The Failed Swordsman Who Became the Strongest After Spamming the 100 Million Years Button

28. Recruitment Period and Strange Group [1] – part 1

After that, for a week, I learned soul dress during class periods, and after school, I single-mindedly swung my sword alone – it was such a fulfilling week.

From then on, I confronted that guy many times over and lost every time.

-But it’s not without progress.

That guy, who was so strong to the point of being invincible, has been evading my slashes once in a while for the past few days.

(Is it about once every 100 times…?)

Even I thought to myself「That was a good slash!」.

That guy always evades only during those particular slashes.

At first, I thought「Was it on a whim?」, but apparently not.

That guy who always takes my slashes head on with his robust body… Only when I unleash a good slash does he evade without fail.

(That guy… probably judged that he wouldn’t escape unscathed.)

Thinking about that… makes me happy. My heart beats excitedly.

What I have not been able to cut until now, I will be able to cut. The joy of experiencing growth.

Such feelings overflowed within me.

It’s like the first time I cut the little space in the prison of time.

(If I train as it is, I will surely be able to beat that guy someday. If that happens, I can also attain soul dress…!)

While I was waiting for Ria at the entrance of the room, filling my heart with such hope,

「Sorry for making you wait, Allen! I overslept a little…」

「It’s alright. We still have a lot of time.」

There is still another 30 minutes until the start of the first period. This dormitory is located within the Thousand Blade Academy, so even if we left 5 minutes before the start of the first period, we would still make it in time – thus, there’s still plenty of time to spare.

「…More importantly, are you alright? You don’t seem to be getting good sleep lately?」

Was it from the time since we started taking classes for soul dress?

Ria has been having trouble falling asleep. Even after she fell asleep, she muttered painful voices in her sleep and tossed and turned over and over again.

As I genuinely asked her worriedly,

「……!? U-Umm… don’t look at my sleeping face too much…」she blushed with an embarrassed look.

「Ah, no, S-Sorry…」

It may have been improper to say that to a teenage girl…

As I was troubled about what to say next,

「…Did I make a s-strange face?」Ria timidly asked me.

「T-That was no problem! You have a beautiful sleeping face as usual!」

「B-Beautiful…… T-Thank you.」

「You are w-welcome…?」

「……」

「……」

Ria sank into silence, and I was not sure as to what to say either.

「……」

「……」

An indescribable strange atmosphere loomed over us, and the ticking sound of the second hand of the wall clock resounded loudly.

(I-It feels so heavy… However, I created this atmosphere, I should say something…!)

(W-What to do… It turned weird suddenly…!?)

Then a little… No, quite forcibly, I tried to break through that atmosphere with the brute force of a loud voice.

「…W-Well, let’s go!」

「Y-Yeah…! That’s right!」

Ria caught on well, so we succeeded in getting out of the stalemate safely. After that, Ria and I left the dormitory in a high tension state.

And as we reached the main building of Thousand Blade Academy.

「Swimming Club! Please join the swimming club…!」

「You there, do you want to polish your swordsmanship? How about joining the Swordsmanship Club…?」

「Let’s run faster, the Track Club! First-year students! Join the Track Club and let’s run like the『wind』!」

Swimsuit, martial arts uniform, short pants – Seniors, wearing their respective club’s uniforms, were handing out a large amount of flyers.

「What’s this…?」

「I don’t know either…」

As I and Ria gaze at this bizarre spectacle in mute amazement,

「Oh, you there! You have a good physique! Won’t you join the Judo Club!?」

「Wah, such a pretty girl! Would you join our Cheerleading Club!? We have a lot of cute outfits!」

「Ah, you two! How about the Mountaineering Club!? The scene after climbing a steep mountain, is irreplaceable by anything else!」

We were surrounded by many senpais just like that, and were handed a lot of flyers.

「Wowowow!? That is, I…!?」

「L-Let’s go, Ria!」

I grabbed Ria’s hand and ran towards the main building. Apparently they are prohibited from recruiting in the academy building, and immediately launched an attack on the next target.

「Fuu…」

「That surprised me…」

Before I knew it, a lot of flyers were shoved into my uniform pocket, and Ria had a lot of flyers in her left hand.

「That was… recruitment, right?」

「I think that might be the case…」

While talking about that, we headed to our classroom.

And when we entered Year 1 Class A, there was the sight of our tired classmates.

「So, it was the same for everyone…」

「Seems to be so…」

Judging from this exhausted condition, everyone seemed to have been through a terrible recruitment.

When I and Ria got to our usual seats – Tessa, the swordsman of Iron Cutting style, spoke to me in a haggard state.

「Yo, Allen… Were you targeted as well?」

「Un, just a little… You seem to have been targeted as well, Tessa…?」

His complexion was bad, and above all, the amount of the flyers which had been put on his desk, indicated the terrible damage.

「He-hehe, amazing, right? Most of the flyers were from the judo club guys, you know…? Saying my physique matched the judo club and whatnot…」Tessa pointed to his desk and laughed with a painful smile.「That was really dangerous… I was suddenly surrounded by 10 sweaty senpais in their judo uniforms… and almost lost consciousness many times because of their strong manliness and appeal…」

「That sounds difficult…」

Sounds like hell just hearing it…

「Naa, Tessa. What’s this unusual recruiting?」

「…Nn? Don’t you know Allen? A week from today is the new recruitment period – a recruitment period for first-year students.」

「In May? Normally, it should be in April, right after enrolment, no?」

At least the recruitment period for new students at Gran Swordsmanship Academy was in April.

「Aa, at a normal swordsmanship academy, that is so. But, Five Academy is different. For one month after enrolment, new students have to concentrate on soul dress class, so recruitment is prohibited for that month.」

「I see… That’s why the new student recruitment starts in May after the soul dress class is over…」

「That’s right. A week from now, when coming to the academy, and leaving the academy, and also during lunch break I guess. We won’t be able to rest for this whole week… so be ready」he said, and sat in his seat, which had become an advertising billboard for the judo club.

「This sounds terrible…」

「Yeah… I have heard that『Recruitment period of Five Academy is terrific』,but to think it was to this extent…」

A little later, the door of Class A opened with a rattling sound. At the same time, a bunch of flyers slowly invaded the classroom.

I don’t know who it is, but they seem to have taken a serious damage…

The bunch slowly approached me – and the flyers were placed in the seat in front of me.

「…puha」

It was Rose with her ruffled pinkish silver bed hair. She is not a morning person after all. Surely she was handed these flyers while walking sleepily to class as usual.

「Good morning, Rose. That seems terrible.」

「Your amount of flyers… is probably the most in this class.」

「…Morning.」

Her sleepiness might have surpassed the annoyance of the flyers. As usual, she stretched her body with an ahoge protruding on her head.

「Fuwaaa… Recruitment period is terrific…」

「That’s right, I was surprised.」

「It was so lively.」

「Allen and Ria, which club are you joining?」

「U-n… I haven’t decided yet.」

「I haven’t either,」

As one of the pleasures of student life, I want to belong to a club somewhere.

But I haven’t decided which I’m going to be joining yet.

Due to the name『Swordsmanship Club』, I’m a little interested in it, but that’s about it.

「I haven’t decided yet either. Let’s go check them out, after class?」

「I don’t mind of course.」

「I agree, let’s go together!」

Thus, the three of us decided to see the activities of each club together after classes were over.