The front yard of the academy city is a huge training ground, with rough granite ground specially designed to prevent slipping, and added with strong anti-impact patterns.
The warehouses on both sides store various training weapons and props. Occasionally, large-scale activities of the entire academy are also held here. Usually, it is used as the main practice area for most students.
It's about an hour before the morning class starts, and many students haven't arrived yet, but a few diligent students are already doing morning exercises on the training ground.
Hoo—snap!
Two consecutive sounds of breaking the air, followed by a crisp collision. Because wooden swords were used, the sound was not as piercing as a real steel sword, but the sound that spread throughout the training ground still proved the powerful strength of the sword-wielder.
"Oh, it's little Petra."
Recognizing one of the fighters, Tiran quickly finished off the pineapple pie in his hand and walked towards her.
At this moment, Petra also finished her fight, executing a neat and swift three-stage slash and striking the opponent's sword in the middle and lower section, causing the wooden sword to fall to the ground.
"As expected, you are more skilled, Sister Petra."
The opponent is a second-grade girl who is half a head shorter than Petra and has short light brown hair. After finishing the fight, she quickly picked up her wooden sword and respectfully bowed to Petra.
"Thank you, you're also very good. For a second-grade student, you're already quite rare." Petra put the wooden sword back at her waist and smiled in return.
"Not bad at all. You even got up so early."
Suddenly, the voice that she had heard countless times in the past few days came from behind. Petra was slightly surprised and quickly turned around, only to find Tiran waving at her from a dozen steps away, while Aya held two paper bags in her hand, with a half piece of golden brown food in her mouth, making an unclear "wu wu" sound, as if greeting her too.
"The headmaster?" Surprised, Petra jogged over. "Why did you come so early today?"
"You seem surprised..." Tiran tugged the corner of his mouth.
"Ah, because the headmaster usually doesn't come until noon... um, I didn't mean it that way!" Realizing that her words seemed too straightforward, Petra panicked and waved her hands repeatedly, trying to explain, but she couldn't make herself understood.
"Forget it, it's the truth anyway. Besides, your previous headmaster will probably be able to come back soon." Tiran waved his hand and glanced at the still empty training ground. "Speaking of which, do you always get up this early?"
Even Tiran, who was used to getting up early in the previous world, couldn't help but be amazed. It's quite scary to insist on training every day, even if it's just morning exercises.
"I usually get up a little later. During this period, I'm preparing for the team battle of the martial arts festival and coordinating with my teammates, so I come for training earlier. It was supposed to end five minutes ago, but... that child came to challenge me, so I accepted it."
"Such a gentle and kind senior sister." Aya sighed deeply, swallowed the pineapple pie in her mouth, and glanced sideways at a certain flat princess. "Compared to someone who can't learn anything in this regard... Ouch!"
The princess still had a smile on her face, but she twisted her heel on Aya's foot and then pressed down hard, causing Aya to shiver from the pain.
"By the way, you haven't eaten breakfast yet, right?" Aya suddenly remembered something and tossed the unopened oil paper bag in her arms to Petra.
"Hmm, could this be... the special pineapple pie from that famous dessert shop in front of Changqiao Square?" Petra caught the warm paper bag steadily and asked excitedly.
"Well, I actually intended to bring it as a comfort gift for you guys. Since you haven't had breakfast yet, it works out perfectly." Tiran added.
"Speaking of which, Petra, you've been in Milt for quite a while, haven't you? That shop outside is so famous... Haven't you tried it?" Aya noticed Petra's expression and casually mentioned.
"Every time I wanted to go after morning practice, they were always sold out. Only once did a junior sister purposely bring it, although it was cold, the taste was indeed impressive. I've been wanting to try a fresh one for a while." Petra held the paper bag tightly with one hand to prevent the delicacies inside from getting cold too quickly, while the other hand awkwardly touched the strands of hair hanging down her cheek.
"Well, in order to prevent this rare delicacy from getting cold, I'll take my leave now." Petra also bowed deeply and, once she regained her balance, followed her teammate, who had already gone to take a shower. Her hard-soled boots made a rhythmic tapping sound on the stone floor.
However, not long after running out, Petra suddenly stopped in her tracks, as if remembering something. But she found that Tiran and the others had already disappeared on the stairs leading to the main castle of the academy.
"Oh... Looks like I forgot to tell her..."
"No, you don't want to," Princess replied directly, elbowing Aya in the stomach and causing her to kneel down and almost spit out the pineapple pie she had just eaten. Princess took a deep breath, straightened her clothes, and then pointed at herself, asking Lucius, "Do you think I look like a coach, Headmaster?"
"Not really, in a way, I think you and Celia have a similar temperament," Lucius replied.
"Are you complimenting me or insulting me?"
"Please interpret it as you wish," Lucius smiled. ... I didn't expect this guy to be so witty behind the scenes.
"Anyway, do you know what my situation is? Besides, isn't there anyone else who can guide the students in such a big combat academy?"
"Of course, in fact, the team members are already working well together, and our coach is well-prepared. However, Your Highness, with your Holy Rank perspective, even if you temporarily lack power, you should have a higher understanding of combat, which is beneficial to the students."
"But isn't Celia more suitable... Oh, I understand."
The two silently exchanged glances and reached a peaceful consensus. At the same time, a certain girl in the detention room, who was copying the Academy Chancellor's work manual with a sad face due to the threat of cutting office funding, felt a chill down her spine.
"Well, these are the names and information of the students participating in the elite competition. They will be waiting for Your Highness's guidance on the training grounds after school this afternoon. In addition, the position of the Academy Chancellor will be transferred back to Celia this afternoon. Your Highness, you are free now."
"You still have a conscience." Tiran's eyes lit up. Well, even though he didn't earn much, at least there were fewer things to deal with.
"I'll leave this to you, goodbye."
After handing over the information, Lucius also appeared more relaxed. In fact, as the Head of Education, his work was not easy, especially dealing with those little guys who always wanted to cause trouble. Various tasks would only become more cumbersome. But when he saw the pile of things being solved one by one, he felt a sense of satisfaction... If it weren't for his inherently responsible (masochistic?) personality, Lucius might have escaped like Celia, disappearing for three days and slacking off for two days.
What should he do next? Hmm?
Thinking about his next task, Lucius noticed a figure waiting for him in the shadow around the corner.
Light pink short hair, a rare color that could hardly be found in the academy, and the girl's usually radiant eyes were unexpectedly drooping a bit when she saw Lucius, clearly not in a good mood.
But she still came to find him.
"These two days have been good, right? But it's rare to see you come to me on your own initiative," Lucius smiled and greeted her.
"Why isn't my name on the team list?" Feilin didn't even pay attention to Lucius's greeting and went straight to the point.
"Because I didn't agree," Lucius answered calmly.
If anyone else heard this, they would be very surprised, because this headmaster, even when admonishing students, always had sound reasoning and was persuasive. It was almost impossible for him to respond so bluntly to a direct question.
"Do you want to fight?" The girl's response was even more direct.
"I can, but haven't you accumulated enough points yet? If you lose to me at this time, I have a sufficient reason to expel you. If you are willing to fulfill my wish, I would be very happy to accept."
"Tsk! You, you...”
“Don't stare at me like that with such hostility. After all, I’m your older brother. Can't you behave a little better?” Lucius forced a bitter smile.
“How come you didn't think about being my brother when you left mom and ran away?” Feilin coldly threw out those words and turned to leave.
"...Sorry."
Watching Feilin's figure disappear around the corner, a hint of desolation finally appeared in Lucius' eyes as he murmured softly.
