Chapter 81 |
The Opposite of Flag Is Galf
"Let’s have a go."
A brief clash of nerves.
A few words from me were enough to shock the students.
"You’re the challenger, you know."
"Well, of course. You already lost to me once, right? During the last practical."
The moment I accepted the match, I rubbed it in by bringing up that last practical.
Class E’s top student had slammed head-on into Class A’s top student’s declaration of war.
The news spread through the student body like wildfire.
"Ha ha! Seriously?"
"I’m telling you, it’s true! That guy’s a total lunatic!"
"I thought he’d obviously refuse. I never expected him to charge straight in like this...!"
The ripple effect was bigger than I expected.
By the next day, it had made the academy paper’s front page.
Maybe everyone was starved for dopamine because it was exam season, but the rumor spread out of control.
"I heard even the student council is watching."
"The student council? The one only the top 1% of cadets can join?"
"Well... they are the two most talked-about first-years right now."
"Now I can’t help looking forward to the practical! I wish the written exams would just end already!"
"And this round is Capture the Flag, right? Since it’s a team match, it’ll be flashier and way more fun to watch."
Anticipation kept building.
The two of us became the academy’s hottest topic, without question.
As for me, I just sat there grinning and waited for the date.
"You crazy bastard...!"
Of course, my teammates reacted differently when they heard the news.
"What the hell were you thinking? I heard you even provoked that monster bitch...!"
"Ha ha! A declaration of war worthy of Sir Viktor."
Ranne took it in stride.
Caitlin, on the other hand, shouted while clutching her hair.
"It would’ve been bad enough if you just quietly accepted! But you stormed into Class A’s room, made a huge scene, and scratched that bitch raw? Why? What reason did you even have? Thanks to you, the whole school is talking about nothing else!"
Caitlin raged like she was about to lose her mind.
A sticky resentment filled her yellow eyes.
Her expression said, Why are you making this bigger for no reason?
Well, from her perspective, she had every right to feel wronged.
She’d gotten dragged into this half by force.
She’d been openly against it from the moment I first suggested it.
'But...'
Who cares?
You’re already in, so how are you supposed to back out now?
If you hated it that much, you shouldn’t have made a slave bet with me.
"Why did I do it...?"
At her question, I cleared my throat and answered.
"...Hmm, just because? I thought this would be more fun."
"Crazy bastard, crazy bastard, crazy bastard! Aaaagh, you fucking maniac...!"
That was the last straw. She started jumping in place.
A stray current leaked out and sparked.
Bzzzt, bzzzt.
Caitlin looked like she was about to die of happiness.
Seeing her reaction, I smiled in satisfaction.
'Did Dad feel like this when he brought home a whole chicken after work?'
It felt like I was getting full just from this.
The kind of fulfillment that made me wonder if men could get pregnant too.
What?
How would an orphan who never even had a mom, let alone a dad, know that kind of feeling?
Nonsense.
Even if someone was born without parents, what did that lacking start matter if they held enough love?
Whether you had both parents or not had nothing to do with cherishing something and feeling fatherly affection.
I muttered, full of fatherly love.
'Must be nice having parents, you motherfucking bastards.'
As expected, there was no reasoning with non-orphans.
For a moment, I even missed my Slayers comrades.
I forced down the writhing anger and added a benevolent smile to my lips.
"Heh heh."
"Grrk, grrk...!"
Meanwhile, Caitlin looked ready to foam at the mouth.
I shifted the topic and asked Ranne, who had been watching blankly from the side.
"Come to think of it, Ranne-yang, have you ever faced Lady Glacia?"
"Hmm! I’ve crossed blades with her a few times. Since we were first and second place, we ended up sparring now and then."
"What was she like?"
"Well... honestly, she was overwhelming! So much so that I could hardly believe she was my age."
"I’ve heard Lady Glacia can exchange moves with most faculty members."
"Even though we were only one rank apart, I could feel an enormous gap."
