Chapter 705: Instructor Bureau (9)

Qing’s opinion of Abbot Wolbong went up a notch.

Did that surprisingly petty bald-headed man actually have a knack for handling kids?

Or was it that Shaolin was not only the strongest in martial arts, but also the strongest in early childhood education?

Qing had no idea, but in fact, that part was true.

There was no shortage of children abandoned at Shaolin. Families so poor they could barely feed themselves would often abandon their children there, hoping at least to borrow the Buddha’s mercy for them.

Whenever a Shaolin monk went out begging for alms, such things happened often—

And there were just as many times when they came back cradling a child who would otherwise have died as an orphan.

Even if they were half-fake monks, a monk was still a monk; they couldn’t simply turn away someone about to die right in front of them.

The thousand-year Shaolin, as it was called, the goodwill and support it enjoyed across all the Central Plains, had at least partly grown out of that accumulated merit.

The chatter of children spilled out on both sides, that peculiar, disjointed story structure that only kids could manage, with no clear topic or order:

They’d played tag, and this one caught that one, and then that one caught someone else, and then someone else caught someone, and so on and so on.

Listening closely, it was tag all right, but—oh, wasn’t this what they called “aerial tag”?

You know, that game where you can’t touch the sand at the playground because it’s “death,” so you have to stay on the equipment and run away along the bars.

Maybe the way kids played wasn’t all that different between the Central Plains and her homeland.

She suddenly found herself wondering whether “kids these days” still ran around like that, but those “kids these days” wouldn’t even be born for a few hundred years yet.

Thinking of kids running and climbing around, it actually didn’t sound bad.

It was a kind of Ranger Training. Obstacle course work.

Just with a bit of fun mixed in.

“Jangmyeong, you worked hard too. How was it?”

“They really don’t listen. I think I hate kids.”

“Mm. Kids are like that. But what is this new ‘trying to be cute’ thing supposed to be? Why are you talking like that?”

“I’m not trying to be cute. Jangmyeong is cute. This is a known fact.”

“Oh, really. Jangmyeong? You wanna get hit? Is there or is there not such a thing as just acting cute?”

“That’s not how you do it.”

“Be grateful I’ve got something in both hands right now. Don’t forget I’m the rightful heir to Master’s Nuclear Forehead-Flick.”

“That’s why I brought Hyang along.”

As if she’d been expecting it, Jin Jangmyeong held up her thumb and pinky and made a measuring gesture.

Like that, with a kid in each arm, Qing headed toward the cafeteria, and along the way, the instructors who’d finished the blade and fist curricula joined up as well.

“Oh, ma’am. I was wondering where Hyang had gone, and here you are, keeping her for us.”

Fist teaching assistant Jegal Ihyeon stretched out his arms to take Jegal Hyang back.

But Jegal Hyang shook her head in refusal, and his eyes blinked in mild shock.

“Ah. Instructor.”

Just then, the little brats on either side tapped Qing, signaling they wanted to be put down.

Once their feet hit the ground, they bowed deeply to the bald head that had appeared a step behind.

“Hello, Instructor.”

“Hello.”

It was Abbot Wolbong, instructor of the Junior Division.

He flinched when he saw Qing, then cleared his throat, “Ahem, ahem,” and quietly merged into the farthest edge of the group.

Mm. Looked like he still hadn’t gotten over losing to her at the Hidden Dragon Martial Meet. There was a reason she called him a petty baldhead.

For all that, watching the kids give him belly-bow greetings, they seemed to follow him pretty well.

In any case, Qing was confident she could forgive even an enemy for a moment in front of a good meal, so who cared.

The important thing was food.

Eating, and gossiping with the other instructors as they ate.

“Hey, Qing. That Peacock Posture? That thing’s incredible. They were just crawling around. Why didn’t we know about this sooner?”

“Try not to work them too brutally. With anything, it’s best not to push past what counts as training. Keep it in that realm.”

Fist instructor Yu Uga added his advice.

“If something goes wrong, just silently ramp up the intensity. Really lay your bad mood on thick. Then the disciples will start watching your mood and trying to carry themselves properly.”

“Oh. But if you work them at low intensity, you have to set aside at least half a day for it.”

And so, throughout dinner, they kept saying things that would have made the cadets cry if they’d overheard.

For Qing, a novice instructor, it was all precious information that would turn into blood and flesh for her.

****

Sword Hall’s schedule continued into the evening.

