Ch.7007. Entrance Exam Simulation

“I am Commander Gilbert. I ask for your understanding in addressing you this way for convenience.”

Gilbert had agonized endlessly over how to speak until the cadets under his command arrived.

Normally, he would have been respectful, but the backlash from inhabiting Gilbert’s body was more severe than expected.

It was beneficial to be able to read the memories remaining in the body and naturally adopt the nobleman’s bearing without conscious effort, but there were drawbacks as well.

One reason why it was difficult to completely abandon Gilbert’s original delinquent demeanor was precisely this. While avoiding causing trouble was manageable, small habits—especially his condescending attitude and dismissive behavior toward others—created an eerie sense of discomfort. He tried to ignore and correct these tendencies, but the more he suppressed them, the closer he came to having a panic attack, forcing him to abandon the correction efforts.

Instead, he found a compromise in his behavior. Since the nobleman’s pride was strong, it was possible to show proper respect to nobles of higher status.

For those of lower status, he could maintain a somewhat stiff tone without using contemptuous language.

As a result, in his current role as commander, he could leverage his position to adopt a rather formal manner of speech when addressing the general group.

Though some high-ranking nobles showed signs of dissatisfaction, fortunately, there were no cadets of higher noble status than him, and above all, his reputation as a delinquent served to make others tolerate his behavior.

It meant they didn’t want to provoke a mad dog unnecessarily.

“The entrance mock battle will begin in 30 minutes. To establish an efficient command structure, we will organize with a commander, an adjutant, and teams of ten people each under them.”

It was natural that once combat began, one couldn’t coordinate everything by sight alone. Gilbert could have chosen to stay comfortably in the rear, but that would clearly result in a poor evaluation in the entrance mock battle. In small-scale simulations like this, a commander who merely stayed behind wasn’t well-regarded.

Though it carried the title of a mock battle, this was strictly speaking a localized conflict. The objective was to either capture the opposing team’s position or completely eliminate them within a restricted area. In such circumstances, a commander who merely hid in the back would not help the evaluation.

Of course, from a character-building perspective, it might have earned him some special stat points, but this was reality, and to show visible results to the Count of Lithuania, he couldn’t afford to be cautious. If that overlapped with his delinquent image, he risked being branded as garbage who only cared about self-preservation.

“Now, I’ll quickly select an adjutant and team leaders. If there are any volunteers, step forward.”

At Gilbert’s words, another meaningless period of hesitation began. Though they were dissatisfied with being placed under the delinquent Gilbert, Demeia Academy wasn’t lenient enough to accommodate such complaints. Since they needed to show notable achievements somehow, they thought it would be advantageous to wear an armband as a leader rather than being a regular team member.

However, Gilbert’s notoriety was so widespread that everyone hesitated, watching each other cautiously.

“If there are no volunteers, I will designate them arbitrarily. We don’t have much time.”

“I’ll do it!”

In response to Gilbert’s urging, not wanting to waste time on this hesitation game, the first person to raise his hand was a brown-haired man. The fact that Gilbert couldn’t recall who he was after searching his memories suggested he was either a minor noble or a commoner.

Gilbert, still soothing the remnants of his arrogance, nodded.

“Your name?”

“Hans, sir!”

“A commoner?”

“Y-yes, that’s right.”

Hans barely managed to calm his trembling body under Gilbert’s expressionless gaze. Gilbert’s infamy had spread even to the territory where Hans lived—the story of how he had once beaten a commoner nearly to death while walking down the road simply because he was in a bad mood was already a famous anecdote. Hans began to worry that Gilbert might take action against him for being a presumptuous commoner.

“I’ll appoint you as adjutant for now. Hans, stand over there.”

“Y-yes, sir!”

Hans was relieved that the matter passed without incident and took a rigid stance at attention where Gilbert had indicated.

By this point, more volunteers emerged. Hands went up almost simultaneously, and team leaders were quickly determined. The adjutant position was changed from Hans to another noble, but this wasn’t Gilbert discriminating against Hans—rather, it was consideration.

He was concerned that Hans, as a commoner, might face persecution from the nobles if he remained in the adjutant position.

In fact, the new adjutant was the daughter of a viscount family, and she had apparently been displeased with Hans’s initial appointment, as her tense expression relaxed when the position was changed.

However, the team members didn’t view Gilbert’s consideration favorably. They thought he was discriminating against commoners and trying to keep a woman close as his adjutant.

