LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 209
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If you were to see Earth as one big ship, then Edel wouldn’t be the absolute captain.
After all, above Edel sat the supreme manager, the one in charge of Earth, just lounging around.
However, if something were to happen to the captain, Edel had positioned herself well enough to inherit some of that power.
You could say she was the second-in-command.
In fact, on sailing ships, there have been instances where someone aimed for the captain’s position by orchestrating a little mishap… basically staging a mutiny on board.
But Edel certainly had no such intentions.
The world Edel created was subservient to Earth, and through that process, she herself had to step down from her equal footing with the manager.
In effect, even if Edel was looked down upon, she couldn’t really protest; treating her as slightly below or at par was all thanks to the manager’s goodwill.
Of course, it’s not like there were no mutineers among those who turned their backs on the goodwill of the captain—none at all.
Like I mentioned earlier, Edel didn’t belong to that group.
Setting aside her discomfort with repaying goodwill with betrayal or the impossibly low chances of success—
Even if, by some miracle, she managed to successfully stage a mutiny and seize power, it wouldn’t yield any benefit.
The ship was tossing about in the belly of a fierce storm, with a pack of sharks swimming nearby, just waiting for a snack to fall into the sea; what good would a mutiny do here?
You’d either mess around and get swept away by towering waves or end up as shark bait, instead of feeling all powerful.
Thus, rather than fretting over trifles, it was far more sensible to discuss how to escape the storm together or to repair the ship.
Even with all the losses suffered, Edel wasn’t foolish—she made the rational choice.
Thanks to that, the ship led by the manager and Edel continued its course rather smoothly, but—
“I told you. If we don’t take risks, we’ll just be at their mercy.”
Recently, the ship the two were on had started creaking a little.
That didn’t cause any problems, but it was impossible to deny that it was creaking.
“…There’s that line again. Do you even know how many times you’ve said that?”
“Exactly one hundred and thirty-four times.”
“If you know that, then you must also know what I’m going to say next.”
“Conversely, you know how I’m going to respond to that, right?”
“Hmm.”
The manager shrugged his shoulders.
Having conflicts due to differing opinions can neither be ruled out nor is it particularly rare.
Let alone the stakes being high, opinions were bound to be more sharply divided.
“Ultimately, nothing major happened, right? We can just improve our defenses from this experience.”
“Nothing major happened, huh?”
Edel didn’t hide her incredulity.
“They snuck in and left this behind while we didn’t notice them, and they pulled off some cute little divide and conquer stunt!”
“So what damage was done? In the end, we uncovered one of their tricks, and didn’t the separated groups reunite?”
“If that girl hadn’t happened to be there, this could have turned out badly.”
Edel argued that it was merely luck that resulted in a positive outcome.
“Luck, huh? I wonder where coincidence ends and necessity begins. Isn’t that a curious thought?”
“Stop spouting nonsense.”
Edel sharply cut off the manager’s words.
Even though her words received the treatment of being less than scrap paper, no unpleasant expression surfaced on the manager’s composed face.
“There’s no guarantee we can keep relying on luck forever. We need to take action now.”
“That action you mentioned would involve going outside the wall to scout, wouldn’t it?”
“Right.”
“And you understand the dangers that it entails?”
“Are you planning to go on with this lecturing? You’ve already said it over a hundred times.”
…
The end of the conversation always leaned toward agreeing with the manager’s will.
As the manager said, they were well aware of the risks that came with it.
“But the situation has changed, hasn’t it?”
…
When Edel calmly stated that, the manager fell silent.
Perhaps, he couldn’t say anything at all.
“…Huff.”
The manager still thought that Edel’s proposed method was too risky.
However, he had previously stated that if one could block attacks perfectly even without information, it wouldn’t matter.
He said such things boldly, yet he felt embarrassed for failing to notice the enemy sneaking in and pulling tricks.
“Do you have a concrete plan?”
“…!”
A markedly different attitude than before.
With the manager’s positive demeanor, Edel lifted her head sharply.
Momentarily shocked by the unexpected shift, Edel quickly calmed her thoughts.
“I do.”
“How? The child you prepared isn’t mature enough to take this on yet. Sending angels would—”
“Rip them apart in the dimensional currents.”
The souls of the angels were far stronger and sturdier than those of humans or other living beings.
