I walked into my morning class with a yawn. After Augusta found me yesterday and told Catherine Fulnore about it, I ended up sleeping in the nurse's office. While I had a clean bill of health, I was still a bit tired.

  Well, I had magic now. What I needed to do next was complete the bonding events with my available party members. If I could do those, I'd have them join me in the first boss fight. I would need all of them to help me if I wanted any chance of surviving.

  Then again, I'd probably have Millia in my party even without the bonding event. And she's no doubt stronger than she was in the game. That being said...

  ...I still wanted to do the bonding event with her. But would Millia want to? She didn't like me all that much.

  Looking around the classroom, everyone was still seated far apart. I had expected this. We'd only been in class for one day, after all, and yesterday wasn't exactly the best.

  I sat in the same place I sat on my first day. A moment later, Augusta sat in the seat next to mine. Scanning the room, I saw looks of shock coat the faces of other students.

  "Good morning, Augusta," I said.

  "Good morning, Dante," she replied with utter calmness. "Are you feeling alright?"

  "I'm a bit tired, but aside from that, I'm fine."

  Augusta nodded, looking away slightly.

  "I'll be wide awake before PE, so you don't need to worry," I assured her.

  "Okay," she stated.

  I saw the slightest tinge of relief cross over her face.

  Ouren Lishenski walked into the room. The teacher's eyes scanned the area. Shock crossed his face when he saw me, or maybe he was surprised that I was sitting next to Augusta?

  "Dante, I heard you had an...incident yesterday," Ouren spoke with some hesitation. "Are you doing better?"

  "Yes, I'm doing fine now," I replied.

  "I see..."

  The teacher looked at Augusta before his gaze turned back to me. Ouren's expression was plastered with concern.

  "Then, do I have nothing to worry about? Nothing at all?" he asked.

  Ah, so it was Augusta he was worried about.

  "Nothing at all," I answered. "It was an accident."

  Ouren looked skeptical, but he nodded all the same.

  "Very well. If you accept it as an accident, then so be it."

  With that, he turned to the board and started his lesson.

  The classes went well. Or at least I hope they did. I made notes and absorbed all the information I could. For a lore nerd like me, that's something easy.

  All the various teachers asked me if I was okay. They seemed to think it was weird that I was sitting next to Augusta. I suppose most people wouldn't have forgiven her for our sparring accident. Still, it made me nervous.

  What would happen when we sparred today? Would Augusta be able to hold back, or would she get excited again? I had the item that gave me fire resistance on my person, so I'd be safer than yesterday. But would that be safe enough?

  Well, only time would tell.

  Eventually, physical education came. I stepped into the training room with my heart beating fast. The pain of yesterday flashed through my mind, but I pushed it back.

  In the exercise area, most of the students kept a wide distance from Augusta. I saw looks of fear on some of their faces. When Sir Ethan Penbrook stepped inside, he blinked as he looked between Augusta and I. She was standing next to me.

  "I see you are doing quite a bit better today, Dante," Sir Penbrook said.

  "Yes, I am," I replied.

  "Sir Penbrook," Augusta spoke up.

  The knight flinched.

  "Yes, Your Highness?" he asked.

  "I wish to spar with Dante," she answered.

  After some hesitation, Sir Penbrook spoke again.

  "I'm not sure if that's a good idea," he said. "Not after what happened yesterday."

  "I practiced holding back. We will be fine today," Augusta replied.

  Unlawfully taken from Royal Road, this story should be reported if seen on Amazon.

  Sir Penbrook sighed.

  "Your Highness, I was going to have everyone do jogging today," he stated.

  Augusta nodded.

  "Then, they can jog," she said. "I will spar with Dante."

  "Hey, Augusta. I know you're excited, but you don't have to be so pushy," I replied.

  Sir Penbrook turned pale with fear. I heard some of the other students backing away. Augusta herself nodded once.

  "May I please spar with Dante while everyone else jogs?" she asked.

  The knight blinked. Then, he blinked several more times. Sir Penbrook sighed and shook his head.

  "I...suppose I can make an exception. Grab some training equipment and spar," he spoke out loud before muttering. "How the damn hell can you even fight magic like hers?"

  We did as commanded, putting on armor and grabbing training swords. The other students had started jogging. They stayed as far away from us as possible. I couldn't blame them after what happened yesterday.

  Augusta and I stepped into the center of the room with Sir Penbrook overseeing from a safe distance. I gave Augusta a fencing salute. She mimicked my motion.

  "Show me your strength, while not going too far, Augusta," I spoke with warmth in my voice.

  "Okay," she replied without emotion.

  Augusta rushed forward with incredible speed. She lunged, thrusting her practice rapier at my chest. I swung my training blade. It collided with Augusta's, and the sheer force of the blow almost sent my weapon flying from my hand.

  Still, I hit it at enough of an angle that Augusta's blow was deflected. I tried to thrust, but she had already jumped to the side in a dodge. Augusta swung her sword. This time, I moved back to dodge it before attempting a stab.

  Mid-swing, Augusta turned her cut into a thrust. She stabbed my chest armor. Even under the metal and padding, a flash of brief pain pulsed through me.

