Isha killed the appearing monsters with a simple snap of her fingers, while Eshwar stood starting at her with a smile on his face.
[Level 1, Goblin created]
[Clear]
[Level 2, Hobgoblin created]
[Clear]
[Level 3, Goblin veteran created]
[Clear]
[Level 4, Hobgoblin warrior created]
[Clear]
[Level 5, Goblin mage created]
[Clear]
[Level 6, A camp of Goblins created]
[Clear]
[Level 7, Kobold created]
"Ki-" Noticing Eshwar move, Isha ceased her attacks, while the monster screeched loudly.
SLASH!
THUD
"My turn now." Eshwar said after he zoomed towards the Kobold, a wolf-variant monster, and slashed it, killing it in a single swing.
[Clear]
[Level 8, Pack of Kobolds created]
"Kiiiiiii!!" A kobold that seemed to be the leader of the pack roared as soon as it spawned. Eshwar simply zoomed forward with his broadsword on his right shoulder, tossed himself lightly into the air, and swung down his broadsword at the Kobold leader just as he was about to land.
BOOM!
"Kik?!"
"Kiiii!!"
The pack fell into panic, noticing how easily their leader was killed. Not in the least bothered by the realistic illusion or the screeches, Eshwar swung his sword horizontally after taking a step towards the nearby Kobold, getting the Kobold into his attack range.
His precise calculations and inhumane sword swings impressed Grace, Neal, and Reynolds, who were watching the fight through the cameras. Since Grace had already expected Eshwar to do something like that, she also prepared the required permissions from the higher ups to display the fight to the other cadets, expecting Eshwar to lash out at them when he learned about it, but the benefits his fight would have on the cadets were enormous, so they didn't hesitate to display Eshwar's fighting style and techniques to the other cadets even if they had to face the consequences without even thinking of "what if" the consequences were too dire,
Since Eshwar didn't really know about what they, the academic staff, were doing, he continued to slay every monster that stood in his path. And it wasn't long until
[Clear]
[Level 9, Spectre created]
"Well, if you think I didn't know what you were doing, then you are wrong. I will receive my compensation in martial arts skill books, a proper high-ranking broadsword artefact, and an apology from you guys and your academy." Eshwar abruptly said, causing everybody watching his fight to flinch in surprise and feel a slight uneasiness that was creeping up their hearts.
"You dare not compensate and apologize, then the future consequences will be dire, maybe irreplaceable even." Eshwar warned, even though he was weaker than most of the people watching, but for some unknown reason, they didn't dare think of another way out of the mess they created for themselves.
After a brief moment of silence,
"How did you know?" Grace spoke through the microphone in the observation room, which was filled with tonnes and tonnes of screens that were displaying Eshwar's fight from all angles.
"Well, I didn't before; it was just a hunch since you didn't question anything when I, a cadet, "told" you what I would be doing without asking for permission from you, the professors, beforehand." Eshwar explained as he ran around, dodging the magical attacks of the spectre, and the subtle glance at Isha didn't go unnoticed, so they began to suspect that something was going on that they didn't know.
'Are they spies?' Grace thought and shook her head, denying her thoughts, because she knew that he came from the other world, and it wasn't that hard to figure out the people from the other world from those living in their own; it was like a natural instinct to recognise them, and just sensing how weak the magic power circulating in the people from the other world was enough to make them recognisable.
After turning off the mic, "Should we agree to his unfairly fair conditions?" Grace asked, glancing around at the higher-ups standing behind her. Unfair because the academy had much to loose, fair because the cadets of their academy were going to gain many irreplaceable things if they agreed to his conditions, so the compensation he asked for were reasonable.
After pondering for a few minutes, "Alrig-" Right when they were about to agree to it, a voice interpreted them.
"Add a condition saying that we'll agree to his conditions only if he becomes a temporary combat training professor!" Reynolds said this in a loud voice.
"..... Why temporary?" Neal asked with a frown.
With a wry smile on his face, "Do you think he would agree to it if he's bound to the academy?" Reynolds asked back.
"....." With a strange silence of understanding filling the room, they all nodded their heads in unison.
"We'll agree to it if you become a "temporary" combat training professor with us." Grace said.
"Again? Are you kidding me? Why can't I just enjoy my life as a goddamn student for once? And the last time I became a professor, I wasn't even able to teach the classes, except for the two or so at the beginning!" Eshwar's grumble resounded, prompting giggles from the humans of the other world.
