Nero's expression turned sour as he asked, "So you only trust him? You don't trust the rest of our troops?"
Tak—!
Chase slammed his hands on the round table and overreacted, as usual. "What the fuck is that supposed to mean? You don't think the rest of us are good enough?!"
He rose from his seat and started to approach me, but Anastasia quickly got up herself and blocked his path.
"Chase, control yourself!" she shouted.
"I... Uh- S-Sorry," only when she did that Chase relented like a puppy, backing down and looking away.
"Haaa."
Exhaling loudly, I took a few steps forward and stood in front of Anastasia and her puppy. "Chase, I have a simple question for you. Answer it truthfully, and I won't oppose you taking the leadership of N Squad."
"Yeah? What's the question?" Chase bared his teeth.
"If I ordered you to charge at the enemy, alone and without reinforcements, just to create a distraction for our forces during a battle, would you do it without hesitation? Would you follow my orders without questioning me?"
"What? You're asking me if I would rush into my own death?!" a look of ridicule appeared on Chase's face. "Like fucking hell I'll do something like that! No one will do that!"
"Exactly," I nodded in agreement. "You don't trust me. You assumed that doing what I told you would result in your death. You don't trust me and honestly, I don't trust you either."
"...I-" Chase tried to utter something but I interrupted him.
"I don't have something against you, Chase. N Squad is our vanguard and the upcoming battle with Class 1-C-8 might determine the winner of this Mock War," I said before continuing:
"Since Amelia has given her position to me, the burden to craft a strategy that would make our class victorious rests on my shoulders. I need the leader of our vanguard to be someone who I can trust. Someone who will follow my orders without an inkling of hesitation. I am only the mind behind our class; that's why I need hands that I can rely on."
"..."
Silence.
Complete and utter silence filled the room. No one spoke a word; some looked uninterested, some had their eyes fixed on Chase and me, while some just sat there with surprised expressions.
Perhaps they didn't expect such a serious answer from me.
In that silence, Kent was looking at me with starry eyes. I, of course, just ignored the guy.
"...I see," Nero was the first to break that silence. "If you think Kent can carry out your orders on the battlefield, then sure. I'll put him in charge of N Squad. But now, what do we do with Chase? He was in G Squad and it's all but wiped out now."
"I know. I suggest we put Chase in defense guard for our sharpshooters," I said before turning to look at the boy in the spotlight. "If you're okay with it, of course."
Since sharpshooters, or long-range fighters, can't fight properly in close range, there is usually a defensive line of soldiers formed around them.
The leader of our sharpshooters' squad is Anastasia Bigod— the girl Chase has taken a liking to, already on his path to becoming the fated love rival of our protagonist.
I believe that if I suggest to him a position close to her, he won't refuse it. I mean, come on, I'm basically playing his wingman here.
"I– Uh, sure!" and just like I had predicted, the puppy instantly agreed. "I'll join the defense guard!"
Heh. Predictable little fool.
With that, we can move to the main focus of this meeting.
"Okay, good," Nero nodded happily after avoiding what could've been a potential conflict. "With that, we can now move to the main focus of this meeting."
After saying that, he looked at me. "Lucas, although you aren't the head strategist I assigned originally, you did get us out of a situation that could've resulted in our loss."
Lies.
This bastard was lying with a straight face.
No way a bunch of teenagers could defeat a monster like him. If push had come to shove, he would've used his Gift to single-handedly eradicate the enemy class.
But of course, I can't say that to his face because I, or the rest of the world for that matter, shouldn't know about his Gift yet.
So with an amicable smile, I replied, "It was my pleasure to help."
"So why did you take her position?"
"...Huh?"
Out of nowhere, Ella raised a question.
"If it was you helping us, then why did you have to take Amelia's position as the Head Strategist? You could've just suggested your strategies to her and asked her to convey them to us, or, better yet, you could've taken only temporary command. Why did you take her position?"
Oh this girl. I haven't talked to her since coming into this world, so it slipped my mind how much of an analyst she was.
Shrugging, I was about to reply when Amelia chimed in. "I gave up my position to him on my own."
Oh? Wait a second! Did she just… defend me?!
Ahem, no, no. I must be overthinking.
"So you're just a quitter? A thing or two didn't go your way and you just quit?" Grace joined the conversation, not leaving this chance to mock Amelia.
"That's not it, Miss Goodwill," before Amelia could respond and initiate an argument, I spoke up while raising my bandage-covered left hand. "As you can see, my arm is still injured. I can't assist our class in battles. And the upcoming battles may very well be our last so we need every good hand fighting in it."
"So?" Grace arched an eyebrow. "What's your point?"
"Well, part of the reason Miss Black resigned her position to me was so that she could assist you all in battle. The other part was that I'm naturally a brilliant strategist, of course."
"....."
"....."
They all awkwardly fell silent as I said those words. Even Kent, who was looking at me with stars in his eyes, facepalmed embarrassingly.
What? Why are they all acting like I'm some kind of a narcissist or something?!
"Ahem, anyway," coughing dryly, I continued. "Miss Black will assist you in the upcoming battle, and I'll be your sole strategist."
I turned to Ella as I said more, "That is all the reason you need to know why I took her position. Anything else?"
Ella looked at me for a moment with her usual stoic face and replied, "No, that's all."
"Fuuu," letting out an exhausted sigh, Nero said: "Okay, now all that out of the way, let's begin our strategy meeting."
After that, we engaged in a heated exchange of ideas and battle plans.
Sigh, the boring part is over.
My lips pursed up into a faint smile as I thought of future events.
It was finally my time to join the battle, from the shadows, of course.
