Chapter 270: Emergency Countermeasure Meeting (1)
If a gaze could kill, Clarice was sure she would have already died a hundred times over.
‘What… why is the atmosphere so deadly?’
Surrounding her were not only her fellow 49th term cadets, but also seniors from the 48th and 47th terms.
Though the colors of their epaulets varied, their eyes all gleamed cold and blue.
Trembling from the icy killing intent they radiated, Clarice managed to force out a question.
“Wh-why… why are you all doing this to me?”
Even as she asked, she had an inkling of the reason.
She had a pretty good idea why she had been dragged here in this sorry state.
‘It must be because of that!’
Clarice wasn’t blind or deaf.
How could she not know what had transpired in the Cradle over the past 20 days or so, or the chaos that had erupted?
‘I always knew a day like this would come, but…’
Eventually, that day had arrived—the day she would pay for the misfortune she had pinned on others.
And perhaps her thoughts were plain on her face because the seniors, noticing the anxiety in her trembling eyes, let out even more intense killing intent.
“Huh? Why are you doing this? Why are you doing this?!”
“This little punk thinks he can just say whatever he wants with that open mouth of his?”
“Do you really not know your crime?”
*Step.*
As the seniors, looking ready to strangle her, stepped closer, Clarice turned pale and screamed desperately.
“I-I-I really don’t know! What did I do wrong?!”
Even though she cried out as if deeply wronged, the seniors didn’t ease up.
In fact, their eyes only spun more wildly.
“You don’t know?”
“You really don’t know?”
“If you don’t know….”
“You need to be taught!”
“Come on! Stomp him!”
Jerry kicked Clarice hard in the chest, knocking her over.
*Thud!*
“Ooofff?!”
As Clarice toppled over, still in her chair, a dozen feet rained down on her.
*Bang!* *Thud!*
*Smash!* *Thud!*
“You started this, didn’t you?! You sent that punk our way, didn’t you?!”
“And now you have the nerve to play dumb?! The investigation’s already finished over at Bluebird, you punk!”
“This crazy bastard dumped his mess on us?!”
“Why are we suffering through this crap in our final term?!”
With furious kicks raining down on her, Clarice, unable to resist, let out a desperate scream.
“Stoppppppp!”
At that agonized cry, the seniors paused their kicking. Clarice, seething with resentment, glared up at them.
“You… you people know nothing!”
“You’ve lost it…”
“You’ve barely had to endure him for a month… just 20 days!”
“……”
“But we… we, the 50th term, have suffered under that bastard… for over a year!”
“……?!”
At the sorrowful and enraged outburst, the seniors hesitated.
Not missing this chance, Clarice lowered her gaze, her eyes brimming with tears.
“And we still have to endure that lunatic… for another 3 years, 4 months, and 6 more days…”
“……”
“Doesn’t that make you feel sorry for us? Huh?”
Perhaps it was the desperate plea in Clarice’s voice, or perhaps the seniors, realizing that the 50th term had suffered for over a year under Yuri and still had years to go, felt a pang of pity.
The seniors fell silent for a moment.
Seeing this, Clarice smiled inwardly.
‘Got them!’
She had endured Yuri’s tyranny and bullying for a year and seven months.
More than her skills with fists or swords, what had improved the most was her colorful insults and acting ability.
Feigning illness, pretending to be dead, acting hurt, faking unconsciousness…
Her acting skills had been honed in the most extreme of circumstances!
If there was one skill that every 50th term cadet had developed, it was the ability to act in a way that could move even the hardest of hearts.
That’s what Clarice believed.
However, she had overlooked one fact.
“So?”
“What do you expect us to do about it?”
And that was the fact that the seniors’ anger, having lost their dorms and been forced out into the streets because of Yuri’s rampage, was far greater than she’d thought.
They had no energy left to care about someone else’s misfortune.
“How is that our problem?”
“Where do you get off trying to pull this stunt?”
At the sight of the seniors’ still-threatening gaze, Clarice hurriedly shouted again.
“Wait! Hold on! Yuri is the one who caused all this trouble, so why are you taking it out on me?!”
“…If you were in our shoes, would you dare go after him directly?”
“…No.”
“That answers your question, doesn’t it? What are you all waiting for? Stomp him again!”
