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Chapter 17
Complaints erupted among students who had been satisfied with their original teams.
“That’s not fair!”
“Let’s just stick with the teams we had, Professor!”
Seated again, Stefan wiped his forehead and let out a relieved sigh.
“Whew, thank goodness. I nearly wasted an entire semester.”
Rita shook her head with a huff and said curtly,
“Stefan, what’s gotten into you? Even a broken clock is right twice a day—maybe that saying was made for you.”
“Rita, now’s the time to just say thank you. Comparing me to a lifeless clock is just too sad.”
“That’s not what I was saying… Ugh, fine. Thanks.”
As instructed by Professor Wallace, Rita and Stefan soon moved to their new teams. Then, the student replacing them approached Table #3, where Jaylin was sitting.
“Hey! We meet again.”
It was Nathan, Lionel’s friend whom she’d met earlier at the bank.
“Uh, oh? H-hello.”
Just as Jaylin finished greeting him, the final member of their team also arrived at Table #3.
With a loud scrape, he yanked out a chair and slumped into it crookedly—it was none other than Adrian.
Sensing Jaylin’s gaze, Adrian turned toward her and glared.
“What are you staring at?”
“S-sorry.”
Jaylin quickly averted her eyes from his face.
“Now that teams are settled, it’s time to pick a team leader. The leader will set the tone for the team. Remember, depending on who you choose, the fate of your team may change entirely.”
As soon as the professor finished speaking, Adrian looked back and forth between Jaylin and Nathan and asked,
“Who wants to do it?”
Jaylin carefully avoided Adrian’s gaze.
She wasn’t confident about being the leader. She had never led anyone before, and she knew very little about mock monster battles. She was certain she’d only hold the team back.
At that moment, Nathan met Adrian’s eyes and spoke like it was the most obvious thing in the world.
“You should do it. These roles are usually for swordsmen.”
“Don’t give me that nonsense.”
“Oh? I don’t mind doing it, as long as you’re okay with it.”
Adrian frowned deeply at Nathan’s meaningful smile. If someone like Nathan led the team, no one could predict where it might go.
Nathan was extremely goal-oriented, so he’d likely ignore minor details and push the team strictly toward the mission’s completion.
“Tch. Fine, I’ll just do it myself. But I’ll make the important decisions. You’ll all follow me—no questions.”
“Alright. So Adrian is the team leader for Team 3. Jaylin, are you okay with that?”
“Y-yes. That’s fine with me.”
At that, Adrian curled his lips into a sneer and glared at Jaylin.
“Do you even have opinions of your own? You’re okay with this, okay with that. You got no spine?”
“I-I really meant it…”
Jaylin mumbled, clearly deflated by Adrian’s harsh tone.
“Adrian, don’t be so hard on her. She just joined the academy. She probably doesn’t know enough to judge what’s good or bad. Don’t you think?”
Nathan lightly tapped Adrian’s shoulder as if to comfort him, but Adrian, clearly annoyed, coldly brushed his hand away.
“Alright. Now that we’ve chosen team leaders, please come forward and submit a slip of paper with your team members’ names.”
At Professor Wallace’s direction, the team leaders stepped forward.
Among them was Lionel, who stood out with his tall frame, a full head above most of the others.
Some students, like Adrian and Nathan, were also quite tall, but in Jaylin’s eyes, only Lionel stood out.
Professor Wallace handed out materials related to the semester’s mock training to the students at the front and gave them a brief explanation.
Returning to their table, Adrian distributed the materials to Jaylin and Nathan.
Flipping through the pages quickly, Adrian began,
“This time, the assignment is to make it through a hologram arena full of magical beasts in a short time. Each of you should come up with strategies for how to get through. You already know monsters appear differently depending on terrain.”
“I-I’m not really sure…”
Adrian glanced up from the assignment sheet and gave Jaylin a sideways look.
“Then study up. You should at least know monster weaknesses—every beast has different counters.”
“Okay…”
“Do you know what kind of terrain the hologram arena has? I bet you don’t.”
Jaylin shrank under Nathan’s question and nodded slightly.
“Y-yeah… I don’t really know.”
“Then memorize the map ahead of time. At the very least, you need to know escape routes so you can run without tripping everyone up.”
At Adrian’s blunt tone, Nathan casually slung an arm over Adrian’s shoulder.
