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Ki Master Yujia.

My sub-character that I raised next after my main character Aria, and a character I invested money in almost as much as Aria.

Like Aria, who is a dual-sword swordsman, Yujia was a character specialized in close-quarters combat using ki, derived from the fighter class.

While Aria and Yeonhwa fight at sword’s length, and Kama and Meiyel fight from distances so far they can’t even be seen, Yujia is a job type that persistently closes the distance with the enemy and fights at zero distance.

And this martial art that induces fighting at zero distance is an excellent means as a secondary combat method for any job class such as swordsmen, archers, assassins, etc., without the need to teach each individually.

Therefore, the moment I started the martial arts class, the task I gave to everyone was simple.

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Inside the practical training ground, the floor soaked with sweat. I raised my voice and shouted at the students who were about to collapse.

“Run faster! You still have 20 laps left!”

“Huff… hah… huaah…”
“I… I feel like I’m going to die…”
“So… heavy…”

The students who were about to stop moved their legs again at my shout. And on their arms, legs, and waist were 50kg lead plates attached to each.

As I said earlier, the most important thing for a fighter who induces zero-distance fighting is to persistently stick to the enemy.

Therefore, the task I gave to the students was to run 100 laps around the training ground with a total of 250kg of lead plates attached to their bodies.

But of course, it couldn’t be easy, so I told them in advance that there would be no disadvantages even if they dropped out, and immediately started running. Most students dropped out from around 40-50 laps.

The practical training ground was about 450m per lap, so 40-50 laps was quite a lot of endurance.

Anyway, around that point, 37 out of 50 students dropped out, and even among the 13 students who were enduring with grit, most looked like they were on the verge of death except for a few.

And among those who were enduring with grit, the ones whose eyes were still alive were Riana, Arin, and Park.

As expected of the representative characters, I suppose. Riana, Arin, and Park were running around the training ground with pace control, receiving admiring gazes from the students who had already dropped out.

Moreover, Park, the fighter representative character, was someone I was seeing for the first time today as he didn’t take my classes other than martial arts, but I liked how tough he was.

Not only was he tough, but he was even slightly ahead of Arin and Riana, as if to say he wouldn’t lose to anyone, at least in the martial arts class.

Indeed, seeing their innate talent visible even to the naked eye and the effort they had built up so far, I alternately looked at Park, Arin, and Riana, and finally shouted loudly as I saw the three collapse on the floor after completing the final 100th lap.

“The first three to pass! Good job, all three of you!”

“Cough… cough! Haa… haa…”
“My legs won’t move anymore…”
“This is too much…”

Despite my praise, which I don’t give easily, the three seemed to lack even the strength to respond to my praise, crawling towards the bench while collapsed.

Feeling like I might have been a bit too harsh, I smiled bitterly, then quickly checked the clock and whistled softly.

“As expected, those with real talent are scary.”

To think they would complete 100 laps in just 1 hour and 30 minutes after starting to run. And with the 250kg lead plates I gave them attached.

Swallowing the admiration that naturally came out, I turned my gaze to the students who were still running, but perhaps because of the words that someone had passed, the running students seemed to have lost motivation and were walking towards the bench without completing 100 laps, dragging their exhausted bodies.

Well, even I would probably give up quickly if the goal of passing first, which I had used as motivation while running, disappeared, so I could understand.

So now, excluding the three who passed, there were no more students running, so it would be okay to end it now.

“Since there’s no one running anymore, today’s class ends here! You can rest freely until the ending time!”
“Woohoo!”
“Finally…”
“Ah, I survived…”

Students letting out sighs of relief and shouting that they almost died at my words. The sound of them unbuckling the lead plates, saying they didn’t have to wear such things anymore, echoed here and there.

But you know… Honestly, I didn’t make these lead plates just to put them on for a moment during class time. And how difficult do you think it was to make those lead plates that you’re taking off so easily.

Despite appearances, these are lead plates that took hours to make. I made them carefully and meticulously so that the balance wouldn’t be disrupted, as it would only be bad for the body.

Therefore, I smiled like a devil at the students taking off the lead plates.

“By the way, you have to keep wearing these lead plates even when you’re eating or sleeping, except when you’re touching water like when bathing. If not, the training won’t work.”

“Ehh?!”
“No way!!”
“You’re joking, right?!”

Students rebelling, saying they couldn’t accept my words. But when I turned around without answering, they seemed to realize there was no withdrawal, and let out heavy sighs different from before, attaching the lead plates they had taken off back to their bodies.

I felt satisfied for a moment seeing this satisfying sight of my efforts becoming valuable. But only for a moment. Looking at Riana, Arin, and Park sitting far away, already seeming to have become friendly and chatting, I took out the ‘prize’ I had forgotten about.

