13 – Substitutions

Substitutions

The morning sun comes through the window. Zeroa, who woke up early in the morning, exhaled a small breath after completing the mana training method Rai taught her.

Kneeling on a piece of paper with a magic square drawn on it, Zero Ah, who trained, massages and tidies up her aching leg. Rai says why he kneels like an idiot and asks him to lie down, but Zeroa is rather unfocused and takes his kneeling position.

In the old days, the word innocence was not attached, and magic was the exclusive property of wizards. The way mages collect mana through meditation has been continued to this day.

Through correct posture, you can fall into a trance and absorb nature’s mana. Just listening to it is something cool and exciting. Zeroa followed the meditation posture she usually imagined, and she focused more on having a little pain than lying down.

‘Because he said image is important.’

Rai’s face, giggling at her appearance, comes to mind, but she denies it, and Zero Ah rises from her seat.

Today is a march training day.

Although she had to spend 5 days in the woods for rigorous training, she was like heaven to Zeroa. The most beautiful woman in her academy, to be honest with her, limiting herself to her academy is her insult to her. Even if she searched the empire, maybe even the entire continent, there is no one who has the same beauty as her.

She’s been with Aria for five days, so I feel like she’s used up all her life’s luck.

Going out for her training, her pounding heart catches her heart as if she is going to play, and Zeroa pats her cheek in preparation for her training, wearing light armor that her academy has given her in advance.

She needs to concentrate. She can’t just look embarrassing for five days. She has to do her one thing, not just for herself, but for the sake of her teammates in her group. Hardened by her, Zeroa takes a deep breath in her and leaves her room.

“Brother, are you leaving now?”

“Yes, I’ll come back.”

Zeroa’s sister, who was out in the kitchen with her sleepy eyes, clumsily nodded her head as if she hadn’t woken up yet and told her to go.

She is a precious little sister to Zeroa. She was able to enter the academy because her sister secretly submitted her application form.

She said what she was up to that day when her sister asked her to take a day off, but she said it was the day of the academy entrance exam. Her sister slipped in her application form behind her back and informed her the same day.

Zeroa, who was embarrassed because it was an academy she hadn’t even thought of in her dreams, was pushed by her sister’s annoyance and took her test, and luckily she was able to pass with a close score.

She is a grateful younger sister who cares for her brother, although she usually jokes around and ignores her a lot.

“Have a good trip. When you come, buy Blanccine’s raspberry bread-“

“Okay. I’ll definitely buy it.”

Zeroa looks back at her, shows her her wonderful smile, and leaves her house.

Zeroa’s younger sister Kara, who didn’t seem interested in her, looks away from her walking out the window as he leaves. Her sleepy eyes are ambiguous, but her eyes looking at her gently look happy.

‘How did you pass the exam?’

Contrary to her deep eyes, Kara was shocked inside. She submitted her application under her brother’s name just as a joke, and she got accepted. The exam itself doesn’t cost any money, so she sees her brother’s embarrassment. She was going to have fun, but she smiles and says, ‘hahahaha.

Fortunately, things worked out for her, so she decides to attend the academy, but she is said to have gathered only the elite at Legandia Academy.

As if teasing Kara, who was worried that she wouldn’t be bullied because she was clumsy, or that she wouldn’t be able to keep up with her classes, Zeroa returned with a happy expression as if she had her whole world after her first day.

She was frightened, but Zeroa didn’t care and went to her bed after spending all day with a disgusted expression. She got goosebumps and secretly checked her brother’s room and found that she had the same facial expression even when sleeping.

As each day passes, Zeroa’s mood gets better. She is devoted to her practice at home, and some of her instructors say that her less distant brother likes her and gives her private lessons. Her mother said she was recognized, and she liked it, but she couldn’t believe it was Kara.

The zero she has seen is her mediocrity itself. In a way, she thinks she’s great, and she’s only average at anything. There’s nothing she’s not good at, but she’s also good at nothing. But she is recognized by the famous academy and the instructor accepts her as her apprentice?

‘Isn’t the academy actually a place where elites gather?’

Kara, unable to comprehend the words coming out of her brother’s mouth, furrowed her thin eyebrows.

* * *

“Yes? Really?”

It was Zero who came to the academy in a hurry, but he only blinks blankly after hearing what Leila has to say to her. Sesset, who was carrying her beside her, also puts on a blank expression with her mouth open, but she soon grabs her head with her angry face.

“Abigail! You bastard!”

Sesset struggles with her shouting. Uncooperative from the start, Abigail eventually gave up on her training altogether. She would have given up sooner and given her time, but she would have prepared somehow, but Zero A and Sesset were devastated when they heard the notification from someone else before the training started.

“I’m going to burn this b*tch!”

“Training will begin soon. Sit down.”

