chapter01 · 013-ep13

Episode 13: "Genbu Gets Compared"

The spark leaked from the inside.

"Promising Nineteen-Year-Old at Clan Genbu Seriously Injured — String of Accidents in Training Department?"

The clan hadn't announced it. But there was no hiding it when an ace candidate at the industry's biggest clan vanished from the front line. Joint training he missed. Sponsorship work put on hold. When the press contacted Genbu to confirm the facts, its PR department took a whole day to answer.

In that one day, the internet finished its own investigation first.

"[Verification] Could Genbu Ace's Accident Have Been Prevented by Following Shin's Retreat Criteria?"

The thread starter's method was simple. They laid out the reported sequence of events, then put the archive of lesson fourteen—the retreat criteria lesson—beside it.

Report: Twelve minutes after combat began, continued fighting despite a breakdown in formation.

Course: "A breakdown in formation is your number one condition for retreat. You reorganize once you've pulled back to safety."

Report: Fell while crossing a rock ledge in a fatigued state. Unable to break his fall because combat was still underway.

Course: "On a day you're tired, set your feet down heel-first. And please, only fight somewhere you can afford to fall."

【Stop putting the answers side by side】

【The free beginner course is turning out to be a straight upgrade over a major clan's training department】

【People have been reporting safe returns by the hundreds thanks to those retreat criteria since last month...】

The conversation changed that evening.

【Been wondering about this. Rei Kenjo, Mio Hyodo, Shishiomaru, Yagarasu, Kokoro Shirose. All five S-ranks came out of Genbu's training wing, right?】

【And the years when those five were trained line up exactly with the eight years that former personal coach Hiiragi Shinichi was there】

【So Genbu is the clan that cut the man who raised five of humanity's strongest as a "parasite," then even put out an official "no connection" statement】

【The dots have turned into a line】

"The clan that cut the man who raised five of humanity's strongest."

By night, that line had become a headline and begun circulating beyond the internet for the first time.

◇

The next day, there weren't enough chairs in the large press conference room on the ground floor of Genbu headquarters.

On the dais, Togakushi Gen sat up straight. He'd made a name for himself as an A-rank attacker and built the industry's biggest clan in a single generation. He thought he'd been through more ordeals than anyone in that room.

"We will do everything in our power to support the injured member's recovery. However, contrary to claims being made in some quarters, there are no deficiencies in our training system. Our clan's training program is scientific and systematic, developed in cooperation with specialist institutions—and we are confident it is of the highest standard in the world."

That was the end of his prepared remarks. Questions. The business-paper reporter he called on first stood up, turning a page of the documents in his hands.

"The highest standard in the world, you say."

The reporter's voice was matter-of-fact.

"Since its founding, your training department has produced five S-rank explorers: Rei Kenjo, Mio Hyodo, Shishiomaru, Yagarasu, and Kokoro Shirose. All five were trained during the eight years Hiiragi Shinichi served as their personal coach. Meanwhile, in those same eight years, not one trainee who didn't receive instruction from Hiiragi was promoted even to A-rank, let alone S-rank. And in recent years, only your accident reports have increased. —So let me ask: is it your clan's training program that's the best in the world? Or is it Hiiragi Shinichi, the man your clan recently declared it had 'no connection' with?"

The press room fell silent.

Togakushi opened his mouth.

Opened it—and nothing came out.

There should have been material he could use to rebut it. But what came to mind was the stack of documents on his office desk. The research team's complete record of that course. The pile of paper that, the more he read, looked like a catalog of everything Genbu had spent eight years removing from its training wing.

And then—that thin back, folding a termination notice in half, bowing, and saying, "...Well. Fair enough."

The silence lasted five seconds. At a press conference, that was nearly forever.

"...We understand the results of training to be due to a combination of... factors..."

His strained voice had lost the flatness of something settled long ago.

At the back of the room, Nagumo from strategic planning looked silently up at the ceiling.

Within an hour, those five seconds had been clipped. Titled "The World's Highest Standard (Silent for Five Seconds)," the video reached an eight-digit view count by the next morning.

◇

As for me, that day was peaceful—or so I'd like to say, but even I couldn't manage that anymore.

