Glancing briefly at the seat beside me, I noticed Princess Thelma sleeping with a peaceful and cute expression on her face. By the time we arrived back at the academy parking lot, she was already awake and stretching her body.
"Thank you, Father, for taking us out to dinner," she said affectionately to her father.
"Thank you, Your Majesty," I said to King Drach, bowing my head in gratitude.
The two of us stepped out of King Drach's car.
I turned around to face Princess Thelma. "Now, since you ate so much earlier, tomorrow morning you are joining me for a morning run around the academy."
"H-huh?!" Princess Thelma looked shocked. "W-what are you talking about, Instructor?"
"You said you wanted to become strong, right? Even though official training has not started yet, I think we can get a head start," I replied with a smile. "We will build up your strength step by step so you can win international tournaments."
"A-are you just scared of running alone in the morning, Instructor? F-fine, I will run with you starting tomorrow!" Princess Thelma turned her face away.
"How do you even know I run alone in the morning?" I asked, raising an eyebrow.
"I-I can see you from my dormitory room..." Princess Thelma answered. "See you tomorrow, Instructor!"
Princess Thelma turned and ran off, leaving me behind. King Drach burst into laughter watching his daughter's behaviour. Afterwards, he hugged me and kissed my cheek, saying, "See you again, Yogiri."
"Yes, sir!" I replied, giving a formal military salute. I felt a bit awkward because the monarch treated me with such casual familiarity.
King Drach looked at me with a puzzled expression. He let out a sigh and returned my salute. "I will let it pass this time, but next time you should recognise the difference between when I am acting as a king and when I am acting as a father."
"Ah, right, my apologies," I lowered my salute and scratched the back of my head. I remained in the parking lot until King Drach's car disappeared from my sight.
Afterwards, I walked back toward my quarters. It had been quite an exhausting day. Was it more exhausting than my time in active military service? Not really. The night passed quickly, and morning arrived once again.
As usual, I woke up early without needing an alarm and prepared for my morning run. Just as I stepped outside the staff quarters, I was met by Sesil and Princess Thelma running together.
"Good morning, you two," I greeted them while doing a few stretches.
"Good morning, Instructor," Sesil replied, stopping her run. Judging by her steady breathing, she was clearly accustomed to running.
On the other hand, Princess Thelma was struggling for air, her breathing completely uneven. "Phew... please slow down a bit. The last time I ran was back in high school... while preparing for the academy entrance exams."
"G-good morning, Instructor..." Princess Thelma greeted me between breaths.
"Did you two agree to run together?" I asked, still stretching.
"No, we just ran into each other... in front of the dormitory, and Sesil... told me she was going for a... morning run... and asked me to join," Princess Thelma explained, still panting.
"We also ran into Shia earlier, but she skipped her morning workout to focus on taking care of Chia," Sesil informed me. "By the way, Clara, were you not my junior in the sports club back in high school?"
"I already told you! I have rarely exercised lately..." Princess Thelma retorted. "Just give me one or two weeks of solid training, and I will be keeping pace with you again..."
It seemed Sesil and Princess Thelma were already close acquaintances. From their conversation, I gathered that they attended the same high school. Since Sesil was a year older than Princess Thelma and addressed her as Clara, they clearly shared a familiar history.
"Alright, you still have some energy left, right? Sesil, you can take the lead up front, while I run alongside Princess Thelma."
"Yes, Instructor!" Sesil replied, picking up her pace and taking the lead.
Meanwhile, Princess Thelma and I maintained a light jog as I guided her on proper running form once more.
"I already know the basics!" Princess Thelma huffed in annoyance. "Just you wait and see, Instructor."
"Sure, I know you do," I smiled, continuing to jog beside her.
Over the following days, my routine consisted of accompanying my students during morning runs and analysing their match records. Soon enough, Monday of the following week arrived. Last night, I sent them their schedule, requesting that they gather at my office in the instructors' building first thing today.
My office was quite spacious, featuring a dedicated briefing area as well as my primary workspace. It came fully equipped with storage units packed with training gear, access cards for the simulation room, and entry credentials for the virtual dungeon. Additionally, the space included a private restroom and a locker room for the students.
A knock sounded at my door, and Sesil walked in.
"Good afternoon, Instructor."
"Good afternoon to you too, Sesil."
Sesil was the first to arrive. Carrying her school bag, she hurried straight to the locker room. Before long, she emerged dressed in her athletic wear and took a seat on the sofa across from my desk.
"May I eat my lunch while we wait?" Sesil asked me.
"Go right ahead," I replied, walking over to the whiteboard and picking up a black marker. I wrote down their schedule on the board along with their assigned training activities for the day.
Princess Thelma: Virtual Dungeon Exploration
Tsukinose Chia: Reviewing Match Footage
Tsukinose Shia: Physical Conditioning with Dellila
Dellila Marcus: Physical Conditioning with Shia
Sesil Ernburg: Virtual Dungeon Exploration
Since Sesil and I were alone in the room, I figured I could use this opportunity to build rapport and encourage her to open up to me. Having finished writing on the whiteboard, I sat back down.
"What are you having for lunch, Sesil?" I asked, taking a bite of a sandwich I bought from the staff cafeteria.
"I made it myself in the dormitory, stir-fried vegetables. The dormitory cafeteria menu was not very appealing today," Sesil answered while chewing her food.
