So many things and different variables must have pushed her into a corner.
The hem of her dress, which had always been shiny, was now dirty and torn here and there. The tips of her silky hair had also been burned by Takan's flames. All traces of a gruesome battle.
With her mind and body pushed into a corner, she looked straight at me.
"You… It's you again."
"Since we don't have much time, I won't say much."
The students around us began to whisper.
Who is he to talk to the princess so condescendingly?
Isn't it crazy to follow Ed Rothstaylor's plan?
Won't we all die at this point?
Well, these were things not even worth reacting to.
"I am not lying."
But these students were not the ones who would make the final decision. Only one person in this base had a monarch's qualifications to take on such responsibilities.
Princess Pheonia stared at me for a while… she seemed to be lost in her thoughts, but soon nodded her head.
"Whatever your intent may be, you didn't say anything that wasn't true."
A judgment made calmly.
"Princess Pheonia! Are you taking his side?! That guy is Ed Rothstaylor!"
"Quiet, Claire. I am not taking Ed Rothstaylor's side, I'm just following the 'reasonable opinion' that he brought up."
Princess Pheonia told the subjugation team after making her final decision.
"We can't beat Takan right now. But what's certain is that if we defeat the Elementalist Janica, then Takan will also be defeated. But there's something we must first decide."
"Who's going to stop Takan?"
Ziggs said, followed by a moment of silence from everyone.
"Ah… isn't that just picking a person who wants to commit suicide."
"Watch what you say, Alvira."
"Oh my, I apologize, Princess."
In a state of disarray, Nosy Alvira quickly shut her mouth.
"One is not specifically safer than the other. The opponent will either be a high-ranking dark spirit or a high-ranking fire spirit."
That's right.
From their point of view, one was not safer than the other.
But from my point of view of knowing everything, dealing with Takan was much more dangerous.
Takan was an enemy designed to teach Taylor how to use Elemental Slash. That's why it was an overwhelmingly overpowered enemy.
On the other hand, the high-ranking dark spirit Velosfer was just a strong enemy.
Defeating him would not rely on a specific attack method like Takan. Velosfer was just a standard final boss you could defeat through strategy and properly using your abilities.
Takan's existence is completely unreasonable, given the circumstances. A lock that needed to be opened without a key.
But Velosfer was just a complicated labyrinth. And with these many talented members, they could surely defeat him through pure effort.
"But… I… I don't want to deal with that fire-lizard!"
The cowardly Klebias groaned.
"I will… I'll go with the team fighting Velosfer! I'd rather go that way! You even said it yourself, that it was more important to deal with Janica!"
Ah, that's right. Right now, the biggest difference between the two high-ranking spirits was the fear that the subjugation team had felt.
Tension spread throughout the group. The princess wasn't able to stop Klebias from saying such discouraging things.
The enemy they hadn't met yet, versus the enemy they already lost against.
It was obvious that the fear they felt for Takan was much stronger.
Takan, the high-ranking spirit made even stronger by Velosfer's Berserk buff. The embodiment of fear, who swung its tail around, letting out a mighty roar, knocking down the pillars in the corridor while it spewed out flames.
It was only natural they didn't want to deal with it again.
Nobody volunteered for the Takan subjugation team.
There was tension among the students. Somebody had to take responsibility.
"I will take the position."
The first person to raise their hand was Taylor McLore.
"Don't say something stupid."
I shut down Taylor immediately.
"What did you say…?"
There was still hostility in his eyes whenever he would look at me. That much was expected.
"You wouldn't be able to handle that lizard even if you die and get reborn. You wouldn't even last a minute."
"There's no guarantee someone else would be able to do it either. If we had to pick someone to sacrifice, it's only logical for that sacrifice to be me."
Taylor looked around. All of the faces he saw were of the ace students of the first-year class. It wasn't every day you would get to see these people gathered in one place, sharing their opinions.
There was only one student here who was at risk of failing. Who was like a goose stuck among swans.
