The Valkyries' "Master"

"For God's sake," Nakajima said. "I've just arrived and you two are already at it. If you have so much energy to spare, then pour into practice!" WHAM! She struck the floor with the tip of her shinai! "Is that clear?" 

"Yes, ma'am..." Karen and Cornelia quieted down and awkwardly glanced away. Unfortunately, this weak response was not enough for the coach.

"I don't hear your voices!" WHAM! Nakajima struck the floor again like a hardcore drillmaster! "Was I clear?" 

"Y-Yes, ma'am!" Karen and Cornelia awkwardly raised their voices.

Honestly, rather than actually drilling in the coach's message, this whole military-like routine only caused embarrassment for them. Though, that was effective in its own way.

"Good." Nakajima nodded in satisfaction. "Now, what are you waiting for, girls? Move on to the next game!" WHAM! This stirred the entire club into action. They dropped whatever they were doing and returned to their seats.

"You don't have even a second to waste," Nakajima lectured as usual. "You must play as many games as humanly possible if you want to have any chance of doing well in the regionals!" WHAM! "Understood?"

"Yes, ma'am!" Everybody answered in unison despite how awkward it felt. No matter how many times they had gone through these drills, it never got any better…

And so, the team moved on to the next game.

Just as Ms. Nakajima said, they had no time to waste on petty in-fighting. The team was severely lacking in experience. Though the team members were skilled to one degree or another, they did not have sufficient experience as a team to make the most out of their individual talents.

Not to mention, the club only had five members, so everybody had to participate in competitive games regardless of their skill level and experience. This was very different from other school clubs, where the first-string was generally composed of seniors with plenty of experience under their belt.

Truly, on all fronts, the Valkyries were lagging behind the competition. Therefore, they had to work harder than anybody in order to catch up.

Unfortunately, even though Fiona was sufficiently talented and motivated, the same did not necessarily apply to the others. After all, they were only middle schoolers. Most girls their age spent their free time idling about, posting photos on social media, or gossiping about the latest reality shows. They did not have a shred of competitiveness spirit.

Fiona was well aware of the issue when she formed the club. Therefore, she went out of her way to hire a coach. There simply had to be an adult with authority in this club to put the girls in line.

At first, Fiona requested Fernando Rodriguez to be the team's coach. Naturally, she offered a salary that respected the fact Mr. Rodriguez was viewed as a legendary coach in this region.

Rodriguez expressed interest in taking on the job but there were two obstacles.

First, Rodriguez was a man. St. Mary's was a prestigious all-girls school, so inviting a male coach did not sit right with the board. The number of male teachers in the school was practically zero and nobody was interested in increasing it.

The other obvious obstacle was the conflict of interest. Having the same coach for two different teams from the same region was highly unusual.

The administration of the regionals debated the topic at length. They ultimately decided to allow only one registered team per coach, which meant the Valkyries would not be able to participate under Rodriguez's lead.

And so, the deal did not come to pass. But fortunately, Rodriguez found them a suitable substitute, one who easily sidestepped both obstacles.

This other coach candidate was a woman, so the school board had nothing against her. In addition, she was currently coaching a high school team in this region but not a middle school one, so there was no conflict of interest.

The woman in question was Ms. Kei Nakajima. She was an acquaintance of Rodriguez, as well as the coach of the Aces, the Classmancers team of Hamilton High.

The Aces were considered the second-strongest high school team in the region, just a little behind the prestigious Venom from Ivy High. As such, Ms. Nakajima definitely had a convincing resume.

Furthermore, the woman seemed extremely motivated about the whole arrangement. It felt like she was personally invested in the idea of making an all-girls team win the regionals. It was almost like she wanted to prove some kind of point.

On top of that, Ms. Nakajima had a history of bitter rivalry with Venom, who was considered just as uncontested as the Leopards in the high school scene. In other words, the Aces were the "underdogs" in comparison, yet none of that ever discouraged Nakajima from aiming for the top time and again.

Since she knew the struggle and bitterness that came with challenging the uncontested regional champions, she would do anything in her power to deliver her team to victory even against impossible odds. This was exactly the kind of attitude Fiona was looking for. 

And so, Ms. Nakajima became the Valkyries' coach. This was an important step toward establishing a proper club. Frankly, Fiona might have given up on the entire ordeal if they could not secure a fitting coach.