Clank───

What I took out from the box placed next to the platform was not the orange lead plates I had distributed before running, but apricot-colored lead plates.

Unlike those lead plates that were only 250kg, these were special lead plates weighing a full 500kg. They were truly special, taking twice as much time to make as those.

“If you passed my task, it means you’re an excellent student.”

Shouldn’t excellent students be given a special prize equal to their excellence?

Right?

If one were to die from being crushed, would it feel like this?

Although she had never experienced being crushed, Arin couldn’t move a finger due to the screaming muscles pressing down on her entire body, feeling like this.

Of course, she could move if she wanted to, but since she didn’t particularly want to move her body, Arin turned her head towards the two lying beside her, just like her, on the bench.

The elf with light blue hair drenched in sweat from the same class, Riana, and the male student she met for the first time today but who was equally drenched in sweat, Park.

Although they weren’t close at all until this morning, they had become friendly enough to start a conversation first as they had chatted while running around the training ground at the same speed.

“Riana, Park… are you okay?”
“No… I feel like I’m about to die right now. Arin and Park… seem to be the same.”
“Yeah, I feel like I’m dying too…”

Riana barely raising her waist and shaking her head, and Park answering while peeling off his blue hair stuck to his face, in response to Arin’s question.

Needless to say, the two also seemed to have bodies as heavy as the lead plates attached to their arms, just like Arin.

And thinking about it belatedly, Arin suddenly realized just how heavy these lead plates attached to her body were, and detached the magnet of the lead plate attached to her body.

Clang──!

The lead plate fell with a heavy sound as if it was as heavy as the sound itself.

As Arin started to take off the lead plates, seeing this, Riana and Park also seemed to realize that it was the lead plates making their already heavy arms even heavier, and followed Arin, detaching the magnets and dropping the lead plates to the floor.

The sound of heavy lead plates falling echoed several times with thuds.

After taking off the lead plates from their arms, legs, and waist in order, Arin, Riana, and Park simultaneously let out languid breaths at their suddenly lightened bodies.

“Phew… Now I feel like I can live. If I had to do this one more time, I might really die.”
“I know, right.”
“I agree… Seriously, this kind of thing…”

They complained, forming a sense of camaraderie as comrades who had just run 100 laps around the training ground together.

Led by Arin, as they were complaining that Yujia who gave such a task was too cruel, perhaps disliking their complaining, Yujia’s loud voice from the platform interrupted Park’s words and echoed throughout the training ground.

“By the way, you have to keep wearing these lead plates even when you’re eating or sleeping, except when you’re touching water like when bathing. If not, the training won’t work.”

…What kind of nonsense is that?

Arin unconsciously looked at Riana and Park, and they seemed to feel the same way, as their eyes met simultaneously and Arin blinked.

She desperately hoped that she had heard wrong, but the sighs and laments of other children that followed, and the sound of them putting the lead plates back on, indicated that Yujia’s words just now were not a lie.

Do they really have to wear these lead plates again that they had just taken off?

Arin alternately looked at the lead plates on the floor and Yujia, unable to accept what her brain had processed, but what other option was there when the professor said so?

“Do we… have to wear this again?”
“And even outside of class time, she’s saying to wear this…”
“…We have no choice. We’ll just have to put them on again.”

Although she really didn’t want to pick them up again, Arin finally picked up the lead plates she had just taken off and dropped.

Arin inwardly muttered that if she had to wear these and live, it would be like hell every day, but…

Unfortunately, it seemed that true hell was just about to begin.

“Ah, you three, stop.”

“Huh?”
“Professor?”
“What’s the matter…?”

Yujia walking towards them, holding something similar to the lead plate Arin was holding in one arm.

Riana and Park tilted their heads at her sudden appearance, but Arin, who was watching her from behind, suddenly felt a chill down her spine.

For some reason, her instincts were screaming that that smile was absolutely not a good thing, at least for Arin.

And Riana, who was standing next to Arin, seemed to feel a similar sensation as she suddenly stiffened her expression, but Park, the only one unaware of this, innocently asked her:

“What’s that, Professor?”
“Oh, this?”

Yujia smiling brightly at Park’s question, as if she had been waiting for him to ask.

Arin and Riana wanted to cover that mouth that was about to open immediately, but since they couldn’t possibly do that, all they could do was smile slightly.

“Since you three passed my task, unlike the others, you’ll wear 500kg ones instead of 250kg ones. No problem, right?”

Seeing Yujia handing over the new special lead plates she was holding while saying this, it looked as if the gates of hell that had been hidden were opening their maw.

And as they saw the entrance of the hell gate that had finally opened, Arin and Riana thought simultaneously:

That if they get a feeling like her from Professor Aria’s sisters, they should run away immediately next time.