I used a mana hand to drag the teacher's chair across the room and sat by Evelisse's side while the cadets performed sword drills. I crossed my arms and watched the class develop like my old P.E. teacher, Sitting Bull, used to do. I wondered who came up with the nickname; it was one of those things that came by default with the school. Sitting Bull was a huge man with a pinkish face who spent most of the class sitting in a chair, even though there was no problem with his knees. Maybe Sitting Bull was a visionary sitting on the wrong side of the portal. Dodgeball sounded like a hell of a good activity for a bunch of superhumans in training.

Evelisse looked at me out of the corner of her eye as I settled into the chair and crossed my legs for maximum comfort.

"Aren't you supposed to teach?"

"My teaching methods are structured, replicable, and evidence-based. Instructor Mistwood already handles the basics. I believe she can teach this class without me, even if it's just replicating the routine I've established," I replied as Talindra clapped her hands the same way I did when I asked the cadets for more intensity.

Instead of joining us, Holst moved around the platform with Firana and Ilya, correcting the cadets' form. He exchanged ideas with Ilya as if they were used to working together. Firana ignored him.

Holst's eyes darted through the room like he was following a fly on caffeine. Almost three years ago, Firana had proudly announced that Holst was the owner of [Fencing] Lv.5. Part of me was sure he had improved his passive since then; he was too ambitious not to. Firana had also said it like it was a huge deal, and although I hadn't seen Holst fight before, I could tell he knew what he was doing.

"You haven't been particularly subtle with any of this, Robert Clarke. Instructor Mistwood knows, Holst knows, your old students know," Evelisse said, counting with the fingers of one hand. Her nails were short and polished. [Foresight] told me they were coated not to show off but to be resistant. It was a strange piece of information, but I took it. "How many more know about your method?"

The question sent a shiver down my spine. I was fairly sure I could endure most of what Ebros could throw at me, but that wasn't the same for the guys back at the orphanage. Even with my powers, I couldn't be everywhere at once.

"A teacher's goal should be the common good and the self-realization of their students, not suppressing knowledge," I replied.

Part of me understood why Evelisse was hammering on the secrecy part so much. Old fencing manuals were written in such a way that only the initiated could comprehend. They were a weapon on their own, even if paper could barely cut.

"This isn't a miraculous technique, Lady Evelisse. My methods are the sum of the work of dozens of Scholars and years of research and optimization. Everything is publicly accessible back in my homeland," I explained. "Not a miracle. Hard work."

The nobles didn't swallow my words.

"What you did back at the maze seems miraculous, though," Evelisse's younger daughter said.

I looked over my shoulder to find Althea's huge puppy eyes looking at me. Her blonde, almost white hair was held in a round bun, with rogue curls framing her face. Something in the atmosphere told me she wasn't supposed to speak to me.

"It's not a miracle. Malkah, Odo, and Harwin would've been out if the others didn't share their totems. The fact that they passed the trial lies not in my training but in their ability to be an important part of the group," I replied.

If the other cadets hadn't supplemented their lack of totems, my passing rate would only be marginally better than Astur's.

Althea shrugged. "There is strength in unity, that's undeniable, but even if the Kigrian heir and his bodyguards didn't get enough totems, they were strong enough to survive the maze until help came. That is a miracle on its own, don't you agree?"

The girl's thoughts deviated notably from the regular notions Ebrosians had about their journey through levels. Strength in unity wasn't a widely accepted idea.

Evelisse clicked her tongue.

"You are sounding like the anti-nobility mob, Althea."

The girl looked at her mother with contempt. Suddenly, I was interested in Evelisse's youngest daughter. Mother and daughter exchanged a look that made sparks fly.

"Making someone invincible is something I'd keep a secret, but I'm not nurturing invincible warriors, Lady Evelisse. In a fight, overwhelming one's opponent might be ideal, but most of the time, just having an edge is enough."

Evelisse ignored her daughter and fixed her eyes on me.

"So, did you have an edge over the Weasel?"

I couldn't say if a loaded shotgun might be considered 'an edge' in the context of our conversation. I wasn't expecting the theme to shift so suddenly, but my victory over Janus seemed to be one of the pillars that reinforced my authority and credibility.

"You don't seem to like Sir Janus," I pointed out.

"Evelisse blames him for Cousin Ragna's death," Althea interjected with a defiant expression.

