Chapter 132

The carriage rattled forward.

Ethan sat at the edge of the passenger compartment with his eyes closed, then quietly lifted his eyelids.

Nothing but the plain wooden floor filled his vision.

Ethan stared at the tips of his feet pressing against the boards and listened to Mikhail's voice looping through his ears.

[You should just… no. Never mind. I'll explain things more clearly.]

[Ethan, my condition is… No. Forget it. If I need help, I'll ask first.]

[Ethan Welton. Your job is to hold the front for everyone here. Not to worry about me.]

Ethan tightened his jaw and swept his bangs aside. Then he tilted his head back and stared up at the sky.

How did I—how did things end up like this?

The silent question trailed off into an exhale. He closed his eyes. In the stillness, he traced the tremor back to its source.

It had only been a brief window, but there had been a time when he'd felt at peace.

"Ah."

His sealed lips parted with a small sound of recognition. Ethan arrived at a single conclusion and opened his eyes.

The answer emerged from the wandering tangle of his thoughts faster than he'd expected.

What I wanted… was for that calm to just keep going. No friction. No conflict.

Ethan cast his mind back to the moment he'd first set foot in the Guild Headquarters.

An environment free of any conflict at all. No anxiety, no restlessness—just the peaceful warmth of imagining everything he'd hoped for.

He'd been content with that comfort. He'd even wished it would last forever.

That's why… the friction with Mikhail got under my skin so badly. Once I see it that way, everything makes sense.

Ethan let a quiet breath of realization slip past his lips. His expression softened, and a faint smile settled into place.

Now that the root of the problem was exposed, what he needed to do became just as clear.

Yeah. I was so caught up in that feeling that… all I ever showed Mikhail was "let me help" or "I'm coming with you." I just shoved my good intentions at him without thinking.

Ethan swallowed.

Meanwhile, Mikhail seemed to have a plan for everything. I barged in without considering any of that—so of course he pushed back. In a situation like that, I probably wasn't much help at all.

The closer he got to the answer, the harder his pulse hammered at his fingertips. Ethan gripped his sword and gathered his thoughts.

Right. Stop creating situations where I clash with Mikhail. Read the moment better before making suggestions, and don't insert myself where I'm not needed. If I do that, then surely….

They'd find their way back to the peace they both wanted.

---

The site of the campaign's final round was the Cave of Contemplation, nestled at the far edge of the plains.

Clatter. Rattle.

The sprinter-drawn carriage gradually slowed as the grassy terrain gave way to bare rock face.

Screeeeech.

Mikhail stepped off the halted carriage and pressed forward.

Then he stopped and gazed at the mouth of the cave spread before him.

Whooooosh─

A faint wind sighed from deep inside.

The cave's interior was walled in dark stone, but that didn't make it dark.

Mana stones jutted from the ceiling and walls at scattered intervals. Crystals with clear, polished surfaces cast a blue glow that lit the surroundings.

〔[Sub] Complete Round 3 of the Suppression Campaign〕

— Completion Reward: Shop Currency +3

Mikhail confirmed the quest message and tilted his head back to study the sky.

The vast landscape stretched on undisturbed, but the dusky clouds hovering at the rim of the orange atmosphere had multiplied since the last time he'd looked.

In the original, the sky was perfectly clear. Not a single cloud.

Mikhail narrowed his eyes with a twinge of unease and watched the scenery that had changed of its own accord.

But he soon drew a deep breath, shook his head, and fixed his gaze forward.

Clatter.

That was when the noise reached him. Mikhail turned his head. Carriages from the other factions were rolling to a stop one after another behind them.

Thud.

Footsteps struck the ground as participants from every faction emerged from their carriages.

The Allied Knight Order appeared. So did Verte Fischer, folded into the research institute's ranks.

"……"

Mikhail stared at Verte's profile, settled into a cold stillness, and held there.

The moment he faced his adversary, the voice ringing in his ears was the single remark Lloyd had offered on the carriage.

[All I can say for certain is that he'll be at a disadvantage. As long as he exists as a Fischer, the possibility of him coming at you doesn't disappear entirely.]

Mikhail recalled Lloyd's words alongside the lore assigned to Verte, and curled his fingertips inward.

"—Ah, has everyone arrived?"

At that moment, the announcer's voice rang out to signal the next round.

"The campaign has entered its final stretch! The grand finale—Round Three—will take place right before your eyes, in the Cave of Contemplation."

Every gaze swung toward the cave.

"Unlike the previous rounds, Round Three's first and second stages will run back-to-back without a break. The entire journey—from the cave's entrance to the teleportation circle at its deepest point—will encompass both stages."

