A Clue to Victory
Gio Strandal
His current identity was a first-year freshman who had only just enrolled at the Academy.
His true face, however, was that of an executive of Angra Mainyu—the heretical cult the Sun Order hunted with fire in their eyes.
His mission was to watch the Academy's movements, then either recruit the students who showed promise into the cult—or assassinate them.
Having only just slipped inside, he was running the operation toward information-gathering for now, and he had quickly put together a list of persons of interest. Naturally, the top-scoring freshmen had all gone on it.
Sara Leoris. Arsha Swordhorn. Bohn Zaborg. And Johann Baker.
Those four were the ones he was watching with particular care.
"I'm talking about a three-on-three Department Exchange Match. Training-ground privileges and the honor of the department on the line."
The moment Gio Strandal let the words exchange match leave his mouth, Professor Zenia's face bloomed into a smile of deep, private triumph.
The Department Exchange Match was one of the Academy's oldest traditions: a large-scale duel in which students representing their departments stepped forward to decide which side was superior. Professor Zenia herself had represented the Spear Arts Department in her student days, and she had distinguished herself more than a few times.
"A Department Exchange Match! That's a wonderful idea!"
Professor Zenia looked at Professor Izumi with a face full of confidence, her eyes all but asking, And just how do you plan to wriggle out of this one?
"Eeeek...! A Department Exchange Match...! Wh-what do we dooo...?"
Judging by the reaction, even a lame excuse had failed to present itself.
Professor Izumi shrank in on herself and turned to look at her students.
"This is a disasterrr...!"
"We've got the top-ranked freshman on our side~! Just take them up on it!"
Elly slapped my back with a confident shout.
Professor Izumi poured cold water straight over that enthusiasm.
"A Department Exchange Match requires at least three contestants to step forwaaard...! The format is three one-on-one duels, and the points from those matches are added together.... In other words, even if Johann wins, one of the other two still has to take a match for us to winnn...."
"Whaaat!? Th-that's so unfair...! Can't we just do a captains' duel!?"
Elly protested at the top of her lungs. Gio Strandal answered with a slimy smile, slippery as an eel.
"A Department Exchange Match is a different matter from a personal duel. The purpose of an exchange match is to compare the average level of each department and determine which is superior. If the honor of the department is at stake, shouldn't it naturally be decided by an exchange match?"
"Urgh...! Th-that's..."
Unable to find a hole in the logic he had laid out, Elly let out a groan. Sierra's face grew worried as well.
"Wouldn't it be better to just back down here?"
The Thief Department had never had much honor to begin with. Better to withdraw than to burn themselves out on a contest with so little to gain and such poor odds of winning.
"Heh. Looks like they're already thinking of running."
"Isn't that pretty boy over there basically their ace?"
"Who? The guy who stole Miss Swordhorn's top rank?"
"Ah, now I get why he joined the Thief Department. He snatched someone else's seat so cleanly. Perfect fit for a thief."
"Is that how it works? Bwahaha!"
The moment the Thief Department students showed any sign of backing down, the Spear Arts students tore into them like jackals that had spotted prey. The male students' jealousy toward Johann in particular stoked the heat of those insults.
Crack—!
The light went out of Sierra's eyes. She felt something snap inside her head.
They could insult her all they wanted. Insulting Johann, however, was unforgivable.
"How dare you vermin..."
"Eek! Sierra! You've suddenly got a look like you're about to drown somebody~! Is this the power of love!?"
Sierra walked toward the Spear Arts Department, step by measured step. As a woman radiating a killing frost in midsummer came at them with dead eyes, the students who had been piling onto Johann froze and took a step or two back.
"Wh-what?"
She had never stood this tall in front of nobles before. Sierra glared at them with bloodshot eyes.
"If we win, you apologize for insulting Johann just now."
"Y-you think that's going to scare us? Fine. We'll apologize. We'll even smash our heads into the dirt for you! But if we win, that Johann guy has to admit it too—that he took Miss Swordhorn's top rank with underhanded tricks!"
"Ha! That's ridiculous! Johann earned first place with his own strength!"
"Don't make me laugh! How could the likes of a commoner possibly surpass Miss Swordhorn or Miss Leoris!? He must've used some filthy trick!"
Johann nodded at the Spear Arts student's words.
"Very well. I'll admit it. If I lose, that is."
"Eeeek...! J-Johann! Are you sure that's all righhht...?"
Professor Izumi asked in shock.
Johann had earned first place purely through his own ability. To deny that with his own mouth was no ordinary humiliation. Anyone who had spoken only the truth, only to be branded a liar on the spot, would feel the injustice of it.
An exchange match could not be won on individual strength alone. An entire department had to become a single team before victory would come to hand. Separate from Johann's own power, his choice looked like a reckless act of throwing his honor away.
"Johann, I'm sorry."
Sierra bowed her head in apology.
"Sorry for what, all of a sudden?"
"I accepted the exchange match on emotion! I got so angry when they insulted you that I just..."
Was that something to apologize for?
