The wind roughly scattered her hair. Isabelle stepped back cautiously and hurriedly thrust out her sword.
"CLANG—!!"
The sparks flying from the clashing blades and the intense sound of collision were slower than sight. By the time she registered the sound, the axe blade had already rushed to her face.
With a shriek, Isabelle desperately pushed her sword forward.
"Neural acceleration is cheating!! How can a Taurus use something like that!"
"...Bull warriors at the rank of captain and above use it."
"No—!!"
"CLANG—!!"
The axe blade that was about to graze her face hesitated at her words. Taking advantage of that moment, Isabelle barely managed to bounce out of attack range and roll across the floor.
Meanwhile, Asidis, who had somehow worked her way to Ivan's side, swung her baton.
"BANG!!"
When her baton stopped against the axe handle, Asidis smiled crookedly and extended one foot backward.
"Got you!!"
As a rule, batons are meant to be wielded with one hand, and all conductors are masters of ambidexterity. This is because they must conduct with one hand while making gestures with the other.
Therefore, at this moment, Asidis had loaded the best gesture she could prepare.
When declaring silence to an orchestra, a conductor extends their hand and makes a fist. So, putting strength into her supporting foot and maintaining tension with the ground—
"Arcane—!! Mage Killer!! First Strike!!"
Left hand holding the baton up, maintaining guard.
Right hand clenched into a fist behind her waist, twisting her body to add momentum.
Straight punch—.
"KWAAANG—!!"
"Silence spell—!!"
She did it. The feeling on her fist was good. The impact that could turn a person into "something that was once a person" in one strike tingled through her.
Sometimes bards use magic. These are miracles that have nothing to do with formulas or techniques except for using magical power, achieved simply by humming a song.
However, Asidis didn't know how to use any bard spells except for a few buff skills.
But Asidis knew the common counter to both bards and mages. Both are neutralized when hit with a silence spell.
Her silence spell even works on knights. When she used it during practice with the Knight Department, it "silenced" her opponents with 100% probability. After all, those who are unconscious cannot speak.
"Did I get... him?!"
"Excellent."
"What?!!!"
Asidis carefully raised her gaze. Above her head, a monstrous figure with gleaming eyes was looking down at her.
Swallowing hard at that cold gaze, she opened her mouth with a trembling voice.
"How... did you...?"
"Don't try striking techniques against a Taurus. Their muscle density is superior to humans, and their fat layers are thicker, making them efficient at dispersing impact."
"But uncle, you're human."
"Right now, I'm a Taurus."
"How... is that... possible...?"
Ivan quickly approached Asidis as she mumbled and backed away.
"And if you retreat after failing your first attack at this distance, there won't be a second chance. When facing a Taurus up close, you must charge in with only the thought of pushing forward. And—."
Ivan turned his head to avoid Isabelle's sword as she charged, then grabbed her by the collar and lifted her up.
"Ambushes are done from behind. A Taurus's peripheral vision is superior to humans. Side ambushes are unlikely to work."
"That's— what I did!!"
Isabelle grinned despite her choked gasp.
"Hero parties use combination techniques as standard!!"
At her words, Ivan immediately threw Isabelle. She made a choking sound as she hit the floor and flipped over.
Ivan didn't even glance at her as he gripped his axe and quickly turned around.
Blonde hair rippled. Between the short strands, green eyes flashed like lightning as someone charged in.
"KRAKAKAK—!! CLANG!!"
A longsword met the axe blade and pushed through. First exchange.
After deflecting with a wrist motion, another clash. Second exchange.
Twisting his waist to apply force and push back, then a third exchange.
"CLAAANG!!"
Oskar, who had somehow reached just below Ivan's chin, glared at him with a sharp gaze. His fighting spirit, ambush timing, strength, and technique.
"Excellent."
Pass.
Ivan's smile deepened. After deflecting Oskar's attack, he surveyed his surroundings.
Asidis, who had regained her stance, was firmly gripping her baton in one hand while clenching her other fist, stepping carefully.
Isabelle, disheveled from rolling on the floor, was gritting her teeth and holding her sword straight.
In front of him, Oskar was ready to pounce at any moment with a sharply honed presence.
