Chapter 40

Chapter 40
I hear you won the tactical drill yet again.
Affirmative.
Your squad suffered zero losses and completely annihilated the enemy force.
The Commander’s mouth curved into a pleased grin.
I appreciate your operational philosophy. Every single time, you strive to minimize your own casualties while maximizing theirs. I understand you intend to implement these high-efficiency methods during the upcoming pacification campaign as well?
So Meursault had already communicated the specifics of the suppression strategy.
When I nodded in agreement, the Commander pursued the matter further.
What was your exact methodology for this simulation exercise?
He is choosing to question me in person this time.
Previously, rather than addressing me directly, he had instructed Meursault to collect the particulars from the trainees.
Is he intending to designate me as the operations officer for this upcoming campaign and hoping to analyze my tactical approach ahead of time?
If that was indeed the case, there was no logical reason to withhold the information.
It was straightforward. I presented those trainees with precisely the scenario they were anticipating.
You provided the scenario they expected?
People invariably lower their defenses when events unfold exactly as they predicted.
Indeed?
The Commander leaned forward attentively, prompting me to elaborate.
Our adversaries consisted of a ten-year-old child, supported by trainees who had previously suffered defeat at the hands of that exact same child. Naturally, they assumed such a lineup would fail to function cohesively. Omitting Platon, our top-ranking student, from the roster reinforced that exact expectation. They assumed victory would come effortlessly without him.
I was informed that you and Platon experienced a falling-out. Was that friction also a planned component of the operation?
I offered a nod and stated,
An operation ought to be entirely resolved before you ever set foot upon the field of battle.
You are entirely correct.
The Commander offered a smile.
Then the premise that losing even a single individual constituted immediate defeat was similarly designed as part of the scheme.
Yes. The moment they acknowledged that stipulation, they stopped calculating headcounts. When an opposing side has eight members, they cease viewing them as individual threats and begin interpreting them as multiple opportunities for triumph.
Fascinating.
Consequently, right as the exercise commenced, I instructed my comrades to bind my hands and abandon me inside the adversary’s camp.
…Pardon?
With seven potential opportunities remaining, I calculated they would dismiss the one asset they found least desirable.
In reality, it hovered close to a reckless gamble.
Yet even if they had elected to eliminate that opportunity right away, the outcome would have remained largely unaffected. Securing a win by gunning down a tied-up minor would hardly have earned them any prestige.
Following that, the rest was effortless. While Team B felt pity for me and escorted me back to their home base, Team A shadowed them and established a concealed position nearby. We initially neutralized the personnel left behind to keep watch over me. Afterward, my teammates dragged the eliminated individuals behind the banner, concealed them beneath tarps, and I buried them under a layer of snow.
So your teammates never actually departed from Team B’s encampment in the first place?
Precisely. After camouflaging them to resemble snowdrifts, I applied colored pigments to myself to simulate a struggle meant to defend our banner, set off a flare, and awaited Team B’s arrival. From that point onward, it became a simple matter of repetition.
Pick them off as they return. Once the numerical advantage was secured, victory was already guaranteed.
Indeed. Eliminating the last remaining Lucas was so effortless I nearly suppressed a yawn. After dispatching him to sow discord and subsequently vanishing myself, the subsequent developments diverged from my projections. I anticipated they would divide into groups of at least two or three. They were not entirely lacking in intelligence—only one individual wandered off alone. Even so, it was eight against four. With the numbers already tilted in our favor, we launched an immediate ambush, disguised ourselves as snowdrifts once more, and concluded the simulation by shooting Bones when he charged in in a state of panic. That summarizes the entire affair.
You completely manipulated both the tactical situation and their psychological state.
However. Just like on the previous occasion.
He remains apprehensive that these tactics cannot be translated into active operations.
Given that I am now serving as an operations officer, I was expected to demonstrate strategies capable of practical field execution?
Yet there was a vital factor of which the Commander remained unaware.
This specific strategy would prove exceptionally potent across the upcoming battlefields.
It also served as the underlying motivation behind my utilization of a child’s physique to torment the trainees all along.
I have no intention of utilizing myself as frontline bait during actual combat deployments.
Then what is your objective?
Preparing for external adversaries who will arrive employing themselves as bait.
