Chapter 124: Tanya’s progress

"...So? What do you have to say now, Professor Zenith! You lost!" Tanya says with a very arrogant smile on her face as I collect the simulator recordings to analyze them later.

"I won!! I won!! You really lost to us!! Are you going to say something arrogant now? After losing!!!?" She seems very confident that I’m going to mock her and seems to have prepared several arguments for this fight.

The others went to the infirmary to rest and make sure there was nothing wrong with them because they still felt all the pain from the wounds in the simulator, only Tanya stayed here and is actually trying to provoke me.

"Yes, I lost, Tanya. You did very well, they won thanks to you, in fact. It was really incredible. Your attack is very powerful, and it would have been very difficult for me to deal with such an extreme heat beam under those conditions. I didn’t even have time to think. You’ve gotten much faster at firing them too." I praise her as I stop looking at the screen and give her my attention.

"...Heh?" She seems confused by my praise and more unsettled than she would have been if I had argued with her, as if she expected me to be sarcastic or malicious in my response.

"...Seriously? You’re...just going to agree?" She runs a hand behind her head, looking somewhat confused as I give her my full attention as a show of respect.

"Yes, you won, didn’t you? I’m a veteran. I’m not easy to beat. You made good use of what you had. If Edith hadn’t poisoned me, your plan wouldn’t have worked."

"I had a lot of things to worry about. I was in a hurry, tried to finish quickly, and made mistakes. That’s how combat pressure is supposed to be applied. I don’t know which one of you planned this, but that was genuinely very good." They pressured me very well during the fight.

And that constant pressure was what made me make mistakes, along with Edith’s poison, which was stealing part of my focus. For the same reason I forgot to grab Charlotte’s weapon magazine, I also failed to think about how problematic it would be to leave Tanya for last.

"At most, I can criticize the fact that you made the plan by sacrificing allies, but this was a simulation, and you wouldn’t have beaten me without the deaths of your allies while fighting me, so you were genuinely very good at this."

"However, that’s not really something I can criticize. Between dying and failing the mission and winning it by sacrificing allies, it’s better for at least some of you to survive and complete it than for everyone to die and the mission to fail. You wouldn’t have beaten me in another scenario."

"If I had enough time and space, I would have crushed all of you immediately. Obviously, in most fights, you won’t know the enemy’s power the way you know mine, but even so, knowing how to use information matters, and you used what you knew about me splendidly." Their plan worked precisely because it was the most appropriate for the situation.

"...That’s...really nice of you...I expected a fight. Before, when I asked you for praise, you were really...harsh with me." She looks me in the eyes, seeing how I’m genuinely treating her better now.

"Why are you talking to me like this?"

"Tanya, you girls are going to start in the army far above the level of rookie recruits, which is great. You won’t die on your first missions. You just need practical combat experience from real missions, but that’s something you’ll gain in the army."

"And that’s exactly why I respect you more now. You’ve stopped being weak, arrogant, spoiled students. Now you’re arrogant, spoiled rookies, but you’re not weak anymore. Now you have what you need to survive."

"And I respect that. I respect the effort. Your effort shows that all the work I put into teaching you and all the risks I took weren’t useless." They grew more than I expected in this amount of time.

"So...you...think we did well..." She looks embarrassed by the praise. It’s surprising that she actually thought I wouldn’t praise her.

"You’re serious, Professor Zenith?" She asks, not believing me.

"Yes, I’m not the type to joke around. Have you ever seen me making jokes? I genuinely think you girls did well. If you keep doubting me, I’ll stop praising you and put you back in the simulator for more training." For the amount of time I had to teach them, they were excellent. Their growth is great, and with only one day using their new weapons, they handled them well.

It was somewhat restricted, and they do have things they need to improve, but their response time and teamwork were perfect. I have nothing to complain about, and I’m glad they learned to work well as a team.

"...I thought you’d criticize us...our strategy was dangerous, and we were already prepared for the others to die so I could land the final blow..." She approaches me, looking at the screen where the footage of her defeating me keeps playing.

"Of course it was a dangerous strategy and unethical in several ways, but you can’t always kill a monster without taking risks. That’s why I liked it. The strategy showed teamwork, it showed continuity even after the death of allies, and it showed you protecting one another."

"Obviously, you weren’t afraid of real death, and that can mess up a plan, but this was a good start, and I won’t deny it. For girls who’ve never had to go through anything like this in their lives, that was very bold." They had never really had to make this kind of choice.

"And boldness in this kind of situation is good. Obviously, your lives aren’t worthless, and you shouldn’t throw them away for a plan, but at some point you may have to do something like this for real, and it’s good that you’ve already practiced it." She gives a smile that is a little less arrogant and more genuine at what I say.

"I really didn’t expect you to be nice to me!! Charlotte and I came up with the plan!!"

"That makes sense, after all, you were the center of the plan...but Eirwen also would have done well as the main attacker, though you really were the best choice in that situation. Your destructive power is enormous." I expected the plan to have come from Charlotte.

"But don’t underestimate the situation. You won through planning, strategy, and good execution, but any other scenario would have gotten you killed. If Edith hadn’t poisoned me, I would have won."

"If the pressure had faltered too early, I would have won, and if Ashlyn hadn’t supported you at the right moment, I would have won too. Edith and Ashlyn were essential to your victory."

"And Charlotte was the main pillar. She was the one who allowed the pressure from your attacks to keep me distracted enough that I had to get rid of those I could eliminate instead of focusing on the strongest ones. Literally, without Charlotte, the chances of your plan working would have been 0%." Having to deal with attacks appearing out of nowhere and having to distract myself while thinking about where the next rift would appear was complicated.

"Okay, okay, Professor Zenith, we know that! But we still won!! Now that we’re getting to the end of all this, I think I should have my own private lessons more clearly, right?! You gave the others way more attention!!"

"You should give me some extra attention now!! I still can’t use almost any variation of my power properly. All the others have grown more in that regard than I have." She seems excited as she changes the subject.

’This time she didn’t demand it or say she deserved it...I hate arrogant people, but I think I should give her more appropriate training for this. If I don’t reward her for her victory, that could cause problems later...’

"...You’re right, Tanya. I think I’ll give you some special attention this time as a reward for your good performance." When I agree with her, I see how she can barely hide the silly smile on her face.

"Perfect, Professor!! It’s great to finally get the recognition I deserve!!" All of her arrogance comes back.

"Take it down a notch before I decide to criticize every flaw I noticed in your fight. Don’t treat things as if the world owes them to you. You did deserve recognition this time, but that arrogance is a road to disaster."

"Okay! Don’t bring me down, Professor. I wanted to talk about my weapon. Do you have some time now?"

"...I do have some time. It’s going to take a while to download the recording with all the three-dimensional data so I can analyze every corner and angle, so I have some time."

"...Okay, then let’s talk!!"

"But I don’t want to talk about your weapon right now. Leave that for tomorrow night. I’ll take you to a private training session."

"For now, I’m busy and not in the mood to talk about the fight. It was pretty exhausting for me." Although I also feel that being able to use my powers freely in the fight was quite liberating.

"Ah...okay, I think I’ll go to the infirmary. I’m a little tired too, and I need to check on the others, but don’t forget about our conversation!!" She heads for the door without hiding how excited she is about what she managed to accomplish.

"Of course, I won’t forget."