Ominous Portents (4)

At first, the students were completely flustered by the sudden dilemma thrust upon them. But the moment the specific penalties for failure and the sweet rewards for clearing the mission came into view, their eyes began to sparkle with motivation.

"Alright, let's do this!"

"The Southern Army's supposed to be the weakest among the imperial forces anyway, right? There's no way we can't win!"

"If I win this time, I'm going home for a visit."

"Damn it, I have to protect my weekend no matter what...!"

Hmm. What a beautiful sight this was. The terror of the horrific penalties awaiting them in defeat, combined with the sweet rewards that would come with victory, had united the students' hearts as one. All that remained now was for everyone to cooperate harmoniously and walk the concrete path to victory—

If only things had gone that way, it would have been incredibly convenient for me. But reality began to unfold in a completely different direction.

"The enemy has five teams, so shouldn't we split into five teams too?"

"Tsk tsk, you don't even know the basics of military strategy? We need to focus on a single-point breakthrough. A single-point breakthrough."

"What? What did you just say? How dare you lecture about military tactics in front of our family, known as the Spear of the East?"

"Spear of the East or whatever, you don't even attend the tactics classes. And if you're a spear, you should be piercing a point. So let's go with the single-point breakthrough, yeah?"

Tactical bickering.

"Come on, instead of this, how about we pick a commander first? In times like these, going by age order seems best."

"Age order? What nonsense. What's there to brag about being born a few years earlier? There is such a thing as the dignity of one's family, so we should rank ourselves accordingly."

"Hmm. If we're talking about family dignity, then surely it's time for the Pyros family—one of the Ten Swords of the Nahat Grand Duchy—to step forward."

"Oh dear, with the eldest son of the Zeppelin family right here, how could the likes of the Pyros family presume to lead?"

"Have you finished talking?"

"Was I wrong about anything?"

Family pride contests.

"Forget families and all that. Let's look at individual abilities first. We should divide into close combat, magic, and support, then distribute them evenly. That way we'll fight efficiently!"

"Hmm, that's a reasonable suggestion. If the close combat students can just buy us time up front, we from the magic department can bombard them from the rear and annihilate the enemy."

"Haha, what a ridiculous thing to say. When has a stalemate like that ever just conveniently happened? If you support us with some long-range defensive spells, our close combat department can clean everything up nicely."

"Long-range defense? Isn't that something you can just leave to the support department? Why should we—the flowers of the battlefield—have to do such menial work?"

"Menial work? Wow, do you even know who heals you when you get hurt?"

Departmental rivalry.

Hmm. This was getting messy.

"It's a complete mess."

"Well, what do you expect? Suddenly telling them to move as one massive group without a clear leader? Of course it'll turn out like this."

I shook my head at Fiore's reply.

In the game, the player would simply suggest the desired tactic, receive probability corrections based on fame or friendship values, and then a judgment would begin. If successful, things would proceed as the player wanted. If it failed, the player would simply take a position within the tactic proposed by another NPC. That was how it worked.

It wasn't an entirely unexpected scene, but watching it unfold right before my eyes was enough to give me a headache. In terms of pure efficiency, having one commander and several adjutants control all 183 students would be best. But these weren't soldiers, and they certainly weren't emotionless robots.

Sacrificing the relatively weaker members as bait to take out a small elite enemy force might sound good on paper, but who would willingly volunteer to be the bait? Even though this was just a mock battle, it wasn't without the risk of serious injury or death.

"What about those bracelets we used in the last assignment? The ones that take damage in your place. Couldn't we use them again? Then some people might be willing to take on the more dangerous roles."

Just as Ligret said, the Faust-Improved Protective Bracelet we had used before was practically the perfect item for a battle like this. However—

"Those things are ridiculously expensive and take a lot of effort to make. Plus, they're consumables, so they can't be recycled. Using a dozen or so like last time is one thing, but in a situation where hundreds of people are clashing at once, even those won't be enough."

In truth, they were so useful that if it were up to me, I'd want to stockpile dozens in my bag and use them freely. But such magical tools were considered strategic assets. You couldn't just throw money at the problem and get them. Even among the empire's most prominent nobles or members of the imperial family, only a few might carry one or two as spare lives.

Hmm. That wasn't important right now.

When I looked around again, the students—who had been noisily arguing without direction at first—had already begun to cluster into several distinct groups. First was the faction of Morian Kingdom nobles centered around Eagle Pendevig and Hau Pendevig. Next was the old royalist faction of the Spero Kingdom centered around Alphons Betuart.

Hmm. Those two were exactly as expected.

