Scary [2]

No.1000 is something that lacks a human conscience.

I don't know what it is, but it's not human. I confirmed that in the mountains, the sea, the desert.

That bitch is someone who'd shave off and eat the ice from a glacier in the tundra.

Compared to her, thankfully, No.17 still had traces of humanity left.

"… uh…ma."

"Hm? What was that."

While she used her comrades to confirm the enemy snipers during training, it seemed that she still felt pity for someone that collapsed from hunger.

She still had the conscience to ask the instructor if I was allowed a single bite as I stared at her, drooling.

"uuu…. Uhh…"

"Haa. Speak slowly and clearly."

At my faint and cracking voice, she sighed and brought her ear close to my mouth.

Ah, sorry. But it's your fault for not noticing.

The instructor didn't let me eat, it wasn't like he didn't let me drink.

There's no way that my water-filled belly would ever lead to my voice cracking.

Although my conscience stings a bit, my hunger takes priority.

I whisper in the ear that came close to my mouth.

"Magic seal, magic chains."

"Eh? Eh?"

Her flustered eyes look back at me.

Sorry. But I'm hungry.

I'd covered the pre-drawn magic circle with my body.

There's only one way to hold down the best magician out of all of us with magic.

An ambush with a pre-prepared spell.

If I were to use magic at the same speed as No.17 I would never beat her.

Of course, even if I tie her up first, she'll break it with time. So.

Ka-chink. Ka-chink.

"Oi, wait! What the hell! Release me!"

I shacked the cuffs and bindings I'd prepared earlier on her while and slim wrists and ankles.

In the gear storage that the instructor had said was freely available to us for training use, there were also handcuffs.

When he saw me taking these, the instructor looked at me passing by with a quaint smile, but that didn't matter right now.

"Sorry."

"You little shit!"

I could hear all sorts of curses from behind me, but I installed additional sealing magic circles and soundproofing magic circles beside her.

Ah, just in case, I also put the remaining handcuffs on her as well.

To be honest, it would have been great if we had the magic-sealing shackles we'd had on in the desert, but unfortunately they weren't in the storage.

Well, these will tie up No.17 for long enough.

And that day, I could eat food in second place.

It was truly delicious.

***

Training went even better than my predictions.

I never actually thought things would proceed this far.

The ones that had the best relationship between their peers, the second cohort that I was in charge of chose the order in advance and logically sorted out their eating schedules.

Even the previous cohort that were at each other's throats ended things simply as testing each other's skills, not with their lives on the line.

"Move!"

But this cohort is insane.

Over food at that.

"Die!"

The earth shook, knives flew. As if the idea that it was a shame for a swordsman to let their swords leave their hands was bullshit, he simply tossed his favourite sword at attacks he felt he couldn't block.

The incoming magic collided with the sword and exploded.

He pushed through the space where the poor sword met its end and charged forward.

"All of you. Get lost."

And a blue light flashed in front of No.1's face.

Sword ki at that age.

Even named swordsmanship clans' successors don't have many cases of sword ki users at that age.

Meaning that those geniuses are rare even in families where kids get a toy wooden sword at the age of three and hold their first actual sword at seven.

And a trainee at an evil organization, and one that hasn't been learning the sword for a few years using sword ki is nothing short of insanity.

And the process was even crazier.

Once, just once. No.1000 came last.

Maybe she let her guard down, or she took a coordinated attack by the other two, I don't know.

Because it's not like I keep an eye on them running all the time.

However in a corner of my mind I thought that it was natural that No.1000 would be in the top ranks, and it was like that every day, but that day there was an unexpected incident.

And the scene where she cried tears the size of chicken gizzard while watching No.1 and No.17 eat is still in my head to this day.

And after mealtime ended, as she swung her sword as if she was furious, sword ki formed at the end of her blade.

What kind of bullshit is this.

If you made her fast for a month then she'd become a swordmaster.

Or stick a sword in my stomach before that.

The training sessions that became even more fired up, the brats that improved on their own.

And so I decided to add some more fuel to the fire.

"If you come in first place I will give you a special meal."

At those words, the kids that thought it was okay if they weren't last, started to fight even harder to claim top spot.

In all honesty I wasn't going to go this far either, just experiment with it for 2-3 months, but since their skills naturally improve just with a single person not getting to eat, I can't give it up.

After that, No.1000's overwhelming victories continued.

The differences in sword ki grew. Cutting magic, cutting swords.

To fight against that you need similar sword ki or even stronger magic.

And so No.1 awakened sword ki as well. All to block and dodge the sword ki aimed at his face.

Like an animal adapting to survive to its natural environment, No.1 awaked to sword ki in the face of No.1000's attacks all by himself!

And as the second round began to play out, No.17 came to me.

"I want to get stronger. Stronger than anyone else."

With a very powerful rage and determination.