I Refuse To Be Fate’s Puppet - Chapter 49

As they headed back to the Royal Institute, Arata found that Visha was very similar to himself. He preferred to be in the background, didn’t like the politics of nobility and enjoyed spending his days sleeping, which is what he did most of the time. Arata discovered that he was actually in Class 7 as well, but he chose to sleep and cultivate on his own. Teacher Takuma also allowed him to do so for some reason, thus Arata had never met him until now.

Arata was curious after learning all of this from his fellow student.

“So what brought you to the party at the Ise Clan?”

Visha chuckled.

“Are you asking why an exiled son like me came along to a gathering of nobles? I was told to come by my ex-Father. Even though I’m exiled, he still believes he owns me. He told me to come, and I did. After I got here, he told me all about my duty as a noble and all that nonsense. He said that if I wanted my place in the family back, I was to win the approval of Akari. Seeing as I’m here with you, I think it is pretty clear that I didn’t feel like listening.”

Arata nodded. It seemed like his situation was complicated. Although he didn’t know the details, he could, at the very least, lend an ear to him. Visha looked at Arata and giggled.

“I thought you were supposed to be arrogant and, well, a bit of a dick. At least that is what everyone has been saying about you. Seems like I’m not the only one the picks and chooses when to play the game of politics.”

Arata was stunned. He realized he had let down his guard and was himself in front of Visha. He felt so at ease that he didn’t notice. There was no point in trying to hide, so Arata just face palmed himself.

“I can be really clueless sometimes, ya know? Got so caught up and relaxed that I let my guard down.”

The two boys laughed. Visha stretched as he yawned.

“I heard you live in the South Dorm as well. I watched the end of your fight with Galen, quite a beatdown. And your performance tonight wasn’t too shabby either.”

Arata shrugged.

“Like you said, it’s all a part of the game of politics and power. Gotta prove yourself and all that rubbish. Why can’t everyone just go away and let me sleep, ya know?”

Visha nodded his head and pointed at Arata.

“Exactly! That’s what I’ve been saying! Instead, I am always hounded at and forced to do things I don’t want to. ‘Visha, stand up straight! Visha, go out and train! Visha, classes are almost over, get out of bed!’ Just leave me alone!”

Arata and Visha locked eyes as a mutual understanding passed between them. Arata stretched out his hand to Visha.

“You have had it rough, brother.”

Visha had eyes full of emotion as he shook Arata’s hand.

“Thank you, brother.”

The two of them continued to chat and complain with each other all the way back to the South Dorm. When they arrived, Ryouma was there waiting for Arata.

“Captain, welcome back. Akari told me that she would be taking you to a battle tonight. How was it?”

Arata shrugged.

“No sweat.”

Ryouma then saw Visha and was surprised for a moment.

“Visha? You’re awake? And standing?”

Ryouma looked him up and down like it was a miracle of some kind. Visha chuckled.

“I need to take a break from taking breaks every now and then.”

Ryouma nodded, clearly already used to Visha’s personality.

“Did your ex-Father make you attend the ‘battle’ and then you escaped with the Captain?”

Visha chuckled as put his arm around Ryouma’s shoulder.

“You know me too well, Ryouma. And what is with this Captain stuff? I thought we were planning to be walking our own paths? Not going to listen or controlled by the nobles. Although Arata ain’t that bad of a noble. Turns out, he’s not a dick. Can you believe it?”

Arata chimed in.

“You know I’m right here.”

Visha nodded.

“Of course I know. That’s why I only mentioned how people called you a dick. The other stuff they said is much worse. But you aren’t a dick. So that’s a good thing.”

Arata was unsure whether Visha was trying to compliment him or not. Either way, he found Visha amusing. Ryouma also found Visha entertaining as he gestured to the dorm.

“We should head inside, we can talk more in my room.”

Arata and Visha nodded as they went to Ryouma’s room. The three boys chatted and laughed until they decided to call it a night. Arata went to sleep tired from the day, but happy from how it ended. He made a new friend and was able to help Akari out. Not a bad day’s work.

When he woke up, it was time to get back into the swing of things again as he got ready for class. Arata and Ryouma walked over to Class 7 and took their seats. Akari came in and sat next to Arata.

“Thanks for yesterday, The battle went according to plan and we came out victorious. I owe you one.”

Arata nodded. Teacher Takuma walked in and the class went quiet. Teacher Takuma looked over her students with a serious glare.

“As most of you know, we have the Class Tournament coming up. The Class Tournament pits the classes against each other in different areas to grade the class overall and deciding the Class Ranking. The higher Class Ranking earns the class more resources, school recognition and bragging rights. There are also special prizes awarded to both the class and individuals that perform well. For the next 2 weeks, I will be putting you all through a special training regime in preparation for the Tournament.”

The class all looked excited and a competitive spirit began to rise within the class. Although the other classes also took the Class Tournament’s seriously, Class 7 approached it intensely. For the past 50 years, Class 7 has been known to dominate the Class Rankings, even managing to take on the classes above their year sometimes. Teacher Takuma inherited to Class from her teacher, who had created the specialized monster Class 7.

Teacher Takuma was also a member of Class 7 as a youth. Class 7 understood the pressure of the past 50 years, they couldn’t be the year where the streak was broken. They needed to live up to Teacher Takuma’s expectations and dominate the Class Rankings. Teacher Takuma turned to the board that was on the stage and wrote several things.

“The Class Tournament is broken down into different competitions ranging from individual matches to group matches, class vs class etc. There are also the categorical competitions: physical combat, Weapon Smithing and Tech Enhancing, Alchemy etc. For the different competitions, I will choose the team leader and representative to run all things in relation to that area, and they will organize and choose the rest of the team.”

Teacher Takuma had drawn up names and categories next to those names. She began to call them out one by one.

