The March of Hardship
Is this the main story…?
The stretch of days spent preparing for the group project was, for Kyle, nothing short of an Arduous March.
It began, of course, with him abruptly landing the position of group leader.
"Apparently we're supposed to appoint a leader. In that case, I suppose I'll do it."
"Absolutely not!"
At Tisha's fierce opposition, Ian tilted his head, the silent question written plain across his face: Why are you against it from the jump?
"Do you even know what a group leader is?" Tisha said. "It's the person who represents the whole group!"
"…So you're saying I don't have the qualifications to represent anyone?"
"Then let me turn that around. Do you think you have those qualifications, Ian?"
What our dear Ian did next was entirely predictable. He nodded with the utmost confidence, a vigorous, full-bodied affirmation.
The result: Tisha letting out a sigh of pure exasperation, and Elga regarding him with a look of utter disbelief.
"Lord Ian. I do not believe those qualifications are something you possess."
Even Leto, for once, delivered a clear opinion instead of his usual "I'm not sure."
"…What is wrong with all of you today?"
Ian muttered in a drained voice, clearly wounded. Tisha crossed her arms as if the answer should have been obvious.
"Ian. The opinions we've shared so far. Recite them for us, please."
"The opinions we've shared?"
"Yes. According to what's written here, the group leader also serves as the presenter. That means you have to gather the group's ideas, organize them, and be able to speak them clearly in class."
"…Tisha, you're shamanism. I'm swordsmanship. Elga is diplomacy. Tero… said he wasn't sure."
"Lord Ian. It's Leto, not Tero."
At Leto's correction, Ian waved a hand as if it were nothing. The gesture was probably meant as an apology, but even that seemed to grate on Tisha.
"See? You can't even keep the group members' names straight, and you want to be leader? And how can you reduce everyone's opinions like that? We have to give a presentation! Do you honestly think that counts as a proper assignment?"
"But the conclusion is correct, isn't it? I don't see anything wrong with it."
"You need to explain it! 'For this reason, under these circumstances, we reached this conclusion'! Something like that!"
At Tisha's outburst, Elga quietly nodded in agreement. Leto even gave a light round of applause, cheering her scolding on. And Kyle, too, was about to clap for the way Tisha was handling Ian without mercy—
"Kyle! You should take the group leader role."
"…Pardon?"
"From where I'm standing, you're the one best suited for it."
For a split second he nearly blurted, Ian clearly wants it—just let Ian do it! A group project was stressful enough on its own. And now they wanted him to be the leader on top of that?
No matter how cooperative the members were, being the face of anything was always a pain. And leading this particular menagerie of personalities came with its own special brand of pressure.
"Is it really necessary that I do it, Tisha?"
"I'm in favor."
"…I second that."
Elga and Leto suddenly cast their votes in favor of Kyle as leader. Just like that, with a majority secured, Kyle found himself group leader in the blink of an eye.
Oh, for the love of— First the group project, and now group leader? What kind of hell is this?
He wanted to refuse. He wanted to say he absolutely would not do it. But on second thought, he realized Tisha had proposed this for a reason.
If Ian took the role, it would be a catastrophe for everyone involved. That had to be avoided at all costs. If Tisha did it, people might sneer about a commoner overreaching. If Elga did it, they'd claim the Grand Duke's daughter had simply strong-armed her way into the position. And Leto simply lacked the leadership for the job.
"…I may fall short in some ways, but I'll give it my best, everyone."
And so Kyle accepted the mantle of group leader—and from that moment on, of course, he tasted hardship in every flavor imaginable.
First there was Ian, desperate to hold Tisha's attention by any means, and Tisha, equally determined to keep him at a distance. One begged to sit beside her; the other begged that he not. Kyle's head throbbed just listening to them.
Naturally he had no intention of granting Ian's request, but he still had to pretend to deliberate. So he let Ian sit next to Tisha once or twice, then deliberately planted himself between them. While he was at it he made a show of coordinating opinions, leaving Ian with no room to complain out loud.
And that was only the beginning of the ways the group made Kyle's life difficult.
"No matter how I look at it, shamanism doesn't seem right, Tisha."
"And why is that, Lady Elga?"
"This land already has magic in abundance. On top of that, we have divine power bestowed by the gods. And now shamanism—something else rooted in faith? What happens if the Holy Order comes out and openly contradicts us?"
"Shamanism is not about seeking gods the way the Order's divine power does. It simply channels human wishes—"
"It doesn't feel all that different to me. More importantly, compared to magic, shamanism falls short in every respect."
