The Retired Supporting Character Wants to Live Quietly

Chapter 90 - Bustling Group Training (7)

The Imperial Security Office issued an additional directive related to the competition.

"Take a look at this, Professor Ismera."

I pointed out a specific section of the document.

"Doesn’t this seem a bit off?"

"What exactly do you mean?"

"Right here, it says the opposing force will be represented by scarecrows."

The evaluation criteria for this competition follow the typical sequence of special operations: infiltration into enemy territory, assassination, and securing classified documents. Naturally, subduing enemies during infiltration would be part of the evaluation.

However, according to this document, the opposing force would be substituted with scarecrows.

It was strange to see them described as "scarecrows," but they weren\'t the kind you place in a field. Instead, they were "real dolls" crafted by gnomes and dwarves, designed to look like actual humans.

"It doesn’t seem to be a problem. You’re not suggesting our students should actually kill people, are you?"

"Of course not. But if the opposition is just scarecrows, the difficulty drops significantly. We’ve put these students through intense training, but if the competition’s standards are too low, it won’t be beneficial to us. If anything, the bar should be raised."

Ismera seemed to understand my point, remaining silent as she continued to study the document. Then she suddenly asked,

"So, do you have any better ideas? Based on what you’re saying, the only alternative would be to use real people."

"We need to come up with something."

Ismera looked at me with an incredulous expression.

Using "real dolls" isn’t going to cut it. If we go that route, any second-rate participant could succeed in infiltration.

We need real people. But if we do that, we can’t have the participants actually stab or strangle them; just going through the motions would lead to issues of fairness.

Consider how live military exercises work in our world.

When two units engage, they can\'t use live ammunition, so they’re given blanks. However, blanks make a lot of noise but don’t provide any visual feedback. In such cases, the exercise controllers usually make the combat judgments, which often leads to disputes among commanders.

"This maneuver was supposed to work like this," or "There was an obstacle here," or "We called in artillery support," and so on.

The same issues could arise in this competition.

Suppose we place people and simulate killing them with mock weapons like wooden swords. Who will judge the outcomes, and will other teams accept those judgments?

I can already predict that it could easily turn into chaos.

This isn’t just any competition; it’s organized by the Imperial Security Office. Other academies will be on high alert, and seasoned mercenary groups and adventurer guilds will also be participating.

In such a high-stakes environment, even the slightest flaw could spark disputes.

If real people can’t be used and scarecrows aren’t viable, we need a better solution...

But what could that solution be?

This requires serious thought. It’s not a problem we can just overlook.

# # # # #

"Good job, Merilda!"

Knightley encouraged Merilda as she struggled to climb over the wall.

"See? You can do it with practice."

"Thanks, but it really hurts here."

Merilda said, forcing a smile as she rubbed between her legs.

The students were currently undergoing obstacle course training.

The academy’s infiltration training ground was filled with various structures, and they had chosen one area to focus on for intense practice.

Merilda, who couldn’t do anything on the first day, was now managing to climb walls and crawl through the course with some skill.

But as someone from a rural public academy, she still lagged behind the others.

As Hindrasta observed Merilda rubbing her sore area, she made a suggestion.

"How about this, Knightley?"

"A good idea?"

When Hindrasta whispered to her, Knightley nodded, agreeing it was a great idea.

"Kyaah!"

Merilda screamed as she was thrown over the wall.

Hindrasta’s suggestion was to simply throw Merilda over.

With Hindrasta’s strength, she could toss Merilda over the wall, and Knightley would catch her on the other side.

"Merilda, if you scream like that, we’ll get caught. Let’s try again."

"Alright... Mmph!"

This time, Merilda covered her mouth to stifle her scream as she was thrown.

"Hmm... this isn’t a great solution."

Hindrasta said, rubbing her chin as she watched Knightley stagger under the weight of catching Merilda.

"We can’t keep throwing her like this. There has to be a better way..."

Hindrasta snapped her fingers as an idea struck her and called out to me.

"Professor! Professor!"

But I didn’t respond. I was deep in thought.

"PROFESSOR!!!"

"Huh? Did you call me?"

"Where’s that dwarf professor?"

"I don’t know. Probably in the lecture hall."

Hindrasta, now left alone with me, switched to informal speech and bluntly asked about Professor Kazadar’s whereabouts, while I, clearly distracted, pointed vaguely in some direction.

