Chapter 17
Helia was staring at me blankly.
“As expected.. So this is what a genius..”
No, no.
That wasn't it.
I wasn't a genius; I'd known it all along.
The game developers had jammed in Chinese characters instead of actual runes, so it was easy for me.
It was something I could do easily.
‘If this had really been runic writing or some strange script like Sanskrit.. I wouldn't have stood a chance.’
But.
There was no way to explain this.
‘I couldn't exactly tell her I was someone who had fallen into this world from another..’
Once again, I could feel Helia's self-esteem taking a hit.
Good grief.. She wasn't even a sunfish, so how did every little thing make her explode like this?
“Um.. Helia, you learned Inscription when you were young, right?”
“Uh.. Ah.. That's right.”
“You were probably around the age when you were just learning things like writing and etiquette, right?”
“Uh.. Yeah.. But why..?”
Helia looked at me with a puzzled expression.
She must have been wondering what any of that had to do with genius.
But.
Naturally, it did.
“Which do you think is harder.. learning it now, when you already know everything you need to know, or learning it as a baby who doesn't even know letters?”
“.. Huh?”
“Of course, learning it now is five million times easier, right?”
“I.. Is that so?”
“Of course! When you're little, even sitting still is hard, isn't it?”
“Ah.. That's true!”
A spark suddenly returned to Helia's eyes.
My words must have sounded reasonably convincing.
And.
They were true, too.
‘If I'd fallen here when I was three and didn't even know Chinese characters.. there'd be no way I could have used runes so easily.’
“Using runic letters in a single day at that young age.. That's the real talent.”
I said that and handed the magic pencil back to Helia.
Helia took the pen and looked at my face.
“.. That makes sense, too! Mm-hmm..”
I, too.
Found myself looking at Helia's face without thinking.
Helia's face was flushed.
‘.. Was I building up too much favor with her?’
Actually, all I needed was for Helia not to fall apart..
Hmm.
Well, it's not like she'd fall for me, right?
——
The academy's first sparring match normally begins almost immediately, without giving students even a week to prepare.
They don't give them too much time to synchronize as a team.
Besides, this also has the effect of suppressing strategic diversity.
Because it's the first sparring match.
They need to see the students' true abilities as much as possible.
But.
For gamers, it's also the perfect chance to freeload.
Even with only basic tricks.
No, even if you simply copied the strategies of other students who appeared in the middle and later parts of the academy.
Because you could achieve an extremely high ranking here.
Therefore.
I learned Inscription from Helia.
Then immediately called the team members together.
“Yaaawn.. What's going on this late at night?”
Ena stuck right beside me with a sleepy look.
Her body was pressed completely against my side.
I could feel the contact.
Isn't this too close?
.. I don't know.
I should just do what I came here to do.
“I thought we should work out a strategy for the mission.. Has anyone thought of anything?”
The others shook their heads at my question.
“.. A strategy? Ah.. Not yet? I don't know.”
Elisa shook her head.
Her expression said she'd never even thought about it.
“Come on~ Bin will come up with that stuff, so why should I!”
Ena seemed to be leaving it all to me.
Hmm.. She wasn't usually this kind of character.
I had no idea why she'd let herself go like this.
“I have.”
I turned my head toward the source of the voice.
The guy Elisa had hurriedly brought over.
Just another ordinary student from the bottom ranks.
He'd thought up a strategy for the sparring match?
I was a little surprised.
The name was.. Jaron, was it?
It was a name I'd never heard in the game.
“What strategy is it?”
Jaron brought up a hologram above the desk.
Three battlefield layouts appeared in the hologram.
‘Hmm.. A Domination match, Capture the Flag, and an Escort Mission—the three types that appear in sparring matches.’
These were the three missions we'd see countless times in this game.
Whenever a sparring mission appeared, it was always one of these three.
It was safe to say there wasn't a single gamer who didn't know them.
‘Each type of battlefield has.. very clear characteristics.’
1. Domination Match.
- The attacking side wins by capturing the defending side's territory.
- The defending side generally has the advantage because it can secure positions in advance.
- However, since most defensive areas are basins, this can be exploited to counter that advantage.
2. Capture the Flag.
- The attacking side wins by damaging the defending side's flag.
- Because the battlefield is cramped, chaotic melees occur frequently.
3. Escort Mission.
- The defending side protects a moving carriage.
- Unlike the other two missions, the attacking side has the geographical advantage.
- However, the carriage receives various buffs and spells that aid the defending side, canceling out that advantage.
‘Judging by the fact that he prepared this.. he must have brought a decent strategy.’
The strategies academy students brought to this game.
Many of them were insane strategies that were hard to believe they came from game NPCs.
Most of the strategies I'm considering, too..
Were ultimately just modified versions of strategies that had appeared in the game.
“For starters.. our team has one vanguard, one marksman, and two mages.”
“Then how should we generally fight?”
It wasn't a particularly difficult question.
“We should fight while keeping our distance.”
“Yes! Exactly. In that sense.. the battlefield that's advantageous for us is Domination. On the other hand.. if Capture the Flag comes up, we might have a hard time.”
In Domination, the situation barely changed.
The terrain didn't shift from moment to moment.
Nor did the position of the thing we had to capture.
Capture the Flag was the exact opposite.
The flag carrier moved constantly.
And moved very quickly.
The strengths and weaknesses had been accurately assessed.
