Infiltrating the Superhuman Training Girls’ School of the Republic of China!

Come to think of it, is this really a ‘skill assessment’?

As someone with some knowledge in that area, I’m skeptical. If Zhou is really a secret agent of the Bureau of Investigation and Statistics, and if she’s an agent of the Blue Shirts Society, there are many ways to gather information about the 10 students here, aside from that clumsy interview.

There are plenty of ways to understand their ‘superpowers’ besides this clumsy test using a tank. So what does she want to test? What does she want to find out? If not skill, then something she can only discover by seeing with her own eyes…

In my view, it’s personality. I was deployed to this country’s school as an operative, but from another perspective, Zhou is also living as a supervisor at this school as an operative. So her vaguely circling around in a tank and observing our responses… could have multiple meanings of observation. First, those who would have already been informed about such ‘sudden tests’.

Churchill directly told me that she was expecting a sudden test on the first day, but it’s not hard to notice that Catherine Duey and Barbara Tikhonov were also expecting it, even if they’re not CIA agents.

Looking at their attitudes and behavior, they’re advertising with their whole bodies that they came to school with their own instructions or missions from the French and Soviet governments respectively. In other words, they’re already openly revealing that they don’t care about grades. From Zhou’s perspective, she should realize that her strongest power, namely the authority to grade foreign students, will be useless for these two.

On the other hand, in cases where they received a recommendation from the government but that government’s power isn’t that strong, like in Shradha Bhatt’s case, they clearly showed signs of being flustered. Briar Churchill seems to be playing along appropriately while knowing, and Julia Curoo, the American model, seems dumbfounded by a situation she never imagined. Celine Demetriades from Greece and Anya Crystal from Argentina are just standing there, watching the situation as if they think it’s not their place to intervene.

Then what should I do?

Is this the timing to stand out, or should I stay back and leave it to the superhumans with powerful abilities?

Actually, facing a tank with bare hands is not an impossible task for me. At the very least, that tank can’t kill me. The survivability of this tape body is not something that tank can crush or crumple.

First, I decided to act like an ordinary citizen and approached Shradha Bhatt, picking up her detached arm. The shoulder part of Bhatt was regenerating slowly but surely.

“Ah, you can leave that there. It’ll reattach soon anyway, it just needs some time.”

“Wouldn’t it attach better if we fixed it in place during that time?”

“That’s true, but it’s not like we have any bandages or anything to fix it with…”

Hearing her words, I stretched out my left arm long in the form of tape. Shradha Bhatt watched with interest as my arm turned into tape, and when she saw me cut off the end of my hand myself, she drew in a sharp breath.

“I’m a bit glad to meet another artificial regeneration ability user like me.”

I said as I wrapped the tape around her arm, connecting the shoulder and arm. Churchill, who was playing with the shells nearby, turned her head towards me and grumbled.

“My roommate, how dare you get friendly with a rival?”

“Who’s your rival? And who’s getting friendly with whom… Ungh…”

Shradha Bhatt groaned as she got up from where she was lying as soon as her arm was somewhat attached.

“Why, why, why? I really like it. Showing an overwhelming difference in skill to a meddlesome rival. I’ve been living like that since I was young, you know? Making piano teachers my parents brought run away crying, it’s really thrilling, you know?”

“Isn’t that not overpowering with skill, but doing something mean?”

I asked Churchill. Briar Churchill shrugged and answered.

“I just asked if I could smell their fingers because their performance seemed off today, that’s all.”

“Oh, let’s not talk about it.”

The Marlborough duke’s daughter didn’t seem to mind my words much. At that moment, Zhou Lizhi took out the loudspeaker again and shouted.

“Is there really no one who will step up? Then this batch is truly disappointing. No, more than disappointing! Seriously, I feel like I want to resign as an instructor rather than teach such people!”

“Even if you want to resign, you can’t.”

Catherine Duey, who had somehow approached my side, said.

“Lieutenant Duey.”