I was sure he was well-trained now. But that alone wouldn't nearly be enough to deal with the overwhelming gap between Takan and himself.
"I'm quick. I'm not sure how long I could run away for, but if we needed a sacrifice, it's only right for me to do it."
"You must have misunderstood. We aren't here to pick a sacrifice right now."
I grabbed Taylor's shoulders and turned him around. I gave him a strong push toward the crowd at the base.
"Stop making a fuss and get over there. You must be in the team who will deal with Velosfer."
I looked at Princess Pheonia after.
"I have an idea. I can keep Takan busy until the main force is able to take down Janica."
"What do you mean?"
"That's… Is there even time to explain right now? It's a very long plan, so to speak."
The color of Glaskan's summoning circle up in the sky would no longer change. It was now completely dark red. It felt like the disaster that was Glaskan would come out at any moment now.
"There's no need to divide the subjugation force into two equal numbers. I just need two people. One to act as the vanguard, and another for firepower."
That was all I would say. I then closed my mouth.
"W-What? You want us to come with you, Ed Rothstaylor, to go take on Takan?! Who in their right mind would do that?! We might as well just pray to god! Rather than trusting and following you… it would be better to run away toward the barrier's outskirts!"
"The person in charge of the vanguard will be Klebias, who currently keeps on yapping."
"WHAT? WHY?! WHY ME?! WHY?! I'M SORRY!!! IT'S MY FAULT! I DON'T WANT TO DIE!"
"Dear god… you're so loud! Idiotic Klebias."
Nosy Alvira yelled as she grabbed a piece of cloth used to seal alchemy chemicals and shoved it into the injured Klebias's mouth, unable to deal with him anymore.
Klebias started groaning through the gag while screaming on and off.
"As for the person in charge of firepower… Lortelle, you will come with me."
"Me?"
The Golden Daughter Lortelle looked at me in surprise.
"As you already know, I suffered a crushing defeat against Takan before, even without the Berserk magic."
"Is that even important? Is there even anyone here who can beat Takan one-on-one?"
"That's true, but… uhm…"
Lortelle smiled.
"I also know how precious my life is. In this situation, regardless of who you ask, isn't it only natural to politely refuse? Even though I'm not like that idiotic Klebias?"
'Who are you calling an idiot?'
I could almost hear Klebias cry through the cloth, but none of the other subjugation force members cared.
"Alright. But your opinion doesn't really matter."
"That's true too."
Lortelle coolly admitted. There was only one person who could decide every action and policy regarding the subjugation force.
I turned my head toward her. The girl who had the power to decide everyone's actions, The Benevolent Princess Pheonia Elias Kroel.
"Please make a decision."
"Will you trust him?"
"Is there any alternative?"
Everyone nearby had their attention focused on the princess. The students guarding the base looked rather skeptical. You would be living under a rock to not know Ed Rothstaylor's notoriety. I wasn't hoping for a favorable response.
"Princess! You can't! No! You must never! You can't just trust that guy to take care of things!"
Gloomy Klebias spat out the fabric in his mouth and shouted in objection.
"I think it's a worthwhile plan. If there are no other alternatives, let's go with the plan Ed suggested. Because that is the only option we have."
The Spear from Nature Ziggs was relatively in favor of me.
"Yeah, it might be better to follow his plan. I'm not sure about anything, but I sure know it's better than doing nothing and getting killed, ahahah!"
Nosy Alvira seemed to agree with me, but you could tell she was actually in favor of anything.
"I… I don't have anything to say."
The Golden Daughter Lortelle quietly watched the situation unfold.
"..."
Taylor stayed silent. His thoughts must have been quite complicated.
At the center was Princess Pheonia with her eyes closed, silent herself.
Trying to figure out the correct decision among the many differing opinions.
The princess had to carefully choose whose opinions to trust, and whose opinions to discard.
After contemplating for a while, Princess Pheonia opened her eyes and said:
"There is one condition. It may be a bit hard to fulfill."
Without further complications, the plan seemed to be going into action.
