Academy Slave Instructor

18 – Smart Guys Find Out

Smart Guys Find Out

“Trap! Let’s make a trap! You know how to make a zeroa. Meat! Let’s eat meat!”

Unable to withstand her hunger, Sesset raised her hand and offered her opinion, but people did not respond well.

“The trap takes a long time to catch the game. Besides, there are a lot of people in the forest, so the vigilance of wild animals must be extremely high…”

“I’ll install it and get it the day after tomorrow.”

As Zero Awa Rai said one word at a time, Sesset knelt down with a sad expression on her face. Lying on his floor and hiding his face, Sesset mutters that he is sorry for his master as he touches his stomach. Rai, who had been staring at her pathetically, turned her head at the sound of growling.

Arya, her face reddened, turns and hides herself, grabbing her stomach. She doesn’t talk like Sesset, but she’s hungry for her too.

I ate dinner early yesterday. It is said that they gathered ingredients from the forest and ate, but since the food they received from the beginning was small, even if they added the food they gathered on the way to the assembly point, they were barely hungry.

There was a night march until the sun came up, and all food was taken away.

“No, Mr. Brown is petty!”

Sessett points at Brown and yells at her.

Brown was eating, watching them from a distance.

“Alternate breakfast.”

Brown, with a calm expression, slowly chews bread while watching Team 7. He doesn’t really seem to be kidding Joe 7, but his attitude is so casual that it pisses me off.

“Profit–!!”

She couldn’t hold back her anger, but she couldn’t be angry with Brown, so she lay flat on her back. As she is staring at the sky seen through the trees, Rai approaches and crouches down in front of her, looking down.

“What shall we do now, chief?”

“Look for traces.”

She had an exasperated expression on her face, but she came back with a calm expression. As Zeroa gets down on her one knee and sits next to Rai, Arya crouches down with her knees together and looks down at Sesset.

As the three faces face to face with the sky in the background, the three sets speak quietly.

“This is the vision of a loser.”

“The loser will be out of his mind.”

At Rai’s words, Sesset closed her eyes and brought her arms neatly to her chest.

“Then I’ll be dead, so please put my corpse on the back of a lycan. Resurrect me when you have food.”

“Stop talking nonsense, what are you going to do now?”

“Find the traces.”

She opened her closed eyes and looked up at her lie. She is whining, but she must have been just kidding. She has power in her eyes.

“What traces should I look for?”

“I want drinking water. I want meat, but water comes first. Then animals. Rabbits, mice, whatever you can put in your mouth will do. If I don’t find it until the sun goes down, I’ll give up and move on. While we’re looking for them, we wait and gather around us. We believe in Zeroa, who is unexpectedly all-around. We’ll find the main unit after securing food.”

“Aren’t you pampering me too much?”

“It can’t be helped. And don’t worry because Zeroa is also taking care of it.”

She grins and replies. Nodding her head, Rai takes one look at her map before giving it back, then disappears into the woods. Praying for him to find both drinking water and meat, three three see the other two.

“I’ll ask the two of you to collect them. It’s a surprise attack situation, so Zeroa will collect them and Aria will be vigilant.”

“Yes, I understand.”

Zeroa, who is familiar with the forest, gets her food, and Aria takes it out for her guard duty to preserve her stamina. Lying on her floor and sending everyone away, Sesset looks comfortable, but she immediately opens her map Layla gave her and checks her terrain.

The map shows the original direction of the army and the location of the first assembly point.

It is impossible to know the current location because it is done at night without securing sight. Thinking that if it was a training process anyway, they would have deliberately turned the road strangely to make it difficult to estimate the location.

Thinking about the speed of the army’s night march, she draws a large circle around the assembly point and then a small circle again.

‘Instructor Lai estimated the current location as soon as he saw the map. It’s not far from the assembly point.’

He has a bad attitude, but at times like this, he is faithful to the instructor’s position and does not always give the answer first. Three-set still thinks she’s in the same group, but she checks and marks a few places where there might be vacant lots nearby.

She then looks in the direction the army was going to move and checks the terrain at that point.

She has to preserve her stamina through the sacrifices of her teammates, so she must do her best to give her direction.

Preoccupied with the map, Sesset assumes many situations and checks the location where the barracks will be built one by one. Countless points are marked on the map and then erased with X marks again.

As time passes, Zeroa and Aria, who left to gather, return, and Lai returns belatedly. There were several lizards in his hand.

“Lizards… You really like them…”

Zeroa, who has been training at Rai’s house, smiles bitterly because he often sees him grilling lizards.

