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Shortly after Ruri came and apologized, but Marize had clearly seen how Ruri willingly let go of Clarissa’s leash, and then took her time calmly walking over, so that apology was definitely not sincere.

“Nice to meet you, I’m Oswald, first year classroom A.”
“Now that’s a proper introduction. I’m Ruri, servant to the Urado family in Reibana.”

Oswald held his hand against his chest and bowed respectfully, so Ruri also stood up straight before curtsying back. Her form was so perfect that it certainly made her look like the servant of a foreign noble family.

“Couldn’t you have held the leash at least though?”
“Huh? But my arms are so slender and delicate that they’d never be able to take Claire’s strength, you know?”

Marize pointed out how Ruri made no effort to stop Claire from running off, and Ruri simply said that taking care of a pet was hard work.

In this form, Clarissa looked no different from regular wolf demihumans, but her strength was still that of a Comet Wolf, who ruled the Valhen Woods. Ruri was taking care of her while Olivia and Natalia were away on the field trip, and while feeding her and taking her on walks was easy enough, Ruri did not have the strength to reel Clarissa back.

“Oh right, Ruri, would you mind teaching Marize some swordsmanship?”
“Wait, why are you asking that?”

Oswald asked that unprompted, for someone else, and that someone else demanded an explanation.

“I mean, Ruri knows how to fight with a blade, right? And she’s pretty good at it. I don’t think there’s anyone else who could teach you in a Magic Academy, so there’s no one better to ask.”

Everything he said was correct. Marize had come to Ingralowe alone and knew no one there, the Academy did not teach swordsmanship, and it was better for her to rely on whoever was available if she wanted to learn.

“Hmm…I don’t really think I know how to teach though. Even with Natalia we basically just spar randomly without following any regiment or form. If that’s alright with you we can practice though.”
“…Please do it.”
“Alright, let’s do it then. You can use this.”

After a moment of silence, Marize decided to agree. So Ruri opened her magic storage and took out a katana. It looked inferior to the one hanging from her hip, but it still looked beautifully crafted.

“You also use magic storage, Ruri?”

Marize looked shocked at the place where Ruri had stored the katana.

“Natalia taught me, and I got good enough to just barely fit that blade in it. It was still really hard though, apparently the best way to increase capacity is by having it filled to the brim at all times, but then Natalia comes and shoves this long and girthy blade into it! I told her, shtopp! It’s too big, it won’t fittt! But she just rammed and pounded it in without mercy.”
“I don’t think anyone would feel any compassion after hearing what you said.”

Marize felt like Ruri picked the most indecent way to describe it for the fun of it, and in fact, that was exactly the case.

“Rabbit. We play later too.”
“Yes, just wait there for a bit.”
“Woof.”

Ruri waved Clarissa as she replied, though her face did not look honest in the slightest.

While Marize and Olivia trained after classes, Natalia and Ruri would often spar to kill time. Marize had seen them a few times, but never really paid much attention. Oswald had described Ruri as pretty good, but so far Marize just thought of her as the girl who kept saying weird things, or someone with a sword nearby.

Once Ruri saw that Oswald and Clarissa were a safe distance away, she gave Marize her spare katana.

This was the first time Marize held some type of sword in her life, and her initial impression was that it was lighter than it looked. She even felt like the bucket she used to gather water in her hometown growing up was heavier.

“To be honest I’ve never really cared about having the conviction to swing a blade or some sense of responsibility. I just think that swinging it will cut, and thrusting it will pierce, so don’t stress about it too much.”
“Umm…okay.”

Marize unsheathed the katana and held it as best as she could.

“Usually when I spar with Natalia I try to match my strength to her’s, since I’m not really interested in showing off my skills. Though sometimes I can’t avoid making it look that way.”

Meanwhile Ruri kept her katana sheathed, only resting her hand on its pommel.

“But I also hate being underestimated.”
“!”

The impression Ruri gave seemed to change in an instant.

Her golden eyes became sharp like drawn blades, staring at Marize as if imagining her being stabbed. Seeing that made each hair on Marize’s body stand on end, a cold sweat running down her spine.

A girl who keeps saying weird things? Someone with a sword nearby? Marize quickly realized that her impression of Ruri had been extremely naive.

“Now, come at me whenever you want.”

She was someone who would never hesitate to slay another person.

“Hmph.”

Clarissa huffed and rolled into a ball a distance away.

“Are you bored?”
“Boss and maid gone. Boring. Yawnn.”

Hearing Oswald ask that, Clarissa just glanced at Ruri and Marize and yawned.

“I’ve heard the field trip can be tricky sometimes, but if nothing goes wrong they should be back tomorrow morning. Just stay put until then.”
“Flag?”
“Huh? What did you say?”
“Dunno. Maid and Rabbit always say, flag.”

There was a large variety of monsters in the Valhen Woods. The lower tier enemies were goblins and orcs, middle ones were Tyrannoghavials and ogres, while the stronger ones were Meteor Wolves.

It was rare to run into the stronger ones, but the possibility was always there. That was why each group had a teacher accompanying them, though even then there was a possibility of an encounter going wrong.