Spouting sweet words to soothe Svein’s mood was a behavior that didn’t fit Karbaldr’s character.
Moreover, if I wasn’t careful, I might be misunderstood by the original protagonist as trying to get close to Svein.
‘Reysir still seems to be under the illusion that I only bullied him in the past because I wanted to be friends but didn’t know how to express it…’
He might reach the wrong conclusion that I was acting like a tsundere toward Svein this time. He was exactly the type to meddle by setting up a meeting to help us get closer.
He might even come up with the crazy idea that if he became friends with Svein first and then brainwashed him with the idea that ‘Karbaldr = tsundere,’ everything would be solved.
To prevent such a disaster, I had to ignore Svein’s blatant dissatisfaction even though I was well aware of it. I hugged the baby dragon and stroked it, trying to shake off my anxiety.
As I fell silent, a cold atmosphere and a heavy silence settled between us…
“Anyway, what strategy do you think the other team will use?”
The original protagonist stepped in to continue the strategy meeting while attempting to change the mood. Then Vigdis, who had been quiet for a while, spoke up to help Reysir shift the atmosphere.
“Wasn’t that discussion already finished? We decided to leave Hailga and Senior Risi at the starting point.”
“Not that. We haven’t talked about who the other team will focus on among us.”
“Ah, that’s true.”
Vigdis reacted as if she understood Reysir’s point. Then she blinked blankly, looking as if she were waiting for Reysir or someone else to provide a prediction of the opposing team’s strategy.
At that moment, Svein’s face, which was already stiff, crumpled further. He looked clearly upset. He probably assumed Reysir was about to say, “The other team will target Svein.” After all, Svein himself must be aware that he was the weakest link in our team.
However, my thoughts were a bit different. A considerate person like Reysir would never say something so insensitive to someone’s face.
“The other team will definitely target Karbaldr as their top priority.”
“What? Not me…?”
Just as I expected, the team member Reysir mentioned wasn’t Svein, and Svein reacted with confusion. Even at that reaction, Reysir didn’t ask Svein why he thought that.
‘Is it because he already knows the reason? He doesn’t want to make Svein feel ashamed by forcing him to admit with his own mouth that he’s weak.’
Reysir nodded slightly as if to say, “Yes, not you,” and then calmly explained the logic behind his guess.
“You saw how strong Yor was during Professor Caldrun’s lecture the day before yesterday, right? Plus, Karbaldr is a fairly good fighter, and his ability is a buff that increases the stats of team members. In other words, if they take just one of Karbaldr’s ribbons, not only will Yor be neutralized, but our team’s overall power will drop. Naturally, he’ll be the primary target.”
“Ah…!”
Svein let out a small exclamation, his expression turning sheepish. Reysir had no intention of embarrassing him, yet Svein seemed ashamed that he had gotten worked up over his own feelings of inferiority.
“I… I thought you were going to tell me to just stay here quietly so I wouldn’t get my ribbon taken by jumping into battle for no reason.”
“What?! Is that because I asked you earlier if you wanted to sit out the fight? I told you that was just a joke!”
“Still…”
Despite the original protagonist’s consideration, Svein confessed his thoughts and showed a lack of confidence. As a web novel author, I could bet my entire career that this was definitely the intro to a character-influence event.
“Winning and getting a decent meal is important, but this is training with actual combat in mind. So, I want you to… Hmm?”
I didn’t have anything particular to say, but the thought that I had to stop the original protagonist from completing this “influence event” took precedence. I hurriedly tugged at his sleeve.
Reysir looked at me with a bewildered expression.
‘I succeeded in breaking the flow for now, but what do I do next?’
As I pulled his attention and said nothing, the doubt in his golden eyes deepened. For a moment, it occurred to me how fascinating his eyes were — not just yellow, but possessing a subtle pearlescent shimmer — but that didn’t matter right now, so I racked my brain.
‘Even if I change the subject, once that conversation is over, this protagonist will try to resume the interrupted event by finishing what he was saying, right?’
Even if he didn’t intend to, the author, Senna, would create a situation where he had no choice. Just as Svein had just stimulated sympathy by honestly revealing his self-deprecating thoughts and looking dejected, the scene would push the original protagonist to offer words of encouragement.
If that was the case…
“Why are you being so dramatic while saying something so obvious — that gaining experience is more important than winning or losing, so he should fight regardless of whether his ribbon gets taken?”
