After Eliot finished his introduction, he then proceeds to took attendance of the class. Through this, Sigulf learned some of his classmates’ names; the ponytailed Scot Alba Hunter, the Japanese Yuu Kanzaki, the unofficial judge Walter Armstrong, the redheaded Spaniard Carmen Rosales, and the white-haired Finnish Ilma Hiltunen. The teacher then explains what the class is going to do for the whole year, which basically is theory in the morning, lunch break, and then mock duels before the cooling down and dismissal. Mid-exams will be held before summer break, while the finals are before winter break. As for the school festival, it will be held around autumn, in which the free-for-all tournament will also be held.

‘That… Sounds surprisingly fun.’ Sigulf thought. ‘A free for all… That means the 2^nd and 3^rd-years will probably enter as well.’

As for their very first lecture, Eliot told the class the brief history of the rise of magitek and its benefits for the world, how it created a new reliable source of energy, which in turn improved transportation and many other advancements. One of them is the sport of dueling. Thanks to magitek, an otherwise lethal blow would be avoided, while at the same time keeping the force. This resulted in 0 casualties for decades, making duels safe yet still thrilling.

Done with the history, Eliot then proceeds into the basics of dueling, its rules and the basics of defensive maneuvers, which are blocking, deflecting, evading, and reflecting.

‘Let’s pay attention. Review, review…’ Sigulf mentally noted.

Few hours later, the bell for lunch break finally rings. Before leaving the class, Eliot reminded the whole class,

“You better be not eating too much, or else, you’ll bust your duel.”

After Eliot left, the class returned to its lively state.

‘Right, that’s that… And now,’ Sigulf thought while he took out his lunch box. ‘Where should I eat this? Seems no one’s eating in the classroom…’

Sigulf scanned the room for a while, before he stood up and left the class.

‘Can’t be helped. I guess I’ll just eat alone.’

———

As Sigulf entered the cafeteria, however, he soon realized that it’s rather crowded.

‘I should’ve known better. Lunch break and an actually extravagant school café… I don’t think I can eat in peace.’

He did a 180 and returned to the hallways, pondering where to go next.

‘Should I eat at the school yard, instead?’ he wondered while taking a peek through the window. ‘There are already some people there. Still much better than the café… Hm?’

From the corner of his eyes, Sigulf saw two figures he recognized, making their way to somewhere other than the café.

‘Isn’t that the president with the vice-prez?’ he thought. ‘Where could be they going?’

Decided to follow them, Sigulf turned right from the current hallway, and found a stairway that lead upwards.

‘I see… The rooftops. That’s certainly would be a good choice.’

After climbing the stairs, Sigulf opened the door to the rooftops. He saw only a handful of people there, the student council duo included. Hearing someone has opened the door, the girls turned around to face Sigulf.

“Ah, you are the one from yesterday…” Celina said as she recognized him.

“Good afternoon.” Chelsea added.

“…good afternoon.” He replied, sounding a bit unsure.

Celina eyed him for a while before saying, “I presume you are here to avoid the crowd?”

“Yeah… It’s a bit uncomfortable for me.”

There was a bit of silence before Chelsea speaks up, “If you don’t mind, would you join us for lunch then?”

Celina glanced at her friend, but said nothing.

“Eh? I don’t mind, but is it really okay with you?” Sigulf asked. The brunette smiled and nodded in response, while the blonde still wore her neutral expression wordlessly.

“Well then, I shall take up on your offer.” He said.

The three then moved to an empty corner. Chelsea then laid out a blanket for them to sit on, before they opened their lunches. Looking around, the view is indeed beautiful from above, with the ocean in the horizons.

‘That said, there are suspiciously a lot of cherry blossoms.’ Sigulf mentally noted. ‘Japanese funding?’

“Nice view, isn’t it?” Chelsea suddenly said, as if to agree with Sigulf’s thoughts.

“Eh? Yeah, it is.” Sigulf responded.

“This is why we always have our lunch here.” She continued. “Though admittedly, it’s a bit chilly at this time of year.”

“Yeah, I can understand that…”

Celina, on the other hand, seemingly content with eating her lunch without saying a word.

‘She didn’t talk much, did she? …like it’s my place to say that.’ He thought. ‘Or is it because I disturb them? Oh, boy…’

“Hm? What’s the matter?” Chelsea asked him, noticed that Sigulf looked a bit glum.

“Um…” Sigulf started. “I promise I won’t tell the others about this place either.”

“Eh?”

“Hm?”

Both of the girls looks surprised for a moment, before Chelsea gave in, trying to suppress her chuckle. “What are you saying?”

Celina cleared her throat. “No, don’t worry. There’s no need to.”

“Eh?”

“Most of the students are satisfied enough with dining in the café. And like she said, it’s a bit chilly here. So you don’t have to worry people will gather here.”

“…I see.”

“So you were worried about that.” Chelsea added.

“I’m sorry I jumped the gun.” Sigulf apologized.

“It’s alright.” Celina replied. “Speaking of which, you didn’t ask your classmate to join your lunch?”

Sigulf scratched his cheek at her question. “Not really sure on who to ask, so might as well eat by myself…”

“I see…”

———-

The three finished before lunch break is over. They returned to the hallways before parting with each other.

“Well then, if you excuse us.” Celina said. Chelsea simply gave a slight bow, and Sigulf returned the gesture.

They parted and made way to their own classes. Before the student council duo disappeared from sight, Sigulf turned to have one last look.