Cesset stood up with her cane and cried at Leila’s words.

“Instructor Leila, what should we do… No, how are you going to temper the older years?”

“Abigail’s evaluation goes into her personal register. And we’ll see the test that replaced her training.”

“That’s it? Isn’t that too light a punishment? We shouldered all the burdens?”

“The record book is seen by more people than you might think. The title of irresponsibility will follow Abagail wherever she goes. It’s a pretty big penalty unless she shows that she has improved afterward.”

At Layla’s plainly speaking of the truth, Sesset calmly sits down and takes a proper posture.

“Please write on the record that I am a sincere and excellent academy student. It would be good if you put an outstanding degree on it as well.”

“The contents of the record book are treated as confidential from the academy student.”

Leyla, speaking coldly, frowned at her list.

“Anyway, it’s getting ambiguous. I’ll have to disband Group 7 and assign one person to each group.”

“Yeah yes yes yes yes yes yes yes yes-!!”

“Abigail!!! Abigail!! Abigail!!”

Academy students in other groups scream at the word that Group 7 is being disbanded. If Team 7 is disbanded, there is a possibility that they will become the same group as Arya.

Aria is still expressionless, but Zeroa has a shocked expression. Seeing the academy students running amok in her frenzy, Layla writes something on the paper in her hand, making eye contact with each student.

As the number of students she sees increases, the noisy atmosphere quiets down and everyone sits quietly in a straight posture.

“Isn’t it too mean to threaten you with the register?”

“Don’t intervene. Get out of the way.”

“Yes.”

Lyla sticks her face out from behind her and whispers to her, Lila frowns and glares at her. Her piercing gaze shrugs her shoulders and as her rye recedes, she looks at her list again and thinks, then she says.

“Sessett will go to Group 3, and Zeroa will join Group 1. Aria will…”

Joe 1 and 3, who missed Arya, collapsed, and Joe, who caught the odds of 1 in 5, glared at Layla’s lips with her eyes wide open. After a brief pause, when she tries to open her mouth again, an unexpected person approaches.

“Could you excuse me?”

“Yes, it’s fine. Headmaster.”

Her academy principal Selena’s appearance of her makes her academy students nervous. Although she was Selenas, a kind and pliable personality, she can’t help but distance herself from the academy principal and her academy students.

“I gave permission for Abigail to not attend. So, Layla and Class B’s Group 7… Right? It’s causing trouble to Team 7 as well.”

“That’s fine. Just adjust it to suit your situation.”

Sesset made a dissatisfied expression at Layla’s words. She’s not okay at all, but she says it’s not her business too easily. It is a body that is still a burden in marching training. Even if she pretends to be okay, she is well aware of the fact that she is causing trouble to others.

Joe, who receives himself in such a situation, is bound to be disappointed. She wasn’t just unfair because she couldn’t receive the Goddess, but it was like picking a loser out of the remaining 7 trillion people.

So she struggled to lead the meeting from the beginning and lead her group. There was nothing she could do in practice, so she jumped back and forth in the middle so that Joe could flow smoothly before that. She tried to lead the opinion of the Goddess to guide her assertion, and tried to get Abigail, who only threatened to kill her, into her group.

However, if she gets into group 3 like this, she will become a person who has not done anything for group 3. No, I’d rather do nothing. It’s obvious that from now on she’ll hold her back because of her stamina. No matter how hard she tries, there is no way her stamina will increase.

“But it would be a pity if the group that worked hard so far disbanded. So I thought of another way.”

“The other way… Which one?”

“Here, this wonderful instructor will be your crew member instead of Abigail, right?”

“Yes?”

Ray, who was secretly forgetting cookies behind the scenes, looked at Selenas with surprised eyes as if he had heard it for the first time.

“You have to do a little bit of hard work for the academy students.”

“Not a little, but five days?”

“Yes, yes. A little.”

When Selena’s answer still smiles, Rai puts on a disapproving expression, but she stands up, saying, “If the head of the academy wants it.” When he becomes the 7th group, the academy student raises his hand and asks the academy principal.

“But wouldn’t it be too advantageous to have an instructor who knows everything about the training?”

“I don’t know.”

“Yes?”

“That’s right. You couldn’t come in during the meeting because you were a cleaning staff, not a lecturer, right?”

“The entrance was swept clean.”

Rai responds by raising her thumb, and Selena covers her mouth and giggles. As the academy student looks at her in disbelief, she tells Layla on Selena’s behalf.

“The principal is right. Instructor Rai is a back-up support in case of an emergency, so I don’t know about the contents of the training.”

“Have you at least checked the map around you or know a bit about what’s going on?”

“Yes, that’s normal, but this new… Instructor proudly skipped all meetings. If you didn’t go to the control room this morning, you wouldn’t know anything, just like you.”

