Chapter 12: Sierra gets angry.

“Hey, Sierra-san, have you actually fought monsters?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

“What kind?”

“Big ones, small ones… all kinds.”

The last class of the day was in a different room, so during the break (really the walk between classrooms), questions rained down on the brand-new transfer student.
Sierra had been placed in the academy’s first-year class. By this point, students had already formed their own little cliques.
Ainz had told her not to mention she used to be a mercenary, so Sierra answered in a deliberately vague way.

“Isn’t the next class with Instructor Magnis?”

“Oh yeah, the one Sierra supposedly beat… Did you really beat him?”

Someone suddenly brought it up.
Sierra nodded without hesitation.

“Magnis…?”

“House Magnis-sensei! Rumor says he was your examiner.”

“Yeah. He told me I’d pass if I beat him.”

“Ugh, that does sound like something he’d say…”

“…Beating an instructor is just on another level, isn’t it?”

I guess that’s how it is, Sierra thought, finally understanding from her classmates’ reactions.
Come to think of it, the Normie Notebook did say to hold back.

(Maybe I didn’t hold back enough…?)

She even started wondering that.
When they reached the training hall, House was already waiting, fully prepared.
His classes usually focused on magical warm-ups, but the moment the students arrived, he declared,

“Today we’re doing live-combat, person-versus-person practice.”

“P-person versus person…? I’m still not that good at magic—”

“Use whatever magic you can. How you use magic in a real fight is a crucial skill.”

He shut down the protesting student coldly.

“A real fight…?”

“We didn’t come to a magus academy to fight people, though…”

Everyone had their own reasons for enrolling at Lowsta Magus Academy.
Sierra was only here because her dad told her to be.

“…Sierra-san.”

Arna suddenly spoke up, facing her with an unusually serious expression.

“…? What’s up?”

“This class is person-versus-person, so you and I—”

“She’s a special case. She’s with me.”

“Eh…?”

The one who cut in was House.
He glared at Sierra; faint killing intent glinted in his eyes.
If this were a battlefield, Sierra would have cut him down without a second thought, but apparently that wasn’t an option here.
She nodded.

“Fine. What do I do?”

“Use this.”

He tossed her an iron sword; bladeless.
It was clearly meant for training, not killing.
When she was little, she and Ainz had often sparred with wooden swords.
After she grew up, though, it had always been for real.

“We fight with these?”

“No. I already know what you can do… Let’s call it defense practice.”

“Defense…?”

“Yeah. I’m gonna teach you that you can’t just rely on that sword to block everything.”

His words were clearly loaded, but Sierra simply nodded and accepted the training sword.
Even though it was supposed to be a class, before anyone realized, the students had formed a silent circle around the two.

“…Does Magnis-sensei even use swords?”

“Who knows…? Isn’t this supposed to be magic practice?”

“Your only job is to block my attacks. No counterattacking.”

“Got it.”

Sierra nodded, but the conditions felt obviously strange.
The moment she took the iron sword, something was off.

“Here we go!”

Without giving her time to think, House charged.
For a mage, his swordsmanship was decent; Sierra parried effortlessly.
The clash and scrape of metal echoed.
She wasn’t just blocking; she was deflecting his strikes.
From the sidelines, it looked like House was the one being toyed with.

“S-Sierra-san… that’s insane.”

“Looks like Magnis-sensei is the one playing around.”

Those classmate comments reached Sierra’s ears.

(Maybe I’m still not holding back enough…?)

“ORAAA!”

In that split-second of distraction, House swung a full-power blow straight at Sierra’s head.
She raised her training sword to block; but with a dull clang, the iron blade snapped in half.
The broken metal club came crashing down directly onto her head.

“Sierra-san!”

Arna screamed.
Blood poured from the clean hit.
Enough to drip down and stain her long silver hair crimson little by little.

House grinned wickedly.

“…My bad. Didn’t think it’d break like that, so I couldn’t hold back.”

Sierra licked the blood trickling past her lips and smiled; an expression she rarely ever showed.

“…Nah, I let my guard down too. You meant ‘be ready to fight even with a broken weapon,’ right?”

“!”

House involuntarily took a step back at that smile.

“Magnis-sensei, I’m taking Sierra-san to the infirmary right now. That’s fine, yes?”

“Y-yeah…”

It was Arna who grabbed Sierra’s hand and pulled her along.
She pulled out a handkerchief and pressed it to Sierra’s head.

“Use this to stop the bleeding. We need to get you treated immediately.”

“But class isn’t—”

“You’re seriously worried about class with a head injury!?”

Sierra’s body flinched slightly.
Arna stopped in her tracks as well.

“S-sorry… Anyway, let’s just go to the infirmary.”

“…Okay.”

(Somehow… this is the first time someone’s ever yelled at me like that.)

To Sierra, the whole experience felt refreshingly new.