The Bonds We Break 6 (Patreon)

The Bonds We Break 6 - (Post-Shinmai Maou no Testament OC-MC)

I merely had a day to get accustomed to the massive complex of buildings that was called the ‘Hero School of Tomorrow’. Not exactly the finest name for an establishment, but definitely far from going too cliche about it as I focused more on learning the map of the place- or as much as I could since the tour failed to get me to know where some places were just yet.

In Rushmore’s defense, these other places were not exactly areas I was meant to go to just yet. In the schedule I was provided by the ‘esteemed Principal Rushmore’, I would be focusing on a small group of kids.

I wasn’t exactly a full-time teacher, and my age and experience meant I could only handle a handful of kids. So, out of ‘compassion’ for the children and a ‘deep trust’ he held towards me, Hercule gave me three of the most perplexing elements that came from Europe.

The three of those were siblings, two boys and a girl, the boy and girl were blood-related twins while the last one was their younger brother from some quick DNA samples’ results. I had their files, some pictures and a few assessments on their behavioral circumstances.

I only had a few hours to study their dossiers, and all of that happened right after dinner as Hercule just nagged at me to ‘show everyone his apprentice’. I met some teachers, most of which were neutral to the development and yet some were curious about my position and background for many different reasons.

That first day was as chaotic as it could get when spearheaded by the bulky old man, yet I was already familiarized with his antics, thus being less stunned by the overall intense first day at the Hero School and being more focused on tackling the matter at hand.

These kids were not going to be easy to deal with.

The new morning came bearing a degree of unease- these were going to be the students I would be stuck with for a few years by what I could discern from Hercule’s own explanation on the matter and… I had come prepared to handle their early trickery.

The first one was actually a clever prank combo. Not only did they set up the classic bucket of water atop the door, but they also electrified the handle and had somehow set up a confetti cannon waiting for me on the other side.

The brats were at work for sure, but I could sense they were barely excited. One was for sure, another was nervous and the other appeared merely curious on what was to soon happen.

Instead of directly tackling this, I just rested my back against the wall beside the door, used some wind magic to push the door open and caused the entire trap system to activate all at once… and get no one out of this.

As I entered the room, I turned to look at my clever cookies for the years to come, and I could tell the photos made them some justice. The Dumas Trio, also known as the French Tricksters, were three orphans that had been taken in by the Vatican less than a year ago.

They hardly had any training in combat beyond some preparation in magic when shit went down in Rome, but they were showing the same brilliant ingenuity that was mentioned in their files. Likewise, their blue eyes and gray hair were quite unique and bland at the same time.

The ‘ringleader’ was Armand Dumas. The top-hatted boy smiled jovially, trying to sell the pranks he had planned for this occasion. Even as I walked up to the desk, I had to use my magic to wreck the already creaking chair since it faltered in preparation for someone sitting on it and allowing a whooping cushion to fall out of its pillow. The boy was smiling innocently, and I huffed.

“Clever try, Armand. But you will need a bit more to gain my attention.”

He shrugged, failing to hide a hint of irritation at being called out on the very thing that urged him to be such a pest- attention for himself and his siblings. I then moved to glance at the other two.

The most loyal and least morally limited compared to her siblings, Amelie Dumas proved that some demonic blood had indeed been mixed with human one as her feline ears perked up at my gaze, while her face showed the same stoicism she was remarked to possess at such a level and at such a young age.

Amelie had her hair kept long, trailing slightly below her lower back and… she was quite taken by her tea cup’s content as her tail wagged lazily while sipping from it to show a degree of bliss and a degree of attention.

Next up was the ‘unwilling’ henchman from the looks of it due to the uneasy and guilty look plastered upon his face. Jean Jacques was the most polite of the trio and also the youngest by a single year.

Where the twins were 11, the boy was roughly 10 at this point. Beyond his younger disposition, the child was also noted to easily fold at external pressure from his siblings. While submissive around others, however, Jean Jacques wasn’t as servile to others as he was around his brother and sister.

After that quick mental introduction, I decided to lay down some ground rules before this lengthy assignment turned into something fairly problematic for me.

“The first rule of order is a fairly simple one: my name is Joseph Funkman, I am your teacher or educator. While I may be more than that, to you three I am just the one that will give you the means to become better people on your own. Take my offer, and you will flourish- waste it, and beware that I will not be there to protect you against any disciplinary actions towards any of you. I am not here to play pretend with what I have seen from you three within a mere minute and I have to say it was lackluster.”

Their reactions were predictable as Jean Jacques was the most nervous of them all while the twins were evenly uncaring of my words. That was until I decided to drop in the second assignment Hercule gave me with this trio.

“Likewise, I wish to remind you that my goal will not just be to teach you about magic, but also other areas of your understanding. That means sword fighting-” I saw Armand’s smile curling upward. “Using ranged weapons for long-distance attacks-” I noticed a brief twitch from Amelie’s cat ears, “And also medical training since all teams need to work on offense and defense.”

I finished by glancing at the youngest of the trio, this one appearing distracted by something he was scribbling something on some papers. Notes. I decided to let him be for now as I focused on today’s lesson.

“Many teachers would just either drop you into a survival test or put you through a theory exam but, as you may be suspecting from my tone, we are doing something far simpler and yet far more complicated.”