“Hello again, Shin Eun-young. You know, I’m actually quite an intuitive person.”

“Ah, I didn’t know that.”

Actually, I did know. She had pointed out that I seemed to be related to the military or something like that just by observing my behavior. No matter how I think about it, it didn’t seem like she was just guessing.

“I think that woman is targeting you…”

“Which woman?”

“Zhou Lizhi, of course. Hmm, I’m thinking I might want to show her a taste of heat once. The higher-ups told me to stay quiet and not stand out, but I’m thinking of stepping up just for today…”

“I don’t know much about the French military organization, but isn’t it better to follow orders from superiors?”

“It’s okay, it’s okay. Am I just an ordinary second lieutenant? I’m a newly awakened second lieutenant that even passing army commanders tremble at, you know?”

“Ah, is that how it works?”

“That’s how the story goes.”

Barbara Tikhonov, who had been chattering uselessly with Duey, suddenly joined the conversation. I asked Tikhonov:

“Come to think of it, Colonel, your ability is…”

“Ah, it’s a bit awkward to use now… I should say I left my unicycle in the dormitory today, and without it, it’s not easy to find a way to be of help, something like that?”

“What kind of ability is it?”

“Would you understand if I say ‘Bicycle Master’?”

Honestly, I don’t understand at all. It felt a bit awkward to ask in detail, so I turned back to Duey.

“By the way, Lieutenant, your ability is?”

“Hehehe, I’m a fire mage. The simplest yet most powerful super power. Fire is great, beautiful, and also scary. Of course, it’s also cute.”

Catherine Duey said this while showing a small flame on the tip of her index finger. The tiny flame looked like a small lighter had been lit. Churchill, who had been listening to our conversation knowingly or unknowingly, showed interest in Duey.

“Oh, French, you were a fire-type?”

Realizing that this French person didn’t understand English well, Churchill spoke to Lieutenant Duey in Chinese. Duey increased the size of the flame on her finger and said cheerfully:

“Yes, yes, of course.”

“Good, let’s try something. I’ve always wanted to play with fire using my power.”

At the Maestro’s gesture, the armor-piercing shells fired from the tank fell to the ground with a clatter. The fire mage seemed intrigued by the conductor’s suggestion and nodded.

“What kind of fire play, miss?”

“Shoot a flame, Lieutenant. I’ll see if I can amplify it with my power.”

“To make flames that surge while burning the air spread through the vibration of that medium…”

I carefully raised my hand to say ‘Isn’t that dangerous?’ But before I could even open my mouth, Catherine Duey clapped her hands and nodded. Her doll-like eyes were glowing red, reflecting the flame in her hand.

“Alright! Let’s do it! It seems like that’s the only way to show that arrogant Chinese a hot lesson!”

“Well, I think it’s good, but still,”

“Hyaah!”

The moment Catherine Duey stretched both hands forward, a long pillar of flame began to burrow quickly towards the Black Dragon tank in the distance. The Maestro quietly watched the flames for a moment, then lightly tapped the air with a ‘tung’ sound, controlling the flow of the atmosphere as she intended.

Clang, boom, and ding-dong.

Along with a mysterious sound that was hard to distinguish whether it was music or not, the flames spread in all directions. The flames spread as if they were about to engulf everyone on this field, including the tank and us, but stopped expanding right in front of our noses and contracted again.

The contracting flames did not simply shrink into the shape of ordinary flames. Briar Churchill swung her baton little by little with all her might, and every time she flicked the tip of the baton, a large instrumental sound rang out in the air.

And finally, when she struck down the baton with all her might, the flames surged up and revealed the form she intended in the middle of the field.

A huge flame in the shape of a phoenix was blazing in the middle of the sandy field. Briar Churchill turned around with a satisfied expression and bowed to us.

“That was the Maestro’s new piece, ‘Phoenix, Rising from the Ashes’! Thank you! Everyone, applause!”

…No, don’t release a new song, deal with the tank!