novelraw Chapter 83 : Bad Blood and Fate (2)
Chapter 83 : Bad Blood and Fate (2)
Chapter 83: Bad Blood and Fate (2)
I had thought the time to face him would come soon enough….
When Frederick suddenly showed up, I simply kept a disinterested expression.
“What brings you here?”
He chuckled and slung his left arm over my shoulder.
“I was worried you might’ve worn yourself out too much up front, so I came out of concern.”
I naturally shrugged his arm off and stepped back.
“I doubt you came here purely out of concern. Let’s just get to the point, Director.”
“You’ve gotten even more cold-hearted, haven’t you?”
Well, fine.
When he crossed his arms, his uniform sleeves looked ready to burst around his thick forearms.
“For this special duel, you should just take it easy and forfeit halfway.”
So it was about that, after all.
I brushed my hand across my mouth and asked,
“Do you still hold a grudge against me? Something like, ‘I have to defeat Eugene Carter no matter what’?”
“Of course not.”
After saying that, he paused briefly.
“…Well, to be honest, right after I returned, I did think that way. I’ll admit it.”
“……”
“But not anymore. I’m saying this because I genuinely care about you. Forfeiting would paint a better picture.”
“Would that be a picture for your sake, or…?”
“For Karbenna’s sake.”
I could tell what he was trying to say.
After glancing around, Frederick took half a step closer and whispered,
“Despite years of absence, the Iron-Blooded Frederick was taken aback by your skills—those of a war hero from the Special Task Force! Quite the spectacle, yes. But in the end, it was close. Even Eugene Carter couldn’t overcome the solid strength of Karbenna’s finest.”
“……”
“How about it? Sounds like a decent narrative, doesn’t it?”
“…Yes. It does sound that way.”
If this were the old Frederick, I’d have shot back with a mocking remark without hesitation.
But this time, he was being sincere.
‘This isn’t an idea that would come from him… Did Michel suggest it? Or did he just stumble upon it by luck?’
Either way, it wasn’t a bad suggestion for me.
No, it was actually a pretty good one.
It could protect both my reputation and Karbenna’s.
The old Eugene Carter would’ve agreed to that plan without much thought.
But—
“I understand what you mean, but…”
That option was not one I could take now.
“I have no intention of forfeiting.”
“…Seems to me you’re the one still bound by the past, Carter.”
“Maybe so.”
When I held my ground, Frederick sighed and shook his head, as if giving up.
“Well, fine. If you pass out, it’ll count as a forfeit anyway. Maybe we’ll go with that instead.”
Ah, before you go—let’s make one thing clear.
“Regardless of what you think, after this event, I plan to end all the bad blood between us. There’ll be no more of these petty conflicts over what happened back then.”
“…That goes for me as well. You have my word.”
“Hmph.”
Even when he tried to say something decent….
As Frederick grumbled and returned to his place, I silently watched him, lost in thought.
Raising the overall evaluation of the main characters was important—but so was restoring Karbenna’s reputation.
There was still time, but considering all the incidents that could happen from here on, I needed to overturn our image as soon as possible.
In that sense, Frederick’s proposal would only serve as a temporary measure.
He was indeed one of Karbenna’s top five strongest, but in the end, still an insider.
He’d been stationed here for twelve years—an old fixture of Karbenna.
No one would believe that such a twelve-year veteran could lose to a newly assigned instructor from the Special Task Force.
Stagnant water always rots; this world is no exception.
If I did as he said—fighting well but forfeiting in the end—Karbenna’s reputation would never improve.
People would say, “Of course. I knew it. No matter what, defeating Frederick was impossible.”
The moment rumors spread that Eugene Carter’s ability was only that much, even the Special Task Force’s cooperative attitude toward me would start to change.
Karbenna’s internal evaluations would follow the same pattern.
They might start asking, “Why should we listen to a guy who couldn’t even beat Frederick?”
‘Prejudice only works best when overturned.’
That’s why I needed a true reversal.
Yes—something like—
An old, washed-up hero making his return… completely destroying Karbenna’s seasoned powerhouse.
With that thought burning in my chest, I glared at Frederick and the crowd gathered behind him, eyes filled with fighting spirit.
The stage was already filled with speakers.
I walked toward my assigned seat among the Karbenna instructors.
It was time for the discussion of the third agenda to begin.
“Now, moving on to the third agenda—current reports and discussions on the academies within the Empire. Those who wish to speak, please raise your hands.”
Unlike the first two agenda items, which progressed fairly quickly, this one slowed considerably.
No surprise, considering there were twenty-six academies under the Empire.
Even though that number was still less than half of what other nations had in proportion to their territories.
Each of them had to present their reports and cross-verify others’, so naturally, the discussion dragged on.
And presiding over it all was Alix Ribenia—the most prudent and meticulous among the Imperial family.
No matter how long someone spoke, she would never interrupt them midway.
“……”
“Yes. Thank you for your report, Principal Erbo. Next speaker, please….”
As a result, the session had already run for over six hours.
‘…Good thing the earlier ones wrapped up quickly.’
Though the conference hall was brightly lit by countless luminous stones, they couldn’t fend off the chill in the air.
Second-time participants had come fully prepared, but first-timers like Rubia and me hadn’t even brought a blanket.
Of course, I wasn’t bothered by the cold—but Rubia was.
“Achoo!”
When she sniffled, Michel, seated three seats away, silently handed her a lap blanket.
