"Good Morning Everyone! I'm George Lancastar. I'm gonna be your teacher in sword fighting."
""" Yes!"""
It was now afternoon and I, along with all the 80 third graders, stood on the field in rows and columns behind our school building. Looking around, I could see the fourth, fifth and sixth graders sparring against one another a bit farther away. Even though, it wasn't the entire population of the general studies students. It was still wide enough to accommodate 4 grades.
While looking around, a giant shadow suddenly covered me. I raised my face and found that the perpetrator was our teacher. George had a well-built body and looked to be around 40 something years old. He was 185 cm tall and wore a loose-fitting white shirt and blue pants. His hair shown a golden radiance under the sun and a big smile was planted on his face.
"So you're Lumina Chis Chem."
"I'm surprised you know me?"
I know that my existence is quite thin and because, of that, nobody wants to befriend me. The only exceptions were the times I would do something rare. Like being a bit late going to my classroom, the event at the canteen earlier and for some reasons I don't know.
"Who doesn't!?"
(Everybody...)
I wanted to tell him what I was thinking, but because it would be troublesome. I refrained from doing it. After talking to me, George started walking until he reached the end of the row. He made an exaggerated nod and quickly walked back in front of us.
"Everybody! Find a partner and start spar with each other."
""" Yes!"""
I became a bit doubtful at what he said and approached him.
"Ummm... Teacher George."
"Hmm? What is it?"
"Is that really all? No lessons or other things?"
He suddenly started laughing and with an even bigger smile he said, "Lessons? Why do I need to teach you lessons? All you need to do is hack, slash and hit your enemies with your sword."
"So you're saying, that that will be the only things we'll be taught?"
"Yep!"
"Until graduation?"
"Yep!"
"Haaa~ Thanks for answering me."
"No problem, ask me if anything. I'll be here, watching all of you."
I walked away from George and headed to Emilia. I could feel some people staring at me while I was walking. It felt really disgusting being stared by them like that. I think the reason why they were staring at me was because the clothes I wore didn't let me blend with the environment.
Normally, they would ignore me because I had black hair, black eyes and was wearing a black uniform. I was very inconspicuous. Though there were times where I could feel some gazes, I would do my best to ignore it and act respectable till I would feel that they were gone.
However, because the clothes I wore were a white T-shirt with red short pants, I really stand out amongst the crowd. Deep inside I felt really embarrassed from their stares. But because it would have tarnished my family name, I did my best to not mind them.
"You seem tired, are you okay?"
"I'm fine, I just can't get used to those stares."
Emilia made a small laugh as she handed me a wooden sword.
"Isn't it because of your aura?"
"Nope! Don't think so. Normally, they'd ignore me."
She knitted her brows and made a very troubled expression.
"Weren't you the one who usually ignore them?"
"I only ignored them cause they ignored me."
"Uh-huh."
"Anyways, let's start practicing already. Look, everybody but us have already started."
I moved a couple of steps away from Emilia and made a stance with my sword.
The stance I made was the most common stance I would see in fantasy shows back in my previous life. Placing a foot behind one and I held my wooden sword with a tight grip as I face Emilia.
"Did you practice swordsmanship when you were young, Miss Lumina?"
"Nope, not really. I was just copying a person I once saw."
"Is that so?"
While question marks floated on top of her head. Emilia also made a stance with her wooden sword. The two of us stood in front of each other not saying a word. The wind blew around us and the shouts of our fellow classmates resounded in my ears. The moment a child fell down near us, it became our signal to charge.
I raised my wooden sword high while hers was low. The moment she was within my range, I quickly made a shifted the angle of my attack and targeted her shoulder. It seemed like she had expected where I was gonna strike cause she managed to block it with her wooden sword.
"Shouldn't it be me who asking if you once practiced swordsmanship, Emilia?"
"If cooking can be called as practicing, then yes."
"Fufufu..."
"Kukuku..."
I strengthened my pushing force and the instant she was gonna resist me, I escaped from the stalemate. Making my wooden sword parallel to the ground, I swiftly ran towards her. She used her wooden sword to divert the force of my attack and countered me. In order for me to escape her attack, I forcefully made my body and managed to dodge her wooden sword by a hair's breath.
Seeing that her counter-attack was a failure, she backed away and restored her stance.
"The attack you just did was filled with resentment!?"
"What are you talking about?"
"Are you using this spar as an excuse as payback for the math drills I gave you?"
"I don't understand what you're talking about."
"So questioning is futile huh... then I'll also use this chance to pay you back for the harassment you've been giving me."
I tightened the grip on my wooden sword and started walking towards her naturally. She heightened her guard as she waited for me to be within her sword's range.
I suddenly dashed to her left and quickly closed our distance. Targeting her flank, I used the chance where she was surprised by my inconsistent speed. When she had recovered from her shock, she made a jumped back greatly, destroying her posture.
"You're mine!"
"We'll see about that!"
The moment I thought my wooden sword was gonna connect, a blunt pain assaulted my hands. I became dumbfounded and paused for a while. I looked around and found two wooden swords lying on the ground a few steps away.
"So it's a tie?"
"Yes."
Emilia fixed her posture and stood in front of me with a smile. I replied to her with a smile of my own.
"I've never seen you exercise, Emilia. How come you're so strong and fast?"
"Working as a servant is quite a chore you know."
"Is that so?"
"Yes. What about you, Miss Lumina. How come you're so skilled with the sword? I haven't seen you practicing it before, much less exercising."
"A little imagination and tons of motivation did the trick."
"Is that so?"
"Yes."
When we were finished with our conversation, Emilia picked up the wooden swords and handed one to me.
"Then wanna to go at it again?"
"If that's what you want."
"Then let's continue doing this till we're dead tired! I had fun in the last round."
"I understand, Miss Lumina."
We continued fighting each other till our teacher, George, told us that class had ended.