“Weapon Smithing: Aramis. Choose 3 extra members for your team.

“Tech Enhancing: Biron. Choose 3 extra members for your team.

“Beast Taming: Matoki. Choose 2 extra members for your team.

“Sorcery: Yuki. Choose 5 extra members for your team.

“Poison Studies: Visha. He isn’t here, but he can handle it on his own. No team needed.

“Medicine Enhancement: Akari. You and Aisha should be more than enough.

“Team Empowerment and Support: Tallis. You may choose 2 extra members for your support and an additional person to Empower and Support.

“Trap Specialist: Tallis. You may choose 3 extra members for your team.

“Strategic Analysis: Tallis. You may choose 2 extra members for your team.

Teacher Takuma then paused as she looked at Arata. A chill went down his spine as his procrastinator instincts started going off. Teacher Takuma grinned devilishly.

“And finally the Battle category. As there are multiple sections to the battle category, there will need to be more input and planning. It is also the main category for the competition and Class 7’s pride and glory. So Arata will be leading the team with Akari and Tallis helping. There are the individual battles, Free for All, teams of 3, teams of 7, teams of 10, class vs class battles and class vs class capture the flag. You will decide the teams and organize the battle strategies with the help of Akari and Tallis.”

Arata’s stomach dropped. He was hoping to get through the Class Tournament without doing anything, but that was obviously wishful thinking. Of course Teacher Takuma would want to utilize his abilities. Arata cursed inwardly.

‘Damn you overwhelmingly powerful strength and skill!!!!!’

The leaders that had been called out came down to the front. Arata got up, slowly and unwillingly, before joining them. Teacher Takuma turned to the team leaders.

“Besides Arata who doesn’t know the full strength and abilities of everyone in the class, I’m sure that the rest of you have already decided on your teams.”

Some of the students nodded. Teacher Takuma gestured to the class. The one called Aramis stepped forward. He was the sword user that fought Arata on his first day. Arata learnt that the sword he used then was one of hundreds that he had made. Many of the students in Class 7 actually used the weapons that Aramis created. He spoke to the class.

“For the Weapon Smithing team, I choose Ryouma, Aisha and Bardric.”

Ryouma, the girl with the golden gauntlets, Aisha, and the boy with axe, Bardric stood up. Teacher Takuma looked them over and nodded. The three sat down again. The metal based agility user, Biron, stepped forward.

“For the Tech Enhancement team, I choose Ryouma as well, along with Tallis and Telem.”

Ryouma stood up, once again, as did the darkness agility user, Telem. They sat back down after Teacher Takuma nodded in approval. Next was Matoki.

“For the Beast Taming team, I’ll go with Caldre and Cephas.”

The student with the rock shield, Cephas, and the student with the Frost Dragon Bloodline, Caldre stood up, got Teacher Takuma’s approval, and then sat down while Yuki walked towards the board. She picked up the pen and wrote 5 names on the board in really small letters. Tallis, Akari, Arata, Jada and Jayden.

As three of them were already on stage, only the brother-sister twins, Jada and Jayden stood up. Teacher Takuma approved of the twins, Akari and Tallis, but she was curious about her choosing Arata. He had never shown any talent in Sorcery before, but Yuki was a unique existence, so Teach Takuma decided to trust her.

Visha wasn’t here and Akari’s team was already decided as being her and Aisha. So Tallis stepped forward. He glanced at Arata briefly, and Arata felt that more effort was about to head his way.

“For Team Empowerment and Support, I choose Yuki and Teva with Arata as our focal point. For the Trap Specialists team, I choose Arata, Antioch and Loki. And for the Strategic Analysis team, I choose Arata and Akari.”

Arata wanted to stab Tallis right now. He chose him for all three of his teams. Tallis turned to him and shrugged lightly. Arata made a mental note to sharpen his pencil to stab Tallis after class. Arata watched 3 students stand up. One was a beautiful girl with long green hair, she gave off a warmth that Arata sensed when he first met her. Her name was Teva and she was, from what Arata gathered, an Earth or Wood based user.

Antioch, the extremely fast student that pushed the table away during the cafeteria fight, stretched as he yawned while standing up. Arata was intrigued by him as he still wasn’t sure how fast he could actually move. The last student to stand was Loki, he had to be woken up by Antioch sitting next to him, as he was asleep on his desk. Arata hadn’t interacted much with Loki, but he gave off a strange aura that confused Arata.

Teacher Takuma nodded and they sat back down.

“Now, for Arata to accurately put together the teams for the battle segment, he is going to need to learn and observe the powers and abilities of everyone in the class. You will all come up and display your strength to Arata. Remember, that this is for the pride and glory of Class 7. If you don’t take this seriously, you will incur upon yourself a pain you couldn’t even imagine.”

The classroom went cold as Teacher Takuma’s gaze and voice sent a chill down everyone’s spine. They collectively nodded and agreed.

“Very well. Clear the stage. Akari and Tallis, you two will inform Arata about the nuances and specialties of the class. Arata, you will observe, take note and then choose the students to join the teams. You can decide on the strategies later, but I want a list of names by the end of class tomorrow.”

The stage was cleared as Arata was dragged along by Akari and Tallis as they sat by the stage to observe. Arata sighed. He didn’t want to do this but he could feel the seriousness of the class. They wanted this badly and they didn’t want to ruin the reputation of Class 7. Arata knew that he would need to take things seriously for his class. He took a breath and centered himself. Tallis and Akari were stunned as a glow appeared in Arata’s eyes. Not only was there the glow from Arata’s Shadow Awareness, but he had a calculating look in his eyes, a serious and determined look. Akari and Tallis looked at each other and grinned.

Arata spoke in a sharp and serious tone.

“Let’s start. Who’s first?”