Team Leader Election
Clatter.
Bardwin wheeled in a large chalkboard. It was for tallying the votes.
[Vote Tally]
1. Aleck
2. Theo
The names of the two were written on the chalkboard. With that, the vote counting began.
Norton pulled a slip of paper from the ballot box and called out the name.
"Aleck."
Right.
As Norton spoke, Bardwin marked a tally next to my name.
"Aleck."
The next one was my name too. A good start.
"Aleck."
My name was called again.
"Ooh—."
"Whoa, Aleck's pulling ahead."
A few kids gasped in admiration as they saw me taking the lead.
Good, keep it going like this.
I closed my eyes and let a faint smile play on my lips, staying calm. The team leader spot was right in front of me. Sure, it was only temporary for the Sama Battleground, but it held a lot of meaning.
First, it would let me block Theo's shady moves.
Second, if I shone as team leader in the Sama Battleground, I'd catch the eye of the Mantis Lord. That meant my chances of snagging an S-rank rune from the Mantis Hall Treasury would skyrocket.
While I was lost in thought for a moment—
"Ooh, it's reversed."
……?
I opened my eyes at the sudden words and looked at the chalkboard.
……!
[Vote Tally]
1. Aleck //////
2. Theo ///////
Six votes for me, seven for Theo. In that short time, Theo had racked up votes in a row and overtaken me.
I narrowed my eyes and glared at Theo. Just then, he turned his head toward me.
A grin.
Our eyes met, and he gave me a soft smile.
Tch.
I clicked my tongue inwardly. The guy had been working hard outside of training to win people over, and it looked like his strategy was paying off.
"Whoa, it's close."
"Their styles are so different, after all……."
"Yeah, I had a hard time deciding right up to the end."
"I was kinda touched that Theo takes such good care of everyone outside training."
"You too? Same here. I twisted my ankle a bit during training, and he noticed and brought me a bandage."
"Man, Theo's more thoughtful than he looks."
I clicked my tongue again at the chatter from the side. Theo had been taking even better care of the trainees than I'd realized.
This is getting tricky…….
"Theo."
"Aleck!"
"Theo."
The situation kept worsening. The current score: 12 for me, 14 for Theo.
To win, I needed at least 16 votes out of the total 30.
To pull ahead, I'd have to sweep all four remaining votes. I watched the tally with growing tension.
"Aleck."
"Aleck."
My name was called twice in a row. My fist clenched tighter.
Just two more votes. In this tense moment, I fixed my eyes on Norton's mouth.
"The…… o."
Ah, damn it.
I let out a sigh, while Theo's face lit up with a smile.
One more vote for him, and he'd be team leader for sure.
Norton pulled out the final ballot and immediately called the name on it.
"Aleck!"
……!
My eyes lit up again as my name rang out.
This makes it a tie?
15 to 15. Dead even.
"……?"
"What?"
"A t…… ie?"
The trainees looked stunned; none of them had expected this.
"Whoa, Aleck! It's a tie?"
"Phew, what a relief."
Kind and Robed sighed in relief beside me. They must've thought I'd lost when Theo pulled ahead at the end.
Hold on, so what happens in a tie?
There'd been no instructions for this. I glanced at Norton, who had the final say.
"Hmm, didn't expect a tie."
Even Norton stroked his chin, clearly caught off guard.
"Should we revote?"
"No, we've already done one vote; it wouldn't mean much."
Bardwin suggested a revote, but Norton shot it down flat.
"Aleck, Theo. What do you two think?"
Norton asked for our input.
"Hm."
Neither Theo nor I answered right away. We didn't have any brilliant ideas.
Suggesting a straight 1v1 would be too obvious. I could've won 100% for sure. But after winning the internal ranking match recently, I couldn't exactly say that out loud. No one would buy that I couldn't beat Theo after taking down Ruslan.
"How about we train a bit more and then revote?"
Theo piped up with his suggestion to Norton.
Hah, look at this guy. He figured more time would let him sway more votes his way?
No reason to dodge.
I smirked inwardly. Truth be told, I was the one who'd benefit more from extra time. I still had plenty of skills I hadn't shown. More time meant a bigger edge for me.
"Hm."
But Norton didn't seem thrilled with Theo's idea.
"Sorry, Theo, but I can't go with that. The Sama Battleground is just a month away; we need to settle the team leader today."
Norton's resolve was firm.
"Aleck doesn't seem to have any strong opinions, so I'll make a proposal."
Norton paused for a beat, then spoke again.
"You two have a match!"
"……!"
I looked at him in slight surprise, and Theo flinched too.