Mikhail turned his head toward the noise approaching from behind the moment the explanation ended.

Krrrrmm.

What emerged amid the vibrations was a transport carriage.

Mikhail swept his gaze over the vehicle, fitted with an enormous balloon-like apparatus, and considered its purpose.

A mana replenishment source. Needed to activate the teleportation circle at the end of the cave.

Mikhail pulled his eyes from the hot-air-balloon-shaped transport and faced forward again.

The announcer's voice picked back up.

"Now then, allow me to explain Round Three's structure and objectives! First—please take note of the mana replenishment source that just arrived behind you! Participants will escort and defend the replenishment source against incoming beasts while advancing to the cave's midpoint. After that, everyone must cooperate to subdue the cave basilisk that revives there every year."

The instant the announcer mentioned basilisk, excited chatter erupted from every direction.

"A basilisk, huh. That massive, vicious snake beast? Looks like this year's final round is following the same format as always."

"Come to think of it, I heard last year's campaign took eighty-three minutes to bring the basilisk down. Think we can beat that record?"

"Oh, come on—don't go weak on me. Of course we can! …Well, as long the other factions don't trip over their own feet."

The participants were busy trading ambition and skepticism in equal measure when—

"Haha! I'm glad to see everyone's familiar with the campaign's annual tradition!"

The announcer cranked his tone to its brightest pitch and gathered every stray eye and ear back to himself.

"As you know, slaying the cave basilisk has been a fixture of the final round for years. Which means our preparations for any emergencies that arise during the encounter are thorough! …However."

It happened in an instant. The announcer's breezy voice dropped a full register and took on the opposite air.

"That is no reason to let your guard down. The cave basilisk is enormous, and formidable in every regard—offense, defense, and beyond! Complacency leads straight to danger, so once you've reached the cave's midpoint, all inter-faction hostilities are strictly prohibited. Keep that in mind!"

Nods and murmurs of agreement rippled through the assembled crowd.

Only after hearing the chorus of assent did the announcer seem satisfied enough to return to his usual tone.

"Excellent! Before we kick off the first stage of Round Three, let me walk you through the newly assigned roles."

He paused for a breath, then continued.

"Up until now, points were awarded based on individual kill contributions. This time, it's different. Each faction will earn points based on how well they perform the duties assigned to their role."

The announcer punctuated the end of his sentence with a clap. Operations managers from the organizers' transport team began approaching each faction.

Mikhail returned to where Salvator's members were gathered and stood beside Ethan, who was already receiving supplies from a manager.

What he was handed was a new magic tool component and a single sheet of parchment.

Click.

The moment Mikhail fitted the component into his device, a faint blue glow rose from his wrist alongside a shield emblem.

Mikhail glanced at the emblem, then unrolled the parchment and scanned the text.

〔Affiliation: Salvator Academy〕 / 〔Role: Defense〕

— Defend the mana replenishment source from damage. — Protect personnel in the attack and support units. — Maintain established defensive formations. — Coordinate actions with members of the same role.

The format's familiar enough.

Mikhail stopped reading partway through and swept his gaze over the people nearby.

Across every faction, members were raising their wrist-mounted devices, each projecting the emblem of their assigned role.

"Oh, a sword emblem? Don't even need to check—that's the attack unit!"

"Ours is a star emblem. What does that… ah, it says support?"

Exclamations and questions spilled out from every corner. Meanwhile, Mikhail's gaze paused on each faction worth watching.

Looks like the research institute was assigned to the attack unit. And the Allied Knight Order is on defense, same as us.

Mikhail pulled his attention from the factions and looked up at the open air.

The announcer's explanation, streaming from the magic tool, was drawing to a close—the final details of how the round would unfold.

"The role assignments this time were made after carefully weighing each faction's strengths and weaknesses, with the additional hope—on the organizers' part—of uncovering further potential."

Small sounds of admiration leaked from clusters across the crowd.

The announcer cleared his throat once with evident satisfaction, then continued.

"Every one of you is a future pillar of the kingdom's defense. You'll stand in high places, charged with safeguarding the well-being of all. So we ask that you rise to the expectations of those watching and carry these final stages to a splendid conclusion. The activity scoring this time is weighted a touch heavier than before—so if you perform well, you may just be able to overcome whatever ground you've lost so far!"

Cheers laced with renewed determination erupted from every direction.

Mikhail watched the participants rally themselves and tighten their stances, then lifted his eyes.

Alone beneath the open sky, he was retracing the approaching arc of the main storyline when a voice cut into his thoughts.

Ethan.

"Mikhail. There's something I want to talk about."