"How!! Can a Taurus block this!! Are you really insane?!"
"Time."
"...Huh?"
"Of the 57 people participating in this class, 43 have not yet done the practical exercise. The remaining time is 1 hour and 43 minutes. So, I cannot spend all my time on you."
As a citizen of the Republic of Korea that provides universal educational welfare, one cannot provide educational services only to specific students. Educational opportunities must be fairly distributed to everyone.
That's regrettable. He wanted to teach these kids a bit more.
Well, if it's not possible during class, they can always take supplementary lessons.
After all, didn't they make a promise? Isabelle's bet. If he defeats her, she'll have to take "intensive training." A win-win situation. (This is debatable.)
"Now, come at me as if I were a Taurus legion commander."
Tual-Galion. The 3rd Legion Commander under Tumor of the Great Mountain. One of only three Taurus warlords. Recalling the only Taurus legion commander he had ever faced, Ivan slowly adjusted his stance.
In those days, Tual-Galion was a general who had plunged half a nation into despair. It was from a time when people still lived beyond the Eastern Front. During the war with the demon race.
Ivan had faced him once with the hero party dispatched to eliminate Tumor. He was a difficult opponent, but not one that required the entire hero party to engage.
So, this combination is just right. One-on-one, these kids wouldn't be able to handle it, but many-against-one... if they "try hard," they could certainly win.
"He's really crazy!!"
"Uncle, I think this is a bit unseemly..."
"I'm fine with it."
Being a reasonable person, Ivan didn't indulge in the trainees' complaints. He exhaled a long breath and infused his muscles with magical power.
"Looks like you had fun?"
"It was decent."
Ivan handed Enrique the practical evaluation form as he answered.
Enrique chuckled and looked around at the students. Few were standing on two legs. While none had suffered particularly severe injuries, all the students seemed to have suffered mental trauma.
"Mmm-mmm-mmm-mmm..."
"Hiiiiieek—."
"ThisIsATaurusWithInvincibleStaminaAndDefenseThatCan'tBeHurtByBladesAnUnstoppableMonsterThatBreaksTreesAndChargesAtYouAndTracksBladeMovementsWithItsEyesAndBeforeYouKnowItIt'sInFrontOfYouRammingWithItsHeadAnd— Eek—Aaaaargh—"
The panicked students' sobbing echoed around. Fortunately, in a world without student rights ordinances, "somewhat" bold teaching methods didn't cause social controversy.
Enrique snickered and looked at Ivan. He too was a mess, covered in wood chips and dust. But his presence remained pure, which made her smile with satisfaction.
His lightened shoulders and subtly relaxed face were pleasing. Having known him for well over a decade, she could now recognize differences in his expressions.
She could clearly see that Ivan was in a much better mood than usual. Enrique nodded with an "mm-hmm."
"If you promise to be a little gentler, I'll call you as a teaching assistant for the next class too."
"...Shouldn't I be the one making that offer?"
"Of course not. I'm the teacher here. You're just my disciple."
"Hmph."
Ivan withdrew without further comment. The students had to consider dropping the course due to Enrique's terrible declaration. Of course, since the course adjustment period had ended, they would have to accept failing grades.
Being a historical hero who wouldn't be fired even if her course evaluations dropped, Enrique clapped her hands and said lightly:
"Now, I'll reflect on these practical evaluation forms for the next class. It's graded on a curve, so don't worry too much. There are no penalties for those who don't meet the evaluation criteria. Just focus a bit more on the class."
"Focus... on class...?"
A student mumbled blankly while looking at Ivan. Ivan silently nodded. The students' faces turned pale.
"Everyone worked hard! See you next week!"
"I'll see you after this is over, mister. My jaw really hurts from grinding my teeth."
"Oh my."
"Really!! I—!! Eek!!"
Isabelle led her party away with an expression that suggested she was about to lose her temper. Watching them and chuckling, Enrique suddenly asked:
"Our disciple. When are you going to the palace?"
"Tonight."
"Not having dinner with Elizabeta?"
"She's busy."
"Ah. Well, she did take a long break from state affairs. You might get busy soon too, so rest well now. See you later, disciple."
"Mm."
Ivan nodded silently and left.
