1st: Charon Woodjack, 43 points.
2nd: Zeros Silver, 31 points.
3rd: Sinbar, 29 points.
4th: Hans Bender, 28 points.
5th: Hector Bednicker, 25 points.
...
...
16th Luan Bednicker: 18 points.
...
...There were a few oddities here.
Second and third place were new names I hadn’t seen before, and who was that in fourth place? Hans Bender?
Even I, who hadn’t been paying that much attention in class, knew that his name had been called multiple times.
Naturally, it wasn’t because he was earning points. Most of them were deductions.
—Hans Bender, one point deducted.
—Hans Bender, one point deducted.
—Hans Bender... you again?
That guy had more points than Hector?
Of course, what was even more odd was Charon’s points.
“...Forty-three points?”
We’d all started the training camp with 10 points.
Did that mean he’d earned 33 points in a single week?
I turned to Evan for confirmation.
Evan had a grim face as he returned with a shake of his head.
Even the person who had been keeping track of all the young heroes’ points didn’t know what was going on.
Then, I heard a low voice speak.
“Charon Woodjack.”
When I turned around, I saw Charon sitting at the table sipping some water and Hector standing before him wearing a cold expression.
“What’s going on?”
“Who knows? I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Are you planning on feigning ignorance? Then I will ask you directly: what happened with the points?”
In response, Charon smirked.
“Do I need to tell you?”
“You do. You dared to cheat in the Bednicker training camp. Your father would be ashamed if he saw this.”
“You’re saying some funny things.” Charon seemed unaffected by Hector’s aggression as he calmly replied, “To give a short defense to my and my father’s honor, I haven’t cheated at all.”
“What?”
“But I will give you this piece of advice, Hector Bednicker: give up on getting into the top ranks and focus on finishing the training camp. With your skills, you should be able to do at least that.”
Hector ground his teeth.
“You bastard...!”
And just as he’d done in front of me before, he grabbed the sword on his hip.
The moment Charon’s eyes started to narrow, I intervened.
“Brother, calm down.”
“...Get out of the way, Luan.”
“What? Are you really planning on fighting here?”
I glanced at the communication crystal.
Through that, the instructors were probably watching everything that was happening here.
The moment an actual fight started, they would intervene and people would be penalized.
“Calm down. How many times have you lost something because of that short temper of yours?”
Hector flinched.
Charon, who had risen from his chair, left the lounge followed by a group of young heroes.
I could see Hans and a few familiar faces among them... the ones in the higher ranks on the notice board.
A sharp voice pierced my ears.
“What’s going on?”
I could see the daughter of House Rubyeta fuming in anger.
I calmly looked around.
There are about 25 people here.
Although it seemed we had more people than them, I needed to be sure.
“Karis. Gather the tables.”
“Why?”
“I have something to say.”
“It’s lunchtime, though...”
“Now’s not the time to be eating food.”
I looked at Hector as well.
“Brother, you sit down too.”
“...What do you intend to talk about?”
“Of course, it’s about Charon Woodjack.”
Honestly, I’d planned to not get involved in their fight and just focus on developing myself...
But it was difficult for me to stay still when the scale was this big.
Also...
For some reason, Charon being in first place was starting to annoy me.
* * * * *
* * * * *
The noble faction and the commoner faction gathered together.
Of course, the noble faction contained commoners, and the commoner faction contained nobles...
But the people from the two groups I had labeled as such were now in the same place, glaring at each other.
A total of 26 people remained in the lounge.
Although it wasn’t a small number, it wasn’t a large number either.
“What is there to talk about? That disgusting guy must have done something dirty!” shouted the daughter of Rubyeta, anger and sadness in her voice.
Although she looked pretty, her personality was harsh.
First, I fixed her misunderstanding.
“If he had done something dirty, wouldn’t the instructors know about it?”
“Of course...!”
She raised her voice before immediately closing her mouth and glancing at Hector.
It was a natural reaction. Doubting the grand masters meant doubting House Bednicker and even the Lord of Blood and Iron who had invited them here.
And since Hector was the number one follower of the Lord of Blood and Iron, he wouldn’t take that lightly.
“Let’s pretend what you’re saying is right. Do you think it’s possible for him to control not just his own rank but also the ranks of his entire group?”
“That’s...”
“Doesn’t everyone know now? Excluding Brother Hector, the young heroes in the upper ranks are all members of Charon’s group. Ah, I guess that also excludes Hans?”
“...Hans Bender has been sticking close to Charon recently,” Hector said with a displeased voice.
At that, many different voices erupted from the sides.
“Did he really just raise his own group’s points?”
“How is that possible?”
“...He added a rule,” said Hector.
Everyone stopped for a moment.
Yes. Now you’re starting to think.
If they’d been able to reach that conclusion from the beginning, I wouldn’t have needed to get everyone together like this.
“That’s right. He could’ve used that authority to do all sorts of things.”
“By ‘things’...?”
“I don’t know for sure, but I do have a guess.”
“What is it?”
“Skull.”
Skull, who was sitting in the corner, flinched.
“Wh-what?”
“When did you drop to two points?”
At my question, his already pale face paled further.
“I-I don’t know. I’ve had a lot of deductions recently...”
“Evan, is that true?”
Evan firmly shook his head.
“No. Since the start of the training camp, Skull has only had one point deducted, and since he was awarded one point, that was neutralized. As for the spars, he won one and lost two.”
“Really? Then shouldn’t he have seven points right now?”
I looked at Skull again.
“Then I’ll ask you, Skull: where did your five points go? It’s not like they left on their own.”
“...”
“Skull.”
“I-I didn’t expect things to end up like this either...!” Skull shouted with tears in his eyes. He covered his face and said, “At first... at first, they were just small trades.”