“No, I caught it because I had nothing to eat. I don’t particularly like lizards. I prefer sweet ones.”

“Ahhh- I want to eat cake. I hate mushrooms~”

When she talks about sweetness, Sesset cries for cake. Although Zeroa made a lot of achievements in gathering, most of the things he brought were mushrooms or plants with a bitter taste.

Zeroa secretly looks at the lizard, worried that Arya, who seems to only eat dew, will be able to eat the lizard, but she calmly looks at the lizard without changing her expression.

Even if the gathering performance was high, there was not much time, so the food Zeroa brought was less than half of the picnic basket. If Se-se-se, who eats a small amount, decides to eat, he can eat it alone, and the lizards Rai brought are not even half the size of his hand.

If four people share this amount, the liver will barely pass. Even though they spent half a day collecting food, they might have been disappointed because it was not enough to eat a meal, but three three didn’t care much as if it was expected.

As she eats the food she has gathered, she shows the map to her teammates.

“The map here shows where the base is expected to be.”

“……”

Zeroa looked at her map and couldn’t open her mouth. She had so many checkmarks and x’s that the map was barely visible. If you look at the analysis she wrote down in the corner or the lines that predicted the route, you can see the traces of her hard work in weaving the route while she was collecting.

He thinks his eyes are dizzy from too many marks, so he ignores the x marks and counts only the checkmarks. He, too, isn’t much if you just count the checkmarks.

‘Twenty-two, twenty-three, twenty-four… But there are many?’

Aria speaks when Zeroa, embarrassed by too many expected points, does not reveal her inner feelings.

“Too many.”

“Yes, yes. Given all the circumstances, I don’t know where it is.”

After answering honestly to Arya who spoke frankly, Sesset smiled while touching the back of her head.

“Should I build it near the most basic water source? Or should I hide in the depths because I’m running away from a surprise attack? Or…”

Zeroa blankly looks at the three sets reciting the assumed situations one by one.

Listening to her, she has too much to think about. However, if all situations are assumed, the number of predicted points increases and only the search area increases.

Zeroa, who had never learned her tactics before she came to the academy, looked at Sesset and thought it was great, but she thought that Zeroa was worried. She laughed and she tapped his shoulder.

“Don’t worry. I’m stupid and couldn’t find it, but smart guys will.”

Aria speaks next to Zeroa, who doesn’t understand if this is something to be proud of.

“It’s the same way as the first time.”

“Right, our concept is always use the smart guys. So here we go.”

The location where Setset pointed on the map was the end of an arrow that indicated the direction of her unit’s progress. She explains three to three to Zeroa, who thought that she was going first and waiting.

“This is the highest point around, so you can see all the expected points. I’ll be aiming for dinner for the smart guys.”

“Good idea. It’s a little early, but it’s Arya’s turn to suffer.”

“It’s okay. Thanks to you, I was able to continue resting.”

Rai and Aria praise it, saying it’s a good idea.

But Zeroa still has a blank expression. She understood what it meant to keep an eye on the expected spot, but what the hell did she mean when she said aiming for supper?

Everyone understands her, but when only she couldn’t understand her, Zeroa felt somehow left out. It was natural for him, but he did not understand what this strange feeling she felt for the first time.

“It will take a bit of time to stop by and go to Suwonji.”

“Aria, fighting!”

As Rai said while looking up at the sky, Sesset rode on Arya’s back and spoke energetically. Although she wakes up, she doesn’t know what she’s doing, so Rai tells Zeroa who watches her.

“I’ll get to the place you just said before the sun goes down.”

“This street?”

“Yes, I’ll have to walk diligently from now on to see the fire that those who arrived early enjoyed the joy of burning. I’ll go the shortest distance even if it’s a bit rough, so keep an eye on the rear and follow me.”

Finally understanding, Zeroa quickly picked up her backpack. Barracks cannot exist without tents, fire, and fences. The carelessness of the academy students who arrived first will be a guide.

As Lai starts to walk in the lead, Arya stands in the center of her, and Zeroa follows her, erasing her traces.

It was the most basic formation, but Zeroa, who erased the traces at first because Rai’s speed was fast, became increasingly burdensome, so she gave up on erasing and focused on chasing.

It doesn’t look like he’s running, but how good he is in the forest, Arya and Zeroa had to move quickly to match his speed.

Zero Ah is also hard, but Arya, who is not used to the forest, had a much harder time.

Arya, in particular, was raised by her father who was a fanatic, so she never went outside except for official events. She is the first to even go hiking, so she is inexperienced with only one day of experience.

