9 – Touchdown
Touchdown
An unprecedented event in the history of the academy, a confrontation between an instructor and a student, took place. In the actual confrontation, Zeroa and Philia, who have been established as agents, fight, but the honor that will be lost in defeat is left to one of Lai and Philia.
Students can’t be interested in such fun things. Not just freshmen, but even seniors snooping around Class B. Class B is already crowded thanks to Aria’s beauty, but now, every break, the class room where Class B is located is bustling.
Where people are interested, money will flow. And in the way that wins and losses are divided, there is always a form of gambling. More than half of those who came to Class B with interest also participated in gambling.
There were a lot of people betting for simple fun, but there are also people who are aiming for a win. However, most of those who are aiming for a handful sigh when the dividend is too different.
“Even if the instructor taught me, can I narrow the skill gap in just two weeks?”
“It’s impossible. Even if it were possible, I would have to overtake it, not narrow it, but the gap was too big from the start.”
“She listened to what the classmates were saying. Oh, did she learn how to train him?”
“What do you do when you fully learn it? Didn’t you hear what the instructor said? Safety and continuity are the advantages, but the effect is small.
As most of the predictions for Philia’s victory, the dividend tilts more and more to one side. At the words of the academy students who are analyzing, even the academy student who tried to bet on Zeroa for a chance to win a prize hesitates.
In this situation, those who run gambling are also in trouble. When the difference is moderate, I participate more actively, but the situation is not good.
“Hey- what are you doing?”
Jay, an academy student who was accepting applications, is surprised when Rai approaches and talks to her in a friendly way.
“Instructor, this is legal. It’s not against the school rules or imperial law.”
“Who said what? What about the dividend?”
Gambling isn’t encouraged in the empire, but it’s not specifically banned, but some instructors see gambling as a bad thing and interfere with it, so Jay said as if making an excuse.
But Lai doesn’t care about Jay and quietly checks her dividend, then she slips two gold coins.
“I’ll bet on Zero Ah. And she’ll gossip that I bet.”
Jay’s eyes widen at Rai’s words. If Rai, who is in charge of her training, spreads rumors that she confidently bet on Zeroa, it won’t turn the tables on her, but she will have a lot more money in circulation.
She gets a little excited, but then returns to her sober state. Jay realizes that the confrontation is only a few hours away and she asks Rai.
“Then, can’t we delay the match a bit? To be honest, it’s a match that everyone is interested in, but it would be too bad if we did it during lecture. I can give you.”
“No, that’s not okay. If there are too many spectators, the losing side will be left with a big scar. You may not be able to stand the gaze of losing and you may not be able to recover or your growth may be slowed down. Especially at your age.”
Since she is betting her money in anticipation of her victory, she says that her losing side, as Rai said, means Philia. Jay, who is one grade above the freshmen, did not listen to Rai’s lectures, so she only saw him from afar, but she did not know what kind of person she was.
I’ve been told a lot that she is different from other instructors. Some say that she is confused about her job position, and she is good at lecturing or not, and so on.
Jay, who had thought she was just a strange instructor, looked at Lai with respect for her honor and future, even though she was an academy student who took on the challenge head-on.
‘And we timid people will surely get nervous and not be able to show off their skills if there are a lot of spectators.’
I was considerate, but the time was decided considering the win rate. As the public will, if a lot of strangers watch, Zeroa will never win.
“Listen to the lecture. It’s a bit late, but I’ll bring in more customers.”
“Yes, leave it to me. And that… Face… Needs to be treated.”
“If you let it go, it will take care of itself.”
I don’t know where he got hurt, but Rai, who has a swollen chin, leaves to give a lecture with a nice smile.
When it’s time for class B’s mana control lecture, the academy students gather.
However, today’s academy students are more focused on the confrontation between the two than Lei’s lecture, glancing at Philia, who has been attending the lecture for the first time in a while, and Zeroa, who has a nervous expression.
There were more people than expected in the 3 practice room. Academy students can’t come because it’s lecture time, but instructors and academy staff who have free time came to visit with interest.
There were many lecturers such as Layla, Xenia, and Albert, and there was even Vice President Bright, so the audience had enough weight.
