Chapter 1 – Reality

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“Do I somehow need a reason to call you over?”

“… I understand”

The first-years class 3, in the Royal Military Academy.

This is where I am right now.

“That’s right, I’m not the guy you think I am, you see?”

“… Yes”

The admission exam was easy.

It was just only elementary school subjects and a fitness test.

Thanks to my farmer’s upbringing, I had reached the minimum physical strength required to become a soldier. My elementary school grades were also excellent.

But the problems came after the admission exam.

“What is with these results!”

*Thump*.

My homeroom teacher, with his whole body, sent out a straight right. Together with a good sound, I was blown away. A little blood appeared between my injured lips. That hurts, teacher.

“This is the first time I seen such awful grades”

“I’m sorry”

Apparently, I was more of a idiot than I thought. It seems that elementary school results aren’t reliable. Well, I suppose you could say that it’s natural though.

Right now, the teacher had just given me the first half-year midterm exam result sheets.

It roughly looks like this.

Swordsmanship – 28 points

Archery – 5 points

Magic – 53 points

Horsemanship – 14 points

Arithmetic – 85 points

Tactics – 96 points

Battle strategies – 93 points

Military history – 89 points

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA. Yeah, these are excellent grades even if I do say so myself. Especially my archery points, my tears came out just by looking at it.

It was natural however, altogether it was 100 points, a perfect score. A failing grade was less than 60 points. In classroom lectures, I earned excellent points. In magic theory, I had about 40 out of 53 magic points. The remaining 13 points were from the magic practical skills. [1]

There was no such thing as magic in my previous world, but even so, I did pretty well?

The sword, bow, and horse-riding practical skills were not the only problems. Well, it can’t be helped because no one handled swords, bows, and horses in my previous life. That has been decided as such.

“If you keep this up, you’ll be dropping out of school in the first half of the school year, you know?”

“… Yes”

That’s right.

Here, the Royal Military Academy was a high class school with no tuition fees. In this age, the high class school is being fully supported by the country.

However, the general rule was that you will be assigned military duties for 10 years after graduation. Otherwise, they will charge tuition fees.

And it’s the same even if you dropped out of school.
… haa. It’s depressing.

“Improve whatever until the end of the term. That’s all”

“Yes”

“Your voice is low!”

“Yes!”

“Umu. You may take a seat”

If I dropped out of school, I have no excuses for my parents. I can’t say that farmers are wealthy, the tuition fee should be quite a burden. I cannot be selfish now, and should not slack off here. Even if I have memories of a previous life, my parents are my parents.

… The problem is how do I raise my archery to 55 points. I feel that passing a bribe is the quickest.

“Joseph, you’re pretty poor. I knew it”

“Shut up”

The girl next to my seat spoke. It’s fine if she drops dead.

“You’re not an idiot, Sarah? What’s your tactics points?”

“… 18 points”

“And battle strategies?”

“25 points”

And military history… when I was about to say that, a fist came flying in.

“Shut up! I’ll hit you, you know!”

“Don’t say that after you hit me!?”

Well, after such a performance, it was natural that the instructor fired such words.

“The ones who should shut up are you two! Go stand in the hallway because you’re being a nuisance!”

◇　　　　　　　　　　◇

Well then, Sarah Malinowska and I are standing next to each other, with a bucket in our hands.

Long red hair, almond-shaped eyes, a violent girl who pulls fists before words, and in some situation, swords. Her favorite subjects are swordsmanship, archery, and horsemanship. Her weak subjects are lectures.

To cut a long story short, she’s a musclebrain.

“These two people are dropping out in the first half of year, they should get along with each other, right?”

“Yeah”

Who is the one that only be instructed in swordsmanship, archery, horsemanship? Glance.
Ah, there.

“… Hmph”

“…”

This is bad. Our eyes met.

“Nee” [2]

“Naa”

Our voices overlapped.

This is very embarrassing. For now, I’ll just perform the go ahead gesture.

“Teach me. I will teach you the practical skills”

Our intentions matched.

I was thinking of saying the same words to you.

◇　◆　◇　◆　◇　◆　◇

Sarah Malinowska.

That’s my name.

In the military academy, around 70 percent of the students are nobles.

Sons from duke households, sons of ministers… these aren’t unusual stories.

I’m also the same.

