74 – Chapter 27. Show Me the Spirit – 1
– 75 –
In the second half of the Cheontoje Festival, there were many games in which people used their hair subtly or competed with what they had learned at school.
Of course, the seniors who learned more took part in most games, but first-year students were also mobilized for some games.
An ‘anti-aircraft attack’, in which dozens of people in a group raise guns to hit and drop a high-hanging target, or a ‘war for high ground’ in which a certain number of people are mobilized for each grade level.
I was a special pilot student and adopted daughter of a duke family, and I was a cousin to a famous person named Kaon, who used to go to school, so I heard rumors that not only the first year but also other grades.
So, under the shadow of the large tent where the white soldiers were gathered, I was contemplating, ‘Would you like to call me in this game?’
However, disappointingly, I could not hear the news that the events to be played had been decided until the afternoon of the first day passed.
“I have to go to the next game. Then I will go.”
“Yes. Don’t get hurt.”
Seeing off Chermia, who was often called to and from the playground even after sitting next to me, I felt a contradictory feeling that felt comfortable but uncomfortable, but I didn’t want to do hard work.
To be honest, I thought I’d call him at least once.
I pretended to be troublesome on the outside and imagined that others would look up to me because I was active in the game, but I felt lonely and cheered as if I was alone in the world.
I was dancing along with the people cheering in front of me to relieve my sorrow, but a strangely familiar senior spoke to me.
“Oh! Miss Erif. Hello.”
She was a cute little girl with slightly raised eyes, but I can’t remember who she was.
“Hello.”
As she nodded her head slightly, the senior suddenly clasped her arms and said.
“By the way, can I stay here? Kaon is looking for Miss Erif for the match tomorrow.”
“Yes?”
It was then that I realized who the senior was.
The last time I heard from Kaon about the 5th floor of the old school, he was the senior I was with.
She probably liked Kaon.
“It’s the first time I’ve heard of tomorrow’s game.”
“Oh, there’s the White Army headquarters over there, right? If you go there, there is a list.”
My senior half-forced me to the White Army headquarters, and Kaon, who was there, pretended to be her.
“Erif. Where have you been?”
“Just cheer.”
“Isn’t that a bad thing?”
“Yes.”
Kaon nodded her head knowingly, then looked up my name on the list and showed it to me.
“I thought you would hate to be bothered, so I only listed the one most important match.”
How do you know that I like things like this again…….
I’m so glad I have a cousin who is quick-witted.
“There are so many people, so I feel like the first year is roughly organized, but the people who can be called the class representatives of each team have to participate in the game tomorrow with the highest score, so I put their names up in advance.”
“Representative?”
“Yes. From 2nd to 4th grade, one person is selected to represent each class except for the company class. I am the leader of the conducting group, and the 3rd and 4th graders are the operator and pilot class seniors.”
“Then what criteria do you select for the first year?”
Kaon answered my question with a slight smile.
“In the first year of the team, the person who stands out the most is usually chosen.”
“Uh… …. The best student?”
“Well. What should I say? Mascot?”
In the end, is the mascot’s fate unavoidable?
As she sighed a little discouraged, Kaon hurriedly waved her hand and continued her words.
“Of course, a freshman can be active. Did you get good grades? Think of it as an opportunity to try them out. Who knows? Thanks to your efforts, our white army will win.”
“Well. First, tell me what kind of game it is.”
“Even if it’s not, the other teams will gather later and listen to the teacher’s explanation. And after that, we’ll analyze the other team’s students, so don’t go anywhere else right away.”
“Do you also do analysis?”
“Then. That’s what a commander is.”
Kaon looked a bit cool when he said that.
I’ll have to come back later and say something like that.
“I’ll tell my friend for a moment.”
“Yes. Come on.”
Returning to her original seat, Chermia with a tired expression returned after a while, slumped down in her chair, and leaned her head on her shoulder.
“Ehhhhh! I’m so hard…….”
The first time I heard the grunt, I laughed a little, but after holding it in, I fanned it with her hand.
“You did a great job. It seems that only Cermia is especially called out.”
“I don’t know. As the representative of the school year, it seems that everything necessary for the first year is being called.”
By the way, Chermia was the class representative.
Cermia’s broad-legged personality and her grades competed with her grades, so she simply won the president in the election she held at the beginning of the second semester.
“I’m going to the game tomorrow.”
“Really? What game?”
“I don’t know. A big score is at stake, and one representative for each grade level is selected and goes out. From the second year onwards, the class was different.”
Chermia tilted her head, picked up her calendar near her, and began to check her something.
“Isn’t that a ‘all-out war’?”
“All-out war?”
“This is the most important match, did you do it during operator training? Controlling a model tank.”
“Yes.”
“It moves 100 units at a time to fight.”
“100S?”
100 Model tanks.
Can you control them all?
“If you look here, it is said that the schedule will be held once tomorrow in the morning and in the form of a tournament in the afternoon. We’re going to fight the Black Army at first.”
“Then, if you win twice, you win?”