  I stumbled back from the blow. My breaths were heavy.

  "Dante, are you alright?" Augusta asked, concern pulsing through her voice.

  "Holy crap, you're strong, Augusta!" I exclaimed. "That's awesome!"

  I knew she was strong, but I didn't think she'd be this strong! That was so cool!

  "It is?" Augusta questioned, tilting her head.

  My heart was beating in my chest. I felt my hands tremble. Sweat trickled down my brow. It felt incredible.

  "Yeah! It is! You're so cool!" I declared.

  I gave Augusta another fencing salute.

  "Let's go again!"

  She nodded once and saluted me back.

  "Okay, let's go," Augusta said.

  This time, I rushed her. Under my helmet, there was a wide smile on my face. I thrust at Augusta's left shoulder. She batted it to the side, and her parry almost wrenched the practice sword from my hands.

  My heart pounded as Augusta slashed her blade at me. I stepped back to dodge it. She turned her cut into a thrust mid-swing, and I ducked forward under her blade.

  I placed one of my hands on the ground, thrusting my sword at her with the other. This was an all-or-nothing fencing technique. If it works, you stab your opponent. If it fails, you are left more vulnerable than before.

  Augusta noticed the practice weapon thrusting at her and jumped back. It wasn't fast enough to avoid getting a light touch on her arm. As I stood up, the bloodbath princess gazed at the spot I hit her.

  "You...you actually hit me," her voice was as cold as ice.

  "It wasn't much," I replied. "That would have been a small scratch in a real fight."

  I shook my head.

  "No. It wouldn't have even broken through your armor."

  "But you still hit me," excitement slowly filled Augusta's tone. "I'm happy. I'm so happy!"

  She jumped into the air.

  "Thank you, Dante, for not holding back!"

  Augusta suddenly zoomed forward, thrusting with her blade. The wooden floor broke where she hit it. This was so telegraphed that I easily jumped to the side to dodge it. However, the bloodbath princess spun around. She swung her sword, and it hit the side of my body. A flash of pain lashed through me.

  "Augusta," I spoke as I faced her. "Could you hit with just a little less force?"

  "Okay," she nodded.

  Then, Augusta unleashed a powerful and fast thrust at my face. I leaned back to evade the blow. It worked, and Augusta's arm was hung above me. My sword moved up to hit it.

  A strong force hit my gut. I looked down to see that Augusta had kicked me. Grunts of pain escaped my mouth as I skidded back. The girl then rushed forward, following it up with a thrust.

  I grabbed my practice sword in both hands and swung it hard at Augusta's weapon. It hit stronger, parrying the blow without almost disarming me.

  Then, I moved to riposte. But Augusta's blade already whipped around so fast that I could barely see it. The sword slowed at the last moment, just as it hit my chest. This time, there was only the faintest hint of pain.

  Taking a deep breath, I nodded.

  "I'd say that's a good level of force for now," I stated. "Let's keep going."

  Augusta nodded back. She slowly walked towards me. Then, the girl darted forward with incredible speed. I realized this blow would be too fast for me to parry. So, I stumbled back instead.

  My friend thrust her sword at my face, and I ducked under it. I turned just in time to parry Augusta's cut at my shoulder. This stopped the blow, but my sword was thrown from my hand.

  Without hesitation, I moved in to tackle Augusta. My hands grabbed onto her, but she moved out of my grasp and tapped my shoulder with her blade. Once more, there was just the faintest hint of pain.

  "Good job," I said. "Even holding back, you're incredible."

  "So are you," Augusta replied. "Thank you. Thank you so much."

  She dropped her sword before wrapping her arms around my body. Augusta embraced me, and I hugged her back. Under her eye slit, I could see tears leaking from Augusta's eyes.

  I wondered if those were tears of joy, or if they were Augusta crying that she had to hold back. Even without her fire, I could tell that she wasn't using anywhere close to her full speed or strength.

  And it was at that moment that a strong urge flowed through my body. No matter what, more than anything else, I wanted to make Augusta happy. There was one way I knew for sure to do that.

  "Augusta, I've made a decision," I said.

  "What's that?" she asked.

  "I'm going to train and keep training," I answered. "So that, one day, you don't have to hold back when sparring with me."

  Of course, part of it was also so I would survive. But I wasn't certain if I needed to be that strong to live. So, the rest of it was for Augusta.

  The bloodbath princess broke the hug. She took off her helmet, revealing a wide smile on her face. Augusta then spoke, her voice calm and cool like icy lemonade.

  "You said I was cool, Dante," Augusta stated.

  "Yes, I did. Many times," I replied. "Because it's true. You're the coolest person in this school."

  She shook her head.

  "No. You are," Augusta said.

  Before I could respond, the bloodbath princess put her helmet on and turned around.

  "We're supposed to jog today, so let's start jogging," she suggested.

  With that, Augusta ran to join the others, still wearing her training armor. That was a very good way to train endurance and running on the battlefield.

  I started running to join her, and I noticed that the other students started jogging faster when Augusta entered the track. Why were they doing that? She controlled herself this...

  ...I looked back at the sparring area. My eyes gazed upon the broken spot on the wooden floor. Ah, that was why.

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