Many people first-named their parents, but judging by the deepening of the lines on Evelisse's forehead, the girl meant it as a challenge. Evelisse's brows almost pinched together, and for an instant, I thought she would explode. But she didn't. The Grand Archivist of the Nature Circle couldn't go out there making a scene. As entertaining as it was to peek into Evelisse's private life, I hoped Althea would stop.

"Ragna surrounded himself with ambitious people, but the decision to wield the Runeblade prematurely was entirely his." Evelisse's expression returned to her baseline 'you are all a step below me'. She continued, "I recognized Sir Janus' skill. He was respected and feared by all the knights his age, which makes it even more surprising that someone had beaten him at his own game. Maybe, he just fell into the boot in his last years."

"Fell into the boot?"

"He drank too much."

There was no way boots were such an everyday drinking implement for them to become slang. I just refused to believe it. Maybe soldiers and guards made their hooch in boots here?

"Life at Farcrest might have rusted Janus," I said.

That was the main takeaway from our duel, and the one I wanted to spread.

Althea was having none of it.

"Suuuure, life in one of the hottest hotspots for Monster Surges rusted one of the most feared Imperial Knights of the last three decades," the young woman said, sinking my lifeline into the depths of the Mariana Trench. "I know you have been looking into it, mother. Sir Janus' body was rapidly collected by Cousin Adrien's healers and cremated before anyone could examine it. Not even the old funerary rites for Imperial Knights were observed, and the whole fight happened inside an impenetrable dome of shadows. Something happened inside there, I know it!"

Shooting at Janus had been like hitting a concrete wall. There had been a moment when I thought the shotgun hadn't done any damage to him. My memories were diffuse, but I swore he gave one or two steps before dropping.

"Are you a Scholar by any chance, Lady Althea?" I asked despite Evelisse's glare.

I probably wasn't supposed to speak to her either.

My assumption amused her.

"Ah! I'm a Lv.2 Diplomat, and proud future mother of anything between five and seven royal kids. Please, Lord Clarke, drop the honorifics and call me Walking Womb, for that is what I am." Althea stood from her chair and performed a comically parodic curtsy.

To say Lissara was fuming was an understatement.

I examined Althea's face as she returned to her chair. She was young, but not as young as the cadets. Not a kid. If I had to guess, she was in her early twenties, which made the fact that she was Lv.2 even more strange.

"I'm really a level two, if you are asking that yourself. A walking womb doesn't need to level up. Luckily for me, in this day and age, I will not be executed if I'm not fertile enough, so I got that going for me," Althea continued with her attempts to tilt her mother. She was close to achieving it, but it wasn't my storm to prevent.

Althea gave me a mischievous smile that briefly reminded me of Elincia. I felt a small void in my stomach. I still had to serve a few more months before returning home.

"Putting my bleak reproductive future aside, was the Weasel the real deal, or was he a fluke?" she asked.

Lissara interjected, trying to bring back the conversation to its 'normal' course. "I'm more interested in the illusions you created during the feasts at Farcrest's Great Hall. Many people talk about them even to this day, and I have seen a reproduction of the show."

This story originates from Royal Road. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there.

"Your vanity is showing, sister," Althea said. "So, what is it?"

At that point, we had already caught the attention of most of the royal entourage, and even Evelisse seemed to be attentive to the answer. Janus's capabilities apparently were a thirty-year-old mystery that half of Cadria wanted to solve.

I repeated the same answer I've given to everyone high enough in the social ladder to force an answer out of me.

"I had an extremely good matchup against him."

It wasn't a lie. Janus had taken me to a place where the System had no reach, where only someone raised in a Systemless world could fight normally.

Althea clung to the answer like an alligator; she wasn't going to let me go.

"Was it a good matchup, though? Sage's minor elemental spells aren't enough to kill an Imperial Knight, and illusions wouldn't have worked against Janus. He was a Sentinel before turning into a Shadow Fencer. His class had better growth in all stats regarding martial combat, so your [Swordsmanship] couldn't be the defining factor. Even the perception skills of a Scholar aren't enough to go through the obfuscation techniques of a Shadow Fencer. As I see it, he had the good matchup on you."

Although it pained me, I had to admit that Althea's inquisitiveness ran deeper than most of the Scholars and Scribes of Abei's retinue. Most of them had accepted my explanation as if my Prestige Class was enough to explain everything. Thankfully, there was a lot of mysticism around Prestige Classes. It was surprising how far people would let their beliefs cloud their judgment.

