Dungeon Streaming in a Chastity-Reversed World with 1:99 Male-to-Female Ratio! I Might Be a Rare Man, But I’ll Risk My Life to Find a Wife! - 73

Chapter 73: The Woman Who Evaluates and the Woman Who Doesn’t

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“Hey! Heike-sensei! What do you think you’re doing!?”

Slamming both hands onto the desk in the dungeon instructors’ office, Kondou glared at Heike. Even though Fujisaki, the homeroom teacher of Class 2-9 who had come along with her, flinched at the impact, Heike lifted her face from the computer without so much as twitching the eyebrow not covered by her eyepatch, and stared at Kondou with cold eyes.

“You were the one who burst into the instructors’ office all of a sudden… Now you have the gall to ask what I think I’m doing…? I believe that should be my line, isn’t it?”

Click. 

As Heike pressed the knock of her black ballpoint pen to retract the tip and looked at her, Fujisaki behind Kondou let out a faint, “Hie…” and Kondou herself was overwhelmed enough to retreat half a step.

“Th… The test scores! The test scores for the dungeon training! A-are you telling me Class 9’s H-Team really got results this high!?”

Kondou thrust out the evaluation sheet showing Class 9 H-Team listed in the upper rankings and raised her voice. But the click of Heike pressing the pen’s knock again was louder. To Fujisaki, it felt like that sound echoed through the stark white instructor’s office. Fujisaki had never intended to complain about Heike’s evaluation like Kondou. She simply wanted a solid explanation for her own peace of mind.

(That was all I wanted… So why is Kondou-sensei this irritated!?)

Even while being pushed back, Kondou desperately bit back, while Heike stared back at her calmly yet with unmistakable exasperation. There was no question who had the advantage and because it was obvious which side she ought to stand with, Fujisaki quietly edged away from Kondou. From Kondou’s blind spot, Heike and Fujisaki faced each other and their eyes met. Fujisaki gave a dry smile, and Heike returned a smile heavy with pressure before turning her gaze back to Kondou.

“Kondou-sensei, is there some problem with that?”

“M-more than a problem… R-right! This evaluation sheet! Class 9 H-Team scored poorly in dungeon-clear speed and kill points, so why are they evaluated this highly!? Don’t tell me you fawned over them because of that boy, Ittou Itsukushima!?”

There were several types of evaluation sheets. The first page listed rankings and team evaluations for each category. Dungeon-clear speed, teamwork, monster kill points, knowledge evaluation, stamina evaluation, technical evaluation, damage rate—many kinds of assessments were lined up. Teams with excellent results tended to score high in two particular categories.

One: how quickly they reached the required point in the dungeon—meaning how swiftly they cleared traps and monsters: dungeon-clear speed. The other: monster kill points, an easy measure of raw strength—how many monsters were defeated and how strong they were.

But Class 9 H-Team was dead last among the top ten in these two categories. Even among teams ranked within the top twenty, their scores weren’t high. It was clearly strange. That was what Kondou believed.

(No, I’m sure I’m not the only one thinking this! With these scores, there’s no way they’d be in the top five! Besides, from the footage before the exam, Unohana could hardly use healing magic, Katagiri’s enhancement magic was weak, Noshiro was slow, and Danbara and Royama moved too unpredictably and caused confusion. There’s no way a team like that could’ve gotten results this high!)

Heike stared intently at the evaluation sheet Kondou had thrust out, eyes bloodshot. Seeing that, Kondou smirked, thinking Heike had realized her mistake. But she was wrong. Heike wondered instead whether she might have made a labeling error on a certain category. Perhaps that was why Kondou was screaming hysterically.

However, even after checking the number several times with her one eye, it was indeed correct. After all, she had confirmed the sheet herself and the other instructors. In that case, Kondou’s shrill yelling was nothing but wasted noise to Heike.

“Haah… Kondou-sensei. Me? Fawning over Itsukushima? Do you really think I would do something like that? And… Dungeon training evaluations are handled by two evaluators. Another person checks for any irregularities. Under that system, favoritism is impossible, don’t you think?”

