Chapter 35: Tasteless Soup
After her speech, Geeta left us alone to enjoy the banquet as tables suddenly formed themselves out of meltan in the middle of the room, with servants filling them with food…but I don't think anyone here was in the mood for the festivity. Everyone was either eating their food silently, or they weren't even eating their food and were making connections with each other. All of them were clearly doing it as an act of self-preservation, instead of truly trying to socialize with each other.
The reason was very simple, no one was convinced by Geeta's words, as they couldn't even imagine themselves beating an archon no matter how much effort they put behind it. Geeta was simply considered an exception to the rule, or an actual Archon in hiding.
She wasn't of course, but some still believed it.
Most were anticipating that Lance would quickly stand up from his defeat and try once more to force his authority among the students. And when this happened, none of them wanted to be unprepared.
Yet, at the same time, I knew that none of their effort could really protect them from Lance, and I'm sure some of them already understand it. As some were only trying to make an action that wouldn't antagonise Lance in anyways, simply showing their defiance against his emprise to make their surrender look more like a favor they did toward him than anything else.
Of course, that would happen to everyone usually, only those carrying a large amount of pride. But the first problem was that almost everyone filled this requirement. The second problem however was that those who weren't, they still didn't want to be in the order of Lance, especially after what he showed how quickly he was to get angry. No one really wanted to be under him, so they tried what they could to at least lessen the blow.
So all of these people were left with three options to save protect themself.
The first one was to try to make themselves in group with other people, under the reasoning that Lance won't try to subdue them if they are too much to control. This was for me probably the stupidest idea available, as Lance is already planning to subjugate the whole world, it's not their little number that will stop him from acting. Especially when there were very few cohesive groups in the room, with the biggest group without an archon in their rank only numbered five people. Of course they think they're not stupid, so they will try to make other groups join their group to boost their number. But then, who will be the leader? No one wants to lose their authority, they are full of pride after all. So they will try to force the other group to submit to them.
But would the defeated party really accept to join a group they were defeated by? Of course not, which is why they will instead ask for the help of another group to defeat them instead, without thinking they will pay the same price. And who would be waiting for them? Lance.
Most people who composed this group were the mundane people, those without any power, probably because they weren't affected by Lance's speech yesterday, so they don't realise how hopeless it is to fight him. But the few esper who did try to form a group were immediately passed around as hot potatoes, as everyone desired them, but it was hard to make a deal with them as they had nothing to offer to. So they ended up alone.
I decided to call them the Bunch of Fools.
The other option was much more pessimist, yet it at least gave the value of not being stupid. It was simply to try not to worry about it while hoping that Geeta or someone with similar power would take care of Lance's movement. She did show that as a dean, she had full authority over Lance's actions, and she also showed opposition against him. However, the problem is that they lack information, as despite Geeta being currently the highest-ranking member of the academy, she was still under the order of the other government, so she couldn't do as she wished. Beating Lance publicly was probably the most she could do right now, as at least it had the justification of beating someone who try to usurp her authority, but anything more than that would be considered excessive and would be punished by a higher power. So right now the best she can do is to act to keep order inside the school grounds. But Lance's plan can't be considered as plunging it into chaos either, so she can't be too excessive about it either.
To put things simply, Geeta failed to stop Lance in this attempt, so she lost her only opportunity to shut down the crisis before it exploded. At least she was able to bring down his reputation a little, so it will slow down his plan, but it also helped to showcase his strength, and despite his defeat, no one was thinking they could create the same result with their own capacity.
I decided to call them the Hopeless of Lie.
Lastly, there was the option of joining his group willingly, but not under him, but the other Archon who showed their support to Lance's endeavor. In contrast to the Ancestral Archon, the other presented themselves as being more reasonable than Lance. And they also knew that Lance would prefer not to antagonise any Archon, so they could probably guarantee a good statue among their group, or at least make sure he doesn't treat anyone badly.
Of course they made the mistake of assuming that being calmer means they are kinder. But according to the multiple students surrounding both Aaron, the Primal Archon, and Natural, the Nature Archon, I would say that even if they know that not everything can be pink, they at least can't be as bad as Lance tyrannies…
Strangely however, Korinna, the War Archon, didn't have any students in front of her, despite being the other archon supporting Lance. It's not like she looks more mean than the other actually, so I wonder why she's ignored? Even more strange is that she looks at me with a lot of guilt in her eyes.