“Hey, lighten up a bit, Adrian. Don’t scare her off. Jaylin just enrolled—she doesn’t know anything yet. Instead of barking at her to study, we should help her out, right?”
“Then you help her.”
“Sure, no problem.”
Nathan scratched the back of his head and accepted without hesitation. But it was Jaylin who declined.
“Ah, n-no. It’s okay. You must be busy. You don’t have to.”
After skimming the materials, Adrian dropped the paper onto the desk with a thud.
“Just take Nathan’s help while he’s offering. If you end up whining later about how you didn’t know anything because no one helped you, that’s way worse.”
“Yeah, don’t worry. I’ll just give you the materials I studied last year. Whether you use them well or not is up to you.”
Nathan smiled at Jaylin as if it was no big deal.
“O-oh… In that case, thank you.”
“By the way, is this your first time doing mock combat?”
“Y-yes. It’s m-my first time.”
“What a mess.”
Adrian let out a deep sigh and furrowed his brow.
Jaylin was basically a civilian. If she didn’t faint at the sight of a monster, that alone would be impressive.
Adrian felt a headache coming on just thinking about how he’d lead this team going forward.
⋯⋯
“Man! If I hadn’t stepped in right then and there—bam!”
Stefan made a slicing motion across his neck as he recounted the story.
“Ugh, Stefan. You’d float even in water with how much hot air you’re full of.”
“Rita, that’s a compliment, right? Say it is. Please!”
“Believe what you want.”
“It’s seriously hard to get a thank-you these days. Jaylin, you’re grateful, right? Huh? Huh? You got out of the all-Magic Engineering team thanks to this guy! Know that it’s all thanks to me.”
Drunk on his own self-praise, Stefan twirled in place with both arms raised.
“Y-yeah. Thanks, Stefan. It’s all thanks to you.”
Jaylin nodded, even though she didn’t really know what exactly she was thanking him for.
“See? Our Jaylin knows how to appreciate good intentions!”
Rita rolled her eyes upward and shook her head.
After the monster mock class ended, Stefan, Rita, and Jaylin were on their way to the Magic Engineering Building to be assigned personal workstations.
On the way, Jaylin learned that Rita was the department representative for the Magic Engineering Department—though the position had apparently been forced on her.
Jaylin decided to ask something that had been on her mind for a while.
“Um… I’ve been wondering about something…”
“What is it? Ask me, Stefan the Knowledgeable! I’ll tell you anything!”
“Well, earlier… when we got teamed up, you seemed really upset. Is it that bad to have three people from the Magic Engineering Department?”
Rita answered before Stefan could.
“Of course it’s bad. There’s no one to take the hits. Our offensive power is awful, too.”
“Yeah, yeah. You need at least one swordfighter to tank hits. That way we can run while they’re getting beaten up.”
Stefan nodded with an unusually serious expression.
“O-oh, I see…”
Jaylin had thought three engineers could still work well together. But clearly, real combat was different from her expectations.
At that moment, Rita stopped in her tracks like she’d remembered something.
“Wait a sec, your name’s Jaylin, right? Aren’t you the student the department head’s been trying to contact? I saw your name on the announcements in the community board.”
Jaylin tilted her head at the unfamiliar term.
“C-community board? What’s that?”
Rita turned to her, shocked.
“What?! You don’t know what the community board is?”
“U-um, this is the first time I’m hearing about it…”
Stefan, eyes wide, smacked his forehead.
“Ah! Crap. I was supposed to tell you, but I completely forgot. What was I thinking?!”
“Typical you,” Rita muttered with a squint.
“We’ll stop by the student center, then go register right after. Jaylin, you free this afternoon?”
“Yeah, I’m free.”
“Great. Once we get our workstations, let’s go register together.”
Stefan, now walking again, turned to Rita and asked,
“Still, why does the department head want to see Jaylin? He never singles out students. The man couldn’t care less about Magic Engineering students.”
Rita shrugged.
“Who knows? I’m not a mind reader. Jaylin will find out once she goes. Anyway, stop by the department office sometime this week. It’s in the professors’ building, so just go when you’re free.”
“O-okay. Thanks for letting me know, Rita.”
When the three arrived at the student center, they were each assigned their own workstations. Jaylin got a seat by the window with a view of the garden.
She liked the spot—it looked out onto the lush green scenery, and that alone made her feel a little happier.
