For I Am A Side Character - 88: Class-D's Evaluation
Alliances…
An alliance is a form of union or association created for mutual benefit, particularly between countries, regions, organizations, and especially guilds.
In the context of the Interim Guild event described in the story of this world, alliances were formed out of necessity when a group’s confidence was notably low. For classes that knew they couldn’t succeed on their own, it was logical to band together to increase their chances of victory. This is a common occurrence at the academy, particularly in this annual event, where underperforming classes seek help.
This year, the concept of alliances has taken hold in Classes E and D. Both classes realized that their individual strengths were insufficient to secure a win against the top three classes. Their skills and talents simply couldn’t compete on their own.
It quickly became evident that they needed assistance. Class E decided to seek help from Class A, while Class D aimed to form an alliance with Class C. Ordinarily, one might expect Class B to be a potential ally, but Conner O’Neil’s reputation made this option unappealing. Additionally, despite it seeming logical for Classes E and D to team up, ongoing tensions between them made cooperation impossible.
So by lunchtime, Class D planned to approach Class C with a proposal for this union.
Leading the negotiations for Class D was Oliver Cracker, ranked 9th overall. Confident in his approach, Oliver planned to meet with Soril, the apparent representative of Class C. Although Kenji had recently assumed this role, his name had yet to become widely recognized in the academy. Oliver felt at ease approaching Soril, who appeared friendly and approachable, unlike the intimidating Conner. Soril’s casual demeanor suggested he was an everyday guy, not prone to violence.
However, this perception changed dramatically when Oliver approached the table where the Class C candidates were eating. With Class D candidates following him as they approached Class C, Oliver displayed a confident and amiable demeanor, reminiscent of a salesman with a broad smile.
‘This is going to be easy.’ he thought as he felt like Soril was a somewhat pushover of a person.
Walking in closer and closer, he was ready to say his Hello’s. But before Oliver could even greet Soril, the atmosphere shifted and Soril’s presence immediately altered the mood around him and his table.
The other students, casually eating nearby, were oblivious to the eerie aura that Soril projected as he focused his gaze on three specific individuals.
‘Khk!?’ Oliver choked up as Soril stood before him with a cold gaze.
And not long after, Soril stood from his table and approached the Class-D students who found themselves nervous simply by his stance alone.
“What do you want?” he asked as he sounded a bit impatient.
“I…I” not being able to say anything because of Soril’s overwhelming change of character, Oliver could barely keep his eyes straight to Soril’s figure.
“We don’t have all day.” said Jessica who joined in and stood beside Soril’s side.
‘W-what’s going on? This isn’t what I expected it to happen…and why is his presence like this? Its heavy…its choking me up…’
Not feeling all to well, Oliver decided to step away.
He thought that if he walked away, he could save some face before anything was said, but ot his attempt, all of a sudden, Juel Miller came and spoke up for him.
“W-we would like to have a conversation with you.” said Juel as he too was sweating in buckets.
“What’s going on here?” asked Kenji as he decided to join in on the conversation.
“Their probably here about some alliance.” said Jessica who figured out their intentions.
“Are you sure about that?” asked Kenji as he was a bit behind on this information.
“Yeah, I heard that Class-E already went and approached Class-A to ask the same thing yesterday. So Class-D is proably here to ask us the same thing.” said Soril.
“Really? Hmm…and why would you approach us for this? Why not Class-B?” asked Kenji as he turned to Class-D for questions.
“…” As Oliver heard this question, he turned to Soril to see his reaction. Having to see that Soril wasn’t as approachable as they could have expected, he would have abandoned the idea of an alliance, but seeing as how Kenji approached them here…and him being the most reasonable from their perspective, it seemed like they had a chance for an alliance if they lead it with Kenji as the target of the conversation.
So Oliver decided to avoid Soril and turn to Kenji all too easily.
“…First off, we all know this event is a big deal. Winning it isn’t easy, especially with Classes A and B always leading the charge.”
“True, it’s tough competition.” said Kenji as he stood his ground as a representative of Class C.
“Class D and Class C might not have the same resources or recognition as the top classes, but together, we could change that. You already guessed it, but we’re proposing an alliance.”
“An alliance? Between our classes…hmm.”
“Exactly. Our combined strengths could give us a real shot at winning. Separately, we don’t stand much of a chance, but together, we can cover each other’s weaknesses.”
“What kind of weaknesses does Class-C have for you to think that you can easily approach us like this?” asked Jessica as she felt offended by his words.
“Ah- I’m not sayign that Class-C is weak, I’m just saying that Class-D can be an added strength for your class.” said Oliver.
“Interesting. But why not ally with Class E? Aren’t they in a similar position?” asked Soril.
“There’s some… unresolved tension between our classes. It’s not feasible right now.”
“I see. And what does Class C gain from this alliance?” asked Kenji who looked interested in the alliance.
