Chapter 16: Monsters
After spending 7 long and slow hours in school, Leo prepared to leave the classroom to go to the training center for another day of training.
However, before he could go anywhere, Professor Jasmine approached him and said, “Hey, Leo.”
“Yes?”
“You probably don’t know this since you have amnesia, but we are having our lessons at the Coliseum tomorrow.”
“Excuse me? At the what?” Leo doubted his ears.
They have a coliseum in the academy?
“The Coliseum. It’s right behind the Training Center. We go there every Tuesday to practice swordsmanship, and there will even be instructors to guide you.” Jasmine explained.
“I see… I understand. I will be there tomorrow morning.”
“I don’t expect you to participate due to your injuries, but since we’re training with swords, you might remember a thing or two,” she said.
Leo nodded despite knowing full well that he wouldn’t remember anything.
After leaving the school building, he made his way to the Training Center and started his training with Miss Camille.
“Does everyone in school train in swordsmanship?” Leo suddenly asked Miss Camille towards the end of their training.
“Not everyone, but the majority of knights do.”
“So is non-magic student a knight in this school?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Why are you suddenly asking these questions?” Miss Camille was curious.
“Well, we’re supposed to have our classes at the Coliseum tomorrow, and the students will be training in swordsmanship according to Professor Jasmine.”
“Oh, you’re right. I forgot about that.” Miss Camille suddenly frowned.
“What’s the matter?” Leo asked her after seeing her expression.
“You’ll probably have to spar with students from other classes tomorrow.”
“What the hell? I thought we’re only there to practice.”
“Yes, and sparring with other students is considered practice. In fact, it’s very common. Although nobody would dare to spar with the previous Leo, there might be some students that wish to test your current level.”
“And to be completely honest, I don’t want you sparring with other students yet.”
“I know. I’m not powerful enough, right?” Leo said.
“No, that’s not it. I don’t want the other teachers to be suspicious of you. That’s all.”
“Don’t worry, I have no intentions of fighting anyone until I am strong enough.”
“Good.”
The following morning, Leo made his way to the Coliseum, which was about a five minute walk from the Training Center.
“Holy, this place is much more massive than I’d anticipated…” Leo muttered in a surprised voice after arriving at the Coliseum, which was the size of at least three football stadiums together.
After spending a moment admiring the building, Leo followed the dozens of students there inside.
Once inside the Coliseum, Leo looked around the open field for Professor Jasmine. Fortunately, she was easy to spot due to her unique appearance.
Sometime later, he grouped up with Jasmine and the rest of the students in his class.
“Are all the students here for training? I can even see magic students here.” Leo asked.
“Yes. The knights practice on the left side of the field and the magic students practice on the right side of the field. If you wish to spar with them, you just need to walk up to them and challenge them.” Jasmine nodded.
“Yeah… I don’t think so…”
When all of the students for their class arrived, Professor Jasmine said, “Take ten minutes to warm up, then we’ll start practice.”
“Yes!”
All of the students there brought their own swords, so they immediately started warming up by swinging the sword at the empty air in front of them.
Only Leo there was empty-handed.
“Sorry, I didn’t know we needed to bring our own sword.” Leo said.
“Don’t worry about it. I already told you that I don’t expect you to train with us today.”
“I know, but I still want to train at my own pace. Do you have a sword I can borrow?”
Jasmine pointed at the weapon rack in the distance and said, “You can use one of those.”
“I’ll be right back.”
Leo ran to the weapon rack and started looking through the swords there.
All of the swords were organized by weight, so it didn’t take long before Leo found what he was looking for— a 15kg sword.
Furthermore, 15kg was the lightest sword in the rack.
After spending the entire weekend with Miss Camille, his arm strength increased to the point where he could swing swords at that weight without any artifacts.
Now that he also had a sword, Leo started warming up with the other students by swinging his sword.
“Why is Leo swinging around such a light sword? That’s like swinging around a feather for someone like him.” His classmates mumbled to each other.
After all, even though Leo has lost his memories, amnesia has nothing to do with one’s strength.
“It must be due to his injuries.”
“His injuries must be very serious for him to lose so much strength, yet he’s still coming to class as usual. How admirable.”
“I wonder what really happened to him.”
“We can only guess for now since even he doesn’t know.”
Ten minutes passed in the blink of an eye while the students warmed up their bodies and muscles.
“Now that everyone is warmed up, it’s time for practice.”
Professor Jasmine retrieved a box from a spatial storage just like Miss Camille while the students lined up in front of her.
