Chapter 228: Stalling for Time

“Then we can just talk in your room later… For now, do you want to try to get some sleep?”

Reysir reached out and placed his hand on my forehead again. Judging by his words, it seemed my fever still hadn’t gone down. However, I shook my head to express my refusal while brushing his hand away.

The headache had subsided significantly compared to right after I deactivated the [Character Analysis] skill, and besides…

‘Is it really appropriate to sleep while mock combat training is underway?’

Not only that, but I also had the setting of being an insomniac. I couldn’t possibly accept Reysir’s suggestion.

“Even if falling asleep is too much, I think meditating with your eyes closed would help with your recovery… I can handle the perimeter watch myself.”

I was very grateful for his concern, but I shook my head once more.

“Don’t you have something else you should be doing?”

“Huh? Like what?”

“You should stop the opposing team from setting up more traps.”

“…By myself? Is that even possible?”

There was a hint of hesitation in his voice as he asked. Even though he had successfully escaped the marks of Liolikin and Lausa, he still didn’t seem confident in facing the entire Cyan Team alone.

But I was certain. He could definitely do it.

‘After all, he’s the protagonist of the world inside this novel, isn’t he?’

Thus, I was able to reply in a casual tone.

“I’m not saying you should face them head-on. If you fight by using your Aether Attribute to keep them in check while using hit-and-run tactics, you’re more than capable of doing it alone.”

“Do you… really think so…?”

“That is what I believe… If you’re really that anxious, take Yor with you.”

“No! I’ll go alone. If Yor goes with me, the other team will try their best to target you. I’ll do my best to stop them from coming this way, but if you’re alone, you won’t be able to relax and rest comfortably, right? And more than anything—”

Reysir suddenly began to pour out his words at a rapid pace, only to stop abruptly without finishing his sentence. In the silence that followed, Reysir kept his eyes locked on mine before slowly speaking again.

“You believe that I can do it… I can’t betray that expectation.”

For some reason, Reysir’s face as he looked at me was brimming with emotion.

‘Did I just trigger an inverse influence event with someone else’s protagonist? And did it actually work? This was beyond bewildering.’

‘Why is this guy so easy to influence…? Is it really okay for the original protagonist to be like this?’

I was so dumbfounded that I couldn’t even speak. As I stood there with my mouth agape and a stunned expression, Reysir must have mistaken it for embarrassment, as he wore that usual teasing smile of his.

“Then I’ll be back. Make sure to get some rest with Yor.”

“……”

“Yor, make sure you protect Karbaldr well while I’m gone.”

Kyong! Myong! Kyooong! Myong myong…!

Instead of me, who was still speechless, Yor let out sharp meows to signal his protest. I couldn’t tell exactly what he was saying, but based on the feeling, I guessed he was asking what right Reysir had to say such a thing.

“Karbaldr. If anything happens, make sure to shout and call for me.”

Unfazed by the baby dragon’s fury, the protagonist of another story said those words and headed toward the Cyan Team’s Starting Point. I ignored him and pulled the baby dragon into a hug, stroking him.

It was to calm the angry Yor and to provide some healing to my brain, which was exhausted from maintaining the [Character Analysis] skill.

It was a shame that I couldn’t follow the original protagonist and describe his exploits, but the length of this episode was already overflowing to the point that I regretted not splitting it with a sub-title earlier.

So, to get straight to the conclusion.

Reysir successfully completed his mission of preventing the opposing team from increasing their traps.

‘And nothing happened that required me to shout for Reysir, either!’

Once Vigdis and Svein returned, we entered battle immediately without sharing a single word. Since this location was quite close to the opposing team’s Starting Point, there was a high risk that Fjodra would use her Aether Attribute to eavesdrop on our conversation.

And so, in the battle that resumed without any separate strategy meeting, Reysir immediately targeted Fjodra, calling down lightning to keep her in check while simultaneously rushing at Pret to swing his spear.

‘His goal was to escape the marks of Liolikin and Lausa with his own strength, and since he already achieved that, he probably thought there was no need to wait for them to attack him!’

After narrowly dodging the lightning, Fjodra ordered Liolikin to mark Vigdis and her own Familiar, Lausa, to mark Yor. Then, after telling Hailga to keep me in check, she used [Space Leap] to move near Svein.

Since they were leading by five points anyway, she likely judged that losing one of Pret’s ribbons would be acceptable. If she took Svein’s ribbon herself, the loss would be immediately compensated.

Furthermore, unlike us, who had to run for nearly 20 minutes to retrieve a ribbon, Pret could jump back into the fight at any time even if his ribbon was taken.

‘And did she tell Hailga to keep me in check because she’s confident she can take Svein’s ribbon before I can reach her?’

Perhaps because firing long-range attacks with fire-attributed Aether would inevitably reveal her location, Hailga didn’t hide. She revealed herself and began hurling fireballs at me.

However, I didn’t think she would be defenseless.