Even though I say it like that, I don’t have a great social status. The daughters of the Cavaliers [Knight] are located at the bottom among the nobility. [3]

As a Cavalier, I have been training for combat from an early age. In order to protect to the future of this kingdom, there were knights.

Believing in that, I worked hard in day-to-day practices.

I had learned swordsmanship, archery, and horsemanship from my father. Unfortunately, because magic was out of my father’s expertise, I can only use magic to the extent I learned from my elementary school.

And my father ordered me one day saying, “Go to the military academy”.

It was difficult to get food in those days because we are poor aristocrats. He sent away his daughter for a comfortable successful career, there was probably such a reason. [4]

But I knew the real reason, according to the words from my father.

I think it’s the duty of a person born as a cavalier.

The admission exam was not a problem. I probably received a high amount of points from the martial arts I had learned from father. I wasn’t able to handle with intermediate magic, but it was said that I could learn it after entering the military academy.

Now that I think of it, the teacher might have evaluated me as “a promising first-year student”. I did not say this myself, if I remember correctly, I am better in martial arts than my surrounding peers.

And thus, I was admitted to the military academy.

I was quiet within the front seat rows and pulled my legs through the classroom lectures, but anyways I think I received satisfactory results.

However, it was true that I had a vague anxiety when I enrolled. Perhaps, that was natural. I was still only twelve-years old, when I was told things such as “the duty of a knight” and “protect the kingdom”.

My anxiety had been calmed down to a certain extent by the one sitting next to me in the classroom, a boy named Joseph Wallace.

He is a rarity in the military academy, a peasant-born military cadet.

He’s the exact opposite type as me, his specialty is in classroom lectures, on the other hand, he’s completely hopeless in martial arts.

Inside the class 3, he is referred to as “the man with an unnecessary brain”. [5]

After the first half of the year midterm exam results were announced, Joseph and I are cooperating with each other to raise our grades, working hard for the sake of avoiding expulsion. He will teach me about lectures, I will teach him martial arts.

Today, we’re here in the military academy’s horse-riding practicing grounds, staying behind for a horse-riding lesson.

“What’s your horsemanship points again, Sarah?”

“99 points”

“… What happened to the remaining point?”

“Um? I randomly used a technique to score in practical skills, I should have gotten 100 points”

“Hmm… Well, it would certainly be irritating for the others if Sarah received 100 points” [6]

“What you mean…”

That guy haughtily said so, even though he only has 14 points in horsemanship.

After that, Joseph was complaining with dissatisfaction while doing awkward movements.

“Why should I have to ride on a horse…”

“I’ve never heard of an officer that did not ride on a horse”

Since Joseph had a farmer’s origin, I thought he at least knew how to handle a horse.

“If you are already struggling with this, then it will be more troubling in the second half of the year. Since you will need to fight with swords and spears”

“… Really?”

“I hate liars”

Joseph is on top of the horse while I held the bridle. This is just like a five-year old riding a horse for the first time.

… I wonder why this guy admitted in the military academy. No matter how simple the admission exam was, it would be very severe here after the enrollment.

The thing called life, cannot be completely understood.

The one that made me realize these words, was a person named Joseph Wallace.

Joseph and I met for the first time about three months ago, on the day of the military academy’s entrance ceremony.

I was the one who helped Joseph, this good-for-nothing military cadet.

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Translator notes –
[1]Basic math here, guys. Swordsmanship + Archery + Horsemanship + Magic = 100
28 + 5 + 53 + 14 = 100 | Basically, he is saying all his failed subjects add up to a perfect score – 100.

[2]”Ne-e” is like when you call out to someone for attention, “Na-a” is the masculine version of it. It’s kind of like “itee” used by men instead of “itai”.

[3] Cavaliers [Knight] refer to here.

[4] The reason is probably referring to this.

[5] Means something like a peasant with unnecessary knowledge. A peasant should just stick to the farms and not in a military academy, if you get what this means.

[6] This is like when a teacher doesn’t give a 100 points to a student but 99.9 points in their report card, I guess. [Source: Happened to my friend]

Is it okay if I use some japanese words like “Umu”, “Fumu”, etc? These should be easy to understand, right?

And it would be nice if I could get an editor to make sure it is grammatically correct. Leave a reply if you’re interested.