“Ah, no, it’s fine!”
“Don’t worry. Use it. It’s all right.”
“…Thank you, Chairwoman.”
Accepting Michel’s blanket without protest, Rubia wrapped it mainly around her legs, where the fabric was thinner.
Just then—when an unexpected moment of exchange passed between the two of them—
The Fourth Princess mentioned an all-too-familiar academy name.
“Next up… the Imperial Academy Karbenna.”
“…Well, that’ll wake me up.”
Muttering to myself, I turned to Michel with a faint smile.
Holding a stack of reports she’d received from the department heads, she walked up to the podium.
“I’m Michel Bernhardt, Chairwoman of Karbenna.”
“Yes, Chairwoman Michel. Please begin your report.”
Michel began by summarizing the contents of the front page of the compiled reports submitted by each division.
In both form and substance, it wasn’t much different from the other academies’ reports.
Her focus was on emphasizing quantitative advantages—success rates of dispatch operations, officer admission ratios, and the number of resources, including artifacts.
When Michel finished her twenty-minute report, Alix Ribenia looked down at the shared materials in her hands and asked,
“…Karbenna is the only academy directly supervised by the Imperial Household, correct? It performs far better than the imperial average, and yet its overall evaluation remains at B-, ranking only seventh. Is that accurate?”
“Yes, it is.”
“Karbenna stands as one of the Empire’s main pillars, alongside the Imperial Army and the Eight Great Houses. I must apologize to the other academy representatives for saying this, but the Imperial Family can’t help but pay closer attention to Karbenna.”
And so—my question is this.
“Do you have any plans to improve the academy’s relatively poor reputation?”
Then—
As if she had been waiting for that moment, Michel drew a wand from her robes.
Whoosh!
The flames that burst from her wand instantly engulfed all the thick reports she had brought with her.
A brief murmur spread across the hall at Michel’s dramatic display.
The burning reports soon turned into black ashes on the floor.
And even those ashes were swept away by the wind that circulated around the stage.
After gazing up at the sight, Michel turned her attention back to Princess Alix.
“There was a time when I believed it was enough to simply uphold our existing reputation—that aiming for more would be arrogance.”
“……”
“But I’ve come to realize that that very thought was arrogance itself.”
She cast a glance toward Eric standing behind her before continuing.
“I’ve seen with my own eyes the results of that arrogance. As the Chairwoman of Karbenna, and as a member of the Bernhardt family, I feel a heavy sense of responsibility. Such a situation must never be repeated.”
And so, both I and Karbenna have made up our minds.
“Even if we must abandon all of our current prestige… we will choose change.”
At her resolute declaration, Alix hesitated for a moment before lifting her gaze slightly.
“…Could you elaborate a bit more specifically?”
“To prove my resolve, I’ll make two promises.”
Michel raised her hand without the slightest hesitation.
“First, in cooperation with the Imperial Special Task Force, we will restructure our existing curriculum to focus on subjugating beasts. Karbenna will become an institution worthy of its title as an imperial military academy, producing exceptional soldiers.”
And as she was about to announce the second promise—
A voice abruptly cut in between them.
“That sounds like nothing more than an attempt to save face, Chairwoman.”
From the Imperial Army’s side of the assembly, a woman stepped forward with her hand raised.
‘That woman….’
Though not as large as Frederick, she was still well-built—solid enough to rival any man.
Her short black hair, the claw scar on her left cheek, and her rough, no-nonsense attitude that ignored decorum—all unmistakable traits.
“Those who wish to speak should raise their hand fir—”
“It’s fine, Georg. Let her continue.”
“Thank you, Your Highness.”
Once the princess gave her permission, the woman snapped a sharp salute and stepped onto the podium.
“I am Natalie Siegmund, Defense Commander of the Imperial Army.”
She seemed to expect a reaction to her introduction, but even standing before a direct member of the Imperial Family, her composure didn’t waver.
“I know who you are,” Alix replied evenly.
And with that, the discussion began in earnest.
With arms crossed, Natalie looked down at Michel and asked,
“Do you have any concrete data regarding your current cooperation with the Special Task Force and the curriculum restructuring?”
“There’s no reason I should show such data to you.”
“Of course not—to Her Highness, obviously. Must I spell that out for you?”
“……”
Since Chloe had kept quiet, someone else had to pick a fight instead.
Well, from the Defense Command’s perspective, our direction must have been quite displeasing.
After all, the subjugation of beasts within the Empire was practically handled by both the Defense Command and the Special Task Force. Yet, nearly ninety percent of Karbenna’s officer graduates joined either the regular army or the Special Task Force, with the rest entering the administrative branches.
And it had always been the Defense Command that supplied the largest number of recruits to the Special Task Force.
Even in the recent Eber Suppression Operation, I’d heard they had sent nearly six thousand troops to assist.
So really, this was their way of saying—“Why are you teaming up with the Task Force again?”
“…It seems the Special Task Force would like to respond to that comment.”
“…What?”
Since we were being picked apart like this, there was no reason the Task Force would stay silent.
I watched with an intrigued smile as the representative on the opposite side stood up.
After receiving permission from the moderator, the man who appeared beside the Defense Commander was—
“It seems you’ve got quite a lot of complaints about the cooperation between the Special Task Force and Karbenna.”
My former superior—Lieutenant General Alvin Caldwell, Commander of the Special Task Force.