“Assistant Namgung here is a teacher who surpasses even this instructor when it comes to instruction. It’s no exaggeration to say that I myself learned my basics from Assistant Namgung.”

Namgung Sinjae nodded in deep satisfaction.

Qing had once been someone who could only use sword forms without knowing a thing about sword-theory, and now she was a high-level Harmony expert, flaunting massive sword power.

Of course, it was a truly rewarding—

“As a result, blue has emerged from indigo and is bluer than indigo, and ice has come from water and is colder than water. I have surpassed Assistant Namgung himself, making him a master educator whose teaching allows disciples to overtake even their own instructor.”

The words that followed took quite a bit of shine off Namgung Sinjae’s pride, but still.

Thus began Namgung Sinjae’s Sword Hall beginner class: Sword for Total Beginners—Yes, You Too Can Learn Swordsmanship.

The reason Qing didn’t personally teach basic sword that night was simple: she had her own schedule.

“Instructor, did you enjoy your meal?”

Sword Jade Girl’s eyes were sparkling.

Mm. Blinding. Overwhelming.

Unlike the utterly limp, half-melted attitudes of the total beginners in Namgung’s class, Sword Jade Girl was in perfect, vigorous form.

Well, she had smoothly, very naturally slid into the role of teaching assistant, standing on the side that works people, not on the side being worked.

“First, I’ll show you the original form of Oro Sword Formula. It’s best if you understand what kind of shape it ultimately takes.”

“That’s exactly what I wanted.”

Given that Sword Jade Girl herself was someone who’d reached near-Translucent in sword and already understood sword-theory, it wasn’t hard to move her along.

So they spent about one shichen on teaching the teaching assistant.

Washed up and back again, Qing went to pick up Jayeo from Peng Daesan.

Whatever kind of sorcery he was using, Peng Daesan had been teaching letters, one after another, to her daughter, who was, frankly, a total blockhead. Even though she was Qing’s own child.

“Whew, the schedule’s a bit tighter than I thought. How’s it on your end, San? How’s Blade Division?”

Peng Daesan slowly shook his head.

“Don’t even start. It’s a circus. You should’ve seen how mad you made Big Sis. She turned the place upside down before class even started.”

Apparently, because the women had shown up to the very first class with full-force makeup, before instructor and teaching assistant introductions were even done, they all got to personally experience the mercilessness of Peacock Posture, Ranger Training Eighth Move.

‘What’s with all you hussies coming in with your faces painted? Does saber look like a joke to you? And you men, you’re giggling like idiots because of it? If you’re taking saber, the first thing that needs fixing is your attitude, not your techniques. All of you, lie the hell down and lift your legs. Now.’

That was literally what she’d said.

Ah. So that’s the type of instructor Peng Choryeo is.

That said, Peng Choryeo hadn’t voiced any real frustration or displeasure at dinner.

In Qing’s opinion, though, even if they hadn’t worn makeup, the outcome would have been the same.

Peng Choryeo had firmly warned Qing that you had to seize the cadets hard from the very start or they’d try to climb over your head later.

For reference, the male-to-female ratio in Blade Division was roughly three to two.

The saber was never a weapon suited to women to begin with. The weapon itself was heavy and used in a way that maximized destructive power through brute strength.

And yet there were that many women?

It was plainly strange.

But add the Jade Qilin to that mix, and it stopped being strange. This was the minimum number the admissions office had been able to arrive at even after filtering and filtering again.

Clearly, women who’d originally intended to learn sword had almost all switched over to saber. They wanted to see the man and learn the martial art in one go.

In Qing’s mind, mm, if you’re willing to change your entire weapon focus just to stare at some guy’s face, you’re already a failure as a martial artist.

If you flipped the genders, and some man switched from sword to saber to follow a woman he was in love with, mm.

He’d still be an airheaded idiot.

Holding Jayeo in her arms and heading toward her room, Qing roughly checked the time by the moon.

It was probably about You Hour—around eight in the evening?

Qing felt a sudden surge of pride.

Given that they’d started class after breakfast, around early Chen Hour—about seven in the morning—she’d spent an entire day dedicating herself to training the next generation. A truly rewarding day.

...Yeah, right! She was a person too, damn it!

Qing’s vision went dark.

The days were already getting longer. That was the first reason Righteous-Proper Martial Academy opened its term in summer.

For the record, the second reason was that you didn’t need firewood.

If they burned wood, the area around the Academy would stop being forest and become a bare hill instead.