“Besides a better chance at winning? We can share strategies, resources, and skills. We have some strong candidates who can complement your strengths. Think about it, It’s a win-win.”
“Did Class-A accepted Class-E’s proposal for an alliance?” asked Kenji.
“We’re not sure…we tried snooping around for some answers, but Class-E is trying their best to hide the information on whether or not Class-A did accept it.”
“And what if we say no? What would you do about it?” asked Soril.
“Ah-…if you did, I can’t do anything else other than this. We’re just asking and nothing else.” he said as he looked down on himself.
From the simple evaluation of it all, it was clear that Class-D had a small chance of being the winner of this event. But that didn’t matter to Soril. He couldn’t care less about what their situation is, to him, some things are more of a priority than anything. So instead, he left that decision to the others.
“What do you guys think?” he asked as he turned to the others sitting on the table, listening to their conversation.
“I think it’s a great idea.” said Marilyn who was positive to the idea of an alliance.
“But what if they bring us down? Are they competent enough to actually be of help to us?” asked Zelisha who looked unsure.
“Zelisha is right, what if they’ll only bring us down when it comes to the event. We can’t trust them just because they said that they’ll help us.” said Jessica.
“As long as their strong enough, I don’t have any complaints.” said Thors.
“If that’s the case…how about we test them?” asked Kenji.
“Test them? How?” asked Jessica.
“its easy…I presume that this event will mostly require us to act as what a hunter should when he is applied in a guild. And as a guild there are some properties that one needs to have in order to fully grasp the nature of what it means to be a successful guild.”
“Are you trying to evaluate their ability to work as a guild? If so, I don’t think you should. We don’t have a lot of time left before the event finally starts…so I suggest we just test their strength and nothing else. To me, one thing to secure their position is how strong they can be when handling something way beyond their skill. When facing against a monster beyond their level, I want to see just how well they can manage against it on their own.” said Soril who gave his opinion.
And he was right, for Guilds and hunters…what mostly happens is that they are hunting monsters in dungeons…the priority one needs is the strength to manage in a situation far beyond their expectations. It happens all the time in a new dungeon or a dangerous one at that.
“So a simulation?” asked Jessica.
“Yes, so let me ask you this. Whats the current dungeon you guys can handle right now?” asked Soril to the Class-D students.
“Um…P-probably a C-ranked dungeon.”
“Hmm, if that’s the case, lets put you up against a B-ranked dungeon boss simulation and see just how well you guys manage.”
“All of us?” asked Juel who seemed a bit worried.
“Yes, all of you.” he said in his cold voice.
Oliver had not once killed or faced a B-ranked monster…and so did the other Class-D students. They weren’t that reckless to throw away their lives in a dungeon, but for Juel who faced an A-ranked goblin boss, he seemed a bit confident, but not as confident since the group he was fighting with now weren’t all that strong compared to Jason and the others.
But being as desperate as they were, they accepted.
So now, currently, they were inside a simulation against a B-ranked dungeon boss known as a Lich.
A skeleton monster known for its capability to conjure black magic attacks. The undead, rotting magic…anything related to black magic, the Lich was capable of doing it.
And as they were fighting, the Class-C students were outside, evaluating their every move.
“What do you think?” asked Soril to Thors who was a connoisseur for strong things.
“I’m a bit worried. For the past hour, they haven’t been able to land a proper hit on the lich. I’m starting to think whether or not it was a good idea to have this alliance.” said Thors who looked bothered by their performance.
For Class-C, even without Soril’s help, killing this Lich would not have taken an hour, but merely ten minutes. And one reason for this fact was because of how well their skills complimented one another, but as for Class-D, they were terrible with their coordination. Oliver who was the 9th ranked student barely cared enough to lead the group as he was always leading ahead, trying to take on the Lich by himself when the chance arises, and Rudy Tumble who was the 10th ranked student was just the same. The two seemed to have been competing on who would take down the lich first, and no one was actually leading. As for Juel Miller, he tried giving orders, but not a single one of their members were listening to a word he was saying. He didn’t have the confident authority the others had.
Even to Marilyn’s eyes, who was the most positive of the group, saw just how much trouble Class-D would bring to their group if they joined hands.
It was decided then and there that Class-C and Class-D would not join hands. It was a unanimous decision.
So after two hours of the simulation, the Lich was killed, but by then, it was only Oliver who was left alive in the simulation. When he exited the simulation machine, what awaited him were the disappointed expressions of his group…and Class-C was no longer there waiting for them. They were abandoned before getting a straight answer from them.
What was left was only a note saying…
[I’m sorry, but this won’t work for us. -Kenji]
Class-D was left humiliated…by their own efforts.
The world of hunters were filled with all kinds of people…the good and the bad…
And for Class-D, they were in a category of the bad…