Shiba's sword clashed with Beike's sword.
That was one of their usual training sessions.
Training with Shiba wasn't beneficial at all for Beike, but it was for Shiba, and Beike was glad to help someone like him.
Beike realized that Shiba wasn't the best in terms of talent, but he was the type to work harder than others, making them think that he was extremely talented when he wasn't.
Beike was similar to him. If it were for just his talent, he wouldn't even be on the top hundred students at Rank 4.
However, many of the extremely talented ones were far too lazy when training because they were talented, which Beike personally disliked.
If someone was talented, it was alright, but he didn't like those who rely only on talent. That was why he was always eager to help those who wanted to improve regardless of who they were.
He felt mirrored on Shiba since he was very much like Beike was in the past, so in that half-year, Beike had started treating him like a brother.
"Beike, I finally made a breakthrough!"
While Shiba and Beike were busy training, they were interrupted by a woman that suddenly opened the door while shouting.
"Reia, I am glad, but do you need to make such a scandal? I almost got hit by brother Shiba's sword."
It wasn't like Shiba would be able to harm him, but it was shameful that he got distracted.
"If our little brother Shiba hit you, let it be. That may teach you to concentrate on the battle, even in unexpected circumstances. You still have a long way to become as awesome as me."
Reia smiled and walked towards them.
"Congratulations, big sister Reia. Big brother Beike had been worried about your breakthrough and couldn't concentrate at all this last month."
Shiba already knew Reia.
When he started to tag along with Beike, it was unavoidable that he also met her.
After all, Reia was Beike's wife.
It wasn't a secret, and almost everyone knew about it, but Shiba was quite shocked when he heard about it. However, despite their youthful looks, both of them were on their forties, so it wasn't that strange.
Reia had quite an explosive temper and liked to lecture Beike a lot, but that wasn't without reason. Even before her breakthrough, she was already at the top twenty among Rank 4 students. She was far stronger than Beike.
Reia was far more talented than Beike, but she didn't slack off at all, so her progress was faster than Beike's.
"I know it. He acts so detachedly, but he can't avoid thinking about me. How cute."
Reia hugged Beike from behind before he could avoid it.
It wasn't that he disliked it, but he felt that it was embarrassing when others were looking.
That wasn't the first time Shiba saw that scene, so he was quite used to it.
In fact, Eini always liked to hug him in a similar way, which made Shiba ponder if that was normal among friends or they were really something else, but he didn't have the guts to ask and just went with the flow.
He learned more about interactions between people and had already noticed that Eini acted more as a girlfriend than as a friend.
"Have you already told Eini about your breakthrough. She was also quite worried."
Strictly speaking, there was nothing to worry about. At worst, Reia would have failed to advance to level 49 like she did.
However, at level 49, she would be able to fight for the spot of the strongest student of the academy.
It wasn't that you can't participate at level 48, but the current best student was at level 49, and she was monstrously strong. Even after advancing to level 49, Reia wasn't confident about winning.
Eini and Reia became friends quite quickly as much as Shiba and Beike. However, neither of them was too fond of interacting with others, so very few people knew about it.
Reia remained a whole month secluded to advance to level 49, so Eini had felt quite lonely since she was her only female friend.
She spoke with Reia topics that she wouldn't dare to mention in front of Shiba and Beike.
In particular, since she was conscious that Shiba lacked in understanding about relationships, she didn't want to mention anything about them being a couple in front of him, and Beike would end up telling everything to Shiba without thinking.
She was fine with their current situation. She knew that due to the rules of her family, there was no way to marry whenever they wanted like Beike and Reia did, so if Shiba didn't notice, it was alright. He would suffer less.
"I have yet to do it. I haven't seen her. I thought that maybe she was here with you two, but I guess today she has other plans."
Eini sometimes went to look at the fights between Shiba and Beike.
She couldn't reach the level without reaching Rank 2 and slowing her growth again, so she had a lot of free time when she was tired of training skills.
After all, her supply of energy wasn't infinite, so she couldn't train her skills without stopping to rest.
"Then, you must go and find her."
Beike was the one who said those words. He knew that Reia and Eini were quite close to each other, and he felt that if Reia went to find her, he wouldn't be in an embarrassing situation in front of Shiba.
Reia was about to agree when someone else opened the door.
"Oh, so this room is already in use. I never expected that some small bugs had the right to use it, but I guess that it is to be expected when the standards of this academy are so low. Luckily, I am here, so the academy has the right to exist."
Hearing the haughty voice of the woman that had opened the door, Reia's face turned ugly.
"Bea, you better stop disdaining others. On the competition for the ranking, I will beat you and seize the first position."
Bea was the number one student of the academy despite being far younger than other students at Rank 4.
It wasn't just that she was strong, but she was also haughty and disdained others.
A lot of people hated her while others tried to obtain her favor by licking her shoes.
However, those that hated her wouldn't be able to do anything because she was indeed the strongest.
The academy wouldn't act against their strongest student just for a few words of disdain to others.
If Reia were to surpass her, then she wouldn't be able to be so haughty even if she were still superior to others, so there were a lot of people expecting that Reia would make her breakthrough and defeat her.
There were others stronger than Reia before she made her breakthrough, but they had already been at level 49 for a lot of time and still lost against Bea.
Thus, everyone put their hopes on that Reia would advance and be strong enough to defeat Bea.
"You and how many more bugs? Stop dreaming, you are at most worthy of being my slave. Everyone in this academy is so weak that they die on the missions while I return alive."
After speaking, she left the room.
She had seen Reia go there, so there wasn't a coincidence that she also reached that room. She was planning to verbally humiliate Reia. She never felt any threat because she had advanced to level 49.
"That jinx. Everyone who goes on a mission with her in these last months had died while she returned alive. Aren't you just a coward to fled, leaving the rest to die?"
Reia really had that impression of her, and in fact, many people had those thoughts about Bea. She claimed that she survives because she was far stronger, but her whole team had already been wiped out four times.
It was true that the outside was quite dangerous since the start of the holy war, but she was the only one who always returned with her whole team wiped out.
"Shiba, what happens?"
At that moment, Beike noticed that Shiba's face was absolutely pale.
That had been the first time that Shiba had met the strongest student of the academy, but as soon as he saw her, he also saw a flashback.
"Move! You stupid bugs! You are lucky to be slaves belonging to my family! Move!"
A teen girl was using a whip to hit several kids that were bound to a small carriage as if they were beasts.
"Faster! Move faster, or I kill you! You stupid bugs, can't you understand human's words? As expected of bugs."
Those words continued for several hours, and half of the kids died from the wounds and exhaustion.
Shiba was lucky enough to survive all the time he was called to serve that girl who they were forced to call Young Miss Bea.
If it weren't because Young Miss Bea only spent a couple of weeks there before returning to her academy, Shiba would have probably died. Fortunately, he was moved to work in another area and never met her again in the following years.
Those scenes were from ten years on the past, and that Bea was the same Bea that was the strongest student of the academy.
There was no way Shiba would mistake her with someone else.