『Eh?』

Hearing Rei’s words, all of the third-year S-class students voiced their confusion, as if to say they could not understand what they had just heard.

Even as they did so, however, the students’ eyes were fixed on Set, who was lying on the gymnasium floor beside Rei.

Perhaps satisfied to some extent after playing as much as he wanted with the fourth-year S-class students that morning, at least from Set’s perspective, Set was currently lying down without any particular excitement.

Of course, that was also because Rei was currently talking, and if Set were told he could play, he would gladly have gotten right up.

In any case, what the third-year S-class students needed to think about right now was not Set, but the words spoken by the person standing in front of them.

He was a rank B adventurer with a title who had only recently arrived at this officer academy as an instructor.

He was the person who had not merely broken the pride of the students, who had tended to be somewhat arrogant, but smashed it to pieces.

It was not long ago that their spirits had nearly been broken after failing to land even a single hit on him.

Then again, only about five days had passed since Rei came to this academy.

Put another way, however, five days meant five mock battle classes, one each day, so they had been one-sidedly run over five times so far.

If they had not heard that they were not the only ones going through that, and that their seniors in the fourth-year S-class had not even grazed Rei either, their spirits would have been completely broken.

「Like I just said, we’re doing today’s mock battle class outside, not in this gymnasium. Or rather, to be exact, it’s a snowball fight instead of a mock battle.」

Their minds finally seemed to unfreeze and process Rei’s words.

One of the third-year S-class students timidly raised her hand and spoke up.

「Um, well……excuse me, instructor. We came here to take a class, not to play around.」

「Of course I know that. ……Just so you know, this isn’t an ordinary snowball fight.」

Having a bad feeling again at those words, the students frowned and waited for Rei to continue.

(So this world really does have snowball fights too. Well, it’s a game anyone would come up with if there’s snow around, so it’s only natural that it exists.)

Rei had asked Glink about snowball fights earlier and confirmed that they existed here.

However, Glink had been somewhat reluctant to hold a snowball fight……in other words, a game, in place of a mock battle.

Even so, after Rei persuaded him, Glink had reluctantly given in.

「First off, your enemies in this snowball fight will be each other.」

「Does that……mean we don’t have to fight you, Instructor Rei?」

When the same student from earlier asked that, Rei nodded in reply.

「That’s right. You don’t have to fight me.」

His tone clearly suggested there was a catch, but after hearing that they would not have to fight Rei, the students, including the one who had just spoken, kept their mouths shut out of fear that asking anything careless might end up forcing them into a mock battle with him after all.

「However……to make up for that, harsh training awaits the team that comes in last place in the snowball fight, so be prepared for it.」

『……』

At those words, many of the students looked convinced rather than upset.

That was only natural. They already knew all too well from experience how harsh Rei’s training was.

Because of that, they had expected from the start that there was no way the class would end with everyone simply having a fun snowball fight.

「The rules of the snowball fight are simple. Unlike usual, you’ll form teams of ten and build bases out on the training grounds. Each team will also be given a flag. Like this one.」

Saying that, Rei took out a flag made of a piece of cloth attached to a wooden pole about 1m long.

「Any team whose flag is knocked down or taken loses. There are forty of you, so that makes four teams. Team A and Team B will go first, followed by Team C and Team D. Then the winners of the first round will fight in the finals, and finally the losing teams will fight to decide who comes in last place.」

After explaining the simple tournament format, Rei glanced over the students to see if anyone had any complaints.

By that point, however, the students were already exchanging glances to discuss who to put on their teams and what tactics to use.

「Looks like there are no objections. Alright, decide on your teams.」

At Rei’s words, everyone moved at once to put their teams together.

Watching them, Rei stroked Set.

「That’s quite a nasty class you’ve put together.」

Glink called out to Rei.

At first, Glink had been somewhat against playing a game like a snowball fight during mock battle training, but after seeing that adding rules about protecting a flag and trying to capture or knock down the enemy’s flag would turn it into group combat training, he had ultimately accepted the idea.

「You think so? This is a class to begin with. I can’t just let them play around.」

「……That’s true.」

Glink looked over at Set as Rei stroked him.

His eyes showed no fear of Set.

Normally, a person could not let go of their fear of a Griffon so quickly, and the fact that Glink could do so showed why he had been entrusted with the role of mock battle instructor at this officer academy.

Then again, seeing Set fawning over Rei made it easy to understand right away that there was no need to be that afraid of him.

While Rei stroked Set and chatted with Glink, the students steadily formed their groups……and in the end, all the teams were decided in less than a few minutes.

Confirming that, Rei promptly handed out a flag to each team and headed outside.

Naturally, Set went along with him.

「Gururururu~.」

Set gave a happy cry at the snow that had started to fall.

He cried again to show that he wanted to run around in the snow too, but Rei stopped him.

「Wait a little longer. I’ll let you play as much as you want later.」

「Guru~……」

Set gave a disappointed cry at Rei’s words, but he still stayed quiet because he understood that Rei never broke a promise.

After stroking Set’s head, Rei casually named the four groups Team A, Team B, Team C, and Team D.

「Team A and Team B will fight first, followed by Team C and Team D. You’re only allowed to attack with snowballs, and direct physical attacks, magic, and skills are all forbidden. Anyone hit by a snowball is out right away. However, if you knock a snowball down with your hand, you won’t be eliminated. I’ll watch and judge whether you’re out or not.」

The rules were simple, which made them easy to understand.

The students who could use magic complained about that rule, but Rei ignored them and continued speaking.