Moreover, she carries three or three on her back. In terms of her weight, it doesn’t differ much from Zeroa’s backpack, but carrying a person on her back and carrying a backpack are completely different things.

She ran for a long time and when she reached the water source that Rai mentioned, Arya was breathing heavily.

She tries hard not to show it on the outside, but the three sets on her back and the zero eyes watching her from behind know how hard she is.

“Let’s fill up the water here.”

“……You’re not talking about this mud, are you?”

Three-set says while looking at the water thin enough to say that it is buried in the floor rather than filled. When Zeroa sees Rai silently at a depth where she cannot even dip a single finger into her, he looks rather strangely.

“No matter how thirsty you are, don’t drink strange water. You’ll be a real jerk.”

“Stop talking about that bastard! It’s really childish. So what are you drinking?”

Leave the angry three-set, Rai grabs one of the trunks entangled in the tree and cuts it off with a shovel.

Water pours from the hollow stem, and Rye eats it. As he stared blankly at all the plants he had never seen before, Lai, who drank heavily, wiped the water flowing down his chin with the back of his hand and asked.

“Don’t you drink?”

“Is that… Water? Plant sap?”

“It’s got some sap mixed in, but it’s pure water. Try it.”

As Rai puts out the stem, Se-Seth catches the water with both hands and drinks it. After taking a sip and munching on his mouth as if tasting it, he looks at Rai.

“It has a subtle astringent sweetness, but the water is just right. It’s amazing. Besides, it’s cool.”

“Isn’t it? It’s delicious, isn’t it?”

“No, it doesn’t taste good. The subtle sweetness is kind of annoying.”

I firmly say no, but I cannot refuse drinking water. As Sesset clings to the stem almost as if mouthing it, Rai cuts another stem and gives it to Arya.

While the three drink water, Zeroa looks around.

“A marsh? No… What is this place? It’s in the woods, is it hot?”

Zeroa, who has never been to other regions, feels uncomfortable with the surrounding terrain.

Zeroa has never felt a suffocating hot and humid climate. The floor is also damp, similar to a wetland, and the rotting trees are damp. Seeing the sight of moss covering the entire large tree for the first time, Zeroa feels uneasy because the surrounding plants are also the first things she has ever seen.

“Have you ever been to a rainforest?”

“Rain forest?”

At Rai’s question, Zeroa, who is unfamiliar with even words, asks back. Says Rai, who scratches his chin at his reaction.

“Go down to the south… There are no similar terrains in the Empire, so it must be unfamiliar if you have never been outside.”

“Are you talking about the jungle?”

“It’s a little different, but I’d rather call it a region. There’s a jungle in a tropical rain forest.”

When Sesset, who heard that there is such a forest in a book, asks, Rai corrects it.

While the two were talking about climate, Zeroa thought Rai had a lot of knowledge and experience.

‘You said you were in the military, but do you have a lot of experience traveling around other countries…?’

The borders are wide, so most of the Imperial Army stays within its territory, unless it was during the war with the Royal Palace of Kaylan. Unless you’re a diplomat, you don’t have to go outside, and the surrounding countries have a similar climate to the Empire.

After thinking about it for a while, Zeroa turned her gaze to Aria, not thinking that it was a big deal that she had left the military and traveled around the world for several years.

She was still getting water with her stem over her head.

Her wet hair clung to Arya’s skin coquettishly, and a thin stream of water flowed gracefully down her jawline.

“If it’s hard, change it.”

As Rai looks at Arya and says, she shakes her head.

After briefly meeting her gaze with Aria, who looks exhausted but stares at her with strong eyes, Rai shrugs her shoulders and tells her to do as she pleases before filling her canteen with water.

After drinking and drinking water, the party sets off again without a break.

To get to your destination, you have to work diligently. Lai, who had been walking for a long time, looked at the map and looked up at the sky, and then he looked back and said.

“It will be difficult to go any further when the sun goes down, so I’m going to break from now on.”

“……”

Are you saying that I wasn’t walking fast enough? As if responding to her bewildered Zeroa, Rai starts running through the forest at a much faster pace.

It’s definitely not running. She doesn’t wave her hands or lower her stance to speed up. It was just a simple gait, but only the ground Lai stepped on moved forward straight, as if the space was different.

To chase after him, Zeroa and Arya started running and they headed towards their destination without a moment’s rest.

Arya’s hair was still wet and clinging to her skin as the sun was setting. But this time she was drenched in sweat running down her body.

The three-set clothes on their backs were completely wet with the sweat flowing like it was raining.

