A Wild Man Has Entered the Academy

TLed by NolepGuy

Chapter 56

[Don’t you know what survival means? It’s about staying alive. So why are you heading off to die? I just don’t get it.]

She makes a good point. Advising Professor Marlboro silently agreed as he watched Kara’s words on the screen.

The forest where the training took place was equipped with specialized devices, one of which was real-time video transmission.

The equipment installed throughout the forest allowed them to monitor the events happening there, as well as observe the students.

While the bracelets automatically tracked their locations, this method was pursued for more meticulous judgment.

“Rather than fighting the tiger, you’d live alongside it. It seems Student Kara understands the purpose of this training well.”

Yeonhwa, who was watching the screen alongside Marlboro, spoke up. She smiled in satisfaction, seemingly impressed with Kara as well.

Serah and Godin, who were also observing, expressed their approval in their own ways.

“These days, students are overly competitive. At least back in my day, it wasn’t this bad. We even had campfires together.”

Marlboro crossed his thick arms and spoke with a tone of regret. It was an old-fashioned remark, but no one disagreed.

During his time at the Academy, roughly ten years ago, the United Academy was relatively less competitive.

While there were frictions between nations, students acted their age. They only cared a little about grades and focused more on human relationships.

However, in recent years, the intensifying conflicts between nations had extended their influence to the Academy.

This meant that students often forgot the essence of things by focusing solely on grades.

“This will only leave behind resentment. If resentment is all that remains, cooperation will be out of the question.”

“It’s a vicious cycle. These students will become the strength of their nations in the future, but to see them like this already…”

Serah coldly assessed, while Godin spoke with concern. They, too, worried about the essence of the Academy disappearing.

However, they couldn’t lower their evaluations, as Antonio’s aim was also cooperation.

Banding together to face a great force—arguably, the very essence the Academy sought to instill.

Thus, it was difficult to harshly criticize the evaluations. That’s how overwhelming Sivar’s presence was.

“It’s unfair, sure, but no one said you absolutely have to come in first place. Why are they so obsessed with being first already?”

“Won’t they complain about it later?”

“Of course, they will. I clearly taught them that survival is the most important thing. They’re the ones competing on their own. Huh?”

Marlboro paused mid-sentence and widened his eyes slightly at the screen. The other professors reacted similarly.

Kara, who initially dismissed Antonio’s suggestion, was now watching her team argue with Antonio, who seemed to have persuaded them.

[Hey. Think about it logically. Do you really think you can beat him, even if you all gang up on him?]

[We just need to take off the bracelet, the bracelet. It’s not like we’re suicidal. We don’t even think we can win.]

[Oh, sure. Why don’t you try taking mine off first?]

[Sigh… This is pointless.]

Survival, by its nature, has a structure prone to division. Especially when differences of opinion arise, it becomes even worse.

However, such situations usually stem from issues like food supply or drinking water; scenarios like this were extremely rare.

A conflict between those pursuing survival and those prioritizing competition. Naturally, this had become more frequent in recent years.

[Were all Tatar tribesmen cowards? I’m disappointed you’re scared after just one fight.]

[…Are you done talking? What’s your point?]

[Then why not just help eliminate Sivar? I don’t understand why you’re being so stubborn.]

[No…! Ugh, seriously. Why don’t you understand the most important thing about this training? Statistically, that side is at a disadvantage!]

Kara expressed her frustration. Grace wasn’t the only one suffering through the hellish group project.

At least Grace was struggling due to a team member with an overly strong personality, but Kara’s team showed clear signs of division.

[And Luna, you. You’re great and all, but why are you so bad at calculations? You said there’s barely any difference between first place and a shared first place, right? Then why not just get along with everyone instead of trying to eliminate someone?]

[…Because I like being first better?]

[Ugh! Luna, seriously! You’re driving me crazy!!]

It was an exceptionally rare situation. A scene where a Tatar, considered less civilized, was about to lose her patience.

Cooperation is the most important aspect of the civilization process. Competition is a story for when different civilizations meet.

The professors watched the situation with amused smiles or chuckles, their expressions filled with interest.

“Student Luna seems to lack a lot of tact, despite being the entrance top student.”

“Strictly speaking, she seems to have a personality easily swayed by others. She appears to lack strong opinions of her own.”

