Chapter 13
The rest of the expedition went smoothly.
An expedition is supposed to be this easy.
‘Honestly, if it hadn't been Week 1, it wouldn't have been this bad.’
Even the rain itself would've been fine.
As long as you prepare for the rain, it's easy enough to deal with.
‘Well.. anyway.. it's over.’
I breathed in the clear air and looked around.
We were at the top of the mountain, where I could see all the surrounding forest.
“Everyone, you've worked hard.”
Professor Naia was waiting at the top of the mountain.
She was looking down at the world with an unconcerned expression.
Of course.
Her true feelings probably weren't like that.
“About.. 20% of the class is out.”
A great many students.
Had been eliminated from this mission.
A figure that should not normally occur in an expedition mission.
At the academy, students who fail a mission receive a warning.
These accumulate until graduation,
and after three accumulations.. they are expelled.
Naia liked the students.
She must be quite upset that so many had been eliminated.
It can't be helped.
Those without ability cannot attend.
That was the academy's principle.
“Even so, compared to the other classes.. far fewer were eliminated.”
Naia said that, then glanced at me.
Hmm. I had reduced the number of eliminated students quite a bit.
If I hadn't had the crazy idea of moving as a team of ten, the chance of being eliminated would've risen tremendously.
In the other teams, one or two weak links had been cut loose.
“Thank you all for doing so well.”
“Still, we have to do what needs to be done.”
Naia raised her head and looked at the students.
“In this expedition, the two teams with the best results were Kanghan's team and Mizha's team.”
“You could say you played very.. intelligently.”
Naia brought up a hologram.
Then she moved the time frame to within the first minute of Day 1 of the expedition.
“These two teams joined together as soon as they started. Honestly, that's something I hadn't thought of either. But I think it was a very good decision.”
“The team with Kanghan and Ena and the team with Mizha and Bin had completely opposite compositions.”
Naia displayed the four faces and began putting explanations beside each.
Kanghan - Melee Combat Type
Ena - Magical Combat Type
—
Mizha - Ranged Support Type
Bin - Magical Support Type
“There are two key things when forming a team.”
- Negating weaknesses
- Enhancing strengths
Naia enlarged [Negating Weaknesses] among the two phrases displayed on the hologram.
“The combination of these two teams.. was a choice that almost perfectly erased their weaknesses.”
Naia began displaying various scenes after that.
Me suggesting that we enter the forest.
Mizha finding the way and scouting the surroundings.
And Kanghan and Ena simply smashing everything to pieces.
“As a result, you managed to achieve zero eliminations.”
Naia gave a slight smile and turned off the hologram.
“You've all worked so hard these past two days. You must be tired, so go on inside.”
Naia poured mana into the small portal at her feet.
The portal glowed blue.
Then all the academy students who passed through it were able to return to their dormitories.
I thought as I stepped through the portal.
Would I really be able to survive here without being expelled?
Well.
If I couldn't, I'd die.
——
The first class after a day had passed was swordsmanship.
Normally, there were alchemy and various other courses, but since two days had passed, swordsmanship class had come around again.
This time, it wasn't in a classroom.
It was in the training ground.
“It's Zensan.”
Zensan appeared in the training ground again, looking cool as ever.
“Last time, I only had you swing your swords. This time, I'll tell you what you need to do.”
Hmm?
This is a little strange.
Professor Zensan normally didn't teach like this.
He simply made them keep swinging their swords.
Then, if they displayed an uncool form, he corrected it a little before returning to his own place.
‘I've never heard of Professor Zensan teaching us form before.’
Regardless.
Professor Zensan began his class.
Zensan slowly stood in front of a wooden dummy.
Then he drew his sword at incredible speed.
-Slash!
“This is how you draw a sword path.”
Well.
It didn't seem particularly meaningful.
Professor Zensan's swordplay was too fast,
and I could barely see anything.
It was just a horizontal slash.
“.. Now, practice this.”
After hearing Zensan's words, I drew my sword.
Today.. I intended to work harder than last time.
I realized it.
When my actual combat ability was this weak,
even freeloading had its limits.
And..
There was something I was curious about, too.
‘I wonder if my motor skills are still terrible, like before I fell into the game.’
I drew my sword and began swinging it hard.
- Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!
There was one thing I felt while striking the dummy.
‘.. I wasn't this sturdy in my previous world.’
Perhaps there was quite a difference between my body in my previous world
and my body now.
It felt like my extremely low physical ability had risen a little.
‘Of course, if I'd been here in a truly ordinary person's body.. I would've already been found dead in the street.’
I raised my sword toward the dummy.
-Thud! Thud! Thud..
Somehow, I found myself thinking of where and how to attack the dummy.
‘.. I guess I really am receiving some kind of adjustment.’
- Thud. Thud. Thud.
After swinging a wooden sword hundreds of times, I should have collapsed that day.
But.. last time, although my body had been tired, it hadn't been to the point of collapsing.
‘Whew.. I should work hard.’
After what had happened in the cave,
my thoughts had changed a little.
‘I can't freeload every single day.’