Because Bright, who has the second highest position after the head of the academy, is seated, the non-instructor staff did not come close, but they settled at a distance and looked at the practice field.
‘As expected, the military, the academy, and the likes of watching fights are the same.’
A lot of people gathered, but this was an expected lie. Bright, who had taught Lai a lesson about the honor of the instructor, expected to come and told Zeroa in advance.
But there was nothing Lai could do for Zeroa.
She has done all she can. Here, she is motivated once more and if he threatens her, she will not be able to overcome the pressure due to Zeroa’s personality and will self-destruct, so she just prays that he will overcome it on his own.
“In the end, all we have to do is pray.”
Even if you increase the odds, it ultimately depends on luck whether or not the other party will bet. Xenia approached Lai, who was laughing inwardly as she recalled the fierceness of the battlefield where there is no 100% certainty anywhere.
“Mr. Rai.”
“Oh, sister Xenia. I didn’t expect you to come, but it must be a public lecture?”
“Sister is such a thing… Since there is a vice president, please refrain from using that title.”
She says it quietly, but Xenia smiles shyly as if she doesn’t hate being called sister. She looks much younger than her age, with her light blue bobbed hair falling down her ears and tickling her cheeks.
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She spoke to her to cheer for the match, but when her academy students were watching, her mouth didn’t come out well, and Xenia spoke with difficulty.
“I think Mr. Rai will win this match.”
“Who… Did Xenia bet on me too?”
“Yes? No, I didn’t bet…”
Rai laughs when Xenia panics.
Leyla, who was sitting next to Bright from afar, frowned at Xenia as he saw him conversing in a friendly way.
‘When did we become close again?’
As each day passes, a new person appears by Rai’s side. The academy student named Zeroa, Xenia, and even the cleaning staff. If she takes her eyes off her for a moment and looks back, she appears as if she has known her for years.
She shows that she has an affinity to grow tired of, but Leila, who hates her rai, can’t understand why people are friendly with him.
“What do you think of Lecturer Albert?”
“Of course I have to support my fellow instructors. But I think it would be difficult even with private lessons.”
When Bright asks, Elbert quickly replies and recites the analysis. When she explained one after another that she wanted everything at this time, such as the family difference and the difference in education she had received since childhood, Bright did not respond, asking the other instructors one at a time and finally seeing Layla.
“So what do you think Leila Instructor?”
“Whoever wins will get scolded. Both sides.”
When Leyla tells her about the scandal between her instructor and her academy students, Bright nods her head in agreement.
“That’s right. It’s not that the winner does well and the loser doesn’t. Why is everyone obsessed with winning and losing without seeing that? We’re not gamblers, we’re instructors, so there are a lot of people who don’t know their status.”
At the words of the interrogation, the instructors gathered around were embarrassed and tried not to make eye contact with Bright.
“If Instructor Layla had been Miss Philia, what would she have done?”
“I don’t know the situation at the time, but if I had any doubts about the content of the lecture, I would have asked questions. I could ask other instructors for advice. If I still can’t admit it, I raise a formal issue with the academy. Institutions or organizations resolve public issues. Because it was made for you.”
“That’s an impeccable answer. But I don’t think it’s too much to ask for that much from an academy student with little experience. Then, since Miss Philia’s lack of education is the problem, there’s room for a bit of extenuating circumstances. Then, Rhinom… What’s wrong with Instructor Lai?”
Leyla glances at Bright, who corrects her words that she is Rhynom, but she pretends not to know and she replies.
“It’s the same as Miss Philia.”
“Even though you’ve already gone out and experienced it?”
“Yes, it’s different from what I’ve experienced so far. He tried to teach great training methods, but he ruined the first day’s lecture. However, he admitted his inexperience and received feedback from the academy students, so that the next lecture was praised by the academy students as a good lecture. I made it. You can criticize the lecturer’s dignity because of his lack of words and manners, but he did his lecture well.”
After hearing everything, Bright thinks quietly before speaking.
“The content of the lecture is good. The Salterian training method is so good that I wonder if even an old man should try it. But the dignity is still a problem.”
