A hero who wants to help others wants to live a normal life

Chapter 70 Just overwhelm them with numbers

“But rest assured—none of you here today stand a chance of defeating these two,” Tenma declared with a sly grin.

The trainees, clearly displeased by his words, exchanged irritated glances and directed sharp stares our way. If they had complaints, though, I’d prefer they take it up with Tenma, not us.

Still, Tenma had a point in making such a bold statement. The reason? There’s an undeniable gap in power between Blessings and Skills.

Skills, after all, are fragments born from Blessings—mere splinters of their full power. In every aspect—strength, versatility, and scope—Skills fall short. To defeat a Blessing with just a Skill, one would need an extraordinary strategy.

Of course, if our opponents were seasoned veterans like Tenma himself, there’s no doubt we’d lose. But these are kids like us, still in training. Sure, they might have had more years of practice, but that kind of gap isn’t enough to bridge the vast disparity between Skills and Blessings.

“I understand why you might find this unsettling,” Tenma continued, addressing the murmurs of discontent. “But I’ll say it again—relax. While it’s true you can’t defeat these two as you are, I’ve created conditions where you can win.”

This wasn’t going to be a straightforward fight where our victory was a foregone conclusion. Tenma wasn’t the kind of teacher to set up a one-sided contest, no matter how much he wanted to give the trainees experience battling a Blessed.

“There are two ways for those who can only use Skills to defeat a Blessed,” he explained. “First, you can compensate for your inferior abilities with superior strategy, tactics, experience, or intellect.”

This is where someone like Tenma shines. Despite having weaker raw abilities, his wealth of experience and tactical expertise allows him to evade our attacks effortlessly and even overwhelm us completely.

“But,” Tenma added, “developing strategies or accumulating experience isn’t something that can happen overnight. That’s why I’m not asking you to take this route today. Instead, the solution is much simpler.”

And it really was simple—so simple, anyone could come up with it.

“Surround and crush them. A straightforward solution, isn’t it? If you can’t win one-on-one, then don’t fight one-on-one. There’s no rule on the battlefield that says fights must be fair duels. On the contrary, those who use their resources to create an advantageous situation deserve the most praise.”

It was a perfectly rational, common-sense perspective. If you’re not enough on your own, you gather allies. Numbers are strength. Even if the power difference between two sides is as great as an elephant and an ant, enough ants can take down an elephant.

Still, the thought of them gathering in groups to cheerfully take down a “strong foe” while we fend them off alone… are we supposed to be the villains in this story? The final boss or something?

“I’ve already prepared the location and circumstances for this exercise,” Tenma continued. “You’ll form teams and face one of these two in battle.”

“Wait, hold on! Uh, Tenma-sensei?” I protested.

Hearing Tenma’s explanation, I couldn’t help but voice my objection. Can you blame me?

We had been told, “You two will fight against the other trainees,” so I naturally assumed it would be the two of us versus everyone else in a two-on-many battle. No one said anything about splitting me and Inori up and having us fight separately.

“What’s the problem? Surely it’s better for you to experience a situation where a large number of opponents are coming at you in earnest. In fact, it’s something you’ll need to prepare for in the future,” Tenma replied, as calm as ever.

“Well, that might be true, but… isn’t it a bit much to take on multiple opponents alone?”

If there’s a chance of being attacked by some unknown group in the future, then yes, experiencing a battle against many opponents now wouldn’t hurt. But to suddenly throw us into this with no preparation? Even with the difference between Blessings and Skills, I couldn’t see myself winning in such circumstances. That’s only true for one-on-one fights, after all.

“In that case, it’s fine if you lose,” Tenma said bluntly.

“…Huh?”

Caught completely off guard by his unexpected response, I let out a stupid sound. But can you blame me? After all, we’ve been training so hard to avoid losing, and here he was saying it’s okay to lose.

“If you can win, that’s great. But if you can’t win against these half-trained recruits here—or if you can only scrape by with a narrow victory—then it’ll show you that you’re not yet capable of handling multiple opponents. That’s an understanding that will save your life on a real battlefield. Isn’t it better to learn that now, rather than foolishly assuming that being a ‘Blessed’ means you can handle multiple enemies and dying because of it? Learn from failure, young ones.”

…Well, I guess that’s… a fair point?

I didn’t plan to let success get to my head, but it’s possible I could mess up out of overconfidence without realizing it. If that’s the case, using the results here as a benchmark for the future might not be a bad idea.

“Any other complaints?” Tenma asked, his gaze sweeping across the assembled trainees.

No one spoke up. Satisfied, Tenma gave a firm nod.

“Good. Oh, and Inori, there’s one thing I need to caution you about. Do not kill anyone. This exercise is also meant to train your ability to control your powers. Even if you struggle or lose, it won’t matter. What’s more important is that you focus on subduing your opponents without inflicting serious injury. Keep that as your top priority.”

“Yes, I understand,” Inori responded with her usual composed tone.

Well, yeah, Inori is… strong. Too strong, really, thanks to her Blessing. It’s an incredible strength when fighting monsters, but in a mock battle against ordinary humans—or those without Blessings—it’s a bit concerning.

She can subdue people without killing them, but when facing multiple opponents, who knows what could happen? It’s better to be cautious.

“Each team will consist of five members, but the abilities of each person are not equal. There will be no one left without a team, but if you end up with someone else’s leftovers, it will be difficult to come up with a strategy… Hurry up, now! Everyone, form your teams! Those who have already decided on a strategy, you may start!”

With a loud clap of his hands, Tenma’s words were out, but the trainees’ movements were scattered. Some quickly moved to form teams, while others hesitated, observing the situation.

“Come on, hurry up! Oh? Some people have already decided on their teams? Looks like the teams might be sorted out sooner than expected!”

The team selection was still in its early, chaotic stage, and it was clear that no one had finalized anything yet. However, as Tenma rushed them with a grin, the trainees started to look around in a panic.

“Such a bad personality…”

“What are you saying? This is also part of the training. It’s just to test whether you can calmly and quickly think and respond, even in a sudden situation like this.”

“Words are easy to say, aren’t they?”

Tenma’s point might have been valid, but knowing his personality as we did, it felt more like he was simply enjoying the chaos.

“Well then, it looks like teams should be forming soon, huh?”

About five minutes had passed since the team selection began. Whether it was five minutes or more, I couldn’t be sure, but most of the teams had taken shape, and there seemed to be some organization now.

“Speak of the devil… but hmm. So, this is how it’s going to be…”

And sure enough, it seemed like teams were starting to solidify. A group of five people approached us…

“The first one is you, Sakura.”

Leading four other members, Koujo Sakura approached us.

“Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you.”

“Shouldn’t those words be directed at him, not me?”

At Tenma’s comment, Koujo shifted her gaze from him to me.

” Koujo…”

So, she’s on the enemy’s side after all? I didn’t expect that.

But, is that really okay? She’s also a ‘Blessed,’ so shouldn’t she be on our side?

I glanced at Tenma, but despite noticing my gaze, he simply snickered to himself.

That bastard. But what could I do about it? I took a deep breath to calm myself before turning my focus back to Koujo.