Hizashi No Kage
Chapter - 11
Today was the second day of Akash’s academy life.
Akash reached Max Sir’s class on time. Today, Max Sir also conducted his full class. His job was to strengthen the students’ bodies — in other words, to make the students do physical exercises. Various kinds, different types of exercises, tailored to each child.
Everyone was brought to the field and made to work out intensely for two full hours.
Manjula stayed in the lead the whole time, followed by Zavier, and — to everyone’s surprise — Akash came in third place.
Max praised Manjula, praised Zavier too, and that was it.
Then came Jacob Sir’s class — again, something that tortured the body. Even today, no one agreed to become Akash’s partner. In the end, Sir had to force one student to pair with him.
Akash did not like this at all.
But while practicing with his partner, Akash realized that he needed to work a lot on his weapon skills.
(Akash had also taken a new axe from the armory.)
After that there was a 2-hour break. Today too, Akash ate alone.
Anyway, he finished his meal in about half an hour, rested a bit, and then headed to the library. The academy library was the largest in all of Tyrop. Akash’s head spun just looking at what to read and what not to read.
He had realized that he was far behind in class and he couldn’t tolerate it, but he still couldn’t figure out a proper way to improve. He went to the library but couldn’t really read anything.
Next was Sapna Ma’am’s Mana Theory class. Today this class was combined with the Mages students.
Akash was over the moon with happiness. He immediately went to Bob.
Ma’am had instructed everyone to first form pairs — one Knight student with one Mage student — and then do some light sparring practice with another pair — light combat practice.
Naturally, Akash and Bob paired up. On the other side, another pair was formed that immediately caught everyone’s attention: the Windheart Sisters.
Manjula was just about to ask Zavier’s pair for a match when Akash appeared in front of her.
Before Akash could say anything, Manjula snapped, “No.”
“But I haven’t even said anything yet,” Akash said, wilting.
“We are not going to spar with you,” Manjula said plainly.
Ramya was also annoyed because just yesterday she had told Akash to stay away from Manjula, yet he couldn’t even last one day.
Right then Akash noticed that Zavier’s pair had started sparring with someone else. He quickly blurted out, “So now will both princesses please spar with the two of us?”
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Exasperated, Manjula finally gave in with a reluctant “Fine.”
All four got ready. The match began.
In literally one moment, with just two attacks, Manjula disarmed and defeated both Akash and Bob.
At first Akash didn’t even understand what happened. Only after straining hard and with Bob’s explanation did he realize: Manjula had first activated Shadow Binding to lock both of them to the ground, bound their hands too, and then finished everything with two super-fast attacks.
“Didi, I couldn’t do anything at all. Next time I’m definitely not teaming up with you,” Ramya started complaining.
Akash and Bob were thoroughly embarrassed. Bob had gotten dragged into this only because of Akash.
Yet Akash went back to Manjula again. Before he could speak, she cut him off: “No. Absolutely not. That’s it.”
“Just one more time—” Akash insisted childishly.
“Isn’t one loss enough for your heart?” Zavier said, walking up from behind.
Akash couldn’t say anything. Manjula’s pair went off to fight Zavier’s pair. Akash just stood there watching.
The last class of the day was Marith Literature, taught by Rubina Ma’am. This class was entirely dedicated to literature and had no effect whatsoever on passing — there were no marks for it. That’s why most students didn’t even bother showing up.
Akash did have an interest in literature, but the moment he saw Rubina Ma’am, he was completely mesmerized. For a moment he even thought of giving up chasing Manjula and pursuing Ma’am instead.
During that one-hour class, there was no counting how many times Akash was captivated by Rubina Ma’am. She was extraordinarily beautiful. The way she spoke was so gentle. Her voice was so melodious. Akash had convinced himself that this woman was not human at all — she was a living goddess! Yes, A Goddess!
After class ended, Akash thought of talking to her.
Ma’am had already walked a little ahead and entered a garden. There, a man was playing with his little daughter. Ma’am went straight to them.
The moment Akash saw this, it didn’t take him long to understand who the man was and whose child that girl was.
While Akash was still in shock, he also overheard a sentence Ma’am said:
“Thank you, Zor, for taking care of Rubi.”
“Zor”… “Z”… “Z”……
That letter kept ringing in Akash’s mind for a long time. He walked away, hid behind a distant tree, and started crying. In his mind only one thought kept repeating —
*These bloody people with Z names.*
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After thinking a lot, Akash finally went to Sapna Ma’am. He had hope only from her that she would show him some path. Sapna Ma’am was available in her cabin.
After the formalities, Akash came straight to the point:
“Ma’am, can you tell me how I can improve the most in the shortest possible time? Which books should I read? What should I do?.....”
After serious thought, Sapna Ma’am said,
“Son, I can understand the situation you are in. I was once exactly like you. But right now, the most important thing for you is to become powerful. A Knight has to be strong. Leveling up, training — you’ll manage all that. But what is most urgent at this moment is to learn one powerful skill. In your current skill set, I don’t see even one skill that could be decisive in a real fight.”
After a brief pause, she continued,
“I can tell you about one skill — if you are willing to trust my advice.”
(Akash immediately nodded in agreement. Sapna Ma’am brought a book from her mini-library.)
“This book teaches only one skill — Light Speed. It is considered an extremely difficult skill and it demands a huge amount of mana. But if you master it, you will quickly reach level 90. Beyond this, I won’t be able to help you much more.”
Hearing “level 90”, Akash felt a surge of excitement. He thanked Ma’am profusely. Before leaving, he asked one more question:
“Ma’am, you said you were once like me — what did you mean by that?”
Ma’am smiled because she hadn’t wanted to say it herself, but now Akash had asked directly.
She said, “My father used to work with leather. In our village, no one could even imagine that someone would ever reach a big academy like this — becoming a teacher was unthinkable. But I had an early awakening and then…”
Listening to Ma’am’s story, Akash felt deeply moved. When he stood up to leave, Ma’am called after him with one last thing:
“And give your best in class. In this academy, students can be removed without any prior notice.”
Akash left.
He finally had a clear direction. If he could master Light Speed, the weaknesses in his weapon handling would be covered, and the fact that he had so few skills would also improve. He wouldn’t need to learn 30–40 skills like the other kids.
He made a practice timetable in which, after regular classes ended, he would repeat all the day’s lessons alone and then dedicate 2 separate hours every day to learning the Light Speed skill. The academy had excellent training facilities. Any student could book a spot — a field or a large room — according to their schedule, and no one was allowed to disturb them.
Just thinking about this new routine made him happy. Maybe now his studies would finally get on track.
But when he ate the dinner delivered to the hostel that night, all his enthusiasm faded. The food itself was fine — the problem was that Akash was alone. A boy who had never eaten alone in his life was now eating all three meals by himself. In moments like these, he would remember Angela and cry. He also felt jealous of the other kids because almost everyone else had already formed their groups...
