“So what’s the situation for now?” Nero asked Mel. “Will they be forming new teams?”

Mel just shrugged.

“I don’t know. I heard that they were struggling to find more Neophytes to send it. After the draft, we already lost a lot of Neophytes, and the survivors are not all in a condition to be deployed once more. The ones who aren’t hurt or scarred aren’t willing to risk their lives anymore until they reach the Initiate realm.

“Unless there’s another draft order, I doubt we’ll get many more reinforcements, especially since the casualty and injury rate is so high. Some of the newer Neophytes who came shared rumours that a few veterans associations were actually protesting the decision to deploy kids. They say an entire generation has been crippled because of their actions.”

Nero nodded, and understood their point of view. But understanding was pointless. Empirically speaking, the value of a bunch of Neophytes was much lower than any other level. Although sending Neophytes to die might result in a generation or two of weakness in the future, at least in the present the army had achieved whatever it wanted to do.

“What about you?” Nero finally asked, extending his concern to his teammate.

“Honestly I’m… I’m not so bad, but even then, I’ve requested for a leave from the expedition. I’m running out of Recovery tokens, and I need to spend my time making more. Taking me along in Perilith won’t do much good.”

Although on the surface she seemed to be doing fine, in truth Nero could tell that she was frightened to return to that accursed dimension. It was unfortunate, for Nero didn’t see her getting that leave she requested. Even without her innate ability, she could still contribute as a combatant, and since the army was already running short of Neophytes to send, they wouldn’t let her go.

“Good luck with that,” Nero said sincerely. “Do you know where Vanessa is? Oh, and is there any chance that we’ll be getting deployed again today?”

“I don’t know about deployment, but Vanessa is meeting with Noman in the last room on the left.”

Nero thanked her, and then excused himself. There were certain things he had to make clear, as well as establish new ground rules for their future deployments.

Nero knocked and entered to the sight of Noman and Vanessa both frowning as they sat at opposite ends of the table from one another. Nero’s sudden arrival seemed to have broken some kind silent faceoff they were having.

“Nero, you’re back!” Noman exclaimed, excitement and relief clear in his voice. “Will you be joining us again?”

“Yes, I’m back. Sorry it took so long. You want to catch me up on everything? Looks like you two were having an intense discussion.”

Technically speaking, there was no reason for them to be discussing anything at all. Their mission, from the get go, was just to protect the researchers while the researchers sought out and secured the six sage level ingredients.

Although technically, they had already retrieved a single sage level ingredient, from what Nero understood, it was completely unrelated to the ones they originally sought out to find.

Of course, if Noman thought that Vanessa was purposefully leading them into dangerous areas without sticking to their mission objectives, Nero could see why he would be upset. But considering how involved the superiors were in their day to day missions, with even their routes mapped out by the Arcanist teams, Nero didn’t see how that was possible.

Noman’s expression turned stern, and he looked at Vanessa.

“It’s nothing. Maybe I should give you to some space to talk-“

“Sit,” Nero said, as he put his hand on Noman’s shoulder, and pushed him back down. He turned to look at Vanessa, and raised a single eyebrow.

“Young Private Noman here is of the impression that I have some kind of personal agreement with the Colonel, which is affecting the mission, and affecting Kolar’s interests. I was assuring him that there is no such thing, lest he starts doubting his mission and affecting his performance.”

Noman’s expression became stern once again, focusing on Vanessa, which is why he was startled when Nero suddenly slapped him on the shoulder.

“That’s your first mistake,” Nero said, in an instructive tone. “No matter what you think of her, you have to remember that she’s a junior officer, and you’re a private. You’re in no position to confront her about anything. The fact that you can get away with something like this is because of your father, but if you keep relying on your fathers influence you’ll never have any respect of your own.”

Noman was taken aback by how bluntly Nero was speaking, especially since he was talking right in front of Vanessa!

“Now, if you truly suspect that Vanessa is an agent against Kolar, there are a few ways you can react. The first, and probably best way is to inform someone superior to both you and Vanessa, someone reliable who you think will listen. Most likely, you will be asked to collect proof, or assist in revealing Vanessa’s true motives, but it is still better than confronting her directly. After all, as a junior officer she outranks you, and can have you punished for your insubordination.

“But, if you find yourself in a position where you can’t find a reliable superior to rely on, the second method you can use is a little more tough, but still safer. You have to collect evidence that supports your suspicions, and then reveal them to the public, or perhaps to key members of the army, to bring this plot to the light of day.

“This has risks of its own, and considering you will need to collect evidence you will have to wait till she actually does something. It will put you at a disadvantage, since you have to react to her. It will require meticulous planning and perfect execution on your part. In this case, the entire burden falls onto you.

“Compared to the second option, I think the third option is still much easier. If you suspect her without a shadow of a doubt, just assassinate her, making sure the blame does not fall onto you. Perilith is a good place to do something like that.”

Noman suddenly went pale as he listened to Nero, and then looked from him to Vanessa.

“Private Nero, I do not appreciate you telling people to assassinate me in front of my face,” Vanessa said, her tone incredibly formal.

Noman did not say anything, as he was suddenly unaware of what was truly happening. Was Nero incahoots with Vanessa? Was he against her? Did he have some other intentions? He knew none of these, but the things he said could be considered treasonous, even if Vanessa was only a temporary junior officer!

Nero smiled, and shook his head, turning to look back at Noman.

“Of course, these are just my recommendations for what to do if you are insistent upon confronting someone like Vanessa. My true, genuine advice to you is something else. You need to understand, Noman, that the world is not so straightforward, and good and bad are not so easily defined.

“You need to think about the goal or outcome you desire, and work towards it. If you find people harbouring secret agendas, do not treat that as a bad thing. The truth is, Noman, everyone has an agenda. But if you discover what one persons’ agenda is, you can figure out how you can work with them, or at least take advantage of them.”

“Are you confirming that she has some secret agenda?” Noman couldn’t help but ask. Raised under the influence of his father, who himself was a very traditional and patriotic man, Noman had a very straightforward mindset. He was like Nero back when he was young and had not been disillusioned.

“You’re focusing on the wrong thing,” Nero said, suddenly leaning forward. “You have a lot of potential Noman, which is the only reason I’m offering you this guidance. What you can learn, and how much you can learn, will ultimately be up to you.

“Recall what I said. Before entering any situation, think about the outcome you want, and how you can achieve it. Do you see the difference here? You can either focus on preventing others from achieving their goal, or focus on achieving your own. Maybe, later in life, when you’re stronger and more competent, you can do both, but for now you need to focus on one thing alone.

“So, say you learn that Junior Officer Vanessa has a secret goal that she has not disclosed to anyone. Instead of thinking of how you can prevent her from achieving her goal, you should instead focus on how you can use that to help you achieve your own goal. In this scenario, your goal is to complete the mission that was given to you, and possibly ensure that Kolar does not suffer some kind of harm.

“So how do you do that? Well, making enemies is definitely not the way to go. Life is much easier if you make friends instead of enemies. Now, watch how I do it and take notes.”

Nero turned to look at Vanessa, who had her eyebrow raised as if she genuinely did not understand what nero was doing.

“Miss Vanessa, let’s be frank with one another. In six months, I am going to enter KMA, and I very much need to have as stellar a service record as I can for the things I want to achieve there. So it’s in my best interest to make sure we succeed in this mission. How about you tell me what our mission is really about, so that I can help make that happen as efficiently as possible. I think I’ve proven myself a strong asset, and Perilith has proven itself extremely dangerous. If I have all the information I require, I can do a better job of leading us to success.”

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep