Chapter 39: Gym.
The calendar slowly moved forward a few more squares.
[During this period of time, you lived an ordinary yet busy student life.]
[Every early morning you had to struggle to crawl out of bed, then get knocked down by Scathach under the pretext of training. While experiencing muscles aching to the point of wishing for death, you also had to eat up nutritionally balanced meals that were entirely sea cucumber.]
[But correspondingly, both your physique and martial skill were steadily increasing.]
[During the day you were busy with studying, and after school you also had to go work part-time all over the place. In addition, you had to squeeze in time to complete Student Council duties, such as patrolling together with Barghest.]
[During this time, you noticed that Barghest's condition was somewhat strange...]
[Recently she would always deliberately keep a certain distance from you, and when suddenly called back by you, she would appear very flustered. Sometimes her face would turn red, sometimes she would suddenly let out low growling sounds like those of canine animals, and when you turned your back to her, you would instead feel a chill down your spine, as if you were exposing an unguarded back to a hungry wild beast.]
[Although you were already accustomed to being targeted by predator-type women, her state was still extremely abnormal.]
"Could it be that..."
Eikou showed a somewhat frightened expression, as if he had guessed something.
"Barghest has entered heat and is preparing to hunt me?!"
[You reasonably speculate that Barghest, as a fairy of the Fang Clan, still retains the wild instincts of a carnivorous animal in her body, and that when summer arrives she becomes more restless than before.]
[This speculation is very reasonable, but it is not the truth.]
[The originally peaceful academy life seems to have begun to stir with undercurrents, like a Summer Rhapsody...]
School life continued to pass by day after day, and in the blink of an eye it was already the day off.
The calendar quietly stopped on June 21, which was also the weekend.
[Today is your day off.]
[Originally, you planned to go out and work part-time on this day, or simply flop down in the dormitory and sleep like a useless person.]
[But because some time ago you caused a major incident during a open class, the academy has now issued a disciplinary decision against you.]
[[During this semester, you must complete a total of forty hours of compulsory labor within the Academy, otherwise you will be expel]]
[In order not to disrupt your studies, you, Tristan, and Gawain decided to obediently carry out this punishment on your day off.]
[You begin to look around everywhere to see whether there is any suitable volunteer work in the areas around the academy...]
[The first job is: Fitness Trainer!]
[The Gym of Chaldea Academy has recently been severely short of fitness trainer, so you take on this job.]
June 21, morning.
Inside the gym of Chaldea Academy, the air was filled with the smell of sweat mixed with the sweet scent of protein powder.
The morning gym gave off a hot and humid atmosphere. Each gym member, drenched in sweat, passed through the training areas searching for suitable equipment, leaving behind warm streaks of sweat on the gym floor after finishing their workouts.
The heavy sounds of dumbbell and equipment being set down, the noise of sneakers running on the treadmill, the labored breathing during training, and the relieved exhalations after finishing a set—all of it intertwined in Eikou's ears into a symphony of exercise.
"Ha a..."
Eikou yawned listlessly and stepped through the gym entrance.
"Cheer up, Sir Eikou,"
Gawain patted him on the shoulder. "We're about to become fitness trainer—how can we let diligent trainee see us looking so lazy!"
The Sun Knight today was wearing a black sports tank top and shorts, exposing a well-balanced, muscular physique, along with arms sporting clearly developed biceps.
He looked no different from a gorilla.
"Give it a rest,"
Eikou replied with a lazy tone.
"It's a job without pay, why bother taking it seriously? Just water it a bit to make up the hours and that's fine. Right, Tristan?"
Not only Eikou—Tristan was also in low spirits and had absolutely no interest in the gym.
"Great minds think alike,"
Tristan let out a deeply dejected sigh.
"The place I least want to go is the gym, because the concentration of married woman here is far too low. At most, only the spinning bike area and yoga section are slightly better. Besides that, the Heroic Spirit who train in the gym are mostly a bunch of muscle-brained simpletons, completely incompatible with an emotionally rich bard like me."
"Then who are you compatible with, Babbage-sensei or something?"
Eikou couldn't help but mock him.
Eikou truly had no interest whatsoever in gym work.
Like many people, he had once signed up for a gym membership card in the past—and then never went back again.
Studying, part-time jobs, Student Council duties, plus Scathach's Spartan training were already enough to keep him so busy he could barely breathe.
Still, under Scathach's meticulous polishing, Eikou had at least mastered extremely standard training postures, and both his strength and agility had reached Rank A. Just this hardware alone was already enough for him to temporarily take on the role of a fitness trainer.
But just thinking about having to train later together with a whole bunch of muscle bros still made Eikou feel terrified!
It's over, I'm surrounded by gorillas!
[You reluctantly step into the gym.]
[Just as you imagined, this place is full of Gorilla Brothers obsessed with training and muscles, their heads filled with nothing but protein.]
[Leonidas with his blazing head, Berserker Beowulf, Spartacus dressed like someone from BDSM, Fergus who looks exactly like Brock from Pokémon, Hijikata Toshizo shouting "Shinsengumi charge," and Roland who is completely naked, straightforwardly exposing everything—each of them is passionately training and showing off their physiques.]
[A group of muscle-bound Berserkers, along with musclemen even harder to communicate with than Berserkers.]
"I knew it—these guys are definitely gym regulars..."
He rubbed his forehead in discomfort.
"And I even see familiar faces. This scene really makes one want to puke."
However, when Eikou turned his head to look in another direction, he saw an extremely eye-catching sight.
For example, Bradamante pedaling hard on a spinning bike, wearing tight yoga pants that further highlighted the curve of her already attention-grabbing hips.
Then there were big sisters with fit bodies and seductive contours, wearing sports tank tops.
Lady Astraea with shimmering blonde hair and a voluptuous figure; Miss Bazett who could lift the heaviest weights, exuding the charm of a mature woman; big sister Quetzalcoatl full of radiant smiles and a healthy, powerful body; and Saint Martha, worthy of the Star Platinum of Type-Moon title, with clearly pronounced curves!
Good heavens, there are so many big sisters here?!
Eikou's eyes went wide.
His mood instantly shifted from gloomy to sunny.
Thinking about it carefully, it was easy to understand.
There might not be many women willing to come to the gym, but those who do are definitely fitness enthusiasts who care about their figures and possess sexy bodies—absolutely ultra high-quality!
Full curves, beautifully trained abs, long slender legs with golden-ratio proportions made Eikou swallow hard.
"Very good, I must immediately guide the big sisters' training!"
He said with a serious expression.
"When you mention gym, fitness trainer, and sexy female trainee, you're definitely going to associate it with ecchi, right!"
"Not at all."
Gawain, standing beside him, looked completely puzzled.
…