Academy Slave Instructor

15 – The good people and the not so good people

The good people and the bad people

“This is a mushroom called agar-agar. It can be used for food, but it has a strong astringent taste, so people don’t collect it even if they see it.”

“I see.”

Aria listens to Zeroa and carefully looks at the agar-agar growing at the base of the tree. Mushrooms whose surface looks like they have sprouted thorns are strange, but they stand out in her eyes.

Although there is no change in expression, Aria looking at mushrooms with bright eyes is beautiful. Zeroa looks at her profile. Staring at something with her waist slightly bent, she blends in with the greenery of the forest and looks like a heroine in a fairy tale.

“Zeroa-kun is knowledgeable.”

“No, I just picked it up because I worked in the forest.”

“Tell me more.”

“Yes, yes, yes! What else…”

When Aria looks at her face and asks her to teach her, Zeroa turns red and spits out what she knows while looking around at the plants around her in a hurry.

He stutters in embarrassment, but he doesn’t stop explaining how he knows all the plants around him. To Arya’s eyes, it’s just green grass that looks the same, but when Zeroa explains it, she can only then tell the plants apart.

Arya, who grew up living only in her family and didn’t see much, seemed to expand her world every time she told her one by one.

She takes her eyes off her plant before she notices it and sees the side face of Zeroa as she explains. Zeroa, who was explaining her stuttering, looked at her side casually, then met her gaze with her and flinched, then she became more nervous and chattered casually.

“Ahahahaha… So this grass is, that’s good for dick, no, no, dick doesn’t mean that, so…”

Arya stares at him, not realizing that Zeroa is distracting her and talking nonsense.

As soon as the atmosphere of the two of them is completed, the three-set sitting alone in the back looks at the two with cold eyes.

“Just buy it, motherf*ckers.”

The two couldn’t hear it because it was so quiet as if it was talking to itself. Sitting in a bad posture with legs spread, three-set seemed dissatisfied with being among two pleasant people.

“I’m back.”

“Wow- Instructor, why are you here so late!”

“What’s wrong with you?”

Lai, who left the party to find her way, is confused when she sees the three-set who greet her.

“I didn’t know it was so sad to be alone. Did you find it anyway?”

“Oh no, I found two.”

Sesset smiled at Rai’s confident answer.

It is almost impossible to find a location without symbols in a large forest. Of course, since it’s part of the training, there won’t be an assembly point too far away, but walking around to find a terrain similar to the map consumes too much stamina and time.

So the three-set decided to find something more than just one rendezvous.

It is a trace of Joe over 50 who came out of seven and a half.

Everyone is moving toward one place, so no matter how wide the group is, if you set your mind to it, you can find at least a trace.

If you don’t have a map, just follow the person who has the map. In the meantime, the party rests and preserves their stamina. It was truly a tactic of killing two birds with one stone.

“Instructor, you are here.”

“Yes, did you properly teach me the knowledge about the forest?”

“Yes, I told you everything I knew, but I had time to tell you about plants.”

When Zeroa answered, Arya nodded her head beside her.

With the bag they took off, the party sets off for the traces Rai found. I spent a lot of time looking for traces, and the sun was already passing through the middle of the sky.

Zeroa, who checked the time by the position of the sun, asked Rai out of concern for her.

“Are we too late?”

“It can’t be helped. It’s better than walking aimlessly and relying on low odds.”

“That’s right… So you’re also giving points in order of arriving early?”

“I don’t know about training either. There’s someone who knows best.”

As Rai looked back and said, her eyes met Brown, who was following her at a distance from her party.

Let’s look at it as if expecting something to be said.

“That’s right. Points are allocated on a first-come, first-served basis.”

“Thank you.”

After giving thanks to Brown, who answered briefly and turned his head, the three three looked forward again and walked.

She didn’t intend to be the best group because she got the highest score in the first place. Anyone can take a trophy that only gives one prize.

Anyway, what is directly related to the evaluation is the individual’s behavior, and it depends on Brown’s record, which is constantly writing something behind the scenes.

Thanks to Rye, I got more benefits than I thought. If you solve a task that is more difficult than others, the evaluation of the members goes up even more.

‘Although the goal is to complete the game rather than that.’