“Yes. There are four teams in total.”
Chermia rummaged through her schedule and then she turned to me.
“But can’t we practice? I don’t worry too much when I see it during operator training, but…….”
“Even if it’s not, I want to go to Kaon now. After today’s game, we’ll get together and do something.”
“Kaon-senpai? The senior is a sophomore, the leader of the conducting group.”
“Yes.”
Chermia turned her head towards the White Army headquarters and she patted me on the back.
“Then let’s go. But do you want to eat with your seniors this evening while practicing?”
“I think so. I will call you when we have dinner separately.”
“Okay.”
After breaking up with Chermia, I headed to the White Army headquarters.
Sometimes there were seniors who pretended to know them, but the only ones who were acquainted were Spinel seniors in the warrior class.
“Hello.”
“Oh, it’s Erif. Was it our team?”
“Yes.”
The senior, who smiled as he held out the white belt on his forearm, was friendly and patted his shoulder.
“What game did Erif play?”
“Not today, I think we will go to all-out war tomorrow.”
“Really?”
Senior made a startled voice, then pinched my cheek slightly.
“I thought so. I thought you could go all-out on any team.”
Is this a high level of ability or is it a mascot?
Should I consider the former?
“Eriff is so cute.”
Were you on the mascot side?
After I arrived at the headquarters and broke up with Spinel-senpai, I was caught by Kaon and helped organize the first day.
I thought I’d come a little later.
“Erif, come this way.”
Before the cleanup was finished, Kaon, who left the finishing touches to other seniors and first-year students, took me to the corner of the playground.
There, four students, each selected from the White Army, the Black Army, the Red Army, and the Blue Army, had already arrived.
During the first year, there were a few familiar faces.
Especially, Roiman, a self-proclaimed wizard with a black armband over there, was staring at me with a very blatant look.
Do you still have what you shoved over your shoulder during the last fight with the School of Magic?
The boys are small.
When Roy Man sticks his tongue out and puts the medicine, he shakes his head in embarrassment.
Why is that guy like that?
Because he is a self-proclaimed wizard, he has a very unique personality.
After a while, a teacher I saw occasionally in the pilot class approached me.
“Are they all students going to all-out war tomorrow?”
“Yes.”
“There are students who are seeing the full-scale war for the first time, so I will explain in detail.”
The teacher handed out the prints one by one and pointed to a corner of the playground where we were gathered.
“All-out warfare is a simulated battle using a model tank commonly used in practice. We do it here on the playground, and the terrain is randomly constructed with fantasy-type magic, which is often used in operator and command major classes.”
Reading the print, it is said that two games are played at a time using about 20% of the playground.
In a playground where the length of one wheel is in kilometer units, wouldn’t it be a very large area if it was that much?
“Before the start, each team is given 100 tanks, and depending on the armament, the gun barrel can be replaced with a self-propelled gun, but there is a maximum limit of 20.”
A senior with a red armband raised his hand at the teacher’s words.
Uh, that’s Yuri, isn’t it?
“Teacher. A self-propelled gun would have a longer range, but are there any other restrictions?”
“There is a penalty for moving and hitting.”
Yuri nodded her head with a serious expression, met her eyes with me, and smiled, shaking her lips.
I turned her head and looked away from her Yuri.
“There are probably 100 of them, so we can’t control each one, right? It automatically attacks when there is an enemy nearby, stops when it receives more than a certain amount of damage, and when there are nearby allies, it automatically joins and forms a rank, so you don’t have to worry about having too much to do.”
“Oh.”
When the students were admiring the high-tech model tank, I counted the hardships of the spirits that resided there.
When I have time, I should encourage them.
Speaking secretly to ask you to take a good look.
“What you really need to do is to pre-deploy, move units, set attack points and targets, and if necessary, evade maneuvers.”
Teacher. People say that there are too many things to do.
Suddenly, I was curious about the ‘evasion maneuver’ in the teacher’s words.
When she raised her hand, everyone’s eyes gathered.
“Student Erif, do you have any questions?”
“Yes. Does evasive maneuver mean that you can issue individual commands for each tank?”
“Of course. Each tank has a number that shines in the color of each team. But if you focus on one tank, you can’t focus on anything else in the meantime, so you should use it when you really need it, right?”
Everyone nodded as if it was natural, and the teacher continued explaining.
“The number of people would have been one first year student from each team, and one second~4th year student from each class and grade level. I checked the roster, but are there any teams that do not meet the conditions?”
“No.”
“Good. Then I’ll explain how to proceed. Look at the back of the print.”
The back of the print was full of letters.
It will take quite some time just to read and understand this.
Fortunately, the teacher only touched on the important parts.
“If the terrain is formed 10 minutes before the start of the game, the commander of each team will manipulate the panel that will be installed there tomorrow and arrange it. And the tanks are put in three minutes before, and they move automatically according to the pre-entered layout.”
“Then, wouldn’t you be able to win if you attack straight ahead with a full deployment?”
“What are you talking about? Then what do you do when the counter hits? Are you a warrior?”