There's a story that alchemy began in the kitchen. It's true that cooking and alchemy share many similarities, with their use of hearths, pots, various spices and herbs, and occasionally minerals.
Alchemy eventually became closely related to modern chemistry and materials engineering. So cooking and chemistry can indeed be considered one and the same.
Dark-Isabelle, who has transitioned to a dark chef, really likes this story.
"Hehehe..."
All medicine is poison. It becomes toxic depending on the method and dosage of administration.
A well-prepared meal is medicinal. Because a person's vitality begins with food.
Therefore, according to the syllogism, every well-prepared meal is poison. When applying simultaneous equations, the formula food=medicine=poison is established.
Just as the master of dark chefs completed arcane poison cuisine through the Eight Trigrams, Dark-Isabelle has also completed the forbidden grand spell.
A deadly temptation that can even capture the heart of an uncle who has left home...
"Help yourselves, everyone."
"Finally...!!"
"To think I'd see this in real life...!!"
"I only knew the basic principles, but to think it could actually be made."
Yu-jin and Yu-ri picked up their spoons in admiration. The meat, marinated in a glossy, bright red sauce, showed a pleasant elasticity.
In the large pot Isabelle brought, there was a meat broth with red oil floating on top. It was a traditional stew simmered down further, with ingredients cooked until they were almost falling apart.
"To think you actually completed this..."
Yu-jin swallowed dryly and looked at Isabelle with awe-filled eyes. He had only explained the principles and concepts, but after a few weeks of independent research, she suddenly brought a finished product.
Whether a hero should be doing cooking research during vacation is something to consider, but in any case, if the result is good, isn't that what matters?
"Go...chujang...!!"
Malt extract is malt, the ingredient for beer. Since beer and whiskey exist in this world too, the ingredients could be obtained.
Using wheat flour instead of glutinous rice is the same. Gochujang can actually be made with wheat flour. The only other ingredient needed was red pepper powder.
Therefore, with sufficient time, effort, and trial and error in mixing ratios, creating gochujang was an easy task for a state alchemist.
And once gochujang was completed, the cooking category underwent a remarkable transformation. Many Korean dishes like jeyuk-bokkeum (spicy stir-fried pork) and gochujang-jjigae (spicy stew) were unlocked.
Yu-jin swallowed hard and turned his gaze to Ivan. Ivan had been staring at the jeyuk-bokkeum with a dark expression for a while.
"What's wrong? Don't you like it?"
"No."
Ivan shook his head at Isabelle's cautious question. The effort and time put into this dish were so evident that he picked up a piece of meat without further comment.
It was a dish he had wanted to eat all his life. It was one of the foods listed at the top of the first page in the notebook kept in the safe of his office desk.
He can't resent what he should be grateful for. He slowly brought the meat to his mouth.
"How... does it taste?"
"It's delicious. Well made."
"Right? Right?! Hehehe—"
Isabelle puffed out her chest with a relaxed face, as if she had never been nervous.
"Do you know how long it took to make this? My goodness, it was such hard work. Do you know how much money I spent on time acceleration spells to adjust the fermentation time?!"
"Mm."
"Really. You're such a reserved person! If you're happy, you can just say you're happy, you know, like before! You can cry and weep, it's okay!"
"Mm."
Ivan nodded and moved his jaw. Though his words were sparse, seeing him eat enthusiastically made her feel proud.
Yes, this is what makes feeding someone worthwhile.
As Isabelle smiled contentedly, the students eagerly dug into the food. Yu-jin and Yu-ri stuffed their mouths with meat until their cheeks were full, and Asidis happily chatted while serving food into bowls.
After watching this atmosphere grumpily for a while, Elfihera...
"Ivan."
"Mm."
"Ah."
"...Hmm."
Opened her mouth beside Ivan.
Asidis, who was moving her spoon, and Isabelle, who was scooping meat into bowls, froze.
"Ah. Quickly. Am I starving? Will daddy be sad? Aaaah—."
"...Alright. Be quiet."
Asidis spilled stew on the floor with a drip.
"Hmm. What? This is edible."
Elfihera swallowed the meat Ivan fed her without barely chewing, then grinned and looked at Isabelle.
Isabelle's eyes darted wildly.