Chapter 85 - Joint Grade Mock Battle (2)

The strategy session, which deserved the descriptor ‘a total mess’, continued to pass.

The detailed tactics Dejan came up with were even more of a spectacle. The main gist was that the combat-adept students from the Combat Department would do the luring, and the Magic Department students would intercept the lured enemies.

And Dejan, along with Shasha, was one of the only two Magic Department students on the team.

‘Is he telling us to just do what’s good for him?’

Seeing that part, a sentence I had seen in Regina's information file suddenly came to mind.

A sentence written in Dejan's middle school life record.

[Has a somewhat selfish aspect.]

My head throbbed. I hadn't thought that sentence would come to mind here.

“It seems right…”

“Hmm…”

There were a few who nodded as if they agreed while listening to my story, but they were lukewarm in trying to persuade Dejan.

‘At least Shasha was adding a few words…’

As Dejan said, they might have thought that opposing the team leader would have a negative impact on their evaluation.

I tried to somehow prevent this strategy from being finalized, but what held me back was the time limit of the strategy session.

Only 20 minutes. It was impossible to persuade Dejan in that short amount of time.

No. It seemed like it wouldn't have worked even if I was given an hour.

As time passed like that-

-The strategy session is over. Students from each team, please come out of the waiting rooms.

Such an announcement echoed in the waiting room.

‘Sigh.’

Well, what can you do. Since I knew that the match-up was manipulated by Milo and Hugo's side, I didn't expect any help from the team from the beginning.

I'll have to respond with improvisation.

Anyway, Team A, including myself, left the waiting room and stood in the examination hall.

“Then, since you've come out… everyone please line up here. A handshake before we start…”

At Hugo's words, both teams lined up in rows. And we were made to shake hands, and there, two scenes caught my eye.

First.

“Hehe, I look forward to working with you…”

“Mm.”

One was the team leader of Team A, Dejan, greeting the team leader of Team B, Milo, almost groveling.

‘This bastard, no way…’

…A thought flashed through my mind for a moment.

The thought that Dejan had intentionally brought a strategy that would lead to defeat.

Perhaps he had planned a strategy centered on himself so that even if they lost, he could maximize his own performance and at least secure his own grade.

There was no physical evidence, but… since he was a guy who was practically planted by Milo, there was no doubt about it.

I didn't know if he had been directly ordered, or if Dejan had groveled on his own.

‘Sigh.’

The moment I thought it was pathetic was fleeting, but there was another thing that caught my eye.

“I look forward to working with you.”

It was when I, for my part, extended my hand to the opponent in front of me to shake hands.

And the opponent I was to shake hands with, that is, the one who stood before me was… Theodore Dietrich. The guy who was probably the enemy's A-seed.

“……”

Squeeze.

Without even responding to my greeting, the guy just silently gave a short handshake and then let go of my hand.

His expression was blank, but he couldn't hide his displeasure at all.

‘What’s with this guy?’

In the original story, he wasn't a guy with such garbage manners. He was the type who prided himself on knowing about honor.

It seemed he had some ill feelings towards me. I didn't know the reason, though.

Well, it didn't matter.

After shaking hands like that, well… there was nothing special.

As usual, before going to the Otherworld, we received the bracelets we had worn during the entrance examination and the practical test, which prevented actual physical damage, and put them on our wrists.

After that, all the students moved to the Otherworld through the magic engineering gate that had been used in the previous practical test.

And soon, the exam began.

Flash-!

After my vision was covered with the now-familiar flash of light, when I came to my senses, I had been dropped onto a mountain path with the other team members.

“Haa…”

As soon as I was transported to the Otherworld, a sigh came out first.

It was a decision I made because a trashy tactic was better than rejecting the tactic altogether and causing a chaotic situation.

In other words, you could say I chose the lesser of two evils.

“Now, let's move!”

I briefly looked back at my teammates, but Dejan seemed to be treating me as if I didn't exist and was about to lead the people to their designated positions, so I didn't pay much attention either.

‘I have to move too.’

Unless the enemy had gone crazy like us, there was no way they would come through the route I was on.

Trudge, trudge.

Like that, I slowly walked down the mountain path and arrived at the waiting area leisurely before the waiting time was over.

As I mentioned before, it was a mountain path that was rugged but connected in a straight line with the enemy camp.

‘There’s no way the main force will come this way.’

The enemy's greatest strength was Theodore, who belonged to the Magic Department. And to utilize the strengths of the Magic Department, the basic strategy is to lower the dependence on mobility and focus on firepower.

But for the main force to come through this rugged terrain with mages?

Well, there was no cover, and the terrain was a perfect environment for the physically superior students of the Combat Department to be active. They wouldn't score such an impossible own goal.

Anyway, the conclusion was that they might send a detached force, but there was no way the main force would come.

‘And here I am, holed up here to deal with that detached force.’

Theodore, who was probably the A-seed like me, would go to the main force side since he was a mage.