[A newly formed club has practically no chance of catching up to the competition without a coach.] Fiona believed. [Especially, in our region, just having a coach already puts us leagues and bounds ahead of most teams.]

For some ungodly reason, it was rare for Classmancers teams in this region to have a coach. These clubs usually had a random teacher from school as a supervisor. Needless to say, that arbitrarily selected teacher rarely knew anything about the sport.

A sports club without a coach was unheard of. Young athletes needed all the guidance they could get in order to properly develop as players.

To Fiona's knowledge, no other sports club in the region had a situation like this. Soccer, basketball, volleyball, tennis - every sport had a proper coach assigned to it.

On rare occasions, schools could not afford a fully-fledged coach for a particular sport, so they settled on having a PE teacher. Arrangements like this were far from ideal, but they were still leagues ahead of what Classmancers clubs had over here.

Therefore, just by having a coach, the Valkyries were already a step ahead of the competition. This allowed them to develop at a faster pace compared to other teams, which will hopefully make up for their lack of experience.

Furthermore, Ms. Nakajima was very invested in the team's success. She wanted this underdog team to topple the undefeated regional champions. This challenge mirrored her ongoing war against Venom in the high school league. She bore a clear intent to kick the kings off their throne, regardless of whether it was in middle school or in high school.

While the team played Ranked, Nakajima closely watched their performance and provided timely critique, in her usual drillmaster-like tone.

"Cornelia, what do you think you're doing?"

"Huh? Going to farm the wolves, obviously." 

"And, you think this is a smart move when you have less than 30% HP remaining?" 

"Yeah, why not?" Cornelia asked. "I exiled the Viking peasant from the lane by showing him my noble might, so now I'm free to farm in the jungle, am I not?" 

"It's a waste of time," Nakajima explained. "Your opponent recalled because he was below 20%, and you're about to hit the same threshold as well."

"How is that a problem?" Cornelia asked. "I can just recall once my HP falls to these levels." 

"No, you should recall now. Do it." 

"What? But, my hard-earned lane advantage...!" 

"It only exists in your head," Nakajima argued. "There isn't that much difference between 20% and 30% in situations like this. In both cases, it's too dangerous to be on the lane for too long unless you want to be ganked."

"I see…" Cornelia didn't have anything smart to say to this, but she insisted on having her way regardless. "In that case, I can recall after I take care of the wolves." 

"It'll take too long," Nakajima asserted. "It'd be one thing if you could clear the camp in a few seconds. But, this is the early-game and you're not the Jungler, so any camp is going to take you a while."

"That's… true, I suppose…" Cornelia twisted her lips in protest. In her head, she understood there was some logic to the coach's explanation, but in her heart, this felt terribly wrong.

Cornelia went through so many trials and tribulations to finally kick that lousy peasant opponent out of the lane. Now, this entire land belonged to Cornelia von Galen! At least, it should've.

The owner of the land was supposed to be free to do whatever she wanted in her domain. This included collecting taxes in the form of farming the enemy's jungle camps.

And yet, the consultant was telling Cornelia to abandon this land prematurely without capitalizing on it at all! It was simply unacceptable! But...

"The master's advice is on point," Fiona said. "You have to recall as soon as possible in order to return to the lane in time for the next wave."

"Precisely." Nakajima nodded. "Rather than being fixated on the current situation, imagine how your lane will look like half a minute from now." 

"Hmm..." Cornelia knotted her brows as she tried to imagine that hypothetical future. Frankly, even though she was a prestigious noble of many talents, this sort of forethinking was one area she didn't quite excel in.

B-But, it's not like she couldn't do it, okay? When Cornelia properly focused all her noble brain cells on the task, her forethinking ability could reach the level of divine revelation! 

And so, following the coach's instructions, Cornelia tried to think ahead of the current situation. She imagined what would happen if she were to clear the wolves first and then recall.

Frankly, it was difficult. She could not properly estimate how much time it would take her to clear the camp, nor how long it would take her to return to the lane. But, as the layers of uncertainty piled up, she started to feel unsure about that direction.

Will she make it in time to the lane? How many of her soldiers will still be standing by the time she gets there? Could it be she'd lose lane control…!?

[No way.] Cornelia shook her head. [Of course I will make it back in time. Some of my soldiers may perish by that point, but that won't stop me from mounting a comeback!]

"Ohoho!" Cornelia laughed confidently. "I may arrive on the lane a bit late, but I shall smite down the intruders and exile them from the lane once more!" 