At this point, Rin was unquestionably the strongest first-year.
Honestly, even across all years, there weren’t many cadets who could surpass her.
'Including the student council president, maybe about three...?'
Her talent was terrifying.
A genius who could make anyone feel a wall in front of them, not just Ranne.
Of course, since Ranne was the protagonist, she would surpass Rin someday...
'That’s later.'
In the original story, Ranne’s awakened form only unlocked in the late stages.
Which meant it wasn’t strength I could count on right now.
The girl gave an unusually awkward smile.
"Actually... after we sparred a few times, she stopped accepting me as an opponent."
"She stopped accepting you?"
"Exactly. Around my fifth crushing loss, she said, ‘You’re weak too.’ Starting the next day, she wouldn’t spar me anymore. She seemed to focus on training her swordsmanship alone instead."
"Ha... that bitch is still like that?"
Caitlin suddenly cut in and clicked her tongue.
I’d felt it before, but she seemed to really hate Rin.
'Then again, is there anyone who doesn’t...?'
Prickly, vicious, and venomous by nature.
But when it came to Rin, Caitlin turned especially cold.
There was a dark edge to her mood.
'Did those two have some separate history...?'
I wondered for a second, then shook it off.
The urgent matter in front of us came first.
Anything about those two could wait.
"Let’s divide roles first."
Capture the Flag.
Each team member would take one role.
"You all know the rules, right?"
Steal the enemy team’s flag and protect your own.
The Capture the Flag field was divided into three major zones.
Zone 1.
The point where your team’s flag was planted.
Zone 2.
The center of the field.
Zone 3.
The point where the enemy team’s flag was planted.
"The zones you can enter differ by role."
[Sprinter]
-Role that targets the enemy team’s flag.
-Can move through all zones.
[Assistant]
-Role that supports teammates.
-Can move through Zones 1 and 2.
[Keeper]
-Role that defends the team’s flag.
-Can only remain in Zone 1.
So each role had restrictions on what zones it could move through.
During the game, roles could be changed as often as needed at the team leader’s discretion.
However, all three members had to hold different roles.
"I have a question! What if the team’s Sprinter gets restrained by the enemy, or becomes combat-incapacitated? The only role that can enter Zone 3, where the enemy flag is, is the Sprinter. If the Sprinter goes down, don’t the other team members have nothing they can do?"
"Good question, Ranne-yang. If any role is judged unable to perform duties or fully incapacitated, the remaining teammates are temporarily granted access to that zone. As you said, one Sprinter’s retirement shouldn’t decide a team’s defeat."
"Hmm! I see!"
Ranne nodded enthusiastically.
After finishing the explanation, I assigned roles.
"Caitlin-yang, please take Sprinter."
"What? Me?"
"Of course. No one can match your speed, Caitlin-yang."
"No... even so, aren’t you trusting me too much? If I’m the Sprinter, I’m the only one on this team who can approach their flag. And you said if we lose this match, the slave bet tying me to you is canceled, right? What if I betray you?"
"I’ll accept that."
"Seriously?"
"It means I trust you that much."
"..."
Caitlin frowned.
Her face said, What kind of bullshit is this?
"Your feet are the fastest, Caitlin-yang."
"So you’re not even thinking I might drag us down..."
"I’m not."
"..."
Tap.
I lightly touched her forehead.
It meant, don’t overthink it.
"I can’t tell if this is sheer recklessness or if you’ve got something to rely on..."
Caitlin grumbled with a sigh.
Still, she accepted the role.
"...Fine. But don’t whine after we lose."
"Of course."
"This pisses me off."
"Is that a compliment?"
"You think it is?"
And just like that, our Capture the Flag roles were set one by one.
[Team Viktor]
-Sprinter: Caitlin Lettuce
-Assistant: Viktor
-Keeper: Ranne Kihano
We waited for the practical exam day to come.
***
A hectic week flew by.
Midterms had already begun.
