Because I've Been Reincarnated as the Piggy Duke, This Time I Will Say I Like You Chapter 164

Published at 4th of August 2023 10:36:01 AM

From the 6th day of Camp Training, everyone was helping the Hunt Teams.

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“Hey! Let’s go over there! Don’t let them escape!”

“Don’t push them out! Move forward without letting them pass through!”

A large number of students were entering the forest with a huge ruckus. Normally, if it was this noisy, the prey would run away and hunting would be impossible. However, the students were deliberately making noise as they walked.

It’s not to get in the way of the Hunt Teams. Rather, even though they were skeptical about the effect, they just followed the strategy because it was an order.

“How is it? Are things going well?”

“Yes. According to the messenger that just arrived, I was told that things are going well.”

At the headquarters in the camp, the report made them relieved for now. If this method failed, there would have been huge questions looming over Ludwig, the advocate of this ploy, and there was a possibility that the students who were obeying till now would stop. Although they don’t know the full effect yet, they can breathe a sigh of relief when they hear that it seems to be progressing smoothly.

Ludwig’s strategy is so-called Drive Hunting or Driving. Arrange the students in a wide circle in the forest. They narrow the circle while deliberately making sounds and showing themselves off to flush out prey within that circle. If each army, each unit, and each member can close the circle to a predetermined location without letting any prey go, everything within that circle can be hunted down.

Of course, there will be some prey that slips through, and there is also the possibility that they will hide somewhere and they’d pass them by. Aristocrats often hunt as a hobby and training. Naturally, most of the school students have also hunted at their parents’ homes. But no nobleman ever hunted like this.

Speaking of hunting, usually, the nobles would hold their breaths and walk around the forest quietly while aiming at the prey they found, or finish off prey that was first weakened by soldiers, military beasts, dogs, etc. The former method of hunting was aimed at full-scale hunting and was common among low-ranking nobles. The latter method is not hunting in the sense of exterminating pests or procuring food but is more like entertainment for high-ranking nobles to kill their prey comfortably. 1

This time’s method is similar to hunting as a game or entertainment where the soldiers chase the prey to weaken it and then let the high-ranking nobles finish it off. But even such a hunt does not involve deploying troops in circles to trap their prey by shrinking it.

In such a hunt, normally mobile soldiers and hunting animals scour the perimeter, only driving, exhausting, and weakening any prey animal they find. They won’t do a complete drive-in or enclosure like Ludwig is doing this time.

“Okay! We’ve driven them to their designated positions! Hunt Teams that haven’t finished their assignments, go forward! The rest, maintain the formation!”

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They were finishing up in the woods. They drove to make sure that friendly fire did not occur, so everything like the end location, the direction they would shoot in, formations, etc., had been decided in advance. Any group that had not yet completed their hunting assignments had taken up their positions and began hunting the prey they had flushed out and tired.

At dusk on the 8th day, opinions were divided at headquarters.

“I didn’t want to say this, but at this rate, we won’t make it in time…”

The other commanders and staff members silently agreed with the opinion. So far so good, so far so good. Currently, the hunting team’s achievement rate is a little over 80%, close to 85%, and more than 50% has been achieved in 3 days since they started driving. However, it is unknown whether they can make up the rest within the time they had left.

From the beginning of the search, the Academy has set up more marks than there were Search Teams. Therefore, even if someone takes more than one, there will be a surplus. You could say that even if all marks are collected, there will be more than enough leftovers for everyone to secure something. In comparison, hunting doesn’t necessarily ensure everyone gets enough.

The prey is only wild animals dependent on nature, and there is no intervention from Berne or the Royal Guard Division. Therefore, even if all the prey within range were hunted, there was no guarantee that all teams would have the necessary number of prey.

In fact, the number of prey is gradually decreasing compared to when the drive hunting started, and the effect has been halved. 50% or over was achieved in the first half, and the prey that was hunted today was significantly reduced compared to the early days. At this pace, they don’t know if the remaining teams will be able to complete everything.

It is a mistake to think that there are still 2 days left. On the final day, the 10th, they have to clean up the camp and return to Berne by sunset. It’s not like they can use the entire 10th day for hunting, so it’s bad unless they were basically finished by the eve of the 9th.

The drive hunting certainly had a dramatic effect. But that’s only the first half… and there’s even an air of implied problems with Ludwig’s command and strategy… although no one says it because it’s taboo to say it out loud.

In fact, there is no doubt that this year they were able to work together as a whole and work out their problems as one, and it was the best year in history. However, that is the evaluation of the teachers and the Royal Guard Division members who have seen this event for many years, not the students participating this year.

What do you think about yourself from the group that has not yet completed the task? Even though you’ve been cooperating for the sake of the whole operation so far, what if the camp training ends without you achieving your goals and your grades…? It wouldn’t be strange if there were people who thought that way and became anxious or started rebelling.

From the teachers’ point of view, “It’s overall better than usual.”, and the students who participated this year and were worried about their grades said, “I heard I was getting my share, so that’s why I cooperated.” Neither opinion contradicts. If the point of view or position changes, the opinion will also change.

“…Understood,” Ludwig said. “Then tomorrow, let’s go outside the designated range for camp training and hunt there.”

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“Your Highness!” Rutger said, surprised.

Ludwig had been against going out of bounds this whole time because of the overall increase in danger. However, Ludwig gave up after receiving complaints coming up from the rest of headquarters, and the students still struggling.

They have to bring the achievement rate to about the latter half of 90% in 1 day, tomorrow. On the last day, they had to spare some time to clear the camp, so even if they could hunt from mid-morning to late afternoon, they knew how much prey they needed to hunt. It’s bad if their pace won’t guarantee almost completion by the 9th.