"Arienai..." Nakajima sighed. "The confidence of this girl is off the charts." 

No matter how many times Nakajima stumbled upon this realization, it managed to surprise her every time anew. There was something inherently wrong with how Cornelia reasoned about most things. It seemed almost impossible to fix that part of her.

"Listen and listen well," Nakajima said. "If you don't recall right now, you'll lose lane control. By the time you return to the lane, your opponent will already be done with the wave. In fact, you might already be too late because you've wasted way too much time arguing on this point."

"Hmph. In that case, I'll farm the wolves as I originally planned and then face my opponent in the lane!" And so, the discussion came a full circle…

[This girl…] Nakajima rubbed her temples. "I'm sure you understand that he'll attack you right away to kick you out of the lane?"

"Hmph. He'll try."

"And he'll most likely succeed. Just think about how hard you had to work to get him to 20% and how you dropped to 30% in the process. You're evenly matched you two."

"Evenly matched? Hmph. Maybe that was true for the old Cornelia." 

"Excuse me?"

"The Cornelia from a few minutes ago struggled a little against that lowly peasant," she explained. "However, I'm no longer the same I was before! My noble powers have doubled since the last time I dueled that commoner!" 

"You make absolutely no sense," Nakajima asserted. "Players do not improve that fast in the middle of the game."

"Hmph. Perhaps such growth is impossible for a common player, but it's par for the course for a noble such as myself, ohoho!" 

[… I'd really like to have a talk with whoever was responsible for her upbringing.] Nakajima sighed in exhaustion. [If we had Ranked for parenting, then her parents would be stuck in Bronze hell.]

Out of the numerous pupils Nakajima had coached over the years, Cornelia was proving to be the most difficult one yet. And, the worst part was how the girl actually had some talent for competitive gaming, it was just buried underneath countless personality problems.

[Honestly, if this club was bigger, I probably wouldn't have bothered with her so much.] Nakajima admitted. [I know it sounds awful, but I don't have the time to babysit troublemakers. I'm here to make a winning team first and foremost.]

Ideally, Nakajima would've wanted to guide every pupil into becoming a star. This was the innocent mentality she started this job with. Unfortunately, she soon came to face reality.

There were many students but only one teacher, so it was impossible for Nakajima to focus on everybody equally. Time didn't wait for anybody and she was no exception.

And so, over time, Nakajima learned to prioritize certain students over others. She found the ones who showed more promise and focused on building a strong team around them. That was the only way for her to keep bringing results and improve her standing in the school.

So, a problem child like Cornelia would have had to take a backseat in a bigger club. That whole "noble" roleplay she did, probably to overcompensate for some inferiority complex, was too much of a headache. Nakajima was no psychotherapist so she wasn't qualified to resolve complex issues like this.

Alas, this club had only five members. Therefore, everybody was part of the first-string. Everybody's performance was critical for the team's success.

Nakajima swore to bring this newbie team far in the regionals and she refused to back down from the challenge. Slowly but surely, she will find a way to get through to that noble thickhead.

"Cornelia, listen. No matter how highly you think of your combat skills, there's no way you can contest that Viking with 30% HP. It's just not happening. Right, Fiona?"

"Absolutely," Fiona agreed. "Judging by the data so far their combat skills are on about the same level. So, with the Viking at 100% HP, it will not even be a competition. Not to mention, he has access to his ultimate."

"Exactly." Nakajima nodded in approval. "Now THIS is how you should be analyzing the situation and thinking ahead."

"Grrr…" Cornelia grimaced. She lost some of her obnoxious persistence once Fiona stepped in.

[Seriously, this girl is a handful.] Nakajima sighed. She wasn't a fan of double-teaming a kid like this, but it was really hard to deal with this troublemaker otherwise. There was no choice but to resort to ugly measures against this blockhead.

Cornelia sort of idolized Fiona even if she refused to admit it. As such, Fiona's words carried far more weight for her than any of Nakajima's advice. even though the master was supposed to be the figure of authority here…

[Youngsters these days have no respect for their elders!] Nakajima grumped. [But anyway, this is not the time to worry about my pride. I have a lesson to teach this blockhead and she's finally willing to listen, so I better get to it.]

"If you were to confront the Viking," Nakajima said. "He will either kill you or force you to recall in the middle of the ongoing wave. Just think about how much farm you'll lose in either scenario."