“Does that mean she doesn’t have leadership qualities?”

At Serah’s question, Marlboro shook his head. That wasn’t what he meant.

“Not at all. That kid can be surprisingly stubborn. She’s just way too inexperienced. She’ll improve over time, I’m sure of it.”

“If Marlboro says so, then it’s worth believing. Ah, they’re splitting up now.”

Yeonhwa pointed at the screen. Kara’s team, which had been arguing over their differences, had finally split apart.

Predictably, Kara frowned at the sight of a team member joining Luna’s group. But there was nothing she could do about it.

[Sigh. They won’t stand a chance even if they gang up on him. I just hope no one gets hurt.]

Still, she was kind-hearted enough to worry about them. Soon after, she was seen heading off on her own path.

The professors remained unfazed by this typical survival training scenario. Their reactions were closer to “It was bound to happen.”

“Student Kara seems like she’ll survive for a long time.”

“She might even aim for first place. Judging by her comment about befriending a tiger, it seems likely.”

“The Tatar cultural background probably plays a role. They always take care of their own.”

Despite the tense situation, the professors gave positive evaluations in their own ways. Hector, infamous as the King of Destruction, paid no attention.

He only gave objective evaluations of the students themselves. He didn’t concern himself with the state of affairs between nations.

“So now, all that’s left is Sivar’s group…”

Marlboro turned his head. As he did, the other professors also shifted their gaze in that direction.

The screen didn’t show just one scene but transmitted multiple scenes simultaneously.

One of them was Sivar’s group. The last time they checked, Sivar had been diligently butchering a wild boar.

What could he be doing now? As the team they were most closely monitoring, it piqued their curiosity.

“…What is he eating right now?”

“Uh…”

Like Marlboro’s bewildered question, the other professors were also dumbfounded. At first, it seemed like he was butchering properly.

Although he was roughly cutting with a small dagger instead of a butchering knife, his skills were decent. So far, so good.

The problem lay in Sivar’s subsequent actions. While it was good that he drained the blood and removed the innards…

“It looks like… the liver?”

“…Is he a beast or what?”

The issue was that Sivar was eating the wild boar’s liver raw, leaving his mouth smeared with blood.

While his teammates cooked the wild boar meat over a fire, Sivar alone was eating the raw innards.

It was a diet that could only be described as pure wilderness. Marlboro glanced sideways with a grimace at the stomach-turning sight.

“…Doesn’t the Hwan Empire or the Frozen Principality eat liver raw too?”

The question was directed at Yeonhwa, from the Hwan Empire, and Serah, from the Frozen Principality.

Both nations were known to have cultures that included consuming animal innards.

“It exists, but… even the Hwan Empire doesn’t eat it like that. Recently, there’s been a lot of talk about parasite issues.”

“That’s going to cause problems. More importantly, it’s an action that drastically lowers survival probability. The nutrients in the liver can actually be harmful.”

A flustered Yeonhwa and Serah explained in detail with calm expressions. In reality, consuming raw liver is an act that severely reduces survival rates.

The nutrients in the liver can cause respiratory distress or acute poisoning. In severe cases, it can even be fatal.

“Wild animals tend to rely on the liver for nutrients they can’t easily obtain. You could say Sivar is doing the same.”

“…What about the parasite issue?”

“According to the Headmaster, there are no parasites, and everything is supposedly very clean.”

“Hmm…”

At Godin’s response, Marlboro focused intently on the screen with a troubled expression. Grace, meanwhile, had vomited up what she was eating due to Sivar’s eccentric act.

Lee Yeonju was patting her back, but judging by her pale complexion, she seemed to be forcing herself to hold it in as well.

Sivar, naturally (?), looked confused, as if he couldn’t understand. It was a disastrous combination, albeit in a different way than Kara’s team.

“How should we evaluate Sivar? If we’re judging him as a wild animal, his actions are correct, aren’t they?”

“As a civilized person, it’s absolutely unacceptable. At the very least, he should’ve cooked it over a fire.”

“Really? Then let’s go with a mixed evaluation. Just in case, make sure he takes a dewormer after the training ends.”

Marlboro jotted down the evaluation in his notebook, incorporating Yeonhwa’s opinion.

[Deduction for not cooking the food. However, his body seems to be optimized for survival.]

It was an evaluation that perfectly aligned with the theme of “survival.”