「The time limit is twenty minutes. If both flags are still standing when time runs out, the team with more survivors wins. I’ll give you five minutes to build your bases and decide on your strategy. Start.」

At those words, both Team A and Team B headed out onto the training grounds at once.

They planted their flags and built snow walls to protect them, or built snow walls like a fortress to hide behind.

Five minutes was not enough time to build anything they could be fully satisfied with, but it was still much better than having nothing at all.

Then five minutes passed……

「Time’s up. Start!」

Rei glanced at a pocket watch he had taken out of the Misty Ring, and the group combat training disguised as a snowball fight began.

Even after the signal to start was given, however, neither side moved right away.

Since the team with more survivors would win if time ran out, it was only natural for them to choose to stay inside their bases and wait for the enemy to come to them.

Furthermore, since the first five minutes had not been enough to finish building their bases properly, they also wanted to reinforce their walls.

As a result, neither side showed any sign of moving even after the match had started.

「It turned out like this after all.」

「Yeah, just like you predicted, Glink. Their choice isn’t necessarily wrong, though……」

Perhaps because things were playing out just as expected, Rei watched how the match developed without saying anything in particular.

Both sides finished building snow walls to protect their flags, yet neither made a move to actively engage the other.

When Rei glanced down at his pocket watch, ten minutes had already passed since the start of the snowball fight.

After checking the time, Rei called out to the students in the match.

「If time runs out without anything happening like this, I’ll judge both teams as lacking the will to fight and hold a mock battle as punishment. By the way, your opponent in that mock battle won’t just be me……Set will be joining in too. If you’re acting like that knowing the consequences, then I don’t mind.」

The moment they heard those words, both teams in the snowball fight moved at once.

They understood that what Rei had just said was by no means an empty threat.

In every class held so far, Rei had always followed through on whatever he said he would do.

No matter how ridiculous it might seem by normal standards, if Rei said he would do it, he would do it.

Because the students understood that, they sprang into action.

Both sides grabbed plenty of snowballs and advanced towards the enemy.

Once they had closed the distance to a certain extent, they built small snow walls as makeshift shields.

Of course, neither side wanted to let the other do that, so they threw snowballs to stop them, but since everyone here was in the third-year S-class, they were the elite among the third-year students.

Moreover, the attacks were not arrows shot from bows, but snowballs thrown by hand.

Naturally, the snowballs were not all that fast, so the students could easily dodge them even while building their walls.

Combined with the poor conditions of the falling snow, time continued to pass without either side landing a decisive blow.

Of course, not everyone remained unscathed.

A fair number of students were hit by snowballs after letting their guard down for a moment, slipping on the snow, or having falling snow get in their eyes and block their vision.

Even so, time eventually ran out……

「That’s enough!」

The moment Rei called the match, Team A had eight survivors while Team B had six, meaning the goddess of victory smiled upon Team A.

「Yeaaaaah! We won! At the very least, we won’t come in last place now!」

「We did it, we really did it! We survived!」

The students on Team A shouted in joy.

In complete contrast to the victorious Team A was the defeated Team B.

「Aaaaaaaaaah, no way, no way, no way!」

「Calm down! All that matters is not coming in last! We still have a chance. We just have to win the next match!」

「Th-Th-Th-That’s right. C-Calm down. If you’re that shaken up……」

「For starters, you need to calm down first.」

Imagining what would happen to them if they lost the next snowball fight……or rather, the next battle, the students on Team B turned pale with grief.

Watching the contrasting reactions of joy and despair, Rei turned his gaze towards Team C and Team D.

「Alright, Team A and Team B, move to the side. Team C and Team D are up next.」

Following Rei’s instructions, each student moved to where they needed to be.

Twenty students faced each other across the snowy training grounds.

Watching them, Rei shouted loudly.

「Match, start!」

At those words, both teams immediately charged forward all at once, leaving behind only the person holding the flag and a single guard.

They had learned from the previous match that trying to stall for time would result in a painful punishment.

They scooped up snow on the spot, packed it together, and threw it at their opponents.

Some of the students did not throw snowballs themselves and instead focused entirely on making them.

(They’ve started moving much more efficiently.)

Rei muttered to himself in admiration, though if the students had heard him, they would have shouted 『It’s because of you!』 at the top of their lungs.

Or perhaps they would have said it was thanks to him.

Whichever it might be, there was no doubt that Rei was the reason they were acting like this.

「Damn it! We’re going to win! We’re definitely going to win! There’s no way we can lose!」

「Just relax and lose! Don’t worry, even if you lose here, you still have one more match!」

「If you’re going to say that, then you guys lose instead!」

「Drop deaaaaaad!」

「Die, dammit!」

「Like hell we’ll lose, like hell we’ll lose, like hell we’ll lose, like hell we’ll loooose!」

In a brutal atmosphere that hardly seemed like a snowball fight, Team D, which had students dedicated to making snowballs, held the advantage as the battle progressed.

Team C’s numbers dropped by one, two, three, four, and then five.

Of course, Team D was not unscathed either.

Several of their members had already been hit by snowballs and eliminated.

In particular, those who tried to circle around and attack the enemy flag directly just because the other team’s numbers had dropped were immediately hit with a concentrated barrage and eliminated.

Time continued to pass like that……

「Alright, that’s twenty minutes. That’s eno-……」

Just as Rei was about to say “That’s enough,” he twisted his body almost on reflex.

At the same time, an arrow flying in from nowhere pierced the space where Rei had been standing a moment earlier and buried its arrowhead into the snow.

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