Chapter 81
Chapter 81
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 81
Chapter Title: Getting Serious (1)
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“…I don’t know him.”
At the delayed response, Professor Dieter Riesner narrowed his eyes.
“Really?”
“Yes. I don’t know him.”
At least, not in this life.
Even after hearing my answer, he watched me for a while with a suspicious gaze.
I tried my best to feign composure and meet his stare.
But my composure didn't run deep.
Because the bulk of my shallow tactical knowledge came from him.
After staring at me for a long time, Professor Dieter Riesner spoke again.
“There was something that bastard always used to say.”
It sounded less like he was talking to me and more like he was muttering to himself, speaking his thoughts as they came.
“That the knights of the Empire would one day suffer a great defeat. That they can only see the enemy right in front of them, so if someone were to exploit that habit, they would have no choice but to fall for it.”
At those words, I almost let out a hollow laugh.
It was something Yanick had said to me countless times in my past life.
‘Dealing with the Empire’s knights is so easy. Just set the stage for them, and they'll be too busy killing each other to even notice who set it up.’
It seemed that madman had been spouting similar nonsense even back in this era.
How fearless, with the Empire’s Eight Great Families still standing strong and its knights watching with sharp eyes.
Then again, Yanick never did have a way with words.
He was the type to openly stir up public outrage, boasting that if he had reached his current position just a little earlier, before the knights were worn down by the horrific Great War, he could have reduced their numbers to at least half of what they were now.
He had a talent for making enemies and worsening situations every time he opened his mouth.
It wasn't for nothing that he earned the nickname “The Calamity-Courting Mouth.”
“Back then, I just thought he was some arrogant fool who thought he was the only smart person in the world, but…”
Professor Dieter Riesner was still lost in his monologue.
“At this rate, we’re bound to be vulnerable to the enemy’s deception…”
“If there are those who wish to shake the Empire, they will surely target this weakness…”
“This is not the time to be watching from the sidelines as if it’s some entertaining spectacle…”
“Could it be that this is why the steering committee deliberately divided the teams into an odd number…?”
He seemed to be so lost in his own thoughts that his inner monologue was spilling out.
“This is no time for this. I need to go talk to the other professors.”
Having reached a conclusion on his own, Professor Dieter Riesner vanished.
“…?”
Left standing there, I lingered blankly for a moment before returning to the kids.
“You!”
Having regained his senses, Udo came charging at me.
“Let go! I’m telling you, he aimed for a spot without a protector on purpose!”
A large bump was on the back of his head, and kids trying to hold him back were clinging to both of his arms.
“Ah, ahh.”
I bolted.
“Pant, pant.”
In the end, the childish chase only ended when an out-of-breath Udo collapsed.
“The professor had urgent business, so I’ll be announcing the results instead. No complaints, right? Anyone with a complaint can take it up with the professor directly. Anyway.”
The assistant instructor, filling in for the professor who had disappeared on a whim, announced the results of the flag capture match.
“Since no team captured a flag and the number of remaining cadets is the same, it’s a draw.”
It was, without a doubt, a draw.
And so, the eventful first team competition came to an end, and the cadets returned to their dorms.
“Hey.”
As I slowly walked behind the crowd of kids, watching them go, the twin sisters called out to me.
“What was the other method?”
“You know, the one you mentioned. Not the one about not losing, but the easy way to win.”
They’d said just hearing it would accumulate bad karma and refused to listen, but it seems their curiosity got the better of them.
“It was nothing special…”
Since there was no reason to hide it, I briefly satisfied their curiosity right there.
I’d provoke the kids, lure them out, and then lead them to another team’s base as if it were our Team 3’s base.
“And after that, well.”
Having already witnessed how they would charge in headfirst if the stage was set, the sisters seemed to have no trouble understanding the part I left out.
“I want to argue that such a childish trick wouldn’t work, but after what I’ve already seen, I can’t.”
I didn’t bother refuting her claim that it was a childish trick.
In the first place, grand tactics and strategies were a luxury when dealing with kids who weren't even fully grown.
A chicken knife for a chicken, a bull knife for a bull.
They might become high-flying knights later, but for now, they were just fledglings who had just left the shelter of their families. A childish toy sword was more than enough to handle them.
Besides, childish methods often work best on children, rather than mature and sophisticated ones.
“Hmm, I think I kind of get it.”
“In short, you’re saying the method should change depending on the opponent.”
Having summarized my words in her own way, the sister nodded as if she’d had some sort of epiphany.
It wasn't an incorrect conclusion.
“Then what if…”
“In that case…”
The sisters continued to pepper me with questions.
Walking while giving them decent answers, we soon found ourselves in front of the dorms.
“This is our way.”
The female cadets were assigned to a separate dormitory, so we parted ways there.
Left alone, I also headed to my room.
Just as I rounded the corner.
“You, the kid from Team 3.”
Someone blocked my path.
“Let’s settle our unfinished business next time.”
I wondered who it was, and it turned out to be the archer from Team 2 who had thrown away his own chance with his pretentiousness.
