Getting Called Out
Shortly after the spider was destroyed, all the remaining small spiders went still, all traces of life within them simply... ceasing.
Then they started to disintegrate back into mana, same with what was left of the giant spider. Even its blood that had sprayed everywhere, the webs, the acid remains, and the pungent smell that came with it was canceled.
Because at the end of the day, none of them were truly alive. They were simply mana constructs. Extremely realistic mana constructs with perhaps a bit too much detail, but constructs nonetheless.
Xander couldn't help but glance at Sergeant Alya from the corner of his eye.
'She seemed to create something like that so casually. A single spider capable of creating widespread destruction and unleashing its own cannon fodder. And yesterday, we got a glimpse of the various other things she could create as well.' His finger traced the handle of his sword as she approached, that same infuriating smile of hers never leaving her face.
'Isn't she just a walking army?'
"Oh my, you guys actually managed to take it down with your dysfunctional squad. Not bad," She smiled sweetly. "For a moment, you guys actually moved like a real squad. Granted, there was still much left to be desired, especially in the communication department–"
"Mm," Her criticisms were cut off when Mia, who had been sleeping in her arms all this time, shifted and reached towards Xander.
There was a brief silence before Alya sighed and gave Xander a look, to which he just shrugged and held out his hands.
The girl was passed to him, and in a moment, she fell asleep in his arms.
Clearing her throat, Alya snapped her fingers, and Curtis and Aubrey who was some ways away were suddenly dragged over by an invisible force.
'That was just pure mana,' Xander noted as they were yanked over against their will and plopped down on the ground.
"As I was saying," Alya continued. "While some of you can improve quite a bit in the individual department," She gave Aubrey and Falael—who had regained consciousness—pointed looks. "I suppose your coordination is enough to circumvent that at the moment."
"However, what I found truly appalling was your communication. Sure, when it came to the sort of information that was passed around, it was better compared to yesterday. You guys weren't just reacting but were actively developing countermeasures. That's an improvement. But..." She swept her gaze over all of them.
"Taking 3-4 seconds just to relay your findings in the middle of a chaotic battle is unacceptable." At this, Aubrey cringed slightly but kept quiet.
Xander also sighed.
'She's not wrong to be honest.' He mused.
Sure, the way they handled information compared to yesterday was better by quite a bit, but they simply took too long in their communication. There were moments when the group simply idle as a whole because they were spending that time communicating with one another.
'The burden doesn't fall solely Aubrey, though. Outside of her gathering information, I was still giving out orders, and Curtis was still saying when he'd cast a certain spell. The only quiet one was Falael, which isn't really a good thing since they might end up being left out of the loop.' He rubbed his temples and spoke.
"Is there something like a telepathy spell we could learn?" He asked, and Alya stared at him flatly.
"Why are you asking me? It's your squad. If you want to know, go to the library." Hearing this, Xander sputtered.
"Wha– You're our instructor! Aren't you responsible for us???" He retorted, and Alya raised a brow.
"That may be the case, yes. But I'm not gonna spoonfeed you. If you think group telepathy is the way to rectify the communication issue, by all means, go and find a spell for that. My purpose is to put you on the right track and ensure you improve. How that improvement comes about is up to you." With that, she walked away, leaving a slightly fuming Xander.
'That... That! Argh!' He ground his teeth and forced himself to calm down.
'Fuu~. Alright. Let's not get heated. Besides, she isn't exactly wrong.' He shook his head. Shaking his head, he thought about the way she'd been guiding them thus far.
She would throw them into difficult situations that push them to the limit, then she notes their flaws and leaves them to their own devices. Direct advice was something she scarcely offered.
'What a mess.' He sighed and looked at his teammates.
Aubrey was massaging her temples, but she wasn't bleeding from her nose this time, which was good. Falael had sat down cross-legged to recover their mana, and Curtis...
"Hey man... are you alright?" Xander asked as he observed Curtis's uncomfortable posture.
"I... Yeah, it's just..." Curtis grimaced as he looked at his bracelet, his hair still standing from the powerful electric shock from before.
"I guess I underestimated this thing. The electricity aside... having my senses dampened and gravity increased is really uncomfortable." He explained slowly.
'Ah, right...' Xander scratched his head. That was indeed an issue.
'Seems like she won't undo the effects of the bracelets until the day is over, though.' Sighing, Xander just gave Curtis a reassuring smile and patted his shoulder.
"Just bear with it a little longer. Also, I meant what I said when you blocked that attack. It was beautifully done. Thanks for doing it despite knowing you'd get punished by the bracelet." Hearing his praise, Curtis's grimace eased as his face brightened a little.
"Th-Thanks!" He beamed. "I didn't really think about the consequences back then. I just... told myself that I had to do my job as a tank. So I did," He paused, then said with admiration. "Also... the way you defended against the spider was really cool too. I've never seen someone who uses a sword deflect attacks like that." Xander smiled sheepishly at that.
"Uh, thanks. I just do what I can in the moment." He scratched his cheek.
"Can you stop doing that?" An irritated voice cut through the conversation, and everyone turned to see Falael standing up with a scowl.
"Doing what?" Xander raised a brow.