Seeing me in this state, Hindrasta asked with suspicion.

"What’s going on? What are you thinking about?"

But I didn’t respond.

"Guys! We’re going somewhere!"

Leaving me behind, Hindrasta returned to the students.

"Where are we going?"

"To see Professor Kazadar. I’ve just come up with a brilliant idea."

As the students chatted excitedly on their way to the lecture hall, I remained behind, pacing back and forth, lost in thought.

# # # # #

Later that night.

When everyone was asleep, Merilda quietly opened her eyes.

She glanced over to see Knightley and Hindrasta sleeping together, their legs entwined.

Hindrasta’s snoring was incredibly loud.

She looked over and saw that Olysia’s door was tightly closed, with no light seeping through the cracks, indicating that she was asleep too.

Having confirmed all this, Merilda silently slipped out of bed and crept towards the stairs.

At the top of these stairs was Professor Dian’s room.

In truth, Merilda had planned to visit Dian on the very first night of group training.

However, nearly a month had passed, and she hadn’t succeeded even once.

Not because anyone had stopped her, but because Merilda had never had enough energy left to get up.

The daily combat training had left her so exhausted that she often collapsed onto her bed, barely able to keep her eyes open.

As a result, even now that she had built up some stamina, she would close her eyes for a moment in bed, only to wake up to the morning sun.

But not tonight.

Thanks to the help of Sophie and Knightley, Merilda had become much stronger, which allowed her to wake up in the middle of the night like this.

Tonight, she was determined to have her "midnight conversation" with Professor Dian.

She had failed before, but this time, she would succeed.

However, as Merilda reached the second floor, she was startled.

The door to Dian’s room was locked from the outside.

How does he come out if it’s locked from the outside? And more importantly, how did he lock it?

Then a thought crossed Merilda’s mind.

The maid, Olysia, who worked here...

She was always worried about the possibility of something inappropriate happening between Dian and the students.

Could it be that she locked the door to prevent any nighttime encounters?

But Merilda didn’t give up.

After all, she was now a student of the Special Mission Academy.

Thanks to her hard work, she could easily pick a lock like this.

With a few deft twists of a sharp pin, the lock clicked open.

Merilda took a deep breath, her hands trembling with excitement as she pushed the door open.

She had prepared herself for this moment by not wearing any underwear after her bath earlier.

As she opened the door, she rushed in.

"Professor!"

"That’s it! That’s the solution!"

Just as Merilda threw herself onto the bed, Dian suddenly sat up and shouted.

As a result, Merilda landed where Dian had been lying moments before, then bounced off and rolled onto the floor.

"Ouch...!"

But Merilda wasn’t one to give up easily.

She had waited ten years for this.

She threw herself at Dian again, intending to embrace him from behind and rub her chest against his back!

"Yes! That’s the method I needed!"

"Ahh!"

But as Dian leaped to his feet, swinging his fist in excitement, Merilda was thrown off again.

"Professor!"

Gritting her teeth, Merilda lunged at Dian once more, only to crash into the wardrobe.

"There’s no time for this. I have to go right now."

Dian mumbled as he hurriedly walked toward the door, barely brushing past Merilda.

"Huh? What are you doing?"

"P-Professor!"

Unwilling to give up, Merilda ran after him, and Dian caught her, asking,

"Can’t sleep? Want to come with me?"

"Wh-where are we going...?"

Merilda was taken aback by the sudden question.

"We’ve got a bed here and a place to wash up. Why would we go somewhere else...?"

"We’re going to the Tower of Illusions."

"The Tower of Illusions...?"

Merilda blinked, completely confused.

# # # # #

"The Tower of Illusions?!"

Orendi, who had woken up in the middle of the night, screamed in shock.

"Shh, keep it down. You’ll wake everyone else."

We were in the staff dormitory for single faculty members.

I had just woken up Orendi by knocking on her door, bringing Merilda along with me.

"Why suddenly go to the Tower of Illusions? It\'s not a place just anyone can enter."

"Oh? Is that so?"

"Yes. Only affiliated mages can enter."

"If that\'s the case, it\'s not a problem. I know a mage."

Orendi raised an eyebrow and asked,

"The Head Professor knows a mage of the tower? Who?"

"Kaiden."

"Don\'t be ridiculous!!"

Orendi shouted.

"You know Kaiden!? The magical genius Kaiden who will go down in history?!"