On My First Day Undercover, the Organization Collapsed - Chapter 397

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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First Day of Infiltration, The Organization Was Destroyed | Chapter 397
Inter-Academy Exchange (3)
The flag capture score stood at five to two.
Only five minutes remained!
‘We have to score two more points somehow to win.’
Sigmund grew desperate.
“Push forward! We’re going with Operation 3!”
Operation 3.
An all-out charge tactic, though it carried a subtle deception within it.
By having everyone charge, they’d force the enemy to defend en masse—then a smaller group would peel away and seize a flag in the chaos.
“Raaaagh!”
The Telvir students charged forward with deliberately thunderous cries!
But just before impact, two students broke formation, and in a heartbeat snatched another flag.
“Exactly!”
They were the fastest and most nimble players on the field that day.
The score was now four to three!
‘Just one more and we have it.’
Three minutes remained.
If they seized one more flag with exactly one minute left, then simply held their ground until the end…!
It could mark the beginning of their honor’s restoration.
But the Edelwein students did not panic.
A trailing opponent’s desperate last-minute turnaround.
Naturally, they’d anticipated it.
They’d even trained for this contingency beforehand.
‘The blade is still in our hands.’
Elcanto wore an unusually grave expression as he considered the situation, then issued new orders.
“We charge as well.”
That was what Teacher Ziel had taught them.
‘In flag capture, when the opponent turns aggressive, you must respond with equal aggression. It’s more efficient.’
Ziel’s words were gospel truth to Elcanto.
“Forward! We’re taking this!”
“We’ve got this!”
The Edelwein students charged forward with cries that might have come from Quantus himself.
The Telvir students faltered in shock.
They’d thought the momentum belonged to them!
‘An all-out charge?’
They’d expected that if pressed, Edelwein would simply fall back and defend.
That was the proper method.
All the more so for flag capture, one of the most commonplace games.
“Hold the line!”
Telvir didn’t sit idle, though.
A force that would crumble simply because an unexpected tactic appeared had already lost long before now.
This was now a contest of pure strength against strength.
One side desperately trying to break through and seize another flag, the other desperately defending to hold the line!
“The left is about to give way!”
The left flank was precarious—the Edelwein side.
Even though the numbers were equal, Telvir had concentrated their strongest students on the left.
‘If we crack here…’
They’d have to assume they’d lose at least two more flags.
Then an idea struck Jenesis.
‘Why not just let them have it and charge ourselves?’
Jenesis turned immediately to the senior groaning beside her.
“Senior, let’s do that!”
“Do what!”
“Operation K!”
Even amid the fierce clash of attack and defense, the suggestion landed clearly!
Raymund, who also served as leader of the Fifth Years, hesitated for a moment, then nodded.
“All right. Everyone execute Operation K!”
Operation K!
The strategy they’d practiced last of all.
Given the nature of Flag Capture—a battle type that demands swift decision-making—there was no time to explain strategies at length or propose alternatives.
So what they’d settled on beforehand was precisely this type of operation.
And Operation K was exactly it.
‘What is it?’
A counter-charge.
Edelwein had opened a path.
As if inviting the enemy through.
A few Telvir students who’d been pushing relentlessly forward stumbled when Edelwein deliberately fell back.
Wondering if they’d lost the exchange of force, they pressed ahead and charged—
“It’s a trap!”
At one student’s cry, those pursuing glanced back and realized: Edelwein students weren’t being chased—they were sprinting toward their own territory.
Everyone froze for an instant.
Should they turn back to stop them?
Or keep charging and tear through the enemy base as planned?
In that split second of hesitation, Edelwein surged forward and snatched the neutral flag in one fluid motion.
The score swung back to five to two.
“Go, go! Run!”
Telvir belatedly charged toward Edelwein’s territory, but……
‘This is bad.’
There was one critical problem.
Once a flag was captured, it couldn’t be retaken for a set period.
Edelwein had just claimed the neutral flag and would now devour the remaining two flags in Telvir’s base.
