[Eon's POV: ]
"Anh, that doesn't make any sense! How can he give someone a hundred points just because they didn't screw up the filtering process?!"
"It was a Definite double filtration, even three masters made mistakes during those things, Tia. That one is understandable."
"What understandable?! And whose side are you on, Lizzy?!"
"I have my own side, Miss Captain. And instead of being angry for someone that obviously knew what they were doing, and the only thing they were probably good at, how about you look at your own team.
It's pretty surprising your house have 300 points for excellent assembly procedure. How do you explain that?"
"The one that taught my teammates! Ask Hide! It was his uncle! He specialises in that thing so he made sure they were up to his standards at least in that one thing.
That's why they all used that one technique in all freaking rounds! It wasn't like we only used it for one round like the others-"
"What do you mean by that now, hun? We used the Alternate distilled replacement in all of our round as well. I don't see any excellence points in our log."
"It's not your turn, captain Alpha so please be quiet. And everyone knows ADR is speciality of the alchemy teacher, and last I saw him teaching you all, he didn't look as satisfied as when looking at the practice of Miss Titania's group."
"Miss Quin? How can you still defend them? Aren't you angry they didn't give you enough points for your great performance?
You people even went ahead of us-"
"Oh! Oh! And this! Uriel! What the hell is this?! How do you have 250 points for advanced subordination?!
What the hell does that even mean?!"
We were analysing the point distribution that had caused an uproar throughout the academy, and there was a public debate going on in the same auditorium where all of us had gathered.
"How would I know on what bases he gave us those points on? I don't even know how we got so many points in the first place.
Like, yes they had to get a good spot if they wanted to avoid the punishment, but seeing as they got such a pretty result, I'm wondering what presents I should give them now."
There were a lot of students still remaining in this auditorium, listening to this funny debate we were having, and having fun of their own, and, since there was no teacher present here anymore, nothing was stopping them from having a civilised debate of their own.
"A thousand points just for winning?! And that too to an individual and not the house?! That doesn't make any sense!"
"How are these points even counted? I'm trying to figure-."
"Don't waste your time. Even Newtine and the captains don't know on what basis the headmaster gave or deducted those points."
"Right... and if it weren't for vice captain Lucifer saying that the points aren't distributed randomly, we wouldn't even have this fun game."
"Three hundred points! Three hundred points is the ongoing price! Participate in the bets and win ten times the amount!
Let us see who figures out the distribution structure first~!"
They were having fun among themselves while here we were, us miserable captains smacking our heads on the tables to figure out this strange yet systematic distribution system.
'I should learn how to set a grassland on fire and make two species fight against one another from our great great headmaster.'
Not only did he gave us this strange homework of figuring out how he had distributed these points to each team And individuals, by making his point allocation public knowledge, he was practically asking us to solve this ridiculous riddle.
"Any luck on your end?"
"Well, I'm almost there... though it could have ended long ago if skills were allowed."
"If you take individuals as the dividers, the groups that have received the points wouldn't make sense.
Individuals weren't the only ones that were given the points, two people, for a single action, or more than two also received points."
"Yes, but they could be-"
"No they cannot be included in a single kind of categorization, vice president." I couldn't help saying that.
"Look here, if we do take the individuals as the division points..." Captain Alph, President and I had already taken out the individual scenario so we knew the answer that we would get through this method wouldn't be viable for a few of the entries that were a little different from the others.
But they were rare and easy to miss... just that I did not think she would miss them as well.
{ "You were wrong, Cradle. Even if you do it with that specific method, you cannot get the answer for all the points." }
"There would be sixteen errors." Newtine said while still writing things down on the paper with his mechanical arms.
"Seventeen. Count the 'Use of scale And Measurement' as well." Captain Alph countered with his own argument.
"Eighteen, specifically. Couldn't forget the weird 10 points for looking good, can we?" And with my words, they had nothing else to stretch the topic anymore.
"I get it, I get it... fuck."
Cradle was frustrated that she got wrong after doing all that, but since the war had not ended yet, she did not give up.
"Haaa..."
Or even thought of giving up.
'She has got stronger.'
The way she just sat back down to her place and started writing down showed just how much stronger her mentality had become over the last few days.
'She would have been all angry that she got wrong while the entire class was watching if it was before the competition, but now, after fighting in a war, she has become much stronger than she used to be.'
Little things like a small failure did not hinder her even a little.
She had something to do and she was doing it. That was it.
-Tak.
The way she approached the question was different from how the rest of us did with the individuals as the centre.
'We tried it instinctively and found it to be wrong in the early stages.'
While on the other hand, she believed her answer was right until the very end.
'Her method was unique and of her own.'
She did something extraordinary, something only an explosion specialist like her would think of, but sadly it did not work this time.
"I'm done as well."
Though, thanks to her, I got a new idea that made the hurdle that was blocking me for the last twelve minutes seem like a joke.
'And if I have to say something about it in casual terms, I'd say it actually was a joke.'
A bad joke that makes me want to go and curse our great great headmaster onhis face.