Imeve instantly understood what Ain meant.
“Vanessa, your name really shouldn't have been on there.”
Vanessa was about to be driven crazy by this guessing game.
“Why isn't it right? What's wrong with it?”
Ain glanced at Vanessa and explained, “Remember that time at the dining table?
“Didn't you say back then that you were busy and had no time for anything else, and that you had your own things to do in the south?”
Vanessa replied blankly, “Right, otherwise I would have gone to play with Lillian and Erylin long ago...”
At this moment, Vanessa also realized something was off and looked at Ain in sheer surprise.
Ain continued, “Even if Lance got his hands on Typhon Chain's roster of operatives for this mission, your name absolutely wouldn't have been on it!
“After all, you weren't even part of this Typhon Chain mission from the very beginning!”
Vanessa let out a blank sound.
“Oh, right...”
She hadn't paid attention to these things from the start.
Vanessa murmured, “Typhon Chain's roster of operatives was already finalized before the summer break started. I only joined because this mission was an emergency...”
The girl spoke to herself, but soon, she realized something else was wrong.
“Wait, didn't this mission merge other groups together? It shouldn't be hard to make a temporary list...”
Imeve frowned, asking in confusion, “The timing is off?”
Ain snapped his fingers.
“Exactly!
“Remember what Lance said in front of us?
“He said it was the result of last night's discussion. The key is, last night!”
Realization dawned on Imeve.
“Vanessa, when Ain asked you just now, you said you were only assigned to the Academy's team this morning. Yet, Lance's list was prepared before last night.
“In that case, even if it were a temporary list, your name couldn't possibly be on it!”
But soon, after pondering for a good while, Imeve cast her gaze back onto Ain.
“But I still don't get it. Why is that? Why would this happen... Uh, Ain, why are you looking at me with that kind of eyes?”
Vanessa chimed in, “Yeah, since my name couldn't possibly be on it, why did he still call it out... Hey! What's with that look!”
Ain crossed his arms, looking at the two beautiful girls before him with utter disdain.
“Teacher Ain looks down on every academically challenged student who asks questions equally.”
Both Vanessa and Imeve were dumbfounded.
Was this something so easy to figure out?
Ain let out a heavy breath, his gaze turning cold as he recalled the answer he had just deduced.
“The reason is actually very simple.
“Do you remember when Lance finished reading the list? Among those who stepped forward, without exception, almost all of them had teamed up with Erylin! And probably multiple times! They were almost all people Erylin was familiar with!
“Isn't that too much of a coincidence? If they really just needed hands, shouldn't they have called names at random?”
Vanessa also realized something was wrong.
The students who were called seemed to be the very team members who usually hung around with Erylin.
Ain revealed the answer.
“The list Lance held in his hand was nothing but a front from start to finish. It was never a roster of Typhon Chain's active operatives for this mission!
“That list was actually a list of everyone in Typhon Chain who has close ties to Erylin!”
Both girls froze.
“That's why! Vanessa, you're Erylin's roommate at the Academy and a member of Typhon Chain. So even if you weren't originally part of this mission, your name would still be on Lance's list!”
Vanessa looked at Ain in astonishment, questioning, “Wait, my head is spinning a bit...”
Ain flashed a confident smile and said, “Are you going to ask: if it were such a list, shouldn't he have called out the names of those who are close to Erylin but aren't participating in this mission?
“The answer is, when Lance was calling out names, he was always comparing them to the portraits on the list first, ensuring those people were actually present...
“He was afraid of exactly that happening, so he handpicked them!
“His logic for calling names was simply to check if the portraits of the people present matched the list, nothing more!”
Imeve lightly covered her mouth, shocked. “So that's why he called out Vanessa's name...”
Ain smiled confidently. “But that old man never expected that Vanessa wasn't even part of this mission to begin with!”
At this, Vanessa became even more bewildered.
“Why would the Grand Chief Arbiter do this? Why make such a list, and what does it have to do with Erylin?!”
As if realizing something, Imeve instantly cut in, “Wait, if this is under the premise that everyone in this rescue team has to die...”
“W-What?! We're all going to die?!”
Vanessa looked at Ain, then at Imeve.
She never expected that a simple mission could involve so many complicated matters!
Ain corrected her, “You're wrong. It's not everyone in the rescue team who has to die.”
Vanessa let out a long sigh of relief, feeling reassured. “Right, I knew it. How could that be...”
Ain said solemnly, “The ones who must die are always only the Academy students!”
Vanessa looked at Ain in sheer terror.
“Huh?!!!”
What were these two talking about?
How did I suddenly become marked for death?
And why could these two say it so nonchalantly?!
Ain cast a grateful glance at Imeve.
Thanks to the key piece of information she had provided earlier, he was able to find the answer.
Boss, the helper you found me isn't bad at all!
Fear and panic filled Vanessa's eyes. At this moment, her voice trembled slightly, and her body shook.
“Why? Why is it like this?”
Ain asked her a question in return.
“Vanessa, let me ask you first: if a stranger dies in front of you versus a family member you know dying in front of you, which one do you think would impact you more?”
“Definitely the latter...”
As if completely unable to guess Ain's intention, Vanessa joked casually, “Haha, you're not trying to say that everything happening now is just to make Erylin sad, are you?
“How could that be...”
The surrounding air fell silent, as if silently confirming Vanessa's words.
Vanessa blinked in confusion.
“Ain, are you... serious?”
Ain corrected one detail.
“Not sadness. Despair.”
“...Huh?”
Vanessa was even more bewildered.
“Why? Going to such lengths, with the Grand Chief Arbiter even resorting to imperial authority to apply pressure, just to make Erylin despair?”
Ain chuckled softly.
“Of course you wouldn't know.
“To drive Erylin to despair, thereby awakening the power of the Ice of Aret within her—that is the true purpose behind the creation of this rescue team!”
Ain finally understood why Act Three was called Erylin's growth chapter.
It was because in Act Three, the character this trash game truly needed to kill was actually...
Erylin Lorenz.
Rate on N.U.
