Way of the Knights

Chapter 254 - Leaders Class

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As Raven walked through the streets of the Heavenly Cloud Academy, he saw some students walking down and taking in the sights.

Some of the students are searching for their next classrooms while the others are just simply having the great time and enjoying the scenic view.

The Academy was large, according to the reports the estimated size of it was at least 5000 acres. It's divided into several parts. Where Raven is right now is the Study Hall, this is where the classes mainly takes place. There's at least 200 classrooms built for different purposes, libraries, historical monuments and etc. This is also where the Teachers Faculty is located, which makes the Instructors and Professors readily available should the students needed them.

According to what was reported, there are at least three or four classes on each Subjects that the academy is offering. This caused the current Instructors to have their schedules full, so much so that it would be hard for them to meet each other for quite sometime.

There's also the Student Dormitories, where the students live and train by themselves. Each student was given a simple and stone house that has a little yard where they could train. There's also an array formation in each house that they could activate in order to have some privacy. 

Upon their enrollment, each students will be given a 'Welcome Package', which consists of Academy Pamphlets, three sets of uniforms; a Classroom Uniform, Training Uniform and Battle Uniform, a One Month Food Ticket, some gold and two Body Restoration Fluids. 

There's also the other halls like Mission Hall, Occupation Halls, Ceremonial Hall, Reward Hall and etc. 

Raven' currently on his way to his next class which is the Leaders' Class. On his way to the classroom, he already read the student profiles and already know the headcount. Once he reached the classroom, he opened the door and walked towards the teachers desk.

His presence silenced the class. Raven roamed his eyes towards the students and counted them briefly. He raised he brow since there's still three students missing in the room, he checked the time and saw that he was five minutes early, he let out a shallow sigh and sat down, he then announced:

"I'm five minutes early, there's still three people missing so we'll wait for them first before we start the class."

After saying that, Raven then took out a book from his spatial ring and started reading it. Meanwhile, the students in front of him was nearly losing it when they saw him arrive. They started discussing amongst themselves using a hushed tone.

"Dear Lord! It really is him!"

"I know! My expectations was lowered to the max when I enrolled on this course, but to think that I still got him to be my instructor is so lucky!"

"Idiot! You didn't have to lower your expectations since we're going to get him as our Instructor anyway."

"How did you know?"

"Duh!? He's the Leader of the Kingdom's first ever six man cell. Who else is more competent to be the Instructor of the Leaders' Class aside from him? I'll have you know that he's the only instructor for this class. Trust me, I took the Archery Class and this information came from Lady Anne herself."

"Oh! So that's how it is!"

"Bitch! How is he so handsome! He's also strong to boot! I want him to be my husband!"

"Girl, stop being delusional! You're aware that Princess Luna is his girlfriend right?"

"Of course I know! Who the hell doesn't? He's basically the Kingdom's Son-in-Law! Both of them are the real power couple! Let me become delusional, it's not hurting anyone anyway!"

"Okay, girls. Calm down. We're not here to find dates. We're here to learn from him. Get your act together."

"Shut up, nerd!"

Their discussions were then interrupted by three students entering the classroom. When the newly arrived students saw Raven sitting on the teacher's desk, they froze and hurriedly bowed down.

"Apologies, Instructor. For being late."

Raven closed his book and stood up, he then said: "You guys are not late, I'm the one who's early. Take your seats and we'll begin with the class."

The three rose up and went towards the available seats. Making sure that everyone's here, Raven then began the class.

"Welcome to the Leaders Class everyone. My name is Raven, I'll be the your Instructor." He said as the class greeted him. 

"Before we begin with the actual discussion, I'd like to give out some disclaimers first." Ravens stated, "First, there's 30 people in this class, not too few but not too many either. I am glad that you people are interested in the role of being a Leader but I'm not expecting your numbers to remain intact by the end of the year."

"Just to set your expectations for this class, I'll have you know that I'll be monitoring your behaviors very closely. Your Student Profiles are with me all the time and your conduct won't be judge inside the classroom alone, there also other factors for that. One reckless mistake from any of you, might mean your expulsion from this class. It's my decision to have 30 students on each Leader Class Sections because that's the number of people that I could monitor closely with great efficiency."

His words came as a bit of a surprised for the students. He then followed up by saying: "If you want to become a Leader, then you can't shy away from your responsibilities. Due to the nature of the role, I'll be extremely strict with you guys. And if you can't meet my standards, then there is no reason for you to waste your time here. I prefer quality over quantity, and so long as there's one student remaining in this class, I will remain as your Instructor."

Some of the students found his words to be extremely alarming. So much so that there is a foreboding feeling that's rising on their chests, nevertheless they remained silent and listened intently to him. 

"That being said, I'm not omnipotent either. Maybe, you'll prove me wrong. Either way, the Kingdom needs more Leaders that's why I'm here." 

"On the topic of being a Leader, do any of you have a clue of what being a 'Leader' is?" Raven asked as he formally segued on the topic.

One student raised his hand, Raven nodded to him and he answered: "Being a Leader means that you have to step forward and lead."

Raven hummed and asked: "Anyone else?"

A girl raised her hand and said: "Being a Leader means taking initiative."

"Good point." Raven nodded, "What about the others?"

No one raised their hands anymore, which caused an awkward silence in the room, Raven sighed and started his lesson.

"Your answers are not wrong." He stated, "It's not really all that complicated. Being a 'Leader' means being Responsible."

He paused and allowed the students to take his words in. Seeing them pondering, Raven decided to continue: "How about I give you a situation. You guys will decide upon the outcome, alright?"

The students affirmed and Raven explained the scenario. 

"You find yourselves in a middle of a mission that's going awry. The mission is to escort someone to someplace and help them in a task, let's say fixing a broken outpost. Your client will be the one fixing the outpost while you are tasked to give any assistance that you could, after that you just have to escort him back and the mission is cleared. Due to the importance of the mission, it's rated as a B-rank mission, so obviously you and your team prepared to face a B-rank mission. Are you guys following me so far?"

"Yes, Instructor." The students replied. Raven nodded and continued:

"But the gist is, your client didn't tell you a very important matter." Raven paused, he then continued by saying: "On your way to the outpost, you were ambushed by two assassins that's almost as powerful as you six combined. You confronted your client and he said that there are a bunch of deadly assassins who threatened him to not fix the outpost so that they could build a camp there."

"These assassins are clearly harassing your client and his people, and the only way to push these assassins away is to fix the outpost so that reinforcements could come. Your client wants to safe himself and his people but they can't afford to pay for an S-rank mission, so he decided to keep some details to himself. Now that he's exposed, your client told you that he could understand if you want to back out. But the problem is that once you back out, your client and his people would be slaughtered by the assassins."

"And now that you and your team knows this secret. It is up to you, the 'Leader' to decide whether you continue with the mission or not."

"Now then, Leader wannabe's." Raven said with a smile, "Will you continue on your mission or not? I will give you ten minutes to think about your decisions. After that we will discuss what you have decided upon.. Time starts now."