"That sickening humility of yours," They growled. "You perform like that, and you say you just 'did what you could in the moment'? Bullshit!" He stepped forward, and Curtis, as usual, tried to mediate.
"H-Hey now, it's not that big of a deal–"
"Shut it you oaf!" And as usual, Falael cut him off.
Aubrey looked between them worriedly as Falael stepped closer to Xander, nearly jabbing a finger at him.
"I'm already at my limit following someone that uses something as inferior and outdated as swordsmanship to fight in today's world. But if you think you can gain some moral high ground by acting all humble then I'm gonna lose it! You feel superior, don't? You think you're better because you're performing better than most mages our age using something that's universally looked down on, right?!" They stopped just inches away from Xander, whose had to twist his body a way slightly to stop Mia from getting getting touched.
At their outburst, Xander just... stared.
He knew somewhere in the back of his mind that Falael's words should have enraged him. Especially the part about swordsmanship being inferior and outdated. That part especially stung.
However, there was something in his outburst that caught his attention.
'If you think you can get some moral high ground by acting all humble then I'm gonna lose it... ah!' Xander blinked and blurted out.
"Are you embarrassed?" The suddenness of the words stopped Falael in their tracks, their eyes widening.
"You– What...?" They floundered, but Xander pressed on.
"It's not my humility itself that bugs you, it's the meaning behind it." Xander tilted his head.
"Thus far, you've acted extremely arrogant and proud towards everyone here, but me especially because, as you said, swords are deemed inferior, however..." Xander took a step forward, and Falael retreated a step. "Unlike you, I haven't proclaimed swordsmanship to be superior even though I've proven my skills many times over. I don't act arrogant like you despite actually having the skills to back said arrogance up." He looked at Falael deeply, making the latter shrink unconsciously.
"You've compared our actions to each other, and after seeing that I have every reason to be arrogant with my abilities, and am not, while you are super arrogant despite your low mana capacity, you either don't understand why I'm humble despite skills, which makes your arrogant self feel very uncomfortable, or you've seen just how petty your behavior was. So that outburst just now was to make me act superior, that way, you would feel that you weren't the problematic one." He freed up one hand and rubbed his chin in front of his teammates who stared at him with jaws dropped.
"In short. You want me to clap back so you won't feel like your ego is unwarranted. You want me to act arrogantly so you regain your sense of superiority, which has been fracturing simply due to my presence." When he finished, they just stared at him blankly.
Then their face flushed, ears drooping with a myriad of emotions as they looked ready to explode.
"You... You...!" Falael's teeth ground together.
They wanted to retort, wanted to insult Xander, wanted to do anything to refute his words.
But they couldn't.
Because he was right.
Falael was already struggling with their feelings, torn between loathing Xander and respecting him.
When he acted humble in front of Curtis, it was like a blow was dealt.
They simply couldn't understand it. Xander had used the blade and magic in ways Falael had never seen before, and it was so effective that he felt threatened. Yet no matter what, Xander never proclaimed anything like sword supremacy. He just did what he did.
It made Falael, who was openly prideful, feel petty in comparison.
And that hurt.
So they snapped. They tried to get a reaction of of Xander, going as far as insulting swordsmanship as a whole so that Xander would clap back. If that happened, the feeling in Falael's heart would fade, as that would mean that Xander wasn't much different from them after all.
But reality played out differently.
Xander hadn't just reacted differently than they had wanted, he accurately called out Falael's behavior. And even worse, his words weren't filled with malice, nor were they arrogant in that way people got when they clocked something about someone.
No, he simply called it like like one would a child who thought they were being sneaky, and the humiliation was burning. So much so that Falael wanted to crawl somewhere and hide. But there was nowhere to go, so they could only do what they did best.
Deflect.
But as they opened their mouth, Xander scratched his head.
"Well, to be honest, I don't really care about any of that stuff."
'... Huh?' Falael blinked.
"You... don't care?" They echoed, their anger and embarrassment momentarily giving way to confusion, and Xander just shrugged.
"Yeah. Don't get me wrong, I'm very proud of my sword skills, and quite frankly, I find the way everyone else uses them to be appalling and an insult to the craft," He said flatly. "But I don't use swords to prove their superiority over casting magic or anything like that. Both have their pros and cons. Nah, I just do it because I like swords." Xander said honestly.
Beyond the magic. Beyond the spells and fantastical things. Xander simply liked swords.
His talent with them was unparalleled, yes. But that single-minded passion for them was what truly mattered to him, and for the first time, Falael truly got a glimpse into the type of person Xander was.
Unlike them, who focused too much on unnecessary things, Xander's first and primary desire was his craft.
And all of a sudden, their arrogance, indignation, and anger towards Xander faded like smoke in the wind, realizing just how petty they had been.
Getting angry at Xander made no sense, because in the first place, he wasn't even trying to compete with anyone. He just focused on honing his skills with the sword. Everything else was secondary.
The nature of the flush on Falael's face changed, and their gaze was aimed downwards.
"... Oh." Was all they managed, and Xander just shrugged, seeming to see that Falael finally realized how dumb they were being.
Curtis forced a cough and averted his gaze, while Aubrey adjusted her glasses.
An awkward silence followed that.