Chapter 211: Free Position
On a clear afternoon.
Lupina, dressed in a suit and carrying a bundle of documents in her arms, came to visit.
She stared at the completed house for quite a while. Perhaps she felt proud that she had contributed to its construction, because the corners of her lips curled up slightly.
“Young Master, now that I see it like this, it looks amazing.”
“Yeah. It's thanks to your help.”
“I wasn't able to help with the latter half, though. I thought you'd do just fine on your own even without me, Young Master... but I never imagined it would turn into such a wonderful house.”
After expressing her admiration, Lupina looked around as if searching for someone.
“Then... where is the person you mentioned?”
“He's coming over right now.”
Perhaps he had just finished guarding the area around the Upgraded Livestock Shed, because the Elderly Gentleman with the mustache was walking toward us.
As soon as the distance between them closed, Lupina bowed her head first.
“Hello. I'm Lupina... who just barely escaped from being the lowest-ranking employee in the Administration Office.”
“It's a pleasure to meet you. I am called ‘Manager.’”
“Manager, your name is rather unique, isn't it?”
“I hear that quite often.”
Listening to their conversation, I cleared my throat.
‘...So he really settled on Manager as his name.’
There was no way he could use the name Ophel Wisdom.
Even so, choosing “Manager” as an alias was a little strange, but whatever.
After all, he was an extra just like me.
“As I mentioned before, I've come to deliver the results of the Dorm Supervisor review.”
Lupina handed one of the document envelopes to the Manager.
Watching that scene reminded me of what had happened a few days ago.
I had reported the completion of the house to the Academy Administration Office.
Once again, the staff member claimed they couldn't bring themselves to make eye contact with me and pushed the work onto Lupina instead, so I naturally ended up talking with her.
When I told her I intended to use the completed house as a dormitory, Lupina looked somewhat troubled.
‘If Young Master plans to live here alone, then the construction permit you already received is enough. But if other students are going to stay here too... the administrative procedures become incredibly complicated.’
To summarize it simply, whenever two or more students lived in the same building, a dorm supervisor was mandatory.
‘It's not as though I can be the dorm supervisor myself.’
That was only natural.
I was still a student.
At the same time, I couldn't just bring in another professor or some random adult.
...And that was when the idea of the Manager came to mind.
“Congratulations. Manager has been appointed as the temporary Dorm Supervisor.”
“Ohh, thank you very much for thinking so highly of this humble one.”
“Normally, they thoroughly examine qualifications and work history before even conducting an interview... but for some reason, you passed almost immediately. Even I've never seen anything like this.”
“Ohoho, I was simply fortunate.”
“It is a little strange... but I suppose it could happen if you were lucky.”
Lupina didn't seem overly concerned.
The two of them simply chalked it up to luck, but I had a feeling I knew the real reason.
‘President Tote probably knows the Manager.’
It was never directly explained in the game, but I had once seen a brief scene that suggested the two already knew each other.
That was enough for me to make the assumption.
“I have quite a lot to explain to the temporary Dorm Supervisor... Would it be alright if we sat down and talked, Young Master?”
“Of course.”
I guided them inside the house, and Lupina and the Manager sat down at the table.
Lupina handed the Manager all kinds of documents while explaining one thing after another.
Apparently, there was quite a lot a dorm supervisor had to learn.
Thinking that someone as capable as the Manager would have no trouble understanding it all, I was just about to head outside when—
“......”
Perhaps she had heard voices coming from the living room, because Lapin peeked out from her room on the second floor.
Our eyes met, so I headed upstairs.
As I approached, Lapin opened the door wide and showed me her room.
Lapin's room contained nothing more than a bed, a calendar, and several flower pots.
“You've got flower pots now?”
“Yeah. I'm still decorating.”
After saying that, Lapin suddenly seemed to remember something.
“I miss Karin too.”
“The semester starts soon, so you'll see her before long.”
In about a week, the long vacation would finally come to an end.
Even though the break wasn't over yet, more and more students had already begun returning to the Academy.
It seemed that some of the prospective freshmen were already staying in the dormitories as well.
Looking toward the other closed doors, Lapin asked me,
“Villed, have you found people for the other rooms?”
“No, not yet.”
There were still four rooms left.
...However, it seemed Lapin had already decided on some of the residents herself.
“I want Karin to live here too.”
“Hmm... We'll have to talk to Karin first, but that wouldn't be a bad choice.”
When I nodded, Lapin cautiously spoke again, as though watching my reaction.
“And Sia too.”
“I don't know. It seems like she doesn't want to. Let's not force her.”
“...Okay.”
Lapin lowered her head with lonely eyes.
She had already invited Sia to move in before, but Sia never gave her an answer.
Since the day the house had been completed, she hadn't entered this place again.
The only times I saw her were when she came to the Drum Barrel that connected to the island or occasionally stopped by the Upgraded Livestock Shed warehouse.
We didn't even exchange greetings anymore.
‘Well, this is how it was originally supposed to be. I don't particularly want to force a conversation either.’
I didn't have the luxury of worrying about that.
The problem right in front of me was...
That I had to finish within the Top Five in the next Practice Training.
Returning to the Upgraded Livestock Shed warehouse, I opened the notebook Ren's group had given me before leaving.