If anything, the way Sierra thought of me was admirable—endearing, even. I let out a small laugh and reached out to ruffle her hair.
"Whaaat! We've got less than ten minutes of strategy time left and you're flirting!? How is a single girl supposed to live like this~!"
Elly held a thumbs-down at us from the side.
"Right now we need to think about a strategy to winnn...!"
Professor Reyna said, sneaking a glance at the Spear Arts Department holding their own strategy meeting across from us.
The exchange match was one of Legend Route's major pieces of content. The first step in any strategy for winning a Department Exchange Match was predicting the opponent's lineup. Professor Reyna had astutely pointed that out.
"The Spear Arts Department's contestants will probably be Bohn Zaborg, Saad Vilt, and Gio Strandal...!"
"Saad Vilt—is that the Vilt family?"
"That's righhht...! I believe he posted quite a strong result on the entrance exam...! He's probably the Spear Arts Department's number twooo...."
"Who's Gio Strandal? I've never heard the name."
"He's the student who first proposed the exchange matchhh...! I believe his entrance scores were fairly good...! He's a commoner...!"
As expected, even Professor Reyna didn't have much on Gio Strandal.
"I'll put Johann in last...! The Spear Arts captain is Bohn Zaborg! He'll almost certainly come out for the final matchhh...! You have to win that oneee...!"
"I'll live up to your expectations!"
"I'm counting on you, Johannnn...! The problem is taking one of the other two matches..."
That won't be easy. Not right now.
Though it depends on how the other side comes out.
Strategy time ended, and both sides submitted their lineups. Ours was Elly, Sierra, then me—a lineup built on the assumption that Bohn Zaborg, their strongest fighter, would go in as captain. That way Sierra and Elly could face one of the two relatively weaker opponents.
"Eek...! I-I think they got us in the ban-pickkk...!"
The Spear Arts lineup was Bohn Zaborg, Saad Vilt, then Gio Strandal. There's no ban phase, so it was just a pick fight, wasn't it?
"Heh heh~! I've got far more exchange-match mileage than you! I competed constantly back when I was a student!"
Professor Zenia puffed her chest and snorted with pride after winning the lineup battle.
The Spear Arts strategy was to offer Gio Strandal up as a sacrificial stone while locking in wins from Bohn and Saad.
If the Bohn card went up against me, a single loss from either Saad or Gio would end it—but by turning Bohn into a guaranteed first win, they cut the variables down as far as they would go. If Saad won, the match would never even reach my turn, and even if Saad lost, they still had one more chance.
If they seized the momentum with Bohn's victory, they could close the whole thing with two straight wins. A fine lineup. We had, indeed, lost the draft.
"Eeeeeek! My opponent is Zaborg!!! That's impossible!!!"
Elly panicked so hard she could have been mistaken for Professor Reyna. I gave her a thumbs-up.
"Do your best."
"J-Johann! Isn't there some way? Some brilliant method to exploit Zaborg's openings!?"
With Elly's current stats, that seems like a bit of a stretch.
"Want me to teach you how to take a hit without it hurting?"
"I-I don't need that! Fine! If it's come to this, I'll show you the grit of the Janette Merchant Guild's mascot! I, Elie Janette, will not go down easy!"
So saying, Elly strode forward looking thoroughly confident. Professors Reyna and Zenia would jointly referee the duel. Normally they would have brought in a third party, but since this exchange match had sprung up on the spur of the moment, the two of them would handle it.
"E-Elly.... Are you readyyy...?"
"Elie Janette! I will raise the honor of the Thief Department!"
Once Elly and Bohn were ready, Professor Zenia shouted with vigor.
"The rules are a one-on-one unlimited duel. Dropping your weapon, falling unconscious, or having your back touch the ground constitutes a loss. Begin!"
The duel began.
The instant it started, Bohn's spear moved as if it were dancing.
Spear Soul, Chapter One: Crescent Slash
"Hngh~!"
The match was over in a second. Elly had no hope of stopping an all-out attack from Bohn from the very first instant. A pitiful defeat, utterly at odds with the bold front she had put on.
Well. I'd known it would go this way. Without me in the picture, Bohn Zaborg would have taken third among the incoming class.
Hoping for Elly to win would have been more than greedy. It would have been absurd.
"Zaborg wins...."
Professor Reyna declared it in a deflated voice.
Next up was Sierra versus Saad Vilt. I tapped Sierra's rigid shoulder and spoke.
"Sierra. Don't tense up too much."
"Ugh...! If I lose, it's over, right!? Hooo.... I don't want to be nervous, but I can't help it. I shouldn't be like this..."
Unlike Bohn Zaborg, a lead and playable character in Legend Route, Saad Vilt was a supporting character whose skill was not quite so overwhelming.
He would still outclass Sierra as she was now in both stats and skills, but the gap was far smaller than the one between Elly and Bohn. In other words, there was a hill she could climb.
What Sierra needed right now was a small, precious tip that could overturn that slight difference. I leaned in and whispered it against her ear.
"Just remember this. In other words..."