'Hm? He has experience as a professor? Even though he is so young?' Grace thought, noting down all the humans that had just laughed hearing Eshwar's grumble.
'Maybe they'll be useful in the future.' She thought after noting down the names and sending them to Neal, tasking him to bring information about them.
"It'll be great, since you already have experience teaching people." Grace commented with a nod.
"Alright then, shut up for now, colleague~" Eshwar said in a teasing tone, and even though it was rude, Grace couldn't do anything about it since, just as he said, she was his colleague now that they had agreed to the deal.
"Pfft, ahem." The other "colleagues" behind her chuckled and cleared their throats, trying to cover up their blunder. Ignoring the fools behind her, Grace looked at the screens in front of her, that displayed Eshwar's fight.
WHOOOSH!
With a strange gust of wind, Eshwar's speed abruptly increased by a notch.
WHOOOOMMM
Many vein-like magical powers began to ooze from his sword-held fists, coiling around the sword and trying to cover it with mana, but due to his proficiency not being enough, the mana was continuously dispersing, and a lot of mana was being spent trying to recreate a simple sword technique. Even though it wasn't working the way he intended it to, his persistence in trying to achieve his goal impressed many. In a second that felt like an eternity, Eshwar managed to incompletely complete his replica of a sword aura on his sword.
Clenching his teeth, trying to hold on to his focus, Eshwar zoomed towards his target, becoming faster and faster by the second, until
"Chapter 1,"
"Vertical slash." As soon as those words left his mouth, a dispersing, vertical, dark-coloured wind blade shot out from his sword, and
BOOM!
A roughly drawn, dispersing sword swing was carved into the ground, killing, no, shredding the spectre into at least a few hundred pieces.
[Clear]
"Huff....huff.... huff, it...huff, it's harder.... than I thought?" Eshwar mumbled amid huffing.
"What do you expect? Do you even realise how weak you have become now? Ever since arriving here, you have been doing nothing but pushing yourself past your new bodily limits!" Isha yelled at Eshwar in a huff, and just from her tone, one could tell that she was extremely worried, sad, and angry at Eshwar.
"Well, I'm not used to being so weak; what do you expect me to do? I'm trying to regain all the strength from my past! I won't be able to save... anything if I continue to be like this." Eshwar yelled in irritation at first, but his voice lowered, and sadness began to ooze when his words neared the end.
'He wants to save something? What is it? What makes him look so desperate? Is there something personal going on that we don't know?' Grace thought, and it wasn't only her; almost all of the people that heard his words pondered quite seriously, creating their own nonsensical theories in their minds.
"I can't afford to lose you again." Eshwar mumbled, and just his words were enough to make Isha tear up, along with many others, whose theories matched perfectly with his words.
[Level 10, Ogre created]
"What are you talking about? You won't be losing me, or anything even close to that; you are the one that's going to disappear! I'm the one that's going to lose you!" Isha roared, tears streaming out of her eyes.
FHUMP!
Abruptly, Eshwar zoomed back, hugged Isha and patted her back gently before leaning back and looking at her in the eyes, wiping off her tears, and kissing her on her forehead, when
"Graaaa!" The spawned ogre roared, disturbing them.
"Shut up!" Isha commanded, and the ogre fell on its knees with its mouth shut.
"....." Absolute silence descended in the observation room; few even had tears welling up in their eyes.
'What's going on? What kind of tragic romantic story is going on here? Why is everything so out of context?' Grace thought, even though she, too, was creating many theories in her head.
*
"Don't cry, it's not like you'll lose me; I'll just be merging with my original, that's it." Speaking in a whisper, I tried to console Isha, who was going to bawl her eyes out any moment now. And continued, "While I, on the other hand, am losing you because I'm not sure if I'll be me after merging with my other half, that was why I said it like that." I whispered.
"I won't even be able to save my own existence, and I definitely cannot save the very few things that are precious to me." I said it in a whisper, gently rubbing her back.
"..... I don't care; just don't say things like that!" Isha said in a roar.
"Alright, I won't do it again." I kissed her forehead with a smile on my face. I didn't really understand why I even said those things when Isha yelled at me; it's just that I didn't like the sadness I heard in her voice at that moment.
'I, haa... really don't want to see her cry, ever again, no matter for what reason.'