“Then let’s decide the scope of tomorrow’s hunt and the allocation of each army.”

After Ludwig gave in himself, he does what needs to be done indifferently. He’s already decided to go hunting outside the designated range, so he has no choice but to do the best he can. The danger will certainly increase, but there will still be some countermeasures. Rather than doing nothing and just increasing the danger, they should take measures as much as possible and try to reduce the danger level even a little. Having decided so, Ludwig discussed tomorrow’s strategy at headquarters.

On the next day, the 9th, as they discussed yesterday, each army will move and extend its legs outside the designated training range of the school. Of course, there is neither a fence nor a magic barrier in the designated range or outside it. Just because you stepped out of range doesn’t mean that the danger suddenly increases or that you’ll be attacked. The hunt on the 9th Day went smoothly, partly because they had taken extra precautions against the increased hazard.

Even in the new hunting grounds, the results of the drive-hunting were immediately achieved and the prey was killed one after another. It went so smoothly that they thought they would finish hunting all of them by the end of that day.

“It was the right decision to go out to a new hunting ground.”

“Prince Ludwig is too cautious. The efficiency of hunting has been declining too much.”

The students who returned from hunting on the 9th Day were saying such things. Ludwig hears criticism of himself, but he remains silent and says nothing.

“So… what are the remaining tasks?” Ludwig asked.

“There are only two Hunt Teams left. With this, we can accomplish everything by tomorrow.”

If that’s all there is, the rest will definitely finish around here by tomorrow morning. Even prey that is no longer being chased will return after a while. Not all the prey around here have been hunted, and some prey have escaped and gone somewhere. If it’s about two teams’ worth of prey, it should be enough to hunt them normally in the forest without a large-scale driving operation again.

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“I see… it looks like everyone will be able to achieve it somehow,” Ludwig said.

An air of relief spread to the headquarters, and discussions were held for the final day. Some of the armies was preparing to dismantle the camp, others helped the remaining Hunt Teams, and various other matters were discussed, and finally, the final night meeting was over and they were disbanded.

“Yeah, this year was great.”

“Isn’t it?”

So said the teachers as they watched the students relax and discuss their performance this year while the air was so relaxed. At this point, even if the rest of the Hunt Teams couldn’t kill their prey, they wouldn’t be at a disadvantage with their grades. In fact, the goal of Berne Academy would give them a perfect score, based on how the students performed as a whole.

The rules of the tasks imposed by the school are set as such because they invite conflicts between students. However, good grades are not given to those who try to sabotage or demean others because of their interpretation of the rules. It’s true that if you clear the assignments, you’ll get a decent grade, but that’s about it. This rule and the goals have hidden meanings.

Even high-ranking aristocrats such as Berne’s students will probably serve in the military in the future. Rather, nobles are those who have to take the initiative and go out on the battlefield to fight. At such times, would it be permissible to say things like, “I want glory, so I’ll prioritize my goals even if it means getting in the way of the friendly forces.” or “I don’t like this commander, so I won’t follow orders.”? Of course, such a thing cannot be allowed.

To act as an army means to work for the army’s interests, even at the cost of one’s own life, for the sake of the team, for the army, and by extension, for the country. In such an organization, those who act selfishly, those who prioritize their achievements, and those who disobey orders and disrupt discipline are not allowed.

The Camp Training held by Berne is to see if such coordination is possible. Beneath the ostensible rules and criteria, the goal is to see if they can behave like soldiers who were mobilized during an actual war. Will they be able to follow orders and work for the overall goal, even if it means sacrificing their grades to accomplish their assigned tasks? They see it and if they’ll qualify as soldiers.

And this year it worked perfectly. All the students were able to work together for the Camp Training even if their grades were put off. If you’ve made it this far, it’s nothing more than an individual performance evaluation, such as whether or not you’ve actually hunted prey. Those who hunted but didn’t bag prey won’t get the exact same score, but they’ll still be graded high and the difference isn’t that much.

“Even so, there weren’t many catches this year.”

“I’ve noticed…”

“With this large-scale hunting, if it were a normal year, everyone should have already achieved it by now, but…”

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The teachers and the members of the Royal Guard Division were also puzzled by this. If it’s a normal year, it wouldn’t be strange to have already finished all the hunting without going this far. It’s true that they don’t manage the number of prey, but even so, they set the designated range to where you’d probably think there will be more than enough to go around. In an average year, it is unthinkable that there is not enough prey even after going around the entire zone.

The range is determined by thinning out monsters in advance and checking the number of animals. They have many years of experience and have seen the changes in the prey, and even though the Royal Guard Division had entered the forest to check it to some extent in advance, they don’t know why the prey was so low this year.

“According to Royal Guard Division’s report, the population survey and the culling of dangerous monsters they’ve been conducting for the past 3 months said everything should have been sufficient as usual, but…”

Even though the teachers thought that there were some strange things, they lightly brushed it off and went to bed after finishing the meeting.

And later that night…

“Woah!

“All hands, to arms!”

“What are you doing!? Don’t let the monsters through!”

“Protect the students!”

Every year, the usual campsite with the royal capital on the east and the forest on the west was guarded against monsters from the forest with dry moats and fences set up facing it. Until now, monsters have come out of the forest, but it’s rare that monsters attack from the opposite direction. Even on rare occasions, a stray monster was just wandering around alone and never attacked the campsite where there were many signs of human habitation. And yet…

“There are hordes of monsters coming from the east! Royal Guard Division, take up defensive positions to the east!”

A horde of monsters suddenly attacked from the eastern side where the capital was supposed to be, and the camp fell into chaos.

These oftentimes had trumpets, horses, and bright, colorful garb for everyone to see each other easily through the brush and the trees. A grand, noisy old time for everyone but the prey.

Chapter end