‘Not only are there likely traps installed all around, but Risi is probably hiding nearby too, waiting to launch a surprise attack on anyone who approaches Hailga.’

Above all, Hailga’s own skill was an unexpected variable. When I dodged the fireballs she threw, they changed direction and flew back toward me. When I struck them with my whip, they exploded, and some of the sparks flying in all directions turned into the shape of arrows and shot toward me.

Dealing with those additional arrows made it difficult to even get close.

‘I see. Since a person as skilled as Hailga was supporting Fjodra, even with Yor’s help, Vigdis and Svein couldn’t handle Fjodra alone!’

Still, Hailga wasn’t accustomed to combat itself. I could feel that she had no idea where or how to aim to be truly threatening. Moreover, since her attack speed was slow, activating the [Character Analysis] skill even gave me enough breathing room to scan the surroundings.

‘I’m quite worried about Yor having to face Lausa…’

Since Lausa was capable of close combat while Yor was not, I was anxious that she might harm my fragile baby Familiar with her hard beak and sharp claws.

Fortunately, it was an unnecessary worry. Contrary to my fears, Lausa did not attack Yor. To describe it more accurately, Yor was glaring at Lausa with fierce eyes, and Lausa was fidgeting, acting extremely cautious under Yor’s gaze.

I suspected she was terrified because of Yor’s [Dragon Fear].

‘It looks like I don’t need to worry about Yor’s side!’

Vigdis and Liolikin were continuing a normal spar, trading blows without any relation to the ribbon snatching. After all, Vigdis couldn’t take Liolikin’s ribbon, which was protected by the [Armor of Protection], and since Liolikin was holding a shield and mace in both hands, he couldn’t grab Vigdis’s ribbon either.

They were literally just keeping each other in check.

Reysir taking Pret’s ribbon and Fjodra taking Svein’s ribbon happened almost simultaneously. In the next moment, Reysir rushed toward Hailga. As he did, he scattered lightning around her, an act intended to force the installed traps to activate and neutralize them.

Hailga tried to hold on by gripping the ribbon’s knot tightly with her hand. However, when Reysir lightly tapped the back of her hand with an index finger holding a small spark, she instinctively let go, crying out, “Ouch, that stings!”

The cyan ribbon came undone with pathetic ease.

Risi jumped out of the bushes a step late, swinging a massive hammer with a head as large as her own torso toward Reysir. But her attack posed no threat to the original protagonist. If anything, it only revealed her position.

Reysir casually dodged Risi’s attack and easily snatched the ribbon tied around her neck. In the meantime, Fjodra combined her strength with Liolikin to take Vigdis’s ribbon.

‘We captured three ribbons, but the score gap only decreased by one point!’

The biggest problem was that there wasn’t much time left. Perhaps knowing this, instead of retreating with me like before, the original protagonist immediately shot lightning toward Fjodra.

Fjodra held out for quite a while, using [Space Leap] to flee here and there. But eventually, she was hit by Reysir’s lightning attack, missed the timing to use [Space Leap], and had her ribbon taken.

With this, we succeeded in narrowing the score gap to three points.

“I see you intend to stall for as much time as possible.”

Reysir frowned as he spoke to Fjodra. Even though they could have re-equipped their ribbons immediately to help Fjodra, none of the members of the opposing team did so. He must have felt anxious at the conclusion he naturally drew.

“Wouldn’t you agree that it’s the best method at the moment?”

Fjodra answered calmly with a light shrug of her shoulders. Seeing as she only glanced at the watch and didn’t even look at the basket containing the ribbons beneath it, it seemed she intended to wait until Pret could re-equip his ribbon before she tied hers on and resumed the fight.

“Even though, as it stands, you only have to face Karbaldr and me?”

“Don’t try to subtly reduce the numbers. If you include Karbaldr’s Familiar, there are three of you, aren’t there?”

“Even so, doesn’t the Imperial Princess have far more teammates?”

“The problem is that there are also that many more ribbons that can be taken.”

As if she had seen through Reysir’s intentions, Fjodra continued her answer with a haughty attitude.

“Besides, you probably intend to face us first, and then, if it seems like you have no chance of winning, retreat while carrying Karbaldr again. But we have nowhere to run and we are currently winning, so I have no desire to take unnecessary risks.”

Seeing her speak so naturally about how I would be carried off by Reysir, I couldn’t help but glare at the protagonist of someone else’s novel, who was the culprit behind this situation.

But only my sweet baby dragon patted my shoulder; no one besides Yor cared about my reaction.

“It will take nearly 20 minutes for your teammates to return, and we have to finish equipping our ribbons before then anyway. Regardless, we have no choice but to fight you, so please wait patiently.”

Deciding that Fjodra wouldn’t change her strategy no matter what, Reysir looked at me with an expression that seemed to ask, ‘What do we do now?’

However, it wasn’t as if I had a clever plan, and to be blunt, I was slightly pouting at him, so I let out a “Hmph!” and jerked my head away.