President Levens

Chapter 13: President Levens

Looking at the empty main training ground, Lorist stopped walking. Before his eyes, he seemed to see himself standing on that worn bluestone platform years ago, passionately lecturing more than two hundred students attending swordsmanship instruction...

"What? You want to learn profound and exquisite sword techniques, but you don't want to practice the basic swordsmanship movements? Even a three-year-old can do those? Bullshit! You can't even walk properly, yet you want to run? Do you understand what sword forms are? What swordsmanship is? Does anyone know the difference between the two? You—yes, you. Tell me."

"Wrong! Your explanation is far too one-sided! Listen carefully, all of you, and stretch your necks out! No one will be kind enough to tell you this again in the future! Swordsmanship is about defeating an opponent in the shortest possible time, using the most suitable, convenient, and effortless methods. Sword forms, meanwhile, are a method of training by linking together several efficient swordsmanship movements. But for you, it is still too early to practice sword forms! It's like building a house without laying a solid foundation. Once a strong wind blows, it'll collapse."

"Why am I making you practice the eight basic swordsmanship movements? It's very simple. No matter what kind of swordsmanship movement it is, it cannot be separated from these eight forms: thrust, slash, lift, parry, raise, sweep, wipe, and block. I want you to master these eight basic movements until they become your body's instinctive reactions. Then, even if your opponent's sword moves so quickly that your eyes cannot follow it, your body's instincts will automatically use these eight basic movements and save you in a critical moment. Only when you reach that level can you say that you possess the ability to protect yourself with swordsmanship."

"Yes, this is my personal secret to sword training, and today I'm telling you everything without holding anything back. I'm sure you all saw my duel against the Silver Tier instructor. The reason I won was because I had already trained the eight basic swordsmanship movements into my body's instinctive reactions. There are no invincible sword forms. Only the most solid basic movements can let me rely on my body's instincts to make the most direct counterattack in a duel. That's why you saw me win after making only a few strikes."

"Sword forms? Letting you practice sword forms now would just be fooling you. Without mastering the basic swordsmanship movements, even the finest sword forms are nothing but flashy tricks—pretty to look at, but only meant to deceive people. Stop talking nonsense and get your spirits up. Go practice the basic swordsmanship movements seriously. Practice each of the eight forms a thousand times. The twenty who train the hardest will receive my personal swordsmanship instruction."

Those scenes from the past would never return. Time truly passed quickly. In the blink of an eye, another three years had gone by. The Ikado Badge had returned to the academy's hall of honor, waiting for its next owner. Ever since Lorist received the Battle Qi Gold Instructor Badge last year, he had asked the academy to forge this Dual Gold Instructor Badge for him, representing both swordsmanship and Battle Qi. He had returned the Ikado Badge to the academy. Whoever wanted it could go achieve another thirty consecutive cross-tier victories.

Lorist remembered the excuse he had used back then. "Three badges pinned to my chest would look awful. Anyone who didn't know better would think I sold badges. We might as well combine these two Gold Badges."

Fortunately, the academy had been fairly reasonable and agreed to his request.

But what exactly was that old bastard President Levens plotting this time? Lorist did not believe Fatty Shi's claim that the academy wanted to make money from registration fees charged to challengers. If Dawnlight Academy had fallen so low that it needed registration fees to survive, it would have long since been removed from Galintea's top ten academies. Simply put, the academy could not afford that kind of disgrace.

Over the past three years, he had dealt with President Levens several times. In Lorist's eyes, that old bastard was the living embodiment of the words crafty and cunning. If he was not careful, Levens could sell him off and still make him count the money. He had to be especially cautious whenever dealing with him.

At the beginning of the year, the academy organized an expedition to investigate the Ruins Archipelago. First, Lorist wanted to set aside his emotional entanglements and calm himself down. Second, he wanted to use the many mid- and high-tier magical beasts on the Ruins Archipelago to temper himself and see whether he could break through the Manifest Force peak he had been stuck at for half a year and enter the realm of Dark Force. So he went to see President Levens and expressed his desire to join the expedition.

The result was that Instructor Krudd first interfered and privately sparred with Lorist. Then President Levens used the excuse that Lorist's Battle Qi had not reached the Silver Tier and therefore did not meet the requirements for joining the expedition. He forced Lorist to agree to several conditions before arranging for him to join the expedition as a logistical assistant.