“Now then, Team Leader Hans.”

“Yes, sir!”

“Meet with the commander of Team 2 and propose an alliance. Tell them the alliance will dissolve when our two teams are separated.”

“Is there a specific reason for Team 2?”

This was a question from Angelina, who had been appointed adjutant. She agreed with quickly forming an alliance but was curious about why Team 2 was specifically mentioned.

“I don’t get along well with Team 3’s commander, so the possibility of an alliance there is zero. There’s a high chance of conflicting opinions with Team 4’s commander. By process of elimination, Team 2’s commander is what’s left.”

Gilbert’s original plan had been to form an alliance with Lily the moment he confirmed her presence. He had intended to act as a mid-boss to help the protagonist grow, but as soon as he realized their relationship was at its worst, he completely revised his plan.

The commander of Team 4 was somewhat willful, though not as much as Gilbert, so they were out of consideration, naturally leaving only the protagonist’s team.

Of course, it was possible they had already formed an alliance elsewhere or might reject an alliance altogether, so it was only natural that other team leaders needed to be approached as well. Plans often needed to be reworked if things went awry.

“Team Leaders Bentley and Alex, go meet with the commanders of Teams 3 and 4 respectively and make the same proposal.”

“Is this in case things don’t go well with Team 2?”

“That’s right, Adjutant Angelina. Even if Team 2 is the best choice, we don’t know how they’ll respond.”

“Not bad. You three team leaders, don’t forget to check if they’ve already formed alliances with other teams. We need to consider worst-case scenarios.”

Gilbert looked at Angelina with fresh eyes as she issued additional instructions.

She wasn’t a character he recalled from the original work, but her grasp of the situation and the clarity of her orders were impressive.

She had anticipated and articulated points that Gilbert had been about to add, showing she was well-qualified as an adjutant.

“Commander, why are you looking at me like that?”

“Just thinking I seem to have chosen a capable adjutant.”

“An interesting observation. Not something I expected to hear from you, Commander.”

Gilbert didn’t bother responding to her sharp criticism. His reputation was absolutely no help in these situations.

But Angelina was actually in the process of revising her assessment of Gilbert. The behavior shown by Gilbert, who was widely rumored to be a talentless delinquent from a count’s family, was completely different from the rumors.

In Angelina’s view, Gilbert understood his position and accurately grasped what obstacles it might present in forming alliances.

He deserved high marks for not simply assuming alliances would form upon request, but instead analyzing the tendencies of potential allies, his own notorious reputation, and the personalities of the other commanders.

Though he did have a tendency to look down on others and had an intimidating gaze, considering his position as the heir to the Hart family, his behavior was actually relatively moderate.

Especially when considering the rumors that followed him, it was almost hard to believe this was the same person.

‘We’ll have to see how far this goes.’

Angelina silently watched Gilbert as he studied the tactical board, waiting for the team leaders to return.

After about 10 minutes, the team leaders came back. There were approximately 10 minutes left before the mock battle began.

“Let’s hear the report from Team Leader Hans first.”

“I proposed an alliance to Team 2, but they politely declined.”

“I see. Next, Team Leader Bentley.”

Though he felt extremely bitter inside, he didn’t make the mistake of showing it outwardly.

Since every action of the commander could affect morale, Gilbert maintained his poker face and silently listened to the next report.

“Team 3 also refused. From the atmosphere, it seemed they’re planning to target our team first.”

“As expected. Lastly, Team Leader Alex.”

“Team 4 was the same. They appeared to have already formed an alliance with someone else.”

The worst possible scenario had materialized. He couldn’t tell exactly how the alliance structure had formed, but it was clear they were now isolated.

The atmosphere rapidly deteriorated when it was reported that all alliance proposals had been rejected.

They too had brains, and considering the numerical disadvantage against three allied teams, they realized there was a high probability they would lose without being able to do anything.

Gilbert inwardly sighed at the rapid decline in morale. It was somewhat depressing to see a situation he had feared become reality.

It seemed the problem was that his reputation had made the other cadet commanders think he couldn’t be trusted, or that allying with him might lead to mutual destruction.

‘No choice, then.’

He mentally erased the failed alliance attempts. At this point, there was only one option left.

Gilbert took the command baton in hand and pointed to the position on the tactical board.

“Then I’ll explain our alternative strategy. Everyone, focus.”

The name of his strategy was simple:

The Technique of Muddy Waters.