CH 163

“I want you all to listen,” Ludwig said, in the face of everyone’s conflicting opinions.

After everyone’s gazes gather on him and they become quiet, Ludwig opens his mouth again, saying,

“Even if each person continues to make their claims, nothing will come of it. First of all, let’s centralize the command of the operation and establish a headquarters. From there, we will give instructions to each unit and proceed with our tasks while cooperating with everyone.”

In this camp training, group divisions and tasks for each group are decided in advance. Teams from Classes 4 hunt in the forest, and another team explores the forest to find and collect things that the school has planted there in advance. This is done intentionally by the academy so that the students can get into conflicts with each other.

Everyone will want to prioritize their team’s assignments for their grades. For example, if you have to hunt, you must quietly enter the forest and quietly search for prey to hunt. Even so, if a large number of them entered the forest as if they were trying to trample the ground flat, the prey would escape.

On the other hand, for those who have to search, it is more efficient to decide the range to search and use human wave tactics to conduct a roller strategy. If everyone lined up in horizontal formation and looked at everything from edge to edge so that they wouldn’t miss anything, the search would be completed sooner or later. It’s much more reliable than hanging around with a small number of heads and relying on luck.

In this way, Berne Academy intentionally gives assignments so that opinions conflict. And it is the role of the higher-class students to bring them together. The ability to command and listen to suggestions is required, as is coordinating opinions and compromising to some extent, then deciding priorities and having the subordinates adhere to these terms.

“Set up a headquarters in the camp and place an army in each. Each army will explore the area they’re assigned,” Ludwig said.

His proposal says the students should be divided like actual armies, 1 have a commander assigned to each army, decide the areas they are in charge of, and explore the forest at the same time. Of course, there will be those who oppose it. You wouldn’t think such an opinion would be easily accepted by those who are going out hunting.

However, Ludwig preaches the rationality of his own ideas rather than forcefully giving orders and making others obey.

“I believe that the Hunt Teams will be dissatisfied,” Ludwig said. “But if we don’t first explore the forest and secure safety, it’s dangerous for everyone to move around on their own. To do that, we must first explore and ensure safety. I’m not taking the task of hunting lightly. Will you follow my orders?”

“That’s…”

“…………”

Everyone looks at each other. What Ludwig says is correct. Certainly, for a team whose goal is hunting, if a large number of people enter the forest at once, there is a high possibility that the prey will escape from all the noise. But even so, if you sneak into the forest with just a Hunt Team and come across an unexpected monster, you risk your life. It’s not a bad idea for the Hunt Teams to let the others ensure the forest is safe, first.

“Hunting must be finished with everyone’s cooperation after the search is over. So please cooperate with the Search Teams and ensure the safety of the area.”

Ludwig’s words set the course. It’s not just because Ludwig is the crown prince that they can’t go against it. Certainly, there is truth in what Ludwig says, and no one has an opinion that just denies him outright. Here there are those who go, “No, hunting takes precedence!”, but that was just selfishness, and no one had the grounds to argue their needs were above the whole operation.

Once the policy is decided, the next step is organization. The highest-ranking members of each grade gathered to form the “Headquarters.” Each army is placed under them, and then personnel is assigned within those armies. Each army is assigned an area of responsibility and conducts activities within that designated zone.

The headquarters gives instructions to each army, and each army moves its units accordingly. If something happens, a messenger is sent to the commander of each army, and information is transmitted from each army commander to the headquarters.

With the organization and division in place, all the armies went out to explore the forest all at once. No matter how you say this forest isn’t that vast, it’s still of significant size. The forest is so large that it is impossible for the school students to go around it all in 10 days. Every year during camp training, a certain range is determined, and that range is where the entire training takes place.

If it’s within that zone, the school students can map and explore it alone. It all depends on the year’s commanders whether they search for it exhaustively or on their own. This year, Ludwig gathered everyone’s opinion and decided to carry out Operation Roller as a whole. No one had ever managed to bring everyone together like this to decide on a policy and have them execute it. The school’s teachers and escort knights also appreciate his commanding skills and look forward to how he develops in the future.

“Heeeyyy! There’s a mark over here!”

“Call the Search Teams!”

Berne Academy has set up search marks in advance in various places in the forest. The Search Teams must secure these. The only rule is that “the Search Teams must collect the marks.” This vague outline is a trap by Berne Academy, and it’s purposefully sowing disputes among them.

It doesn’t matter who discovered it or how they retrieved it. However, the task will be completed when it is collected from wherever it was installed earlier.

For example, you can follow the other teams exploring without being part of the Search Team, and if other teams find a mark, you can intercept it. There is nothing wrong with that according to the rules, and the teachers who are there for grading also admit it. Regardless of the method, the first time you collect it will determine who the credit belongs to.

But that’s not all bad. The way Ludwig made them all act this time was the way the true value of this rule was demonstrated.

If everyone searches for marks and finds one, they will call a team in a Search Team that has yet to secure one and be credited for it. It’s quick to find it because everyone is cooperating under the agreement that they will continue until all Search Teams have finished their quotas. This is the original purpose of this rule.

Everyone cooperates to explore, and if they find it, they have to contact a Search Team that still needs to secure a mark. In order for everyone to fulfill their assigned tasks, such rules are decided. Those who abuse it by stealing the marks that other people have found and claim the credit for themselves are the evil ones.