This. Every day? Without a single day off?

Only now did Qing realize just how merciful that hook-nosed creator god of the Westerners was, and how much he loved his creations.

At least that god had worked six days and rested one. He’d granted those hook-nosed folk one day they could use “worship” as an excuse to slack off. What a merciful divine being.

The part where he supposedly set you on fire forever in a pit of flames was maybe not so merciful, but still.

Compared to that, the Central Plains?

Mm......

If only there had been some solo entertainment device like in her homeland, she might have considered cutting down on sleep.

If you don’t have time, you just don’t sleep.

Wasn’t that the simple logic?

Unfortunately, the primitive, ancient, underdeveloped game culture here made playing alone unbearably dull.

Sitting alone practicing calligraphy or playing simple tunes on a zither wasn’t going to cut it for a soul like Qing’s, conditioned to the stimuli of the future. Her threshold for “fun” was catastrophically high.

Mm, she was screwed.

She had underestimated how hard-working people in the Central Plains were......

But now that she regretted it, what could she do?

Because of that utterly useless sense of responsibility that weighed down on her with infinite heaviness whenever it came to people who were friendly toward her, Qing simply could not half-ass things.

She clenched her fist.

The only thing left was going out. Actual leave.

From the very first day at the Academy, Qing was dreaming of going off-campus.

There were still twenty days until leave.

****

She desperately needed leave and a rest day, but that didn’t mean free time was suddenly going to appear out of nowhere.

So classes continued.

They rotated the Heavy and Quick Sword practice groups, trained, grabbed lunch, and gave the cadets another “light wrecking.”

Since their muscles were already fully knotted, one round of the three warm-up drills was plenty to wreck them back down to where they’d started.

Then they sparred and wrapped up.

The total beginners sagged like overcooked noodles under Namgung Sinjae’s guidance for about half a shichen.

Qing passed on Oro Sword Art to the ever-eager Sword Jade Girl, and early-summer night fell.

She went and played with Jayeo for a while, then slept.

And then came the morning of day six.

After morning roll call and breakfast, as the trainees were returning to their quarters to get ready to head to the drill yard, they suddenly froze mid-step.

Because of the person standing in the courtyard of their dorm.

“Cadets, this instructor is very disappointed in you.”

Why again. Disappointed again, they groaned silently.

Qing had launched a raid on the cadet dorms.

There had been this musty smell in the training grounds, and the more she thought about it, the more she wondered whether these punks had ever washed their clothes properly, or even washed themselves properly at all.

“I clearly told you: all we have to do is stick to the basics. Wash every day and keep your body clean, don’t wear dirty clothes, wash them and keep them clean. Is this or is this not a basic requirement?”

“It is basic!” “It is basic!!”

“Did I tell you not to take breaks? Did I tell you to burn incense and decorate your rooms? How is it that just keeping to the basics is so hard for you?”

“No, Instructor!” “No, ma’am!!”

And yet the cadets felt a bit wronged.

By the end of class, they were already wrecked. Battered from head to toe. There wasn’t a single part of their bodies that didn’t ache.

Their limbs were soaked like wet cotton, impossibly heavy, and they were in such a state that if they lay down anywhere, they could probably sleep soundly on a bed of nails.

Seeing that look, Qing snorted.

“This instructor is not doing this to torment you. Forget a swordsman’s dignity—cleanliness keeps the body healthy, and orderly surroundings keep the mind healthy. It is a part of training. Can you afford to neglect your training?”

“No, Instructor!” “No!”

“If you understand, then move. Cleaning, now! Sweep the dust, scrub the floors, haul your bedding out and lay it in the sun. Move!”

“Move!” “Yes, ma’am!”

Back in her homeland army days, Qing hadn’t understood the point of cleaning. From her position doing the cleaning, all she could think was: what’s wrong with just taking it easy, why make it such a hassle, why can’t the officers stand to see their subordinates comfortable, what’s their problem?

In reality, cleaning was a serious issue.

Just last night, there had been a whole incident: bedbugs had appeared in the Blade Division dorms, and the place had gone on alert.

Shockingly, they hadn’t turned up in the men’s dorms but in the rooms used by the women, and the scene had supposedly been a disaster beyond words.

So what could she do?

She’d been trying, on a human level, not to meddle with the dorms, but if they didn’t reach midnight, she was going to have to force a purification whether they liked it or not.

And so, another day at Righteous-Proper Martial Academy began once again.