“Wow. Stop hatred by the whole class.”
Suddenly, the teacher stepped out in the chaotic atmosphere.
“Now, everyone, be quiet. Keep in mind that demeaning other classes can be replaced by volunteer work on campus. And I’m sure no idiot will expose the team’s strategy.”
Looking around the quiet crowd in an instant, the teacher cleared her throat and continued her explanation.
“When the game starts, one player from each team comes out, puts on this headset, and gives orders. Every time 25 out of 100 tanks are destroyed, their personnel must be replaced, otherwise the order cannot be issued.”
When the teacher lifted her headset, everyone’s eyes went up at once.
“The battle continues even during the exchange, so it is important to wait in advance and take over the headset as soon as possible.”
Students were taking notes diligently in notebooks and prints.
Our white army will be fine because Kaon writes hard.
“The stadium will be set up in advance this evening, but I’ve made it possible to practice piloting once, so let’s all work hard for our team.”
“Yes!”
After the teacher left, the students naturally gathered from each team.
Our 3rd and 4th graders were the first students we had met, but they are seniors who have good skills.
“This is Tyrian from the 4th grade operator class. We want to win this year.”
“My name is Melhar from the 3rd year pilot class. Please.”
“This is Kaon from the 2nd year conducting group. Please send me lots of maps.”
“This is 1st year Erif. Please.”
“Yes, yes. Shall we all come for dinner?”
“Yes.”
After having a quick dinner as suggested by Tyrian-senpai, we started practicing in earnest.
The control method was different for each team, but we decided to control the tanks in groups of ten along the front digit of the 10th squad number assigned to the tank.
Tan #10-19 is unit 1, tank number 20-29 is unit 2, and finally, tanks 1-9 are combined with unit 100, and so on.
This was the method suggested by Kaon, but in general, the method of tying numbers 1-10 to number 1 has a high possibility of misreading the numbering system and twisting it in an emergency.
It seemed like a good way, so I and my seniors agreed with it.
“Left unit number one. Oh, this is harder than I thought.”
The pilot class, senior Tyrian, had no experience in operating or conducting, so he sighed lightly, probably because it was a bit awkward, and Kaon and Melhar senior exhorted him.
Me? The first graders were originally out of class, so they couldn’t even take over the headset.
Usually, first-year students have no choice but to have low skills, so they are placed in the last 25s, but if you go by then, it’s like a final decision.
Occasionally, in the case of similar consumption, there are many cases where the first graders fight each other, but because each other’s skills are there, there are many cases where they don’t give extra practice time.
It is said that in the first year, there are friends who have good operator grades, but last year, aspirants of the warrior class played a reverse game, and that foundation was faltered.
“Erif. Would you like to try it?”
“Yes? Me?”
Senior Melhar who suddenly offered me a headset.
Senior put on a headset with a gentle smile.
“Yes. I went to an all-out war last year, and Tyrian-senpai and Kaon did it once.”
Melhar-senpai, it seems that you are very talented enough to be selected last year.
“Then excuse me.”
With the favor of the senior, I headed to the place to be controlled.
The cockpit was like a podium with a little height, so you could see the battlefield at a glance.
Looking at the brightly shining white number, I remembered the operator training that I had only heard once.
“[[No. 1 To 4 ↑, Wait 5 to 7, No. 8 To 10 ↑]]”
As soon as the command was given, the tanks began to move.
As the tanks advanced while changing orders in the middle, Hakikjin was completed in an instant.
“Wow. Well done.”
“Isn’t Erif the first to come?”
Since the seniors and Kaon stick out their tongues, the control method of giving commands directly to the spirits seems to work well.
Kaon put a hand on his chin, pondered for a moment, then shook her head.
“Let’s hide Erif’s skills. If you go ahead and get a warning, you may be at a disadvantage in the finals. Especially the third-year senior of the enemy over there.”
Kaon’s gaze reached Yurine.
She smiled cheerfully as she slapped the back of her boy who was nearby.
“This is a person of interest. As I saw earlier, the tanks moved organically as if they were alive.”
“Oh, you mean Yuri? You are definitely talented. It would have been awesome if she had been in the command class and not the pilot.”
In response to Mel Har-senpai’s testimony, Tyrion-senpai seriously nodded her head.
It seems that Yurine is also quite famous.
“There is a high probability that the enemy will come up, so at least in the first game, Erif is the last to be sent out. If we take care of everything, we won’t get caught.”
“I will do as the commander orders.”
“I agree.”
“You mean I’m the last?”
“I’m sorry, but that’s it. If there is no variable such as the number of tanks, the strongest person always comes out last, so don’t be too dissatisfied if you can’t.”
“Okay. It would be better if I didn’t have to go out.”
“Erif is so kind.”
Senior Mel Har patted his head, and the White Army’s all-out war operation meeting ended in a warm atmosphere.
Becoming the White Army’s hidden card, I prayed for victory in tomorrow’s all-out war while watching my seniors practice.
I hope that you will receive a lot of mart points and extra points.