「The Mock War is a game where the Blue Team and Red Team compete to destroy the enemy's buildings and Throne.」
「To secure a Top Five Placement, you must not only win but also earn a high Contribution Score.」
「Contribution Score is earned by defeating monsters, destroying buildings, and defeating enemy students. The action that grants the highest Contribution Score is destroying buildings.」
「The main travel routes are through the forest and the road leading to the castle walls.」
「Traveling in groups is the safest option. No, it's mandatory! Going alone greatly increases the risk of being ambushed! Mr. Villed, please remember that!」
「There are monsters scattered throughout the forest. Defeating them can reward you with various objects, but they're extremely dangerous, so if you judge that you can't defeat one, you should run away.」
「I drew this map from what I could remember~ I couldn't figure out the Blue Team's side. Some parts might be wrong, so just use it as a reference! — Greenie: Kaelyn」
「Below is a summary of the important things we noticed during this training. The positions are Building Demolition, Attacker, Defender, and Free.」
「Students with high rankings are assigned to the ‘Free’ position, and...」
‘...Did those guys really put this much effort into helping me?’
It wasn't written by just one person.
It felt more like a rolling paper everyone had contributed to together.
I skimmed through the notebook once more as a review before closing it.
‘Some of the information is wrong, and a few things are missing... but I appreciate the effort.’
Seeing how hard they had tried to help me made me smile for a moment.
But only for a moment.
...After all, I was just Villed.
‘Me, in fifth place?’
Even now, it was absurd.
I had been delighted when I thought I'd be excluded from the training, only to be struck by lightning instead.
I didn't get angry at Elined for making that bet using my name.
The water had already been spilled.
Getting angry wouldn't change anything.
If anything, it might only cause some change in Elined's heart and alter the original storyline.
‘...No matter what, she only made that bet because of me.’
She had objected because she believed Jennings was looking down on me.
When I thanked her for speaking up on my behalf, the expression on Elined's weary face had subtly changed.
...Once all of this was over, though, I was definitely going to tell her never to make a bet like that again.
‘Anyway, let's think about what to do now.’
If an insignificant extra like Villed, who had already stepped outside the episode, suddenly ranked fifth, there was a chance the original storyline would be affected.
...But even worse than that would be Elined losing her position as a Schuler.
For the sake of the future main episodes, and for her own growth, Elined absolutely had to remain Fields' Schuler.
If Elined lost her status as a Schuler...
The aftermath would be far more difficult to fix than I could imagine.
‘So no matter what happens, I have to place fifth.’
Achieving fifth place among the honor students personally nurtured by the professors within their own factions would be incredibly difficult.
It was so difficult that every time the Mock War content appeared in the game, the rankings were almost always the same.
Heidel, Kunking, Elined, Sia, and Kaelyn.
Those five monopolized the Top Five every single time.
The only people capable of forcing their way into those rankings were the Imperial Princess and the player, Ren.
The other students never even stood a chance.
If I used the power of my Spirit Creature, placing fifth among them wouldn't be completely impossible.
However.
‘The Spirit Creature's power should only be used when absolutely necessary, and only as little as possible.’
There were simply too many eyes watching for me to freely use abilities like Shuck's.
My only real advantages were my knowledge of the game's strategy and the Wolf Swordsmanship I had learned.
Aside from that, there was nothing particularly special about me.
Since my actual abilities lagged far behind the other Schulers, I had to make up the difference with strategy.
‘...In the end, do I have to use that tactic?’
People would probably call it cowardly.
But as long as I could secure fifth place, I didn't care.
Thinking that, I began writing down a detailed strategy in my notebook.
Several days later, at the training grounds in the Eastern Part of the Academy.
A place where grasslands and forests stretched out, with castle walls and watchtowers visible in the distance.
I looked down at the red armband in my hand.
I had been assigned to the Red Team.
“Ah... Mr. Villed.”
The armband Ren was holding was blue.
“...Looks like we're on different teams.”
Ren smiled awkwardly, as though apologizing.
He had promised to help me as much as possible, but knowing Ren's personality, now that we had been assigned to opposing teams, there was no way he would assist me.
Helping me on purpose while being on the opposing side would only harm his own teammates.
He understood that, which was why he wore such an awkward expression.
“It's fine. I'll manage on my own.”
“Still, as long as you aren't assigned to the Defender or Free position, it'll be alright. The position that suits you best, Mr. Villed, is Building Demolition.”
Kaelyn, wearing a blue armband, raised both hands and smiled brightly.
“Young Master~ Don't forget! Always land the finishing blow! Whether it's a building or a person, you get way more Contribution Score if you deal the final hit!”
After saying that, Kaelyn walked a few steps closer to me.
“And, Young Master.”
She continued speaking with the same cheerful smile.
“I feel reeeally sorry toward you and Miss Pinzer. But there are so many things I want to accomplish in this training. I won't hold back against anyone. Whether it's Ren, Miss Pinzer, or even Her Imperial Highness the Princess, I'll bombard them with my magic at full power.”
There wasn't even the slightest hesitation in her expression.
“The same goes for you, Young Master.”
After saying that, Kaelyn flashed another radiant smile.
“Let's have a great match, Young Master!”
With that, she walked away.
...Kaelyn was completely serious about this training.
‘She's someone I absolutely have to run away from.’
Even with my knowledge of the game's strategy, facing a monster like Kaelyn head-on would be horribly inefficient.
“Attention. We will now begin the assignments.”
As Jennings shouted from the small platform, Chariot launched several paper airplanes.
Rip—!
The paper airplanes tore apart in midair.
Each torn piece floated down and landed in front of a Schuler.
I accepted mine and read it.
「Professor Hilda's Schuler, Second-year Student — Riz Villed Dedencman Ludwig」
「Team — Red」
「Position — Free」
“...Ha.”
The moment I read it, a hollow laugh escaped my lips.