Chapter 65: War Strategy

“The name of the game is keep away. A false village will be erected on the far side of the island.

The scenario is as follows; you and your group stop inside a village in the aftermath of a taxing battle. You are tired, low on rations, and your lord has taken an arrow to his chest and is in critical condition.

As your lord receives treatment from the villagers, a brigand arrives at the village to ransack it. You will not be told whether your group is the knights or the brigands until the night before the examination.

Brigands fail the exam by having all of their group members and support actors captured.

Knights fail if they are defeated or the brigands make it to their Lord and lay a hand on them.

Oh, and usually this rule wouldn’t apply, but no killing, please. The numbers for the knight students are already lower than usual this year. I heard some nut cut an extra 10% of them to pieces or something.”

Solomon rubbed the back of his neck wryly.

“Wonder who’d do a thing like that..?”

Jiaoying could only roll her eyes as she leaned against the whiteboard.

“Fifty wooden cutouts will be used as villagers. They will affect the point system.

You start with a hundred. Knights will lose two points for every villager that gets killed.

If a brigand lies down on top of a cutout for twenty seconds or more, that counts as a sexual assault, and the knights will lose five points instead.

If a brigand manages to drag a cutout all the way back to their starting position, they will be sold off into slavery, and you will lose ten points.

You can also lose points for minor errors that the instructors document during your exam, but I wouldn’t worry about that too much.

Should a team drop below fifty points, they will immediately fail and punishment will be swift. Any questions?”

Solomon blinks slowly. “Yes… You’ve told me how to make the knights lose points, but almost nothing about the brigands.”

“They lose fifteen points for every non-actor that gets subdued. They lose twenty-five if their captain is taken down, since criminal groups usually fall apart without their head.”

Solomon wrinkles his brow. “That’s it?”

His expression makes Jiaoying smile. “Knights are supposed to be staunch defenders of their people and flag bearers of justice. It isn’t a career that often entitles one to ’fair’ scenarios. We shoulder the brunt of the world’s unfairness so that ordinary people do not have to.”

Solomon is surprised at her answer, but he doesn’t look up. Instead, he continues to write in his journal so as not to let her words slip from his memory.

“It surprises me a bit that a school that would have the students kill each other on the first night would care so much about the upstanding qualities of knights.”

Jiaoying smiled wryly. “This test was something personally designed by Master Abel. He’s a bit different from the Dean in his worldview. You might even call him an idealist.”

The mention of that name made Solomon tense up again.

Jiaoying noticed, but did not say anything.

“Anyway… there is a little bit of advantage for the knights. You get five hours before the raid begins to prep however you’d like. The night before the test is to take place, you’ll get ten minutes to survey the area, and get a general idea of what you have to work with.”

Solomon nods without complaint.

“So, can I assume you have a team you’re hoping for?”

Solomon shrugged as he rested his chin on his fist.

“Not really. We’ll pass either way.”

“Don’t tell me you’re arrogant enough to doubt the challenge of the test in front of you?”

“I wouldn’t say it’s arrogance. I just know what I have to do and I won’t let anything stop me from doing it.”

Jiaoying turns her lips upward in a grin.

“…What?” Solomon frowns.

“Nothing… It’s just, if I didn’t know you were some kind of Minotaur hybrid, I certainly do now.”

Solomon tilts his head in confusion.

“Bull-headed.” Jiaoying clarifies.

Her words earn a bit of a chuckle from Solomon, if only because he cannot refute their proximity to the truth.

Suddenly, Jiaoying pulls up a chair and sits a few paces away from Solomon. The way she stares at him causes him to shift uncomfortably in his seat.

“How did you do that by the way?” Jiaoying asks.

“Do what?”

“Change your form. I’ve heard some stories of other races being able to do something like that, usually they’re fae. But you are an average titan-blood.”

Solomon swallows as he returns to writing.

“I’m a contractor.”

“A lie.”

“It’s not.”

Solomon fishes inside his pocket and pulls out a glowing, mystic rock. “See? I-”

Jiaoying takes the stone in her palm and crushes it.

“H-Hey!”

“Come on, did you really think I’d believe that was your binding artifact? I’ve been in Yari’s office, kid, I know what her rock collection looks like.”

“…Damn it.”

Jiaoying tilts her head back and laughs while holding up her hands.

“Look, I won’t press if you don’t want to tell me. But I feel you should know that a power like that is going to make you a very popular commodity. You should get your story straight at some point.”

Solomon could only hold his head in his hands as the embarrassment threatened to overwhelm him. “I’ll give it some more consideration…”

Jiaoying chuckles again. “Live and learn, kid. It’s all we can do.”

“…Despite your continued insistence, I am not a child.”

Jiaoying’s smile diminishes into a subtle smirk. She casually leans back into her chair with her arms folded.

“You don’t say..?”

“Do I look like a child to you?”

For a moment, Jiaoying goes quiet as she seems to remember something from the past.

“…No, I guess not.”

Solomon nodded in satisfaction. He knew growing his beard out would help him look more distinguished.

“Why did you do that back then?”

In an instant, Solomon feels his entire body go rigid.

“…Once again, I’m really sorry about-”

“I don’t need any more apologies. I just wanted to know what was going through your head.”

Solomon brings a hand to his head. “I just… couldn’t help myself.”

Jiaoying seems even more surprised by his answer than he expected. Too surprised, in fact.

It takes a moment for him to realize how his words could have been interpreted.

“Oh, I meant-”

“Are you saying… you’re attracted to me?”

“No-” Solomon grits his teeth. “Well, yes.”

“!”

“But that isn’t relevant to why I grabbed you.” He insists. “I wasn’t in control of myself. It was an accident.”

It is rare to see Solomon become flustered. It is even more rare for him to be that way because of a woman.

Meanwhile, the more he tried to clarify what happened, the more fidgety Jiaoying became.

A full three minutes go by with neither of them saying anything.

“…Wanna just call it an early day?”

“…Sure.”

Once again, Solomon would have given anything to see his immortality removed.

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