Incompetent Academy and Failed Heroines

225 – Tournament (7)☆

I did not come straight to our hideout.

I thought I couldn’t believe it, so I deliberately turned around and erased my footprints. Aizen’s fighting skills are not as good as mine or Ain’s. However, the ability to make immediate decisions. In short, they were better than us in the area of tactics.

“Gwaaek──!”

When we arrived under the oak tree, the ladder did not come down even though we made the sound of an elk. I was afraid that I would be caught if I spoke, so I took two turns in the dark. Still, there was no response, so I threw a rock in the direction where the kite was.

Tuuk──

The ladder came down. When I pulled it, it was firmly fixed. As I quickly climbed up the tree, I saw Rita standing watch. She asked why he didn’t drop her off, and Kite answered for her.

“No…… “I’ve been hearing animal cries since a while ago!”

I shook Ain who was sleeping and woke him up. Perhaps because of his dirty mind, he immediately raises his fist and closes his eyes.

“What?”

“I have something to tell you.”

“Damn, do it later because the next watch is coming.”

Still, looking at what I entrusted to Rita, I can see that he believes in her abilities no matter what she says. Rosa sleeps well on a tree, and Kite’s eyes are blurry as if he’s anxious. There was no time to delay, so we had to discuss it right away.

I told them what I had just seen.

Then Ain frowned and looked at Rita. Even in the dark, I could feel their eyes sparkling. I felt like a consensus had been formed that I was not aware of, so I asked each person to share their thoughts.

“Yangmul, there’s one thing I want to check before that.”

“Ask.”

“You said you were the leader?”

I bite my teeth at the fact that I adjusted to the rhythm of the alliance for a moment.

“So when I asked who he was, he said Heoden?”

“Yes.”

“You idiot, go down under the tree and sleep.”

I know why you are angry. I’m wondering if this would make Heoden a public figure, but I’m not stupid enough to not know that.

“Ain, we’ll check the dye color during roll call tomorrow morning anyway.”

“So?”

“Then we will interview each other and it will be revealed who was harmed by whom.”

“I know.”

“Then why are you angry?”

“The people who got hit know, but the people who don’t know will say that Heoden pulled a trick.”

When I didn’t say anything, Rita, who was sitting leaning against a tree, also said something.

“The princess was right just now. “No matter how much I think about it, Deman, you were hasty.”

“No…… Sister…… Your Majesty. Demani…… It’s not wrong…… “Isn’t that the bad one?”

“Jokbal, you just shut up.”

“Me too…… I don’t want to say anything, but still…… “I don’t think I should say anything about this.”

As Kite came to my side, taking my side, the branches shook violently. She told everyone to sit a little further away from me so she wouldn’t get hurt in case she was a bit heavier than me. Nowadays, anyone can collapse when two people sit together, so it wasn’t really because of my childhood friend’s weight problem.

“Deman, you are so kind.”

“It’s just as the fire fox said. What if the bastard who wants to win retreats?”

“That’s right, it’s foolish to try to be fair even in games where there is a win or loss.”

Both of them kept nagging me so I just listened.

─You said there was a constant sound of animals crying, right?

After thinking about something else for a moment, Ain snapped her fingers to get my attention.

“This is what happened, we pretended to be Colonia.”

“Princess, is it possible?”

“Anyway, everyone except Yangmul is a woman.”

“Right now, that’s because there are only two people who can fight.”

This time I agreed with Rita.

“The guys who got hit by the Black Flame Dragon were all good fighters.”

When I saw that I couldn’t even use a piece of paper and broke in front of numbers, I couldn’t believe in Ilshin’s prowess and win.

“Both of you, just shut up.”

Ain will plan a strategy, so she asked me to listen to only one thing and not to talk to her.

“What is it?”

“It is dangerous to form an alliance with people who have skills but are not loyal.”

“Baby, should I try to buy it now?”

“Ahahahaha, Princess, there is no need to consider that because it is impossible from the beginning.”

“So, we need to be clear about whether to unite or split. “If we make an awkward connection, we end up thinking about backstabbing each other.”

“I know even if you don’t say anything, so neither of you talk to me anymore.”

I thought about the group of Redditors who worked together to subdue magical enemies in the mountains a long time ago. What did Ivor do at that time? It was so long ago that I don’t really remember, but there was a lot of noise as the crew members disobeyed the leader’s decision. Why did you do that? What did you and his brothers fight about so much in the barracks?

─You bastard, if you show me a sword, you have to give it a sheath so there won’t be a fight.

Only one sentence emerged from the lower level of my consciousness to the surface.

“But…… “Is it okay to set fire to the forest like that?”

Kite looked in the direction where Youngchae was and muttered.

“There is nothing that cannot be done according to the regulations.”

In response to Rita’s answer, my childhood friend lowered her eyes and whispered regretfully.

“The animals won’t get hurt, right?”

─Oh, maybe!

Finally, something tickling and an unresolved question was resolved.

“Rita, didn’t you say you kept hearing animal cries?”

“Yes, I thought it was you, but you didn’t respond even when I gave you the ladder.”

When I cried out loud, Rita frowned and said that was exactly what I was saying.

“What, did you say it sounded like a scream?”