"Oh, are you good at cooking, Sesil?" I asked gently.
"Yes!" Sesil replied enthusiastically.
"Gooood afternoon!" Shia pushed open my office door, entering with her trademark peace sign pose. Shia appeared remarkably cheerful and full of energy.
"Go change your clothes right away and sit here until everyone arrives," I instructed her.
"So my training today involves exploring the virtual dungeon alongside Instructor and Princess Thelma?" Sesil asked after reviewing the whiteboard.
"Yes, since you seem close with Thelma, I thought you two would be a great fit to train together. Forgive me if the schedule I sent in the group chat was not final, as it was merely a rough concept," I replied with a slight chuckle.
"I feel like I could just train on my own, Instructor. You can focus your attention on Princess Thelma," Sesil remarked with a sombre tone. "Considering I am repeating my first year..."
"Do not talk like that; you are my student all the same," I said, offering a warm smile. "Whatever happened with your previous instructor will not happen again under my guidance."
Sesil remained silent, looking somewhat gloomy. Shia finished changing into her athletic wear and joined us, her eyes immediately locking onto the whiteboard.
"Good afternoon!" Princess Thelma and Chia entered my office together.
"Go straight to the locker room to change," Sesil and I said in unison.
Chia and Princess Thelma quickly headed into the changing room. Soon, both of them emerged in their athletic gear and took seats at the table in front of me. Now all five of my students were present, meaning we could begin our briefing.
"First day of training!" Shia looked exceedingly excited.
"Indeed!" Chia responded to her sister.
"Sorry I am late!" Dellila's voice called out as she rushed into my office.
Oops, I almost forgot about her for a moment. However, she had already changed into her athletic clothes beforehand, merely dropping her bag off in the locker room. Dellila sat down right next to Sesil. "I am so embarrassed; I got completely distracted watching butterflies in the garden before heading over."
"..."
"It is completely fine, now that everyone is here, let us begin our briefing!" I announced with enthusiasm. I stood up and walked over to the whiteboard, explaining the details of their first training session today.
"Virtual dungeon exploration with Sesil? Sounds great!" Princess Thelma looked eager.
Sesil simply smiled, watching Thelma's enthusiastic reaction. Chia appeared slightly disappointed that her task was limited to reviewing footage.
"Well... I suppose it makes sense since my foot still hurts," Chia pouted in frustration, her cheeks puffing up again.
"I will stay here with you to review your matches and point out areas for improvement," I reassured Chia. "I do not want to risk aggravating your injury. Once you have fully recovered, you can join Shia and Dellila for physical training."
"Alright," Chia agreed.
Afterwards, accompanied by Chia, I escorted Shia and Dellila down to the ground floor of the instructors' building, which housed the fitness centre. My goal was for Shia and Dellila to build up their physical endurance, so I laid out their workout routine for the day.
"Understood!" Shia said with high energy.
"I look forward to training with you, Shia," Dellila replied, matching Shia's enthusiasm.
Next, Chia accompanied me as I led Princess Thelma and Sesil to the training room located right next to my office. I had already taken the time to read the operational instructions. First, I swiped my instructor access card through the control panel, then adjusted the difficulty parameters for the virtual dungeon they were about to enter.
"What spawn rate multiplier would you like for the enemies?" I asked Sesil and Princess Thelma.
"1.5 multiplier," Sesil answered. "On moderate difficulty."
"I will go with whatever Sesil chooses," Princess Thelma added. She summoned her magic sword and held it tightly against her chest. "Let us begin!"
I pressed the start button, and the two of them were immediately teleported into the virtual space. With only Chia remaining beside me, I turned to her. "Now it is time to review your match footage. We will break down and analyse everything together to find areas you can improve, okay?"
"Um... if possible, I would like to try identifying my own mistakes first, and then you can tell me whether I am correct or not," Chia requested.
"Sounds good." We both walked back to my office. I set up a mini projector, closed the window curtains, and played the recording of Chia's match. I had already identified several key errors alongside my own analysis, but since Chia wanted to analyse things herself first, I was happy to go along with it.
I grabbed my notebook containing my written analysis and sat down beside her. A glance reminded me that her ankle had not fully healed yet.
"This feels like watching a movie together. Let us begin, Instructor!" Chia smiled, brimming with excitement.
Chia focused her attention on the match recording. I played the footage from her very first tryout match, where she suffered a loss and failed to qualify. She winced slightly as the moment of her defeat approached on screen.
The scene showed her on the verge of victory. However, her opponent realised that Chia was completely out of mana and launched a counterattack. With her delayed reaction time, Chia failed to defend herself in time and was overwhelmed by a barrage of attacks from her opponent.
She closed her eyes tightly and grabbed onto my hand.
"I hate that moment so much. I got far too carried away in the heat of battle, completely forgetting that my mana was running low," Chia confessed to me. "Was that my main mistake, Instructor?"
I nodded in agreement. "From what I observed, your total mana capacity is not particularly high either. However, I actually like your aggressive combat style."
"I suppose there were also a few moments where I failed to capitalise on the openings my opponent gave me, right?" Chia rewound the match video. "Right at this moment, if I had pushed forward instead of pulling back to cast a spell, I think I could have won."
"Spot on," I replied.