Chapter 51: Almost There
Anna couldn’t smile.
It was clearly the same place, but her face looked very dark and scary. These memories felt noisy and annoying to her.
Then she looked at her teammates beside her. Lisa, who used to worry about their results, had now turned into a complete fool.
Stella, who used to at least pretend to practice swordsmanship, had now become the queen of laziness.
As for herself…
Forget it, skip that.
If there was anyone who hadn’t changed, it was probably Peiya.
But Anna didn’t want to face that fact. All those promises from before had now come back to hit her like a boomerang.
Anna felt like she couldn’t breathe.
Those words back then were just childish talk, like kids playing house.
Only an idiot like Peiya would believe them.
But why…
Why did she also feel hurt because of it…?
Anna bit her lip and forced herself to push away these unnecessary thoughts. She lowered her head and began studying the strategy for the next raid.
Even though the other two had already started to doze off, Anna kept working on the plan.
However, even though she tried very hard, most of the time she was just going in circles. She couldn’t find any strong solution. At best, it felt like struggling desperately before dying.
Anna put down her pen and poked Lisa, who had already fallen asleep. Lisa slowly lifted her head in a daze. When she saw it was Anna, she quickly slapped her own face to wake up.
“Do you need something?”
“Stop sleeping. Look at the new plan I made. Can you finish it?”
“Let me see…”
Lisa took the plan and read it for a while. Then she couldn’t help but feel confused.
“Anna, you talked so much just now, but in the end your plan is just me and Stella attacking from the front, and you find a chance to deal the final blow. This plan looks like you didn’t even write anything.”
Anna’s mouth twitched. “Look carefully. I clearly designed your positions.”
It would have been fine if she hadn’t said that. But when Lisa actually checked the position setup, she completely lost it.
“Wait, are you serious? You want me, a fragile mage, to stand in front of Stella and take the boss’s attacks?”
Lisa was about to lose her mind.
You can change things, but you can’t just make things up randomly.
Obviously, Anna’s battle plan was a complete mess.
Back when Peiya was still around, even if her position changed a lot, it was always built around Stella’s defense.
But now Anna wanted her to hold the front line alone.
Was she trying to get her killed?
Anna crossed her arms and said unhappily, “Look at you. You can’t even handle this little bit of hardship? Can’t you heal yourself? Just take the damage and heal it back.”
“Huh? I’m a damage dealer! Since when can I heal? Peiya was the one who healed before!”
“Then can’t you learn it now?” Anna argued. “We’re a team. You should contribute something too.”
“But… but healing magic isn’t something I can just learn whenever I want! If it doesn’t work, just recruit a support member again. If you don’t want to do it, I’ll go recruit one for you. Please, have mercy and stop this madness. And you even want Stella to kite the enemy…”
“...Since when can Stella use that kind of tactic? When she has the upper hand, she fights like a berserker and keeps attacking. When she can’t win, she runs faster than anyone. You want someone like that to kite the boss? I think she’ll end up kiting me instead!”
Lisa complained nonstop at Anna. She was afraid of Anna, but this was clearly asking her to die.
If she didn’t speak up now, Anna might really use her as cannon fodder next time.
“Then what do you think we should do?” Anna snapped. “After last time when you led those people around, everyone in the guild quit and ran away. Now only the three of us are left.”
“Even if I use all my magic power, I still can’t take much damage. How about you go convince Stella to stay in front and tank, and we two just deal damage?”
Lisa looked at the sleeping Stella and felt extremely troubled.
“You heard what Stella said just now. You want me to convince someone that lazy? Are you serious? How about I just go get some magic scrolls instead? Compared to being embarrassed, I’m more afraid of dying.”
Anna: …
Facing Lisa’s suggestion, Anna had no choice. For now, this was the only way.
She didn’t really want her teammates to die anyway. If a noble’s child died, it would be very troublesome to deal with.
“Fine, we’ll do it your way. When the time comes, you get some magic scrolls, and I’ll bring some protective gear from home. We’ll try our best to bring you back safely.”
“Why does that sound so familiar?”
Lisa repeated the sentence in her head, and suddenly remembered, this was how it used to be before. Everyone would push responsibility onto each other.
In the end, Peiya would speak helplessly, ‘Then let’s do it like this for now. I’ll try my best to bring you back safely…’
Thinking about it now, Lisa suddenly felt uneasy, and goosebumps covered her whole body.
Back then, no matter how bad the situation was, Peiya never made her go to the front to take damage.
“Anna, how about you find time to ask Peiya to come back? It’s been so long, his anger should be gone by now. If you keep going like this, the Dawn Guild will collapse sooner or later.”
Facing this harsh truth, Anna also felt a bit uneasy.
“I’m not going. Don’t think I don’t know what you’re thinking, you’re afraid I’ll send you to the front line. And it’s not like you treated him that well before. If you want to go, then you go. I don’t care about him. No one needs another person to survive. That was true before, and it’s still true now. I’ve already made my decision. Don’t bring him up again. If you have the energy, use it to improve your own strength.”
“Then have you improved?”
Anna: “…”
“Soon.”
…………………………………
Public Library.
Because eating is not allowed inside, Elise brought Peiya, who was reading, to the rest area.
At this moment, several plates of freshly baked cookies and various desserts were already placed on the table. Each one looked very delicate and beautiful.
“Did you make these? They smell really good.”
“Yes, go ahead and try them.” Elise pushed the biggest piece of cream cake toward her.
“In that case, I won’t be polite.”
Peiya nodded and took a bite of the cake. The soft texture melted easily in her mouth, leaving a rich and sweet taste.
“Your skills improved very fast. Last time I went to your house, your cookies were hard as rocks. Now they taste much better.”
Elise smiled lightly. “Thanks to your teaching. So, how was your research this afternoon?”
“Nothing too difficult. The biggest question now is your normal strength. I still don’t know your fighting style. So it’s hard for me to design our next strategy. Do you have time later? Can you show me your sword skills?”
“You want to see my sword skills?”
“That’s right. I already have three possible plans. It depends on your strength.”
Elise couldn’t help but laugh. It was the first time someone had doubted her strength.
But she wasn’t laughing to mock Peiya, she just thought Peiya looked a bit cute like this.
Later, maybe she would play a small joke, but try not to scare her too much~
“Sure. Finish your food first, then we’ll go somewhere else to talk.”
“No problem.”
Peiya quickly finished everything, excited to watch Elise use her sword.
Once she entered work mode, this was her strong point. In the past, her teammates all had great potential to grow.
Because of that, Peiya often had to use indirect tactics to disturb the enemy as much as possible.
This kind of fighting style was very risky for other teams, because it required strong teamwork and high individual ability.
But Peiya relied on her ability to give very precise buffs to her teammates. During the short gaps between enemy attacks, she could apply powerful support effects, things that most supports would never dare to risk.
If the skill failed, everything would collapse. What kind of support would dare to take such risks?
But when it came to probability, Peiya was never afraid.
Because her skills almost always hit their target. Instead, when something went wrong, she had to think hard to find a solution.