Chapter 227 : Chapter 227
Chapter 227
When Cassian's class hour arrived, the lecture hall erupted into commotion.
Not simply because people had gathered.
"Get lost! These seats aren't for the likes of you."
"Are you kidding me? We got here first."
"First, my ass. Didn't you see our study group member was already sitting here?"
"One person sitting alone counts as a study group? Our team had four here first—did you miss that?"
"Obviously whoever got here first wins, you lunatic!"
Study groups were fighting over the best seats.
What might have started as mere competition between students had escalated.
"Hey, mind moving?"
"Senior?"
"One of my squad members asked me specifically."
"......I'm also here because a squad member asked me to hold this seat, sir."
"Oh? So you're going to ignore a senior's order and dig in? Over some kids?"
"Seeing as you're making an absurd demand over those same kids, I'd say we're even, sir."
"Heh."
The senior knight's eyebrow twitched.
The junior's defiance had struck a nerve.
The junior knight read it plainly.
And thought:
'This isn't the Duchy of Crownhardt. If we're sitting in a classroom doing study groups and team assignments, we're all just students, aren't we?'
In the real world, the moment you left the military, there were no seniors or juniors—everyone was just some guy.
And yet here they were, still playing army.
This was why old-fashioned blowhards were the worst.
That thought had barely surfaced when—
The door slid open and Cassian walked in.
Every student fell silent as if they'd never been arguing, and sat down.
The seat dispute ended right there.
Everyone took their place next to the very person they'd been about to grab by the collar a moment ago.
"Good to see you all."
Cassian's expression was serene—whether he knew what had been happening or not.
'There's no way he doesn't know. He's got the sharpest senses of anyone here.'
'He knows and he's letting it play out. He's watching to see what we do.'
'Has the teacher gotten more ruthless than before?'
'That's insane. The charisma is unreal.'
The misunderstanding of Cassian deepened.
"With the Chairman's approval, next week, every student will be going on a field trip."
Fortunately—or unfortunately—Cassian made the announcement before the misunderstanding could deepen further.
Every student. Field trip.
The students looked at Cassian with a mix of excitement and tension.
Finally, they were going out.
All of them.
This had to be the preliminary evaluation for the final exam expedition!
"The environment of the Belmein Kingdom where we live is extremely harsh. Akarind is relatively better off, but step even slightly outside and the land is overrun with monsters."
Not just ordinary monsters—the canyon near Akarind was home to large-scale ones as well.
Where the Basilisks lived.
More importantly, the Basilisk habitat was merely the midpoint of the canyon.
"That's why the Belmein royal court periodically dispatches soldiers to clear out monsters within the kingdom's territory."
But the current state of the Belmein Kingdom was dire.
Its knights and soldiers had been annihilated, and the royal castle had fallen.
The incompetent nobles were all holed up defending their own territories, watching and waiting.
As Akarind Academy continued to grow, they were gauging how they might attach themselves to it.
"We previously formed two hundred teams. I've reorganized them in a similar fashion."
At Cassian's signal, the teaching assistants who'd been waiting outside the door came rushing in.
Shasha, Jacy, and Latrine.
"Reorganized the teams?"
"Our team is being broken up?"
The assistants taped up three large sheets of paper, filling an entire chalkboard.
Two thousand names arranged into fifty teams.
A staggering forty people per team.
"I'm in a team with those Empire bastards?"
"Why are those study group people in our team?!"
"Not a single one of our study group members is here......!"
The difference this time was that skill wasn't the primary criterion.
At the current level, the gap in ability between students was negligible.
What mattered instead was background.
Gender, age, place of birth, specialties, and more.
By cross-referencing countless data points, the number of same-study-group members per team had been minimized.
"These teams will follow their assigned chaperones and mentors on a circuit through the Belmein Kingdom's territory, meeting with nobles and resolving each domain's problems."
The students stirred at Cassian's declaration.
This wasn't just a test or an evaluation?
Meeting nobles and solving territorial problems?
"I don't need to explain the state of the Belmein royal court. You are students of Akarind Academy, but you are also soldiers of Akarind Academy and members of the new Belmein Kingdom."
This was the answer to the problem.
The students needed to be worked hard.
And they needed to be unified.
But thanks to their long training, ordinary exertion wouldn't drain their stamina.
Nor did it seem like physical exhaustion alone would resolve the conflicts between them.
So it wasn't their bodies that needed to be pushed—it was their minds, their hearts.
"I'll be blunt. The nobles of the Belmein Kingdom are bad people. Scheming, wicked, and stupid."
The mood dipped at the first harsh words anyone had heard from Cassian.
Even the students tensed up at their unfailingly kind teacher's candor.
"Because of that, they'll try to exploit you and your formidable combat strength. They'll ask you to deal with powerful monsters while failing to provide proper supplies."
They'd employ all manner of tricks.
If Cassian himself were in a similar position right now, he could think of dozens of ways to cheat and fleece these students.
"So if you charge in alone, relying only on brute force, you won't accomplish a thing."
It was a cruel and cold declaration.
"That's why this round's teams have been mixed across backgrounds. Experienced mentors are included as well. Those who've been sitting in as Auditors all this time will finally share their real-world experience through dialogue."
