There’s Something Special About Her - Chapter 90

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 90.
“B-but if I speak louder, people get scared……”
“That might be true. For ordinary people.”
I poked at Hanno Becker’s forearm—so thick that I could barely span it from end to end with my palm spread wide—and asked.
“Where are we right now?”
“The Library……?”
“No, I mean where is this Library located?”
“Oh, the Training Grounds. It’s inside Nox’s Training Grounds.”
“Exactly! You think the trainees here at Nox are going to be intimidated if you just use your normal voice?”
“I don’t think they’d be scared…… Actually, Xander and some of the others might even find it fun…….”
“See? So why are you worrying so much? Right now you’re like someone pointlessly skipping lunch.”
I flicked his shoulder with my fist as I spoke.
Even though I’d put some real force behind it, he didn’t seem bothered at all.
No matter how different we’re born, my pride took a small hit.
“R-Rookie.”
“What?”
“You’re like a genius. How do you even think of things like that?”
I couldn’t suppress the chuckle that escaped me, thinking that no matter what form Hanno Becker took on in the future, that simple-hearted nature of his would remain the same.
“It’s just that everyone finds it hard to solve their own problems. Though I suppose I do have a fairly good head on my shoulders.”
“B-but even with tough friends like us, I still hate hurting them. Is that too stupid of me to say?”
“That’s because you’re a good person. Not everyone enjoys other people’s suffering, you know? It’s something that requires a special disposition.”
“If that’s the case, then I’m glad……”
“And you’re lucky too. Starting tomorrow we won’t be doing Weapons Technique anymore—we’ll be doing Physical Conditioning Training.”
“That’s right!”
“From what I heard from kids who’ve done it before, they make you run and throw logs around and all that. They call it hell training. So you should just try doing what you want. I mean, logs won’t feel pain anyway, right?”
“Logs……”
Hanno Becker flexed and relaxed his hand—about the size of a pot lid—as he muttered.
It certainly looked like a hand that could smash a log to pieces.
“That sounds a bit fun.”
Seeing his quietly excited expression, I had to admit it.
Padilla Bondeiz really did have sharp eyes for reading people.
But that didn’t mean I wanted to see Hanno Becker pushing himself to adapt to the Martial Course at any cost.
“After class earlier, Kessler mentioned something to me. He said if you want, you can transfer to the Humanities Course.”
“Really?!”
“Yeah, so don’t hesitate. If it really doesn’t suit you, you can always switch over to Humanities.”
“Okay!”
Hanno Becker answered loudly this time and broke into a wide smile.
It was a genuine smile—no trace of suffering left in it.
***
The next day finally arrived.
Hanno Becker, who couldn’t hide his excitement from breakfast onward, had become fidgety as the Physical Conditioning Training time approached.
“I’m so nervous, Rookie!”
“Ow! That’s heavy! Why do you keep hanging on me when you’re the size of a mountain!”
“What do I do!”
Ever since our conversation in the Library yesterday, Hanno Becker had been clinging to me much more.
It seemed to be his way of showing affection, but from my perspective—being only half his body size—I felt like my energy was draining before training had even started.
Just then, Herta Binter, whom we’d been waiting for, entered the Training Grounds.
The woman whose sharp posture in her instructor’s uniform was as striking as her short-cropped hair that exposed the entire back of her neck was forty-one years old and served as the instructor for close-quarters combat and Physical Conditioning Training.
Notably, she came from the southeastern part of the West Continent and had originally been part of the Nox Knight Order.
Despite her age and experience, she possessed exceptional skill, yet had been repeatedly passed over for promotion.
The absurd reason was simply that she had darker skin than others.
Upon learning this truth, Herta Binter grew disillusioned and tried to leave Nox on her own terms, but it was Padilla Bondeiz who stopped her.
Of course, the superior who had refused to promote Herta Binter because of his biased prejudice was promptly dismissed.
She was the type who pursued the pure joy of training the body itself rather than swordplay or chivalry, making her the complete opposite of instructor Otto Grau.
‘Though that’s what the paperwork said…….’