I'd turned off notifications. The uproar still found its way through the cracks. The streaming platform forwarded twenty-three interview requests. The Association gave me one polite, roundabout call telling me to "choose my comments carefully."

What I had to do hadn't changed, though. Cook rice, flip through notebooks, prep for the night's stream.

That night, lesson twenty-seven started as promised.

"Good evening, this is Shin. If anyone's new, here's the usual: this is a course for beginners. No flashy techniques. No talk about the strongest gear. It's dull. Probably shockingly dull. —Lesson twenty-seven: 'How to draw a map.'"

【It's here, the map episode we all knew would be legendary】

【A map lesson from the guy who "just gave him a map"】

【Sensei, the press conference...】

【Stop. It's class time】

"Like I said last time, getting lost doesn't begin when you lose your way. It begins the moment you stop keeping a record. So today's lesson isn't about how good you are at drawing. It's about the habit of stopping at each fork and writing down three things. The time. The direction you went. A landmark you can see when you look back. ...You don't look for the way home on your way back. The you on the way in draws it for you."

I taught my usual forty-minute lesson. The only things that weren't usual were the viewer count and the signs of another subject slipping into the edges of the comments.

"Okay, time for questions before we finish."

I'd figured this was coming. It was the first question I picked up.

"What does Sensei think about the accident at Genbu and today's press conference? There's also an analysis claiming the accident could have been prevented if they'd followed your retreat criteria."

The comment section sped up.

【You're asking him that?】

【I mean, everyone wanted to know】

【Tell them, Sensei. You can say "serves you right"】

"Let's see. First of all—"

I set down my teacup.

"I hope the injured explorer makes a full recovery. He's nineteen, right? At that age, an explorer still has plenty of time to rebuild their body. I hope he won't rush it."

【...】

【Sensei, that's not what we meant】

"As for the analysis, I don't know whether it could've been prevented. Only the people who were there know what the situation felt like. Thinking you understand everything from watching a recording is one of the most dangerous habits an explorer can have. Please don't do it."

【Ouch, that hit home】

【Verification-thread crowd, you still alive?】

"But I do want to say one thing. —Blaming an accident doesn't make anyone more skilled. No matter whose accident it was. Instead of spending time blaming people, take what you can learn from it. What we can take from this one is the retreat criteria from lesson fourteen and today's map lesson. If your formation breaks, pull back. The way back is something you should've drawn on your way in. ...If you leave remembering just that, this accident will have saved someone else's life. I think that's the best use you can make of the news."

The comment section went quiet for a while.

【...Of course that's what Sensei would say】

【Now I'm ashamed I came here hoping for a "serves you right"】

【"Blaming an accident doesn't make anyone more skilled"—I'm framing that】

【Every time I understand a little more why all five of them grew up under this man】

【Watching this on the same day as the press conference clip really hits...】

【Sensei...! I'll draw my maps properly...!】

【Hina-chan, do your assignments first】

【Who made you Sensei?】

That night, two clips spread side by side. One showed a chairman silent for five seconds. The other, a course in which no one got blamed.

I hadn't put them side by side. The editor called "the public" has always worked fast.

◇

After the stream, I started preparing for next time.

One topic had been gathering votes in the request box for ages: "How to walk in a snow-mountain-type dungeon." Reports of people getting lost in snow-mountain types came in regardless of season, and it was about time I covered it.

I pulled the snow-mountain volume from a cardboard box by the wall. The date on the cover was six years ago. When I opened it, I could almost smell the cold air of the training hall at daybreak between the meticulous diagrams and equations.

How to read magic residue on snow. Controlling incantations during a whiteout. The drop in magic circulation when you're hypothermic. —Half of this notebook was what I'd observed and put into words.

The other half came from the person who'd allowed me to make those observations, demonstrating it more quietly and precisely than anyone else in an empty training hall at daybreak.

A specialist in snow-mountain-type dungeons. The only mage in human history to complete a solo traversal of a snow-mountain type's deep layers.

—Mio Hyodo. It was her specialty.

"...Well, she probably isn't watching."

I muttered it to no one and turned another page.

Unaware that, on the other side of the screen, a little hand-sewn pouch was lit up as an icon in a corner of the likes, as usual tonight.