"Well, don't you also have a plan regarding the crest?" I tilted my head and frowned. Why must he ask if he was going to hand it over to that creepy headmaster geezer, anyway?
" I do. I plan to give the crest to the headmaster. He might know more and maybe it'll be more useful in his hands," general Emilio said, "but I doubt you'll let ."
"Damn straight. I'm not letting that geezer touch this." I scoffed and put a hand on my hip.
"Then do you have a better idea? Or do I have to fight you for it?" His face remained unchanged, but his glare felt sharper now, "I'm not letting you use it for personal gain, unless you have a good reason for it."
"Oh? You want to fight ? Soone who killed the elf king?" I widened my legs, and lowered my stance, "with those injuries?"
He stayed in his position, not moving even one bit. As we exchanged piercing gazes, my mind was racing, trying to find a way to convince him to not fight .
I an, oh gosh, my provocation was like a sixth-grader's provocation.
Actually, my buffs were already gone. Reduced to atoms. I heard the ding-ding while we were walking here looking for them, which ant just a few minutesseconds ago, even. With my buffs gone, I barely even managed to keep that ice cage erect, and he wanted to fight ?
Dang, if all three of them went for at once, I'd be down in less than a minute. Heck, maybe even general Zhang alone would end . My body was already comparable to a cold WackDonald's takeout. Miserable. And falling apart.
"General Emilio, let's not get hasty." Jeanne quickly ca between us, and spoke with her usual serious voice.
"Yeah, porcupine~ Either way, I don't think the crest will go to either of you~" General Zhang patted, or more like smacked, actually, the stoic general's back while grinning.
"Why?" General Emilio asked with only one word.
"Do you have other plans, general Zhang?" This ti, Jeanne was the one who asked.
"No, not ," he grinned and pointed at , "but my little cub has one."
General Emilio and Jeanne simultaneously looked at with expectant eyes, waiting for to say sothing, anything.
"Well? Don't you, little cub?" His smirking face was directed towards , "you look like you have sothing stuck in your throat, and it's not a fishbone."
"Uh Fine. I'll speak." I sighed.
Jeanne's expression imdiately got brighter. Well, quite expected, since she was never really fond of conflicts in general.
"I'm going to be honest here, I don't think you guys will agree," I scratched my head and looked away, before looking back at them, "umm, I say we give the crest to the girl."
"What!?" Jeanne gasped in shock.
" Let's hear your reasoning for that." General Emilio, on the other hand, remained composed and stared at .
"Let's hear your reason for not giving it to her, then," I retaliated, "none of us know the previous owner, the elf king, really well. We didn't even activate the first phase. Do you seriously expect any of us will make it through if we try to absorb the crest?"
Actually, I still have so left in the blood bag, so any of us could activate the first phase instead of Firiell if we waited. But let's not tell them. I needed Firiell to beco a strong elf Queen for a reason.
"Still, we can use it for research." General Emilio reasoned.
"Uh, I don't think the elves' years of research really produced anything major. If they, the owner of the crests, couldn't really do much with research, then how can we?" I continued, "I think it'll be a waste of ti, energy, and precious crest. We only have one, anyway. Researches usually need a lot of samples."
General Emilio went quiet, just staring at . anwhile, Jeanne looked back and forth between us two, seemingly unsure what to do. And of course, general Zhang, was just being the goofy eel he always was.
"True, nothing's guaranteed. There's no guarantee that we'll succeed, but there's no guarantee that we'll fail." General Emilio replied.
"Well, the chances of it failing is much higher. You sure you wanna take the risk? When we can just use the crest to strengthen our army that's going to extract your brother?" I continued pushing. My words were a bit an, but it was necessary.
"I never said I was going to take the risk. Even without you threatening , I know it's irresponsible to depend on a small chance. I see your point now," general Emilio nodded, "then, what should we bring back for the headmaster?"
"Huh? Why should we bring anything back to him?" I raised an eyebrow confusedly. I didn't expect that reply. What did the headmaster have to do with this? Why were we obligated to 'bring sothing back'?
"We always bring sothing back from big raids like this. It helps to patch up our lack of knowledge, and sotis, they're able to make breakthroughs in their research from the materials we brought back," Jeanne explained, instead of general Emilio, "so it's always great to bring anything that might be useful."
"Then we can bring so weed for them or whatever," I shrugged, "but, who are they?" I tilted my head. Breakthroughs? Ah, probably like the scientists and engineers?
"They are Elena's work mates~ You've been getting all cozy with Elena, haven't you, little cub?" General Zhang suddenly circled his arm around my shoulder, "well, did she say anything about her job?"
"Ack! You" I was about to push him away again, but then I saw his eyes gleam with sothing that I couldn't really point out what that was. I instantly held my breath and swallowed my words.
