Chapter 21 – Episode 21. Astrid Met Veracien
“I’m Veracian. The prayer week is over, and now I am joining the education.”
Her purple-haired nun, with her bright smile, didn’t look particularly burdensome while receiving the attention of her squadmates.
“I was a week late. Still, Goddess Etheranne hates it when her prayer week is broken. Will you understand?”
Beneath her hairband, purple eyes that matched the color of her hair continued to twinkle.
She glanced over at the squad members sitting in front of her with soft smiles on her eyes and gave a seemingly peaceful smile.
As she joined a week or so late, it was natural that the other squad members were quite close to each other, and Vera Sien did not seem to mind her.
“Even though I am a chaplain, I was actually well trained in combat. Of course, not to the extent of the knights. I can protect my body.”
Astrid smiled awkwardly and held out her right hand to Vera Shien, who smiled confidently as she lifted her mace from her side.
“As you may know, this is squad leader Astrid. Thank you very much, Sister Veracien.”
“Yeah, it’s only been a week. Please take good care of me. But they all seem to be out of energy.”
“That is.”
Astrid smiled awkwardly.
Under the pretext of experiencing the harshness of the war, the diet for the past week was truly harsh.
It didn’t end with shredded turnips.
Bread mixed with sawdust, a few pieces of meat the size of a fingernail, floating soup, etc., Were served all week, so everyone was not eating properly and was getting more and more hungry day by day.
Among them, Leopold was particularly severe.
“Aha, that’s right.”
“Did Berashien eat well?”
Even if she is an elf, even though she is used to vegetarian food, she seems to be a little tired after about three days.
“Hey, I ate well and had a good time. Goddess Etherane is the goddess of fertility and fertility. She is a person who spares no food.”
“… I’m so envious of that.”
Astein also muttered helplessly as he lay on his face on the table.
Even Astain, who had held up relatively well, seemed to be overdoing it.
“Still, Cadet Astrid looks quite fine. Oh, should I say squad leader?”
“No, thanks. Do as you please.”
It’s not okay to be Astrid, but since I’m a foodie by nature, I’m not particularly picky about food, so I ate enough to fill my stomach even with grated turnips and rough rye bread.
But the quality of the food is absolutely poor…
“Anyway, today is the end. The store is also reopening, so let’s have a dinner together since I’ll be buying it tomorrow evening.”
The sad memory of the first day of the war diet, when some cadets were caught secretly trying to buy food at the canteen, and because of that, the canteen was completely closed.
Leopold and Erania, the culprits of the commotion, were delighted.
“Oh oh… Dining together… !”
“Anyway, now… Let’s go get some training today.”
Today was the day the entire squad was trained in the auditorium.
It was an auditorium dedicated to first-year students, so the size was not normal, but it was the first auditorium I came to after the entrance ceremony. The auditorium, where hundreds of cadets were all gathered together, was different from the atmosphere at the entrance ceremony.
“What kind of training is today, squad leader?”
At Astain’s words, Astrid also shook her head.
This day was not even marked on the training timetable. It was just listed as an auditorium gathering, and there was no separate communication about what kind of training the squad leaders would receive.
“Well, nothing has been delivered separately.”
Then Astrid glanced at Leopold.
From that day on, she hadn’t spoken to Leopold. Even when they run into each other, she just nods her head and passes by only to the extent of pretending to know each other.
In an awkward atmosphere, a week passed between each other as if they had no interest in each other, and reached today.
Leopold looked up at the lectern installed in the auditorium and the blackboard next to it without a big expression.
A lectern already prepared for what it wants to do. And a large blackboard.
Astrid looked up at her lectern, averting her gaze from Leopold, and then her instructor climbed onto the lectern and clapped his hands, attracting the attention of her students.
“Has everyone gathered?”
“Yes!”
Only the squad leaders of each squad responded vigorously. If he answered all of them, he could look like a king, so he was faithfully fulfilling the order to answer only the squad leaders.
It’s only been a week, but it’s changed quite a bit.
“Good night. Straightforward, you must be wondering what kind of education today’s education will be?”
The instructor smiled lightly and looked over at the cadets. I don’t know, but Astrid didn’t feel too good about it because it seemed like it would be a full-scale education. She probably doesn’t like hard training, and Astrid was one of them.
“The establishment of the Academy aims to foster powerful knights who will be loyal to the eternal glory and well-being of the Eindhafen Empire that unified this continent and protect the peaceful daily lives of the people of the empire. You guys have just taken the first step, and now you have a week of training.”
The instructor stopped talking and walked over to the blackboard and started writing something.
“Squad unit basic combat practice… Ira.”
Astrid unknowingly read the letters one by one.
Squad unit basic combat practice. Even the tone is not good.
“Now, you probably understand what this means, but let me explain further.”
After the instructor clapped his hands lightly, the assistants rushed out and began handing out the documents they were holding to each table where the squad members were seated.
Squad unit combat practice.
Among the training grounds created within the academy, there is a mountain training ground, and it was said that the hungry monsters were released last night.
“I mean, it’s simple. All you have to do now is enter the training ground and wipe out the monsters inside. Monsters are divided into small and medium, small is 1 point and medium is 2 points. Each time you catch each monster, the score is automatically added up, so you don’t have to worry about scoring, and the squad that catches the most will be rewarded.”
Practice.
Training against real monsters.
It was also the first time most of the other cadets faced actual monsters.
In addition to war, knights of the Central Knights or hired knights of nobles often went out to subdue barbarians, bandits, and monsters around the territory.
Because of this, the academy basically educates combat to combat it in addition to war. It seemed that this training was also part of it.
‘It’s necessary, but… I’m a bit reluctant after all.’
The original Astrid might have been insensitive to catching monsters or killing savages, but the current Astrid wasn’t like that.
‘I wonder if I can do well… ‘
Strength has already been proven, and it has been confirmed that you can fight in real combat, but how far that will go is questionable.
A little bit anxious.
Since there were dozens of squads, it was impossible to prepare separate training grounds for each of them.
So, what was prepared was the space barrier, and even though the entrance was the same, as soon as you entered, you entered into separate spaces.
There were checkpoints in the middle, and this place was a common space, so it was also a resting place and you could encounter other squads at the same time.
“Basically, it is arranged around fairly weak monsters. It is not possible to deploy powerful monsters to you who are a week old now, so please go through this training with the feeling that you are getting used to circular battles between squads. Got it?”
“Yes!”
It was finally practice.
Astrid took a deep breath and eased her tension while holding onto the handle of the iron greatsword supplied only for this training.
The world’s Astrid shouldn’t show a nervous look with just this much, but it’s quite nervous nonetheless.
“Squad leader, don’t be nervous. Haven’t you been educated enough and hard enough?”
Suddenly, Astain spoke to me.
“I wasn’t particularly nervous. Thank you for your concern.”
“Then I’m glad.”
“Wow, Astain! Are you trying to score points with your squad leader? That’s mean?! Astrid, don’t be nervous! My sister will take care of everything!”
Eranya raised her bow and imitated the sound of arrows with her mouth.
Astrid, who unknowingly ends up laughing, and Eranya, who laughs together when the squad leader laughs.
The instructor standing in front of them looked at the chart and then raised his head and shouted.
“Now, let’s start with the first squad.”
The semi-circular door, although not too big, was wide enough for five people to enter at the same time, and the first squad, including Astrid, slowly moved inside.
And at the end of it, what unfolded in front of my eyes was not the outside parade ground just before, but a clearing somewhere with a dense forest.
A chilling wind blew.