Standing outside the president's office, Lorist took a deep breath to steady himself after climbing five flights of stairs, then raised his hand and knocked.

"Come in."

Lorist pushed open the door and entered.

"Oh, Little Locke. You're back?"

Lorist lowered his head. "Yes, President. I'm back."

President Levens smiled warmly. "Come, come, sit down. I'll make you a cup of Maikesi. It's this year's new stock, and it tastes quite good."

"Oh, President, please don't trouble yourself. I'm not thirsty." Lorist hurriedly declined.

"Sit, sit. Don't be so restrained when you come here. Treat this place like your own home." President Levens put the Maikesi beans into a small silver mortar and ground them, then poured them into a silver pot with water and set it over the stove.

"Little Locke, do you know about the duel announcement the academy issued?"

"I do. But President, I don't understand. Did the academy organize this duel just to collect challengers' registration fees, like Shredder said? Or is there some other reason I don't know about?" Lorist was somewhat dissatisfied. After all, he was the one being challenged.

"Hehe, Little Locke, I know you have objections to the academy's arrangements. The academy made this decision for you without your consent. If it were me, I would be unhappy as well. But this matter arose suddenly, so we had no choice but to wrong you first. I hope you can help the academy win back some face this time and slap those academies across the face."

President Levens sat down in the high-backed chair opposite Lorist. "This situation is rather complicated. Let me start from the beginning. I also hope you can understand the difficulties of this old man."

"Do you know Yellow Ribbon Academy, next door to our academy?"

"I do. Their butler training and swordsman guard training are excellent," Lorist answered.

"Two months ago, their old president, Sir Aristotle, died of a heart attack. Sigh, it happened suddenly, and he left no will behind. Several of his children fought bitterly over the inheritance. None of them was willing to inherit the baronet's enterprise. They even planned to package Yellow Ribbon Academy as a whole and sell it, then divide the money. When I heard the news, I sent people to negotiate. In the end, we spent 180,000 Gold Fude to merge Yellow Ribbon Academy into our academy."

President Levens was quite pleased when speaking of this matter. Although Yellow Ribbon Academy was not well known and ranked fairly low among the more than twenty academies in Molent City's Academy District, it had a history of fifty or sixty years. Its campus was nearly one-third the size of Dawnlight Academy's. Spending only 180,000 Gold Fude was a good deal from any angle. Especially since Yellow Ribbon Academy was adjacent to Dawnlight Academy—once the wall between them was torn down, they could become one.

"Oh, that's a good thing. With Yellow Ribbon Academy merged into ours, Dawnlight Academy's strength will increase again. We might even rise another place in the rankings among the top ten academies." Lorist hurriedly offered his congratulations.

"Although it is a good thing, those 180,000 Gold Fude have also put considerable financial pressure on us." President Levens lifted the silver pot from the stove, set a silver cup before himself and Lorist, then poured in the steaming Maikesi.

"This is milk, and this is honey crystal. Add whichever flavor you prefer. I'm old, so I still prefer it plain." President Levens raised his cup, gently blowing away the steam while gesturing for Lorist to help himself.

"Our academy's annual tuition income is sixty to seventy thousand Gold Fude. Social donations add another twenty to thirty thousand. Then there are the academy's external businesses and various other sources of income. In total, our yearly income is around 110,000 or 120,000 gold coins. It sounds like a lot, but our expenses are not small either. Every year, the salaries, benefits, and allowances for academy instructors and staff cost fifty to sixty thousand. Replacing worn-out teaching materials and equipment costs another ten to twenty thousand annually. The biggest portions of that are the lances used in Knight Training and the practice swords used in swordsmanship instruction."

"Furthermore, supporting impoverished students and rewarding outstanding students costs around ten thousand each year. There are also the experimental funds for potion studies and research funds for more than a dozen specialized courses, which require another twenty to thirty thousand. This year's expedition to the Ruins Archipelago alone cost more than four thousand gold coins. Add the academy's other miscellaneous expenses, and to put it simply, from an annual income of 120,000, we might save several thousand or ten thousand by year's end if we are lucky. If we are unlucky and encounter something that increases expenditures, losing several thousand Gold Fude in a year is perfectly normal."

