All-Master Player Of The Academy [EN]: Chapter 15

◈ Chapter 15

8. The Checkers – 1

As the situation grew increasingly tense, the students of Class C began to encircle Ian.

“Hey!! Everyone, gather around!!”

Blanche and Haryun weren’t idle either.

As they shouted, the students of Class B began to gather behind them.

The air crackled with the threat of an imminent brawl.

“What do you all think you’re doing?!”

Aranse’s thunderous shout erupted.

As he glared fiercely, Acewin cautiously spoke.

“It was just a minor disagreement.”

“Even so! Don’t you know that academy students shouldn’t fight over trivial matters?!”

“I apologize.”

Aranse turned his gaze to Ian.

“Do you have anything to say?”

“That guy insulted not only me but also our Class B, and even the instructor.”

“What?”

Ian’s response wasn’t the apology Acewin had offered.

He tilted his head, looking back and forth between the two.

“He committed the offense of criticizing my grades. A mere student, no less.”

Ian spread his arms wide and looked around.

“Acewin, you called the results of the practical exam a fraud. That’s disparaging the efforts and skills of the Class B students. It’s saying that Class B students lost to guys who only take bribes.”

“That’s……”

“Also, raising issues with the written exam scores is questioning the abilities of the supervisors, Instructor Aranse and Instructor Hound.”

“That wasn’t my intention.”

Acewin said, glancing at Aranse, but Ian didn’t even pretend to listen.

“On top of that, there wasn’t even a proper apology for the slip of the tongue, and he even tried to intimidate me.”

He pointed behind him.

Behind Acewin, the students of Class C were gathered.

“This is a challenge not only to me but also to Class B, and furthermore, an act of insulting Instructor Aranse, the instructor in charge of Class B.”

In reality, Acewin probably hadn’t intended any of that when he spoke.

But words are open to interpretation, aren’t they?

As Ian drove the point home, the students of Class B, who were already feeling resentful, immediately voiced their displeasure.

“That’s right.”

“Ian just passed because he’s good, but fraud? What fraud? And look at them gathering like that.”

“It’s disgusting. Really.”
The students of Class B began to criticize, as if they had been waiting for this moment.

At their reaction, the students of Class C gritted their teeth.

“Enough. If everything you’ve said so far is true… Acewin, I’ve misjudged you.”

“No! Instructor!!”

He felt wronged.

He had no such intention, nor had he ever thought of doing such a thing.

Why would he do such a thing to Aranse, whom he admired?

“In any case, unauthorized personal duels and fights are not allowed. If you want to do it, follow the procedure.”

With that rough warning, Aranse left, and Acewin glared at Ian.

“I told you, a loose tongue invites disaster.”

“……Disaster will come to you too.”

As he spat out those words, Ian smirked.

“You’re welcome to try.”

At that sneer, the Class C students gritted their teeth, and the Class B students lightly tapped their weapons.

Things had escalated.

A quarrel between students had grown into a potential class-versus-class battle.

As the Class C students retreated with Acewin, the Class B students shouted at Ian.

“Hey, Ian! Well done!”

“I didn’t like the way those Class C guys were whispering about this practical exam score anyway!”

Everyone knew that penalties had been added to this practical exam.

At other times, the instructors wouldn’t move so actively.

But this time, there were many dropouts due to several variables.

Not knowing that, the Class C guys were talking as they pleased, which was quite annoying.

As the Class B students spoke, Ian gave a faint smile.

“I appreciate you thinking that way.”

“Well… we’ve never been on good terms with Class C anyway. It’s a good thing. Let’s crush them this time.”

“We take separate classes anyway, right? Should we just raid them? If so, I’ll definitely attend.”

As Kirke listed good places to raid, Grajin shook his head.

“Ah, not like that. There’s a cooperative battle in a few days. Perfect timing. Everyone, gather around. Let’s talk.”

He led the students to the dormitory’s conference room.

Once everyone was gathered, Grajin immediately started talking.

“You all know that the Class C guys always get the highest score in cooperative battles, right?”

The cooperative battle is a type of flag capture game.

The battle is decided by building a base and capturing the flag of that base.

“The opponent for the cooperative battle in a few days has been decided as Class C.”

“Huh? Really? Wasn’t it originally Class D?”

“I heard it was changed due to schedule adjustments.”

As the Class B students were surprised, Grajin nodded and continued.

“Class C has many Reclusive Clerics [a class specializing in defense and support]. So their defense is stronger than ours.”

Cooperative battles are ultimately decided by who captures the flag first.

If they are determined to deploy a defense formation, ordinary attacks won’t work.

Meanwhile, Acewin and his attack team have consistently held the top spot in cooperative battles.

“Let’s take this opportunity to crush their noses. You know I have a high score in platoon combat tactics, right? I’ll come up with the plan. Everyone, follow me.”

Grajin said, but the Class B students were lukewarm.