“Yes, that’s why you should be scolded.”
Bright nodded her head at Layla’s firm answer, confused as to whether or not he was taking his side.
The quality of the instructor is very important. It is not simply to be treated, but if trust is not formed, the teaching will not be properly delivered. If you look down on the instructor and look at him easily enough to take on the challenge, the lecture will not be accepted no matter how much the instructor makes a fuss.
“I’ve talked about the dignity of instructors once, but I think instructor Rai needs some retraining as well.”
“It is absolutely necessary.”
Layla swallowed her last words, “I’ll run away,” And conveyed her wishes to Bright.
“Come to think of it, not only Rai instructors but also others need training on instructor qualifications. Do you guys think so too?”
“Yes… The Vice President is right…”
“Hmm… I’ve been busy with research lately…”
At Bright’s lightning-like words, the instructors visibly panicked and averted their gaze. In the meantime, Philia and Zeroa finished preparing for a confrontation.
The match between the two is a table game called touchdown. Many people frantically asked how to play table games, but there was no better way than touchdown to win with mana control alone.
A game composed of a board the size of a small tea table has a simple rule to win by placing a ball the size of a finger on the board and moving it to the opponent’s camp. It is not necessarily carried out with only one ball, but more balls can be placed on the board according to the ability of the participant.
Send mana to the magic stone in front of the seat to control the ball on the board.
If you send too much mana, the magic stone will break and you will be defeated, so only the control ability is required regardless of the amount of magic power of the participant.
The magic stone used this time is level 8, and it is the lowest level magic stone that is close to consumables so that an academy academy student can easily break it with mana.
If you don’t control your mana properly, you will be defeated right away.
This time we decided to play the game with two balls. We talked about what kind of match we were going to play in advance, so we practiced enough. In the end, the one who takes ownership of the ball wins, so the one with high magic control ability has an advantage.
Zeroa nervously swallows her dry saliva. She was embarrassed even when she was decided to be the deputy, but as time went on, people’s interest in her increased, so the pressure piled up more and more.
It’s rare that I’ve ever received people’s attention, but I can’t help but be nervous as the entire academy is paying attention, including students and instructors.
Her eyes darkened especially when the dean of Bright’s academy watched her.
Her Rai hand went up on Zeroa’s shoulder, which was about to collapse. Closer to her face, Rai whispers to him, which she thought was also her motivation.
“Should you reciprocate the people who support you? I don’t ask for much, but at least give me some attention.”
At her Rai’s words, Zeroa looks around her with her quivering eyes. She had a lot of people rooting for Philia, but she had people rooting for both of them, and she had people rooting for him.
Then she meets Arya’s eyes as she sees herself through the crowd.
The inside of her red jewel shines on Zeroa without faltering, then he notices her surroundings and raises her two hands holding her fists as if imitating her. She’s such a small gesture that if I hadn’t looked at her shrugging shoulders, I would have noticed her, but Zeroa, who managed to recognize her, saw her cute cheering, and her strength surged.
“Instructor Rai.”
“Why? Do you have any strength?”
“Yes, the energy overflows.”
The effect is better than expected Lai looks at Zeroa as if he sees something strange, but he focuses on her touchdown plate with strong eyes.
I don’t know why, but Rai, who thinks she’s doing well anyway, sees Philia sitting calmly in the midst of her noisy environment.
The people around him are not agitated and show no sign of tension. Even though she still lacks experience, she has a sense of immobility that is not shaken by the attention and pressure from people around her. She is bold, unlike the timid ones on this side.
Beside her were three sets of coaches. With a towel around her neck, Sesset lifts her water cup and forces it against Philia’s lips, who refuses. She looks mischievous, but Rai thinks she is a good friend because of her calming behavior.
‘I don’t think he’s nervous.’
Sensing her gaze, Sesset puts her hands in her coat pocket and walks towards Rai.
“I hope for a good match. Instructor Rai. This must be difficult because our players are in good shape today.”
“You bet Zeroa earlier…”
“No! No! Be quiet! How can I say that here?”
