The Assassin's Seven Principles of Manipulation

Chapter 278: Chapter 273 — Not Fair

”The High General will not see you. Continue speaking to a superior officer in this manner or refuse to comply, and I will have you apprehended for insubordination.”

Each of the soldiers was well into the Herald rank. A fight under these circumstances would put her at a disadvantage. Even so, Ingrid didn’t back down.

In fact, accompanied by a subtle hum, Metal Aura had already begun gathering around her.

The colonel’s expression shifted.

However, before things could escalate any further, Roen hurried over to Ingrid and whispered something into her ear.

Ingrid froze, and a complicated expression flickered across her face. She gritted her teeth, dispersing the Metal Aura.

The colonel and the soldiers visibly relaxed.

Then, with one last hard glare, Ingrid turned and strode away.

...

Ingrid burst into her office with brisk steps. Roen entered immediately after, shutting the door behind him. He moved to the windows, peering through them before closing each one.

”We’re surrounded,” Roen said, noticing the soldiers stationed around the building. ”Looks like they don’t trust us to sit quietly. Rotten bastards.”

Receiving nothing but silence, Roen frowned. He turned away from the window, only to freeze the next moment.

A gleaming suit of white armor had encased Ingrid, and her eyes burned with a cold light as she methodically packed up her desk. She seemed less like a woman and more like a soldier preparing for war.

”What the...”

Roen glanced at her increasingly empty desk and realized what was happening.

’She’s getting ready to leave the academy.’

Packing while clad in full armor could only mean one thing. She was about to go on a rampage, preparing to leave the academy right after. In a way, what unnerved Roen the most was that Ingrid hadn’t even bothered to say a word.

”Whoa, whoa, Major. Don’t tell me you’re actually planning to march out there.”

Roen said quickly, but Ingrid didn’t stop. His face darkened.

”Remember what I said back in the lobby? Doing this won’t help him. They’ll cancel the entire exercise, and there goes his chance at becoming First Prime.”

Ingrid still didn’t respond. But Roen still somehow had one last card up his sleeve.

”I get why you’re worried. If Major Rhydan keeps feeding information to the northern house, things get a lot harder. But is that really what you’re thinking? Because if it is... doesn’t that just mean you don’t trust him?”

Ingrid froze. Roen nodded, relieved.

”Think about it. Zephyrion’s ridiculously talented, isn’t he? If you step in now, you’re basically telling him you don’t think he can get through this on his own.”

”...I trust him.”

”I know you do.” Roen nodded. ”I’m talking about how it’d look to him. Besides, Rhydan’s crazy, but not that crazy. I’m sure even he can’t get past the barrier. The most he can do is pass information around and slip them a few supplies. He can’t do much more than that.”

He paused for a moment. ”That kid’s a monster, Major. A terrifying one, but still a monster. If anyone can crawl out of this mess, it’s him.”

A complicated light flickered through Ingrid’s eyes. Then, a moment later, her armor peeled away, revealing her flawless face marred by a hard expression.

She lowered herself into her seat, absently tapping a finger against the desk. A moment later, she lifted her gaze to Roen, frowning slightly.

”I thought you hated his guts. Sounds like you’ve got a lot of faith in him.”

Roen’s expression darkened, but almost instantly, he hid it behind a chuckle. Ingrid noted it.

”Hate’s a strong word. I didn’t like what he did to the Sanguines, sure. But I’m not blind either. The boy’s terrifyingly capable. I’d be an idiot to pretend otherwise.”

Ingrid silently nodded.

Then, with another quiet chuckle, Roen added,

”Now that we’ve come this far, Major... just trust him. If you stir things up now, you’ll probably end up hurting him more than helping him.”

Roen was right.

Causing trouble would probably invalidate the entire exercise. Even worse, if it all came to light, especially once the Empire found out Rathen had somehow tried to cover it up, they could scrap the exercise entirely. And First Prime might not even emerge this year.

That would be bad for Zephyrion.

’Bad...’ Ingrid almost chuckled. Since when did she care about what was good or bad for her brother? Oh times have changed.

Still, though, it still didn’t feel right to leave things as they were.

It wasn’t fair.

A moment later, Ingrid nodded to Roen. After reinforcing his point with a few more words, he turned and left the room.

Ingrid was left alone, her finger still tapping against the desk. After several moments, she clicked her tongue.

She couldn’t leave things like this.

’He needs to know, at least.’

She tapped her rune tab, sending a short but detailed message to Zephyrion.

Then she leaned back in her seat, sighing heavily.

”How annoying...”

She had been excited about this war, particularly seeing how Zephyrion would conquer the cadets. She had looked forward to hearing him recount his side of the events, his thought process and all.

During the past months, Ingrid had listened to Zephyrion talk about his day and had always found herself fascinated by the way he thought. His intellect was off the charts. It was no wonder people had worshipped him during his childhood.

However, somewhere along the way, Ingrid had found herself looking forward to those conversations. If someone had told her years ago that something like this would happen, she would never have believed them.

Still, it felt refreshing. But now these sneaky fools were trying to ruin all of that. Ingrid’s eyes turned cold.

She couldn’t allow that.

She straightened in her seat and tapped several runes into her rune tab.

’There’s still something else I can do.’

A moment later, a click echoed from the rune tab, followed by a deep voice.

”Ingrid?”

Another, far cruder one sounded almost immediately after.

”Ah! Ingrid?! Finally! I was starting to think you’d forgotten your favorite uncle! What’s the matter? Decided to remember family today?”

Ingrid gave a small nod.

’Good.’

The next moment, she cleared her throat before saying,

”I have something important to report, Lord Calderalth... Uncle Garrick...”