Physical Conditioning Training was actually not a difficult subject for me.
Even in Wickes, I’d always been counted among those with the best stamina, and since my Body Technique training with Konrad, I’d continued training regularly here at the Grounds as well.
‘And she’s probably the least likely to be a spy.’
Still, I had no intention of dropping my guard.
I wasn’t so foolish as to learn nothing from past experience.
“Let me introduce myself. Herta Binter, your Physical Conditioning Training instructor. You’ll be seeing my face every day for a while.”
Given the Training Grounds’ nature of needing to teach as much as possible in a short hundred days, the training curriculum changed every so often.
Otto Grau, who taught Weapons Technique that everyone—regardless of whether they were in the Humanities or Martial Course—had to learn, and Herta Binter, who taught Physical Conditioning Training, alternated teaching in this format.
And during the periods when they weren’t teaching, the trainees received assignments instead.
For example, Otto Grau had given an assignment to practice throwing five Short Daggers from ten paces away until they could hit at least three on target, to be completed before the next Weapons Technique class resumed.
“Have you all been faithfully completing the training assignments I’ve given you?”
“Yes, instructor!”
The trainees, tensed by Herta Binter’s pressure that rivaled that of an active knight, answered in unison as if by promise.
In particular, Hanno Becker standing beside me had the loudest voice.
It was an outright lie.
Matthias and Xander had just wiped up the sweat droplets falling to the floor whenever the others exercised because of the assignments.
I shot Hanno Becker a reproachful look before turning my attention back to instructor Binter’s words.
“Before we begin training in earnest, there’s something you all need to know. If you reach a limit during training where you can’t go on anymore, be sure to raise your hand and let me know. Understood?”
“Yes, instructor!”
All their eyes sparkled as they looked at instructor Binter.
It was as if they were finally getting proper instruction after being pushed around by a sadist like Otto Grau.
I felt the same way.
‘That’s right. Just brute forcing things doesn’t actually build stamina.’
Besides, telling them to raise their hand meant she would pay attention to each trainee and teach them without overexertion, didn’t it?
I nodded with satisfaction at instructor Binter.
It felt like I’d finally met a sensible instructor.
***
‘A demon!’
Just an hour ago, fooled by her exterior, I’d judged Herta Binter to be a sensible person, and now I wanted to bash my head repeatedly against the log I was holding.
But I couldn’t.
Because the log was currently resting on my shoulders!
“Keep pace with the count! Start over from the beginning—one!”
That demon clearly couldn’t count higher than nine.
She’d ordered us to do ten repetitions of squats while holding the log on our shoulders, but!
We’d already gotten to nine and started over from the beginning five times now.
“What kind of person is she!”
“Get the count right!”
“Argh!”
Unable to endure the muscle soreness any longer, the trainees started shouting at each other.
I thought she’d immediately bark at them to be quiet.
‘She’s… smiling?’
I clearly saw it.
Herta Binter was lifting the corners of her mouth while watching the trainees suffer and drip with sweat.
‘Is there really not a single normal person in Nox?’
Crazy people everywhere, crazy people there.
Nothing but crazy people.
After repeating the count to nine—nine times over—we were finally allowed to set the log down and rest.
I exaggerated my exhaustion to avoid standing out, but by the end, I was genuinely tired, so I sprawled on the ground and caught my breath.
Then I heard instructor Binter asking someone a question.
“Can you keep going?”
“Yes, I can! I’ll keep going!”
“Good, keep counting!”
“Fifteen, sixteen!”
The person calling out numbers in an unusually loud voice was none other than Hanno Becker.
And he was carrying two logs—double the burden that had been almost unbearable for everyone else.
“Wow!”
“Go, Hanno!”
Everyone was now cheering for Hanno Becker, who until now had been the target of mockery for “not living up to his size.”
“Nineteen! Twenty!”
He laughed as he called out the numbers in an ever-louder voice.
As if his body grew lighter with each bead of sweat he shed.
“He’s not normal either.”
I grinned genuinely for the first time in a while and cheered him on.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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