“Kite, please hold the ladder here.”

“Oh…… Where else are you going?”

“I’ll be back before I wake up. No, just for a moment, if it’s okay with you, let me borrow your outerwear.”

Among us, the one with the strongest taste is Kite. If she had come to visit me, her scent would have been stronger than anyone else’s. When I take off her coat and give it to my childhood friend, her expression becomes strange, she hesitates and just lowers her head.

“You don’t like it?”

“No…… Smell…… “I’m afraid it might fly.”

“That’s a good thing.”

“Oh…… Really?”

“You seem like a pervert.”

Rita is tickled, so she tells me to go downstairs and wait. No matter how much I am, I can’t be in her underwear in front of a man, so I realized once again that Tiriana and Rita are women of the south.

All women in the North strictly distinguish between outerwear and underwear, and kites are particularly sensitive to exposure. Nodding her head, she slid down the ladder. Soon her outer clothes fell to the floor. A whispering voice from up the tree asked her to smell it, but not too much, so she answered that she would.

─It must be Gella.

Since she came in after changing her clothes, she probably didn’t smell like she was buried there. Since I usually don’t have much of a sense of her body scent, the only body odor she could remember was that of Kite and Rosa. A little far from our hideout. So, I called her name in a place full of darkness and silence.

“Gella.”

No response.

“Gwaaek──!”

She imitated the elk as best as she could, and saw the bushes twitching.

“Gella, it’s me.”

You may think that we are talking about names, but to beasts, human statements and promises are insignificant.

“Smell it.”

As Kite waved her robe like her flag, a beastman finally emerged from the grass. Her feet were crushing the floor, so I tried to get closer, but baba baba bak ─── She ran at great speed and hit my chest with her head.

“What!?”

As the body fell back, the sound of stamping feet was heard again in the darkness.

“Gella, it’s me!”

When I smelled the clothes, there was a familiar scent. A strange body odor created by a mixture of soap and sweat. Since it had a strong Kite scent, I didn’t think anyone would recognize it. She charged at me again, so this time I avoided her by stepping out of the way. It was so fast that if you didn’t react in advance, you would definitely get hit.

─Why are you doing this?

No, is it really Gella who is attacking me? In the midst of my confusion, a number of possibilities passed through my mind. I don’t know if she’s right, but first I tried screaming at her under the assumption that the figure in the darkness was her.

“I wasn’t the one who set the forest on fire!”

An unintelligible sound was heard from the other side.

“I can prove it!”

“Sister, don’t be fooled.”

─Damn it, it was Franz.

I spoke towards the direction from which Franz’s voice was heard.

“If hitting your head makes you feel better, that’s okay.”

“Sister, you guys only lie?”

At the same time that the obnoxious sound was heard again, Gella ran out from the forest. She closed her eyes tightly as she ran towards me at a speed that could not be compared to Franz. Paba-b-bak—At the same time as there was a kicking noise, something hot came right in front of me. I opened my eyes because breath much hotter than human body temperature was rising from my chest.

“Damn, I’m getting burned by you.”

“Sister, bastards don’t tell the truth like we do!”

Franz took up a charging stance again. Gella’s black eyes sparkled like jewels in the moonlight.

For the first time, I realized that the eyes of beastmen at night are much more beautiful than those of humans. She kept asking me if I was the one who was sniffing my clothes with her nose. In times like this, I thought the name they gave me would be better than my real name, so I answered Damia.

“You don’t smell me.”

“Take charge of this.”

When I handed over Kite’s clothes, he took a deep breath and answered like this.

“Demia, the female smell coming from your body is correct.”

It’s night, and my clothes smell like smoke, so I guess they can’t recognize me.

“Don’t you remember the voice?”

“Do it with the smell.”

When she holds out her hand, he smells it and says it seems right, and calls Franz too. However, it only stands guard and does not move.

“I came because there was a fire in the forest.”

“I’m not.”

“Sister, you said I don’t need to listen to bullsh*t?”

He told me not to be fooled, so I shot him back openly.

“Even the prisoners say it and don’t protect it.”

“Demia, that’s different from forgetting your promise and lying.”

When Gella answered on her behalf, Franz nodded her head and insisted that it was completely different.

“We consider that a lie too.”

“I didn’t come here to argue.”

“If it’s a fire, I didn’t start it. “I just happened to be there.”

“Did you stop me?”

“No.”

“Damn, that bastard is also an enemy of our forest!”

“Franz, my sister will talk to you. “You talk easily when you’re angry?”

When I tell him to practice on a regular basis, he screams and runs around me in circles. It was an obvious threatening action, but it didn’t matter because Franz could catch him with determination and beat him to the point of bursting his head.

Gella continued to stare at me with an expressionless face. I could faintly feel her eyes filled with disappointment. That’s right, before this was a tournament venue, it was a forest where beastmen lived. It must have felt like their house was on fire.

“Why didn’t you stop me?”

“These are cadets who participated in the tournament.”

Gella seemed not to understand this fragmentary answer.

Let me explain in detail. I understand the logic, but I don’t understand why it works. In other words, it is not acceptable to burn down the huts used by beastmen in order to defeat enemies and receive high scores.