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Chapter 22
[Lionel de Eduardo]
A small cursor kept blinking above the private chat window.
She wanted to know. How Lionel had been living all this time. And she was curious. What Lionel was doing now.
If she just sent a message, she could ask him right away, but she simply couldn’t bring herself to do it.
To Jaelyn, Lionel was like the sun hanging far, far away in the sky. Dazzlingly bright and radiant, but precisely because of that, something she couldn’t dare to reach for or even wish for.
The moment Jaelyn first encountered Lionel, the feeling of love that had taken root in her heart had never faded with time.
It still clutched her heart tightly, feeding on it, and continued to grow even now.
Usually, it remained quiet and without trace, but the mere act of recalling Lionel made its roots assert their presence, seizing and shaking her heart wildly.
Lionel’s existence inside Jaelyn was too great for her to approach him first.
After much hesitation and anxious deliberation, Jaelyn could only let out a soft sigh and close the window.
She had no reason, no justification to speak to Lionel.
“Mm, theoretically it’s not bad, but there’s no way to make it work.”
The moment Jaelyn finished explaining the strategy she had put together, Nathan shook his head with a firm expression.
“Wh-why not?”
Jaelyn quickly scanned the sheet of paper she had filled with her detailed plan, trying desperately to find where it had gone wrong. She could admit it wasn’t perfect. After all, this was her very first attempt at devising a strategy.
Besides, she had only ever seen Adrian’s sparring once, despite him being her teammate.
And as for Nathan’s fighting style, she only had secondhand accounts to go on.
Still, she hadn’t expected such a flat rejection, leaving not even the tiniest margin of possibility.
Nathan pointed to one part of her notes.
“This section. I’ve never seen anyone who could actually pull this off.”
“B-but…! Just because it’s difficult doesn’t mean it’s impossible…”
“Jaelyn, I’m a mage too. I may not be capable of the intricate and delicate magic that the Department of Magic Design deals with, but I know enough of magical engineering to understand the basics.”
Adrian, arms crossed, nodded in agreement with Nathan.
“Nathan’s right. Even to someone like me, who knows next to nothing about magic design, this looks flat-out impossible. So you’d better come up with another plan. Nathan, yours too. ‘We just cut down the monsters in front using the shortest path and break through’—that’s not a strategy. Do it over.”
“Huh? What could possibly be more perfect than that?”
Nathan shrugged lightly and gave a carefree grin.
Adrian’s sharp eyes narrowed even further as he jabbed two fingers against the section of the assignment sheet that spelled out their objective.
“Cross the holographic arena with two incapacitated soldiers, without a single casualty. And how exactly are you handling this part? You don’t have a single countermeasure for it.”
“If we clear out the monsters up front, they should just follow behind us safely. We can’t afford to babysit the soldiers every step of the way. Don’t you agree, Jaelyn?”
Nathan turned to her as if to seek agreement. But Jaelyn couldn’t.
“B-but… if they’re incapacitated, they might not even be able to walk. And even if we clear the monsters ahead, what if more suddenly ambush from behind? The soldiers wouldn’t be able to defend themselves.”
“If they die, then that’s just their fate.”
Nathan’s careless remark made Adrian’s brows furrow harshly.
“Their fate? You think human lives are that cheap? Watch your mouth.”
“The soldiers aren’t the point of this assignment.”
Nathan only shrugged at Adrian’s sharp tone.
“Oh, so the guy who usually can’t shut up about how much he loves people doesn’t think soldiers’ lives even count? Cold bastard. You know, you’re so calculating I almost can’t believe it. Why not take it further? Just kill the burdens outright at the start and go without them?”
“Don’t be ridiculous. They’re just simulated characters. There’s no need to get so worked up. In this exam, bringing both soldiers back unharmed doesn’t score as high as clearing the forest even a second faster.”
“So because they’re just simulations, it’s fine to treat them like nothing? If you’re going to half-ass it like that, why are you even here? Ha! This country’s supposed future leaders, and this is the level of thought you give? No wonder the empire’s in for disaster.”
