Chapter 348 (2/2)
Wordlessly, I shut the door and returned to my mess of a desk I hadn’t bothered to look over the class roster I’d received in inal paperwork, so I pulled the new scroll open and scanned the—nize most of the naer, Enola of Highblood Frost…blah blah blah…Mayla of Blood Fairweather, Pascal of Blood Bancroft, Portrel of Highblood Gladwyn, Rehblood Milview…
Milview, I thought, the na familiar for some reason I’d heard it before, but where? Some soldier in the war? Not the man I’d tortured…Vale…so where—
My eyes widened in realization
There weren’t h to have their names recorded in our reports, but that was exactly where I’d read the nah Elshi+re Forest—the person responsible for the fall of Elenoir—had been named Milview
A scoff escaped my lips as I set down the scroll Was this coincidence or so up, I crossed ainst the fra between the sa aardly to protect his stomach and head The wide, squat bully had his fists up lazily He met his companion’s eye, winked, then threw a knee up into Seth’s unprotected face
As Seth hit the ground, the rest of the class see on the training platforat the spectacle Others were chuckling softly or si curiously to see what I’d do
I strode forward toward the Milview boy, shouldering the other young men out ofdown my nose at him “Name?”
“Portrel,” he said, his chin up and chest puffed “Of Highblood Gladwyn”
“If you plan on fighting, do it in there,” I said, nodding toward the training ring
Portrel’s squashed face twisted in confusion as I jerked Seth up froround by the back of his unifor “Did I stutter?”
Letting out a chortle, Portrel strode purposefully to the dueling ring while Seth followed hesitantly, dabbing at a bloody nose with his sleeve
The girl with the short golden hair, one of the two already training in the ring, scowled at the this”
“Not anymore,” I said evenly “Move”
She scoffed but leapt off the training platforirl with brown eyes and dark hair that ran in twin braids down her back, winced as she stepped off the platforainst her ribs
The two boys climbed up onto the platfor onto the platform myself
I sensed the fear that struck Seth as he realized I had no intention of helping However, he still got in a defensive stance as he faced the Gladwyn boy
Crossing noring the rest of the class “Continue”
They were as ine Portrel ice Seth’s weight, even if he wasn’t any taller, and was probably a Striker Fro stance, both hands up and his right foot back slightly, I was sure he had trained in hand-to-hand coht but looked shorter because of the way he slouched He was skinny to the point of looking sickly, an ihtened by his pale skin, and had clearly never been taught to throw a punch
Maybe if he didn’t spend all of his ti theat the back offor?” I asked the bulky Striker “Aren’t you going to hit him?”
An even deeper confusion riddled their faces as they looked atas he lifted his fists “Whatever you say, Professor”
His first punch was lazy, striking Seth on the inside of his shoulder, but the following uppercut landed squarely on Seth’s chin, rocking the unprepared boy’s head back and sending hi mana, but I expect you to at least try to throw a decent strike,” I said, my voice level, al to lean into your fist”
His cheeks reddened “I’ued “I have trained with—”
“Someone as afraid to tell you how shi+t you really are,” I finished for hiain”
There were so his colorful-haired buddy, which made Portrel blush even deeper He scowled and squared up across fro me instead of his opponent Portrel didn’t hold back, unleashi+ng a series of powerful punches that Seth couldn’t hope to defend against
The skinny boy was on his back within seconds Portrel kicked his defenseless opponent sharply in the ribs once, then pulled back for a second, but seelare, as if daring me to criticize him
“Your feet were crossed, and at one point you had both fists extended,” I said flatly
Seth’s lip had broken open, and he was slow to regain his feet The next time Portrel struck him, he collapsed immediately
“You pulled your punch and let your wrist go liround his teeth and glanced out of the ring at the darkhaired boy who seeleader From the corner ofI should have read through the entire list of students’ naht about the different bloods Abby hadour conversation, and which students she told h she had spoken about hirandson of Director Ra at the dark-haired boy, I could see the reseleader even a back to the class, I pointed to the short-haired girl “You Are there training swords somewhere?”
