“Here I go, raaaaaaaaah!”
Today was a holiday.
At the Officers' Academy, most students spent their days off reading in their rooms or simply relaxing. Considering the sheer brutality of their daily training, most people wanted nothing more than to rest when they had the chance.
At least, that was how a normal person thought.
But Lydia was different. She had gathered a group of men—who had essentially become her subordinates—to play a game of soccer.
She couldn't sit still unless she was moving her body, even on her days off. The moment she started recruiting players, she had a full roster.
Currently, Lydia was admired by many at the Officers' Academy.
This was especially true among the male students.
Perhaps it was a form of natural charisma. Regardless of the reason, Lydia was someone who instinctively drew people to her.
“Out of the way! My dribbling’s on fire!!”
Skillfully manipulating the soccer ball, she wove through the field. They were playing six-on-six, utilizing a section of the Training Grounds.
Since the goals were kept in the warehouse, they had all cooperated to haul them out earlier.
“Guh...!”
“So fast!”
“As expected of Big Sis. We can’t even touch her!!”
She bypassed them in a flash, charging straight into the vital area. She had already dismantled the entire defense. All that was left was to score, but...
“Take this! My shot!!”
In that instant, a sound rang out that didn't belong on a soccer field. At the same moment a thunderous BOOM echoed, the ball was already bearing down on the keeper.
“W-Waaaaaaaah!!”
With a scream, the keeper was sent flying into the net along with the ball.
“Yes! That’s one point!!”
Lydia flashed a bright, cheerful smile.
The other students, meanwhile, wore strained grimaces. To begin with, they had agreed to play without magic-based Physical Reinforcement at Lydia’s suggestion.
In other words, she had unleashed that shot with her raw physical ability alone. Faced with such an overwhelming outlier, the rest of the players could only offer wry, helpless smiles.
“O-Ouch, ow, ow...”
The opposing keeper was Nick. The power of the shot had been enough to blow back even his massive, muscular frame.
Behind her back, whispers often circulated: “She’s actually a gorilla.” “Seriously, no doubt about it.” “I refuse to believe she’s the same species as us.”
Some even called her “Goridia,” and others agreed it was a fitting name.
It was safe to say she was hardly viewed as a lady.
At a glance, her appearance was so refined and beautiful that she could be described as an angel. However, given her personality and behavior, it was no wonder everyone saw her as a gorilla in human form.
“Nick. You’ve got guts, taking that ball head-on.”
“I tried to stop Big Sis’s shot, but it was no use.”
“Hahaha! Just having the spirit to try means you’ve still got room to grow! Gahaha!”
Lydia reached down to the fallen Nick, giving him a firm pull to help him to his feet. The reason she was impossible to hate was, ultimately, her kindness.
To an outsider, she might seem like a reckless, overbearing brawler. But she possessed a genuine heart. That, more than anything, was why people gathered around her.
“Alright! We’re not done yet!”
““YEAH!!””
Lydia’s spirited command and the deep, gutteral roars of the men echoed across the grounds.
“Phew. That was a good sweat...”
After taking a shower, Lydia returned to her dorm room.
She grabbed a two-liter bottle she had brought with her, tilted it back, and gulped the water down in one go, her throat working rhythmically.
“Lydia... what is that?”
“Huh? It’s water. Water.”
“Well, it certainly looks like water, but did you go exercise outside?”
“Yeah. I played soccer with the boys!”
“...I see.”
Abby was at her desk, reading alone. Engrossed in her book with her glasses on, she truly looked the part of a focused intellectual.
“Where’s Carol?”
“Who knows? Maybe she went shopping in town. She left earlier saying something about how ‘beauty requires patience.’”
“I see.”
Lydia sat down across from Abby, slamming the two-liter bottle onto the desk with a heavy thud.
“Did you buy that?”
“I got it for free.”
“From whom?”
“My underlings. They gave it to me with a smile, saying, ‘Good work today, Big Sis!’”
Lydia smirked.
Seeing her friend’s pride, Abby let out a long, weary sigh.
“Hah... where on earth are you headed, Lydia...?”
“It’s fine, isn’t it? I’m looking after those guys.”
It was the truth.
In some circles, Lydia’s instruction was currently more popular than the official training provided by the instructors. While she seemed like an intuitive type, she was surprisingly theoretical and excelled at logical thinking.
The concept she emphasized above all else was reproducibility.
How to reproduce a specific magic; how to reproduce a specific movement. She broke it down logically and carved it into the body through constant repetition.
She possessed the intuition of a genius, but she was a genius who knew how to work hard.
“Ah. I heard your teaching has a good reputation lately, Lydia.”
“Oh, really? That’s good to hear. Those guys are full of grit. No matter how much I work them, they keep getting back up. Pretty great, right?”
“That certainly... is something...”
Abby spoke with a slightly pained expression. She had observed Lydia’s teaching sessions before, and to her, they looked less like training and more like a form of torture.
However, despite the agony on their faces, the men undergoing that training were desperately hanging on to every word.
Abby understood that Lydia possessed a unique charisma—though she personally had no desire to participate in those drills herself.
“It’s been about four months now. You seem to be in good form.”
“Yeah. Lately, I feel like my magical senses have become even sharper.”
“Haha. You might be able to become one of the Seven Grand Sorcerers soon.”
It was an honest assessment. In fact, Abby had believed Lydia was qualified for the title since their student days. Abby Garnet was one of the few people who had ever seen Lydia truly serious.
Abby herself was undoubtedly a genius, often called a once-in-a-century talent. She calmly analyzed that she, too, would one day reach the rank of the Seven Grand Sorcerers.
Even so, she knew she would never reach Lydia. That wall was far too steep and high. Lydia’s strength was such that it made one wonder if she were a different creature entirely.
That was the existence known as Lydia Ainsworth.
“Ice Sword... I feel like I’ve been able to handle the theory better lately.”
“You’ve always been gifted with Ice-type Magic.”
“Yeah. Rather than ice specifically, it might be more accurate to say I’m good at writing the Deceleration process into the Code. I’m the opposite of you in that regard, Abby.”
“That’s true.”
Deceleration was one of the Codes Lydia mastered above all others.
“Deceleration and Lock. If I master these two, the Ice Sword can evolve even further. I don’t think I’d ever lose in a Magic Battle, especially in a fight at Cross-range.”
“Lock, huh? How is that coming along?”
Lydia believed the Ice Sword was the magic most suited to her. While she could already manifest it, she had yet to produce a version with a quality she found satisfactory.
“Hmm... I’m not quite used to the feeling yet. Deceleration is probably an innate talent, but the Lock Code is something I’m trying to acquire after the fact. I think it’ll take a little more time.”
“I see. I look forward to the day the perfect Ice Sword is born.”
“Hahaha! That’s right! One day, people might just call me—”
With a mischievous, joking grin, she finished her sentence.
“—the Ice Sword Sorcerer.”