The sword drills had taken a backseat.

I smiled.

You got me.

Althea smiled back.

I got you.

"You don't need to spell out the details of how you killed another man, Lord Clarke, as much as it is an interesting topic," Evelisse said, diplomatically. She was more interested in not insulting me. Janus was old news.

"I decided that today is a day to tell the truth," I replied as the nobles leaned forward in their chairs to hear me better. "Janus was the real deal. I firmly believe Sir Janus had the set of skills to eliminate anyone he put his eyes on."

The nobles gasped.

"How did you win, then?" Althea asked.

"I just told you I had a good matchup."

Technically, it wasn't a lie.

Her eyes gleamed with understanding.

"If you find yourself with unwanted free time in your hands, I'd love to share an afternoon bite with you, Lord Clarke," Althea said with a bow, seemingly forgetting the presence of Evelisse and Lissara by our side. "I'm sure I can offer a stimulating conversation and—"

"Stop pestering Lord Clarke and focus on the cadets," Lissara interrupted her sister.

Evelisse sighed with disappointment at the interruption. She wanted one of them to catch my eye, yet she didn't seem to have realized that she had already achieved it. Althea was hard to ignore when everything that exited her mouth was the least diplomatic thing a Diplomat could say. In the few minutes we have spent together, she had already become my second favorite royal, just under Prince Adrien. Unfortunately for Evelisse, I had no desire to have a stimulating conversation over an afternoon snack with anyone but Elincia—even if they wore the undeniable superior butter-yellow instead of that awful piss-yellow.

Dinner time at the royal household must be such a jolly occasion.

I made a mental note to remind myself not to attend family meals with the royals.

Still, if I ever wanted to topple the government, I should introduce Thanksgiving and let the royal family push themselves into a civil war.

Evelisse threw a biting glance at her daughters and cleared her throat. "Every noble family in Ebros knows that knowledge can be as valuable as dragon eggs. It will get ugly when the other families realize everyone could replicate your achievements with, I assume, enough mastery of your methods. You might need protection."

She put her cards on the table at last. I expected her to wait to see if all my statements were true. Though the interest Prince Adrien and Lord Astur had taken in me might be a telltale that she had to make her move quickly.

"I'm not worried about violence against me," I replied. "I signed a contract with Lord Astur to teach at the Academy for a year. No noble is erratic enough to try anything against me while I'm under Lord Astur's protection."

"And only around eight months remain on that contract. That isn't a long time."

"I agree, but by the end, there will be many more people who can do what I'm doing right now. Not only Talindra and Holst, but also the Cabbage and Basilisk Class cadets," I explained, as my eyes went over the room. "The Kigrians, the Osgirians, and the Almedia Family will know enough to develop their own training programs. Basilisk Class has cadets from more than a dozen noble families that will spread the word. If anything, you should treat the commoners in my class well. There's a high chance they become Imperial Knights, and they understand what I'm trying to do… or at least the girls do."

Fenwick and Cedrinor were too busy thinking about getting girls, fame, and adventure to pay attention to the more nuanced parts of my lessons.

I hoped I was wrong about them.

"You want to fade into obscurity!" Althea said with an almost accusatory tone.

"If you want to become famous, I don't think teaching is the right job for you," I replied.

I didn't intend my words to sound like a snide remark towards the hall of fame of the Imperial Academy. Rhovan, Ghila, and a handful of other knights were really famous in the capital. But it was too late to swallow my words.

"So, what would be the right path to establish our training program?" Evelisse asked.

A small voice in my head told me to ask for a pig's weight of gold.

"The core teaching principles are largely transferable across disciplines, but you will need someone who can adapt these fundamentals to practice. Holst is your best shot for a Martial Instructor if you want to start right now. He's a good fencer, and he learned it without the assistance of a martial Class. I expect Talindra to know everything about magical training by the end of the year, so she will be your best Magical Instructor. The Academy is doing great already with the Bind Hexes, and I recommend using them even more intensively until you have cadets with solid basics," I explained. "Additionally, you'll need a team of Scholars researching the best meditation methods and practical exercises to improve the mana manipulation of cadets. The same goes for the martial and physical sides. My method works, but it's far from perfect."

Evelisse looked at me, her mouth agape.

"That's it?"

"It is harder than it sounds. I'm talking about decades of iteration, and you'll also need to train the teachers first. There are a lot of variables in play."

The royals whispered at our backs.