Cesset, who covered Rai’s mouth as she ran around because of her short stature, waved her hand at Philia, who looked at her strangely.
“Ayu, our players focus only on the game. This is about business, business.”
It was Philia who looked at her suspiciously, but she didn’t care about her and turned her gaze to Zeroa. She asked him to shake her hand and they chatted.
“I’m sorry I bothered you for nothing.”
“No. I learned a lot thanks to you.”
“I didn’t teach you that either… Anyway, let’s not blame each other no matter who wins.”
“Yes, thank you.”
“Come to think of it, you are also respectful to the other kids. There’s no need to be that way, I treat you comfortably.”
“Uh… That’s… I’ve been using it for a while, so I’m comfortable with it.”
Seeing her awkwardly smiling Zeroa, Philia nodded her head. She hates her opponent, but she has no intention of forcing her.
At the end of the conversation between the two, Rai and Sesset, who have become close to each other and are shoulder to shoulder, approach.
“Okay, let’s begin.”
“Hoi, Hoi~ Academy ship touchdown game~~~ Sijaak-! ……….. ………. Do it~~!”
Zeroa and Philia stare at each other incredulously, but Rai doesn’t pay attention and throws two balls onto the board.
Before the ball even touches the board, the two hands move quickly and grab the magic stone. It’s called a pull-up, but judging from how it reacts right away to sudden starts, Zeroa was also an academy student at the academy.
1 And 2. After bouncing a few times, the ball with the number written on it suddenly falls and sticks to the board as if it were a magnet. It was said that someone had taken possession of it.
Filia, who had spent mana on both balls, was momentarily taken aback when the second ball was immediately stolen, but immediately noticed the reason. From the beginning, Zeroa focused his mana on ball 2 only.
Philia, who naturally took possession of the empty number 1 ball, sent her ball to Zeroa’s camp without waiting.
– Pak
Ball number 2 rolls quickly and strikes the side of number 1 ball. After an unexpected attack, Philia briefly missed possession, but she caught the 1st ball right away and made the move.
In the meantime, the number 2 ball attacked the number 1 ball in succession, and Philia realized that Zeroa ignored her faction and made the ball the target of attack.
‘It must be the way that human taught me.’
Recalling Rai’s smirking face, Philia put a spin on her ball while making her face.
Zeroa’s No. 2 Ball, which was running into it, turned immediately after the No. 1 Ball rotated strongly and countered, and passed by drawing a semicircle as if it were flowing on the No. 1 Ball.
As Ball No. 2, Which showed an unexpected movement, ran to Philia’s camp, the academy students who were watching were amazed and exclaimed.
Her Already in her first attack, Philia was ambushed, and the ball was pushed towards her own camp. If they run toward each other’s camp like this, the ball number 2, which is closer in distance, will hit first.
Philia grits her teeth and concentrates her mana to hit the ball. Her ball floats in the air for a moment, then falls and she hits the ball 2 times down.
The farther the ball is from the board, the more difficult it is to control, but the academy students are surprised by her ability to jump and block the ball accurately 2 times.
Ball number 2, which had been rolling carelessly as if it had lost its possession due to a strong shock, turns again and moves toward Philia’s camp. She put up a great defense, but the ball is still in her half.
A fierce battle continues between ball number 2 trying to get inside and ball number 1 trying to defend it somehow.
At first, the academy students, who complained about why they were playing a game like this because it wasn’t fun, focus on the more exciting development than they thought and cheer them on.
Some people cheered for Philia, who persistently endured even if the second ball went a little further, and there were people who cheered for Zeroa, who broke everyone’s expectations and promoted.
However, the battle that seemed to go on endlessly came to a conclusion surprisingly easily.
“Ah…”
When Philia’s magic stone is broken due to excessive use of mana, the ball number 1 rolls in a strange place. Then the number 2 ball goes into her half and the game ends.
If you fight over possession of the remaining number 1 ball, you can even tie it and extend it, but it was impossible for Philia, whose magic stone was broken.
After the match, sighs and cheers overlap each other. Philia, who tasted her defeat as she lowered her head for a moment in her cluttered atmosphere, eventually raised her face and greeted her victor, Zeroa.
