“Overall, I was against Cato’s pn,” William finally spoke up.

  “A rather evasive phrasing,” Ruez pointed out. “What exactly do you mean by ‘overall’?”

  “I thought we should the game up since we had the advantage. But, Cato posed some arguments that I found difficult to shoot down, so I ended up going along with his idea.”

  “Man, the guy totally pressured bro into this!” Ronald excimed. “I saw it all. That dang Cato swindled my bro, word!”

  This little rascal...! Cato twitched. Buuuuut he’s right, though. I did press some of William’s buttons to make him cave in. Indeed, quite befitting an intelligent overlord like me, muhahaha!

  “Hmm. I believe I see the picture now.” Ruez nodded. “So, let me guess, things probably went something like this: Cato used some sophistry to make Will py along with the pn. Then, Ron being Ron, he followed in his older brother’s footsteps without thinking too much.”

  “Ack! Exposed...” Ronald slumped.

  “Then, with Matt and the two brothers on his side, Cato won an overwhelming majority. At that point, it must have felt impossible to overturn his decision, am I right, Sonya?”

  “Y-Yes, that’s how it felt...” Sonya lowered her head.

  S-Scary. Cato shuddered. He figured out my brilliant pn in an instant! Then again, I guess it’s partially my fault for being such a orick pony. I almost alush my ideas through in this fashion, so I guess Coach is onto me, ehe~

  “So, it’s the usual script, huh.” Ruez sighed. “Cato, I’d be really thankful if you could tone down your swindling when it es to your teammates. Tactics like that should be used on your oppos, not your teammates.”

  “But Coach, don’t you always teach us to voice our opinions and push for what we believe is right regardless of what others say? That’s all I did~” iled ily.

  “Yes, you’re right.” Ruez sighed. “In your own twisted way, you do follow my teags, which is the only reason I usually let it slide. But, you really have to to down. Not just for the sake of the team, but for your own sake as well.”

  “I’ll keep it in mind~”

  “Anyway,” Ruez tinued as he turo the others. “I’m sure you’ve all figured it by now, but in essence, Cato was the only one who really wao draw the game out. A, all four of you allowed him to enforce that pn on you. In that sense, all of you are just as guilty as he is, if not more.”

  “But , Coach,” Ronald argued. “Even you said it. That so totally swindled us.”

  “Watch how you call your teammates, young man.”

  “Geh, okay, okay. Anyway, my point is, Cato totally pyed us! It’s not our fault.”

  “ade a mistake, but that’s all he did,” Ruez summarized. “He had a terrible idea in mind that he genuinely believed in, so he pushed for it to happen. That’s not a capital offense as far as I’m ed, I’m sure you agree?”

  “Well, if you put it that way…” Ronald scratched his head.

  “Oher hand,” Ruez tinued. “You realized it was a bad idea, yet you still went along with it. So tell me, who is worse? A pyer who its a mistake without realizing it? Or, a pyer who willingly its a mistake that he’s aware of?”

  “Ack...” Ronald opened and closed his mouth. “W-Well, bro also agreed with it, so I thought maybe it’ll be fine...”

  “Is your brother some sort of superhuman who ever do any wrong? Does he never make mistakes? Do you pn to always follow everything he says without ever thinking for yourself?”

  “Well, I mean...” Ronald lower his head and g his trustworthy brother. Real talk, I trust my bro 100% blindfolded. I’d follow him to the ends of the earth if I have to! Buuuuut that’s not the answer Coach wants to hear right now, is it?

  “I’ve said this many times before and I’ll say it again.” Ruez switched to his lecturing tone. “In almost every team, will always be those whose shot-calling ability stands out from the rest. And, if you trust their judgment, then it bees very tempting to rely on their deaking for the entire game.”

  Everybody nodded even though they’d heard simir lectures god knew how many times by now.

  “By itself, putting somebody in charge of the shot-calling isn’t a bad thing,” Ruez tinued. “Having somebody who hahe difficult decisions for the eeam boost the team’s overall productivity.”

  Muhaha! Cato cackled internally. Yes, that’s how important the duty of the overlord is!

  “HOWEVER, appointing one shot-caller es with a cost, as I always say,” Ruez stressed. “It’s true that a petent shot-caller will generally make good decisions, but in the end, they’re just one person, and nobody is perfect.”

  Yes, yes. Cato hat’s usually my excuse when I make a mistake, ehe~ I might be an overlord, but in the end, I’m also just a single human being.

  “Any shot-caller, no matter how skilled, is proo human error like everybody else. On top of that, they might be blinded by their own bias every now and then, like a certain somebody who really enjoys dragging games out for no good reason”

  “Geh.” Cato pouted. He put me on a pedestal for a moment there, just to kick me down really hard. It’s so heartless! Though, I already saw it ing.

  “sidering all that,” Ruez said. “It’s important to not be overly reliant on the shot-caller. No matter how good the shot-caller usually is, or how much you trust their judgment - op thinking for yourself. If you ever stop questioning the shot-caller’s decisions, then you’ll regress to nothing more but a pawn who blindly follows every order, both good and bad.”

  But, that’s how I like my cute little soldiers~ Cato thought. They should all be obedient and follow my instrus to a T. That’s how we bring to life the most fun strategies~

  But obviously, Ruez disagreed with that se. Like every time before this, he lectured rather passionately oopic. It almost felt like he had some bitter personal experieh this before, therefore he felt pelled to deliver a prolonged lecture about it every time.

