Souta said that he had a plan to collect the red flag of other classes. He knew that it was never going to be easy but he still wanted to try it. Heâs itching to test his power right now.
Lumilia stared at him before she nodded her head. She closed her eyes and seemed to think about something. After a few moments, she opened her eyes and looked at everyone.
"Itâs reassuring that Souta, one of the strongest in our class, is planning to contribute to our class," Lumilia paused for a moment before she continued, "Then, we will divide our class now. The first group will protect our red flag while the second group will focus on gathering the red flag of other classes."
Bryan raised his hand and said, "Me too, I wanted to fight other classes, so I think I will help Souta in gathering the red flag."
Lumilia looked at Bryan for a while before she opened her mouth and said, "Okay, for those who wanted to gather the red flag you can raise your hands."
Souta turned his head and looked at Alice who was silent beside him. She didnât even utter a single word ever since they arrived here in this place.
"What do you plan to do? Do you want to stay here or join us?" Souta asked her.
Alice looked at him for a second before she replied, "I will stay here. I think your planning to do something that will gather everyoneâs attention. I donât like it when everyoneâs paying attention to me."
"Okay, I understand." Souta nodded at her.
He could see that she doesnât like it when sheâs in a limelight. She doesnât want any attention. She preferred to be alone, or more like a silent place. But thereâs a possibility that he was wrong. He really doesnât know her but it seems that sheâs a good person. Thatâs what he concluded from the past two months.
Souta looked around and saw that eighteen people volunteer to collect the red flag with him.
Lumilia was surprised to see her friend. "Lynn, you wanted to gather the red flag!"
"Um... Mila, you know why Iâm joining this group." Lynn lowered her head and said in a tiny voice that only she and Lumilia could hear.
"Ah!" As if something struck Lumiliaâs head, she turned to look at Souta. Coincidentally, she met his gaze but she quickly averted her eyes after a few seconds.
She took a deep breath and looked at Lynn. "I understand it. I will support you, Lynn."
"Thanks, Mila, you really are my friend!" Lynn jumped and hugged Lumilia.
"Are you really sure about that, Lynn?" Nayo asked with a grin on her face. "Youâve said before that youâre interested in him but nothing happens in the past two months. Youâre just watching his ranking battle every time he fought."
"Donât mention it." Lynn shook her head heavily and tinged of redness could be seen forming in her cheeks.
"But Iâm worried..." Nayo said as she looked down.
"About...?" Lynn tilted her head in confusion.n/o/vel/b//in dot c//om
"Of course, itâs you. Iâm worried about you." Nayo said as she looked at Lynn.
"Thanks." Lynn thanked her.
"No, thatâs not it. Iâm worried about different things." Nayo shook her head.
"And whatâs that?" Lumilia, who was watching her friends, asked.
"You know. Iâve also watched Soutaâs fight and Iâve got one thing to say. Heâs too brutal in his every battle. It doesnât matter if youâre a girl or not. All of his opponents suffered the same thing." Nayo said with a worried expression.
Lumilia recalled what Souta said when they fought in the mini-tournament.
"Iâm not going easy on you just because youâre a girl. Remember, on the battlefield, thereâs no girl or boy thereâs only life and death. So do not expect your opponent to go easy on you just because youâre a girl."
Lumilia still remembered his words clearly at that time. She looked at Nayo and said, "Thatâs not it. I think that Souta is a good person."
"See, what are you saying, Nayo? Even Mila thinks that Souta is a good person!" Lynn said to Nayo.
"He doesnât have any friends except Bryan and Alice. He also doesnât talk to any of our classmates." Nayo said.
"Still... I think that heâs so cool." Lynn said with a hint of redness in her cheeks.
"Hais... Youâre hopeless. If you really like him then I will support you." Nayo said as she placed her hand on Lynnâs shoulder.
"Thank you, Nayo!" Lynn said with a smile.
...
