"So, do you have anything you don't like?" Theo asked. "Like hitting a girl or whatever."
"No, I think it's fine. As long as you don't ask me to do something too excessive." Hontar shook his head. He didn't care about gender until it became like torture, such as gouging their eyes or burning their skin.
"I don't mean to be rude, but can I expect you to stop someone from interfering with her or me completely?" Theo pointed at Alea.
"I can't guarantee it, but I will do my best."
"Then, I guess that's fine. I will ask you a few more things after this since we have school. I will probably ask you more after school. That's fine, right?"
"Yep. I'm free."
"How about hunting together on the other side?" Alea raised a suggestion. "We have Saturday as free time and I think it's good enough to understand each other's fighting style, right?"
Theo thought for a moment, feeling a bit unsure.
"Why? You don't want to hunt with us?" Alea asked.
Surprisingly, Hontar was the first to raise his hand, "I'm sorry, but I don't think I can go there yet. I need to go to the hospital."
"Is that so?" Alea narrowed her eyes, expecting Theo to reject it but to think Hontar was the one who abstained. She sighed and nodded, "Fine, I will trust Theo's strategy for our next fight."
"Once again. I'm sorry."
After getting to know Hontar, Theo quickly disappeared from the area, wanting to settle everything through calls. However, Hontar couldn't help but shake his head when he understood Theo's action. To think such a man was still a first-year student and a bullied one on top of that, he didn't know what would happen if he grew up.
Alea couldn't do anything since he was her best finding in group D. They then went separate ways as Theo simply returned to his small apartment.
Like how he wanted to do it, Theo learned that Hontar seemed similar to Alea in fighting style, making him a bit unsure how to play along with both Hontar and Alea.
After all, Theo couldn't assist them with his Magic Bullet, so all three of them were basically the same type. If they didn't have a Magician or something, things would start to get annoying.
Thus, since he couldn't tell Hontar about getting a Magician or something in the next group directly, he dropped clues one after another for the past week.
While talking about Hontar's preference in fighting, Alea kept asking about what he planned to do. Unfortunately, he couldn't say anything to her because they didn't know their opponents yet.
Saturday came very fast, and Theo had nothing to do other than training. It was at this moment he realized he could just rent a larger apartment since the instructor seemed to avoid having people on the other side for too long like last time.
Even if he wasted half a month on the other side, he would be completely fine. But since it was kind of rushed, he decided to take one week to consider this, making sure he didn't go for a rash purchase.
After all, he needed to consider the third round too, which would last for three months. From his point of view, there was no way the students were allowed to camp there for three months. Hence, he would surely use the apartment for training and not embarrass his master if she visited him.
Thinking about so many things, Theo just stared at his screen with a blank look for an hour, deciding what move he should take next.
Alea was in the same condition. Because no one went to the other side, she practiced in her home alone, swinging her blade from morning to night.
Meanwhile, the situation wasn't that serene in the principal office. Radvils was sitting on the couch, sipping his coffee with a nonchalant look while Principal Eigen slammed the table and said with a cold tone. "Can you explain why the match is like this?"
"What?" Radvils raised his vision, staring at the principal with a calm expression.
"I'm talking about matchmaking… Isn't it supposed to be random?"
"It's random. I don't know what you're talking about." Radvils tilted his head in confusion.
"I'm asking why the pairing is like this? Do you think I haven't noticed?"
Radvils furrowed his eyebrows, put his coffee on the table, and crossed his arms. "So, what's the problem? I don't see a problem. Just like how you want the ace to participate, now I make them compete. What's wrong with that? I have fulfilled your wish, right?"
"I'm not talking about that! In this scenario, there's no way you can create the best team that this school can offer."
"So you are aware that your students are not that good." He shrugged. "Anyway, my point is… After calculating all the things, I have ranked them from 1 to 10. Those in "1" are the students who are at the top of their grade, while the last is the cannon fodder.
"That's why I'm ranking all the candidates that I feel will win this training camp in that first group. What? You want me to have the number one student to pair up with the worst one? That's not going to work. No matter how I scramble it up, the top will stay at the top. If they don't like the arrangement, they can prove it to me in the third training session.
"I don't know if you like novels that romanticize the bottom guys with hidden potential, but I have weeded them out during the first training. I have found several of them who have been hiding their abilities since the beginning and made a rational decision. If they're not chosen, it means their chance has gone to smoke for all I care." He shrugged. "This is my final decision as the head instructor. Please keep that in mind."
…
The next day, the second round had finally begun and the trio gathered again in the building, waiting for their match. Unfortunately for them, their opponents were far beyond their expectations.
F1, F3, and E2 in B-022 and B-023 Versus D1, D55, and J2 in B-036 and B-037.
Theo opened his mouth in shock when he saw this composition. "What? Three top people?"
Theo saw Alea and Hontar coming toward the ward without a care, so he followed not long after, only to find five people standing in front of their room.
Alea and Hontar were among them, but what he couldn't comprehend was the three opponents. When he arrived, he came to a realization that he f*cked up. His plan might not work this time. The three were a silver-haired reliable guy, a pink-haired carefree girl, and the only petite guy in the school.
Yes, all of them were: Sihan Raskaka, Ellen Marcines, and Phyrill Hilbert.