“Trades?”
“Yeah...! If I gave them one point, I could eat the best steaks as much as I wanted...”
“Steaks?”
“Where can you find something like that here...”
Of course, it wasn’t like the cafeteria food was of bad quality, and naturally, we had meat as well.
The problem was the taste. As expected, healthy food didn’t use a lot of seasoning.
It meant that many factors for growing boys and girls were missing.
“More importantly, how can you give points? Can we even give and take points like that...?”
I held a hand to my chin as I spoke. “‘You can use points to trade’. If Charon added a rule like that, it’s possible.”
Exclamations and murmuring were heard all around.
Hector narrowed his brow.
“Let’s say he did that... Where did he get steaks? He shouldn’t have been able to smuggle any in.”
“He probably doesn’t have a magic item either. We were thoroughly searched on the first day.”
That was true.
The instructors had searched our bodies quite thoroughly the day we entered the training camp.
They hadn’t said anything when they’d seen my mystic bead, but I’d brought it for training purposes, and it wasn’t as if that would be enough to cause problems for me.
“...Zeros Silver,” Skull spat. “It’s that guy’s blessing.”
“By Zeros, you mean the one in second?”
“He’s been hanging around Charon for a while. The one who acts like the know-it-all.”
Skull nodded.
“That’s right. I don’t know what kind of blessing it is... but he’s got a lot of things that can’t be found here. A lot of food, beer, cigarettes, even rare armor that would be difficult to find outside...”
Is it something like a teleportation blessing?
I didn’t know for sure, but I now had a general understanding of what was going on.
“So he’s the smuggler. Then...”
I looked around at the rest.
“Skull’s not the only one who traded with Zeros, right?”
At that, more young heroes than I’d expected flinched. They seemed to conclude that they couldn’t hide it any longer as they began to confess.
“...Honestly, I haven’t been able to eat dinner a single time since coming here, but they suddenly said they’d give me something to eat last night.”
“I was lured in by beer. When a newly opened beer bottle bubbles up in front of me, I can’t pass it up and still call myself a dwarven warrior...!”
“...I-I bought perfume. It was great at covering the smell of sweat...”
Hearing them confess like this, the daughter of Rubyeta shook her head in disbelief.
“How pathetic... I’m going to have a stroke thinking about how people like you are going to be heroes like me.”
“Ms. Rubyeta.”
“What?”
In a calm voice, Evan said, “From what I know, you should currently have 23 points, but it says 20 on the board.”
“H-how do you...”
“...”
“Ah!”
Everyone’s eyes fell on her in an instant.
She realized her mistake and stuttered for a few seconds before lowering her head in shame.
“...Th-there was a limited edition tiara from Janeta Jewelry. I was able to get it for just three points...”
“...”
“That’s something you can’t even get with money anymore...! Don’t you know how much I can sell it for later? If I can get it here for only three points...!”
“Yes, yes. I get it, so shut up.”
Ms. Rubyeta seemed a little offended, but she closed her mouth, seemingly from shame.
“It might be obvious, but don’t hand them any points no matter what they offer. If the gap between us gets any bigger, it’ll be difficult for us to catch up.”
The reaction to this was colder than I expected.
Although a lot of young heroes agreed with my words, there was a near-equal number who didn’t seem to want to do so.
“What is it? If you have something to say, speak up.”
“...I-I’m well aware. With my skills, I can’t enter the top ranks.”
It was Skull.
“It’s not a problem of will or ambition; it’s just the limit I was born with.”
“So?”
“...Points only matter to those competing for the top ranks. I just need to pass. If I can get through the Bednicker training camp without a problem, that alone can boost my career.”
“I see...”
I understood what Skull was trying to say.
“So you’re going to keep selling your points?”
Skull ground his teeth as he glared at me.
“Do you know what Zeros said to me? He said he’d pay me 100 gold for every point I sell here!” He looked around before shouting, “Ten points is a thousand gold! Don’t you know how much can change with that much gold? You wouldn’t know since you’re part of a great noble house...!”
“You’ll regret it.”
“...No. Even if I don’t have any points, I won’t have any problems completing this training camp. So... sorry, but I'm going to keep selling my points as I want,” Skull said before getting up from his seat and leaving the lounge.
“... I'm ashamed, but me too.”
“Sorry.”
“I can’t help it.”
With that, a few more people left with Skull.
Nearly half of the members left. Only about 10 people remained.
Naturally, Hector was still here, as were Evan and Karis. I could see Sellen as well, though she hadn’t said anything all this time.
I took note of everyone who had stayed.
It seemed these were the only ones who weren’t shaken by money or desire.
“...Looks like the situation is worse than expected.”
“Goodness. A hundred gold per point? Do they think gold just appears out of nowhere?”
As Evan and Karis each said something, the daughter of Rubyeta sneered.
“It does for them. Zero’s House Silver is a pretty big merchant house. As much as the Imperial House, if not more.”
“...Are they?”
“Then do we not have any way to stop them?”
“We’ll have to wait and see.”
Hearing that, the other young heroes looked at me.
“Do you have a plan?”
“Ah, if we tell the instructors that Zeros is bringing things in from outside...” Karis said, but I shook my head.
“No... Most likely, the Instructors already know. They monitor everything that happens within the camp.”
Which meant that the instructors were allowing whatever Charon and Zeros were doing.
Charon had started this. If we could end this just by reporting them, he wouldn’t have bothered.
I got up from my seat.
“Let’s go eat lunch.”
“...Why are you so calm about this? A dozen people said they’ll continue to sell their points. We’re no longer the majority.”
“Who knows?”
For some reason, I felt that the ones who had just stormed out would regret it later.
But for now, that was only a feeling, so I didn’t say anything further.