Chapter 10

Chapter 10 – School Life! (3)

Pram Schneizer was lightly stretching his body in the gymnasium . He gave the

impression of being very young, his face gave off a slender look . His rather

feminine eyebrows and long eyelashes only accented his beauty .

“What is that adorable little thing?!” Romantica exclaimed .

Desir agreed with her, “Pram sure has a cute side to him . ”

Romantica violently shook her head left and right . “A cute side? That's wrong!

It's not a side, he's adorableness incarnate! How come I didn't know there was a

kid like that here?” Romantica spouted nonsense . “He’s so cute! Super cute! I

want one . Where can I get myself one? I’ll use my entire fortune if I have to!”

Her attitude resembled that of a spoiled brat who had caught a glimpse of

something she desperately wanted . Desir shook his head in disappointment .

In a spar, lethal weapons weren't allowed . Instead, the sparring hall would

provide dozens of various wooden weapons ranging from rapiers, broadswords,

claymores and others . Anybody wanting to spar was obliged to choose from

those provided weapons upon entering the sparring stage .

There existed six sparring stages . Pram was assigned to the fourth stage . Before

he entered the stage, he stopped right in front of the collection of wooden

weapons . Going from left to right, the size and weight of the weapons

increased . Pram hesitated for a moment before reaching out to his right . He

grabbed the weapon and held it up . It was a wide bladed greatsword .

Desir’s eyes narrowed . “A greatsword . . . ?” Desir spoke anxiously .

Romantica clapped and leaned forward . “The best swordsman of Beta Class . I’m

looking forward to this . ”

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Pram’s opponent was a knight from the Alpha Class .

Percival Ahsegunits .

Having learned swordsmanship from an official knight, he was a strong

opponent to say the least . He had pulled his sword out, which was attached to

his waist by a scabbard . The sword looked to be a wooden broadsword, a mix

between a longsword and a shortsword . Percival stared at Pram with a

menacing and savage look . Pram put his right hand on his chest and lowered

his head as to greet his opponent in a respectful bow .

“Beta Class . I’m Pram Schneizer . ”

“I have no need to introduce myself to some filthy Beta Class . ”

While both were fixated on each other, the referee lowered his flag announcing

the start of the battle .

“Hiyat!”

The first one to move was Pram . He charged at his opponent, keeping his

intimidating greatsword close . As he got near his opponent, he rapidly

unleashed a strong and horizontal slash upon Percival . Percival was forced to

block this attack with his sword .

As both of the wooden swords clashed, the noise brought about by such a

collision emphasized the strength of both warriors .

Percival succeeded in blocking Pram's attack yet the shock that was caused by

their clash left Percival's face briefly stiffened . Pram noticed and took full

advantage of such a brief opening . He continued to press into his opponent,

unleashing a barrage of heavy swings . Even as Percival matched each of Pram's

attacks, he desperately tried to create some distance between them to

counterattack, yet to no avail . Pram was dead set on giving him no room to

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breathe . He had succeeded in pushing Percival all the way to the edge of the

stage .

Desir observed the fight with a darkened expression . This wasn't the Pram he

had expected . Pram's strength didn't lie in his usage of the greatsword . All his

movements were simple and blunt . As a matter of fact, Pram should've been

using a rapier, a weapon which perfectly matched his style of fast and accurate

swordsmanship, not something as dull as a greatsword . At this point, Desir

wondered,

‘Why isn’t he using a rapier?’ Desir’s worries soon became reality .

The spar was straightforward . Pram swung his sword around without giving it

much thought while Percival simply blocked all his incoming attacks . Even

though it all looked simple, swinging such a large sword was draining Pram's

stamina .

Percival opportunistically leapt forward and began to furiously attack Pram . In

an instant, the flow of the battle had flipped in Percival's favor . Pram fell back

and almost collapsed, distraught by the sudden change in Percival's stance .

Percival's attacks were overwhelmingly strong and accurate, giving Pram no

room to readjust his defense . As expected, Pram's lack of expertise in

greatswords would be the end of him . After blocking multiple attacks, Pram's

stamina was completely depleted . As he brought up his greatsword to block an

incoming attack, he twisted his right wrist .

“Kuaaap!”

In a battle between swordsmen, a brief opening was of utmost importance . This

held true especially if one was being barraged by attacks . Percival gave of a

fierce roar as he leapt in, striking the side of the awkwardly held greatsword .

Pram's wrist couldn't withstand the impact and was forced to let go of the

heavy weapon . “Kuok!”

The wooden greatsword flew into the air . It spun around a few times and

landed back on the ground pathetically .

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The victor was decided .

Pram had lost .

As Pram stared down his weapon, he let out a sigh and bowed his head . “I lost . ”

Contrary to Desir’s expectations, the battle ended rather plainly . Romantica put

on an incredulous expression, “I'm pretty sure you mentioned that that kid

called Pram was a strong swordsman, didn't you? What kind of swordsman gets

tired while swinging a sword? Not even a beginner makes such a mistake . ”

“Yeah . . . ” Desir unknowingly responded .

Romantica placed a hand on her chin . The excitement in her green eyes was all

but gone .

“He's cute and all, but that has nothing to do with his combat abilities . If he

stays like that, it'll be useless to recruit him to our party . Why don't we find

another student?” Romantica’s words reflected the reality of the situation .

