"Wait, wait, wait!" Lysandra drags both hands down her face and lets out a sharp, frustrated exhale. "So you're saying she revives her evil witch mother after trying to kill you, then she tries to kill you again, and for some reason you decide to bring her here with you?"
'No, no, nonono!'
She slams both hands onto the table and glares between Kael and Leena while they continue eating. "You can't just do that! You treat me like shit, then run off and play hero with her!?"
Her eye twitches as she stares daggers at Leena, who barely seems to notice. Instead, Leena calmly looks over the spread of food in front of her, her attention caught by a plate of pasta.
"What is this?" Leena murmurs, pointing at it with quiet curiosity. "It's so... twisted."
"That's spaghetti, though most places call it string paste. Is this your first time eating this?" Kael asks, stretching back in his chair while glancing down at Zeke's report. His eyes scan the lines quickly. 'So the dark elves have fully pushed the royal guards out of the area, and the king is setting up barriers, but the orcs still haven't moved...?' His gaze sharpens slightly. 'That's strange, but with the weapons I introduced, I expected changes. I'll need to check in on the orcs.'
"Yes," Leena says, still studying the plate. "Back in the dungeon, I only ate stew and bread—"
"Okay, fine, ignore me. Be an asshole like you always are," Lysandra groans, stomping over and grabbing Leena by the wrist. "And you, don't touch my food."
Kael barely looks up. 'I have too much to deal with before going back to the Elven Kingdom. Hey, System, how is the dungeon construction going?'
[The dungeon is 75% complete. However, this only applies to the original internal structure. Overworld construction is at 5%.]
[A total of 100,000 zombies have been modified with Eira's weapon designs.]
[55 tests have been fully integrated.]
[The dungeon shop has been integrated. A shop owner must be assigned before deployment.]
'Good.' Kael exhales slowly. 'I'll check on those three later. As long as we get the dungeon running before the orcs attack, we can prevent the chain event.'
His eyes drift for a moment, his thoughts already moving ahead.
In the story, the holy war spread across most countries, leaving the population badly distorted. Too many kids and young adults died, and once the dust settled, international powers created repopulation programs to adjust the population. Those kids are all about to become adults.
Kael stands, then grabs Lysandra by the back of her coat and drags her away from Leena. "If you want to fight her, wait until she recovers."
"Oh, yeah~" Lysandra gives a wicked smirk, letting herself be pulled back. "As if she's strong enough to lay a finger on me." She straightens, then narrows her eyes at him. "What's with you? You look like you're planning something crazy again."
"Tsk, tsk, tsk." Kael flicks her forehead. "Soon, a huge number of kids are going to become adults and start looking for work. Some will join the military. Others will become adventurers or join guilds."
"Yeah, but what does that have to do with us?" Lysandra asks, already stuffing more food into her mouth. "Didn't you say we have to deal with an elf war?"
"If we let things play out, most countries will eventually slip into their own regional wars," Kael says as he opens his screen and begins marking locations across the map. "So to slow that down, we're going to introduce our dungeon, along with several other hidden dungeons I found."
'Why does Kael always know everything? It doesn't make sense.' Lysandra frowns. "I don't get it—"
"You plan to create an era of adventurers?" Leena asks, looking up at him with visible disbelief. "That... sounds familiar. While I was in charge of the dungeon, several dungeon diplomats tried inviting me into something similar, but none of them succeeded."
"That's because they're stupid." Kael grins and flicks a poster card toward her. "If you want to create a generational shift, you need to understand how humans think. I already have people spreading advertisements, and soon several dungeons are going to be 'discovered.' All of them arranged by me, of course."
Before Lysandra can interrupt, Kael walks over and shoves a piece of chocolate into her mouth.
"Most dungeons available right now are either too difficult for new adventurers or locked down by guild and government control," he continues, returning to his seat. "Some of the ones I prepared have already been found, and I'm sponsoring the Adventurers' Guild so the next generation has somewhere to go."
Leena exhales and runs a hand through her perfectly straight hair, still trying to piece it together. "That... I still don't understand. Why are you doing this? Isn't the elf war more important?"
"It is precisely because of war." Kael leans back in his chair, and just as Lysandra opens her mouth again, he calmly shoves a burger into it. "The world still hasn't recovered from the previous one. No matter how stable they try to look, every country is on edge. And once this war starts, all others will follow."
Lysandra muffles an offended noise through the burger while Leena watches him in silence.
"So I'm giving the next generation another path," Kael says, resting an arm on the table. "If they become adventurers instead of soldiers, they can't be forced into military service under international law."
-
BOOM!
POW!
A slash of golden aura flies through the air, crashing into Isadora. Aira grits her teeth as she confronts her opponent. 'Dammit, I can do this!' She shifts the angle of her sword into an upward strike just as Isadora attempts a side slash. "Nice try, Isadora!" she smirks, changing her posture and driving the strike toward her side.
