one on one!
-I know that!
-So attack the teacher facing the classroom and allow the students to break free outside the classroom. The fact that this man is here means that there is no one on the second floor! Use the other students as bait and escape!
-You, you mean to abandon everyone else and escape?
I would be lying if that I said that didn’t tempt me.
But everyone’s pulled together, gathered their strength to escape school together, to think I would run away alone!
I couldn’t do such a thing!
-Who was the one who went crying to her parents because she hated night study?
I felt like I could!
-C, can I actually do that?
-What’s the problem. It’s fine as long as you get away. If Plan B is having the teachers mobilise then that means the silver devil could appear somewhere as well.
-You’re right!
That was it. The living must live. Thankfully my classroom was on the third floor. It was the easiest to escape from among the floors with classrooms.
Clang!
Spear met spear and made a dull noise, different from swords.
“Not just the tip, but you could even imbue mana into your spear’s shaft. Really, you would think, no less of the princess of the Letia House?”
“If Professor is here, then that means the other teachers on the second floor have also moved elsewhere? Then since you can’t use the normal defensive formation, doesn’t that present another opportunity for us?”
Spear and spear clashed again.
I tried to aim for the professor still guarding the other door behind me, but Professor Aruhan didn’t give me the opportunity.
“That’s true. There is no one on the second floor. Nor is there anyone on the ground floor. Because all the teachers have gone to the eighth floor.”
“What?!”
If it was the eighth floor, that was where most of the student council members, the strongest students in the school were.
No wait, even before that!
“If the first floor is empty as well, then even Professors Muam and Harian?!”
“Indeed. So, if you cannot defeat me then there will be no hope for you, Miss Aris!”
Our spears clashed again. But unlike last time, I poured all my mana into it but the results didn’t change.
-This man… was he always this strong?
-I’m sorry, goddess, I can’t do anything about it!
-It’s fine, let’s just ditch everyone else, and run, just the two of us!
-O Goddess, grant me, your contractor a powerful mind and body.
As I swung my spear I chanted in my head.
Descension, accepting the soul of a god into your body, the strongest technique a god’s contractor could wield!
Although it didn’t work against the devil, if it was against a human, there was no way it wouldn’t have an effect!
“My, my, is it the goddess?”
“Indeed, you seem to be quite powerful, would you mind entertaining me?”
“If I may do you a service, it would be my honour.”
Although I didn’t know it at first, when a god descends into your body apparently a part of your body changes.
In my case, my characteristic red eyes turn blue. Professor Aruhan who noticed this sighed wearily before his took a stance.
-Do your best, Miss Goddess!
-Trust me!
-Despite the fact that my physical capabilities remained the same the goddess held her spear with just a single hand.
Even though she had been showing some unsightly forms recently against the silver devil, our goddess was the goddess of war!
“Come human!”
To the goddess’s booming shout, Professor Aruhan replied.
“Understood.”
“What?!”
But it was not Professor Aruhan’s voice that replied, but a different professor’s.
“A pity, Lady Goddess, but it seems that you were so beautiful that you seem to have attracted some flies.”
“Da, damn it…”
When the professor turned his head to the source of the voice, in my vision that was being shared with the goddess, I saw countless professors starting to stream down to the third floor.
“God damn it…”
And ten minutes later.
Despite the goddess’s descension into my body, in the complete opposite manner to my fights with the teachers until now, I became a wreck due to fights with multiple teachers at once.
-Aris… let’s just quietly do the night study in the classroom…
-Kurrrghhh…
Just as I was sitting back against the wall with no strength to move, and seriously considering doing the night study.
“Do you educate your students like this every day?”
“Indeed, we do.”
“Fa, father?”
I don’t know when he’d arrived, but the person that was approaching very naturally with Professor Nicerwin was my father and the current head of the Letia family.
“You’ve worked hard.”
“Fa, father…”
As my father that had been cold to me all this time stroked my head and praised me, I unconsciously began to start tearing up.
Maybe, if he’d seen just how much his daughter had struggled! Father might!
“And do your best from now on, too.”
…Eh?
I felt like my tears that had been about to fall had crawled right back around into my eyes.
Father? What did you say just now?
“I have felt many things as I observed Yugrasia’s teaching methods.”
“It is an honour, my lord.”
Father? Why are you looking at that devil of an instructor with such serious eyes?
“There is glory at the end of the grueling path of pain. I, who call myself a commander of the empire’s army forgot words of the empire’s hero of the Great War. As the family head and the commander of the army I have spent far too long immersed in peace.”
Father? Excuse me, father? Your daughter is sprawled out in a wreck beside you, are you seriously saying that?
“So work even harder from now on.”
Fatheerrrrrrr?!
“Yugrasia, will more than live up to milord’s expectations.”
And from this day onwards, the number of students that tried to escape the night study dwindled, and the period that future students would call the age of despair began.
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