episode_0071

“It seems like there’s no response, is that correct.”

This time, Lager couldn’t hide his surprise. After all, he had gone out to buy a tablet together, and there had been no mention of what happened afterwards. Lager probably couldn’t have imagined that something like this would happen to me.

“Is it appropriate to call someone who has lost their abilities a ‘saint’? Can Ael Cloie even handle a weak monster?”

The female instructor, with her mouth tightly shut, briefly glanced at me with her head bowed, then spoke again.

“The Academy is an institution that spares no support for saints who willingly throw themselves to protect the safety and peace of humanity. However, what about Ael Cloie?”

Incompetent.

A being that can’t do anything. A being that doesn’t deserve any support.

I wasn’t originally an ability user. I only fought using items summoned by the power of the tablet, and maybe the source of the ability was not me, but the tablet itself.

“The Academy has no grounds to expel her, but there is also no reason to support her.”

The female instructor’s words were all correct.

I was here.

A completely useless being.

“Right now, we are not in a situation to discuss her discipline.”

The female instructor took a deep breath, calming down her agitated tone, and calmly pronounced her verdict.

“She must be expelled from this Academy.”

At those words, Lager exploded in anger and rushed towards the female instructor.

“What are you talking about, expulsion!!”

The instructor warned Lager in a low voice as he raised his voice.

“Are you going to attack as you please again? Should I hold your wrist? We didn’t charge you with insubordination this time due to your merits on the battlefield, but if you raise your voice in front of so many instructors, you will become a criminal without the need for a disciplinary committee.”

“Grr…”

“Think carefully. Kid.”

After the mocking advice, the instructor turned back to me.

“Ael Cloie, if you have anything to say in your defense, please do so.”

The instructor passing me the floor to speak was more of a confirmation than consideration. It was a kind of last chance to appeal, a spike to show that if there was still a need for your existence, you should appeal for yourself.

Of course.

I had nothing to say.

I pressed my fiery face to the ground and stared at my toes as if they were about to pierce through.

Lager only grumbled in frustration, and now he let out a sigh, realizing there was nothing more to say.

That’s when.

“I object.”

“She is not incompetent.”

The familiar male instructor stood up from his seat and suddenly made such a statement.

It was the Chief Instructor, the one who was a true soldier dedicated to protecting the saints, who had been pricked in my conscience.

All eyes turned to him. The female instructor frowned as if she didn’t like it, and spat out his name.

“Pride C. Gunter, Instructor.”

The righteous instructor known as ‘Pride’ raised his sunglasses in a manner befitting a drill sergeant and nodded his head.

“Margherita P. Romano, may I have the floor for a moment?”

In contrast to his polite request, the female instructor named Margherita lightly clicked her tongue and stepped aside from me for a moment.

As Pride approached me, my mind was filled with unnecessary thoughts, perhaps due to my panicked state. Why out of all the names, the female instructor’s name had to be ‘Margherita,’ and why did her middle name have to be ‘P’ out of all the alphabets? Moreover, if Pride’s middle name is C, could it possibly stand for chicken? So, are pizza and chicken having a food fight with beer in between? No, should I call it a snack fight?

Amidst all these random thoughts swirling in my head.

Pride slowly approached me.

“Aeil Chloe’s true ability is.”

“Right there at the tip of her tail.”

In that moment, all the cluttered thoughts in my mind vanished, and only the two words ‘damn it’ filled my head.

“Chloe asked for this to be kept a secret, but I believe I cannot keep it a secret until she is in imminent danger of being expelled.”

“No, why, instructor….”

“Her tail, in fact, possesses a strange power that momentarily helps individuals reach their life goals.”

Yes, the chicken kid I thought was the savior turned out to be an arsonist.

Caught between whether to stop the instructor or just let it be, Lager and Yuzu stood by my side like a pair of crutches, with Yuzu fidgeting nervously.

And with no way to interrupt the instructor’s words, I found myself in the predicament of watching my own downfall in real-time.

Truly a grand meltdown party.

“Is that true?”

As Margherita, not Pizza, the instructor, looked at my tail with suspicion, Pride affirmed once again.

“I lost my arm at that time, but thanks to her, I came back alive from the battlefield. I don’t know why she wants to keep that ability a secret, but….”

No, that should have been the first thing I thought of, to blurt it all out and say ‘but why is this a secret? Hehe’ would be pointless.

I witnessed Lager’s awkward expression as he turned away. It seemed like he was watching for the right moment to intervene.

“How can we believe that? Right now, Pride seems to be making a cold and reckless claim to save his disciple.”

“In that case, there’s no choice but to show it directly. Chloe, give me a poke.”

Despite Lager’s efforts, Pizza and Chicken instructors were unknowingly engaging in a fantasy back-and-forth.

No. Perhaps this could be a good way to turn the situation around, so there’s no need to be pessimistic.

When I extended my tail, Pride responded with the back of his hand.

Maybe there won’t be a different effect now. With caution, I cautiously poked his hand.

“…Nothing happened?”

Nothing happened. Or more precisely, nothing seemed to have happened.

Clearly, the message of destroying the original author’s setting by poking the tail rang in my head. The effect had been activated normally.

However, his goal was to protect his disciples from danger, and since there were no endangered disciples at the moment, there was no way to show that a change had occurred. It seemed that the danger referred to only meant a threat to life.

“What should we do? There doesn’t seem to be any visible reaction. Has anyone else used this ability on you before?”

Pride instructor asked me with a pitiful and frustrated expression, but the one whose outfit was on the verge of bursting was me.

Ironically, the two people next to me, both “writers,” were immune to the tail’s abilities. If Dakota were here, she would have sacrificed herself to escape the crisis, but even that was not an option. In a crisis situation, being stabbed by the tail would make no difference to Lina either.

The only person who showed a different and dynamic reaction than usual when stabbed by the tail was…

…me alone.

“Excuse me, Miss Ael Cloie.”

“Oh, no.”

Without even listening to Pride instructor’s words, I immediately shook my head. Of course, of course it’s not allowed. If I were stabbed by the tail here, it wouldn’t just be expulsion from the academy, but serious consideration of social suicide.

Yuju, who knew well what would happen if I were stabbed by the tail, stepped forward to defuse the situation.

“Um, well, actually, the tail doesn’t work on me…”

“Don’t lie. If that were the case, you would have said ‘it doesn’t work’ instead of ‘it’s not allowed,’ wouldn’t you?”

At Margarita instructor’s unnecessarily sharp retort, Yuju closed her mouth with a gulp, sweating profusely. She really has no talent for lying.

“What on earth are you doing? Is this disciple so precious to you? Everyone is lying through their teeth with the same excuse.”

Margarita instructor exploded in anger, raising her voice. And then, in a fit of nerves, she approached me.

Grabbing my tail abruptly.

“But at least, it seems to be true that something happens when she stabs her.”

“Oh, w-wait…!”

Thud.

Margarita instructor stabbed my back with the tail end she grabbed.

The damn reaction came in the blink of an eye.