Blinking blankly, Isadora lowers her gaze to where she blocks the attack with the hilt of her sword. Standing sideways on the wall, she twists her body and kicks Aira in the neck, sending her crashing into the ground hard enough to leave her body half-implanted in the stone. "Your aura is golden now?" she mumbles, offering her a hand.
"Ugh.... I just made a breakthrough. How are you still so strong?" the princess groans as she pulls herself up. 'Despite training with her for two months, I've only managed to beat her twice.' She exhales, pushing her golden hair back as she looks up at the bright sky. "It's a royal technique. I applied my lightning affinity into my aura. If you're interested, I could teach you, though I'm not sure what your affinity is."
Searching through her bag, Isadora blankly pulls out a coconut and gives a firm shake of her head. "V will teach me if I ask. I don't like politics," she murmurs, already walking off.
"H-hey..." Aira frowns before quickly catching up. "I'm glad you're speaking out more, but you shouldn't be so blunt. It could bring you trouble." She reaches over and pats the dust off Isadora's hair. "I know V is smart, but he doesn't know everything you know. This is a royal technique my great-grandfather created. Have you ever seen anyone else capable of applying their affinity into their aura?"
Isadora stops in her tracks as she searches through her memories. It's true, she has never seen her father accomplish that. "My mother... she could do it," she whispers before continuing her stride.
"A-ah, that's..." Aira exhales slowly. 'I should've stayed quiet...' She pulls out a pendant showing a picture of her as a child sitting on that woman's shoulders, the greatest swordmaster in modern history. Back then, she used to visit her from time to time as a teacher. "But that's different. She was by far the best aura user ever. V, on the other hand... he is smart and capable, but I don't—"
"He has better control than I do," Isadora interrupts in her emotionless tone, sipping from her coconut. "I have known you since childhood, so I ask you to keep this quiet. During the island test, I found him injured. Since his energy waste was visibly high, I tried to stabilize his aura, but his aura was perfectly stable. Even I can't do that..." She lowers the coconut slightly, her expression not changing. "My mother left behind her circulation method, but even with it, a commoner has stabilized his aura far better than us nobles. He will likely be able to replicate your technique," she mumbles, thinking of all the duels she has had with him. Even though she is far stronger and can easily beat him, she has been trying to understand how he does it and still struggles to comprehend him.
"Pfff, so what?" Isabella huffs, looking down at them from above before descending. "Isadora, I respect you; however, I will be frank now that you feel so talkative." She makes eye contact, her palm constantly shifting through different magic circles, a magic exercise she came up with herself. "Whatever you think of V is irrelevant. He has more talent in magic than most nobles, and I will help him understand that one way or another. Aura may be useful on the battlefield, but magic will always remain on top. Don't feed him delusions—"
"Pfffhahahaha!" Biana can't help but laugh as she points at her. "Holy fuck, are you seriously fighting over that bastard?" She gives a long stretch before leaning against Isadora. "Do you know how pissed I am because of this one?" she mumbles, poking Isadora's blank face. "I'm the only one here who dealt with him when school started, and for some fucking reason he cares more about this quiet bitch than me." Before Isabella can respond, Biana flips her off. "Stop talking about him as if any of you can control him. He's a dumb bastard that does what he wants, so fuck off, Isabella."
"Tsk," Isabella glares coldly. "You are a disgrace, Biana Rosalind. You bring shame upon the Empire wherever you go, but I do not bother speaking on it since we all know you could not care less about your image." She turns to leave, giving Isadora one final stare. "You taint your own image by staying around her. I would suggest you think about your future. You are the heir of the Alister family, after all." With that said, she opens her book and calmly walks away.
"Tsk, such a cocky bitch," Biana groans with a yawn. "By the way, Aira, did your little spies find out when V is returning?"
Aira steps back with her arms raised in defense. "W-what? Spies? I would never—"
Rolling her eyes, Biana drops onto her floating pillows. A while ago, she came up with the genius idea of turning them into a floating pillow bed. "Yeah, yeah, cut the bullshit. We're all nobles here, we know you have your own people, so spit it out."
"Ugh..." Aira frowns, scratching her head. "Well, I don't know exactly. He was supposed to have a small investor meeting to expand his little shop, but I couldn't find where. It wasn't held at the shop itself, and since it's a small business, it's not exactly easy to track." She exhales and shifts her weight. "According to my sources, he's already on his way back. You know he's a commoner, so he can't afford to use portal gates as casually as we can. My people said he's traveling by carriage, which is why it's taking so long."
Biana rubs her chin in deep thought. "What an idiot. If he had asked me, I would've paid." She lets out a small laugh, a smirk pulling at her lips. "Pff, too bad he doesn't trust nobles. Every fucking noble treats low-income commoners like shit." She points at Aira to emphasize her point. "This is why he'll never work for nobles, nor accept my glorious generosity."
"Oh, please, Biana." Aira exhales, thinking of all the problems Biana has caused V at the academy. 'I... really don't know why on earth he bothers taking care of such a problematic girl.' She stretches, her joints still sore from Isadora's beating. "By the way, the rest of our class is about to arrive for the festival. We should plan a party."