"Don't you remember that she blew open your chest?" Cynthia suddenly said, which made me turn toward her while trying to recall when this happened.
But the reason why Cynthia even responded like this in the first place was because I was narrating what was currently happening from the start.
I was trained to make this type of observation, so I could deduce approximately what was happening…of course I'm sure there are a lot of things I didn't know, like one of the things that weirded me out the most was why Aaron seemed like he already predicted this happening?
…oh, and I guess I also forgot her blowing up my chest…when was it?
Probably realising I really didn't have any memory about this information, Cynthia pushed a sigh. "…you really don't remember her blowing up your chest? It happened yesterday! Did she also hit you in the head?" Cynthia asked with concern.
"…I don't need to hit my head to forget about something."
"IT HAPPENED YESTERDAY!"
I leaned my head to the side, because I truly didn't understand what change it made the time it happened.
Cynthia noticing that I was still not understanding, could only push a sigh of exasperation and take a bite out of the food in front of her.
Right now, my roommate and the other person who were there during our shopping spree were all installed at the same table, and multiple different types of food were placed at the center. We were also probably the only table where no one was concerned by Lance.
Sadly for me, I wasn't authorised to eat it, as apparently it would cause problems to my digestive system, so I was forced to eat this tasteless soup instead.
…it was true that I was used to eating things even more disgusting than that…it was just that it happened after I committed my third sin, before that the food I ate was as tasteless as that, so it was more unpleasant.
…but…I suppose that the smile around me at least made this soup more enjoyable…maybe that what it mean to be alive?
And I still prefer to eat this kind of food rather than to be used as a piñata to augment the morale of everyone here.
"I…I…I think…she…she…felt…guilty of….almost killing….you…" Allister tried to give an answer about why Korrina was looking at me like that, but he was still clearly stressed about voicing his own opinion.
"But she didn't almost kill me? I was already dead."
Allister pushed an awkward chuckle, clearly not knowing how to answer. But before I could ask for more ideas, Clair interrupted me.
"Sorry to interrupt lord Archon, but could you finish your analysis? I know it's a selfish thing to ask, but I would truly require it to make a more precise decision."
I was completely distracted by her question, so I only spent a quick glance in the surrounding to see if anything had changed, before continuing my analysis. "Now technically, there is a fourth option, which would be to join the three other archons that didn't support Lance…but no one seems interested to be doing that, nor are they interested in helping them either." I looked at Sabrina who looked completely unconcerned about the situation as she was devouring her meal. "Sabrina simply doesn't care about others, nor are any other people willing to approach her. As for Acerola, the Ethereal Archon, she seems to be simply ignoring other students, but out of anyone, she seems to be the most nervous archon."
"Mmmh, she did say that it was because she just wanted to be free of any directive, so she's probably scared of being forced onto Lance rank." Iono explained, while digging into her food happily.
"…oh? Didn't know that liberty was something to care about." I whispered in wonder.
"And what about you?" Cynthia asked me.
"Hmm?"
"What about you, you are an Archon too, so what will you do?" Cynthia added, but it didn't help to erase my confusion.
"…you have as much influence as the other archon…so what are you planning to do about Lance's plan?"
"…oh…well…I didn't think about that." I said before taking another spoonful of my tasteless medicine.
"…Luciel…will…will you protect us then?" Allister asked finally starting to get worried.
"What are you speaking about Onion! I will protect you no matter what!" Bea intervened, but Allister didn't look convinced by her.
"Betterave…you can't beat him…If you try to defy him, you will just get humiliated." Bea's eyes widened, as if she had just realised that this would be the most likely scenario. But this realisation also made her see that she wasn't strong enough to fully protect Alister…contrary to me.
"What even scares you about him actually? You tarnished never cared about your own pride, so in what way would Lance be any problem to you?" Clair questioned, but it didn't seem like she was hating him for his decision.
Allister looked away shyly. "I… It's true that…I wouldn't mind…helping him…for peace…but…I don't want to do that…I just want to enjoy…my years as a student here…with my friend…not fighting for a greater goal…"
"Oh, so it's just laziness and cowardice, don't know why I expected something different." Clair mocked Allister, who looked at the ground in shame, but he still didn't regret his demand.
