Tyne Pinewood oversaw an empty training yard as the last member of the special class, Aaren, headed out for his next lesson at the academy.

According to his assignment, the boy ran more laps while the elf trashed Kian Ravenstone and Grace Silverwood in a mock duel.

Thankfully, the girl lacked any real hand to hand combat experience, most of the shoves and punches had no form except great strength behind them.

So, the beating she gave the two nobles had only left bruises and injured pride instead of broken bones and torn muscles.

At first, Kian collapsed a final time, unconscious from extreme exertion. The combination of the restriction adding weight to his body and repeatedly climbing up from the ground finally did him in.

Quickly, a healer was called in and carried the boy off while Grace refused to give in, madly brandishing the wooden training sword and even trying to claw the other girl with her nails.

Eventually, she collapsed as well, crying from rage and shame, refusing to budge on the grass.

Nisha poked her with her foot to agitate her into fighting back again, but Grace only buried her face and sobbed her heart out.

Losing interest in a broken opponent, the elf collected her own sword, the other sword and shield and returned them to the rack.

Bowing to the instructor and greeting Aaren, who still did his rounds, the walking monster left the yard for another lesson.

Aaren completed his lap and watched as a retainer from the Silverwood house hurried over and escorted their young lady off the Academy grounds.

That girl would likely have to take a long rest to come to terms with her defeat.

Shaking from the primal fear he experienced while watching the thorough beating, Aaren also excused himself and left the place.

Only Tyne’s figure remained with the rustling of grass and the swings of bamboo hitting their stalks against each other.

He produced a bottle from a storage ring, the cap flying far off while he emptied half of it in a single swig.

“I guess the lesson I wanted to teach them missed the mark.

Hopefully, a single harsh defeat will teach them tenacity instead of breaking their spirit.”

 

At first glance, it looked like the man was talking to himself.

Nonetheless, a disembodied voice answered him right away.

“I think it’s possible to handle the situation better. But you have to remember, this is your first time cooperating with the academy for a guild mission.

Making mistakes is inevitable.”

Were Nisha the last to go, she might have had a chance to see an astonishing scene.

The empty space around Tyne’s body detached from his figure and sat down next to him.

Sadly, without a spell capable of doing the same as the dragon’s [Spirit Sight], no one was able to tell what happened.

Next to him on the lawn chair, a female rogue dressed in leather appeared out of thin air.

Countless daggers were strapped to her limbs in various holsters.

Contrary to her outfit, the woman did not show signs of tension or observe the environment.

Rather, she yawned and stretched, similar as if she was just waking up in the middle of the day.

“I still feel rather despondent. That guy always made the job sound like an easy affair.

Who would have thought that two lessons was all it took to get someone sent to the sick bay.

If it wasn’t that the elf, Nisha, knew no proper technique to fight them, perhaps I would have had to step in and stop her from killing them.

Well, at least the other two brats might have learned their lessons to not underestimate anyone.”

Out of habit, Tyne handed the woman who clung to him earlier a bottle of alcohol, opened and ready to get consumed.

She took it and pulled the man next to her on the lawn chair, her arm wrapped around his shoulders.

Clearly, they shared a rather intimate relationship.

“In my opinion, you are focusing on the wrong lesson.

There’s a much more problematic issue at hand.

And the last boy, what’s his name again? Aaren? He might be traumatized enough to not ever show up here again.

He’s more afraid of the elf than everyone else, though.”

The [Eternal Warrior] smiled grimly. He did not dispute her claims, though.

In the long years of their partnership, he learned not to question her instinct.

“What lesson are you talking about then?

I know that Aaren got a scare, but he made it from a small village to the capital.

A single incident won’t break the boy.”

 

“That’s not what I meant. You wanted to teach the young ones that difficulties can get resolved through a duel and expose them to the format.

At the same time, it would teach the nobles some humility against their opponents, no matter what background they have.

But personally, the one that took away the most is probably the elf, Nisha.”

The woman shot back right away, seemingly taking joy in correcting Tyne and poking fun at him.

“She saw through the small plot from the two that challenged her and found a quick solution.

Instead of letting the boy off the hook when she had already beaten him, she used more violence to foil their scheme.

And when the noble girl interfered, attacking her as well, the lesson repeated itself.

Rules and laws hold no meaning when even more violence can solve the problem.

Perhaps, a reminder from my side would have helped, yet I also wanted to see where the elf’s limit laid.”

She placed a kiss on the cheek of her husband to ease the frown that appeared on his brows.

As languid as she currently felt, she hated to see him upset, even when the woman was the origin of the discomfort.

“You already said it, this is the first time you try your hand at teaching.

