Dahlia's Freshmen's Competition 3

"It's predictable who will win the competition now. Melly and Cornelia will reach the final and Cornelia will win. The most exciting match is just between you and Melly," I say to Anne sitting next to me.

I expect a respond from her but instead of her, someone else speaks. It's coming from behind me but it's not Pearl. It's actually Lola who somehow came here.

"Impossible. Melly will lose against Owen. There's no way Owen who is covered in heavy armor can lose against someone who uses her legs. And Roland is a genius. He won't lose against Cornelia. I admit that Cornelia is good with magic but Roland is sure to be able to use any magic that she can use," Lola says confidently. She truly believes that Roland and Owen will win.

She's just seeing things from their talents. Not their skills.

"Owen has no fighting skill. Just covered in heavy armor and swinging his mace around. Roland might be a genius but he's an idiot. You all witnessed it first hand with me and this kid. Just outsmart him and he will lose," I say casually.

"They won't lose! Just watch!"

So she sat behind me next to Pearl. The atmosphere is bad but I don't care and Julian isn't aware. He only knows that Roland is the bad guy and the others are not important.

The first semifinal starts. Melly against Owen. It's the stupidest match ever for me because of how easy it is to win against Owen. As long as Melly is smart enough, she should win. And I know she's smart because I taught her.

What does a kick mean? Is it a kick only when the impact leaves damage to the target? Or can pulling or pushing with your leg be considered as kicking? The answer is the latter.

We learned this when I gave her this idea in her head. She tried to push or pull using her legs and she's good at this. Better than me at least.

For example, a push kick where instead of hitting your opponent to knock them out, you push them away to gain some distance. It worked. And hooking your leg behind someone's leg to pull them toward you to make them lose their balance worked as well.

And that's what Melly does right now.

Owen has heavy armor and a heavy mace. He can swing that mace around so easily but he's not talented in mace nor was he skillful in it. Just some wild swings. And his shield is only positioned in front of him but he doesn't know how to use it other than endure incoming attack from the front with it.

But Melly kicks the ground and runs very fast so he can't move quick enough to block her attack. And her move is just getting to his side and then hooked her Achilles heel on Owen's own right Achilles heel and pulls it toward her.

Just like that and the heavy tank Owen falls to the ground face first. And Melly easily grabs his helmet and removes it with her hands.

Owen on the ground and Melly standing with his helmet on her hands. Now she can easily attack Owen however she likes.

"I won't give up!" Owen shouts as he tries to stand back up. But Melly easily gives him a soccer kick to his jaw while he's standing up. Though soccer doesn't exist here but it's what that move is called back in my previous world so I'll call it that.

That kick is enough to knock the huge tank out. And the winner is decided. It's something that no one expected other than me.

"Oh, if you look at the specimen at the corner, you'll see some funny but disgusting expression," I say.

Anne and the others look over there and see the instructor in charge of their combat lesson.

"You mean the instructor?" Anne asks.

The instructor shows a shocked expression, annoyed one, then it changes to a delightful one in a short time watching the match. He didn't expect Owen would lose.

"He was shocked and annoyed that Owen lost against Melly but now he looks proud as if Melly's achievement is the result of his teaching. But you know full well that in the last few months he's teaching Melly didn't improve much but in just a week of being taught by me she has improved a lot. Now I'm really considering if I should attend the academy or not. The only good thing about that would be reputation but despite being called as academy this place doesn't teach anything in combat. What about other subjects?" I ask Anne.

"I know nothing about the others. I focus only on combat," Anne says.

"…Then I should expect nothing other than the privilege of being a student here and reputation I will get if I graduate," I say.

Meanwhile, the girls behind me are shocked that everything I said is true. Pearl is even telling Lola that I said many things in the previous matches as well and they're all correct.

Then the next match begins. Cornelia against Roland. I don't know what they're talking because their relationship in this life is totally different compared to the game. Cornelia hates the original protagonist who placed his hands at her brother.

The match begins and Cornelia exaggeratedly points her index finger somewhere empty and Roland looks over there. Then Cornelia uses a curved Fireball and shoots it at the back of his head. The genius lost in one move.

"Ahahaha! So stupid!" I laugh loudly. Even Julian seems happy that her sister defeated the person he hates so easily. Anne laughs as well but she's covering her mouth.

It's all as I expected. Everyone relies on their talents too much they don't know other things in combat if it's not related with their talents.

Even more, after asking everyone around, I learned that it's normal that everyone's way of fighting is the same. Faster and stronger. No techniques, no skills, just raw strength even though strength is not their talent. It's the same with even Jaden, Keith, and Sven. Though after I told them about it they improved many times faster than me.

I wonder what they're doing. Keith is living next to my parents' house but I don't know about Jaden or Sven. But I think they will be just fine.

"…No way they lost so easily," Lola says in disbelief.

Sure in the normal scenario of the game, Owen would have won the semifinal and reached the final while Roland would have defeated Cornelia. But I changed the scenario. Now, according to the rank, Cornelia will be ranked first and Melly will be second. It's unfortunate that Anne is just in the top eight when she can easily be in the top three if she faced another opponent. But luck is involved in the competition.

"If you train me even more, I'm sure I can defeat Melly," Anne says.

"What? The training before was just an introduction. I said it before that I will only train those who will join my clan. Are you going to join?" I ask.

"If Cornelia is there, of course I will. And you have proven it easily that you can make us stronger. So, are you ready to create the clan?" Anne asks.

"Not yet. We still don't have a base and too few members. There are a few people I have in mind to recruit but I think we need more. And I don't want all of us to just be a clan of students of Dahlia. I want to look for other people who are not students. Though I still need more members so I will watch all the matches tomorrow and the day after to find people I think is good to join the clan," I explain.

Still not ready yet. And if everyone is a student in the academy, if there's a mission where we have to go somewhere for days, that would be difficult.

"I think it's okay for students to take a few days or even weeks of leave if it's for a mission with the clan. Only those who have joined clans though," Anne says.

"Really? Though getting other people from outside the academy is still a good idea. I'll keep that in mind. At least now I know that there's no restriction in recruiting students," I say.

But I believe that for clan members to have that much freedom as a student, the clan needs to have a big enough reputation first. That's not a problem for me though. I'm the man who killed the Wolf King.

And then the competition is over. In third place is Roland who defeated his friend Owen. Second is Melly who lost against the first rank, Cornelia, who shot rapid magic attacks at Melly who couldn't dodge them fast enough.

Just like that and the competition for the first-year students of Dahlia Academy is over. Tomorrow is for the second-year students. And I'm going to watch it as well.