You can’t say no one’s tried this scheme before. But it has never been executed perfectly. Everyone behind the scenes fights when they’re the first. Everyone wants to find the mark first and secure it quickly. Maybe in the end, even if one team is still missing a mark, there is no guarantee that others will join them to look for it. Without that trust and assurance, everyone would want their team to retrieve theirs first and avoid having to count on others that may not lend a hand.

Also, there is no reason for the Search Teams that have secured a mark to continue looking. In the past, there were many people who didn’t cooperate with the Search Teams because they thought it would be fine to do the rest of the tasks first. They think everyone wants to put themselves first, and when their part is over, they don’t want to do unnecessary things anymore. That is the trap of this task.

Just because a method worked this year, it does not mean that it will work even if the 1st and 2nd-year students propose the same method next year. This year, it happened that Ludwig and Rutger were hard to go against, and everyone promised to cooperate in persuading them.

Next year, Ludwig will still be enrolled as a 3rd-year student. But what about the year after next? What next? At that time, they wonder if the students who have had a successful experience with this method this year or next year will be able to bring the other students together again under one command. They’ve had no success with it so far. And it’s just that this year is still going well.

Also… even if the search ends smoothly… will the Search Teams that have finished help the Hunt Teams until the very end? And when a team that doesn’t cooperate shows up, can you properly reign them back in? Camp Training has just begun.

In the afternoon of the 5th day after the start of Camp Training, the sun was starting to set and it was time to finish today’s exploration.

“The last Search Team has secured their mark!”

“Yeaahh…!”

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Good news has arrived at the headquarters. Just half of the camp training has passed. On the 1st day, they spent one day setting up, so they actually completed the search in 4 days. So far, things have been going well, and there has never been a year in which issues progressed at such a lively pace.

“What’s the progress of the Hunt Team?”

“A little over 30%.”

“Hmm…”

The atmosphere in the command center becomes indescribable thanks to the delicate answer.

Even though everyone has started a large-scale search, there are times when they discover prey by chance. In that case, just like collecting the seals, they would call in a Hunt Team and have them take it down. Hunting is the same as collecting marks, and there are no rules about who found it or how to hunt it. However, unlike Search Team, the Hunt Team’s members must hunt on their own. It’s not as easy as picking up what people found first.

It’s a good enough pace to complete the collection and over 30% of the hunt in 5 days, but it’s difficult to hunt from here. If you search outside the designated zone, there will definitely be more prey than the number of groups, but there is no guarantee that there will be that many more of them.

There’s no rule that you can’t go out of the designated range during training, so if you can’t find any prey, you can stretch your legs out of the designated zone. But that also entails danger. Whatever method is used will be a showcase of the skills of the headquarters and the commanders.

“Okay. First of all, let’s withdraw each army today. Send out the messengers. Let’s think about how we can support the Hunt Teams from now on.”

As Ludwig ordered, messengers rush out to each army. It’s a child’s simulation, but they’re in the middle of their sunrise of life.

While Ludwig and the others were discussing the future, the students standing in front of the main tent were idle. Like a real army, they have escorts at the headquarters, but they’re not just there for show. They were the students who were waiting to be dispatched to each army, and since each army had already withdrawn today, the messengers were almost finished, and the rest of the students had their free time.

“Aaah, the last messengers have already gotten out, so I’m free.”

“Isn’t that good? Do you really want to run that far out?”

“Well, I guess you’re right…”

Messengers are ordered in order to ensure fairness. From now on, the chances of an emergency messenger suddenly being sent out are low. They don’t like running to the commander of each army because it’s tiring, but it’s also a waste to just stand here and wait until each army returns to base camp.

“Oh? Look at that.”

“Ah? Ooh…”

A strangely thick knight is walking. He puts his legs out to walk, but he can’t raise his thighs, so he twists his hips and throws his legs out. And by sticking out the waist, the armor does not twist, so all the shoulders of the same side come forward with his legs. He was walking with both hands and feet on the same side as if he was moving a board, a box, or anything else in front of him from right to left.

“I’m tired of seeing it already…”

In the beginning, they laughed and snickered, but now the second messenger answered with disinterest after having seen it for 5 days straight. However, the first messenger made a terrible expression and picked up a stone off the ground.

“Hey… you… what are you going to do?”

“Hihi, I’m doing this…!”

For some reason, the student threw a stone at the knight. He’s fully armed with armor and a helmet, so he won’t get hurt even if he’s hit by a pebble. However, even then this target is a member of the Royal Guard Division. Regardless of how high they are at home or at Berne Academy, there are still right and wrong things to do.

The second messenger was panicked, but there was nothing he can do. The moment he realized it, that stone had already been thrown, and it was going to hit the odd knight with the unusually thick body in the head…

“”…………Huh?””

No matter how you think about it, the stone should have been on a straight, sure trajectory but flew forward without hitting the fat knight. But it’s strange. It wasn’t because the trajectory was off. “Even though the trajectory should have definitely hit, the stone flew forward without hitting for some reason,” they thought…

“Hey… just now…”

“Did the stone just pass through?”

He should have definitely struck that kettle-like helmet. And yet… the moment he thought it would hit, the fat knight seemed to sway for a moment and looked like a blur. Then the stone slipped through without hitting the knight and kept going forward.

“Don’t tell me that knight is…”

“A ghost.. that’s a ghost, isn’t it?! Hey!”

The two messengers couldn’t comprehend the inexplicable phenomenon before them and were on the verge of panic as they told the story to the rest of the messengers, but one believed them.