“Team leaders please turn in the objects you were tasked to retrieve for the field assessment.”
Kain went to Professor Flint with the flag alongside Dwayne carrying their groups badge.
Soon all nine remaining group leaders had handed over their assignments to the professor.
Riley and Elara stayed in place. They were neither their group’s leader, nor did they have the task item.
The professor accepted the items with a nod, his expression remaining unchanged.
There was a brief, uneasy silence as the professor inspected each turned over item with meticulous care ensuring that the requirements of each task were made.
Finally, he turned his attention to Riley and Elara, who stood apart from the others, their faces pale and eyes downcast.
“Riley. Elara.” Professor Flint’s voice was sharp, cutting through the silence with an edge of impatience. “Where is your team leader and task item?”
He was asking, but Kain had a feeling as though he already knew. Likely the school has knowledge of everything that happens in its backyard. Therefore, the decision to not intervene in the Leviathan’s chase was a conscious one.
Perhaps issuing a powerful enough individual that can get there in time was not worth the effort for them when the group brought it upon themselves.
Maybe they wanted the group to serve as a lesson for the others to not be driven mad with greed.
Riley swallowed hard, the lump in his throat making it difficult to speak. His eyes flicked to Elara, who stood beside him, equally grim-faced. They were neither their group’s leader nor did they have the task item, a situation that left them exposed to the professor’s displeasure.
“Our team leader,” Elara began, her voice trembling despite her efforts to remain steady. “Our team leader is dead. So are three other members of our team.”
Immediately hushed whispers were heard within the other groups due to the shocking announcement. All of the tasks were difficult. However, none were particularly life threatening.
Even Kain’s task, while it would have been extremely challenging to complete it without Addison’s group wouldn’t have been life threatening. As individuals that passed the college’s entrance exam, many of them had been able to kill or severely wound the orange-grade spiritual creature at the end of the exam alone.
After several months all the students’ strengths should have improved and be able to easily kill orange-grade species solo. Working as a team, hunting a yellow-grade spiritual creature is actually the perfect difficulty of exercise for them.
The real challenge for most of the groups, such as Dwayne’s, is actually navigating and surviving in the forest while using the knowledge obtained about the target creatures from the Advanced Knowledge for Beast-Tamers course to actually find their targets.
Therefore, nobody in the groups that hadn’t seen the rampaging Leviathan could understand how 4 students at a top 5 college would die during their first field mission.
Professor Flint’s gaze grew colder, more penetrating. “And the task item?”
Riley spoke up, his voice quieter but no less resolute. “We don’t have it. The team leader made a decision to deviate from our assigned task and—”
“And you followed,” Flint interrupted, his tone leaving no room for excuses. “You followed a course of action you knew was wrong. You did not question it, and you did not have the courage to stand against it. You almost died as well. I can summarize my opinion of you to from this first task assessment with one word—brainless.”
Riley flinched at the harsh assessment from the professor. He and Elara had indeed followed their team leader’s decision due to fear and the misguided opinion that all leaders must be unconditionally followed.
After remembering the Glacial Leviathan that almost killed him, he couldn’t help the shiver of dread that travelled down his spine.
Flint’s disappointment was palpable. “Explain to me how a simple retrieval task turned into a mission that cost lives.”
Based on the professor’s attitude from when he first entered the clearing, Kain had a faint idea that he already knew exactly what happened. The reason he’s criticizing Riley and Elara now, surrounded by their peers, and having them state it for themselves is because he wants all of the others to also learn from their mistake.
Riley and Elara exchanged a hesitant look before Riley met the professor’s cold gaze and opened his mouth. “Our team leader tried to steal the egg of a Glacial Leviathan to contract it—”
“And it’s strength?” The professor interjected.
“G-green grade. We knew it was a bad idea. A terrible idea! But we didn’t think it was right to to opposed our team leader. We thought—”
“Though?” The professor cut him off again. “It didn’t sound to me as though you did much thinking. You thought what? That you would succeed in stealing the sole child of a creature 3 grades higher than you. A child that, given the immense difficulty of the Leviathan species to reproduce, may be the only heir it could ever have.”
At this point Riley and Elara could no longer respond coherently to Professor Flint, their chest’s heaving erratically from trying to contain their sobs.
Professor Flint’s eyes narrowed. “You are students at a top 5 college. Our graduates should become the leaders of the empire, not mindless idiots who can only follow orders from those in the capital without another thought. The source for the empire’s mindless soldiers are those from the lower rank colleges, not you.”
From his words Kain could already feel the pride and arrogance of the top 5 colleges that had seeped into the professor’s bones. He truly thought that the 5 colleges were equal to, if no superior to the government. However, given that most of the top beast-tamers were affiliated with the colleges, this idea wasn’t incorrect.
“You,” Flint said, his gaze piercing through Riley and Elara, “are not merely being judged on the items you retrieve but on your ability to handle responsibility, make sound decisions, and show leadership when necessary. You were trusted with a task, and you failed to meet even the basic expectations of that trust.”
The silence that followed was heavy, broken only by the distant rustle of the forest and the subdued murmurs of the other students. Riley and Elara stood, their heads bowed in a mix of shame and regret.
“When we return to the college, your actions will be reported to the Vice Dean of the Department. A suitable punishment will be arranged. Please reflect on your actions.”
The professor didn’t spend anymore words on them and walked back to his contract. It seemed to sense its contractor’s irritated mood and shifted restlessly. Once mounted he then set off back to the college without another glance at the students.
The others then went on their own mounts, or on their classmates’ contracts that can fit multiple individuals.
Those with neither a suitable mount nor friends simply walked. After all, they were only a little over an hour walk from the college.