She wasn't wrong. Between magic and shamanism, magic stood far above. And because shamanism, like divine power, drew on faith as its source, spreading it across the continent risked a clash with the Holy Order. Even Tisha could find no proper rebuttal and could only hum under her breath.
"I have no desire to put you down, Tisha. But for this topic—the Empire's future capacity for growth—we simply cannot ignore the negative factors shamanism would introduce."
"…By that logic, pure politics and diplomacy have their limits as well."
"Meaning?"
"Thirty years of peace have already passed. I don't believe the Empire is a place that will remain silent forever. And even if the Empire stays quiet, the outside world may not share that intention."
"Which is precisely why diplomacy—"
"I don't believe diplomacy works on people whose only thought is already to fight."
This time Tisha's counter landed cleanly. Elga bit her lip slightly, clearly stung.
"I still believe diplomacy and politics are better than shamanism."
Sensing his mistress was losing ground, Leto suddenly opened supporting fire. Ian, in turn, rushed to Tisha's defense, insisting shamanism was better than diplomacy.
What on earth are you people doing right now?
Watching their group devolve into a sudden two-on-two team battle, Kyle clutched his head.
"Kyle! What do you think?!"
"Kyle. Let's hear your opinion as well."
Oblivious to the chaos inside him, the two women only pressed harder, each eager to push her own case.
The long stretch of patience and suffering finally gave way, and the day of reckoning dawned.
Tisha still looked reluctant to let go of shamanism, but in the end she had conceded. This wasn't a private discussion among five people—it was a presentation before a hall full of students. Debating shamanism, which still received little welcome, would have been a heavy burden.
And Tisha is in the group again. She's already treated like a weirdo for pouring herself into shamanism. If she stands up in a place like this and declares that shamanism will strengthen the Empire's capabilities, the noble students will only look at her even more strangely.
The time wasn't right. Something that could generate a positive impression of shamanism was needed first. Tisha understood that as well, which was why she had finally set her own wishes aside.
"Then for the first half we'll discuss the martial aspects, and from the second half onward we'll move into diplomacy and politics. No objections?"
A café outside the Academy. One last review before class. At Kyle's question, Tisha, Ian, Elga, and Leto all nodded.
"I'll be the one presenting, but it would be best if all of you have the content thoroughly memorized. Professors sometimes spring traps just to check whether everyone actually participated in the group work."
Tisha and Elga both flicked glances at Ian at the same time. No matter how they thought about it, he was the one most likely to fall into such a trap—and the one they worried about most. Leto seemed equally unconvinced about Ian's reliability.
"Don't worry. I read it carefully."
The man under suspicion, of course, was the picture of calm. Where did that confidence even come from? Some kind of protagonist passive skill? But even with that passive equipped, he never seemed to succeed at anything. How was this possible?
Mulling over every possible theory, Kyle took a sip of the coffee in front of him.
"We should get going. It would be better to arrive at the lecture hall early, take our seats, and go over everything one more time."
Elga nodded in agreement with Tisha's suggestion. They had clashed a little over the shamanism issue, but the two of them seemed to have grown closer in their own way. Elga still found it a shame that Tisha was a commoner devoted to shamanism—but Tisha was sharp enough that Elga had quietly begun to covet her talents. Treating her well as a result had, in turn, nudged Tisha's opinion of Elga a little higher.
"You all go on ahead. I'll finish this, settle the bill, and catch up."
At Kyle's words, Ian was the first to rise from his seat. It wasn't that he was dodging the check—he had simply taken "go on ahead" at face value and acted on it immediately.
"I'm sorry, Kyle."
From behind him as he paid, Tisha's small voice reached his ears. At the sudden apology he turned, and she let out a sigh.
"I feel like I piled too much on you. I wanted to help more."
"Not at all. All I'm doing is presenting. You and Lady Elga handled all the opinion coordination. I'd say that was a perfect division of labor, wouldn't you?"
"I suppose, but…"
"Even Ian ended up doing everything he was asked. Honestly, I'm grateful everyone kept up so well."
When given a task, Ian was surprisingly diligent. Told to go to the library and gather materials on the Empire's diplomacy and politics, he had truly thrown himself into collecting them—with Leto's help at his side, admittedly, but it still wasn't freeloading.
"…For some reason, it feels a little noisy out there."
As they stepped out of the café, Ian tossed the remark out casually. The others dismissed it as idle chatter and let it pass. All except Kyle, who, like Ian, had sensed something off.
"…?"
A flicker of Why is this happening? crossed his mind—but his body moved far faster than the thought.
"Eek—?!"
He seized the hand of Tisha standing beside him and yanked her sideways at the same instant—
KRAAAAAASH!!!
—that what had once been a carriage tore through the air and smashed down onto the spot where they had just been standing.