But an initial resolve was bound to crumble within three seconds.
And I was exactly the kind of person those three seconds applied to.
When Zensan climbed onto the platform in the training ground,
that resolve disappeared.
Zensan wasn't pretending to be cool; he was about to do something else.
Since looking cool was everything to him, his giving it up meant
a major announcement was coming.
And..
In this situation, there was only one possible major announcement.
‘Hmm.. Has the dueling evaluation been decided?’
Apparently.
That seemed to be the correct answer.
“I hear there'll be an academy-wide duel on the day Week 2 begins.”
The moment Zensan spoke,
the students began to tremble with excitement.
A duel.
An extremely important event.
Naturally, since it was an evaluation match that could directly determine the academy rankings.
“This time.. there will be both team play and individual play.”
Zensan said that and looked around.
He seemed somewhat excited.
Like a child telling a lie.
But there didn't seem to be any particular lie in his words.
“Since it begins at the very start of Week 2, prepare diligently.”
Zensan said that and picked up his sword again.
This time, it was a blindingly fast sword technique he had no intention of showing them.
And.
The students also began moving busily.
Because at this moment, what they needed to do had become clear.
I sighed and began looking around.
“We need to form a team.”
We couldn't be too strong.
Nor could we be too weak.
No, if anything, I felt like I needed to pretend to be a little weak.
‘This time.. I should try something a little different.’
—-
Mist intently watched the situation unfolding around her.
No one was speaking to her.
So.
She was listening.
To the conversations of the others.
But they weren't interesting conversations.
“Want to team up?”
“Sure. Anyway.. Mist will probably win the individual event. Or Kanghan.”
“Well, if we want to make a good impression on the guilds.. we should compete individually too.. but there are too many monsters.”
“I'm jealous. If I were that strong, I'd choose a guild or clan and join it.”
“Exactly.. I guess I should focus on the team event.”
‘.. Everyone, you're all thinking such obvious thoughts.’
Mist silently watched the people.
They were saying reasonable things.
She herself was a monster capable of taking first place,
and even someone like Kanghan—or even Helia or Ena—would breeze through the individual event.
‘Actually, the truly important thing in a team duel.. isn't coming in first. It's using team synergy to reach a high rank with weaker resources. That's what matters most..’
She acknowledged some of what the others were saying.
‘Well, if I'm on the team, I can get the most spotlight. I admit that.’
She thought she might be the person who received the most spotlight in this duel.
Or perhaps Ena, Kanghan, or Helia would receive plenty of spotlight as well.
‘But.. companies and clans don't look at the spotlight anyway.’
The person with the most to gain from this duel would be.
Bin.
The reason dueling had become a popular event was simple.
‘They came from outside to look for promising newcomers.. They probably won't have the time to look at anyone other than the protagonist.’
Dueling was one of the very few classes open to outside observers.
That's right.
Outside observers were important.
Guilds, knight orders, clans.. countless organizations were watching the duels closely.
They wanted all kinds of talent.
‘So.. I think Mr. Bin will get the best opportunities from this duel.’
‘There are plenty of strong people like me.’
‘But truly clever players like Mr. Bin are extremely rare.’
However.
Mist didn't know.
Bin had no intention of taking this duel seriously.
—-
‘I should ruin this duel.’
Recently, too much attention had been focused on me.
There wouldn't be a problem if I immediately rose to the very top.
I could receive all the academy's top-tier support and grow.
But.. I couldn't go that far.
I knew that well.
‘I just need to avoid the bottom tier. For now.. I can't afford to be held back.
‘And.. I'd like to find a suitable team to do the duel with.’
I sighed and looked around.
No matter how I looked..
There was no one to team up with.
‘Have I been too picky about who I talk to?’
In this academy,
most weak people tended to be expelled.
That's why I'd deliberately paid them no attention.
To the point that I couldn't even remember their names.
But maybe I'd adhered to that too strictly.
‘Even if I deliberately want to make a weak team.. I don't know many people.’
I came up with a list of people I could go talk to right now.
Ena, Kanghan, Mizha, Mist.. maybe Helia?
Impossible.
If these guys joined,
no matter how much I trolled, it wouldn't work.
Just then, one person caught my eye.
‘.. Elisa, who explored with us last time?’
I walked toward her.
“Hello.”
“Hello.. Gasp!”
Elisa was startled when she saw me.
Had she really not expected me to approach?
I admit it.
I hadn't expected it either.
But isn't that how life is?
“Would you like to team up?”
“Uh.. Huh??!??!? I.. I'd love to!”
“Okay~ We'll talk later..”
The moment I was about to say goodbye to Elisa,
I felt an ominous sensation rising up my back.
“Oh, what's wrong?”
“Ah.. It's nothing. We'll talk later!”
Shuddering at this inexplicable feeling, I left the area.
Then.. I glanced at the place where the inexplicable feeling had come from.
There was one person there.
Mist, wearing a slightly dissatisfied expression.
‘Uh.. Surely she wasn't planning to team up with me, right?’
I lightly dismissed it, thinking it was probably nothing.
'.. Surely not, right?'