But...

"...Huh? What's with that look?"

‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠

"It's nothing."

If this had been Planetarium, Crow Vein should have been standing at the center of the students from the Nahat Grand Duchy by now. Yet the group gathered around him numbered at most four or five. Weren't you from a pretty influential family? Was this because of me?

Had my pulling him into our group since the beginning of the semester reduced his influence among the students from the Grand ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Duchy? For a friend who should have become the representative of an entire faction to be reduced to leading a mere small clique... it was truly lamentable. Damn it, at this rate I wouldn't be able to use him properly... Ahem. Cough.

"You look like you're thinking something that would make someone really angry."

"I said I wasn't thinking anything."

Just look at that delinquent attitude. While it was annoying how he treated me like an enemy because our families had been rivals for generations, compared to Alphons—whose face alone was dazzling enough to serve as a billboard despite his family's hostility—or the Pendevig twins, who had both skill and dignity despite their somewhat unpleasant attitudes, how could this guy be the third son of one of the Grand Duchy's most prestigious families?

If he were the leader of a biker gang, maybe I'd understand.

The one currently standing at the center of the Nahat Grand Duchy students in Crow's place was a boy with a neat short sports cut who looked the very picture of strict, solemn, and serious. He was apparently from a prestigious family with influence comparable to the Vein family. Since he didn't exist in my memories, he either hadn't appeared in Planetarium or had been a minor character with little importance. Still, that didn't guarantee he lacked ability, so I would need to stay alert.

The real problem was who would lead the largest group—the students from the Empire itself...

"...Your Highness the Princess?"

"'Your Highness the Princess' sounds so awkward, Chrome."

"Ah, right. Lady Lyla. But why are you here...?"

At my question, Lyla Everblaze Barhart covered her mouth with an exaggerated gesture, pretending to be surprised.

"Oh my, does it bother you that I'm standing next to you? You always sat beside me during class without hesitation."

"It's not that it bothers me..."

What I wanted to say was: Why is someone who should be at the center of the imperial students lounging around here so casually?! The students who want to talk to you keep stealing glances but can't bring themselves to approach! Is it because of the pressure from the noble students following the other imperial family members? But just like in the last assignment, the justification this time is solid, so there shouldn't be any problem with Lyla taking the lead.

Since I couldn't openly ask the princess why she wasn't forming a faction, I simply stared at her silently. She gave me a somewhat mischievous smile and said,

"You won against me in the last match, didn't you? So this time, I thought I'd try standing on the same side and receive your command for once."

Uh, excuse me? That last match was just a small-scale team game with six or fewer people per team. This time we're talking about a large-scale ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠battle with hundreds moving at once. How could those be the same? More importantly, to defeat the five enemy generals according to my goal, I had to prevent any one team from becoming overwhelmingly powerful.

Having both the Nameless War Demon and the Heir of Red and Blue Blood in one party would be reassuring beyond words from an ally's perspective, but this scenario couldn't be cleared with a single-point breakthrough strategy. For the sake of the entire team, my existing party centered around me and Ligret needed to operate separately from the imperial faction centered around Princess Lyla.

The moment I was about to voice my refusal—

Someone poked me in the side. When I turned to see what was going on, Fiore was looking at me and shaking her head. She then mouthed words without making a sound.

Re-verse? What?

When I still looked confused, Fiore pointed alternately at me and Princess Lyla.

She wanted me and the princess to switch?

......Ah.

A thought suddenly flashed through my mind, and my eyes widened involuntarily. Why hadn't I thought of this before?

Even if I formed a separate team with Lyla and the two teams coordinated with each other, it would be difficult to exert influence over the other students. That's why I had planned to simply guide the formation of roughly five teams and then rush forward when they began their respective assaults on the enemy camp—but now that I thought about it, there was no need to do it that way.

I turned my gaze to Princess Lyla and spoke.

"Even I must admit that my victory in that match was largely due to luck. If we consider only tactical and strategic ability, Your Highness's skill was clearly superior."

"You're too kind, Chrome. Excessive humility isn't good either."

"No, I truly mean it. That being the case... if it's alright with you, Lady Lyla, would you be willing to take command of me and my friends?"

No matter how good a plan I came up with and how passionately I explained it, these prideful students weren't going to obediently say "Yes, sir" and follow my control. But what if it was Princess Lyla giving the orders? Especially if it was the same person who had mercilessly beaten down even nobles who opposed her, and who had caused a gambling craze in this sacred place of learning with some bizarre new business scheme, now willingly lowering her head?

Come on, kids. Hurry over here.