"Well if you're so against this plan, why don't you just go join your future master group and leave us with your sarcasm?" Cynthia replied to defend Allister.
"Oh, don't get me wrong, I'm doing am planning on helping him with his goal, but everything must be done at the right time for it to work. As right now my allegiance would mostly go unnoticed by Lance, so if I want him to remember me positively then I must plan it right."
Cynthia squinted her eye, as she wasn't fully convinced by Clair, but she didn't realise it as she looked at me instead.
"This is to say, lord Luciel, would you mind if I stay with your group until the right moment comes? Do not worry, I won't attempt to sabotage your own group in any way, even if it would benefit Lance. In fact, when I will finally enter his good grace, let me spell out for you that you are not against him…even if it may be taking time with how you were acting…" She finished with a slight discomfort.
Iono, who had stood mostly silent from the start nodded to Clair's comment. "I mean…at this point can you really say that he was wrong to think that…you didn't really help him to see another perspective…"
…oh…so I'm still terrifying?
But before I could even have the time to be depressed, a poképuff suddenly appeared before me, so I launched my arm toward it before approaching it toward my mouth. Just to be sure, I made a quick look around to be sure no one else wanted it, before biting into it, completely ignoring everything happening outside.
"Listen Iono, I'm not sure why you're suddenly more festive, but don't just insult Lu…him like this…trust me, he's just awkward and cute… It's not his fault that he was born to be creepy." I think I heard Cynthia's voice, but as I didn't hear my name, it probably means that it didn't concern me.
"But…but he was the one who said he didn't care about Lance hurting him…like in any other context it would sound like a masochism, but with the face he was doing, it looked more like he was waiting for Lance to give him a reason to torture him in return…so what other context could they be that justify it?!"
"…he was trying to smile…he's just…not good at it…"
Hmm? Why is Mina looking at me? Does she want some of the poképuff too?
I tried to present it to her, but she shook her head when I approached the dessert toward her.
…welp, that probably means she doesn't want it.
"That…that was a smile?"
"Yes…and he was pretty sad when he saw how you reacted to it…I saw him train it the best he could during our shopping…"
"So…so what reason was he acting like this?"
"Sorry to interrupt you, but Luciel almost finished his poképuff, so we must finish this conversation quickly…and before you ask, no I can't give him more poképuff, he's on a limit…"
Hmm? Was I called?
I stopped to eat and looked around, to see if anyone was talking to me, but they were only smiling, so it must simply mean I was wrong as usual.
Well for once it's good that I'm wrong, as I have more time to eat now!
Oh right, do you want half of it Pandora?
"Alright, so to make it simple, Luciel have absolutely no common sense and he is in a new environment that is way more amicable toward him…and I don't think he realizes it yet,so just give him time to understand…he will receive help for it soon too…"
As I was giving half of my poképuff to Pandora, I noticed Iono looking at me with guilt, but she was also filled with shame for some reason…
"By the way…where did you learn all of that?" Clair asked Cynthia as I was finishing the last crumb.
…wait…learning what?
"Oh, a nurse explained it to me when she forced me to clean the mess in her kitchen…a mess that she made by the way! Not me!"
"But…we didn't say anything…?"
"Anyways, she told me everything I should know about Luciel…and despite being very annoying, I still gave worth to her words."
…Nurse Joy talked about me to Cynthia?
…I wonder what could even be considered worth the time about me?
"So Luciel, did you think about what you wanted to do?"
"…oh…well I don't really mind what Lance wants to do…but…but if my friend doesn't want to listen to him…I can make him shut up permanently." I responded simply, because it really didn't seem that huge of a problem to at least stop him.
Beating him is another story however.
"Wait! Don't kill him!" Clair unexpectedly jumped to Lance's rescue, with a rare expression of fear on her face.
But her worries were calmed down immediately by Allister. "Euh…Clair…I think he just means that he will take away his voice."
…I did?
"Oh right, my apologies then…but even then, I find that it would be too excessive."
"Hmm…I agree…I just don't want him to bother us…so…could you please protect us Luciel?"
"Right, and you were already able to scare Lance when he try to show his dominance the first day, so he will probably just stay aways from us, so it won't even impact you." Iono said more cheerfully, but this time it felt like she was honestly feeling that emotion.
