Ch.47Chapter 47. Well-Founded Confidence (2)

“Recently, there’s been nothing but bad news from the Second Elder’s side.”

“…”

Landgar, the Second Elder of the Nameless Organization, couldn’t respond to someone’s criticism.

Because it was an undeniable fact.

It started with the theft of the hourglass.

In truth, losing the hourglass wasn’t solely Landgar’s responsibility, but he was the most deeply involved.

He was the one who provided the barrier that was supposed to be impenetrable, and he was also in charge of overall security.

On top of that, he had conspicuously failed at using the Undead to capture “sacrifices.”

And in the process, he even lost the Green Flame Death Knight.

“Next time, there will surely be good news.”

“I wonder if I should help you.”

Landgar was infuriated by the Third Elder’s blatant disrespect, but there was nothing he could do.

The meeting was being conducted by voice only, and it was true that his side had been experiencing continuous failures.

“Is there any more information about the hourglass?”

“Hmm. The thieves are so thorough that it’s difficult to track them.”

In the end, Landgar couldn’t obtain any more clues about the Black Shadow Corps.

He hadn’t expected much to begin with, but he failed to discover anything, even more miserably than anticipated.

“Still, I’m preventing rumors about the Undead from spreading.”

“Hmph. That’s only natural. If you can’t even manage that, then really…”

‘Damn it.’

Landgar clenched his teeth, carefully controlling his voice to hide his anger.

The Third Elder’s words had been grating on him from the start.

To think that he would be treated this way.

For someone as prideful as Landgar, it was difficult to accept, but now wasn’t the time to raise his voice.

“There is some hopeful news, though.”

“What is it?”

“The medicine is almost at the completion stage.”

“Oh?”

Landgar began to speak about the only news he could confidently share.

The organization was developing a medicine to enhance the abilities of their fighters in preparation for future battles.

It was a kind of elixir that temporarily boosted an individual’s abilities exponentially when consumed.

Of course, there were side effects, but they were gradually eliminating them through various experiments.

They were also conducting human experiments in various ways.

“I will definitely show you results at the next meeting.”

“You should. Thanks to your failure this time, our plans have been pushed back.”

‘Tsk.’

Landgar bit his lip hard at the Third Elder’s words that blamed him at every turn.

He thought to himself that next time, he would succeed somehow and shut that bastard’s mouth for good.

**

“Sigh, what am I even doing?”

Cynthia Surplus muttered to herself as she trudged along.

Once again today, she couldn’t muster the courage to talk to her friends.

At first, it was guilt and self-loathing.

Guilt toward her friends for not being able to do anything in the competition, and self-loathing for just trembling at the sight of the enemy.

Cynthia thought she could overcome these feelings quickly.

She thought she could apologize to her friends for feeling sorry, and become stronger by working harder to make up for her lack of skill.

But the emotions ran deeper and lasted longer than expected.

The opportunity to apologize to her friends didn’t come easily, and her self-loathing showed no signs of disappearing.

As time passed aimlessly, she missed her timing.

It had already been over a week since the competition ended, and while talk about it was gradually disappearing from people’s lips, she alone couldn’t move on.

As a result, talking with her friends became increasingly difficult.

She could see that Ryuyeong and the others were trying their best to smooth things over, but Cynthia couldn’t even accept that.

It felt like too much time had passed, making things more awkward and difficult.

But suddenly changing her attitude as if nothing had happened also felt strange.

“Sigh.”

Cynthia exhaled deeply as she walked without a destination.

She had told her friends she couldn’t join them for dinner because she had something to do, but she didn’t actually have any plans.

She had just lied to avoid an uncomfortable situation.

“Miss Cynthia Surplus, correct?”

*Flinch*

Cynthia instinctively jumped at the sudden mention of her name and looked toward the source of the voice.

“Who are you?”

The person who called Cynthia was someone she didn’t recognize.

Judging by the academy staff uniform they were wearing, they seemed to be an academy employee.

“Ah, I work in a department directly under the Vice Chancellor.”

“The Vice Chancellor’s department…?”

“Yes.”

The gentle-looking man faced Cynthia with a smile as neat as his appearance.

He seemed to inspire trust by his looks alone.

“What brings you here?”

“First, congratulations. On the inter-grade competition. For first-years to take first place—the Vice Chancellor was genuinely impressed.”

“Ah.”

Cynthia unconsciously grimaced when the inter-grade competition was mentioned.

While it might be an achievement worth boasting about for the other three members, it wasn’t for Cynthia.

Others might see her as part of a team that accomplished something great, but Cynthia didn’t think so.

She was just someone who rode on the coattails of the other three, contributing nothing but a headcount.

