The Master's Punishment

『DEFEAT』

Game 4 ended with the Valkyries on the losing side. The writing was on the wall all along, so nobody was too surprised by this result.

Nonetheless, this did not stop some members from throwing a tantrum.

"Unbelievable! Simply unbelievable!" Cornelia exploded. "We lost the entire game because of your peasant-quality decisions, Karen!" 

"Excuse me?"

"No, I will not excuse you. You're guilty as charged!"

"Guilty with what, exactly?"

"For example, what was that pitiful split-push you attempted at the end there?" Cornelia demanded. "Instead of helping us defend, you were God-knows-where doing God-knows-what! And, as expected, you didn't achieve anything at all!"

"Well, I'm SORRY for trying to find a way to win in that hopeless ass game," Karen retorted. "We were doomed anyway if we only stuck to defense, so I tried to find a way to attack. Their entire team was focused on pushing Mid, so I thought I might be able to pull a fast one on them."

"And, that went very well, didn't it?" Cornelia rolled her eyes.

"Hey, for the record, at least I took down the tower," Karen argued. "That's already more than you've ever achieved in that game."

"How dare you!" Cornelia hissed. "If you call that joke of a push an achievement, then I've made countless of those!" 

"Oh yeah, I know which 'countless achievements' you're referring to." Karen snorted. "Remind me, how many times did you die in this game? Was it ten? More?" 

"It was only five!" Cornelia barked back.

"Five deaths? Damn, you be handing them out like free like candy."

"S-Such insolence!" 

The back and forth went on the whole time while the team was on its way back to the waiting room. Clearly, none of it did any good for the team's shaky morale.

Fiona knew she had to put a stop to this but she could not find the energy at this point. This pattern has repeated so many times today that it felt hopeless.

Fortunately, there was somebody else in the club who had the authority to lecture these brats.

"I see you two are very energetic despite the fact you've just lost." BAM! A shinai struck the floor as the girls entered the room. This instinctively made everybody drop what they were doing and focus on the figure in front of them, Ms. Nakajima.

"Hmph." Cornelia scoffed. "I was simply lecturing this commoner about the terrible misplays she committed."

"Bitch, you misplayed at least ten times more than I did!" Karen argued. "You died five times! FIVE! Are you suicidal or something?"

"What!? it's outrageous to even imply such a thing!"

"Cornelia. Karen. Calm down. Now." SWISH! Nakajima swung her shinai out of the blue! The blade was aimed straight at the troublemakers!

"W-Wah!?" "A-Ah!" The two girls jumped far apart. The lightning-fast swing was no joke. It might have been strong enough to cut a boulder in two.

Of course, on paper, there was no need to be this scared. Nakajima did not really aim at the girls, she sliced through the air between them.

Nonetheless, the slash produced a gust of wind that hit both girls. Just from the impact, they could clearly tell this strike would have crushed their bones if it connected.

"I see you've quieted down. Good" Nakajima nodded. "Now, drop and give me a ten!"

"Say what?" Cornelia groaned.

"Seriously now…?" Karen sighed.

"Yes, seriously. C'mon, chop-chop!"

"Fine…" Karen dropped onto the floor as instructed. "One. Two. Three…" She had a thoroughly dissatisfied expression throughout the exercise but she followed the instructions to a T.

This was a typical Nakajima-style punishment for misbehaving brats, so Karen was already used to it to an extent. Besides, Karen already did push-ups as part of her daily exercise, so ten push-ups on demand was no sweat.

On the other hand, Cornelia was vehemently against all of this. "Hmph, why should a noble such as myself need to do such base things?" She lifted her chin. "But, I see you're enjoying the workout, Karen, as expected from a commoner. So, how about you throw in another 10 for me as well?"

"Keep dreaming." Karen finished the push-ups and jumped back on her feet. "C'mon, get down, girl. Or what, are you scared your arms can't handle that 'noble fat' of yours?"

