Complaints burst out from among the students who had been pleased with their original teammates.
“How can you do that!”
“Let’s just leave it as it is, Professor.”
Stefan, seated again, wiped his brow and let out a sigh of relief.
“Whew, what a relief. I nearly lost an entire semester.”
Rita shook her head and spoke primly.
“Stefan, what’s gotten into you. They say even a broken clock is right once a day—maybe that saying was about you.”
“Rita, at times like this, just say thank you. Comparing me to an inorganic clock makes me so sad.”
“No, that’s not what I…… ugh, fine. Thank you.”
Rita and Stefan, named by Professor Wallace, immediately left for another table. And the students who would fill the empty table 3 approached the table where Jaelin sat.
“Hello? We meet again?”
It was Nathan, Lionel’s friend, whom she had met at the bank earlier.
“H-huh? H-hello.”
The moment Jaelin’s greeting ended, the last student who would become a team member also came to table 3.
Pulling out the chair roughly enough to make a sound, the one who plopped down crookedly on it was none other than Adrian.
Perhaps feeling Jaelin’s gaze, Adrian turned to her and glared.
“What are you looking at?”
“S-sorry.”
Jaelin immediately pulled her gaze away from Adrian’s face.
“Now, with this, team assignments are complete. Next, each team must select a leader, yes? The leader determines the character of the team. Please choose your leader, keeping in mind that the choice of leader can mean the difference between life and death for that team.”
The moment the professor’s words fell, Adrian looked back and forth between Jaelin and Nathan and opened his mouth.
“Who wants to do it?”
Jaelin cautiously avoided Adrian’s gaze.
She was not confident about being a team leader. She had never led anyone before, and she did not know much about monster mock combat either. She would surely just end up being a burden.
Just then, Nathan, meeting Adrian’s eyes, spoke as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
“You should do it. This kind of thing is originally the swordsman’s job.”
“Cut the nonsense.”
“Yeah? I don’t mind doing it myself. If it’s all right with you.”
At Nathan’s meaningful smile, Adrian’s expression crumpled. If a guy like Nathan took charge of the team, there was no telling where the team would end up.
Nathan had a goal-oriented way of acting, so there was a strong chance he would ignore trivial matters and lead the team solely toward achieving results.
“Ugh. Fine, I’ll just do it. But important decisions are mine. Follow me unconditionally.”
“All right. Then team 3’s leader is Adrian? Jaelin, what about you? Are you okay with that?”
“Y-yes. I’m fine with it.”
Just then, Adrian, his mouth twisted, glared at Jaelin.
“Do you even have thoughts of your own? This is fine, that is fine. Why do you have no backbone?”
“I-I really am fine with it, that’s why……”
Intimidated by Adrian’s rough tone, Jaelin muttered sullenly.
“Adrian, let’s not be so harsh on someone who just entered the Academy. She probably doesn’t know much yet—how would she know what’s good and what’s bad? Right?”
Perhaps displeased by Nathan’s hand lightly patting his shoulder as if to encourage him, Adrian coldly slapped Nathan’s hand away.
“Now, since each team’s leader has been decided, leaders, please come forward and submit the slips with your team members’ names written on them.”
At Professor Wallace’s words, the leaders of each team headed to the platform.
Among the students who went forward was Lionel. Lionel, a full hand taller than the other students, stood out unmistakably.
Of course, a few students like Adrian and Nathan were just as tall, but Jaelin did not see them at all.
Professor Wallace handed out materials related to this semester’s mock class to the leaders who had come forward and added a brief explanation.
Having returned to table 3, Adrian distributed the class materials to Jaelin and Nathan.
Adrian, quickly flipping through the assignment sheet Professor Wallace had handed out, opened his mouth.
“This assignment’s goal is to clear a hologram arena full of monsters in a short amount of time. Everyone come up with tactics on how best to clear it. You should all already know well from your studies that different monsters appear depending on the terrain.”
“I-I don’t really know that.”
Adrian, lifting his eyes from the assignment sheet, glanced at Jaelin.
“Then study that part separately. The countermeasures differ wildly depending on the monster, so you should at least know the monsters’ weaknesses.”
“Okay.”
“Do you know what the terrain of the hologram arena is like? You probably don’t know this either. Right?”
At Nathan’s question, Jaelin shrank and nodded.
“Yes. I-I don’t really know.”
“Then memorize the terrain map in advance too. You should at least know the escape routes so you can run away without getting in the way.”
At Adrian’s stiff reply, Nathan slyly draped his arm over Adrian’s shoulder.