"Do you want us to figure out how to train the deadliest Lv.1 warrior possible?" Althea asked, seemingly regaining her voice.

"That's a good way of summarizing it. You give a Lv.1 a solid foundation for building their levels. You don't need to try to replicate the camaraderie, Lady Evelisse, but having cadets help each other will improve the success rate," I replied.

Evelisse seemed to have a mental one-eighty regarding her younger daughter.

Cabbages and Basilisks fought on the dueling platform. Talindra had decided that thirty percent intensity was enough for a first time. Some more competitive cadets jumped well above seventy percent intensity, but Talindra shot them down like she had her poison stinger out. A kid from a tributary family of House Gairon was sent to the corner to cool off after Kili struck his hands three times in quick succession.

"It will take decades for you to get it right," I said after a moment of silence.

Decades that this world might not have.

'I'm willing to forget and forgive if you just talk to me,' I thought, knowing the System Avatar was always listening. "Please."

No prompt appeared before my eyes.

"It's not an effort you can do on your own, Lady Evelisse. I had many teachers, mentors, and whole departments supporting my teaching practice before I could reach my current level," I added.

If this is what it takes to keep the world safe, I'm willing to work with you. I don't like Byrne's solution. I don't think it's feasible. Ebrosians aren't ready for the shock of living without a System. I don't want to leave this world.

Nothing.

The Cabbage cadets moved one slot to the right at Talindra's cue and greeted their new training partner. After two minutes, the Basilisk cadets moved one slot to the left and did the same. Talindra was guiding the training session perfectly, letting Firana and Ilya offer feedback on the proper form and movement while she ensured nobody crossed the line. Imperial Cadets were competitive by nature, and a few of Holst's students seemed focused on proving something.

Evelisse had no more questions, but it seemed she had a lot to think about.

Two hours after Evelisse and her entourage arrived, I stood from my seat and announced the end of the class. Holst gathered his students and bid farewell. Before leaving, we arranged another session. He seemed satisfied with the experience, even though his students hadn't performed as well as mine. Ilya must've been nailing down the growth mindset deep into his mind.

Firana and Ilya approached us.

"So, you are Lord Clarke's original students," Evelisse said, looking at them. The girls bowed. "Would you say today's lessons captured the essence of Robert's teachings?"

I could tell by their radiant expressions that both enjoyed being called 'originals'. Firana's lips curled ever so slightly, and her spine straightened like a soldier receiving a medal.

"Well, yes," Ilya said. "The class structure was familiar, but I guess the intensity was lower. Less iron, more form, if you allow me a comparison."

Evelisse nodded, deep in thought. "Interesting. And do you believe that shift weakens or strengthens the effectiveness of the lesson?"

The girls exchanged a glance. Ilya hesitated for a moment, but then spoke.

"Our circumstances were different. I'd say the current way ensures the long-term health of the class. So… yes, this is better."

When I took charge of the older kids at the orphanage, we were running out of time. The consequences of our failure weren't to fail a test but to be sent to the deep Farlands right after the Class selection.

Evelisse didn't respond right away.

"I appreciate the honesty… I have a lot to think about," she finally said. "Instructor Clarke, Instructor Mistwood, Cadets. It's been my pleasure."

Evelisse exited the room, followed by her entourage. Althea rode the group's tail and briefly stopped to remind me of her invitation. I gave her a polite bow and mentioned something about being busy right now before watching her catch up to the group.

It was over.

The Cabbage cadets sat on the dueling platform, chatting.

Ilya teased Firana, congratulating her for not mentioning that she was my cute sidekick.

Talindra leaned forward, hands on her knees.

"My heart is going crazy… I think I'm going to faint," she panted, straightening up. "Please, give it a feel."

I put two fingers on her neck. [Foresight] counted a hundred and fifty beats per minute. Adrenaline rushed through her veins like she was running from a Wendigo. At least her hair was as neat as her wild red curls would allow.

"You'll be fine. And you did great!" I said, trying to sound upbeat.

Talindra averted her gaze. "Can we talk for a moment? Alone?"

I couldn't help but accept her request.

"Alright, everyone! Good job today!" I raised my voice and clapped my hands. "Wait for us in the dining hall. We will debrief there. Firana, Ilya, escort the class. Don't let any of them get away!"

The cadets begrudgingly returned the training swords to the weapons rack and left the room.

"Please, follow," Talindra said, climbing into the dueling platform.

Were we having a round two?

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