"George, Joshua, youâre going to join us?" Bryan said in a loud voice.
"Yeah, yeah, I wanted to test my new spell against the other classes," George said as he clenched his fist tightly.
"Me too," Joshua said as he smiled.
Everyone started to talk about what they wanted to do in this special test. The whole class got noisy as everyone was talking to their friends.
Lumilia then raised her voice to gather everyoneâs attention. "Everyone!"
Everyone stopped talking and they looked at Lumilia.
When Lumilia gathered her classmateâs attention, she opened her mouth. "Then, what should we do about the class leader. Should we keep quiet about it or not?"
"Class rep, I think we should let the class leader decide it." One of her classmates raised his hand and said.
Lumilia knew that if the class leader kept silent about it then thereâs a high chance the other classes would not know about it. If the whole class knew about the class leader then thereâs a possibility that the information will be leaked to other classes.
"Okay, I understand." Lumilia nodded her head. She then looked at everyone and said, "I will count one to ten. If the class leader wants to reveal himself/herself then you should just raise your hand. If you donât want then you donât have to respond. Just stay in your position."
The whole class shut their mouth and they waited for someone. In the end, a man raised his left hand in the air.
They looked over and saw that it was Yujin Drune. Yujin was a man with long black hair that was tied in the back of his head. He had sharp features and his build was average. His ears were pointed like an elf and thereâs a long black tail sticking out behind him.
A half-elf and half-beast kin.
The one who surrendered when in the semi-finals before. Heâs opponent at that time in semi-finals was Souta but he surrendered before even fighting Souta. He knew his limits so he thought that thereâs no point in fighting a match that he couldnât win.
"So, youâre the class leader?" Lumilia looked at Yujin.
"Yeah, Iâm the class leader. I will stay here and protect the red flag." Yujin nodded and said.
"Are you sure? Itâs harder to capture you if youâre going to wander around this mountain." Lumilia asked and suggested something to him.
"Nope, Iâm going to stay here. Iâm quite confident in my skills." Yujin said as he gripped the sword on his waist.
"Oh~" Souta looked at Yujin with an amused expression. He looked at the sword on Yujinâs waist and thought that he was a magic swordsman.
Thereâs no magic swordsman class in this institute, so Yujin joined the Mage Class. He must be pretty confident in his sword skill thatâs why he decided to join the Mage Class. If he found that heâs lacking in terms of sword skills then he would have joined the Sword Class instead of the Mage Class.
âOne of the rare class, Magic Swordsman.â Souta thought. He guessed thatâs the reason why Yujin surrendered before even fighting him. It must be because he saw the couldnât saw himself against Souta without using the full potential of his class.
"Okay, I understand." Lumilia nodded her head then looked at the students who volunteered to gather the red flag of other classes. She opened her mouth and said, "We will divide you into three groups since there are eighteen of you."
Souta immediately raised his hand and said, "If possible I wanted to fight alone."
"Eh...?" Lumilia was surprised when she heard his words. She didnât think that Souta would fight alone.
"What are you saying, Souta?" Bryan said from the side.
"Okay, then I will change my condition. If possible I donât want a lot of people in my group." Souta said as he opened his palm.
"Um..." Lumilia then looked at Lynn before looking back at Souta. "Then, we will divide you into five groups. Each group consists of four people except for your group."
"Thatâs okay for me." Souta nodded.
"Iâll join you, Souta!" Bryan raised his hand and said in a loud voice.
"Nope, thatâs not possible." Souta shook his head. He doesnât want Bryan to join him this time. He wanted to fight the enemy alone, so why would he bring someone whoâs a battle maniac.
"No." Lumilia also shook her head. Souta was strong and Bryan too. If the two join in one group then the strength of the gatherer group would be focused on Soutaâs company. She wanted to distribute the strength of the group equally not focus it in one company.
"Then, what about I join your group?" Lynn shyly raised her hand while looking at Souta.