  “Your brain is your most precious possession,” Ruez stressed. “You ’t shut it down under any circumstances, no matter how tempting it is. The moment you stop thinking, you stagnate as pyers.”

  Everybody kept quiet and simply every word Ruez said. They k was the best way to get through these needlessly loures.

  “This has to be the 20th-or-so time I lecture you about this, so I hope the message was clear enough this time?”

  “Yes, sir!” Everybody answered together, hoping to put ao this lecture already.

  “Good.” Ruez nodded. “Now, William.”

  “Yes?”

  “I’m sure you won’t like hearing this, but you have a very big responsibility on this matter. Everybody respects your skill as a pyer, so they’re the most likely to turn to your opiniohey disagree with Cato.”

  “Hmph. I guess.” William gnced away. This was oopic he never haoo well.

  “I know you don’t like this,” Ruez said. “But, it’ll often be up to you to stand yround against Cato in situations like this. The moment you give in, Cato is assured to get his way.”

  “I uand...” William grumped. I gave up on the captain role in order to not deal with annoying things like this, but it seems like they insist on chasing me regardless. Sigh.

  “As for you, Ronald,” Ruez tinued. “Don’t blindly follow everything your brother says. You know him better than anybody, so I’m sure you’re aware of how he hates dealing with these anizational matters. He often cuts ers with things like that, doesn’t he?”

  “Welp, I mean...” Ronald gnced bad forth between the coad his brother.

  “If you’re seriously aiming to bee the captai year, then you have to be able to think for yourself and stand yround when it’s necessary.”

  “Y-Yes, sir!” Ronald saluted. Just hearing the word “captain” gave him a boost of energy.

  The captain? This ? Please. Cato shook his head. It sounds like the Leopards are doomed year. But well, that’s not my business.

  “And Sonya,” Ruez tinued. “You said you were against Cato’s game pn, right?”

  “Yes, definitely.” Sonya nodded. “But, at some point, it became a 4v1 against me, so I had to cede.”

  “I uand. But tell me, did the majority vince you that they were correct?”

  “... not quite. I followed along, but I still thought that dragging out the game was unnecessary and potentially dangerous.”

  “And, did you keep insisting about it? Or, did you immediately discard your opinion a along with the majority?”

  “With 4 teammates already in agreement, I felt like it was a bad idea for me aloo keep pushing for it. I thought I’d be sparking unnecessary flict.”

  “Very siderate of you.” Ruez nodded. “In general, avoiding in-fighting is a good idea. But, as you just saw, the majority isn’t always correct. Even if you have four voices against you, it doesn’t mean you should immediately give in and discard your own opinion.”

  “So, I should’ve kept objeg? That doesn’t sound right.”

  “Hmm. It’s certainly a plicated matter,” Ruez admitted. “There isn’t just one correswer to this. It’s a case-by-case thing.”

  “Right.”

  “In general, it’s fio py along with the majority’s decision in order to not waste any time on pointless arguments. But, you shouldn't ever fold entirely. If you still disagree, then it might be a good idea to tinue voig that opinion every now and then.”

  “I uand.” Sonya nodded. It’s easier said than dohough. Does he really expect me to stand my ground against all my teammates?

  That was impossible, or so she wao cim. But evidently, sometimes it might be the right thing to do. If nothing else, she decided to keep a mental note of this for future games.

  “As for you, Matthew...” Ruez wore a difficult expression. “Hrm. I suppose you really had nothing against Cato’s game pn, seeing as you both learned unnecessary teiques like that from the same mentor.”

  “Yep.” Matthew hough holy, at some point, even I started thinking that Cato is stretg things a little too much. But, there’s o mention that, is there? Still, I guess ime I should say something if Cato gets carried away again.

  “That aside,” Ruez said. “Was it just my imagination, or were you a little distracted during the game?”

  “Me?” Matthew blinked. “I don’t think so.”

  “Hrm, is that so.” Ruez shrugged. “Alright. Maybe I was reading a little too muto things.”

  Or, were you? Cato wondered. I also felt like Matt wasn’t as sharp as usual in this game. Normally, his tration goes beyond 100% and it’s one of his stro points, but in this game, he randomly stumbled a few times.

  Was it because Stratus had a pyer that Matthew used to know? If so, it might be a good idea to get to the bottom of this during the break. This team had more than enough problems to juggle, so they didn’t need another one.

  In this fashion, Ruez’s wave everybody some food for thought.

  “This is all I had to say about the first game for now,” Ruez summarized. “Keep all these points in mind as you proceed to the sed game. I’m expeg to see a far more professional performahere.”

  “Yes, sir!”

  “Good. You’re free to enjoy the rest of the break as you see fit.”

  The coach left the stage and everybody sighed in relief. His armor-pierg criticism has been running all over them like a truck for a while now, but fortunately, they still had some time to rest after all that hell.

  As each member learned an important lesson or two from the coach’s lecture, everybody will be heading into the game wiser than before. There wasn’t going to be any more unnecessary stalling, no matter what swindling or peer pressure teiques Cato will try to apply on them.

  In the game, they’ll crush their oppos properly and reign supreme, in a fashion that truly befits the regional champions.

  DarkestCymore