Chapter 87
The daily routine at the training camp was the same every single day.
In the morning, they climbed the mountain, the half-fainted children barely managed to eat breakfast, rolled around like crazy in the swordsmanship class, ate lunch, stabbed their thighs like mad to stay awake in the tactics class, got hit multiple times while attending the martial arts class, ate dinner, played card games, and fell asleep. And then in the morning again, they climb the mountain.
After spending a full week like this, the children had adapted in their own ways.
“Hmm. Somehow my body wasn’t loosening up. Should I go touch the summit one more time?”
Cilia was flying around,
“Wow, it’s like honey. It’s really damn delicious.”
Teppy was practically drinking the meal right in front of the serving area,
“Seeing the world upside down, I feel like I’ve finally realized the truth about order.”
Morris had half-lost his mind.
They had adapted in ways suited to the environment.
However, Daphne,
‘Ah, it’s really the limit.’
was struggling with her chronic stamina issue.
Stamina: 75
“It’s damn not going up. What more am I supposed to do here.”
Sigh. This damn body.
Daphne muttered while tapping her stiff shoulders.
Still, since today was the day before a holiday, Daphne could endure it.
If she just rolled around until today and rested tomorrow, at least she wouldn’t collapse in front of others.
Yes. Daphne thought so complacently.
“Assembly.”
6 a.m.
As always, Kenrick gathered the children. The children started warming up, expecting to climb the mountain again.
But today was the day before the holiday.
In other words, it was the exam day to evaluate what they had studied over the week.
“As previously announced, today is the day for exams in each subject.”
“Aaah…….”
“However, since it’s the first week, the difficulty of the exams has been greatly lowered.”
“Ooh!”
“Thank you!”
That’s more like it.
No matter how crazy this training center was, they wouldn’t set exams with insane difficulty.
Since it’s only the first week in an 8-week course, the exams would be at an appropriate difficulty level.
The children were relieved.
But.
“You will be divided into 6 groups of 5 each. Each group will enter the mountain from now on.”
“Easy exam…… huh? Did I hear wrong?”
“Enter the mountain.”
“…….”
The children recalled. When they first arrived at the training center, what Nike had said.
-This is a forest belonging to the Ansiha mountain range. Since it’s deep in the mountains, be careful of beasts and monsters. Understood?
-Absolutely do not enter the forest alone. Remember that.
It’s dangerous, damn it.
But why send us there.
The children’s minds went blank.
“There will be rubber balls hidden by the instructors in the mountain. Gold is 5 points, silver is 3 points, bronze is 1 point, and the team that collects the most balls within the time limit wins. Understood?”
Kenrick said, looking at the stunned children.
Well, it’s understandable to be surprised. Being told to enter a mountain that clearly feels terrifying at first glance would be scary.
But there’s no need to worry too much, since the instructors had already taken measures, and on top of that, a defensive barrier was placed, so it wasn’t greatly dangerous.
‘But the children shouldn’t know that.’
They need to think it’s truly dangerous, judge that their lives are truly threatened, and move accordingly. That way, they can draw out their best abilities.
“Question!”
At that moment, Rache, who recovered her senses first, raised her hand.
“Trainee Rache. Ask your question.”
“What is the range? The entire mountain?”
“I said it’s an easy exam. The range is not wide. There are markings for the exam area, so move according to the markers.”
“……Please tell us the range exactly!”
Rache tenaciously clung on, accurately noticing that Kenrick was trying to evade the answer.
“Please tell us the range!”
Kenrick slightly averted his gaze from Rache, who was glaring at him with wide eyes. Ahem! He cleared his throat and answered.
“1 hectare.”
“……10,000 square meters?”
“Yes.”
You said it’s not wide, damn it.
Rache trembled, barely swallowing the curse that was about to burst out. The other children were the same.
Ahem! Kenrick cleared his throat again and added.
“The time is from now until 7 a.m. tomorrow. Departure is in 30 minutes. Understood?”
It meant a full 24 hours.
So the children were even more shocked.
If this is an easy exam, what on earth is a hard exam?
They were scared right now, but next week was scary too, and they didn’t even want to imagine the week after.
“I will now assign the groups. Morris, Nicole…….”
Kenrick began assigning groups without comforting the children at all.