Adrian shot up from his seat, slamming the table.
The loud noise startled other groups nearby, who turned to look and whispered among themselves.
Startled by the sudden outburst, Jaelyn timidly tugged on the corner of Adrian’s wrinkled shirt as if to plead with him to stop.
“Um, maybe… maybe lower your voice a little and calm down…”
“Calm down? Do I look calm to you?”
Adrian’s sharp glare cut into Jaelyn. She flinched at his ferocity and quickly let go of his shirt.
Nathan sighed deeply and tried to reason with him.
“The objective is to escape the forest as fast as possible. We need to reach the main force before the front collapses. The earlier we arrive, the more civilians in the city we can protect. That’s why the score emphasizes speed.”
“So what? You’re just going to abandon living people right in front of you?”
“Yes. Think rationally. It’s just two soldiers. If sacrificing them saves countless others, then that’s what we must do. This is a game of probabilities.”
“So you’re going to play a numbers game with human lives, is that it?”
Adrian leaned back into his chair with a bitter laugh, his tone saying he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.
“Numbers game or not, a real decision-maker should know when to sacrifice the smaller for the greater. That’s not nobility talking, that’s just fact.”
Adrian’s lip curled into a mocking smirk, and he clapped slowly.
“Ah, so sacrifice is fine if it’s for the greater good? Splendid. I hope one day you’re the incapacitated comrade left behind. Wouldn’t it be glorious? The great archmage heir of House Bluën nobly sacrificing his life for the sake of countless imperial citizens. Isn’t that right?”
For the first time, Nathan’s ever-present smirk faltered, his brow faintly creasing at Adrian’s taunt.
“What’s wrong? Did a lowly commoner’s words manage to offend the exalted noble heir?”
Adrian sneered again. Nathan only sighed and closed his eyes briefly before opening them.
“Don’t twist my words. That’s not what I meant.”
“Oh, it’s not? Funny, that’s exactly how it sounded.”
“Don’t argue with distortions. The point is, if sacrificing two soldiers saves many more, then it’s worth it. Not because I’m a noble, but because it’s the truth.”
“Yes, yes. Truly noble of you. Only someone raised all their life as a supreme decision-maker could say that so casually.”
As Adrian’s barbs kept coming, Nathan finally raised his hands in surrender.
“Fine, whatever you say. They’re just holograms, so I didn’t think they mattered. My mistake.”
“I understand your stance, but I can’t accept it. Hologram or real, it doesn’t matter. The goal is to arrive without losing a single one.”
Up to this point, Jaelyn had only listened quietly, but now she timidly raised her hand.
“I-I think so too. Speed is important, but leaving people behind in a monster-filled forest doesn’t seem right. Maybe if we think more, we can find a better way.”
Nathan nodded at her words.
“Alright. It’s a team project, so majority rules. But if no other way works, consider my proposal.”
When the mock class ended, Jaelyn hurried out of the lecture hall, her heart racing.
Nathan and Adrian might have been pessimistic, but she believed in the strategy she had devised.
She was determined to prepare proof that it could work by the next lesson.
If her plan succeeded, they could clear the arena in record time without a single casualty or straggler. She had to make it happen.
What frustrated her most was that in both Nathan’s and Adrian’s strategies, she had no place at all. Neither of them even asked what level of magical design she could handle.
By leaving her out, they had naturally excluded her from the team assignment, treating her as if she were useless.
But Jaelyn didn’t want to sit idle. She hated the idea of being powerless, of having no role.
She was a member of Team Three, and as such, she had a duty to contribute. Whatever it took to help her team, she was willing.
The moment she arrived at her boarding house, Jaelyn rushed straight to her desk and opened a notebook filled with rune formulas.
The well-worn pages were crammed with years of her research.
That night, the lamp on her desk burned without rest, from sunset until the dawn broke.