"Hmph. As I said, that peasant wouldn't possibly…" Cornelia tried to argue back but stopped herself once she noticed the fed-up expressions on Fiona and Nakajima's faces. They were both looking at her like she was some lost cause. So rude!

But, maybe they had a point. That Viking was a peasant, but a peasant with a big HP lead over Cornelia. Under such circumstances, even a noble such as her might struggle.

Was the risk worth it? Perhaps not. As such, Cornelia gave up on arguing any further and recalled to the base as advised.

But, it's not like she was running away, okay? Sometimes, it was a good idea to listen to the teacher's advice, that's all there was to it. Cornelia could've easily stomped that Viking if she tried! Hmph.

Upon seeing Cornelia finally follow through, Nakajima nodded in satisfaction. "Good. Better late than never." Cornelia only scoffed in response without saying anything.

After that, Nakajima approached Fiona. "I'm glad you picked up quickly why I involved you in that conversation. Nice follow-up."

"Thank you, master."

"Aside from that," Nakajima continued. "You immediately realized why my advice was on point, which is good. But, keep in mind that I won't be there to advise you like this during real games. As the shot-caller, you should've been the one to advise Cornelia once she started heading into the jungle."

"Yes, I understand." Fiona nodded. [Frankly, this is asking for a lot when I have so many other things to keep track of. But, it is something I have to learn how to do.]

Ms. Nakajima delivered her advice to Cornelia in a speedy manner to prevent a disaster, but the contents of the advice were not that advanced. Ms. Nakajima merely considered a few steps ahead, something Fiona had no problem doing herself once she got involved in the discussion. As such, the only problem here was Fiona's attention span.

[Why was I not able to see it?] Fiona wondered. [I thought I was keeping a close eye on the entire map, yet this particular incident escaped my attention.]

In retrospect, the answer was simple. While that event was taking place in Top, Fiona was on her way to gank Mid. As such, all her attention was concentrated on making the gank succeed. She had no leftover attention to spare to any other lane at the time.

[This is tough.] Fiona thought. [I am required to divide my attention between my personal game plan and my responsibilities as a shot-caller. No matter which one I prioritize, the other will be neglected to some extent.]

Finding the balance between the two was key. Surely, Fiona would get better at it through practice, but the job will forever remain a challenge. After all, a fellow piece on the board could not perfectly command the other pieces all the time.

Ideally, there should be a sixth player whose entire job is to command. Somebody who observes the entire game from outside like Ms. Nakajima and can provide timely instructions.

Alas, for whatever reason, in MOBA games the strategist had to be one of the five players on the board. It was painfully suboptimal.

[I know that Cato is not a fan of this either.] Fiona thought. [But, what about Yuel Fermond? Does he also find this arrangement problematic? Or, could it be this is somehow to his liking...?]

Anything was possible when it came to that man. He was the type of player whose thought process was sometimes alien to the norm.

[Thinking of it, a setup like this might benefit his playstyle.] Fiona reason. [The harder it is for the enemy shot-caller to control everything, the more weaknesses there are for Yuel to exploit.]

The man's entire playstyle revolved around striking the opponent's weak spots, Fiona learned as much from analyzing his chess history, as well as his father's. A playstyle like that was far more effective in sports like Classmancers than in chess.

For starters, Classmancers had five opponents to deal with, which meant five times more potential weaknesses to discover. Yuel could simply focus on one weak link in the enemy's formation and bully them to oblivion.

Furthermore, the enemy's shot-caller was distracted by default, leading to potentially sloppy team formations that could be exploited. On top of that, even the best commander could never command humans as flawlessly as chess pieces. Poor execution of orders and insubordination like Cornelia's were like treats for Yuel Fermond.

[In a real game, if I failed to advise Cornelia in that situation, I am certain Yuel would have taken advantage of it. So, I must be more vigilant about such things.]

Fortunately, this time around, Ms. Nakajima was there to tell Cornelia to recall. Despite how long it took Cornelia to ultimately follow the order, the worst-case scenario was averted.

Next time, Fiona should be the one to issue that kind of timely advice, even if her instructions happen to arrive a little late. Better late than never in cases like these.

So, after making a few mental notes following this incident, Fiona reinforced her map awareness. She aimed to keep track of what all her teammates were doing to advise them against mistakes. Alas, it was easier said than done...