And so there was a single evaluation criterion.
How well you could listen to what others had to say.
How well you could understand and follow it.
"Students who fail to do so will receive a failing grade."
It felt as though a boulder had dropped onto the students' heads with a thud.
They glanced at the faces around them.
The very people they'd been fighting with before the teacher arrived were right there.
So right now.
They were being told to cooperate with those people, talk things through...... and sometimes yield?
Really?
"There is no class today. Since we depart next week, use this time for each team to introduce themselves and prepare the supplies needed for deployment. Begin now."
Cassian said that and walked out of the lecture hall.
A beat of silence.
"What is thiiiiis?!"
Screams erupted.
***
The students didn't have much time.
They called it "next week," but excluding the weekend, only two or three days remained.
In that time, they had to assign positions and divide roles for a long journey ahead.
And based on those roles, they needed to purchase the necessary equipment.
Students gathered in clusters and deliberated again and again.
Naturally, a single announcement couldn't mend relationships overnight.
The early meetings were a disaster.
"The first priority is food. This is a large-scale expedition with all two thousand Academy students moving at once. We need to act before other teams buy up the food supply."
"How ignorant. We're not trekking through some backwater like your Kingdom of Namress. We're setting out on a proper commission from nobles—why would we buy food? Purchase the basics, then forage on-site. That's more than enough."
"Are you insane? What if the nobles try to kill us? The Belmein nobles may be lower caliber, but they're every bit as underhanded as Imperial ones—who knows what they'll pull behind our backs. What if they poison the food?"
"Only lowborns slander nobility without cause!"
"What did you say?"
Students snarled as if they were about to grab each other by the throat.
But these disputes were quickly quelled.
"You're both partly right and both partly wrong."
The key to this round's team composition was the unexpectedly large influence of the Crownhardt military contingent.
"Nobles are underhanded."
Knights and soldiers from the Duchy of Crownhardt.
They had not only combat experience but life experience as well.
"There's a good chance they'll tamper with the food."
"See!"
"But that doesn't mean foraging is impossible. We'll be fighting in monster habitats, but our travel routes run through normal Belmein Kingdom territory. The Belmein Kingdom has suffered less demon damage than other nations, so animals and ingredients are plentiful."
"I was right!"
"So let's compromise. Our first purchases are consumables and daily necessities. Food is second priority. We secure blankets, sleeping bags, tents, and cookware first. Since weight is a concern, we prioritize multi-tools wherever possible."
In truth, discrimination based on rank, status, or any other factor was only meaningful inside the Academy.
The moment you entered society and joined a specific house, that house's name became your background.
The knights and soldiers under the Duchy of Crownhardt came from a wide range of origins and statuses.
But they were simply knights of the Duchy of Crownhardt.
Their lives before that meant nothing.
Such people served as balanced helmsmen in each team, mediating opinions.
"......That does make the most sense. Fine. We're a team, after all."
"If the knight says so, it must be right. That doesn't mean I was wrong, though."
The students grudgingly followed the soldiers' guidance.
In the process, bonds slowly formed between the Crownhardt personnel—who hadn't yet fully integrated with the student body—and the students themselves.
The same went for the Auditors.
In fact, they had even richer experience than the soldiers or knights.
"Back in my day, there were truly unbelievable noble bastards! What did I do about it? Why do you think I survived long enough to end up here!"
"Young people these days don't know how good they have it! Noble class? That's just what happens when everyone's well-fed and comfortable! What? There are demons now? Cassian's here—what's there to worry about!"
They tended to share experience through personal anecdotes rather than reasoned arguments, though.
Entertaining stories, sure, but not quite enough to earn the students' trust.
Amid all this, the busiest person was Abrahal.
"You're telling me this much volume just dropped all at once?"
"Your mother's been driving you crazy. Might as well throw yourself into work at a time like this."
"Thanks. Nice of you to look after my mental health too."
Abrahal smiled bitterly.
He couldn't deny what Cassian was saying.
His mother had been glued to Sihan's side, day after day.
Sihan looked uncomfortable, yet he didn't seem to truly dislike Merea, who'd grown into her twilight years since they'd last known each other.
Watching his elderly mother's romance unfold as her son.
And on top of that, thanks to his 6th-circle awakening, Sihan looked only slightly older than the Academy students.
Just watching made his blood boil.
While everyone was preparing in their own domains—
"A proper mission at last. Feeling confident?"
The Firestorm mercenaries were cheering as well.
"Hell yeah, mercenary work! An actual job!"
"We're finally getting out of this godforsaken Academy?"
"World, here I come! A Sword Expert now, and ready to roll!"
They were mercenaries by nature.
Life had gotten comfortable, but the romance of mercenary work had vanished entirely.
All they'd been doing was peaceful Academy patrols and training.
For them, this expedition was as sweet as a vacation.
And while everyone was busy preparing to head out—
"Are you really sure you'll be all right, Teacher?"
Rozalin watched Cassian with a worried expression.
"They'll have heard by now that we're coming. Merea will have passed the information along."
"That's exactly why......"
"Don't worry."
Cassian was preparing—alone—to face the force that would come for Akarind Academy.