President Levens sighed. "Spending 180,000 Gold Fude to merge Yellow Ribbon Academy was enormously costly, but it concerns the future growth and expansion of Dawnlight Academy. We could not miss this opportunity. However, our academy's accumulated savings over the years, along with mortgages on several properties in Molent City, only allowed us to raise 150,000 gold coins. Considering that merging Yellow Ribbon Academy would also require funds for reconstruction, I decided to apply to the Academy Alliance for a loan of 50,000 Gold Fude, so that Dawnlight Academy could develop better."

At this point, President Levens became somewhat agitated. "Who would have thought that when I submitted the loan application to the Academy Alliance, I would be humiliated! That old bastard Weston actually said, why take out a loan? As long as Dawnlight Academy dismisses its Gold Instructors and Silver Instructors, the academy's funds will be plentiful. After all, even someone with Battle Qi at the Black Iron rank can become a Gold Instructor at our academy. Why not simply hire more Black Iron instructors? They would be useful and cheap, and save money as well. It would be killing two birds with one stone!"

"What outrageous nonsense! I argued with that old bastard on the spot. Do you know what that old bastard said? He said that the supposedly invincible Silver-tier Instructor Locke of our academy was not actually that impressive at all. He claimed our academy had deliberately exaggerated your abilities for publicity and to recruit new students. His reason was that several Silver Instructors who resigned during your cross-tier challenge back then were now working at Saint Maso Academy. They said they had left because the academy forced them to deliberately lose to you, allowing you to achieve thirty consecutive victories and receive the Ikado Badge, all so the academy could create a publicity topic."

President Levens was very satisfied to see the veins bulging on Lorist's hands as he tightly gripped the silver cup. "In a fit of anger, I made a bet with that old bastard. I bet that you could challenge every Silver Instructor at Saint Maso Academy without losing a single match. Then the other academy presidents standing around watching the excitement all jumped in, wanting to take part. So in the end, it became a wager between our academy and every other academy in the Academy District. The stake is this 50,000 Gold Fude loan. If we win, our academy will not need to repay it. If you lose, not only will we have to repay the loan at double the amount, but this old man will also have to host a banquet and publicly apologize to them."

"Little Locke, forgive an old man's willfulness. I made you face so many challenges without obtaining your consent. It was only because this old man truly could not swallow that insult, especially when facing that old bastard from Saint Maso Academy."

Saint Maso Academy ranked eighth among Galintea's top ten academies and fourth among the more than twenty academies in Molent City, placing exactly one rank above Dawnlight Academy in both lists. Whether instructors or students, everyone at Dawnlight Academy regarded surpassing Saint Maso Academy as their greatest goal and hope. Likewise, the instructors and students of Saint Maso Academy worked hard to prevent Dawnlight Academy from surpassing them. The two academies were natural rivals. And the old bastard President Levens spoke of was none other than President Weston of Saint Maso Academy.

Lorist stood up. "Thank you for the Maikesi, President. It truly tasted very good. I should be going now. Please rest assured, I will not disappoint you."

"Don't be in such a hurry to leave. Wait a moment, there are still some matters to handle." President Levens pulled a bell rope by the wall, and soon a middle-aged female clerk came in from the neighboring office.

"Lena, bring over the paper bag from the document room with Instructor Locke's name written on it," President Levens instructed.

The paper bag labeled Norton Lorist was quickly delivered. President Levens opened it, revealing a string of purple-copper keys. "Little Locke, as our academy's Dual Gold Instructor, you were not assigned an individual instructor residence because the academy's circumstances had previously been limited. Now that we have merged Yellow Ribbon Academy, we have both the land and the means. So we have built a group of houses on the other side of Moon Lake as residences for the academy's Gold Instructors. This one has been assigned to you. It's Moon 35. When you get there, just find the supervisor, Aunt Scarlett."

Lorist accepted the purple-copper keys and was about to take his leave when President Levens said, "Oh, right. There are two more matters I nearly forgot. First, the Battle Qi Enlightenment Class will officially begin in seven days. There are a few more students this time, so the academy has arranged for them to use the grand hall of the former Yellow Ribbon Academy. The other matter is that the academy has approved the formal establishment of the Swordsmanship Club. Its headquarters will be in the swordsman training hall of the former Yellow Ribbon Academy. You are the president elected by the students, so quickly finalize the Swordsmanship Club's rules and regulations and submit them. Also, discuss with Supervisor Shredder how to handle the Enforcement Department's proposal to use the Swordsmanship Club's elite members as a reserve force for the Enforcement Department. Don't forget."

"Alright, President. I know what to do."