“I lost. You’re really good. I’m so ashamed of myself for being so proud of myself that I would win.”
“No. Instructor Lai taught me so I won. He also taught me the tactics of the game.”
“I practiced the game too. But in the end, the magic stone broke and I lost, so my skills weren’t enough.”
Pilia smiled bitterly, but Zeroa said no.
The tactic Rai taught him was for the purpose of magic stones from the beginning. If you lead the battle with a few feints, the defending side always has to move excessively in line with the attacking side, so the burden increases.
I don’t know if you’ve been playing the game for a long time, but there’s no way Philia, who’s not used to it, knows the magic stone’s durability properly.
After hearing the explanation, Philia frowned when she said that it was planned from the beginning, but she didn’t think it was unfair because she did well by raising her mana control ability to this point in a short time.
Filia, who tried to accept the result, dances and cries when she sees Rai approaching. She was in the mood to feed her knee to her face in her lie with a smirk on her face, but she struggled to stand up from her hold.
“Sorry for defaming the instructor. I was rude.”
Seeing Philia lowering her head and apologizing, Rai stopped her dance.
“Philia tried to apologize to the instructor after the match, regardless of whether she won or lost.”
Se-se-se helps from the side. Rai takes one look at Sesset and she gazes down at Philia, who still has her head down, then she strokes her hair.
“Did you try?”
“……”
Rai continues to speak to Philia, who looks up at her head.
“To be honest, I thought you were careless. But you continued to train on mana control by yourself. I was stunned because my skills changed so much that I couldn’t recognize it. If I did just a little more, this guy’s magic stone would have been broken. It was great that he raised it to that level by self-taught.”
“Go, thank you…”
Philia, who didn’t know to hear her compliments, stutters at her as her face turns red.
She didn’t go to the Mana Control class for two weeks, but Philia continued to practice on her own, and to fill in her lack of knowledge, she went to the library and got advice from others.
Although she seemed to catch on, it was difficult to learn her ambiguous mana control by herself, but she silently went through the training, and now that she was defeated, her efforts, which she thought no one would know about, were recognized, her embarrassment and Joy burst out at the same time.
“I think Philia fell in love.”
“Three three!”
It was Sesset who put her hand over her mouth as if she was whispering, but only pretended to be her actions.
Ray’s hand goes up to Zeroa’s shoulder, who was looking at the two with a happy expression.
“Congratulations. You are a night class.”
“Yes?”
Zeroa, who had expected her praise, looked up at Rai with an absurd expression at the completely different words.
“I taught you that, but you barely win. I can’t tolerate it. You should get extra training.”
“Is it mana control training again…?”
“No, I keep teaching you useless things. I’ll teach you various things. Whatever.”
Then, after patting her on the shoulder and saying that she did a good job, Lai walks away. For some reason, Zeroa feels proud, and her Rai touches her shoulder, looking around her, and she meets Aria’s eyes.
When Zero laughed, Aria also smiled a little, but the academy students, who were in the heat of her competition, unfortunately did not see her smile.
“Hey- boys! Who said a touchdown wasn’t fun?! It’s f*cking fun?!”
“Yes! It’s fun!”
“Gather everyone! Let’s have a touchdown tournament today. It’s a test of how much your skills have grown.”
With the exception of a few depressed people who bet a lot of money on Philia, everyone was still engrossed in the heat of the game, so they were full of energy.
“Hey, someone go and buy coffee, dessert, whatever you want! I’ll shoot!”
“Wow!”
The instructors who were observing opened their mouths at the atmosphere of the lecture, not knowing whether to call it frivolous or exciting. Not only the lecturer but also the deputy principal are present, but they all ignore them and play drums and drums among themselves. The instructors quietly notice the deputy principal.
Vice President Bright, who had been watching quietly, slowly got up from his seat.
“It’s happening. The academy students are having so much fun, and those who have nothing to do with the lectures shouldn’t interfere.”
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At Bright’s words, the instructors quietly rose from their seats and dispersed.
Bright, who was getting farther away, stopped her steps and looked back. Border shook her head for a moment and then moved her steps again.