******

Among animal innards, only the heart, lungs, and liver are edible.

I would never eat intestines or stomach. You never know what might be inside them.

However, to a civilized person like Grace, it would all look like pure wilderness, no matter what he ate. That couldn’t be helped.

[Go wash up immediately! Find a nearby valley or something to clean yourself up!]

So I was kicked out. It seems they couldn’t tolerate the blood smeared all over, even if I only ate the liver or heart.

However, I wasn’t completely banished. We just split up temporarily to find running water. The rendezvous point was the spot where we had butchered the wild boar earlier.

Since we were already within the safe zone, separating wasn’t a big issue, and it was deemed better to fish rather than hunt.

If we hunted, we’d have to butcher again, and they seemed worried I might devour the innards once more.

‘Would it have been better if I had cooked it over a fire?’

Thinking it over carefully, that might have been the better option. I no longer live in the wilderness, so there are plenty of ways to replenish nutrients.

However, old habits die hard, and it seems I unconsciously put it in my mouth after such a long time eating raw food.

Just to clarify, Grace wasn’t overreacting—it’s me who’s the strange one here.

Since I’m aware of it myself, I can’t blame her for reacting the way she did.

‘I don’t really know how to cook fish. As long as I remove the innards properly, it should be fine.’

I focused my hearing ability to locate a valley. Soon, all the sounds typical of a forest reached my ears.

The chirping of birds, the buzzing of insects, the distant roars of beasts, and so on.

Lastly, the sound of water flowing in a valley. Fortunately, there was a valley nearby.

I could roughly wash off the blood there and check if there were any fish living in the water.

Swoosh—

Walking in the direction of the sound, I soon came face to face with the valley. The rapid stream was quite strong.

I leaned in and carefully examined the state of the valley. Seeing minnows swimming around, the water seemed clean enough to drink.

‘As expected, blood doesn’t wash off easily.’

In the short time it had taken, the blood had already dried and wouldn’t come off easily. I had to scrub it hard with my hands just to faintly lighten the stains.

I remember struggling to wash off blood even when I lived in the wilderness. Back then, I think I used animal fat to clean it off.

Over time, it would eventually wash away on its own, so I didn’t pay much attention to it.

‘Other survivors will probably come here too.’

This was a likely spot for teams that hadn’t secured drinking water to visit. A battle of wits or even physical conflict might occur here.

After finishing a light face wash, I stood up. Now, the only thing left was to return to the rendezvous point and bring the others back.

Since I had already memorized the way back, I could walk with a calm mind.

Just as I left the valley and re-entered the forest—

“······?”

I abruptly stopped walking. Something felt off about the air current in the forest.

Just as I had heightened my hearing earlier, the forest was usually filled with various sounds.

But look at it now. Isn’t it dead silent? There’s only one explanation for this.

‘Someone’s here.’

While human senses can be deceived, it’s impossible to fool the more sensitive beasts.

It’s a person. Someone is hiding nearby. Unless they’ve maxed out their ambush skill, they can’t completely erase their presence.

As I mentioned earlier, it’s easy to deceive human senses. However, animals are extremely sensitive to presence and tend to react strongly even to small movements.

‘It doesn’t seem like reconnaissance······.’

I have a rough idea of where they’re hiding. On top of that, there are quite a few of them.

Around ten people, I’d estimate. Since each team has a maximum of four members, that means at least three teams.

It’s amazing how such a large group managed to hide here. Truly the skill of Academy students.

After pondering what to do, I picked up a stone lying on the ground. It was quite large and heavy.

Judging by their behavior, they’re all hiding in preparation for a surprise attack, but it’s a futile effort. The forest had already revealed their presence to me.

Crack! Crunch!

I gripped the stone tightly and crushed it into small pieces. With my grip strength, it wasn’t a difficult task.

Once the stone was reduced to fine gravel, I firmly clenched it in my hand······

Bang!

I hurled it toward the hidden individuals. The crushed gravel scattered widely, like shotgun pellets.

If they won’t come out, then I’ll make the first move.

Their hostility was so palpable that ignoring it wasn’t an option.

“Damn it! Block it!”

“How did they figure it out?!”

How, you ask?

‘I could hear everything, even the sound of them nervously swallowing.’

If they were going to launch a surprise attack, they should’ve done it sooner.