“Come on, Adrian. What’s with you? So scary. Relax your face a little. Jaelin just entered this school this year and doesn’t know anything. Instead of just telling her to study, shouldn’t we help her?”
“Then you teach her.”
“Yeah? Sure, why not.”
Nathan scratched the back of his head and accepted without a care. It was Jaelin who refused instead.
“Ah, no. It’s all right. You must be busy, so you really don’t have to.”
Adrian, having scanned the assignment sheet, tossed it down onto the desk as if throwing it.
“Just accept Nathan’s help when he offers. Later, whining about how you didn’t know anything because no one helped you would be an even bigger nuisance.”
“Yeah, don’t feel burdened. I’m just going to gather the class materials I studied last year and give them to you. Whether you make them your own or not is entirely up to you. Right?”
Nathan spoke to Jaelin as if it were no big deal.
“Ah…… Then I’ll gratefully accept.”
“By the way, is this your first time doing mock combat?”
“Yes. I-it’s my first time.”
“A mountain of obstacles, this is.”
At Jaelin’s answer, Adrian let out a deep sigh and furrowed his brow.
Jaelin was practically no different from an ordinary person. It would be a relief if she did not faint in front of the monsters during mock combat.
How he was going to lead this team going forward—his head was already aching.
***
“Kiya! I’m telling you, if I hadn’t stepped up right there! We would have been—”
Stefan made a clicking sound with his mouth and drew a finger across his throat.
“Good grief, Stefan. You’re the type who’d stay afloat in water just because your mouth is so busy.”
“Rita, that’s a compliment, right? Hurry up and say it is!”
“Believe whatever you want to believe.”
“Well, I never. It’s this hard to hear a word of thanks. Jaelin appreciates me, don’t you? Hmm, hmm? We escaped a team made up entirely of magical design students! You know it’s all thanks to this body of mine.”
Stefan, lost in self-admiration, raised both arms and spun once in place.
“Yes. Th-thank you, Stefan. It’s all thanks to you.”
She did not know what she should be thanking him for, but Jaelin nodded anyway.
“See this? Our Jaelin knows how to be grateful for my goodwill.”
Rita rolled her eyes upward slightly and shook her head.
After the monster mock class ended, Stefan, Rita, and Jaelin were on their way together to the Magical Engineering Building to be assigned their individual workstations.
Along the way, Jaelin learned that Rita was the class representative of the magical design department and that she had been forced into the position.
Jaelin decided to ask something she had been curious about since earlier.
“Um, there’s something I’ve been wondering……”
“What, what? Ask this Stefan. I’ll tell you anything!”
“Okay. Earlier, when we ended up on the same team. You were really, really upset. Is it really that bad if all three are magical design students?”
At Jaelin’s question, Rita answered first.
“Of course it is. There’s no one to take hits. And our attack power is the worst.”
“Exactly, exactly. You need at least one swordsman to take the hits. That way, while they’re getting hit, you can at least run.”
Stefan nodded in agreement with Rita, his face rather serious.
“I-I see.”
Jaelin thought three magical design students could probably manage well enough, but real combat was apparently quite different from what she imagined.
Just then, as if something had occurred to her, Rita suddenly stopped walking.
“Wait, you said your name is Jaelin, right? Aren’t you the student the department head has been repeatedly calling on the community to come see her?”
At the new information pouring from Rita’s mouth, Jaelin tilted her head.
“C-community? What’s that?”
Startled, Rita stopped and turned to Jaelin.
“What? You don’t even know about the community yet?”
“No. I-I’ve never heard of it.”
Just then, Stefan, his eyes wide, slapped his forehead.
“Oh no! Sorry. I was supposed to tell you and completely forgot. Why did I do that?”
“Honestly. That’s just like you.”
Rita narrowed her eyes at Stefan as if he were hopeless.
“We’ll stop by the Student Union Building and register right away. Jaelin, are you free this afternoon?”
“Yes, I’m free.”
“Then let’s go register together once the seat assignments are done.”
Having said that to Jaelin, Stefan resumed walking and asked Rita.
“Anyway, why on earth is the department head calling for Jaelin? She’s not the type to call students in separately. She’s a person with as much interest in the magical design department as there is dirt under an ant’s toenail.”
Rita shrugged lightly.
“Who knows. How would I know what’s in that person’s mind? Jaelin will find out when she goes. Anyway, go to the department head’s office sometime this week. It’s in the faculty building, so stop by when you have time.”
“Yes. Th-thank you for telling me, Rita.”
Arriving at the Student Union Building, the three soon received their seat assignments. Jaelin got a window seat with a full view of the garden.
She quite liked the seat where the fresh green garden was clearly visible.