A straight 1v1? That was way too in my favor.
But you always hear people out to the end.
"Not just any one-on-one duel."
"Then……?"
"I just thought of a fun game."
Norton looked at us both and curled his lips into a grin.
* * *
"The rules are simple. The first to rip off the tail tag on the opponent's back wins."
I glanced oddly at the tail tag dangling from my belt.
Tag, you're it…….
You had to get behind the opponent first. That meant either overwhelming them or outpacing them to their back.
Clank.
I looked down at the iron weights strapped to both my arms and legs. The match required wearing these weights.
This would heavily restrict my current advantage: speed.
My edge shrinks, but Theo's stays intact.
Shield mantis clans weren't just tough on offense; their defense was exceptional.
Balancing it like this.
I saw Norton's intent. Supporting me while keeping the game fair. That was his principle.
Under these rules, it would be fairly balanced, as he'd intended. On the surface, it looked slightly favorable to Theo. In a weight-only match like this—no weapons, just basic physicals—the one with superior raw stats had the edge.
But that's before I got the Jinu Iron Ring and Origin Protection Rune.
I chuckled inwardly. No one here truly knew how much I'd grown lately.
And right now, it was time to show it.
"Rules explained. Match starts now!"
At Norton's words, everyone watched Theo and me on the training ground with eager eyes.
The match began—and immediately, everyone was stunned.
Boom————!
A massive crash echoed as Theo's body flew back and slammed into the ground.
"……!"
"Crazy……!"
"Wh-what?!"
Everyone jumped to their feet, eyes wide.
An unimaginable sight.
Grip—.
Even Norton gripped his chair arms harder than ever, eyes bulging in shock.
"Hoo."
I steadied my breath, calming the wildly surging ether inside me.
I'd just concentrated my boosted ether output into a single point and struck Theo. Not full power, of course—just enough not to show it…….
Any more, and there'd be a hole in him.
Praying Mantis Fist.
The basics every mantis learned. But with enough destructive power and precise aim, like now, it could produce results like this.
"Urghhh."
Theo, flung back and rolling on the ground, groaned in pain. His arms, which had blocked my fist, trembled—he must be numb.
I walked up to the crawling Theo and easily yanked off his tail tag.
My victory.
"Woooaaah—!"
"Insane, Aleck! You've gotten even stronger!"
"Is that really a regular mantis?! Thought you were shield mantis for a sec!"
"Kya—!"
Amid the trainees' cheers and gasps—
I became the team leader for this Sama Battleground.
But…… was this really tag?
* * *
"Congrats."
I stared blankly at Theo, who smiled brightly in front of me.
A face that didn't care about his loss at all. Knowing what he really was, it only made him look more suspicious to me.
"Ah! Should shake your hand, but as you see, my arms are like this."
He showed off the bandages wrapped around both arms with a playful whine.
Hm, hard to ignore that much effort.
"……Yeah. Thanks, I guess."
"Haha, you deserve team leader. Looking forward to your great performance in the Sama Battleground."
I watched oddly as Theo walked away after those words.
Just what was he scheming? Now that I'd taken the spot, I wondered how his Amar clan backers would react.
Need to tighten security even more.
I kept my tension up, thinking of the Sama Battleground.
"Alright, everyone take your seats! Before we start today's training, one announcement."
Training proceeded as usual, team leader election aside.
Norton, sporting some pitch-black sunglasses from who-knows-where, grinned.
Whoa, he actually looks like a proper instructor now. Maybe instructing was his true calling.
"The announcement is about the Sama Battleground prizes."
Prizes for the Sama Battleground. Probably not much different from what I remembered.
For me now, the best prize was getting the Mantis Lord's attention. That's why I'd gone for team leader.
"This time, they're selecting an MVP from each league."
……!
I was startled inwardly. MVPs in the Sama Battleground? That was way later in my memories.
The timeline had changed.
What the hell?
I had no idea why the future I'd known had shifted. But…….
Either way, this was a golden opportunity for me.
Because—
"The MVPs will receive rare treasures from the Mantis Hall Treasury as prizes."
I'd get access to the treasury.
This could be my shot at an S-rank rune right away.
I swallowed hard. My instincts screamed opportunity.
Good thing I snagged team leader. Otherwise, I'd have missed this.
To become MVP, you needed standout performance—and without team leader, I might not have gotten the chance.
"Rare chance, so everyone give it your all in the Sama Battleground!"
"Yes—! Got it—!"
Like that, we powered through intense training for just over a month.
And soon, the morning of the Sama Battleground's opening day dawned.