She was still worried about her stamina to hold her back, but Lai laughed as if she wasn’t worried. She is a sly smile that seems to have bad thoughts.

“Do you care about the score? You’re surprisingly greedy.”

“No, but while I’m still doing it… It’s nice to get a good score.”

Zeroa is flustered and she speaks cautiously. Rai, who had said it teasingly, smiled and then looked forward again.

“It’s okay, let’s hand over the first day over there. As time goes on, it’s our group that has the advantage.”

“Isn’t that a disadvantage?”

Thinking of her stamina, three or three asked, Rai shook her head and tried to say her words. With her curious eyes, Cesset grumbles in front of her and asks to speak, she says Rai.

“Okay, the other side dug the trap first anyway, so I, the participant, can say it.”

“Why are you taking so much time?”

“Do you remember what the principal said when he put me in your group?”

As Abigail fell out and Rai entered Group 7, Selenas, the head of the academy, said it wasn’t unfair and she told me a few things and went.

One is given a higher task in Article 7. The two act as a group, but since it’s an individual evaluation, you don’t have to worry about the instructor coming in.

The three of them recalled saying that there was nothing wrong, looked at each other’s faces, and looked at Lai again. His face was full of ridicule.

“You really think it’s a hint? Did you tell me it was an individual evaluation?”

“…… Are you destroying cooperation with greed for points?”

As the quick-witted three-set said, Rai nodded.

“Right, maybe I should have told you that it’s an individual evaluation whether I’m in or not. You’re a pretty nasty person, and you tell me as soon as the preparation process is over. It’s obvious, but it’s a great skill. Look- even this modest guy is greedy. Hey.”

“Oh, no… It’s not like that…”

Zeroa, who was pointed out, opened her mouth in embarrassment, but Rai cut off his words in a loud voice.

“It’s worse if you don’t have greed! You guys came to the academy because of greed. You have to be there to get what you want. Why don’t you have greed?”

“And that greed will crack the unity.”

“Anyway, I guess you’re evaluating that.”

Rye looks at him with a smile, but Brown doesn’t answer anything this time.

“The guys in charge must feel strange by now.”

* * *

Philia paused her crew to catch her breath and check her map.

“It’s not far to the rendezvous point, let’s take a break and then set off.”

“The closer you go, the faster you go.”

Guilbard, who is sweating quite a bit as if he is not used to the non-magical march, refutes it. Filia, who had memorized the terrain around her gathering point, shook her head without looking away from her.

“If you march further here, your stamina and fatigue build up a lot. Control is more important than simply taking a long rest.”

“There’s an assembly point right in front of you, so you’re going to sit down and rest? Adjustment is important, but scoring is also important.”

“It’s an individual evaluation, so the score is meaningless anyway. There might be something ahead of that, but I have to arrange my physical strength. There’s no way you can train for just walking for five days at the academy.”

Joe in Philia without a pure mage has an advantage over Joe 7 in terms of her stamina. When she thinks of her friend Sesset, she is a heartbreaking Philia, but she feels how advantageous it is for Joe, who is gathered only with people with strong basic physical strength.

She feels that she is losing her stamina after just one day, as they are not used to the non-magical march, so maybe she will be completely exhausted when the three sets arrive at the rendezvous point.

But that doesn’t mean they have a huge advantage over the other groups. In the first place, pure mages were few in number. Most of them were jogos who only wanted to be knights. Among them, there might be people who are familiar with non-magic marches or who are stamina monsters like Aslan.

And unlike Class B, which was decided by simple lottery, some classes were assigned by instructors considering their abilities.

It is absolutely not an advantageous allocation of personnel. In a situation where you don’t know what your upcoming schedule is, it’s wise to take a break and reduce fatigue.

But Gilbard had a different idea.

“You gain nothing by acting timidly. The birth of a great empire has always been a bold step.”

“……”

At Gilbard’s words, Philia raises her head and looks at him. Rather than being offended by his criticism, she just wonders why he hangs around like this.

He was very cooperative in preparing for training. Although he cannot be said to be outstanding in his ability, he actively participated and suggested his opinion, and accepted it while acknowledging that it was not.

As Philia stared at her, Gilbard quietly tapped Ron on the side. His eyes ask him to be on his side, and Ron doesn’t want to interfere, but he says it with the feeling that he is forced to.