No one at the academy had ever seen Arya like this. She will always be noble and beautiful, but she is half out of her mind and gasping.

I’ve been running for hours without a break with three sets on my back. No matter how light Sesset is, the clothes she wears are armor and unlike her backpack, she is a living human.

Although Aria’s stamina is at its limit and sometimes turns into a blank look, she immediately comes to her senses, shakes her head, and diligently moves her numb legs.

She is said to be familiar with the forest, but even Zero Ah, who has the lowest level of her skill, is struggling with her, and although she is worried about her aria, she has no time to help her.

Grabbing his lungs that were about to burst, Zeroa gnashed his teeth and ran.

When the sun goes down and darkness falls on the forest, the rai stands tall.

“Arrived.”

At the same time, Zeroa and Arya collapsed on the floor, receiving the force of their running.

She hasn’t lost her mind, but her body is heavy and she continues to gasp for breath. The three-set, who has been carrying her so far, are full of sorry and worrying about her, and look at their condition.

“Take the blanket out of the bag and straighten it.”

As Rai speaks while holding up Aria, Sesset quickly digs through Zeroa’s backpack and pins it on her floor.

After taking off the armor of the two of them, Rai, who laid them side by side, said to get on Zeroa’s back.

“You too, get on top of Aria and follow me.”

Sesset carefully climbs on Arya’s back and follows what Rai does. Rai massages Zeroa’s thighs, giving her instructions on what to do with Sessett.

After massaging her body for a while, the moon was already in the sky. In the stillness of the forest, Rai and Cesset set up a tent and put the two inside.

It was luck for Dani Zeroa to sleep in the same tent as the goddess of the academy, but he couldn’t enjoy her happiness because she was so tired that she couldn’t keep up.

After putting the two in and tidying up the surroundings, Rai walks slowly and goes to the three-set.

Sesset, who climbed a nearby high rock and looked around, looked at Rai with a firm expression.

“Raicang… What should I do…? I can’t see any traces of it anywhere.”

Her expression looked like she was about to cry. While Zeroa and Aria ran to their deaths, Sesset came comfortably on their backs.

She watched her suffer on her back for hours and felt her body as heavy as lead as she lay at ease. As soon as she arrived, seeing the two of them in a state of near fainting, her heart sank.

She arrived, but she struggled to arrive, but the main unit is nowhere to be seen.

She must have expected that there would be three groups of people looking for them. The quiet forest doesn’t even feel like people are gathering, let alone light.

“Don’t be impatient. You can command only when you have confidence in your tactics.”

“But…”

“Keep your head cool. Use everything around you. If you fail, think of your next move. And don’t forget that you have a good scout by your side.”

Rai patted the three-set head, who was about to cry even if he said a little more, and slowly scanned the wide forest.

The forest was quiet except for the distant cry of an owl. The moonlight illuminates the forest mysteriously, but there is no light anywhere other than moonlight.

The longer Rai spends silently looking at the forest, the more Sesset’s shoulders get heavier.

He made them suffer because of his plan and came comfortably, but it ends in failure. The three-set heart was so painful that it could not be put into words.

She looked at the forest in silence for a long time, then looked down at the three-set and said.

“I found it.”

“Yes? Really?”

“Yeah, it’s over there.”

Sesset looked in the direction Rai was pointing her finger, but saw nothing, so she climbed up his shoulder and tried to bring her face closer and their eyes overlapping.

Dangling, Bo points to a point as she closes her hand for three.

“The animals are dispersing from the area.”

“Can you see the animals?”

Even the tree appears as a dot, but the three-set, who cannot see the animal, narrows their eyes to take a closer look, but still sees nothing but the tree.

“Can you see the bird flying?”

“Yeah, one just flew off.”

“There are a lot of people, so the animals are avoiding it.”

Sesset, who still sees nothing but a tree except for a bird that has flown through the sky, looks at him for a long time before giving up and looking at Lai, who has his face close to him.

“Only there is a different momentum. Is it Layla? That seems to be a hint as well.”

“You can’t use mana?”

“Presence and momentum are not felt as mana. It is similar to touch.”

“……Is there anyway?”

“Yes, yes.”

Sesset trusts Rai’s abilities. I had great faith in him not simply because he was an instructor, but because I watched him from the sidelines in training. When he asked for something, he came, and when he gave an order, he fulfilled it.

If he says he is, he is there.

“Wow!

“Kitchen, hey! Neck, neck!”

As the three-set hanging from behind hugged him tightly, the strangled Lai hit his arm and told him to release it, but the joy-filled three-set did not listen and hugged him even tighter.