I kinda felt like I shouldn't say sothing wrong here.
"She did tell a little," I answered while trying to sound as unsuspecting as possible, "she said she's a prison warden as well as so kind of researcher, if I rember correctly."
"Mmhmm, brilliant~" He giggled, seemingly pleased, "and then what else?"
"Huk" I flinched a bit when he suddenly eyed sharply.
"Co on, tell ."
Uhh How should I say this I didn't think it was a good idea to just go around spilling my friend's backstory, you know? Kinda disrespectful if I did, in my opinion. If Elena had entrusted with her backstory info, then I should not take advantage of that trust, right?
"Umm, she also told " I scratched my cheek and looked down.
"Yes?" He looked at expectantly. Ack, what did he want from eee?
" She told that she liked to tease her juniors in her work, especially the cute ones." I concluded, still avoiding his gaze. Did I look convincing enough already? Like soone who was forced to spill? Hopefully.
"Pfft--! Ahahhahah!" He burst out in laughter, not sure if that was good or not, but I'd take it.
"Ugh, what?" I frowned and released his arm from around my shoulders. Gah, he didn't need to laugh that loud, now I was embarrassed for so reason.
"Little cub, sotis I wonder if you're okay in the head~" He chuckled.
" Are you picking a fight with ?"
"Just don't follow her lead, okay? I don't allow flirting in the Vanguard. Don't forget I'm still a general," he continued chuckling, "and there are no juniors cuter than anyway. Tee-hee!"
"Jeanne, sorry, don't mind him. Please just treat him like a fly. Anyway, where were we? Oh, right. The research," I blatantly ignored him, "if you're worried about that, isn't the solution simple?"
"Uhh, we should Bring sothing else back ho?" Jeanne suggested.
"Yeah, we should bring Owen and general Enzo back ho. They can't complain if we do that." I shrugged.
"I don't think the headmaster would be very pleased." General Emilio put his hand on his chin. He didn't seem to oppose the idea. Rather, he seed to be more concerned about how to appease the headmaster for so reason. Geez, loyalty could be scary sotis.
"Then, let him be displeased. If he truly goes batshit crazy when we bring them back ho, then I don't know, fam. I wouldn't want to serve under soone who values 'research materials' more than my comrades' lives," I pouted, "he should be extrely grateful already if we manage to bring the both of them back alive." I argued.
"Not if, but when." General Emilio growled, surprising a bit.
Oh, true, the most agitated person here should be him, after all. I couldn't imagine how stressed and worried he must be right now It had been like, what, almost two weeks since the kidnapping? Dude, I really hoped they were both okay
"Yes yes. In any case, I think giving the crest to the girl is the best choice for now, unless we want to end up with a wasted crest and a dead or crazy person," I concluded and nodded profusely, "she will be working alongside us, anyway. Think of it as upgrading your team, instead of yourself."
"First, she will only be temporarily in our team. Second, didn't you upgrade yourself using the first crest?" General Emilio asked with a straight face, " But yes, I accept your suggestion for now. It's the least risky solution we currently have."
"Hehe, thank you," I scratched the back of my head happily, "well, we managed to defeat the elf king because I took the crest, right? At least I produced a result, don't complain about that. And by the way, I'm planning to keep working alongside Firiell."
"Oho~?" General Zhang humd amusedly.
"I want us to be allies. It's not a bad thing for Vanguards anyway, right? It's just like a diplomatic business with the elves, if you will." I reasoned with them.
Well, actually, I had another motive. But it was personal, so there wasn't any need to tell them. It was my business with Eli, anyway.
"Allying with monsters I've never seen it happen before," Jeanne spoke, "ah, I rember reading records about taming monsters, though. The conclusion was unclear, but I rember reading about so illegal monster auction going on, which quickly got wiped out under the headmaster's command."
"Monster taming? Now that's new. I don't think 'taming' is a very nice way to put it, though. Anyway, no need to be so surprised, all of you have t Firiell and Luke, and they're both not exactly humans. And definitely not sothing to be tad. There's a first for everything, right?" I chuckled, "but, records? Did that happen a long ti ago already?"
"Ah yes, quite. I don't rember the exact year, though." Jeanne nodded in approval.
"But the headmaster you ntioned, is it the sa as the current one?" I continued asking.
"As far as I know, that's true. I rember seeing his portrait in the records, too. It was the exact sa." She explained.
"Wait, how co?" I suddenly frowned, "he looked the exact sa for a long ti? Hey, how long has he been reigning as a headmaster? What about the previous headmasters?"
"That" Jeanne paused, as I wait for her to continue.
"He Is the only headmaster we've ever had."
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