Normally, in such exams, groups are formed centering on those capable of combat, but since it’s still the first week, there were few commoner children who could be directly thrown into combat.
So groups were formed by attaching commoner children to noble offspring.
“That’s it, these 6 groups are the teams. Understood?”
“…….”
Daphne muttered, looking at her team members gathered in twos and threes.
“It’s really fucking hell…….”
The future looked bleak.
***
Daphne had the goal of graduating from the training center in first place. That way, she could flatten that warrior guy’s nose.
That’s why this first-week exam was quite important.
The scores would diverge the most in the first week, and if she didn’t score first here, it could be overturned later.
For that reason, the current situation was utterly hopeless.
“For now, the hellish things I thought of are two.”
Daphne said while wiping her dry face.
“One is this shitty exam.”
“Agree.”
“The other is the shitty team members.”
“……Why?”
Daphne gritted her teeth and glared at each team member one by one.
“One guy who tries to beat me at every turn.”
Joshua, who wasn’t at the seat right now.
“One guy who whines all the time.”
Teppy, who was secretly eating the hidden bread.
“One guy who’s shitty at everything except stamina.”
Bunny, with a gaping expression.
“One guy whose name I’m hearing for the first time now.”
Richard, whom he’s talking to for the first time now.
“And the great me.”
Daphne.
No matter how much she spun the happiness circuit, a good future couldn’t be pictured for this team of 5 in total. Daphne sighed again.
“If this isn’t fucking hell, what is fucking hell. My future is bleak.”
“You……!”
“I’ll be the group leader. There’s no one else to do it besides me.”
The team members got angry at Daphne’s unfiltered words.
“Hey. Your words are really harsh? Aren’t you the youngest here? But you say you’re the best? Are you joking?”
“You.”
Daphne sharply glared at Teiti.
“Have you ever beaten me even once in class?”
“No.”
“Then it’s better to shut up.”
“…….”
“All of you have never beaten me. So I’ll be the group leader.”
In the first place, there wasn’t a kid among them who beat you……. The team members pouted but agreed for now. No, they tried to agree.
“I am the group leader.”
Joshua, who had approached at some point, said ignoring Daphne.
“And the vice-leader will be Bunny.”
Daphne frowned deeply.
“Who said you could decide arbitrarily?”
“The mountain we’re entering, people like us know it better than nobles like you. Especially since I’ve lived in the mountains for a long time, the range of activity is wide.”
Honestly, the one who lived the longest among them was Daphne herself, but she couldn’t say that, so she shut her mouth for now.
“And we have to ‘find’ things in the mountain. That’s why me and Bunny, who have experience moving in the mountains, are suitable.”
Joshua said while attaching the armband marked with group leader on his right arm. Bunny added to his words.
“That’s right! I climb mountains every day, so ordinary forests are clear in my eyes. Just trust me.”
Everyone’s gazes turned to Daphne.
Daphne, who was slowly blinking her eyes, soon smiled and nodded.
“Understood. Let’s do it that way.”
Then Bunny was a bit surprised.
“I thought you would oppose. Since you were talking about the group leader just now.”
“I am not a dictator. Is there a need to oppose a reasonable decision?”
Daphne smiled brightly and gave Joshua a thumbs up.
“Where else would there be such a reliable group leader? I’ll just trust the group leader and go.”
“Hm.”
Joshua felt something uneasy, but since Daphne said she understood, he couldn’t disrupt the atmosphere with unnecessary guesses. And there wasn’t much time left until departure.
“Good. Then as soon as we start, we’ll enter the forest first and find the rubber balls…….”
“Oh. That way, we can at least get 4th place. It’s a good method.”
“……Instead of that, first go ahead, grasp the geography, and find the balls…….”
“That way, we can get up to 3rd place.”
“……Not that…….”
“If we do nothing, we’ll be last.”
Joshua exhaled an angry breath and glared with axe eyes.
“What. What do you want to do.”
“Why ask me, group leader? Isn’t the group leader supposed to decide?”
At Daphne’s calm sarcasm, Joshua pressed the inside of his cheek with his tongue.
“Tell me. What is your thought.”
Daphne shrugged her shoulders as if she knew it would be like this and approached Joshua.
“You guys.”
And then snatched the group leader armband on Joshua’s arm.
“Do you want to get 1st place?”
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