“No, no! Wait! I’m… Aagh! I bit my… Aaagh, my tongue…!”
As dust flew up once again and the sound of Clarice’s pained squeals echoed through the air…
*Gueehh!*
The frenzy was halted by a voice from the side.
“That’s enough, everyone.”
At the soft, calm voice of a woman, the seniors stopped their assault on Clarice and turned around.
Behind them lay Clarice, foaming at the mouth, but no one paid him any mind.
Leaving the unconscious Clarice behind, they made their way to a large round table.
Several people were already seated there.
“Please, take your seats.”
The woman who had called the seniors over—Julia Singh—waited for everyone to sit down before rising from her seat. She looked around the room before speaking.
“First, let us extend our thanks to the Roundtable and its Chairman for providing us with a venue for this meeting.”
Julia’s gaze landed on Andres Chayce, whose face was stiff as stone.
After giving him a brief nod, Julia’s eyes swept over the others at the table.
Representatives from the 49th, 48th, and 47th terms, with five members chosen from each term—excluding the 50th and 51st terms—had gathered.
It was Julia who had summoned them, and the reason for this emergency meeting was simple.
“Now, let’s begin… the emergency countermeasure meeting.”
The purpose of the meeting was to discuss measures to deal with the current situation surrounding Yuri Holland.
As Julia declared the start of the meeting, those gathered around the round table wore grim expressions.
Julia’s calm voice drifted into their ears.
“You all are victims of the current situation, so there’s no need for me to explain it in detail. Ah, Chairman Andres, I understand you entered the Cradle just yesterday. Would you like an explanation of the situation?”
Andres shook his head.
“No, that won’t be necessary. I’m already… fully aware.”
Andres had returned to the Cradle the day before, after completing his ‘graduation mission.’
As he headed to the dormitory, hoping to finally relax after two months of hardship, what greeted him was nothing short of devastation.
[Wh-what happened here?!]
Andres had been gone for nearly two months on his mission.
What awaited him when he returned was not the comfort of his dorm but its wreckage, and…
[Ughhh…]
[This… this can’t be…!]
[So cold…]
…the tattered remnants of his comrades, looking like defeated soldiers.
After learning what had happened from them, Andres muttered in disbelief.
“Hah, so the Cradle is in ruins because of one unruly cadet, and now we’re having a countermeasure meeting for it?”
The faint laughter in his voice made the air around the table turn icy.
His words seemed to mock them—mock the fact that they had all been beaten one by one by a single cadet.
At this, Goetz, who was leaning back in his chair, chuckled.
“He’s not just any unruly cadet.”
“……?”
“He’s an *insanely* strong, crazy bastard.”
Andres, bewildered, glanced at Goetz, but most of the others around the table were nodding in agreement.
Especially Susan, who sat next to Andres, nodded most vigorously.
As the atmosphere around the table shifted in agreement with Goetz’s words, Andres’ eyebrows twitched in frustration.
“…So dressing it up like that helps you feel less ashamed?”
“Haha, there’s no shame left to hide. We got completely wrecked.”
“Impressive.”
“It’s not impressive, but it’s not something we can hide either. And…”
Goetz, who had been laughing, suddenly shot a sharp look at Andres.
“Even if you were here, the result wouldn’t have been any different. Actually, no.”
“……?”
“If anything, you would’ve gotten beaten even worse than I did. Totally thrashed.”
The meaning behind Goetz’s words was simple.
You think you’re special?
You’re weaker than me, so don’t talk big.
Though he didn’t say it outright, everyone understood that’s what Goetz’s smirk implied.
Naturally, Andres’ expression hardened.
“You… have grown quite arrogant.”
Goetz hadn’t always been like this.
He used to show little interest in anything that wasn’t related to women, always taking things lightly, breezing through life.
For him to be speaking so sharply to a senior was unlike the Goetz that Andres knew.
In response to Andres’ remark, Goetz merely grinned
and shrugged.
“There’s something I’ve learned from all this—or rather, something I’ve been reminded of. Do you know what it is?”
Andres didn’t answer, but Goetz continued without waiting for a reply.
“The only truth that matters in this Cradle is strength.”
Andres glared at Goetz, but Goetz, smirking, met his gaze without flinching.