A party was better off without having any weak members . They would only

serve as deadweight, dragging the party down instead of lifting it up .

If Desir didn't already know Pram's future, he would've surely followed

Romantica's advice . Staring at Pram, Desir suddenly got up from his seat and

shouted toward Percival . “Enough!”

A fight between both of them had broken out . Pram was on the ground while

Percival was stood up in front of him, holding up a fist . Percival had instigated

this fight by throwing the first punch . He turned his head over to where the

noise came from and noticed Desir approaching him .

Percival chuckled . “Ha . ” His chuckle was filled with ridicule .

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He pointed his wooden sword at Pram and spoke “If you don’t want to end up

like him, you better scram . ”

Desir sighed . The world has its fair share of people who solve everything with

violence .

“Why are you doing this?”

Percival did not reply . In that moment, Pram got up from the ground . His

tattered robe was stained with dirt . He rubbed his reddened cheek and spoke,

“Damn, Alpha Class sure are something . Did it anger you that you got pushed

around by a Beta Class, even for just a moment?"

The boy was right on the mark .

He was a bit too right .

Percival's eyes lit up in anger as he swung his wooden sword .

The wooden sword rapidly flew towards Pram’s head with the full intent of

annihilating it . Pram, unable to do anything, reflexively closed his eyes .

He heard the striking sound, but when he realized he didn't feel a sliver of pain,

he slowly opened his eyes . At first, he only noticed fragments of wood scattered

in the air and drops of blood falling to the ground . Yet it only took him less

than a second to notice a broken wooden sword and Desir's arms, which had

blocked the attack directed at Pram’s head .

Desir spoke with an unexpectedly calm voice . “You were ‘really’ going to hit

him . ”

Desir’s right hand was clenched in a fist . Percival could not believe his eyes . ‘He

blocked that?’

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It was an incredibly fast strike . It was done in the heat of the moment and

purely out of anger . But having swung the weapon with all his mustered up

strength, the thought that it could have been blocked hadn't even crossed

Percival's mind . A single droplet of cold sweat ran down Percival's spine . “S-so

what?”

Desir inhaled a deep breath then proceeded to stare down Percival . Percival felt

like Desir's penetrating gaze were a dark abyss that could swallow him whole .

“The battle is over . You won . What else do you want?”

Desir’s eyes were completely devoid of any emotion . No anger, no fear, no

irritation was shown . He was just plainly staring at Percival . Without Percival

having realized it, Desir emanated an incomprehensible and strange

atmosphere that left him dumbfounded and without breath . Percival had felt

something like this before . He recalled a time when he was very young . The

knowledgeable veteran general who had taught him everything would stare at

Percival with the same eyes each time he made a mistake .

“Be thankful that a professor isn’t here right now . If a professor saw your

conduct just now-” Desir exclaimed .

“Don’t you lecture me . ” Percival snapped back .

Percival rapidly turned around and left to go somewhere else . As though he did

not want to stay in that place a second longer, Percival left Desir's sight with a

half run .

***

Desir's arm had taken a serious beating . The spot where he had blocked the

wooden sword was swollen, and the area around the wound had turned black

and red with bruising . It was a silver lining that his bone hadn't been broken .

The wood splinters were removed, and his wound was carefully disinfected and

bandaged .

“Your wound hurts a lot, right?” Pram asked, concerned .

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After moving to the infirmary, Pram had begun providing first-aid to Desir . He

carefully wrapped bandages around the wound, making sure they would not

unravel . For some odd reason, the ends of the bandages were tied into a ribbon .

Desir had to hold back laughter at that fact . It truly was a meticulous

handiwork .

“I’m really sorry . ” Pram was on the verge of tears .

He blankly stared at Desir’s arm wrapped in bandages . Even now, blood was

seeping through the wrappings .

“I am truly sorry . Life is going to be a lot tougher with a wounded right arm like

yours . ”

“It’s alright . I was the one who decided to intervene . ”

“No, no . This was all my fault . If I don’t take responsibility-”

“I told you, it’s fine . ”

“Well, if you say so . . . ”

Even as he said that, Pram remained restless .

“Seriously, don’t worry about it . ” said Desir, trying to appease Pram’s worries .

“But . . . ”

Pram took a seat next to Desir and cast a downtrodden glance .

“You've made yourself an enemy in Alpha Class just to help someone you didn’t

know . ”

“I was well aware of that as soon as I decided to step in . ”

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When Desir said that, Pram raised his head . His eyes were filled with surprise

and awe . “A-anyways, thank you . I’ll never forget this . ”

“It was nothing . ”

“Ah!”

Pram suddenly realized something .

“Now that I think about it, we’ve just been calling each other ‘you’ . ”

A light hearted laughter was exchanged between the pair . Pram pointed to

himself and spoke, “I’m Pram Schneizer . ”

“Desir Arman . Nice to meet you, Mr . Schneizer . ”

“There’s no need to address me with such formality . ”

“Hmm, if that’s the case . . . Schneizer?”

Pram shook his head . “No, no . Just call me Pram . You can just speak casually

with me . ”

Desir spoke defeatedly, “Alright, Pram . Does that work?”

Pram's face lit up as soon as he heard Desir concede . He truly was happy .