‘Even if just a bit, today’s lunch tastes better than usual…’ he thought.

———

Meanwhile, on the hallways towards the 2^nd-year classroom…

“Cel,” Chelsea called the blonde girl.

“Mm?”

“Don’t you think you are a bit too cold to the boy?”

“Eh? Am I?” Celina looked genuinely surprised.

“…so you didn’t?”

“That wasn’t my intention.”

“Hmm…” Chelsea looked at her face, seems to be thinking.

“What?”

“Maybe you should smile a bit more.”

“I don’t mind if I have a reason to. Besides, why so sudden?”

“I don’t know. It’s just… He kind of reminds me of the old you.”

Celina looked like she wanted to protest for a moment, but she gave up, and instead saying, “So you’re saying I wasn’t good with people back then. I guess you’re right…”

“I know right?”

———

Sigulf made it back to the class just before the bell rings, soon followed by Eliot who entered the class. Looking at the whole room, he made sure that everyone is present.

“Looks like everyone is here. I take it you have eaten your lunch properly?” Eliot asked, which soon answered affirmatively by the students.

“Good.” He continued. “Now we shall proceed to the practice session. Maybe some of you wondered why do we have to go back to the classroom first. Well, take a look at your behind.”

Suddenly, the wall on the back of the classroom split open, revealing a passage towards a larger room. Most of the students gasped with amazement.

“There you go. That is your room. The room where you will have practice sessions and mock duels for a year. Now, let’s get a move on.” Eliot said, leading the way, while the students followed behind.

When they entered the room, the students were even more amazed by the high-tech looking interior, as well as the supply of the dummy weapons.

“Attention, please!” Eliot called from the back of the room. “We will soon begin our 10-minutes practice, followed by a 5-minute mock duel. You may train on your own, or spar with a partner of your choice. Any questions?”

“No, Sir!” the students replied.

“Good. Well then, go for it.”

The students dispersed once more, deciding what to do with their warm up session.

‘A partner… Let’s see then…’ Sigulf thought while scanning the room.

As he observed, it seems Eurypha bugged Minato to spar with her, Walter trying to pair with the girls without any luck, Carmen turned down some boys’ invitation, Ilma and Alba trained on their own, and—

“Um, excuse me.”

“Hm?”

Turning around, Sigulf found that the Japanese boy, Yuu, called to him.

“If you don’t mind, would you spar with me?” he asked.

‘Huh, this is unexpected.’ Sigulf thought.

“Sure, why not?”

“Thank you very much.” Yuu responded gratefully. “For a while I don’t know what to do…”

“Eh, yeah, same here. I kinda understand that…”

“Ahahah, so we are in the same boat.” Yuu laughed. “Well then, shall we begin sparring?”

“Yeah, let’s do that.”

The two moved to a vacant spot and picked their own dummy weapons. As predicted, Yuu took a Japanese sword; an uchigatana to be exact. As for Sigulf…

“Ooh, twin axes.” Yuu commented. “I don’t see many axes around here, let alone a dual-wield variant.”

“I guess so. People seem to prefer swords.”

“Ahahah, true. Maybe because they looked heroic in general.”

“Heroic huh… It certainly is.” Sigulf mused, remembering his own True Arms.

“Ah, I haven’t properly introduced myself, have I? My name is Yuu Kanzaki. And you are…”

“Sigulf Hrimgard.”

“Sig…”

“Just Sig is fine.”

“Err, I’m sorry, Sig-kun.”

“It’s cool.” Sigulf simply reassured before getting into stance. “Shall we, then?”

“Right! Let’s do our best, Sig-kun!”

———

Minutes into their sparring, and some other students ends up watching them.

“Hey, those two are quite good!” one of the mobs commented. Still, both of Sigulf and Yuu know better.

‘He definitely holds back. But of course I do the same. This is just warming up, after all. A wise beast would only bare its fangs when needed.’ Yuu thought.

‘His fighting style…’ Sigulf thought in between attacks. ‘Definitely a precise-counter type. Unless I can bait his movements, I won’t get a hit in.’

The two continued to spar, exchanging strikes and parries.

———

10 minutes finally passed, and Eliot speaks up to the whole room.

“Alright, that’s it for the warm-ups!” he exclaimed, getting everyone’s attention. “Now we will begin a 5-minute mock duel with two students from all among you as representatives!”

The students began talking among themselves.

“Are there anyone willing to volunteer here?” Eliot asked.

Predictably, Sigulf and Minato, along with few others, raised their hand.

‘I see. The duel yesterday seems to ignite something. Good.’ Eliot thought.

“Quite a number of volunteers here. Alright, I’ll pick 2 random students from among the volunteers.” Eliot said as he activated the randomizer from his PO.

All of the volunteers looked tense, as they wait for Eliot’s announcement.

Beep.

“Sigulf Hrimgard and Arthfael Penndreic, please step forward.”

Some of the volunteers sounded disappointed with the results.

‘It’s a miss, huh.’ Sigulf thought. ‘So my opponent is…’

“Arthfael Penndreic…” Yuu mumbled. “If I remember correctly, he is the latest in line from a renowned British knight family.”

“A British knight…” Sigulf replied. “I think I saw him before. Must be fellow North Sea branch examinee.”

“Hmm, what do you think?”

“There’s only one way to find out.”

“Right, I thought so. Well, do your best, Sig-kun!”

Without saying anything, Sigulf nodded at Yuu’s encouragement and makes his way. As he finally arrived at the middle of the room, Sigulf found himself standing face to face with his opponent.