I didn't even know if a detached force would come or not, and even if it did, it was highly likely to end anticlimactically.

For now, I was the greatest strength of this team, but it was a waste of strength…….

Crunch.

As I was lost in thought.

I heard footsteps.

Footsteps that were not mine.

“……!”

Our personnel distribution was already over. Then whose footsteps were these?

It was too obvious.

‘Did they really send someone.’

Honestly, I thought a detached force wouldn't come due to the enemy's characteristics, but it was quite surprising.

As soon as I heard the sound, I got up and looked in the direction the sound came from.

And, seeing the enemy who was there… I couldn't help but be flustered.

“Huh…?”

A red-haired, red-eyed, neat-looking nobleman.

And the enemy's greatest strength.

Because Theodore Dietrich was standing in that spot.

***

Theodore Dietrich did not like Rain Enlight very much. No, he might have been closer to despising him.

How could such a thing have happened? Why did Theodore Dietrich, who was the type to judge people by their character rather than their background, come to harbor such thoughts?

The reason was simple. It was because of the unprecedented rumors that Rain Enlight had been stirring up until now.

Theodore had thought to himself whether it was right to judge a person solely based on rumors.

However, in Rain Enlight's case, controversies arose too frequently, and the quality of those rumors was also severe.

If Rain Enlight were a proper person who conducted himself correctly, such rumors would not have circulated in the first place. That's what he thought.

Let's just listen to a few of the representative ugly rumors about Rain Enlight.

-Rain Enlight is involved with the criminal world. That's why he suddenly became strong. Because of this, he was shunned by his family.

-He is notorious for his debauched lifestyle. That's why there are many scandals with some female students.

-He has changed the women he dates over and over again. It is said that there are many victims, regardless of their status.

Most of them were baseless rumors, and if one were to calmly cross-verify the facts and rumors, one would have been able to see that they were ridiculous, but…….

How many people would go to the trouble of checking the facts for every single rumor?

Most people would just think, “Oh, so there's such a rumor.”

If such rumors overlap and overlap, at least one of them must be true. They would reach such a vague conclusion.

Theodore, who was born into a humble family but was adopted by the Count Dietrich family, a relative, and proved his worth solely through his skills, despised Rain for these reasons.

‘It’s because of guys like that that illegitimate children are discriminated against even more.’

To Theodore, who had crawled up from the bottom of the family, Rain's misconduct was seen as nothing more than an escape from reality and a complaint.

According to the rumors, he had experienced some difficulties due to his birth during his middle school days.

But Theodore thought, ‘If you silently prove your worth, society will recognize you.’

A person who justifies his crookedness by using his birth as an excuse. In Theodore's mind, Rain Enlight was already defined as such.

Without knowing anything about the person named Rain Enlight, he naturally stood on a moral high ground.

Even though he himself, who judged people solely by rumors, would not be able to be proud of his own ethical standards.

“I look forward to working with you, Theodore.”

Milo Gloss, who approached him for a handshake with a rather bright smile, was not a particularly pleasant person either, but…….

“……I look forward to working with you.”

For now, Theodore decided to set aside his negative feelings about Milo.

Because there was an opponent he wanted to defeat in this exam.

Flash-!

After being transported to the Otherworld, Team B executed their tactics as planned.

“So, Theodore, can you grasp the enemy's position right away?”

“It’s possible if I concentrate. If I know the approximate amount of the enemy’s magic power… I can also distinguish them.”

Yes, Team B's tactics were fundamentally established under Theodore's ability.

And that ability was the ability to sense magic power, raised to the extreme.

It originated from the excellent magic sensitivity that Theodore was born with.

“I don't need all that. I just need to specify one person.”

Milo shook his head at Theodore's words and said so.

“Rain Enlight. All I need to do is find that guy.”

Rain Enlight.

Probably the enemy's A-seed, a supernova from the Combat Department who had suddenly shown his prominence.

And a proven skilled person who had not only continued a series of sensations since the beginning of the semester, such as the entrance examination and the practical test but had also been proven to have subjugated an A-rank wanted criminal.

Even from a general perspective, he was the person most likely to be the biggest obstacle to Team B's victory, so that judgment was valid.

From Milo's point of view, it was also because Rain would escape from the control of Dejan, who would be groveling on his own.

“The one with the least magic power. That's Rain Enlight.”

“I understand.”

Milo said so and clicked his tongue. To think he was acting all tough with that shabby physical ability and magic power.

He was definitely using some kind of trick. That was his thought.

And a little later. Theodore opened his mouth.

“……I’ve found him. He's covering the steep path alone.”

“Hmm, that's good. Then we'll just go on the gentle path we were originally going to take.”

At Milo's monologue, everyone in Team B nodded in unison.

“As expected of Lord Milo. It’s just as you predicted.”

…While sucking up to him.

Just as Milo, lost in self-admiration, was about to start moving…….

“Mr. Milo. I have a favor to ask.”

“Hmm?”

Theodore slowly opened his mouth.

“May I face Rain Enlight alone?”

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