“I will now explain the specifics of your third scenario, so listen up,” Ms. Maliksi—the homeroom teacher for Class 1-D—said in a slightly firm voice. “A report received from a scouting party on a routine patrol has identified a suspected enemy camp on the Loneboor Plains, about twenty kilometers northwest of your present location. As their forces vastly outnumber Yugria’s own, all units in the vicinity are to gather at a rendezvous point near the camp and prepare to launch a surprise attack on the enemy. To join them, you will need to make your way through the ancient battlefield known as the Valley of Singing Bones to reach the rendezvous point on the other side within the next seven and a half hours. The leader for this scenario will be Canon Cainridge. That is all.”
As soon as Ms. Maliksi had vanished from sight, the students of Class D broke off into groups of twos and threes and began discussing the scenario.
“Seven and a half hours... It’s a pretty tight deadline. I guess speed’s gonna have to be our priority.”
“Yeah, but it’ll depend on what kind of monsters are waiting for us up ahead. I mean, an ancient battlefield with a name like the Valley of Singing Bones? It’s pretty obvious that we’re gonna be meeting some powerful monsters of the undead variety...”
“Well, it’s not like we have any choice. Our route’s been determined for us already, so instead of wasting any more time standing around jabbering, let’s just get going.”
“Yeah, good call, Nack. Come on, we’ll take point—those monsters aren’t gonna know what’s hit them.”
“Hold on, you two!” cried Noara, stopping the two boys—who’d already started to walk off—in their tracks. “Canon’s the leader, remember?! You have to wait for her orders!”
The two boys turned around with obvious annoyance. Nack rolled his eyes. “Yeah, yeah...”
“It’s not like anyone here knows the area anyway,” the other boy, Bleu, said. “How is she gonna decide on a plan without actually seeing the damn place first?”
If things keep going like this, our class is done for, thought Canon. With the school camp now approaching the midway point, the fatigue was beginning to take a toll on not only their bodies, but their minds. Foreseeing the disaster that awaited them if she didn’t pull them back together, Canon quickly chose camaraderie over control. She crossed her arms and frowned, as though pondering over a deep and difficult thought. All eyes were on her as her classmates waited for the revelation that was sure to come.
They waited in vain.
“Hello?!” exclaimed one clearly irritated boy, waving a hand in front of her face.
Noara approached her friend with a worried expression. “Um... Canon?” she asked nervously, at which point Canon dropped the grimace in favor of a cheeky grin.
“Well, I thought maybe imitating Ves’s favorite brooding look would make me a little smarter, but nope—I still don’t get it at all.”
Nineteen heads drooped in almost tangible disappointment—yet, oddly enough, the overall mood seemed to brighten, and when her classmates began to reply, it was with bemused exasperation rather than actual annoyance.
“Seriously, leader? Pull yourself together...”
“We’re racing against time here, you know?”
“What do you mean, you don’t get it at all? What’s there to get?”
“Sorry, sorry!” Canon said, clasping her hands together apologetically. “But I meant what I said—the scenario just doesn’t make any sense to me. I mean, from the way Ms. Maliksi explained it, we’re only being tested on our ability to traverse the valley, right? But if that’s the case, then why bother with all the extra stuff about ‘our forces being outnumbered’ and ‘launching a surprise attack’ when it doesn’t make any difference to the scenario at all?”
Ah, thought her classmates.
“Well... What does it matter anyway? There’s no point thinking about anything besides the actual mission we’ve been given, and what we need to do to complete it.”
“Yeah, what he said. The longer we spend talking about random hypotheticals, the more time we waste, you know?”
Canon nodded, smiling. “Yeah, I think you’re right. Ves always tells me, ‘You’ve got to start thinking things through a bit more before you act, Nonnie.’ He’s always going on about how acting first and thinking later isn’t the best way to do things. So I tried copying him and thinking things through... But you know what? Thinking first really isn’t for me.” She grinned. “Let’s go check out this valley, hey? We can just make the rest up as we go!”
With that, Canon started walking, though she didn’t get far. In a sudden turn of events, she found herself being hurriedly dragged back to the center of the group. For when those in power started acting foolishly, those around them naturally began to think for themselves—a fact that history had proven time and time again. Some people, rare though they were, could grasp that truth instinctively and put it to use. Canon was one such person.
Her classmates—their minds now clearer and sharper than they’d been in days—began to analyze the given scenario.
“Okay, so it’s not this scenario itself that’s the problem—it’s whatever will be waiting for us on the other side of it. Basically, it’s gonna lead us straight into a complex military operation with multiple units working together, right?”
“Yeah, that would explain the precise seven-and-a-half-hour deadline, I guess. If we show up even a few minutes late and miss the start of the operation, we’ll have no idea what to do.”
“In that case, we should probably prioritize getting as many of us to the finish line as we can within the time limit, rather than arriving all together but slightly late.”
“I agree. At the end of the day, our orders were only to make it through the valley by the deadline. We’ll try to keep any fighting to a minimum, and just plow on through.”
They might have been in Class D, but that didn’t mean they weren’t intelligent—far from it, in fact, provided they kept their wits about them. With her somewhat involuntary playing of the fool, Canon had forced everyone else to think about things a little more carefully. After some more discussion, they decided to split the class into three squads. The first—a five-member vanguard squad mostly composed of bureaucrat course students with relatively poorer combat skills—would lead the charge for as long as they could hold out. Canon Cainridge (of the shieldmaster Cainridges, and the sole knight course student of the squad) would take command. The second squad was made up of the remaining knight course students of the class and would move into the front as soon as the vanguard squad reached its limit. The third and final squad was populated by the mage course students, who’d provide support from the rear via long-range spells.
With nine mage course students, Class D had the highest percentage of mages among the first-year classes. The way the entrance exams were structured meant Class D usually ended up with many mage course students each year, and in fact, this year’s Class D had fewer than usual.
“All right, off we go!” Canon cried, lifting her beloved greatshield—crafted from the shell of a giant sea turtle—high. It didn’t take long for them to reach the entrance to the deep valley. There was something sinister about it; rather than a natural formation, it somehow seemed more like some colossal beast had gouged it out of the land itself with one long, vicious claw. A thick, oppressive mist swirled around the group, clinging to their skin like a shroud.
“Mother, Ves... Lend me your strength,” Canon murmured under her breath so none of the others could hear. And then, driving her shield into the first pack of malodorous monsters that had just emerged from the dense mists, Class D charged forward into the Valley of Singing Bones.