“This time, it ended anticlimactically because I lost my footing, but next time, there will be no mercy.”
To be precise, it was less that he lost his footing and more that I had driven him to it, but I didn't point that out to provoke him.
Unlike Yanick, I was a man of common sense who knew what to say and what not to say.
“I hope you will approach our next duel with a more serious attitude.”
I doubted such a day would ever come, but for now, I told him I would.
“Good.”
The archer kid nodded, looking pleased with himself for some reason.
Then, with what he probably thought was a cool wave of his hand, he disappeared.
“I wonder if this batch is especially full of idiots, or if it’s always like this.”
From the ignorant and aggressive Udo to the chatterbox Angelo, and now this archer kid who just left.
I was surrounded by kids who all seemed to have a screw loose somewhere.
I let out a short sigh and entered my room.
Yom yom!
As I entered, the Mandragora sprout greeted me as always.
Its unchanging demeanor pleased me as well, and I gently stroked its leaf.
Yooom…
The sprout pressed its leaf against my hand and let out a long cry, much like a puppy greeting its owner.
“Come to think of it, pets are forbidden in the Cradle. Is this one okay?”
Technically, it was closer to a pet plant than a pet animal.
Anyway.
I changed my clothes and lay down on the bed.
Channel 「Periphery Constellation」 is not an active channel.
I had hoped, but as expected.
The Stars were still silent.
I wondered if they’d gotten into trouble with the ‘Highest Floor’ or whatever it was for hiding me.
I was worried, but there was nothing I could do.
“Well, they’re Stars. What could possibly happen to them?”
Having reached that conclusion on my own, I let my mind drift to other thoughts.
I never dreamed that a professor at the Cradle would know Yanick.
The Yanick of this era wasn't a lord of a war legion, a proud pillar of the Great War, but merely a mercenary.
I wondered what kind of acquaintance they had, and what their relationship was.
But more than anything, I was incredibly curious about what Yanick was like now, and what his Dawnbreakers were like.
“Right now, they’d all be around the advanced mercenary level, barely past intermediate? And the mercenary group’s rank would be small to medium, I guess.”
If I could, I wanted to ask Professor Dieter Riesner for details, but I couldn't.
In this life, I had no connection to Yanick.
“Ah, I’m so curious.”
I had wanted to see the fledgling Dawnbreakers at least once.
And it wasn't just them.
I was curious about what all the people I had known in my past life were doing now.
Among them was Roman.
It wasn't that I missed Roman or longed to see him.
It was just pure, simple curiosity.
For instance,
“If the Black Knight and a 10-Star Knight were to meet…”
Curiosity about things like the meeting of the century’s geniuses, which never came to pass in my previous life.
An unpredictable absolute being and a foul-tempered genius.
“Heh. That would be fun.”
Of course, this was a situation that could only be enjoyed from the detached perspective of a spectator; I had no desire to get involved with them.
“Hm?”
Suddenly, the crown of my head tickled.
It was a familiar sensation, so I checked the Periphery Constellation channel again.
Channel 「Periphery Constellation」 is not an active channel.
But the Stars were still out of contact.
As I tilted my head in confusion, the tickling sensation on my head slowly faded.
I guess it was just because I had been sweating too much.
After that, I was lost in thought for a while.
Hearing the name of someone I was close to in my past life in such an unexpected place naturally led my thoughts to the coming chaos.
And to the Cradle, which was on the verge of its fall.
“Hmm.”
My mood sank like a stone.
The impending war, the scheduled fall of the satellite city.
Both were issues far too heavy for my current self to handle.
I agonized over it for a long time, but there was nothing I could do right now.
My only comfort was that there was still some time left.
Zzz.
After worrying for a while, I drifted off to sleep.
And then.
“Gyaaaaaaah!”
I woke up with a vigor I hadn't felt in a long time.
“Damn you, Roman!”
Cursing the Roman in my nightmare, who for some reason was especially vicious tonight.
Fortunately, the soundproofing in the dorm was so good that, unlike in the lower district, my scream didn't cause a commotion.
I tried to go back to sleep.
The nightmare of Roman, which usually happened once and was over, continued throughout the night.
In the end, I spent the night waking up and falling back asleep repeatedly.
“Let’s begin.”
And then came Professor Navie’s guided sparring, which I faced in a daze.
“Huk.”
I was once again sliced to pieces by the Simgeom.
Over and over again.
“So exhausting.”
It was a particularly long day.
But the guided sparring, which felt like it would never end, finally concluded, and all my scheduled activities were finished.
I was about to head back to the dorm and collapse.
“Ah. Professor has an announcement, so Team 3, please stay behind.”
An assistant instructor appeared from somewhere and stopped me and the other members of Team 3.
“Good news, bad news. Which do you want to hear first?”
No one answered the assistant instructor’s question.
Everyone looked like they couldn't care less.
“I’ll choose then?”
After a moment’s wait, the assistant instructor spoke.
“I’ll start with the good news.”