“That’s all well and good, Grajin. Why are you stepping up? Anyone would think you’re the representative?”

One of the students said with dissatisfaction, and several others nodded.

Grajin sighed at their reaction.

Class B has four mages and many students with strong individual combat abilities.

But that’s it.

Everyone has great pride in themselves, so cooperation is poor.

“Wouldn’t it be better to follow Grajin’s plan this time?”

He had a pride battle with Grajin, but that’s one thing, and this is another.

From a rational point of view, Haryun took his side because Grajin’s opinion was correct.

However, the reaction of the Class B students was still cold.

“Haryun, I don’t like you stepping up either. I don’t recognize you as the representative.”

“You just got the representative position because you have high grades, right?”

“We’re not the type to move under anyone’s orders in the first place. Let’s do it the way we’ve been doing it.”

“I only like being in the attack team.”

“Who are you to say that?”

“I’ll follow if you put me in the attack team.”

The Class B students spoke arbitrarily, grinning.

Grajin shook his head at them, who had thrown away any semblance of a unified opinion.

“You damn bastards…….”

He thought they would unite because of an external enemy this time.

As expected, the Class B students didn’t listen at all.

“This Park Bare will lead you to victory. Just trust me and follow me. Balla, you just defend.”

“Get lost, you idiot. Why would I do something like defense? You do it.”

Everyone is trying to stand out and join the attack team.

As they boasted that they could win if they were on the attack team, Ian calmly said.

“I can defend the flag alone, so everyone join the attack team. But be prepared if you fail to capture the flag.”

“Hey, Ian, are you saying you’ll block the entire Class C attack team alone? That’s impossible.”

Moreover, Ian had become Acewin’s target because of this incident.

In the worst case, he could be seriously injured.

Grajin tried to stop him, but Ian shook his head.

“Isn’t Acewin included in the Class C attack team?”

“That’s true, but…….”

“Since he and I have a grudge against each other, we should settle it here.”

The students grinned at his words.

“I wonder if he’s skilled enough to be so confident.”

“I don’t take orders from someone weaker than me. I’ll join the attack team, though.”

Ian nodded as he watched the students pick up their weapons.

“Shall we test it out?”

As Ian and the Class B students looked at each other, Grajin burst into anger.

“Enough!! Are you all going to fight Ian?!”

“He said he can fight.”

The students who wanted to know how skilled Ian was said.

Most of them wanted to recruit Ian into their family after graduation.

“We need to know his skills accurately to decide on the scouting conditions.”

Even so, this was no different from a lynching.

He couldn’t let his roommate and the friend he had been watching get injured.

Grajin quickly thought and urgently said.

“Class C has a total of twenty-two people. Among them, they use a tactic of attracting enemies based on six defenders, including Reclusive Clerics.”

Excluding them, there are sixteen attackers.

Class C doesn’t have any mages, so don’t even let the mages participate at all.

The mages stepped back without saying anything to Grajin’s suggestion.

“Considering the enemies encountered while the attack team is moving, six more will be lost.”

When he mentioned the statistics from the cooperative battles so far, six of the remaining students reluctantly dropped out.

But even after subtracting that many, there are still ten people.

Even if it’s Ian, is it possible?

For his sake, Grajin tried to subtract a few more by making excuses.

“Stop it, Grajin.”

“Do you think we’re so ignorant that we’d lynch him? We’ll end it appropriately.”

The remaining students were upset and angry, so Grajin looked at Ian.

His expression only had a confident smile on it.

‘This is the end.’

In the end, Grajin stepped back, and Ian got up from his seat.

“Let’s go to the training ground.”

The entire Class B headed to the training ground.

The academy’s training ground happened to be empty.

As soon as they entered, the people who had dropped out closed the entrance to the training ground.

“Ian, shall I leave Myaane to you?”

“Myaa~ Mya~.”

Myaane trembled as if she didn’t want to be separated from Ian.

But Ian placed Myaane on Wildy’s hand, who had spoken to her, and picked up a staff in the training ground.

It was a weapon to replace the flag.

“Remember that it’s a training weapon, but it hurts when you get hit.”

“Who are you to say that?”

There were as many as ten people.

Moreover, there were as many as ten Aura users [users who can manifest their inner energy] belonging to the intermediate level.

They surrounded Ian and grinned.

“We won’t gang up on you.”

“You can if you want?”

“Actually, we can’t.”

Because they have pride in their skills, they don’t cooperate in combat situations unless they are close friends.

Unless it’s someone with a good personality like Blanche, Balla, or Haryun, they don’t even suggest ganging up and rarely accept it.

And those three were out of the arena.

“Heh. Guys! Attack!!”

When he was roughly ready, Park Bare raised his hand and shouted roughly.

But no one moved.

“Who are you to signal?”

“Don’t mess around, Park Bare.”

“You just stay quiet.”

Smiling at Park Bare, who had become sullen from the cold response, the students approached Ian one by one.