Even if they seized all three of Edelwein’s flags here, the final score would be Telvir three, Edelwein four!
“Just block one. Three of us will hold the occupation, the rest go and defend—no matter what!”
Two minutes remained.
Telvir now faced a desperate situation: they had to prevent at least a single occupation, by any means necessary.
Operation K.
From Edelwein’s perspective, it was a last-ditch strategy that could only work when holding the advantage—and barely at that.
‘I never thought we’d actually win with this.’
Victory drew closer with each passing second.
Less than two minutes remained on the clock.
At exactly the one-minute mark, scattered Edelwein students pulled flags from Telvir’s positions and planted their own—
“Done!”
Now they had to defend just two flags until the end.
The one they’d occupied first, deepest in Telvir’s territory.
And the neutral flag they’d claimed through Operation K at the very beginning.
But time was running out.
Telvir students finally finished seizing Edelwein’s territory and charged forward, yet Edelwein’s defensive formation held firm.
“Circle up!”
They formed a ring of defense around the neutral flag, while keeping ready to break out and protect the other if needed.
“Hold the line! Hold it no matter what!”
Telvir fought with equal desperation, hurling themselves at the barrier again and again, only to be met each time by Edelwein’s unified resistance.
An intense back-and-forth raged!
‘Please, please!’
Sigmund prayed silently and cried out from within.
This was the first match.
Win this, and they’d secure half their path to victory!
“Twenty seconds remaining!”
The furious exchange continued as the clock ticked relentlessly—
“Ten seconds!”
Screams and the crash of wooden swords echoed without pause, yet no one fell.
Then time ran out—
“Match end! Edelwein Academy successfully defended four flags to the final second and claims victory in the first match!”
“Kyaaaaaahhh!”
The first match ended in Edelwein’s triumph.
“Whew.”
Supervising Professor Elcanto collapsed where he stood.
Relief washed over him before the cheers could even begin.
“We won……”
It had been nail-bitingly close until the very end.
There were no ties.
So if they lost the neutral flag, the match was lost outright.
They’d won, but you could feel it all the same—Telvir had come out gnashing their teeth.
“Exhilarating…….”
Elcanto mumbled vacantly, then suddenly noticed a hand thrust before him.
“You’ve done well, Professor Elcanto Paredes.”
“Teacher Ziel……!”
For some reason, Elcanto felt tears welling up.
“Thanks to your advice, we managed this…….”
“No, it wasn’t because of my advice.”
As expected.
Teacher Ziel could speak warmly to people when he wished…….
“If my advice had been properly executed, you would have won overwhelmingly.”
“…….”
“But you did win. You’ve done well.”
The tears seemed to recede.
Still, hearing that he’d done well lifted his spirits.
“Professor……!”
Then the students came down.
As if they’d been waiting, they all rushed to Elcanto and embraced him.
“Professoooor!”
“We won!”
This was the true reward of teaching!
Elcanto, feeling an intensity of emotion he’d rarely experienced before, finally let the tears flow.
“Wah…….”
“P-professor, you’re crying?”
“You must be deeply moved…….”
Though it had only been four days, the shared hardship and camaraderie had woven their bond tight, and tears glistened in the students’ eyes as well.
A sense of liberation accompanied it.
“Our professor is one of a kind. We’re not sharing him, Second Years.”
“W-we’re not even asking for him…….”
Meanwhile, at Telvir Academy, where the atmosphere had seemed almost funereal, determination now burned bright.
Sigmund saw possibility in the result.
Rather than telling his students they’d lost again, he rallied them by saying it had been close.
“We lost, but we almost won. If we win next time, that’s all that matters. Everyone understand?”
“Yes, Dean!”
“You only need to win just once. If you do, I’ll personally give each and every one of you a scholarship, and when we return to the Academy, I’ll teach you swordsmanship myself.”
Never mind the scholarship—having a Master personally teach them!
Fire blazed in the students’ eyes.
It was an extraordinary measure indeed.
“Once the arena has been prepared and set up, we’ll begin the Territory Occupation Battle!”