“Gh… B-but still!”

“More importantly, Fujisaki-sensei. I hope you’re not suspecting me as well?”

Having confirmed that Kondou’s opinion was simply wrong, Heike no longer spared her a thought. But she did care about the junior teacher she looked after. If Fujisaki shared Kondou’s view, that would be troubling, so she shot her a sharp glance.

“I just… I just wanted to know what Itsukushima-kun did that led to someone from the Association coming… That just means he did something worthy of it, right…?”

“-!! Yes! Exactly! Tell us what they did to deserve such high marks! Give us the basis for this evaluation!”

(That’s not what Fujisaki-sensei meant at all… As always, Kondou-sensei can only interpret things in whatever way suits her… Still, these skewed results are indeed unprecedented. This will definitely influence future instruction and evaluation policies…)

Heike gave a small nod to both of them and snatched the evaluation sheet from Kondou’s hands.

“Ah…! Hey…!”

Even having the evaluation sheet taken seemed to stress Kondou enough to trigger another hysterical outburst as she tried to lunge forward. But faster than that, Heike flipped the sheet over and thrust it in front of Kondou’s face, silencing her. Then she leaned around the sheet, placing the clicking pen tip against the row labeled Class 9 H-Team.

“Please look closely. Class 9 H-Team’s scores are indeed overwhelmingly low compared to the other teams.”

Heike slid the pen horizontally, tracing each evaluation category. Kondou, about to say something triumphantly, was shut down by a single glance from Heike. The pen continued moving.

“But I believe this evaluation system highlights a major flaw in our current educational approach. We place far too much weight on easily measurable things like dungeon-clear speed and monster kill points. Anyone with actual field experience knows one simple truth: ‘A person who scores highly in school evaluations doesn’t necessarily perform well in real operations.’“

Back when she was a student, Heike herself had ranked overwhelmingly first in dungeon training. But after observing numerous teams during many dungeon expeditions, she had come to understand something. Clearing quickly, defeating many monsters, defeating strong monsters. Those things alone did not make a strong team. In fact, there were teams with low school evaluations but high Association evaluations who performed extremely well.

As an instructor, Heike realized that many of those high-performing teams shared one particular trait, a certain number. Her pen reached the final category on the sheet and stopped. It was an evaluation category added a few years ago after discussions between Heike and the other dungeon instructors. In dungeons, healing magic and recovery magic items existed, so injuries could be healed. Weapons and armor were consumables.

But in a high-difficulty dungeon, what mattered wasn’t just strength. It was endurance, Heike believed. Kondou furrowed her brows, not understanding the category where Heike’s pen had stopped. Fujisaki, however, gasped and adjusted her glasses.

“That category is…”

“In this exam, with Itsukushima added, Class 9 H-Team meshed together perfectly. They were able to draw out their true potential. As a result, they achieved the highest number in this category in several years. Higher even than the ‘Strongest Empress,’ Maru Mamonaka.”

“Huh? That category is… ‘Damage Rate’…?”

On Heike’s computer screen were the members of Class 9 H-Team, smiling brightly and almost completely uninjured.

“Magic consumption, damage taken, weapon and armor wear, item use… The number that evaluates all of these together is the damage rate. Their number in this category is in the first place, overwhelmingly so. In other words, those girls have the potential to dive longer and deeper than anyone else in Year 2.”

After the exam ended, they had calmly reflected on the run as if nothing had happened. Remembering the sight filled Heike with a strange excitement, bringing a smile to her face.

“Well, seeing is believing. Use your own eyes and give them the evaluation they deserve. For all their hard work.”

Click. 

Heike pressed the mouse. The video that popped up showed the scene at the dungeon entrance during the midterm exam—Itsukushima and the girls forming a circle.

“Alright, the exam. Let’s do our best! Let’s do this our way!”

“““““Yeah!”””””

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