I snatched the original protagonist’s intended lines and dismissed them as nothing special, ruining the mood. I did this so the original author couldn’t bring up the topic again to resume the interrupted event.
‘By the way, shouldn’t the signal flare have gone off by now?’
Since there was a penalty for the time spent retying a ribbon, a pillar with an Ether Clock had been installed at the starting point. There was also a clock at the mountain entrance where we had listened to Professor Bjorn’s explanation. Thanks to that, I could keep track of the exact time.
‘It had been about 20 minutes from the moment we received the map to when we arrived here. And now it’s…’
Ridiculously, we still had to wait 5 more minutes for the signal flare to be fired. It wasn’t just my feeling; considering the amount of dialogue we’d had here, at least 15 minutes should have passed. It didn’t make sense unless we were spitting out words like rappers.
It seemed the original author still had dialogue she wanted to write in this scene. As that thought occurred to me…
“It seems we still have some time left?”
Reysir, noticing my gaze on the clock, also mentioned the time. For some reason, his face looked strangely amused. Despite being interrupted and having his lines stolen, he didn’t look displeased at all.
“Anyway, stop the small talk and finish the strategy meeting.”
“Yeah, I got it.”
Whether it was because stealing his lines worked or because of my demand to stop chatting, Reysir didn’t try to talk to Svein again. In fact, he didn’t say anything at all.
“……”
“……”
“…Why aren’t you saying anything?”
“Well, you’re our team leader, Karbaldr. So why was I leading the meeting?”
That was a very belated question.
“Why are you asking that now after you started talking about Liolikin the moment we arrived?”
“Uh… sorry?”
Fine. In the first place, the fact that our team’s ribbon was purple didn’t mean I was the leader…
“Doesn’t that seem a bit strange?”
“Huh?”
“The reason Her Imperial Highness and I didn’t draw lots was merely to balance the two teams. It wasn’t because the professor intended for us to be the team leaders.”
This level of explanation should have been enough, but Reysir didn’t understand immediately. He fell into thought for a moment before speaking.
“So, you’re not going to be the leader?”
“I’d rather ask you. Do you think I have the qualities of a leader?”
“I think you have more than enough.”
“Even though effective communication skills are one of those qualities?”
“Couldn’t I just interpret your words from the side?”
“I believe the moment interpretation is needed, I’ve already failed. Besides, don’t you always distort and interpret my words strangely?”
“I think my interpretations are accurate.”
I told him he was wrong, yet I didn’t know where he got this overflowing confidence. I was staring at Reysir with my mouth slightly agape in sheer absurdity when…
“Excuse me, Seniors? Didn’t we agree to stop the small talk and proceed with the meeting?”
Svein spoke up, unable to hide his disapproval. It wasn’t that he said something wrong, but it felt incredibly unfair that his gaze was fixed on me.
‘The one who ignored my words to continue the meeting and started talking about other things was the original protagonist…!’
I glared at Reysir. Receiving my gaze, he spoke with an embarrassed expression.
“Since we don’t know if these teams are a one-time thing or not, let’s put the leader issue aside for now and finish the meeting.”
“Hurry up and do it.”
“Are you leaving it to me?”
“……”
Fearing that answering would lead to more useless chatter, I kept my mouth shut and simply glared at the original protagonist.
It seemed Author Senna didn’t plan on firing the signal flare until we finished the strategy meeting. However, we couldn’t just sit around and joke for ages.
“In my opinion…”
Starting with those words, the original protagonist began to lay out his deductions regarding the opponent’s strategy. Since no one engaged in small talk anymore, the meeting progressed very quickly.
And sure enough, the moment we finished the meeting, the signal flare was fired.
“Let’s head out now.”
Reysir folded the map he had used to estimate the location of the enemy’s starting point and handed it to Svein.
This was because if Hailga and Risi were not visible, Svein was tasked with finding the enemy’s starting point and taking their ribbons instead of rejoining us after losing his own.
Although Hailga and Risi couldn’t handle weapons properly yet, Svein had obtained the [Spearmanship] skill, even if it was only F-rank. He had also gained sparring experience through Caldrun’s practical combat techniques lecture. Since he was a water-attribute user, he would have an advantage against the fire-attribute Hailga.
‘This plan was made because everyone said Svein could easily handle those two alone, but…’
I wanted to stop them. The other team’s starting point would surely be covered in traps. Svein would likely get caught in a trap and give up his ribbon before he could even swing his spear.
But I couldn’t stop them. If I did, it was obvious Svein would think I was doing it because I looked down on him.