"D-Did you just imply I'm fat!? T-The nerve of commoners these days…!" Cornelia seethed. "Just you watch!" If that commoner could pull this off, then surely Cornelia could as well!

She approached the nearby carpet and placed her hands down. After all, there was no way a noble like her would be touching the bare floor with her hands.

"Here goes!" Cornelia quickly went down and up. She finished the first couple of push-ups in a blink of an eye! In fact, she was going so fast that she was bound to tire herself out quicker than necessary…

"A-And, another…!" She clearly started struggling by the time she reached the 8th push-up, but she pretended everything was alright.

"E-Eight! Guh…!" Cornelia went down... and then just stayed there. She pushed against the carpet with all her strength but her body refused to go up.

"Pft, what's wrong?" Karen laughed. "Where's your 'noble muscle' at? Haha!"

"I-I'm merely charging up my noble strength, that's all!" Cornelia gritted her teeth and forced her aching muscles to complete the two remaining push-ups. A noble had to finish her job properly, after all.

"Alright then," Nakajima continued. "I trust this helped you relieve some excessive energy? Now, let's talk about the game you've just played."

"Ugh..." Cornelia made a face amidst her ragged breaths, and the rest of the team reacted similarly. Fiona was the only one facing the master, as she believed she had nothing to be ashamed of.

"Cornelia, I've warned you many times, but you're still overextending too much," Nakajima criticized. "I believe I told you to play safer and not let the enemy rile you up. Seems like the advice went in one ear and out of the other."

"Not at all," Cornelia objected. "I followed your instructions to a T, did I not?"

"Oh? Is that what you believe?"

"Yes, it's a fact. I didn't engage in many fights in the lane, did I?"

"Hmm. That's true, actually," Nakajima agreed. "I can probably give you a B+ on that front."

"Huh? Not an A+?"

"No, not quite," Nakajima said. "You still got dragged into fights in the lane, but at least they usually happened when Fiona was nearby. So, most of them were passable, just not ideal."

"Hmph, so you're saying I passed with flying colors."

"I did not say that."

"Well, of course a noble such as myself would be able to handle such a simple task, ohoho!"

"... sure." Nakajima didn't feel like lingering on this point. "On the other hand, when it comes to team battles, you deserve a D at best."

"E-Excuse me!?" Cornelia gasped. "T-That cannot be!" 

"Sadly, that's how it is," Nakajima said matter-of-factly. "How many times did you run ahead of the others and get yourself killed?" 

"Well, I played Knight, so I had to take the frontline. It was the noble thing to do."

"True, you were playing a frontliner. But, a good frontliner knows how to not overextend in the middle of a battle and when to retreat."

"Of course." Cornelia nodded. "So, as a proficient frontliner, I did my work flawlessly!" 

"In that case, do you mind explaining the five deaths on your record?" 

"Ack, that's..." Cornelia's confidence received a heavy blow, but only for a brief moment. "Well, some of these situations were unavoidable. For example, there was that one shrewd play that caught me and Lua in the middle of rotating to Mid. Even for a noble such as myself, it was too much to fend the enemy off in that 2v3 position."

"True, that one was a fine play by the enemy team," Nakajima agreed. "It was very much possible to survive that encounter, as Lua proved. But, at least I can chalk that up to skill issue."

"S-Skill issue!?" Cornelia twitched. "I'm not a skill issue player!"

"Oh, then how do you explain the fact Lua made it out alive?"

"Surely, the enemy focused on me!" Cornelia claimed. "And, that's understandable. It was in their best interests to dethrone the noble first, ohoho!" 

"Sure, we can leave it at that for now," Nakajima said. "Anyway, that only explains one of your five deaths. What about the other four? For example, that time you charged in alone against their Ranger and Vanguard?" 

"Oh, you mean that 3v2 situation?"

"Yes. It was a solid defensive position, at least until you made that move and let the enemy double-team you."

"T-That was..."

"You got carried away, didn't you?" 

