Chapter 347 - 347: Have Some Respect
"If you fail…
...I have permission to kill you."
"W… what!?"
"What kind of teacher are you!? I am pretty sure that is illegal!"
Magnus did not hide his disdain towards Van, pointing at him violently with his finger. If it wasn't for his group of friends-slash-lackeys holding him back, then he would have probably already tried to rush towards him again.
"I am joking, of course," Van then said as he let out a short but deep sigh, "But the headmistress did give me permission to hurt you… a little-- so there's no use crying over this."
"Y… you…"
It wasn't only Magnus.. The other students were also starting to feel annoyed by Van; perhaps if he was taller than them and looked older, then they would have probably just thought their new instructor was strict.
But no. Seeing their instructor, who looked younger than half of the class treating them like little children was something they wouldn't stand for. Even Thyri, who first thought that Van was a little cool, could not help but frown.
She didn't care that Van looked younger than them, however, it was only the first day and he was already abusing his authority as their instructor. A teacher is supposed to impart knowledge and learnings to their students, but if all they were going to do was try and hit him for the rest of the school year, then what exactly would they be learning here?
What about battle tactics, knowing when to retreat, and gauging your opponent? As a combat instructor, there were many ways for them to learn from him. And so, she too, could not help but voice out her concern.
"Mr. Evans, I feel like--"
"This sounds fun!"
But alas, as soon as she stepped forward, Sven's loud voice completely overpowered her.
"Do we go one by one?" Sven said as he wrapped his arms with some sort of white bandage, "If so, then I will go first."
"It is entirely up to you," Van said as he turned to look towards Sven, "But I suggest you find a team-- because I will be targeting everyone during the duration of our class."
"...Targeting?"
"As I said, I am allowed to hurt you," Van let out a small smile, "Let's begin."
And as soon as he said that, Sven heard a scream coming from behind him. He quickly looked back, only to see a student hurling straight towards him.
"!!!" Sven quickly dodged to the side, causing the said student to roll on the floor several times. He didn't seem to care, however, as he rushed towards Van, who was now standing where the student he threw was presumably previously standing.
"Nice try."
However, as soon as he reached Van's position, Van quickly disappeared, appearing just a little bit to his right before he felt the edge of Van's palm on his neck. And without even a slight warning, he felt his consciousness fade as the flow of his blood was compressed from the speed of Van's strike.
"Is… is he dead!?"
The students quickly moved away as soon as they saw Sven's body carelessly drop to the floor like a piece of wet cloth.
"He's fine," Van quickly said as he looked at the now unconscious Sven. He had fought enhanced humans before in the world of the past, and they truly were not this sturdy. But considering they have evolved enough for a variety of them to become a completely different race-- most even evolving into giants and the other races, he wasn't that surprised that the Aesir was this strong.
They were supposed to be the purest of the evolved enhanced humans, whatever mutation Hermes's blood caused through their bodies would have surely developed. In a way, couldn't the Aesir be considered Olympians?
...Is that why Athena wanted him to learn about them?
"I got you!"
Seeing Van suddenly spacing out, Magnus and his friends took this chance to rush at him from all sides, leaving him no room to escape. And as the smiles on their faces reached their peak as they were only inches away from hitting Van, one of them was suddenly flung away.
"What!?"
And before Magnus knew it, he was the only one left that was rushing towards Van. But instead of being disheartened, this fact only made his fist even fiercer as its path still led towards the back of Van's head.
"Gah!"
Magnus was sure that he was able to hit Van's head, but alas, the only thing that his fist made contact with was a bronze-like shield that suddenly appeared out of nowhere.
"That's cheati--"
And before he could complain, his head was bashed by the said shield, causing him to once again fly several meters in the air.
"..."
"..."
"..."
"No one is going to try anymore?" After a few seconds of silence, Van turned to look towards the rest of his students, who were all trying their best to avoid his gaze, "If we're done, then--"
"!!!"
Before Van could finish his words, his right foot was suddenly caught by the ground. And before he could finish reacting to it, Thyri's foot was already on its way towards his torso.
"Ho," seeing this, Van could not help but let out a smile. He was quickly reminded of the first time he met Angela, if he could remember clearly, she did something similar to him. For Van, it wasn't that long ago, but now here he was, having students of his own.
"Eek!"
Thyri, however, could not help but squeal as clumps of dirt suddenly shot towards her. She quickly retracted her foot, using the momentum to spin her body and block the incoming projectiles.
It would seem that Thyri had a better grasp of looking at the opponent's weakness than most, which made Van slightly awed. But sadly for her, with Van's added STR that he got from Charlotte, his foot being trapped in the ground was nothing but a minor inconvenience.
With a single kick, he was able to make a small crater that caused the students that were near them to eat dirt. And seeing the students spitting out vehemently, a smirk could not help but build upon his face.
Being a teacher… is sort of fun, isn't it?
The students, on the other hand, did not see it as such. In fact, most of them were already thinking of applying for a change of classrooms. If they were going to do this every day from now on, then they were afraid that they wouldn't have any energy left to properly attend the rest of the classes.
"Damn it!"
However, there seemed to be one of them that still hasn't given up-- Magnus.
Van once again found his foot being pulled to the ground as Magnus rushed towards him. But that wasn't all, as his other foot was also dragged to the ground, with Thyri and Sven also rushing towards him in different directions.
"Huh," Van could not help but let out a hum as his hints of lightning began to emerge from his eyes. He then casually pulled his head from the ground, causing the pebbles and dirt to slowly float in the air.
He then looked towards the three as they bit by bit, hovered towards him. He was trying to see if their eyes could follow him, but alas, none of the three seemed to be fast enough to follow his movements.
But considering Hemrod, who was said to be the fastest Aesir was slower than him, then this much should be expected, especially from children.
And so, with that thought, Van could only let out a sigh as everything around him once again returned to their normal speed. And as soon as he did so, several shrieks and shouts could be heard.
Thyri, Magnus, and Sven were currently rubbing their heads as the three of them seemed to have hit their heads against each other.
"This is enough for today," Van then said as he once again let out a sigh, "Don't bother going to the classroom tomorrow and go straight here, we'll be having our classes outside from now on."
"W… wait, we're not done!"
Sven quickly said as he stopped rubbing his head.
"The duration of our class is only an hour," Van said, "And most of it was consumed walking here so… see all of you again tomorrow."
"Wait!" This time, it was Thyri who stepped forward, "Are you really going to be our instructor from now on?"
"...Yes, I thought we already made that clear."
"But… how old are you, Mr. Evans? You don't seem to be older than us."
"...I'm 17," Van said with a little hesitation. In truth, he was starting to lose track of his age. It might be weird coming from someone as young as him, but talking to people that are thousands of years old had made him think little of it. And it wasn't like he was celebrating his birthdays.
"W… what? You're only a year older than me, and I am the oldest here!" Magnus then waved his hand violently as he glared at Van, "I knew it, you were only pretending to be our combat instructor to bully us!"
"I don't mean to be rude. But do… do you have an identification to show us, Mr. Evans?"
"I don't," Van said as he turned around to leave, "I only got hired earlier so the headmistress didn't have anything to give me. But if you have any questions, then you should just ask the old woman… And also, have some respect…
...I have a daughter older than all of you combined."