Chapter 167
Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 167
Chapter Title: Enlightenment (6)
Lian Kart left the training grounds at once.
He then headed for the dormitory.
It wasn't planned, but the others followed him.
As they all flocked toward the dormitory.
“By the way, where are we going right now?”
Someone’s voice stopped them in their tracks.
It was Emma, one of the twin sisters.
“The dormitory. He should be in his room by now.”
Udo answered, huffing and puffing.
“And do what when we get there?”
Emma asked again.
“We’re going to confront him. Does it make sense for him to decide to leave without a single word of discussion with his teammates?”
“I-I don’t want to confront him, I want to talk him out of it.”
The members of Team 3 answered without hesitation.
Their tone implied it was a foolish question with an obvious answer.
But to Emma, it didn't seem obvious at all.
“Confront him? What right do we have?”
Her words made the team members’ expressions turn sour.
“You have a strange way of putting things.”
“We can’t even confront him about something like this as teammates?”
Though their reactions varied, they all seemed angry at their peer's unilateral decision.
“I’m asking, what right do we have.”
Just as the other team members were about to explode at her persistent defiance.
“Emma.”
Lian Kart stepped forward.
“I don’t know about anything else, but this time, Yan was too hasty.”
He said that something like this should have been discussed with the team first.
The other members nodded repeatedly at his words, agreeing that Yan should have at least given them a heads-up.
“Do you really think so? That because we’re teammates, he should have consulted us?”
But the response that came back was icy.
He couldn't understand Emma’s reaction.
It was basic for teammates to be together in good times and bad.
“That’s right. Teammates are supposed to help and rely on each other.”
“How do you think our understaffed team has managed until now?”
The team members chimed in to support him.
“Rely on each other…”
Emma remained contrary.
“Emma. What’s been with you since a moment ago?”
Even her own twin sister stepped in to dissuade her from her unusual behavior.
“No. I just think a little differently.”
At this point, even Lian Kart, who rarely showed his emotions, couldn't help but reveal his discomfort.
“If you’re doing this because of the misunderstanding we had before…”
He thought Emma's attitude was due to the past conflict within Team 3.
“That’s all in the past. We apologized to each other and cleared up the misunderstanding.”
“It’s less that the misunderstanding was cleared up and more that the person involved just decided not to make a big deal out of it.”
“…In any case, things were good with Team 3 after that. There weren’t any problems.”
This time, even Lian Kart was at a loss for words.
She wasn't entirely wrong.
No matter how they sugarcoated it, the actions of the Team 3 members at that time were nothing short of group bullying.
Though they said they had resolved it amicably, if asked whether the person involved held any lingering resentment, he honestly couldn't be sure.
Perhaps, as she said, they had simply buried the issue to prevent the rift from deepening.
“If you have something to say, just say it.”
Lian Kart asked, pressing his temples firmly.
“You said it earlier. That teammates are together in good times and bad. That we should help and rely on each other.”
Emma began to speak in a much softer tone.
“But honestly, I don’t know. Have we ever helped Yan with anything? It feels like we’ve always been the ones receiving.”
Did he really rely on us the way we relied on him?
“No matter how I think about it, it seems like we were the only ones unilaterally relying on and leaning on him.”
Lian Kart felt as if he’d been struck in the back of the head.
It was just as Emma said.
From the team competitions to the group combat training, and all the little things in between.
It was always the other team members asking for help, and Yan stepping up to solve the problem.
“Did anyone thank him when he returned this time?”
The fortress had been on the verge of falling.
If he hadn't arrived in time with the Imperial army, would any of them have made it back to the Cradle alive?
“Before that, we wouldn't have even survived at the fortress if it weren't for the group combat training he led. When you think about it, all the military merit we earned is thanks to him.”
Not a single person had stepped forward to thank him.
“Everyone just took it for granted. That he would help us, that we would receive his help.”
Every word she said was true.
Lian Kart squeezed his eyes shut.
He had talked about helping and relying on each other, but in reality, he had only been on the receiving end.
Thinking back on it now, he felt utterly shameless.
He was so ashamed he couldn't lift his head.
Of course, he had his excuses.
First, Yan never easily revealed his inner thoughts.
Even if they wanted to help, they couldn't because they didn't know what he was thinking.
Second, Yan’s voice had a strange power.
Countless peers had been played by that voice and ended up in trouble.
And he was so eloquent.
He had a knack for making even nonsense sound plausible.
In such situations, they would often forget what they wanted to say and get swept up in the atmosphere.
The knight from the frontier who had volunteered as a messenger after just a few words was proof of that.
The peers’ assessment that he would have become a legendary conman or a minister who controlled the country if he hadn't become a knight was no exaggeration.
Ultimately, the problem was his aura.
That unique atmosphere of his made one forget his youthful appearance, the most boyish among his peers.
In some ways, it seemed like the ease of an elder; in others, the transcendence of an ascetic who had detached from worldly affairs.
In yet another light, it resembled the seasoned experience of an old general who had been through thick and thin.
Faced with such an aura, one wouldn't dare offer help; instead, they would find themselves unconsciously spilling their own worries.
“No, before all that, do we even know anything about Yan?”
While he was lost in thought, Emma’s questions continued.
What Yan liked and what he disliked.
What he was thinking inwardly.
What he did in his spare time.
“We don’t know anything, do we?”
“That’s because he never talks about himself…”
“That’s an excuse. He would have answered if you’d asked, right? But no one asked. Everyone just wasn't interested.”
They had spent a considerable amount of time at the Cradle, and it had been a while since they started spending most of their days together.
The fact that they knew nothing about him was shocking.
“Let’s just admit it. We’re nothing to Yan. We’re just spoiled brats who only seek him out when we need something, nothing more, nothing less.”