“And in the face of that truth, seniors or whatever else can get their heads cracked open just as easily. So you’d better watch yourself.”
At Goetz’s words, the others seated at the table flinched slightly.
It was because they were reminded of the one currently turning the Cradle upside down, who was living proof of that truth.
As Goetz and Andres continued their staring contest, a knock broke the tension.
*Knock knock.*
Julia tapped the round table, drawing everyone’s attention.
“I didn’t call you all here to bicker amongst ourselves. If you have energy to argue, use it to come up with countermeasures, seniors.”
At her reproach, Goetz and Andres broke off their glare and turned their gazes away.
With the tension slightly eased, Julia resumed the meeting.
“Well, if anyone has any ideas on how to resolve the current situation, please feel free to speak openly.”
“…….”
But no one spoke up easily.
As everyone remained tight-lipped, someone hesitantly raised a hand.
“Um…”
It was none other than Jerry, who had been one of the most enthusiastic participants in stomping on Clarice earlier.
Nervously aware of all eyes on him, he cautiously began to speak.
“I understand Yuri Holland is a member of the Roundtable. Couldn’t the Roundtable do something to rein him in?”
At his suggestion, the expressions of several Roundtable members stiffened.
But others in the room lit up with interest.
“W-wait, that’s right! Isn’t he part of the Roundtable?!”
“If he’s a member, shouldn’t the Chairman be able to put a leash on him?”
“Yeah, if the Roundtable imposes penalties on him…”
With everyone’s eager eyes now on him, Andres let out a small sigh.
“I already tried talking to Yuri Holland about that…”
“You did? So… how did it go?”
“…He didn’t even pretend to listen to me.”
Yuri had joined the Roundtable to keep Gunther Ryder in check.
Since Gunther had yet to appear, the Roundtable had essentially treated Yuri as non-existent.
The only benefit Yuri had ever received from the Roundtable was the top-tier elixir he got when he first joined.
So now, trying to use that to leverage any penalties against him was pointless.
Moreover…
‘If he had been a descendant of a noble family, perhaps he would have feared the Roundtable’s influence…’
The power of the Roundtable—the influence of noble families—held no sway over someone like Yuri. If he had feared such things, he would never have caused this much chaos in the first place.
There was no way Roundtable pressure would work on him.
After hearing Andres’ explanation, someone asked, frowning.
“Then can’t we threaten to expel him from the Roundtable?”
“As I said, he doesn’t care about the Roundtable, so even if we threatened expulsion, it wouldn’t work. And besides… the Chairman doesn’t have the authority to forcibly expel a member. Only if a member voluntarily leaves.”
“…….”
Hearing that even the Roundtable had no way to control Yuri, the others at the table looked disappointed.
Meanwhile, Andres sighed internally.
‘This is going to tarnish the Roundtable’s reputation.’
The fact that they were having this conversation here meant that rumors about Yuri Holland’s affiliation with the Roundtable would soon spread among the other cadets.
And simply because the troublemaker was a Roundtable member, the Roundtable’s reputation would inevitably take a hit.
More precisely, Andres himself would be blamed as a useless Chairman who couldn’t even control one member.
Even though everyone knew this wasn’t something he could fix, they needed someone to blame in the current situation.
As he glanced at the disappointed faces of those around him, Andres thought to himself.
‘Tch, at this rate, he’s no different from Gunther Ryder.’
The one they had brought in to check Gunther Ryder was now threatening Andres’ own position.
And the bigger problem was that there was no guarantee this wouldn’t happen again.
‘The only solution is to get rid of him somehow…’
As Andres remained silent, lost in thought, the table fell into a prolonged quiet.
Unable to bear it any longer, Susan turned to Julia.
“Isn’t this enough? So, what’s your plan? You must have a way to fix this mess, right? That’s why you called us here.”
At Susan’s urging, everyone turned to look at Julia.
Honestly, they all knew.
This so-called emergency countermeasure meeting was really just a chance to hear Julia’s thoughts.
“Hm, well…”
Sensing the hopeful expectation in their gazes, Julia smiled faintly.
And then.
“I do have some ideas.”
As soon as she spoke, the atmosphere at the table buzzed with excitement.