“I think Gilbard’s opinion is right. It’s important to arrange your stamina, but it’s not a knight’s job to linger around with your target in front of you.”

Ron Asten. He doesn’t actively participate, but his eloquent speech helped a lot in the meeting.

“I’m not talking about overdoing it.”

“…… I didn’t mean to overdo it, I meant to prepare for the next thing. Did that sound like it?”

“Soldiers must respond quickly to orders. We have been ordered to assemble at the assembly point, and we just have to carry them out. There’s no need to overcomplicate a simple task. If it were in real combat, we’d be lazy soldiers now.”

“Okay, what do you think of Somneri?”

When Philia asked, Somneri looked at the other members of the team and spoke quietly.

“Me too.

When she agreed with the other members of her group, Philia pondered for a moment before she folded the map and stood up from her seat. When her self-opinion passed, Gibbard’s face smiled as if she were happy, and Ron accompanied him with an awkward smile.

The two had a lot of conflicting opinions during the preparation process, but now, for some reason, an air current flows. Philia, who thinks she’s all right if they’ve gotten along, hands her water bottle to Somneri, who looks a little weary.

When Philia took on the role of captain among all the academy students, she thought of her role as a middle role where opinions could flow well, rather than leading them.

Looking weary, Somneri holds out her hand to take a bottle of water, then pauses and lowers her hand.

“It’s okay, there’s not much water…”

“This is what I need to recover. One sip is fine.”

“But…”

Somneri is introverted and cautious, so she stayed quiet throughout her meeting. She says she agrees when Philia asks, but she doesn’t give an opinion.

Her personality is that she doesn’t show it even when she’s having a hard time, so her philia cares about her condition.

“You say you don’t want to drink. Don’t waste water that is scarce.”

At Gilbard’s words, Philia made her impression, then she held back and put her water back in. True to his word, the food supplied by her academy is about three days’ worth. If eaten sparingly, it is a small amount that can last only five days.

She was somneri with wistful eyes, but not out of her mouth.

Philia continued to walk her way, paying attention to the condition of her teammates. She says that it is a forest, but there are also large trees, and the terrain is rugged, so it is like walking on a mountain road.

Most of her family’s training was on the plains. Even if she goes to the mountains or forests, she doesn’t do combat training there. She’s never walked like this.

She said yes. She wouldn’t last five days simply by walking, but Philia knew very well that the academy wouldn’t go so smoothly with her.

While she was walking, thinking about what would happen next, Team 8, to which Philia belonged, arrived at the assembly point.

Many groups have already arrived and are setting up tents in their respective locations.

“Good job. How old are you?”

“This is group 8 of Class B.”

Ethila, the instructor in charge of Class A, welcomes Team 8. She listens to Philia’s answer and writes the names of the 8 members on a large bulletin board for anyone to see. It seems to be written in order from top to bottom.

’19Th place… Not lower than I thought.’

Philia, who thought she was in her late thirties, sees Joe arriving one after another as if she were following Joe 8.

“Look, if you come back after resting, you’ll go down at least 10 ranks. As expected, you did well in following my words, right?”

“Yeah, that’s right.”

Gilbard nods his head in triumph. Though she responds, Philia, who has no idea whatsoever, lets him do her self-satisfaction and pitches her tent.

Normally in the military, single-person tents are not used, but during training, one-person tents were provided. Maybe it’s because it’s of poor quality or because it’s a high-end product, but it has a needlessly complex structure, so there are a lot of parts and it’s difficult to make.

It was difficult for her, but she somehow pitched her own tent. Philia helps Somneri, who is still struggling, to set up her tent, and then Gilbard too.

Philia was wondering what to say when she saw Ron resting, pretending to tidy up her stuff even after she had already damaged her own tent, but she didn’t think it was necessary to disturb her mood. And she quit.

After clearing the tents, most of the groups arrived at the assembly point. The sun is already setting, so you can see the beautiful sunset soon. But when there was Group 7, three of which had not arrived, Philia was worried.

“This body appeared!!!”

Shouts the three-set that popped up hurting her bush. Seeing Sesset with her hands high and a bright expression on her face, Philia laughs.

