The Protagonist Already Knows

"...?"

Raising my eyebrows, I met her gaze and asked.

"What?"

"Welcome to the Elven team!"

Before Charlotte could say another word, Angel suddenly yanked her away and asked after a moment.

"Princess...you’re sure about this? I know you said someone hated, bu-"

*Clap~clap*

As a deafening clap sounded from the front of the classroom, I glanced forward to the podium where Professor Sooyung was standing.

"Today, we’ll just have Dreg History for an hour, and then everyone will be dismissed."

...

...

...

"Alright, everyone is dismissed. Those of you competing today, best of luck!"

With those words, Professor Sooyung left the room, students immediately swarming around Ren and Leon.

"You guys are going to destroy them today!"

"Destroy those no-names!"

"I have a thousand dollars on us, please, Ren...I need this!"

As I stood up, acting like I was about to leave, Charlotte got out of her chair and stood firmly in front of me, blocking me from exiting the row.

"I was serious, you know? We’re missing a student for our team, and you’ve been drafted!"

Trying my best to act surprised, I tilted my head and responded.

"You shouldn’t joke right before a mat-"

Before I could even finish my sentence, Angel stepped past Charlotte and grabbed my shoulder.

"She’s not joking. You should be grateful that our princess decided to choose you out of everyone. Don’t let u-"

Slapping her hand off my shoulder, I narrowed my eyes and looked down at the two elves.

"Grateful? What should I be grateful for? You’re the ones that need me, aren’t you?"

As Angel’s mouth opened wide in astonishment that shortly turned to anger, Charlotte stepped forward again before Angel could say anything and grinned.

"That’s the attitude! We really do need you, so I’ll be expecting a great performance!"

"..."

Perhaps taking my silence as a sign of rejection, Charlotte tilted her head as well, meeting my eyes, and continued.

"You should know refusing is not a choice. Your headmaster gave us full control!"

Turning around and not even giving me a moment to respond, Charlotte said while walking forward.

"Follow us; we only have so much time to practice!"

...

...

...

As we walked through the academy’s festive streets, Charlotte and Angel walking side-by-side while I trailed behind, Charlotte suddenly looked back and said.

"If you didn’t know, the group-stage matches are decided by a simple game of ’Turf War.’ "

"The ground is split into two semi-circles for each team at the start of the match. For example today, there will be one semi-circle of green turf for our team and another of red turf for the humans."

"Then, for the next hour, each team tries to spread their turf into the other team’s semi-circle. To spread your turf, all you have to do is infuse your mana into the ground, and the color will automatically transform after 5 seconds of constant infusion."

"However, the turf you claim must be connected to your already existing territory. At the start of the match, I can’t just sprint into the middle of the enemy’s semi-circle and start claiming territory."

Halting and completely turning around to face me, Charlotte smiled and added.

"The winner is simply determined by who has the most turf at the end of the match! Understand?"

As I nodded my head, Charlotte glanced at my sheathed Dao, which was tied around my waist, and curiously asked.

"I heard you never tried out for your academy’s team. Why is that?"

I simply gave her the same answer I had given Ren.

"I wouldn’t have made it."

From in front of the two of us, Angel suddenly said.

"Saying that is an insult to our team. Are you suggesting that someone who can’t make the Sunken Pearl’s team is good enough to be on our team!?"

Looking at her back with a blank expression, I couldn’t help but ask.

"Do you take everything as an insult?"

Before Angel could take that insult as a question, Charlotte suddenly grabbed both our shoulders and pulled us into the sparring arena before us.

As I entered the arena, I found dozens of light-blue eyes immediately land on me, the elves gazing at me with expressions ranging from hostility to curiosity.

Projecting her voice across the entire sparring arena, Charlotte pointed at me and announced.

"This is Ash, our substitute. He’ll be joining our rightmost team as an attacker."

Suddenly turning to me, Charlotte said while looking at the elves that had separated themselves into three groups.

"Our strategy involves fighting from the center, right, and left corners. Each team has 3 claimers, whose sole duty will be to claim land, and 3 attackers, whose job is to protect the claimers."

"Angel and I will be freelancers who step in to support any teams."

Nudging me toward the rightmost group, Charlotte said while waving at me.

"You’ll be an attacker with them!"

As I approached the group of five elves by the right corner of the stadium, one of them approached me with a smile.

"Welcome! I know this match may not mean a lot to you, but we would like to win. So, all of us would appreciate it if you gave it your all!"

In unison, the four elves behind him pumped their fists up to the sky.

"...did you guys plan this?"

Scratching the back of his head, the elf smiled and shook my hand.

"Anyway, I’m Grayson, and the three claimers behind me are Yell, Hope, and Angelina."

The three female elves behind Grayson were wielding hunting daggers with small bows wrapped around their backs.

Suddenly stepping forward, the remaining male elf with a sword put his hand around Grayson’s shoulder and said.

"I’m Reed. But you know the best way to meet another person? Spar!"

Sighing, Grayson glanced back at Reed, who immediately responded.

"Come on, we have to at least know how strong he is before we fight with him."

...

...

...

"Oh look, the human is fighting!"

"Of course, he’s against Reed. Only that dumbass would challenge his own teammates."

"At least it’ll be quick, then."