"If you do create a protection squad, could I join as well?" A feminine voice suddenly spoke directly into my ear. Not only did Pandora not notice her approaching me, but a simple breath of her was enough to completely chill my skin.
Pandora didn't even wait to confirm who it was and immediately slammed one of his claws toward her.
But he felt absolutely no sensation as his claw easily passed through her body, which was easily explained as the girl was still standing completely immune despite the hit she just endured…
…well no, a drop of sweat did fall off of her brow, and she also looked fearfully at the claw Pandora used, but she calmed down when she saw that Pandora retracted it back inside his costume, and took back his relaxed demeanour. Which simply means that he identified the threat, and concluded that it wasn't one.
"Make me think to not try to surprise you again…alright?"
"…but how am I supposed to remind you to not surprise me if I don't know you are trying to surprise me… that's how surprise works after all…did you not know?" I responded to the girl who was wearing clothes that seemed almost as ruined as my previous ones, except that with my recent shopping trip, I could easily notice that her rag was made out of high-quality silk. This easily led me to the identity of the girl, even if I already remember it from yesterday, it was Arcerola, another Archon like me.
"Well just notice me before I do it, duh." She replied as if it was the most obvious answer possible…so it probably meant it was me who lacked common sense. "Anyways…so would you mind protecting me to dear companion Archon?"
"Greeting Etheral Archon." Clair stood up from her chair and bowed toward Acerola, but she didn't even look at her.
"…do you also want to live your school life in peace?" I asked her just to be sure if her goal was the same as Allister's.
"Eh…mostly I guess, more that I really don't want to be roped into the other idiot plan."
"Well why do you have to ask for Luciel's help then? Aren't you a mighty Archon like him?" Cynthia once more spoke, but Acerola didn't even react to her. But it didn't look like it was made out of arrogance, but that she was really not able to hear her.
"Are you deaf?" I asked just to be sure, even if I realised right after that it was probably stupid to ask her that, because if she really was, not only would she not be able to hear the question, she wouldn't be able to speak to me.
Acerola looked at me in confusion, before her eyes widened. "…oh, did someone else speak to me? Yeah, sorry about that, but I usually prefer to only hear the death…I can hear those alive too…but it's just a bother, I'm sure you understand."
No…I don't really understand what she means…especially that dead people don't usually talk…they just scream.
"But Luciel isn't dead?" Iono said astonished, but she immediately realised she had said something wrong when she saw Cynthia's face retract in unease. "…wait…was I speaking to a ghost this whole time?!"
"…no…I…well I don't know actually." Cytnhia try to explain, but she realised that she didn't have the answer.
"So anyways, if they have any question you just have to repeat it." She threw a glance at Allister, and her eyebrow raised when she realised that she could actually notice him. "Well I guess he can also do it, he's less dead than others, but it's still fine to listen to his voice."
"…will my role really end up being a translator for archon?" I heard Allister murmuring in exasperation before he responded to the previous question of Cynthia. "So Cynthia just asked why do you need our protection in the first place?"
"Oh…so this Cynthia is stupid, understood. I wonder why I can't hear her then if she's in a state of brain death."
"WHAT!!!?"
"Anyways, the reason is that as you probably remarked, everyone is trying to form their own group, or join up with others." A quick look behind me allowed me to easily confirm her world, as even those who tried to stay alone were forcibly conscripted by others to join their team.
Even those who were charged with monitoring us didn't move to stop the movement, which just showed how dire the situation started to become.
"Evidently, none of these students can force me to join their group…but the problem is that it doesn't apply to Lance, as none of my pokemon have any chance to rival against his dragonite! And that would be fine and dandy, but now that most student have made their personal objective to join other groups, I represent one of the few students who have the same status as him, so in their mind I'm as strong as him. So as long as I'm around, people would still hold hope that he will stop. So if Lance has even half a brain, he will try to dispose of me very soon!"
"Mmmh…I know this guy seems to have a lot of free time, but something tells me that he will try nothing extreme against you, especially because that will give Geeta another chance to humiliate him." Mina said tiredly, which Allister immediately told back.
"Ah…right…I suppose that whoever said that has a point…say psychic lady, any advice about that?" Acerola spoke to Sabrina, who stopped dining to look at her with a face that clearly showed how annoyed she was that someone stopped her from eating.