After making no effort whatsoever, how could they now talk about the loyalty of teammates?
“What right do we have to question him about this?”
What was there to question now, of all times?
Emma’s words left everyone speechless.
“Still, this is too much! We’re already short on members, if he leaves too, what are we supposed to do in the team competitions!”
Udo argued stubbornly, but no one sided with him.
“See? It’s the same right now. You don’t even know why Yan decided to leave. All you’re worried about is the team competition. What if something unfortunate happened, or if he had unavoidable circumstances?”
Instead, he was only chided for being selfish to the very end.
Even the stubborn Udo didn't press his argument.
It seemed he had merely blurted out a complaint, unable to overcome the guilt that washed over him late.
“Anyway, I’m out.”
She said she’d rather spend her time thinking about a farewell gift than go and confront him.
Emma turned on her heel with a flick.
“Wait for me!”
Selma quickly followed her, and the other cadets began to leave one by one.
“Why is everything so complicated! Agh! Agh!”
Udo, who had remained until the end, also let out a few cries of frustration before disappearing.
* * *
If one were to pick the most talked-about person in the Cradle right now, it would undoubtedly be the Mage Slayer.
“I heard he achieved incredible military merit for a cadet during this practicum too.”
“He even took the position of acting Centurion and commanded thousands, right?”
“The professors who were on-site unanimously chose him as the top contributor.”
It was only natural for attention to be focused on a cadet who had already gained notice for slaying mages before even enrolling, and who had now achieved yet another unbelievable feat.
Rumors spread that he would be the first first-year to have his name engraved in the Hall of Fame.
Or that he was scheduled to receive the most glorious medal.
Whenever the cadets gathered, they would talk about the Mage Slayer’s astonishing military achievements.
Then one day, shocking news arrived.
“The Mage Slayer has applied for withdrawal!”
The cadets were in an uproar at the unexpected news of the Mage Slayer’s voluntary departure.
They searched for the subject of the rumors.
But the Mage Slayer himself was holed up somewhere, not showing his face at all.
As he failed to appear, the rumors only grew more rampant.
The Starstream bulletin board was filled with stories about the Mage Slayer every day.
He was leaving the Cradle to join the army. He had already been promised the position of Centurion.
He had decided to become the squire of a knight he met on the battlefield.
He had been chosen by a star on the 13th Front and would soon become a knight.
Rumors gave birth to more rumors, and all sorts of stories circulated.
“Hey. Team 3. Do you know anything?”
Amidst the chaos, a few cadets asked the members of Team 3 for news about the Mage Slayer.
However, the members of Team 3, as if by agreement, kept their mouths shut and remained silent.
While the Cradle was in such a state of disarray, a new notice was posted on the bulletin board used by the Silver Eagle class.
It was about a new cadet joining to fill the vacancy in Team 3.
Team 3 had been struggling with a lack of members and had been eagerly awaiting news of reinforcement, but now, no one paid any attention to the new cadet's arrival.
Even at the news that two new cadets had been selected to account for further vacancies, the members of Team 3 were indifferent.
“Whoever comes, they won’t be able to fill his shoes.”
It seemed they would rather keep the original members, even if it meant not getting reinforcements.
But their wishes were in vain, as the person in question never showed himself.
Time passed relentlessly, and a fortnight had gone by since the cadets returned to the Cradle from the front.
His belatedly announced departure date was not far off, yet there was still no sign of the subject of the rumors.
In the midst of this, two new cadets, selected after completing their evaluation in the lower world, arrived at the Cradle.
“Whoa! The city is really floating in the sky!”
The excited, shaggy-haired new cadet exclaimed in constant admiration.
“They say this is the closest place to the stars in the world! Isn’t that amazing?”
However, the other cadet selected with him seemed unimpressed by the sight of the floating city, even though it was his first time seeing it.
“The atmosphere is unsettled.”
He merely glanced over the scenery of the floating city once before making an unrelated comment.
The shaggy-haired cadet tilted his head.
He had no idea what could have led his companion to say the atmosphere was unsettled.
He didn't think too deeply about it.
If there was one thing he had learned during the evaluation period, which felt both short and long, it was that trying to understand the peer in front of him would only give him a headache.
“Can a genius see things like that?”
After all, it was impossible for a mediocre talent(?) like himself, who had barely scraped by, to understand a peer whom even the Cradle's professors had praised as a once-in-a-millennium talent.
“I’ll take that as a joke.”
But his peer, on the contrary, seemed unable to understand his reaction.
“If you can’t even feel something like this, you’d be better off giving up on becoming a knight and going back home.”
Even at the sudden harsh words, he didn't frown.
He already knew there was no malice in those words.
“I’ve thought this for a while, but you have a bad habit of thinking that what you can do, others can naturally do too.”
The shaggy-haired cadet shrugged.
As expected, a genius who set his own talent as the world’s standard was not a very good conversation partner.
“The new cadets?”
Just then, a man with a thoroughly exhausted expression appeared from somewhere.
“Save the introductions for your peers later. I’ll guide you to the dormitory right away, so follow me.”
An attitude that seemed rushed.
At this point, even without the ability to see things others couldn't, like his peer, it was obvious.
It seemed his peer was right; something was happening at the Cradle.
Otherwise, there was no reason for a staff member of the Cradle to be in such a hurry.
The new cadets' suspicions were correct.
The Cradle was not in a normal state.
A single, anonymous post had appeared on the only bulletin board in Starstream where the author’s information was not displayed.
A nightmarish piece of writing, as if crafted from all the terrible imaginations in the world.
A sequel to a certain book of prophecy that the Cradle’s cadets called the Book of Revelations.
“He… he’s back…!”
“Oh my god!”
The Cradle was completely turned upside down.
It had all happened just before the new cadets arrived.