The students proceeded to put their hands into this box before pulling out a piece of paper that had a number written on it.
“Those that picked the same number will be sparring with each other. If you wish to challenge someone, you can do so after your first fight.” Jasmine said to them.
And for the next two hours, the students from Leo’s class would spar with each other in the open field.
Of course, the other classes were doing the same thing but at different locations in the open field.
“What do you think? Do you remember anything?” Jasmine approached Leo about half an hour into their training and asked him.
“Sorry, I don’t.” Leo shook his head.
“I see… Well, you have plenty of time to remember now that you’re back at the academy where it’s safe and sound.”
“I wouldn’t call this place safe…” Leo showed her a bittersweet smile.
“I guess I can’t argue that, but trust me, it’s hell of a lot better than outside the city, where vampires and monsters roam freely.”
“Huh? Monsters? I know about vampires, but there are monsters too?” This was Leo’s first time hearing about monsters.
“Of course. Vampires are actually quite rare compared to monsters, but they’re also much more powerful than monsters, mostly due to their intelligence and knowledge.”
“I see…” Leo subconsciously glanced at Lilith, who was flying around the open field and watching the other students.
Once all of the students fought at least once, Jasmine said to them, “You can now go challenge the other classes if you want.”
After getting her approval, most of the students in the class left to find opponents from the other classes.
However, they only dared to approach the other ordinary students.
Leo remained with Jasmine and watched from a distance. However, he was quickly becoming bored of just standing around, so he started training by himself again.
When the students from other classes noticed Leo training by himself, a few of them approached him.
“Hey, Leo, let’s have a spar.” A bulky student that was a head taller than Leo said to him.
“Sorry, but I’m not in the condition to spar with others.” Leo immediately rejected the challenge.
“Hah! Are you scared? You’re the last person I expected to refuse a fight!” The bulky student taunted him.
Leo stopped swinging his sword and glanced at the student.
“If you want to fight, I’ll fight you all you want after I deal with Kayn. What’s your name? If you don’t come looking for me, I will come looking for you.”
The bulky student swallowed nervously after hearing Leo’s words.
“I-I’ll come back after your challenge with Kayn then…” The bulky student quickly turned around and walked away.
Several more students from other classes approached Leo for a spar, but they were all shut down.
“Leo’s really changed. Not even daring to fight with the ordinary students— he’s turned into a coward.”
The magic students at the other side of the Coliseum had been paying attention to Leo, as they were looking forward to seeing him spar. However, that no longer seems to be possible.
Sometime later, someone there shouted while pointing at a certain person, “L-Look over there!”
“Holy shit, what is she doing here? She has never shown up to training before!”
The magic students there watched as a red-haired student approached the unaware Leo.
“LEO!” The red-haired student shouted his name once she was close enough.
“Huh?” Leo quickly turned around to see a beautiful young girl walking towards him with an angry expression on her pretty face.
‘Who’s this chick?’ Leo wondered inwardly.
“Sorry, but if you’re looking to spar with me, I will have to refuse.” He said to her a moment later.
However, the young girl ignored his words and pointed her sword at him.
“You promised that you’d fight me! However, you ‘died’ the day before our fight! I have waited three months for this moment!”
“I’m sorry, but I don’t even remember who you are. If you want to fight me, I don’t mind, but there’s a line of people waiting to fight me. Please wait your turn.” Leo shook his head.
“FIGHT ME!”
The red-haired student suddenly brandished her sword at Leo.
However, she stopped her movement right before her blade touched his neck.
“I see… So this is how you want to play, huh?” She retrieved her sword and sighed.
And without any explanations, she turned around and walked away.
‘W-What the hell? I couldn’t even see her movements just now!’ Leo snapped out of his daze and cried inwardly.
The only reason he didn’t try to dodge her strike was simply because he couldn’t react to it!
Once the red-haired student was gone, he asked Jasmine, “Who was that student just now?”
“That was the Crimson Witch’s younger sister, Tia Barnett. She has a habit of challenging the strong.” Jasmine said.
“Crimson Witch?” Leo raised his eyebrows.
“Yes, she has the highest magic affinity for fire in this entire academy, and she’s also one of the most powerful students.”
“With that being said, her younger sister, Tia Barnett, isn’t as talented, hence why she keeps on challenging the strong as a way to prove her strength to others. Just ignore her, Leo. She’ll stop bothering you after a while.”
“That’s exactly what I intend on doing,” he said.