She nodded slowly and pointed to an open door in the corner of the roo her an expectant look “Can you go get theriave et it…” before hurrying across the classroom to retrieve the practice swords When she returned with theetic sht, springy wood I handed theed himself back to his feet, looked at the weapon as if it were a snake that was about to bite him, while Portrel twirled his with practiced co stance,” I ordered
Portrel adopted a middle stance, his left foot back with the sword held in front of hilanced at the Milview boy, who copied hi like he’d never held a sword in his life, and felt a pang of annoyance It grew froer He was the brother of the soldier responsible for not only the conquest of Elenoir but its destruction as well
If the Alacryans hadn’t taken over the country, the asuras would’ve never…
A shi+ft in the roohts The students around us, o, were now gazing at the ring with tense excitement Seth’s eyes widened as he focused on the dull blade of his opponent’s practice sword
Seeing that Portrel had adjusted his posture suddenly and see able to sense ic, what he was up to
“No mana,” I said firmly
He scoffed “Such a stupid rule What is the point of—”
“Are you afraid to spar without it?” I asked with a tilt of my head
Portrel swelled “I’in,” I barked, catching both boys off guard Seth jerked his sparring blade down, catching Portrel on the bridge of the nose with a crack Blood splattered the front of his unifor the sword like a club Seth’s eyes snapped shut, and he stu purely by accident He let his sword sag so that it ended up between Portrel’s off-balance legs, and the enraged highblood tripped and crashed to the ground at Seth’s feet
The tall boy with hter “Nice one, Port!”
I blinked dumbly “Well that was fun Did the two of you practice that little comedy skit or was it improvised?”
Seth looked away, embarrassed, as he scratched the back of his head Portrel, on the other hand, was practically vibrating in anger
“How dare you, you unnaot back on his feet and pointed his sparring sword at me “I don’t knohat you did, but et yourself,” a firm, authoritative voice said I was surprised to see the Ra disrespect to your blood”
Portrel flinched, looking froleader to randson, Valen, flashed a diplohblood Rahblood Gladwyn, Professor Portrel is an excellent fighter, but he has a telimmer in Valen’s eyes and a ist to his s, but I couldn’t tell what he was up to
“It’s a sha opponent Perhaps your lessons will be better ihtened “I’m sure Portrel would be honored to spar with you, Professor”
“So very honored,” he echoed, trying and failing to keep a vindictive smirk off his face
“Very well,” I said as I sloisted the spiral ring off of the round beneath Portrel’s feet trembled as the Striker darted forith a speed that wasn’t possible without htest step to the side to avoid the wooden sword aientle snap of my wrist, I slapped the kid across the face with the back of my hand
Portrel’s head jerked froht out of the unshi+elded dueling ring
Silence clung to the roo himself out of the seats he had crashed into
“You wouldn’t have rolled so hard if you hadn’t usedback onon Valen “Get out of here”
Laughter and excited chatter broke out fros and ascending the stairs out of the classroom
“Help Portrel up, Reling coered onfrolowered at his feet, careful to avoid looking in my direction, but his fists were clenched white as his friend teased him all the way up the stairs
From behind me, barely a whisper, I heard, “Professor?”
Seth had stood frozen in the corner of the platfor at me with a hopeful expression that made my stomach squirm with discoinning of a dark bruise appearing around his left eye
“Don’t expect class to get any easier than this, Milview,” I said dispassionately, the intent ofin Alacrya, pretending to be a teacher…that was one thing But teaching the family member of the woman who let the Alacryan army overtake Elenoir?
I wasn’t sure I could do that
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“Thank you for the advice, sir,” he answered resolutely, even as his gaze was lowered “I…I’ll keep that in mind for your next class”
As Seth slumped past me, my attention was drawn to the exit, where students were starting to bottleneck “I said class is over! What’s the hold up?”
Reluctantly, the gawking boys stepped aside, revealing a blue-haired, scarlet-eyed woman