Teaching a rewarding experience

"...teacher… Are you going to prevent me from attending your lessons as punishment…?"

And then, Gabriel took Melinda by surprise, clenching his fists and asking her in a voice that clearly suggested he was putting up a brave front while on the verge of tears.

"HAH! As if!"

"...!"

In response, Melinda laughed out loud, causing the boy to flinch in shock.

"As long as you're not getting kicked out from the course your parents are paying for, you will attend my training sessions whether you like it or not. I mean, the participation in it is no longer voluntary. For you, at least. What I'm trying to teach to all of you is self-control and focus and you clearly need a whole lot more of it, young man!"

"!!!"

Melinda straightened her back and crossed her arms while declaring down at Gabriel who perked up and looked up to her with an awestruck expression for some reason…

"Thank you, teacher! Ah! Thank you, teacher."

He cheered out in joy before gasping and hurriedly bowing his head, repeating himself in a much more official voice.

"...trying to get on my good side, eh? Cheeky bugger."

Melinda wasn't swayed by the boy's act and squinted her eyes at him while muttering.

Well… maybe she was swayed just a little bit since Gabriel did seem sincere.

*click*

"And I hope you will learn from that. Now go to see the medic. I've had enough of your yelps."

The door to the office Melinda and her student were waiting by opened and the scolding voice of the vice-commander of the facility chased someone out.

"..."

Melinda's gaze turned into a viciously sharp glare in preparation for the guy who went overboard with self-defense and beat up a child…

"....!?"

Only for her to back into her seat with a shocked expression when a beaten-up teenager limped through the door, holding his sides and wincing with each step as if both his leg and ribs were messed up in some way.

"..."

"..."

The young man looked to the side and as he noticed Gavriel, he glared at him only to met up with equally furious glare.

"...!"

"...?"

But the next moment, the injured young man noticed Melinda and flinched with a fearful expression, shocking her quite a bit.

Because even though that youngster wasn't one of her student, he was definitely one of the trainees under the instructor she assisted.

…and it wasn't Lucas Vendro'in…

"...mhy aphologhies…"

"!?!?"

The young man spoke up, but his words were distorted by the clear lack of his front teeth, stunning Melinda even more.

"!!!"

But nothing could prepare her for what came next as when the first youngster limped further, three more showed up.

Two of which were supporting the third one.

All of them were beaten up badly.

And not just pretty badly.

Severely.

The one in the middle had his face so swollen that Melinda had a hard time identifying him. He had to be supported because one of his legs was bent in the wrong direction.

The two supporting him weren't much better as the one on the left had a black eye, with his eyeball dyed completely crimson from all the burst blood vessels and a swollen wrist, while the one on the right had his nose basically crushed like a splattered tomato and a bruised ear swollen to the size of a ripe apple.

"?!?!"

Melinda looked between the four youngsters and the young boy by her side.

She did not just a double or a triple take but a quintuple take before breathing out with exasperation only now realizing that she misunderstood the situation her pupil was in.

"Listen, Gabi. I'm not encouraging that behavior of yours. But I want to say this. I'm impressed."

"!!!"

As the injured youngsters got away, Gabriel began to stand up but was stopped by Melinda who nodded at him without being able to conceal a smile.

Then, both of them entered the office.

"Young Lady Fenrioette… Pardon my rudeness but… what are you teaching those boys?!"

Right out of the gate, the vice-commander of the facility stood up and confused Melinda by grilling her instead of the boy she accompanied.

"Me?! I'm teaching them to hold back. How can they be in complete control of their emotions and body at all times and such, I guess? The very things I myself zealously practice each day."

The gold-haired girl, who didn't even have the chance to sit down or even approach the vice commander's desk, gasped in confusion and declared.

"But you're training them for combat!"

"...no…? I'm… I'm not, though…?"

The man behind the desk called out, making her tilt her head and deny the ridiculous accusation.

"Young Lady, how do you expect me to believe you when one of your students, a nine-year-old CHILD, beat up an eighteen-year-old man and three of his friends, all between sixteen and eighteen, into a pulp? He sprained the wrist of the one who grabbed his arm and tried to pull him away just by going with the punch, for Perseverance's sake!"

The man stood up from his seat and declared, slamming his hands against the desk for the greater effect.

"He did?! You did?! HOW!?"

Melinda's eyes widened, and she gasped in disbelief, turning to her student and asking him in exasperation.

"I…. I just got very angry but thanks to the training I didn't just start swinging blindly at him, but focused on and targeted all the weak points I noticed, teacher."

The young boy fidgeted before revealing, apologetically lowering his head.

"That's fair."

"No, it's not! What do you even mean by fair?!"

Melinda tilted her head and nodded, acknowledging the answer, but the facility's vice-commander was not having it.

"Eh? Well, isn't it obvious?"

"...wh-what…?"

The gold-haired girl raised her brows and asked such genuine confusion that she utterly bewildered the vice-commander.

"I mean, everyone has a strength stat, but normally, no one actually fully uses it. Even when fighting, it's not utilized to its limits. I believe I might have accidentally enabled my students to tap into the full potential of their strength stat…"

"ACCIDENTALLY?!"

Melinda blushed and admitted in a cutesy voice but the man behind the desk raised a high-pitched voice, seemingly on the verge of panic.

...which meant she succeeded in changing the focus of the whole talk...

"Yes. Well, for me, it takes my everything to control myself to not use even a fraction of my strength, but my methods can definitely be used to achieve the opposite effect."

"~!"

"...?!"

The gold-haired girl said, causing a completely different reaction from the boy at her side and the man behind the desk, one being that of awe and the other of bewilderment.

"Also, since I kind of see the direction of this conversation, I'll say this. I do not specifically gatekeep my methods. It's just that the only ones who want to learn from me are the students that I currently have."

Melinda added with a dismissive shrug.

"Everyone is welcome to attend, even the guy who badmouthed Gabi's fiance. Only after he apologizes, of course."

She smirked rather sinisterly and tilted her head in a way that showed her sharp eyes in the most innocently threatening way as once again she took over the course of the conversation with her overpowering aura.

"That said, Gabi, you need to think about your status more. Do you believe your fiance would be proud that you defended her in such a way?"

"...! N… no… She wouldn't like it, teacher…"

Then, the gold-haired girl's expression turned stern, and she addressed the boy by her side, making him flinch and lower his head apologetically.

"That's right. You need to do these things in a proper way. Next time something like that happens, you cannot simply rush the person in the wrong. You challenge them to a duel and crush them in a situation when your undeniable victory will be celebrated and not get you in trouble."

"!!!"

"Yes, teacher!"

Melinda splendidly intercepted any possible lecture, moving her hand to the side and tapping Gabriel's chest without looking at him, making the vice-commander of the facility stare at her in agitation while the adoring boy called out in the most pious adoration.

"I'll have you know that your behavior will be reported to both Lord Hugin and His Highness."

The vice-commander gave up on whatever he was going to say originally and declared with a grim expression.

"Please do. It will give His Highness and Madam Hugin another perspective for when I will report to them during the evening meal. With that, I'm assuming the two of us are free to go?"

"..."

Unbothered, Melinda nodded her head graciously before asking while challenging and winning the staring contest with the man behind the desk.

"Indeed. Nothing that I'll say will get through to you anyway."

"Thank you for understanding~ I'll go and see to Gabi's injuries now~"

He scoffed, trying to retain a semblance of authority, and the gold-haired girl played along playfully by curtsying to him before giving her student an encouraging push to leave the office without any sort of actual punishment or even a scolding.