That further raised their attention when I just said it plain and simple.

“From today onward, you will be responsible for writing your own week-long schedules. Once every week, starting from Mondays’ mornings, you will be your own personal judge for how you wish the lessons to be divided through the days.”

“That’s awesome!” Armand delightfully announced. “Am I right, sister and brother?”

JJ nodded shyly, while the cat-girl was of a different perspective as she glanced at me with some confusion.

“Why?”

“Hm?”

“Why are you letting us do that? Wouldn’t it be smarter to be the one giving us schedules instead?” She barraged me with flat questions and I sighed calmly before addressing those.

“Is it wrong for a teacher to trust his students to be able to do something as simple as coordinate a proper individual schedule that will fit well with the rest of the students?”

My question left a rather complex look on Amelie’s face. I couldn’t blame her as she had been the sharpest and definitely picked up that I was up to something- it was just too early for the three of them to notice. Well, two of them as Armand was already writing and eagerly finished before his siblings.

The true test I gave them unfolded within this first week.

Armand strolling in the classroom the next day, ready to ask me for some swords-related training? Well, I was already busy with coaching his sister in using magic to bolster her arrows.

Amelie trying to get a greater understanding of close combat to keep up with her main flaw of being a bow user? I would be occupied with JJ and his interesting requests.

On and on, the trio would find it difficult to get through most of their planned schedules. And while this didn’t seem to have anyone noticing what was going on, the new week saw a very interesting reaction from Amelie.

“Armand, change your schedule.”

“W-What? But I-” The top-hatted boy sounded surprised by the sharp order from his sibling. “S-Sure but-”

“Do it and shift this from here to there and the same with this and that.”

A strange case of dominance, but one that was also visible with poor JJ as he got his schedule shifted due to the coercive method used by Amelie. As the trio were done with that sort of standoffish behavior, I decided to intervene.

“Amelie, may I ask what you are doing?”

The cat girl paused as she was double-checking her own schedule. “Hm?”

“You have pushed your siblings to adapt to your expectations. How come?”

I was kind of looking to hear a wrong view- arrogance or something that could justify such a selfish move but her response left me smirking.

“Because my brothers are morons and I refuse to waste another week of training because they can’t see the point of the lesson.”

“Which is?” I prodded and the cat girl rolled her eyes.

“Trust,” Amelie answered honestly, sounding relieved as she confessed to this. “You gave us trust, but we didn’t trust each other- we demanded for the others’ hours to willingly bend to our whims.”

“So you decided to take a more tyrannical route because, from your own understanding, it was best to avoid any senseless talking that would have led to nowhere,” I added while nodding at her thought. “Still, I suggest you are more mindful of your family’s views on things. Brute-forcing your will upon them may be effective, but it doesn’t make you a good sister.”

I saw her eyes widening slightly at that last bit, but while I could perceive irritation at the accusation, I also saw a degree of regret deeply buried in her eyes before she returned to her schedule.

First day and week were indeed telling that they were going to be a tough trio to train, but they were diamonds in the rough- I just had to be careful on where to polish and how much without disregarding other stains.

Still, the end of this first week was also when I was invited to check Rushmore’s office after being shown it during the tour on my first day in this place. He had been busy with teachers and other individuals of relevance in the village, but he managed to get the right documentation confirming me as a member of the US Hero Clan and teacher at the school after this intense week.

“Were the brats tough?”

“Obviously,” I confirmed as I stared at Hercule filling his glass with more Bourbon. “What’s their story?”

The old man paused mid-sip at hearing my question.

“Hm? Did you miss the papers or-”

“Some things are redacted,” I interrupted quietly. “As their teacher, I believe I should know anything concerning.”

“Then you will be pleased to know that what's redacted is background details that have nothing to do with their childhood and current mindset.”

That was a bit of a sudden wall, which was odd with how reliable Hercule had made me appear to be to him. Maybe there was indeed something juicy tied to the kids’ backstory, but it could also be true it was stuff that the US Hero Clan had yet to fully confirm what the hell was going on under the golden palaces of the Vaticans among experiments and prisoners.

“Now, I can tell you have been training,” The headmaster pointed out, finishing his glass as rapidly as he filled it once again. “Any progress with the sword?”

“Glimpses of places I have never seen,” I admitted, thinking back at the few soul-searching trips that led me to train more but also explore the connection I had with Ahriman.

Since it was now connected with me, I could try to slowly push through and see some of its memories.

Maybe I can find something that can be helpful in creating a bond or something. And I know, it sounds so wrong to some extent, but the sword barely held any form of coherent consciousness and I couldn’t exactly keep it just as a sword forever.

Some of its power could help in the long run, so I kept on working with that lengthy and tedious process from time to time.

Still, despite how suddenly full my life was once more, I couldn’t help but have zero complaints about it as I felt like I was doing something that was tough but giving back more than I had back in Japan.

It was… It was nice to feel valued more for once.

—------d-d-d-d—-----

AN

Jo discovers the beauty of being a sensei through the lessons he gained from coaching the harem and… Next time, we look back to the situation back home- or rather, someone may have found him and decided to keep her mouth shut on where he is. Things are about to get interesting~.