And in the Occupation Battle that followed, the effect was unmistakable.
“Push through!”
“Uaaaaaaah!”
It was similar to Flag Capture, but the difference lay in this: to occupy a position, you had to hold the enemy territory for at least a full minute.
It was far more violent, brutal, and required intricate strategy and tactics!
It was here that Merhen made a critical miscalculation.
“Defensive formation!”
He had fixated too heavily on defense.
While Elcanto had confirmed Ziel’s advice at the opportune moment, Merhen had become obsessed with it.
‘Defense is key, defense!’
With Edelwein currently ahead, they could have afforded to play more flexibly—yet he chose nothing but defense.
“We’re going to lose.”
Right after Ziel’s murmur, it happened exactly as he’d predicted.
While Edelwein’s formation focused solely on defense at the front, Telvir’s Assault Unit infiltrated from behind and attempted to seize the position.
“No!”
In concentrating on defending the front, they’d left the rear open.
Attacked from both sides, Edelwein’s formation crumbled. Everyone fought together with all their might, but the tide could not be stemmed.
“W-we’re winning! We’re actually winning!”
It was only later that Renoa and Drneur, both Second Years, mounted a desperate counteroffensive.
It was the kind of standout performance worth noting.
Unlike the other grades, who fell into chaos the moment their formation cracked, these two remained composed.
Both were lower-tier students, but they’d learned from Ziel all the same.
“Drneur, stay calm! There’s still a chance!”
“Damn it, but it’s practically over already!”
“Even so!”
They picked themselves up carefully and fought again.
They struggled to reclaim the occupied territory.
Other Seniors rose at the sight, but Telvir’s momentum was simply too strong.
Never had the phrase “gnashing teeth” felt quite so fitting.
In the end, the second-round Territory Occupation Battle belonged to Telvir.
“Telvir Academy takes the score 2 to 1! The Territory Occupation Battle goes to Telvir!”
“Roooaaaarrrr!”
The Telvir students who’d fought in the Territory Occupation Battle hurled their wooden swords and roared in triumph.
Their first victory.
Overall, tied one to one!
But at last they’d avenged the loss from the Preliminary Duel before, and even further back, the defeat at the Swordsmanship Tournament.
“This isn’t going to be easy, is it?”
Berhaldo watched with a hint of concern in his expression.
Merhen returned, trudging and downcast.
“I’m sorry. We lost.”
“No. Telvir was simply too strong. Professor Merhen, please don’t take it to heart.”
That was when Ziel spoke from beside him.
“It was my fault.”
“What?”
“It was my fault.”
Merhen’s voice wavered.
“Teacher Ziel…!”
That Teacher Ziel—of all people—would say such a thing to comfort him!
“I’ll work harder next time!”
“No. It was my fault.”
“Teacher Ziel, you really… sniff.”
It seemed the Professors were doing quite a lot of crying today.
Of course, Ziel wasn’t comforting him at all.
‘Considering Professor Merhen Curtis’s temperament, I should have qualified my tactical advice with caveats. I didn’t account for him clinging solely to my suggestions.’
He was reexamining his own error.
‘I made a mistake.’
Ziel genuinely believed it was his own fault.
“Teacher Ziel, you’ve grown.”
“What do you mean?”
“Exactly what I said.”
Berhaldo smiled warmly, as if it were obvious.
Ziel tilted his head, but hadn’t yet grasped the meaning.
‘Emotions really are difficult.’
In any case, they were even now.
It was their turn to win again.
Fortunately, the Students didn’t seem too deeply disappointed.
They instead returned to the Spectator Seats to receive unreserved encouragement.
“Renoa! You fought right up to the end, didn’t you? I only had eyes for you!”
“Drneur was incredible too. How did you keep going like that all the way through?”
Though they’d lost, the reward of their valiant fight was more than enough.
Growth could be felt clearly.
Ziel watched the scene with a smile, then turned toward Idel, the Supervising Professor for the next third-round Destruction Battle.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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