“The Vice Chancellor was particularly impressed with you, Miss Cynthia.”

“…I didn’t do anything.”

Cynthia spoke with complete sincerity.

Despite Cynthia’s self-deprecating words, the staff member just smiled gently.

“That’s not true. You had plenty of opportunity to contribute, you just lacked courage.”

“…Just tell me why you’re here.”

Cynthia wanted to leave immediately, sensing another round of forced consolation was about to begin.

She had already received such comfort several times and didn’t want to hear it anymore.

“The Vice Chancellor wishes you had a bit more courage.”

“What?”

The man’s words were completely unexpected to Cynthia.

What was he suddenly talking about?

“If you had a little more courage, wouldn’t you have fearlessly shot arrows at the ghouls, preventing Miss Elaine from being in danger in the first place?”

“…”

“Similarly, if you had drawn the Death Knight’s attention from a distance, wouldn’t it have been easier for Ryu to deal with it?”

Cynthia bit her lip at the man’s words that poked at her wounds.

These were scenarios Cynthia had replayed in her mind hundreds of times without the man pointing them out.

What if, at that time, she had done this or that?

Though running such simulations was meaningless now.

“The Vice Chancellor hopes that if such a situation arises again, you will bravely take up your bow.”

“So, what you’re trying to say is…”

“Take this.”

As Cynthia was about to express her irritation, the man held out something in front of her.

It was a small pouch.

“What is this?”

“Something that can fill in that missing bit of courage you lack.”

“What?”

Cynthia asked incredulously, but the man just kept smiling.

Feeling strangely uncomfortable, Cynthia didn’t take the pouch the man was offering.

“Haha. Don’t worry, it’s nothing strange. Just take it first.”

Cynthia cautiously accepted the pouch at the man’s continued urging.

She could feel several round objects inside the cloth pouch.

“Think of them as candies that give courage. Candies that the Vice Chancellor gives only to personally selected students.”

“Candies?”

After hearing they were candies, she felt them again and it seemed right.

Cynthia untied the string closing the opening and looked inside the pouch.

When she opened it, a sweet smell wafted out along with colorful, round candies.

“What’s this all of a sudden…”

“Well then, I’ll see you later. I’ll be cheering for your academy life, Miss Cynthia.”

“What? Excuse me?”

The man turned and walked away without looking back as soon as he handed over the pouch of candies, as if he had nothing more to say.

Cynthia blankly watched the retreating staff member before shifting her gaze to the candies.

‘The Vice Chancellor is giving these…?’

Cynthia took out one of the sweet-smelling candies.

There were a total of five candies in the pouch, each a different color.

“Really…”

Cynthia snorted as she stared at the red candy.

It seemed the Vice Chancellor thought of academy students as 6-7 year old children.

Did he think that by comforting them with “courage-giving candies,” they would say “Wow! Thank you” and feel better?

‘I guess I’ve been pretty serious lately.’

Cynthia concluded that she must have been in a pretty bad state if she had caught the Vice Chancellor’s attention and received such childish comfort.

It seemed her condition was serious enough to be noticed even by those outside her class.

“Haah.”

With a sigh, Cynthia absentmindedly put the red candy she was holding into her mouth.

A sweet taste immediately filled her mouth.

Since it was red, she expected it to be a common strawberry flavor, but it wasn’t quite that.

It was just sweet.

Unlike its hard exterior, the candy melted quickly upon touching her tongue.

She had planned to roll the candy around in her mouth on her way home, but—

*Gulp*

The candy that quickly melted in her mouth soon lost its form and became liquid, flowing down Cynthia’s throat and into her body.

‘Now that I’ve eaten a courage-giving candy, I wonder if I’ll become brave.’

*Snicker*

Cynthia let out a small laugh at her own ridiculous thought and took a step forward.

Or rather, she was about to.

“Huh.”

Just as she was about to step forward, Cynthia noticed a tiny ant crossing the path where she was about to place her foot.

*Thump*

“Uh oh.”

It started with her instinctively becoming aware of the ant beneath her foot, which she hadn’t even consciously noticed.

Suddenly, Cynthia saw a completely different landscape than before.

To be precise, it wasn’t a completely different landscape.

It was a landscape that had always existed but that she hadn’t seen.

‘What, what is this?’

*Thump*

It was as if she had entered a different world.

Starting from the ant beneath her feet, everything around her suddenly appeared vivid and dynamic.

*Thump*

That wasn’t all.

As if the “courage-giving” candy wasn’t a lie, she felt confidence rising within her—a feeling that she could do anything.

If the ghouls she had seen during the competition appeared before her now, she felt she could immediately shoot an arrow straight at their heads.

*Thump* *Thump*

Cynthia’s heart began to beat faster.