Yet, once crossing the world’s wall, the dimensional currents they faced were far rougher, fiercer, and sharper.
There would be no traces left, let alone a scouting mission.
It wasn’t for nothing that Edel was shocked upon discovering the soul that flowed in from Earth.
Though pretending to be calm, the manager too was displeased with what had occurred recently.
It was a one-sided pummeling; how could he find it agreeable?
That’s why he wanted to hear Edel’s reasoning once more.
“It’s realistically impossible.”
However, even on hearing Edel’s words again, the manager reached the same conclusion.
They couldn’t take a single step outside the wall, so there was no way it could be a proper scouting mission.
Thus, the manager shook his head yet again.
“It’s not impossible.”
“You know it’s not a matter to think about emotionally. We cannot afford to make wrong judgments driven by feelings.”
Only those who have little to lose can possess the privilege of mistakes.
The manager was saying just that.
“Think of what’s at stake.”
To lose a world was nothing compared to losing a single coin.
It meant that all lives within it and all potential would vanish.
“You also understood that weight, which is why you subjected your world to mine. So calm yourself down and think rationally—”
“I wasn’t excited at all.”
Once again, the conversation was abruptly cut off.
It was an action that might be considered rude, yet the manager showed no anger and merely observed Edel’s expression.
“It wasn’t an emotional decision either.”
As her words suggested, Edel’s face was calm without a hint of quaver.
In fact, she appeared even more composed than usual.
“Why is it impossible? There are people who can go outside the wall and be just fine.”
“…Do you mean to say that there are such people?”
“Oh, not people.”
Edel raised an eyebrow slightly.
“I will go.”
“…What?”
Contrary to Edel’s joyful expression, the manager’s face morphed into one of utter dismay.
* * *
It’s calm.
One could summarize my recent life by saying that.
Da-eun has been progressing day by day since she learned to handle Mana.
Though her strides are akin to a steady, small hop and limited only to managing Mana,
it was a great leap from those earlier days when I watched her struggle to grasp it.
Though she’s definitely not moving slowly either.
On the other hand, Yuki was the complete opposite.
“No, wait.”
Calling it the opposite might imply she was making no progress at all. So… let’s say their directionality was different.
I taught Da-eun how to manipulate Mana, but I mainly taught Yuki how to wield a sword.
When Da-eun smashed a brick she had picked up somewhere and laughed heartily, I envied her and asked her to teach me,
but I turned Yuki’s request down.
There was no need.
“…Why?”
By the way, Da-eun’s brick-smashing show was something she had just done today.
And it was merely a matter of minutes ago.
Why on Earth was she smashing bricks…
Shaking my head, I turned my gaze away from Da-eun, who looked overly thrilled while throwing punches at the air.
“Da-eun is still clumsy with her movements. So she needs to compensate in other ways.”
Of course, I wasn’t disregarding physical training.
I’m not some petty magician hiding behind and making easy plays; if you’re a prosecutor, you should be able to handle your body.
“But you aren’t like that.”
While Yuki might seem a bit absent-minded, when it came to physical activity, she was exceptionally talented.
Still, not as much as me.
“Ahem.”
“What are you doing interrupting mid-sentence?”
Oops. I let that slip without even realizing it.
Snapping back to attention at Yuki’s words, I returned to the topic.
“You’ve already learned how to manipulate Mana in Silia.”
I recalled Yuki boosting her physical strength without the aid of skills.
Even though she had learned from me throughout the trip, she accomplished something that Da-eun struggled with in her own strength.
Well, to be fair, Da-eun might have picked up some of it by listening through her broadcasts,
but I hadn’t actually stimulated her senses or taught her directly, so let’s just say she learned it on her own.
“…Kana, there seems to be something wrong with your statements?”
“It’s just your imagination.”
I brushed off Da-eun’s suspicions, which had crept up unexpectedly.
“Once Edel induces her body, similar to that of Silia, it will naturally become manageable, so there’s no need to teach her now.”
To put it metaphorically, it’s like locking a firmly closed door with a padlock.
Though one can’t come and go like before, the room beyond the door doesn’t simply vanish.
Also, by removing the padlock, one could enter as they did in the past.
Yuki tilted her head slowly after hearing my explanation.
“Aha. I completely get it.”
“…You’re sure you understood, right?”
For some reason, I felt a twinge of doubt.
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