External adversaries…?
The most perilous hazards on forthcoming battlefields will consist of children matching my exact age group.
The Commander’s brow furrowed slightly.
What precisely do you mean by that?
I am speaking from the perspective of a regressor.
In the near future, alternate zones will begin deploying young children as bait, and we must ready ourselves accordingly.
Well, it was far from a fabrication.
The vast majority of players consisted of ten-year-old children identical to myself.
With the boundaries separating different zones likely having dissolved by now, we needed preparations in place for incursions originating from other zones.
Following the immense suffering I had inflicted upon them, they would hardly fall victim to a player from a different zone masquerading as a mere child.
If that is your assessment… then we shall make preparations.
Fortunately, the Commander placed absolute trust in me, and he pledged to distribute the logs of my training exercise as formal instructional literature to the remaining troops.
Is something amiss?
During the initial ambush, rather than simulating the defense of the banner, could you not simply have extracted it and secured an immediate victory? Why did you refrain from seizing the banner?
Is he genuinely asking out of genuine ignorance?
I replied with an expression conveying my complete inability to comprehend the inquiry.
That would have completely ruined the enjoyment.

—

Following the conclusion of the training simulation with Team A’s triumph, Team A’s trainees felt their honor restored and practically bubbled with exuberance.
Once again, the exercise had culminated in the total eradication of the opposing faction.
From this point forward, no one would dare ridicule or discount Haydam—or those who had previously fallen to him.
There may have been a period in the past when they harbored feelings leaning closer to resentment than affection toward Haydam.
Presently, nothing remained except boundless reverence for him, paired with an absolute terror of ever confronting him as an adversary.
Even so, celebration was inevitable.
Furthermore, they had an agenda they felt compelled to execute.
I believe I heard a hallucination right before the training session commenced.
What variety of hallucination?
Someone claiming they were going to completely wipe our roster out.
Indeed, that was unequivocally a hallucination. The squad that actually got wiped out is standing right over there!
Ha-ha-ha-ha!
That specific agenda involved taunting the members of Team B.
Those miserable bastards…
Team B huddled together off to the side, fists clenched and shivering with suppressed rage, though they hesitated to step forward. After all, they themselves had previously mocked others for falling to Haydam.
However, Bones, possessing the most volatile temper among Team B, finally took the bait.
Damn it, you only won by putting a tiny kid out front and then…!
The instant the words cleared his lips, Bones recognized his blunder and attempted to slink away.
Yet Team A, pouncing upon the opening, swarmed him like a school of piranhas.
Did you hear that? When we tasted defeat, they branded us fools for losing to a child. Now that he lost, suddenly our victory only counts because we placed a kid out front.
Such blatant double standards.
Lucas is merely sitting there quietly. Why is this one acting out so aggressively?
Ignore him. Bones likely believes the rest of his squad dragged his performance down.
Bones proved incapable of containing his boiling fury and yelled,
Damn it! Let us run it back! A rematch! This time on fair and square terms—
That is quite enough!
Cease this at once!
The individuals who stepped forward simultaneously were Lucas and Platon.
They exchanged glances, lingered in silence for a second, and then turned their gazes in opposite directions.
Lucas initiated the dialogue.
Bones. I am well aware that you doubted Lord Haydam throughout the entire duration of the exercise, which is why this defeat feels unjust to you. However, this was not an individual evaluation—it was a team drill. Do you intend to throw a tantrum every single time our squad loses a collective exercise?
Bones maintained a sullen expression, yet he was hardly foolish enough to miss the underlying message in Lucas’s statement, prompting him to clamp his mouth shut.
Lucas shifted his attention toward Platon.
I offer my apologies.
For what reason?
Lucas is offering an apology personally?
Now that you have experienced Lord Haydam’s methods firsthand, you finally grasp how we felt previously, correct?
One of the Team A trainees inquired with a mocking tone, though Lucas merely nodded as though readily conceding the point.
You must have fallen victim to a comparable stratagem. I retract my previous label calling you fools. However.
The introduction of the word “however” caused the Team A trainees to scowl—until the subsequent portion of his statement left their expressions deeply conflicted.
I cannot bring myself to acknowledge Lord Haydam. That entity is no ordinary cadet.