But a quick look inside Acerola's mind told her that she simply didn't care.
As for me, I looked toward Allister, awaiting for his translation on whatever Sabrina would say.
"…I'm really becoming a translator…" He sighed before telling me what Sabrina told everyone inside their mind. "She said that Acerola is indeed the next target, Lance is wary of you, so he won't antagonise you until he is sure he can deal with you. And you can also add the fact that Sabrina is considered as into your group, so Lance would want to avoid any action against her. Especially since despite having more archons, none of them are truly loyal to Lance's cause, she needs to solidify his power over them first. So just make yourself small and maybe Lance will forget about you."
"But I can't do that! I know I'm an archon but I'm really not that strong compared to Lance. The moment he learn that, he will use the opportunity to force me into his group and work for him like a slave!"
"Then why didn't you just consider not being weak?" Allister hesitated to translate Cynthia, but he still ended up doing it.
"…is it still the idiot who said that? Why am I asking? It must be her." Acerola sighed before explaining herself. "Listen, in power, both me and Lance can be considered equal, the problem is that he has an alpha dragonite in his possession, which is more than enough to shift the fight to his side as I don't have any pokemon that can rival it…" Acerola said in exasperation, until her eyes lit up when she looked at Pandora.
I don't know why, but I immediately had a bad feeling about her, so I grabbed Pandora and put him in front of me, but her eye followed me him as her grin started to grow even bigger. "Well of course if you don't want to accept me into your group, then there's no problem, I just need a strong enough pokemon to defend myself after all."
Pandora started to understand where she was going, as he try to make himself more intimidating. But it was to no effect as Acerola started to reach for him.
"And I feel that your pokemon is a ghost type, which makes it perfect for me! So what about you give it to me?"
"NO!" I immediately refused, and moved Pandora out of her reach.
Acerola looked at me with irritation, but she still tried to look friendly despite it. "Why not? I can also feel that it's not a dark type, which practically makes it useless to you. So what do you say I give you a sableye instead? You should be able to sync it even better with your power than the one you own right now!"
"NO!" I refused once more, while shielding Pandora with my own body.
"Oh don't act like it a…" Acerola wasn't able to finish her sentence, as she her skin suddenly got even paler than before. "…akh!" She had no choice but to force herself to breath, but she still looked weakly at me as she continually try to take deep breath regularly.
SHE CAN STILL BREATHE!!! IT MEAN SHE CAN STILL TRY TO STEAL PANDORA!!!
Without waiting for her to counterattack, I immediately raised my hand to still her entire sense of touch, but I stopped when I felt a hand catching my arm.
I KNEW IT!!! IT WAS A SET UP!!! THEY WANT TO STEAL PANDORA FROM ME!!!
I redirected my power toward the person who grabbed me, making her instantly fall on the table. The penetrator was revealed to be Sabrina, but just before I could continue to fight, I noticed the fear deeply rooted in her eye, which gave her enough time to say a single word. "Stop."
A weird energy suddenly try to take over my body to try to stop it movement, but it was immediately dissipate by my own energy.
But her power was still enough to force me to watch the current situation…and it was terrible.
Everyone inside my group was barely able to keep themselves conscious, with only Cynthia fairing better than others as she was still able to support herself on the table with one of her arms. But the look in her eye only showed fear…fear directed toward me.
I looked behind me, and except with Acerola who was currently agonising on the floor, the rest of the people in the room were also frozen in fear as they all try to divert their gaze aways from me.
…oh…it…it me again…
…everyone fear me…don't they…
…I…I shouldn't have come…I just cause pain to everyone…like usual.
"Lu…Luciel…it…fine…" I instantly looked behind me at the mention of my name, just to see that Cynthia was piercing her nail deep into the table to keep herself awake. But these words were all she was able to muster, as her eye started to waver.
…I'm causing pain to…to my friend…what…what does it even make me then?
…exactly what they told me I was…a curse…
I stood up from my seat, abandoning the empty bowl that was once filled with a tasteless mixture…but now I already begun to miss it taste, because as bland as it was…the smile made it worth it…yet, there was none of them now.
With Pandora deeply into my arm, I turned around and ran away from the hall until I found myself in a known territory…loneliness…here at least…I would know that the only one screaming would be me.
And this was the only peace of mind I deserved…