The change in season had been incredibly fast, the twin suns quickly joined together once more, melding into a single mass as though nothing had ever happened, the breeze turned colder, refreshing after such long months of torturous heat.
The leaves swiftly changed colours, creating a new canopy, a colourful expanse for many gazes to wander to, the length of the days shortened a great deal nearly instantly, this change in weather led to many more students doing some exercises outside, for others, nothing changed as the temperature never bothered them anyways.
Today was a harsh day still for the students however, they were learning basic survival tactics, all the while not allowed to utilise their magic or special abilities, one would not always have mana at their disposal and such, so it was important to be able to do something with their own two hands.
Right now, they needed to make and light a small campfire, it was going well, no one had hurt themselves yet.
"They have grown significantly more capable in the few months you have taught them, I wasn't a fan of your harshness at first, and I really am still not one, but the results speaks for themselves, my lady had never really gotten herself dirty before coming here" Gelter spoke, standing beside Rosemary, his colleague seemingly becoming one with nature as birds were perching up onto him.
"It's for the best, a commandant needs to have skills to back up their position after all" Rosemary clapped her hands, everyone had performed as was expected of them, no one had tore a hole through their hands or immolated themselves, that was better than usual.
With a flick of her hand, she erected a small platform of solid stone, dark in colour and perfectly flat surfaces, both of her classes gathered in front of her.
"That's right, you have done a good job, and as such, we will be doing some light sparring, I know that you all prefer using your abilities , a bunch of brutes you are" she joked, walking over to the bodyguards.
"But you will all be facing either of those two gentlemen instead of your peers, I'll remind you all that this is still academy ground, the building is like, twenty meters, you can all see it, so don't just use attacks of a big scale, part of the assignment is to show some restrain and not just splurges your mana everywhere"
The birds perched on Osworth flew away, Gelter shaking his head, the knight had only agreed to show off his battle art in the first place, but his flirtatious peer had gotten the both of them into this, he always had a hard time understanding what this masked fool was thinking in that head of his.
He barely conversed with his own colleague and lord, but would go into passionate conversations with the volcanic witch, truly, only mystery hid behind that mask.
"You may choose who you want to face in combat, Gelter, a knight, or Osworth, whose proficiency you surely all have little clue about, except for Antieeld, as their lady, you will be having the honour of sparring with me" Rosemary smiled at the unfortunate girl.
Griar stepped forward first, finding it less stressful to go first, also eager to challenge a true knight, he had only ever had spars with one other knight, which was his very own father, it went without saying that those little training sessions weren't very serious, his progenitor would go easy on his only son every single time.
Gelter's sword was a rather long one, definitely more so than the typical blade of this sword, his armour was with few gaps, each of them still protected by chainmail and gambeson, he wielded this sword in one hand, keeping hold of his scabbard in the other.
'Oh, he is left-handed?' the young man immediately noticed it, most swordsmen of a high-calibre would learn to use weapons with both of their hands, being assigned as a bodyguard of one of the twelve talent holders, it would be idiotic to consider the alternative.
Still, it was only natural for one to begin a fight using their most habile limb, this was a bit problematic, the blond boy wasn't certain how to properly approach this.
He utilised his magic, circulating mana throughout his body and sabre, transmuting it into his uncommon element, sword, just sword.
Although allowing for the creation of great armament of pure magic, and the conjuration of great projectiles even with his basic mastery as a mage, he only used the potent reinforcement it allowed him to bestow upon his weapon.
Wishing to use this opportunity to learn as much as he could about the blade, he used the most power he could unleash right off the bat, he could not allow himself to get knocked on his ass within the first few seconds.
Gelter wasn't much of a mage at all, his talent was too poor to even bother learning energy reinforcement, but it wasn't necessary, thrusting his blade straight into the ground, a purplish energy flickered into existence for brief instant.
The effect of the knight's action was to sweep the young noble off his feet and pull him forward.
Griar was taken aback but did not panic, lowering his body to avoid getting hit in the face by the sheath, swinging his sword at one of the few gaps, right at the bodyguard's armpit, despite having his speed and power enhanced, the student's attempt was not slick in the least, his attack dodged with ease.
The scabbard thrown directly at his stomach, freeing the knight's hand to then switch his hold onto his weapon to half-swording, the pommel smashing into the youthful face, knocking him out instantly.
"My bad, you alright kid?" he got no response.
Rosemary pointed her finger at the unfortunate Griar, shrouding him in a soft flame that healed in minor injuries, and woke him up.
"Who wants to go next?" she casually asked as Gelter helped the dizzy young man off the platform.
No one wanted to get beaten down next.