The headmaster took a deep breath. "Could you please inspect everyone on this base and eradicate all the Zaionistazer, please?"
Tarica smiled for a moment, building up the tension, thus making everyone anxious. No one knew Tarica a lot. She came out of nowhere ad didn't mingle with her colleagues a lot. It wouldn't be surprising to say that it was as if she was still new, even though it has been a while since she has been here.
So no one knew what she could possibly think, not even the headmaster. Though, they worried for nothing.
"I can indeed do so, headmaster..."
"Thank you ver-..." Tarica cut the headmaster short, finally stating what she had in mind since earlier.
"However it is better if the students overcome this ordeal alone."
"What? Are you crazy? Do you want to spread the rumor that Maria is dead?" Azul raised his voice, showing clearly his hostility toward her.
"What tells you this rumor is groundless and not already spread among them?" Tarica looked directly into his eyes, not backing down from him. She then turned to the headmaster, leaving the angry Azul alone. "Headmaster, you must have seen how some students are brilliant with their abilities, right?"
He nodded his head alongside the other teachers as well. The students this year were already really strong. However, there was still one big question left. How could they possibly hope that students would do all of this?
"I know what you're thinking about: how could we make it so that the students help check on everyone? Well, it's simple. We should reward those who help, and I'm sure they wouldn't complain anymore. It's the same principle as with a donkey; it will move forward if you put a carrot in front of it. As long as we reward them, they will help us."
The meeting room remained silent for a while, leading Tarica to believe that they would agree with her idea. After all, several students were likely to be successful in this operation. One of them was Isis, whose abilities even surprised Tarica. However, the most important person to Tarica in this situation was her son, Kye. She knew that as an angel, Kye should have mastered the purification spell. Therefore, by helping everyone, it would be an easy way for him to earn great rewards.
Follow on NovᴇlEnglish.nᴇt"I understand what you say, Tarica. However, we don't have an infinite amount of rewards. So it would be quite hard to do so, especially if we take into account the reward we will give to you for all the precious information you gave to us."
"Who agreed on the fact that I wanted rewards in the first place?" Everyone was taken aback by her statement. "I don't need any reward. I already have all the things that I need, so don't worry. Instead, you should give it to the students to motivate them. And won't it be a better situation? Everything will be settled while boosting the students' confidence in each other."
Tarica smiled brightly when she clapped her hand after she said all of that, letting the other mistake her intentions. They thought that she was doing that for humanity, whereas it couldn't be further from the truth. After all, she did that only for her son to get stronger and better in the future. It was a good opportunity for him to improve, and as her mother, she wanted to help him, even if he wouldn't know that it was her who helped him.
***
After the meeting, the military moved quickly and canceled the competition entirely for safety reasons. The headmaster reported everything to his superior, including the name of their benefactor, who was none other than Tarica.
Things went so far that even a lieutenant, who was hierarchically superior to the headmaster, came to personally thank Tarica. Despite her own abilities, Tarica remained humble, knowing that Lieutenant Charles was known for his shapeshifting ability, which had helped him greatly during the war. Tarica's humble attitude pleased him greatly, which annoyed her as she suspected his hidden intention.
During his visit, Lieutenant Charles also met with some students, specifically those who would participate in the checking operations to help boost their confidence.
All the students capable of helping in this operation were called forward and were thanked by the lieutenant. They were mostly those with support abilities.
And even though those students mostly lack self-confidence, they were happy to have someone like Isis among them because everyone knew how well he performed during the first match of the tournament. And having him among them was like an omen.
And as such, everyone stood close to him, trying their best to earn his favor. And the one in the middle of that felt mighty because of that. After all, he was still young, so having all those followers felt like a dream to him, even though he was destined to lead his family in the future.
And because of that, Kye was left alone.
However, it wasn't only because of that.
Kye was a fighter, not a healer or someone who could help in this operation in any way. So even though he was handsome and would usually attract a lot of attention, he now was alone. No one came to him because he was like a foreigner.
Though, even he didn't understand why he was there.
'Seriously why am I here though? I can get that the teacher wants me to help in this operation as it is very important, but how am I supposed to help?' Tarica was indeed the one who recommended Kye to help in this operation. And as a great benefactor in all this ordeal, the lieutenant and the headmaster agreed without a word.
And while the lieutenant was still asking himself what Kye was doing in an environment where only people with supportive abilities were needed, the headmaster didn't think the same at all.
He still remembered well the warning of the old teacher Madison.
Kye was someone with a bright future ahead of him, and it seems like Tarica has seen it as well. After all, Kye must hide more secrets than the headmaster could possibly hope to discover with a lie detector.
However, deep down, he felt like one day, it would be too late for Kye.
He knew that things weren't done or said for nothing in life, especially when accused. He hadn't come to this position for anything, after all. So he knew when there was something hidden from him. Unfortunately, he didn't have any concrete proof.
So he could only hope for Kye to grow well in a healthy environment, or the monsters wouldn't be the only ones humanity would have to be scared of.
***
While the headmaster was thinking and discussing the next plan of action with lieutenant Charles, the scanning process almost started.
All the students assigned were here. Among the more than 5,000 students in the military, only twenty-two students could help. Needless to say that they had a long way to go until they could check for everyone.
Follow on Novᴇl-Onlinᴇ.cᴏmAfter all, even though they knew they had to search for special substances and foreign organisms in their classmates' bodies, they didn't know how to proceed.
Not that they could in the first place.
Those 22 students were the only ones who knew what had really happened. They had indeed been briefed about what they had to search for, and above all, the real cause of all this mess.
No need to say that the moment the students understood that they had to deal with a monster, they all got scared, except for two students.
All the chosen students were those who never approached the frontline, so they of course became afraid the moment they knew what they had to deal with.
So once the operation started, they all started to freak out.
As for the two students who kept their composures, they were obviously Isis and Kye. The former was because of the confidence he had in his abilities, while the latter was because he had already fought with a lot of monsters before coming back to the military. So it wouldn't be those little bugs who'll scare him.
Though, he still didn't know how he would be of any help.
"What are you thinking so hard about, Kye?" Isis said sarcastically, causing those who followed him to chuckle as well. "You can't find your friend anymore, so you're scared?" Isis clearly holds a grudge against Yugo and despises all those who are friendly with him. "That's right. What can someone like you even do in the first place? You're still a low-level person who got lucky by befriending the right people."
Kye looked at Isis and all those surrounding him. They all looked at him with eyes filled with disgust, reminding him of old times.
Instead of getting angry, he only smiled gently, almost making people fall for him.
"I'm sorry if I'm a hindrance to you, Mr. Isis. I promise to do my best not to let you down."
The people were all taken aback and wanted to refute him, especially Isis. They were going to tell him that he would be useless in this operation and that he was only a brute who knew how to fight. But when he looked at Kye's shining blue eyes, he fell silent and only gulped back his words.
'Why can't I say anything back?' Isis thought to himself. 'It's as if I've lost my composure and my grudge against Yugo and those around him...'
Kye only smiled at him, making Isis feel even worse.