Chapter 11: The Plausible Lie
The walk back from the extraction point was a funeral march for the fragile alliance we'd formed. The sterile, torch-lit corridors of the Academy felt a world away from the blood-soaked darkness of the pits. Rolf kept shooting me worried glances, but the werewolf had the survival instinct to know when silence was the only safe option.
Nyssa was a ghost wrapped in my coat. She hadn't said a word since I'd draped it over her shoulders, but her mind was clearly racing. I could feel the intensity of her thoughts like a fever. Kaelith was a silent shadow at my flank, her presence more oppressive than any monster we'd faced. She wasn't just walking; she was analyzing, deconstructing every move I'd made.
We reached the junction where the paths to the male and female dormitories diverged. This was the moment of confrontation.
"I'll see you guys at dinner," Rolf mumbled, already backing away toward the male dorms. "I need to... soak my claws." He fled, leaving me to face the music alone.
Kaelith stepped directly into my path, blocking the corridor. Her silver eyes were chips of ice, devoid of their usual cold distance and now filled with sharp, piercing suspicion. "The clasp on her coat," she stated, her voice a low, dangerous hum. "Explain it."
Nyssa finally looked up, her face pale above the high collar of my coat. Her emerald eyes, usually filled with intellectual arrogance, were now wide with a volatile mix of terror and fascination. "It was a resonant frequency disruption," she whispered, her voice trembling. "A focused, external mana pulse that targeted a specific material signature. The energy required... the precision... it's not just impossible, it's theoretically absurd. You are a Rank 10 goblin with an F-Grade core. You should not have been able to light a candle, let alone perform micro-scale telekinetic surgery from ten feet away."
They had me. The logical, tactical part of my brain screamed that I was cornered. But the System-driven predator in me saw an opportunity. I couldn't tell the truth, but a flat denial would be an insult to their intelligence. I needed a lie. A brilliant, believable, condescending lie.
I let out a short, sharp sigh, as if I were explaining a basic concept to children. I looked from Nyssa to Kaelith, my expression shifting from cornered prey to disappointed instructor.
"You're both wrong," I said, my voice calm and measured. "You're looking for a magical explanation because that's the only lens you have. You think in terms of power levels and mana grades. That's why you're both still students."
Nyssa bristled at the insult, her pride momentarily overriding her fear. Kaelith's eyes narrowed, her hand resting on the hilt of her dagger.
"I didn't use mana," I continued, tapping my temple with a finger. "I used data. My [Sharp Eye] isn't just for seeing muscles, Nyssa. It's for processing information. All information. I saw the queen spider's glands swell a microsecond before it fired. I calculated the trajectory of the acid stream. And I saw the stress point on that cheap, mass-produced Academy coat clasp—the tiny flaw in the metal from the forging process."
I took a step closer to Nyssa, my voice dropping. "As for the 'pulse' you felt? That was Rolf."
Both women stared at me, utterly confused.
"Rolf's new Beast-Core is raw and uncontrolled," I explained, gesturing vaguely in the direction he'd left. "It's a physical aura, not a magical one, but it still disrupts ambient energy. When I pulled you behind the pillar, I positioned us perfectly. The moment the acid flew, I stomped my foot on the flagstone—a specific, resonant flagstone I'd identified earlier. It created a focused sonic vibration that traveled up the stone. Combined with the chaotic energy bleed-off from Rolf's aura, which was flaring as he fought, it created just enough interference to rattle that flawed clasp. A tiny tremor, at the exact right moment. It wasn't magic. It was applied physics. It was a chain reaction. I just... set up the dominoes."
The silence that followed was thick with disbelief. But it was a plausible disbelief.
Nyssa's mind was clearly racing, replaying the events. She had felt Rolf's aura. She hadn't been focused on the floor. A sonic vibration... it was a stretch, a monumental one, but it wasn't a violation of the laws of arcane physics. It was just an absurdly brilliant, impossibly lucky piece of tactical engineering. It fit the narrative of me being a "tactician."
Kaelith was harder to convince. Her world was one of intent and action. "You risked her life on a theory about a flagstone?" she challenged.
"I risked all our lives the second we walked into that pit," I countered, my voice hardening. "I trust my calculations. I saw the path to victory, and I took it. She's alive. The mission is complete. The method is irrelevant."
I turned and started walking away, leaving them to process the lie. "Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to find a healer. My ribs are screaming from that 'tactical' collision with the pillar."
I didn't look back. I didn't need to. I had given them an explanation that appealed to their core identities. For Nyssa, the intellectual prodigy, it was a puzzle she could now try to solve, grounding the impossible in the realm of theoretical physics. For Kaelith, the pragmatic warrior, it was a brutal, effective, and acceptable risk taken for the sake of the mission.
I had escaped the noose. But as I walked toward the infirmary, I knew I had only deepened the mystery. They didn't fear a system-powered monster anymore. They now feared a goblin who could weaponize reality itself. And in many ways, that was far more terrifying.
The System remained silent, but the 72-hour timer continued its relentless countdown in the corner of my vision. I had bought myself time, but the debt was still due.