The Hunting Team

Carl thought Julian would call him when the needed members were complete. But, apparently, that afternoon, he asked him and Miku to come to the field.

"Attention, everyone," Julian shouted, making all the students gather in front of him. "I brought new members. Darren and Irvin, and these are Carl and Miku," he continued, introducing them to the team.

Carl swept his gaze over them. He didn't count for sure how many of them. But since Julian said he took five students yearly, there were probably about twenty.

"You must have heard about the new student with a high-level companion. Yeah, here they are," he said when he saw the whispers and interest in Miku after he said her name. "But, like our system, they'll only learn the basics during the first year. So I hope you can help them and teach them to be the best fighters and hunters."

The students said nothing. But they showed no objection.

"Eliot," he called.

"Yes, prof," replied the tall and well-built guy. He walked over to Julian.

"This is Eliot, our captain. He's the best at tactics." Julian said to the new members. Then, after Eliot reached them, he switched to speaking to him. "El, I trust you to guide the new members."

"Just them?"

"There will be more. But for now, yes, it's only them."

Eliot nodded in understanding. He then looked at the new members. "Hi, I'm Eliot. Since this is your first visit, you can pay attention to our training. We practice every Monday, Wednesday, and weekend. For the weekend, there will be hunting practice."

"Yeah, that's a fun hunt."

"With lots of traps."

Julian laughed at that. "He was only joking. There would be no traps. Only enemies," he corrected.

There was no reaction from the new members. They just stood still and stared at Julian and Eliot in turn.

"You haven't told them we'll fight another team in a hunting match?" Eliot asked as he realized the meaning of their stares.

"Oh, I forgot."

Eliot shook his head in disbelief. The primary rule was forgotten. "As professor Julian said, there will be two teams fighting against each other to find the specified object. Whoever is the fastest, they win." He replaced him by explaining it.

"So, no traps?" Carl asked for sure.

Julian shook his head. "It's different from our lessons. In the class, the goal was to improve your skills, so I created traps. But for hunting competitions, that's no longer about it. It's about competing over who has the best skill."

Carl understood. It differed from what he initially imagined because Julian said it was similar to their last hunting task. However, they had the same risk. So, traps or enemies became the same in his eyes. Both were dangerous.

"I'll leave it to you," Julian said to Eliot before leaving them to start training with the other members.

"So, have you guys mastered the sword?"

They looked at each other as if asking what answer should be given. They had not mastered it. Suddenly, that fact felt embarrassing.

"We're still learning." Miku was the one who voiced the answer. That was a wiser answer than admitting their weakness.

"It's okay. It took me a month to make a wide incision in the tree. That didn't include swordsmanship," Eliot said. He clearly knew the stages a first-year student went through. Of course. He had experienced it, too. "But if you can master your swords, you'll find it easier to control other weapons."

It made sense. Indeed, the experience was the best learning because it gave the body and mind memory. In this case, it was about magic.

"Was that professor Raphael?"

"Yeah. You guys with him, too?"

"Yes."

"He's a little crueler than professor Julian. But that's his way of teaching. Everyone has their own way of teaching, right?"

Carl nodded. Apparently, only he actively responded to him.

"Oh, he also trains us. Actually, all the teachers train us."

"All of them?"

"Yeah, all the teachers in the fighting department. But they come in turns. Some show up less often." Elion then looked at them one by one. "You really don't know about hunting competition?"

"I know." Finally, Darren said something. "It's an annual nationwide competition for fighters. It's held around winter. Each university will send a team of five members."

Eliot turned to look at Carl as if waiting for his version.

"I didn't study to be a fighter. And I knew nothing about fighters before."

Eliot understood, so he continued Darren's explanation. "Each team will fight each other apart from finding items. And to do that, we have to know how to fight. That's why many teachers teach us. We need a lot of skills."

"You said about fighting each other." Miku paused. "Could it result in serious injury?"

Eliot was silent for a moment before replying, "Actually, several people have died in the game. The last time it happened was five or six years ago."

Carl had trouble swallowing. That was really dangerous.

"But don't worry. The committee is doing their best to prevent this from happening." Eliot tried to calm the new members.

Even so, it couldn't really erase Carl's anxiety. He had already prepared for the worst. But, hearing of death seemed to destroy his confidence.

"You won't die, Carl. I'll protect you," Miku whispered beside him.

Oh, he must have looked weak, so Miku kept him calm.

"Yeah, you won't die. They have the greatest team to oversee the competition." Eliot replied. "Come on." He then took them to see the practice.

"We'll have fighting as a practice routine. I'll show you how we usually do it."

Before long, they had joined the other members.

"Here," Julian called Carl and friends to come over to him. "Stand here to watch them practice."

"Hey, we'll start training. The first match will be Peter and Nate versus Terry and Steve." Eliot called out four names.

Then, the four people stepped forward, and before long, a transparent wall appeared in front of the other members.

"It's protecting us. They're gonna have a hard fight," Julian explained.

"The time limit is ten minutes. As usual, time starts the moment one attacks the others."

Just as Eliot finished saying that, Steve flew swiftly to attack Peter's team. And that meant the game began.