What manner of twisted logic is that?
Platon demanded, his countenance chilling.
Was the prior agreement not that should you lose the training simulation, you would accept Lord Haydam as a cadet performing the standard duties of a single individual?
Lord Haydam’s aptitude is undeniably extraordinary. I acknowledge that fact. Not a single person present can rival his individual prowess. However.
Lucas articulated with a hint of disdain.
A genuine cadet who genuinely values his peers would have extracted the banner. Deliberately exposing comrades to peril purely for the sake of annihilating the opposition does not align with the conduct of a proper officer.
In all honesty, even the Team A trainees privately felt that Lucas was not entirely incorrect.
The drill could have been won simply by pulling the banner, yet Haydam had deliberately opted to toy with the rival team purely for the sake of the thrill.
What Haydam chased after was not victory in its pure sense, but rather…
entertainment and stimulation.
Because of that reality, Team A’s trainees found themselves unable to immediately refute Lucas’s assertion.
Then Platon’s voice cut through the air, laden with fury, a visible vein throbbing upon his forehead.
You lot… do you possess the slightest clue regarding Lord Haydam’s physical condition at this very moment?
Lucas had been on the verge of frowning under the assumption that Platon was simply attempting to defend Haydam, but the following words froze him in place.
Lord Haydam has yet to fully recover from the injuries he sustained a short while ago!
…What did you say?
It was not solely Lucas who was rattled. Every individual in attendance—members of Team A, Team B, and the various onlookers observing the dispute—gaped at Platon in stunned disbelief.
Injuries…? Are you implying Lord Haydam was wounded?
Affirmative. He explicitly instructed me to keep silent regarding the matter, but witnessing the manner in which you speak compels me to hold my tongue no longer.
But… he has not even officially enlisted yet. How on earth did he manage to get injured?
Were you unaware? Lord Haydam frequently ventures beyond the boundaries of the zone to hunt.
At that revelation, the gathered trainees began to murmur amongst themselves.
Hunt? What is meant by hunting?
I heard whispers suggesting he successfully brought down a hippo-pig…
That was merely an unsubstantiated rumor, correct?
Hold on, rather than heading to the tower, he goes out and slaughters monsters personally?
Platon disregarded the buzzing chatter and pressed onward.
On the exact day he sustained his injuries, the carcass of a furred crocodile was hauled in virtually untouched by damage. He must have suffered those wounds during a desperate, life-or-death confrontation against it.
A furred crocodile?
Those qualify as large-tier monsters.
So Lord Haydam operates at a tier capable of soloing large-tier monsters?
Naturally, Haydam had never engaged a furred crocodile in mortal combat; he had merely scavenged a carcass that was already on the brink of death.
Yet Platon, seamlessly piecing together the anecdotes he had gathered from his father Anton, had resolved that it constituted an established truth that “Lord Haydam successfully hunted a furred crocodile single-handedly.”
The wounds from that day have yet to completely heal, meaning he ought to have been resting for an extended period… yet the moment he learned we—
The Team A trainees, who had remained entirely oblivious to these facts, dissolved into a state of nervous fluster.
Now that one thinks about it, when Lord Haydam moved around, one of his shoulders did appear distinctly uncomfortable…
So that discomfort stemmed from an injury?
And he never once allowed us to perceive any sign of weakness?
While Team A reeled from the revelation, Platon applied further pressure.
Not only did you fail to express gratitude toward the individual who dragged his battered body into the field to restore your collective honor—you utilized that very triumph to mock fellow cadets all over again.
Th-that is…
The faces of Team A flushed crimson. Platon’s gaze pivoted toward Team B.
And as for your group. You proved incapable of handling even a single injured minor… and now you claim you cannot accept Lord Haydam as a cadet? Then tell me—can any among you drag a wounded physique onto a battlefield, utilizing yourselves as bait, simply to salvage a comrade’s honor?
You ought to feel thoroughly ashamed of yourselves.
When Team B likewise lapsed into silence, Platon uttered a sharp click of his tongue, left those parting words hanging in the atmosphere, and stormed away.
As the commotion rapidly rippled through the cadet population, Haydam’s stature within the military academy swelled into a legend no one would ever dare approach.