"N-Not at all! I just wanted to thoroughly drive the invaders away, that's all," Cornelia claimed. "Besides, that duo of commoners was taking us lightly! We had the numbers advantage, yet the enemy refused to retreat even after we reduced their HP so much! So, we were obligated to teach them a lesson."

"In short, you got carried away."

"How so? I was simply punishing them for their overextension."

"The thing is, their side had the lane advantage, so they weren't obligated to retreat," Nakajima explained. "Besides, it's likely they were fishing for that kind of opportunity there, seeing as the 'duo of commoners' in question was Aegis and Athena."

"For the record," Fiona interjected. "I clearly stated that our purpose there was to defend, not to start a counterattack. Right, Andria?" 

"Yes, that you did," Andria confirmed. "You made it crystal clear that you had no intention of turning that situation into something more."

"And there you have it, Cornelia," Nakajima said. "Both of your allies understood that you only came there to defend, but for some ungodly reason you decided to rush in."

"I-I was sure we could launch an attack there..." Cornelia lowered her head in defeat for a moment but soon bounced back. "Besides, wasn't it their fault for not following up on my attack? We surely would've overwhelmed the enemy if we rallied together!" 

"True, you probably would've been fine if you moved in as a group," Nakajima said. "But, evidently, your teammates weren't prepared to attack. And, knowing you, you failed to coordinate this play with them, right?" 

"I-I suppose so..." Cornelia finally accepted defeat, but only for this part alone. "Fine, I admit I didn't play that one optimally."

"That's putting it lightly."

"Hmph." Cornelia scoffed. "Unfortunately, even nobles are humans, so they make mistakes on rare occasions like these. However, surely that's the extent of my blunders in that game."

"No, that's only one of many," Nakajima argued. "After that, there was that time you were defending Bot alone against two opponents. But, instead of hugging the Golem the whole way through, you stepped out of its area for a moment and that cost you."

"Err, that was…"

In this unforgiving fashion, Nakajima went over every single death. She explained in detail what mistakes Cornelia committed in every play.

Of course, Cornelia argued back every single time without fail. And, every single time, Nakajima won the argument and made the girl own up to her mistakes, at least as much as it was possible with Cornelia.

This is taking too long. Nakajima glanced at the clock. I planned to let them rest as well, but it won't be possible at this rate. I really need to get better at cutting Cornelia's nosical arguments short…

It was always a pain to lecture Cornelia on her mistakes. No matter the topic, the girl was always 100% convinced she did nothing wrong.

In a way, it was brilliant. Cornelia made it so annoying to accuse her of anything that people simply didn't want to do it anymore. It was a sophisticated way of dodging criticism.

Of course, Nakajima didn't let it pass. It was crucial to lecture this girl properly so she outgrow her issues. And, speaking of brats that had to be lectured….

"Next, Karen."

"Oh snap, I knew it was coming…" Karen sighed. "Seriously, Cornelia, couldn't you buy me a little more time?"

"Hmph, I don't recall when I became your servant." Cornelia scuffed. "If a noble like myself deserves to be lectured, then a commoner like you must be lectured tenfold!"

"Yeah, yeah." Karen rolled her eyes. "But hey, coach."

"MASTER," Nakajima corrected.

"Right, right, 'master'." Karen rolled her eyes again. "Anyway, the break is almost over and we didn't actually get to rest at all."

"True." Nakajima nodded. "It's sad, really. No matter how many times I point out your and Cornelia's mistakes, you two keep committing them. So, it seems I must keep hammering the lessons even at the expense of your break."

"But, we need to rest, right?" Karen turned to the rest of the team. "Like, how are we going to play well if we're tired as heck?"

"That's fair," Nakajima agreed. "Everybody besides Karen can take a break for now."

"Huh? What about me?" Karen asked.

"You stay right here and listen to what I have to say, young lady."

"Fuuuuuuu…" Karen's shoulders slumped. "Okay, hit me with it, doc. My body is ready."

Karen accepted her fate and braced herself for the worst. At the very least, the rest of the team will be able to get a breather, so her sacrifice won't be entirely in vain…