“……”

All the academy students stare at Rai at the absurd answer.

“I don’t even know where the control room is.”

As Rai confidently answers while eating cookies, the academy students laugh at their absurdity.

There was Rai’s confidence, but more than that, the academy students who couldn’t overcome the weight of the words of Selena, the academy principal, could no longer express their objections.

“Wow- Instructor Rai. Thank you.”

“What are you doing all of a sudden?”

“hehehe-“

Seeing Sesset rushing at her bright face, Rai avoided her body, but she continued to let out her silly laugh and ran after him. Selena, who was watching the two of them happily, says while looking at her academy students.

“No matter how it is decided according to the situation, there will be complaints that the instructor is too advantageous to be among the academy students, right? So for group 7, the assistant principal will give you a more difficult task. Other academy students also watch how the instructor solves it. I hope this will be an opportunity to learn.”

From noble mtl dot com

“Eh… Vice President?”

“Yes, I heard that Lai-kun was joining, and he was full of enthusiasm.

“That’s right… I see. I think it’s very fortunate that we get along well…”

Rai smiled awkwardly, and the other academy students laughed lightly.

“Still, you can think that 7 trillion is more advantageous, so I’ll give you a little hint. This evaluation is all individual evaluation.”

“Isn’t it a group evaluation?”

“Yes. Since each individual is evaluated individually, there will be people who get good grades even if the group fails, and vice versa. If this is enough, there won’t be a big gap with group 7, right?”

An increasing number of academy students nodded at Selenas’ words.

‘Then we’re at a disadvantage.’

But only three sets quietly think.

It is an individual evaluation, but they receive more difficult tasks than the other groups. Although Lai said she would participate, she would not take the instructor’s position and actively lead.

Three-set seriously thinks about it, but when Zero knows that he can be with Aria, she just smiles. She has been through this and that, but in the end she was able to be a Joe like her.

The hesitant Zero and Aria’s eyes met and greeted her with a small nod. She means well wishes. Zero Ah also nodded her head and answered, and Se-Se-Se-sae sticks to Rai’s side and whispers in his ear.

“Is that our jojin?”

“What’s wrong with George? My presence is enough for you to ride the damn express wagon to success.”

“Is the coachman the vice-principal?”

“… Then should I send it to Team 3?”

“Ah, ah! No! I trust you, instructor. Please don’t kick me out.”

As the three hurriedly cling to each other, Rai giggles and avoids her body.

While Layla is away after telling her to be ready, Rai brings and reads the situation-specific response plan submitted before training in Team 7. The academy deliberately didn’t let me know what would happen in training so I had to think a lot.

The academy students submitted a plan to cope with each situation and a group of roles as an assignment, and Lai reads her bundle of documents while sharing cookies with the children in the same group.

It felt like an examination, so the three of them stayed quiet without interrupting, and after a while Lai put down the papers.

“Yeah, I know how you feel. You guys are so sincere. You’ve written all kinds of situations.”

“hehehehe, thank you.”

“Then I ask. What role would you like me to play instead of Abigail?”

Facing her gaze, Rai asks, and Sesset nods her head, opens her mouth, then pauses and ponders. She kept her mouth shut for quite some time, but Rai quietly waited for her answer, and after her troubles were over, Sessett replied.

“Abigail’s role will be played by Zeroa, and the instructor will be the scout.”

“Why?”

When Rai asked while looking at Zeroa, he was stunned at the unexpected question.

“That… Is the instructor better at finding the way?”

“That sounds true, but there’s a bigger reason.”

I looked at Aria this time and she pondered for a while before speaking in a calm voice.

“I’m not sure. Is it because the fighting is gone?”

“Correct answer. Explain three three.”

“Because the difference in combat power between the instructor and us is huge. If the training included combat, we wouldn’t have included the instructor in the first place. If the enemy is set up according to the instructor, the training itself will not work, and if the enemy is matched with us, the instructor will be invincible. This training is for us, not for you.”

After praising Sessett for reading her training with a small clue, Rai removes the document on how to deal with combat situations from her papers. As Zeroa, who was the only one who couldn’t figure it out, lowered her head as if she was ashamed of her, Lai read her remaining documents and tapped the tip of his chin with her hand, telling her to raise her face.

“It’s because these two from aristocratic families learned how to read tricks like this at home. It’s just that your environment is different from yours, but you’re not lacking, so there’s no need to be ashamed.”

“Oh all- you know how to say nice things.”

Zeroa, who was discouraged, is a little cheered up when Rai says something nice. Cesset lightens the mood by playing pranks, and Arya meets her gaze and nods her head small, putting his mind at ease.

There’s simply Aria, she’s not just 7 members good, her members are all great and caring. Feeling fortunate to meet Joe like this, Zeroa decided to do her part in training.

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