The elf is a real monster anyway, just from the way she moves under your restriction my guess is that she has at least two blessings from her elemental alignment, perhaps [Fiery Strength] or [Continental Physique] and [Air Resistance] or [Shadow Evasion] to resist your restriction.

Things are bound to go wrong when one part of the whole is way stronger than the rest.

You can improve your teaching style while leading them to improve at the same time.

I think you can do it.”

Enjoying the cold drink from the spatial storage ring she gave him, the woman closed her eyes.

Tyne shook his head and accompanied her in silence. He pondered what exactly he should plan for the next lesson.

 

------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

After leaving the Warrior class, Nisha felt refreshed and liberated.

Her idea to beat up Kian for an extended period had paid off more than she expected, she had the chance to settle Grace at the same time and break their plot all at once.

The dragon would not have called out her instructor for the interference anyway, it mattered little how many opponents from a lower rank challenged her.

Still, seeing that he did not interfere bettered her impression of the man.

Casting the matter out of her mind, Nisha walked into the smithing area and went to the usual spot far off from Fithe, the dwarfen smith, who had yet to show up.

The forge already sweltered with heat and orange sparks, Conner stood next to the bellows and pumped more air in the chamber.

“Good day to you, Nisha.”

Seeing the goofy grin and his cheerful timbre, the elf guessed that the youth was in a good mood.

Cheerful as well, she greeted back and looked at the forge, trying to see what the young man worked on.

Yellow metal pooled in the crucible, regular iron about to turn into an ingot.

Since the two already worked on actual items instead of reusing old scraps to make good bars of metal, this was not the reason why Conner was in such a good mood.

“What are you planning to do with that ingot? And why is Fithe not here yet?”

Picking up a fire starter tool and blowing a little air into the other furnace, the dragon also prepared her own workspace for the lesson.

“Nothing big, just practicing my ore refining more.

My dad saw me working at home with our forge and commended me on picking up the basics on my own.

He also showed me a few tricks that he knows for making ingots.

According to his words, the sign of a grand master is not turning high quality materials into high quality items, but rather using normal materials to create top class items.”

Stirring the crucible inside the forge, the metal swirled around and the young man observed closely.

The wisdom shared by a genuine blacksmith with his son resonated with Nisha’s ideals, a true master really had to turn the ordinary into something extraordinary to deserve the title.

Chatting about some small matters that cropped up in their lives, Conner and the dragon spent the entire lesson next to their forges, churning out ingot after ingot of iron.

Seeing that Fithe had not appeared until the end, she bid the young man a nice day and left for the last lesson of the day.

 

Nobody ambushed her in front of the doors to the classroom this time, and Nisha went up to her table quietly.

Miss Anet already waited for the lesson to begin and studied a magic tome meanwhile.

The students in her class had already recognized the silent woman as a figure of authority, no one dared to mess around and make a ruckus.

Alexander happened to see her enter the room and waved his hand towards her as a greeting.

Reciprocating the gesture, Nisha found that their tables were already pushed together and the duel board waited for them.

“Hey there, Nisha. How are you?”

Flipping a blue stone into the air, he grinned broadly and placed it on the board afterwards.

He did not wait for the elf to answer.

“Are you ready to defend your King’s Seat soon? I overheard Weston and his cronies talking about challenging you again for it.”

“I’m not afraid of a challenge, as long as he is honest about it. I don’t think Miss Anet will forgive anyone trying to borrow outside forces again, and whenever I wonder what punishment she might give, I feel myself shuddering.”

Nisha picked up one of the blue stones carved with the number one from the box and placed it on her side of the board.

Alexander had yet to break through in the second mana rank, but the stones thankfully limited the quality of energy flowing through them to the rank that was carved on them.

“I might have no chance at challenging you for the points, however the competition is doing wonders for my meditation practice.

Within the moon, there’s a good chance that I can break through to the second rank.

I’ll catch up to you soon!”

Seeing his enthusiasm, Nisha did not illusion him by pointing out that he still had no hope to beat her on the duel board.

Facing him in several duels, the dragon discussed the intricacies of the meditation technique with him while they recovered and even got Miss Anet to answer some of their concerns before the quiet woman dismissed them for the day.

Bidding farewell once again, Nisha walked through the gates of the academy back to the Dharnas estate.

Chatting a bit with the guard at the gate, she was about to head into her room and reunite with Accalia, when the elf saw Galan waiting for her at the entrance.

“Young mistress, if you would be so kind to follow me.”

With a stern face, the old butler led her into Luthais’ study, a room she seldom entered.

Sitting behind the desk, the older elf calmly faced her with inquiring eyes.

“Nisha, it has come to my attention that you have been seen in an establishment of disputable esteem recently. Would you be so kind as to explain your business there?”