For the previous two days, students took their written exams.
"Hey... wasn’t this week’s Curse-Breaking Theory insanely hard?"
"They put in concepts even active sorcerers probably wouldn’t know."
"I heard somebody cried during the magic department exam."
"Fuck, at least it’s over now..."
"What do you mean ‘at least’? We still have the practical."
Now all that remained was the practical.
It was time to show the skills we’d honed over the last three months.
And this practical had drawn especially heavy attention.
[Match 1]
[Team Viktor vs Team Rin]
Because a huge match was scheduled from day one.
Viktor and Rin.
The students cheered for that matchup.
Right now, they were the two hottest names in Grandia.
Their standoff had been so vicious that the match couldn’t help but feel explosive.
"That guy... I heard he charged Lady Glacia head-on?"
"He was seriously bold! Totally different from how gloomy he looks."
"Still, I don’t think he can beat Lady Glacia..."
"What obvious thing are you even saying? The weight classes don’t match at all."
"Not running and actually accepting the match is already applause-worthy."
Most people predicted a crushing Rin victory.
They praised the courage to accept the match, but still expected him to lose to the gap in class.
Some cadets even mocked that he might run away on exam day.
Either way, the days passed, and the scheduled date arrived.
"Hmm."
And then, on practical exam day.
We stood before the prepared field.
Not a simple training ground, but a Capture the Flag field designed specifically for this exam.
Only six people would fight there, yet it was large enough to easily surpass most soccer stadiums.
Space-expansion magic had been applied inside, making it far wider than it looked from outside, and each zone had different terrain.
'This is insane...'
Recording crystal orbs were placed throughout the field.
Outside the arena, a hologram hung in the air.
Lit like a giant scoreboard, it streamed the field interior in real time.
The other cadets were probably watching the match through that hologram.
'They built all this in just a few days?'
Grandia’s stature hit me all over again.
They built a field like this for a single exam.
'This is money-burning on another level.'
A short laugh escaped me.
Before entering the field, we stood in the players’ waiting area.
On a nearby wall, the lineup for this match was written clearly.
[Team Rin]
-Sprinter: Dexy Cluise
-Assistant: Rin Glacia
-Keeper: Gale Levint
[Team Viktor]
-Sprinter: Caitlin Lettuce
-Assistant: Viktor
-Keeper: Ranne Kihano
I slowly scanned the opposing members.
Luckily, it was a combination within expectations.
'No problem.'
We just had to follow the plan.
As I took a short breath, the group on the opposite side came into view.
They were in their waiting area too, each stretching.
Rin’s team.
"..."
Among them, I saw blue hair standing alone in a daze.
An expression without emotion. Faded eyes.
Her aura was so cold she felt like a doll.
Beauty like a jewel carved from ice to its utmost limit.
An untimely winter wind.
I quietly looked away.
Soon, an announcement came through the crystal orb.
《Cadets, wait in your designated zones.》
《This practical will proceed in Capture the Flag format.》
《The team that steals the enemy flag and brings it to its own team zone first will win.》
《The exam will also end if all members of one team are subdued or incapacitated, or if the team leader declares forfeiture.》
It was Javert’s voice.
She was overseeing this practical.
Her signature dry, inorganic tone brushed my ears.
Following the signal, we stepped toward the field entrance.
《Cadets, prepare.》
Wind whipped around us.
A faint mass of light wrapped the area.
"Then, shall we?"
《Enter.》
Fwaaash-!
My vision was swallowed by a pure white flash.
The prepared magic teleported us inside the field.
At the same time, as my vision receded, a blue screen appeared.
Ding-!
[Sub Quest]
-Title: I Will Stand at the Flag.
-Objective: Win the practical exam 'Capture the Flag' overwhelmingly.
-Failure Penalty: None
-Reward: Item 'Unbreakable Flagpole (B+)'
[Time Limit: Until the exam ends]
And so,
the match that would remain in academy history began.
