In a brightly lit room, a man slammed the table with a clearly visible expression of anger on his face that he made no attempt to hide.
“We have lost almost seventy percent of the bases we manage. This is completely unacceptable.”
“It is indeed a worrisome situation. It cannot be called a good situation.”
Six men sat around the table: Peridot, Howlite, Mica, Aragonite, Obsidian.
They bore the names of precious stones and were the High Command of Chaos Wisdom, led by Peridot, in the Capital City. They all possessed extraordinary power and held high positions in the realm of Leticia, using public identities.
Unlike Peridot, who remained calm, Aragonite, a powerful knight of great stature and muscular build, clearly showed his fear and anger.
“I will not stand idly by. Simply put, our bases are being destroyed at a faster rate than expected. It is questionable that they are only targeting the relatively less important bases.”
“What is the identity of the enemy?”
“Currently under investigation. I will delegate the task to one of my subordinates. However, in my current situation, I cannot afford to keep my hands off. After all, they have relied on me too much.”
Peridot’s figure swayed slightly. A circular magical device was placed on the chair as if it were present, leaving an impression on those present.
Aragonite, unable to contain his emotion, continued.
“We must act immediately. The same thing happened with the Marakita incident last week. One of our high commanders has already been killed. If we suffer more losses, we will be punished before we have defeated the enemy.”
“You are right. Howlite, do you have any suggestions?”
Peridot’s gaze shifted from Aragonite to Howlite, who sat diagonally across from him.
Dressed in a high-ranking robe, the middle-aged man remained silent for a few seconds before handing Peridot some documents.
“Is this the list of Sacred Sword holders from the Academy? It appears to be a first year student?”
“His name is Theodore Williams. This person is exceptionally talented and has awakened a holy sword of rank A or higher after receiving the blessing of the sword. Although the exact details of his classification will be given later, it is likely to be a sword of rank S or SS.”
“Have you judged this young man to be the next candidate to receive the sword?”
“Exactly. Such talent is rare, and it may not appear again for a hundred years. As material, he is of the highest quality. If he has high potential, those people will be very happy.”
Peridot showed great interest. Theodore’s personal information was written in the document, and in the Sacred Sword section, it was clearly written “Silver Spirit Sword”.
Impatiently, Aragonite raised his voice in search of a conclusion.
“Enough preamble. Do we have a plan of action or not?”
“Calm down. Why don’t we listen to what Howlite has to say until the end?”
The conversation continued.
“The capture of this young man has been confirmed from the beginning. However, we will add an additional plan. First, we will spread the information about this young man to all the less important places. We will announce the date and place of capture.”
“So we plan to lure the enemy with this information?”
“If we can guess where they are coming from, it will be easy to set a trap for them. We will simply increase our forces and confront them. Then, when we interrogate the survivors, we can get more information and even use it to take additional measures.”
During the discussion, Mica raised his hand. He was one of the members of Chaos Wisdom. The young man in the Winston Magic Academy uniform rested his chin on the table in a relaxed posture and expressed his doubt to Howlite.
“Is this really necessary? We don’t even know what their goal is.”
“The enemy of unknown identity might be aware of our true goal. We cannot allow that to happen. Even if he doesn’t come, it’s okay. We will get the young man and new information. Nothing assures us that the enemy has another goal.”
“I understand. I agree with this strategic plan.”
Peridot looked at the four of them, looking for any discrepancies. Since there were no objections, the plan was accepted.
“Howlite, prepare the necessary personnel and forces to carry this out.”
“I believe Obsidian is suitable for this task. A group of about five hundred people should be enough. Given the scope of the attack and the lack of local intelligence, the number of enemies will probably be less than fifty. If they come in small numbers, we will crush them with our numerical superiority.”
“Understood. We await your cooperation, Obsidian.”
Obsidian replied briefly with an “Understood.”
With a sturdy physique, an experienced team, and an adventurous look with a scruffy beard, he rested his feet on the table and toyed with a coin.
“This time, I will delegate everything to Howlite.”
“Understood.”
The four of them, including Howlite, nodded. Immediately, the image of Peridot disappeared like a TV screen turned off.
◇
After returning from the library, I immersed myself in reading on a bench. Most people either practice alone after class or go into town with friends. But I had no friends to hang out with, so I was quite bored.
At such times, I usually read outside. The book I am currently reading is “Why do people lose control when they see the opposite sex naked?” It has very interesting content, and from the moment the author was caught by a guard for peeping, the story becomes very fascinating.
By the way, it seems that the author is still serving his sentence.
After about an hour of reading, a woman with silver hair and an elegant dress sat down next to me. She held a paper bag and looked at me several times.
“I’m surprised you took the trouble to visit me.”
“I have refrained for a long time. But I wanted to have a quiet talk alone. How is student life?”
“There is nothing interesting to talk about. Just going to class, eating and sleeping normally. It’s the same thing every day. It’s pure silence.”
“In a way, it’s something I envy.”
I closed the book and stared into her red eyes.
When she noticed my gaze, she seemed surprised.
“I’m sorry. It was silly of me. The truth is, I’m very happy and content with my current life. When I said I envied you, I meant the idea of spending a lot of time with Mr. Will. Oh, it doesn’t matter at all!”
“Don’t hold back. You can come and visit me anytime.”
“Uh… Really?!”
Seeing her act so innocent, I couldn’t help but ruffle her hair.
Even though I used to do it a lot in the past, I hadn’t been able to do it lately for obvious reasons.
“Eeoww!”
With her face completely flushed, she surrendered to the situation with an expression that didn’t quite reveal how she felt.
As I was about to pull my hand away from her head, she suddenly looked sad. I reluctantly decided to ruffle her hair a little more.
“By the way, have you had lunch yet?”
“No, I was going to grab a quick bite after I finished my reading.”
“Then please take this. I don’t know if you’ll like it, but I made you some lunch.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes.”
Inside the paper bag were several sandwiches with vegetables and bacon.
I picked one up at random and took a bite, and it turned out to be more delicious than I had imagined.
“Don’t you like it?”
“On the contrary. It’s really delicious, I love it.”
“Really? What a relief! I had a lot of doubts about bringing you lunch since Dragon and Wolf said it didn’t taste good. Does that mean you have a different palate?”
“I’m not sure. I just know that I like the taste of your cooking.”
Yes, it’s really delicious.
The spiciness and acidity create an incredible flavor.