‘Put simply.. we're a slow-footed composition.’
“So.. in the end, what should we do?”
Elisa looked quietly at Jaron.
In the end, what mattered was how we responded.
What he'd just said was important, too.
But unless you thought of a response, it would remain nothing more than a thought.
And..
This wasn't an answer one could reasonably expect from a first-year yet.
“Before the enemy reaches the objective.. we need to overwhelm them with firepower.”
“Hmm.. I suppose that's what we should do, right?”
After Jaron spoke, Elisa nodded.
It was an easy conclusion to reach.
But.
It was also a conclusion reached too easily.
“If the enemy reaches the objective, what do we do?”
“Hmm.. If it comes to that, I don't think our composition has much hope.”
Well, it was a perfectly reasonable thing to say.
Our composition was stable.
But our team's strongest members were all concentrated in firepower.
“Well.. if that happens, Elisa can hold them off in front while we stay at the objective..”
As expected, it was the standard answer.
But most students probably wouldn't even think of that standard answer.
‘For being only in the second week since entering the academy.. this is excellent.’
But.
I had a better method than this.
“No. We abandon it.”
The answer I'd reached was.
Abandoning the objective.
At this extremely early stage, if we went this far.
We could probably overcome an ordinary difference in power.
“.. What?”
“We abandon objectives like the flag, territory, and carriage.”
“Uh.. Then wouldn't we lose?”
“If someone makes it through after we've poured out all our firepower, we can't beat them by conventional means anyway.”
The most important thing in a sparring match was.
That people were more frantic to seize the objective than to kill the opponent.
But.
There were compositions specifically suited to doing that.
Compositions centered on fast-moving marksmen and melee fighters who could disrupt the enemy formation.
Against that kind of team, we..
Still needed to control the distance even if we abandoned the objective.
“The objectives.. are mostly placed in open areas. That's to keep the attacking side from being at too much of a disadvantage.”
“But no one can ignore the barrage from the three of us surrounding that open area and make it through.”
Of course, that wasn't entirely impossible.
Mist, for instance.. would probably be able to break through easily with Mist Form.
‘Fast warriors and rogues would break through far too easily.’
In the end, our composition was sturdy and well-balanced.
But it was too conventional to easily perform beyond its inherent strength.
“Ah.. That makes sense, too!”
Jaron nodded vigorously, as if he'd realized something.
And.
Ena was staring intently at me from my side.
“.. You're clever.”
Ena was still pressed against me,
but somehow, there didn't seem to be any smile in her expression.
Sometimes.
When I looked at Ena, frightening thoughts came to me.
When I thought about what Ena had done in the game.
Was Ena really close to me?
Wasn't all of this an act?
That thought.
And..
In most situations, it seemed to be an act.
“This much is nothing~”
The more uneasy I felt, the brighter I smiled.
To hide my unease.
Elisa stared at me blankly.
“Wow, you're so obnoxious.”
…
Sorry.
I knew I was obnoxious too.
But I had to survive, too.
“Phew.. That was long. Let's at least aim for the middle ranks!”
“We should~”
Whew.
It was over.
I felt like I was doing far too much in far too little time.
‘Time is passing so quickly.. I can't even tell what's what anymore.’
I still didn't know why I was here.
Usually, in stories where someone possesses another body or gets transported somewhere.
They're usually sucked in because they've done something wrong.
But I hadn't done anything like that, so why was I in this world?
Seriously.. it was absurd.
But.
There was one good thing about time passing quickly.
‘There are so many things to do.. it's nice that I don't have time for pointless thoughts.’
Thoughts about why I was here.
Or whether I had any reason not to die.
It was nice not to spout the kind of nonsense that would make Camus slap me if he heard it.
Right now.
Wasn't the sparring match right around the corner?
Even now, I was buying magic pencils and drawing magic circles.
So it was nice not having time to spout nonsense.
And so.
Time passed in an instant.
—-
“Ah.. It's already time for the sparring match.”
I sighed as I looked at the hundreds of spell scrolls piled up in my bag.
To make all this.
I had squeezed mana out of myself day and night.
My body was already a wreck.
Even an orange that had been juiced in an extractor would be in better shape than I was.
- The 326th Mel Academy.. Spring Sparring Match begins!!!!
Up ahead.
As I watched the sparring match begin.
Only one thought came to mind.
‘Please.. just don't let me die.’
Holding the bracket in both hands, I checked it.
“My.. opponent is..”
[Red Beriaf]
Red was an opponent I didn't know well.
‘At least this isn't a top-ranked opponent.. so it should be easy, right?’
I was able to enter the sparring match feeling a little more at ease.
For the individual match, I'd just win Round 1 and rest~
But.
If there was one thing I hadn't considered.
It was that I was still.
Not only did I have no special ability, I wasn't outstanding in swordsmanship, magic, or archery either..
I was a complete dud.
“What the..! How can you be ranked so high..? You're this weak?”
“Ahaha..”
Red realized it after a single exchange with me.
That I was a complete dud.
And I realized it, too.
‘I really am nothing but a freeloader, huh?’
All I could do was sigh.
In the end, I had to resort to freeloading from the very first round.
From my pocket.
I pulled out a card inscribed with magic.
“.. So you're finally going to fight properly!”
In response to Red's words,
I merely grinned.
I had no intention of losing, either—not from the very first round.