"Please don't die. You can't."
The subjugation force was divided into two groups.
The team in charge of Takan consisted of me, Klebias, and Lortelle.
And the team in charge of defeating Janica consisted of the remaining members.
I didn't have any big reason why I chose Klebias and Lortelle. I just needed two people to be in charge of the vanguard and firepower positions.
The people who could've served as the vanguard were Taylor, Klebias, Ziggs, and Claire.
Taylor was out of the question, and Claire was seriously injured. So it was either Ziggs or Klebias. But it was better to put the stronger Ziggs on the team in charge of defeating Janica, as his role was more crucial in the subjugation.
I just needed a vanguard who would attract attention, so I didn't really need someone who was strong. That was why I ended up choosing Klebias, who was already injured.
As for firepower, Princess Pheonia, Lortelle, and Alvira were my potential choices to be in charge of firepower. Ayla was still a bit too weak to be considered for the role.
Princess Pheonia was out of the question. She would be in charge of creating the defense to block Velosfer's magic attacks during the final battle. That's why she needed to be part of that team.
That left Alvira and Lortelle. There wasn't much of a reason for choosing Lortelle over Alvira. Lortelle was known as the Bad Ending Maker during Act 1, so I didn't want to put her next to Taylor. That's why I decided to take her with me instead.
As a result, the group in charge of defeating Janica was Taylor, Princess Pheonia, Ziggs, Alvira, and Ayla.
The group was a lot smaller compared to the original story. But they could definitely win as long as Taylor obtained the Swordmaster skill.
"We're cutting it quite close…"
There was nothing to be worried about. At this point, I had considered all the stats of each member, thought about who would be the best for each role, and ultimately created the most optimal teams—but compared to the original timeline, there were definitely many more things to be nervous about.
If they couldn't defeat Janica, then things would only get more complicated from there on out. But I had no choice but to trust them for now.
What was more urgent right now was Takan.
"Things ended up turning out just like you wanted, Ed."
It was late into the night. Sunrise was slowly approaching. The time limit was almost up.
The location we were headed to was the entrance to the Student Center. On either side of it were Neres Hall and Obel Hall.
"Shit! Just why did I have to be here?! Dear God! Please spare my life!"
Klebias was on the verge of tears. Even though he was acting like this, he's someone who always manages to do the things he needs to do. Even though he was irritatingly screeching like some mosquito next to my ear, he should be quite amazing at being the bait.
The three of us stood side by side as we looked at the open entrance to the Training Hall. As soon as we entered the corridor, the battle would start right away.
Once we managed to drag Takan out, the group in charge of defeating Janica would be able to sneak in behind and enter the Combat Practice Field, where the final battle would begin.
I couldn't believe the battle against both Takan and Velosfer would be happening at the same time. I was experiencing all sorts of weird things, getting myself caught up in all of this.
"It's about time you tell us, right? How are we going to buy time against that fire-lizard?"
"We can't."
"…what?"
Lortelle looked at me with an absurd expression on her face. Even Klebias was completely caught off guard.
"What? What the hell are you saying?!"
"We will die if Takan's fire so much as grazes us. Takan is also ridiculously fast, and we will be in a confined space—the pillars have already fallen… how could we possibly buy some time? Even if we try to run away, we wouldn't be able to drag it out for more than five minutes."
"That's… those are words we can't just easily overlook, Ed. We're risking our lives here."
"What I'm saying is, I think we can get around five minutes, at the very least."
I took off my dirty school uniform coat and pulled up my sleeves.
"You shouldn't think of this as running away. You have to think of this as defeating it."
Klebias and Lortelle looked dumbfounded at my words. It was a natural reaction for Klebias, but I had never seen Lortelle look so puzzled before. She always looked so level-headed. It wasn't a common sight. Seeing it in person was kind of hilarious.
"Just do what I tell you. As long as we follow my plan, we will definitely win."
I waved my arm, signaling the team in charge of defeating Janica.
It was time to enter.