Episodes 104. A Servant who Take a Lead End

Point of View: Rasyid Londerik

They won, and I'm proud of it.

That's the sentence I'll say to them later. But is that enough? To me, it doesn't sound ethical at all. It even sounds like mockery.

In front of this bus, Ryan and I are waiting for their arrival.

I don't know if they're happy or not with the outcome. But in my opinion, this should be enough for them, right?

"Asshole, what are you thinking?" Ryan suddenly speaks, once again almost startling me, but luckily I manage to hide my surprise, although not perfectly.

"Loser, what do you think... about the result?"

Maybe this is the right time to ask, maybe he wouldn't be pleased with the outcome right now. Or perhaps even worse, he's disappointed with this result.

But all my expectations seem to be the opposite.

Ryan curls his lips into a foolish smile.

"The class I teach? If they..." Ryan gazes at the bright sun directly above him, leaning against the bus's nose. "... I'm already very satisfied! They lost but from every way they fought, and their unity. That's already proven that they're not failures."

An unexpected answer from Ryan.

"You're so weird... Is this what winning means to you?" I jest slightly.

"What they're facing right now isn't war or battle, it's still just preparation."

"Preparation?"

"Hmm (nodding)... The real war for them is adult life!"

As expected from Ryan, such answers indeed would come out of his mouth.

However, right after saying that, I feel a very frightening aura coming from within him.

"Why...?" I ask my cousin.

He gives me a stare sharp enough to split my head in two with just a glance.

"No, I just want to continue my words..."

"Words?"

Was he referring to the previous sentence?

"Adult's war... Not with weapons or magic, but with power, ranks, and backstabbing." That sentence feels like it's cutting my throat until I can't speak anymore. "We are climbing through all of that."

"Especially..." He's not done yet. "... people as terrifying as you, Rasyid." His voice pierces through my ears.

Ryan called me by my name, not the derogatory term or any other insult. When it's like this, I don't want to say anything. Not because I can't respond, but out of respect for his past.

Funny, I, who never felt pity for the people I killed, have this much respect for someone, maybe because he's my cousin?

.......

Not long after chatting with each other, and running out of conversation topics, I finally catch something with my eyes.

It's a group coming here with exhausted faces. Faces tired from fighting several times.

If recalled, their fights lasted for about 45 minutes. So, they didn't really take much time, I can assure they got moral points according to the criteria.

"Oh, look! They are coming..." Ryan says, letting go of his lean at the bus's head.

I walk closer to my students who still look exhausted there.

Our distance is getting closer. My eyes show no emotion to them right now, I'm undecided. Should I praise them or discipline them?

I have to choose between the two.

"Good job, everyone! Especially you, Hakam."

Forget about it, congratulating them is what I should do first before evaluating them, especially Hakam who looks miserable right now.

A little praise will boost their morale.

"No-no, I'm not sure if I did it right..." Hakam feels sad about his performance.

For him, this result isn't satisfactory as the leader of the team.

He even caused his friends to fall into a trap and end their game.

"No need to blame yourself, no one can be perfect right away when doing something for the first time." (Me)

"The way you quickly and responsively formed the outer gate formation was quite impressive, I'm amazed by what you did." (Me)

But that's enough, if he already feels very guilty about it. That's all enough, there's no need for more things to be ashamed of.

At that moment, Hakam smiles sourly and forces himself to do it. He seems to feel uncomfortable with me and the others.

"But by the way... Why did you all get Knocked Out at the end?"

I want to know that, actually if the hanging lamp that was on fire fell. That thing should have trapped them inside.

But my calculation was wrong after that happened. All the students who were there were eliminated, but not because of the hanging lamp, there was another reason.

When I saw from my monitor, they didn't get knocked out at the same time but were knocked out one by one until they were all knocked out.

"Actually, before I got eliminated, I felt a very fast ice ball shooting towards me."

Moka suddenly speaks up. The way she talks with her crossed hands shows that she's really analyzing this incident.

"I tried to dodge it, but just as I successfully dodged the ball. The ball instantly turned into a hand holding a sword. As a result, I was surprised and didn't have time to dodge." (Moka)

"Wait, so that's what really happened?!" Stevent behind her suddenly shouts so that everyone's eyes turn to him.

"Was your version different?" I ask.

"No, it's just that what I saw was a creature resembling a horse crashing into me and trampling me until K.O." (Stevent)

What he said now even makes less sense.

"If that's what happened to you, your Knock Out would have taken a long time, but on my monitor, you were all eliminated alternately with a fairly close interval."

Suddenly they who were at the end of the fight were surprised and felt that what I said was even less sensible.

"Wait, did we get K.O. one by one and in a fairly close time?" Moka tries to gather what she can.

I have to explain it immediately, maybe the enemy commander has something unexpected.

"Yes, I saw that too. You were eliminated one by one and in a fairly short time!" Sophia, who was silent before, now speaks up.

She's one of those who stood at the end, or often called 'Last Man Standing'.

More like 'Last Woman Standing', perhaps?

"By the way, speaking of those who stood until the end..." Stevent holds his chin, he's thinking and trying to remember something. "Wasn't Gita also one of those who made it to the end?"

Gita's name instantly echoes in their ears, for some reason, the name is often forgotten but whenever mentioned, they all immediately know who owns that name.

"Hey! Where were you earlier?! Instead of helping the team, you disappeared and annoyed the opponent's commander!" Moka scolds Gita, who has been smiling without feeling guilty.

"Ehe...."

He stays silent, but not looking shy. He looks more like a fool.

Jokes and laughter illuminate the end of this test. Hopefully, it will last until the end of the event.

They might be a little disappointed, or even frustrated with this result.

While looking at the test results displayed on my phone, I gaze at my students who are enveloped in jokes and laughter.