She is a loud friend anytime, anywhere. She punches in the air as if excited about her arrival, then high-fives her class B classmates. She is full of energy as if she is not exhausted unlike her worries.

‘… Why?’

It’s good that Sesset is full of energy, but she didn’t understand. Even the academy students with much more physical strength came sweating, but she didn’t even sweat.

She looks closely and Philia confirms that she doesn’t have a heavy backpack on her back.

‘Did someone else carry the burden of the three sets?’

However, the backpack is quite heavy because it contains many tools such as tents and food. If someone else wears it instead, the three-set, a pure mage, will be comfortable, but the person wearing it will get tired quickly.

And afterwards, Rai comes out of the bush and grabs Se-Seth by the back, telling her not to run amok. He wasn’t even carrying a backpack.

Aria comes out, creating the illusion that the bushes are being cleared on their own. Her academy students stare at her in dismay, but Philia now only focuses on whether or not her backpack is on her back.

She doesn’t even have her. Then it would mean that all four backpacks were being carried by Zeroa.

I wondered if he would do such a thing no matter how hard it was, but finally, Zeroa appeared. She is fortunately carrying only one, which calms her shocked heart, but another question arises for Philia in the ensuing time.

‘Why only one backpack?’

Ethila, who was recording Jo’s arrival on behalf of Philia’s question, looks at Rai as if she is dumbfounded.

“Instructor Rai. Where is the backpack?”

“I threw it away because it was heavy.”

“Yes? Where do you want to sleep?”

“It’s okay. I can sleep anywhere. The weather is warm, so I don’t have to worry about going back.”

That shouldn’t be a problem, but Rai waves her hand as if she’s worried, and then comes to Philia’s side with her crew.

“Hey, you came quickly. You must have worked hard.”

“Yes, you are late.”

“Philia!! I missed you!!”

Sesset runs into Philia’s arms. Rai throws the bundle of twigs she was holding in her hand and says as she leaves somewhere with Zeroa who puts her backpack down.

“Don’t play, pitch a tent.”

“The captain takes care of it~”

Seset, who was burying her face in her Philia’s chest, shook her hand at her Rai’s words and told her to go. Filia, who was watching Lai and Zeroa leave, asks Sesset.

“Captain? Wasn’t it Ms. Arya?”

“It happened that way. Ah! Aria! Don’t do it alone! Do it together!”

She sees Arya opening her backpack and taking out her tent by herself, and Sesset jumps up and runs. She was not close to anyone, it was Arya, but she seems to be close to Sessett.

Article 7 attracted people’s attention in many ways.

First, I snoop around to see Arya’s figure, and I tilt my head at the sight of her tent being one. And people put a question mark on the roof made of weaving large leaves next to the tent.

“Hey, spread a little over there. The chill will come up.”

“I think it’s not enough. Shall I bring some more?”

“Okay, let’s go to work hard again. Even if it’s a bit cramped, let’s sleep together.”

Aria comes behind them and gives them a blanket as they spread unknown grass and leaves on the floor. Fang- and Rai shakes off her blanket and lays it on top of her pile of leaves and lies down on it.

“Ahh- it’s comfortable. Lie down quickly.”

Others had tents, sleeping bags, and blankets, but when he said that he was comfortable with an extra bed covered with a blanket, the academy students around him laughed at him, thinking he was bluffing.

“Looking like a beggar suits you very well.”

Gilbard muttered quietly. When Philia gives her attention warning, he frowns and turns her head away.

Lying on her side and laying Zeroa down, Rai beckoned Aria to lie down, and the moment she hesitated for a moment, she lay down, tears of blood flowed from her eyes as she laughed around her.

“What, why are you bullying me?”

“You have nowhere to lie down. Go.”

“No!”

Three-set dives on top of the three lying down. From Zeroa’s screams, Rai and Sesset’s noisy conversations, to Aria who was silent but watching them attentively, Group 7 was noisy and attracted people’s attention.

Seeing her teammates getting along right next to her, Philia thinks that it would be nice if her teammates were as friendly as this, and she smiles heartily.

‘I have to work hard.’

Although she can’t be as good as the atmosphere maker, Sesset, she decides to at least try to get closer to each other, and Philia tries her best.