Arcane Era-Chapter 80: Team Bonding

"Come on... aren’t we a team?" Arlet began to become a little more talkative, trying to use their bond as teammates to pull at their heartstrings.

However, this only made Theo laugh to himself even more.

’If only such methods were effective. Even if they were, your placement in this team is a little shaky, Arlet.’ Right as Theo thought this, Liyah finally spoke up—raising her voice mildly as she glared at the probing boy.

"You have no right to use that against us! You never even consider us friends, last I checked." She said, "You’re the kind of guy who would abandon his teammates without blinking an eye."

Everyone’s thoughts went back to the same scenario, and they understood what Liyah meant.

During the dungeon break, despite not being friends with Arlet, they still considered him a dependable ally. They rescued him from confinement—partly because they required his strength, but also for the sake of camaraderie.

Yet, when the time came for them to stand united, he was the first to break.

How could such a person be dependable?

"I understand your reservations about me, and while I still stand by my actions back then being the most logical approach, I see how it could come off as betrayal."

"Oh, really?"

"Yeah..." He sighed softly. "But there’s no need to be concerned about such a thing repeating itself. We’re an official team right now, under the authority of the Ak’ashi Guild. Even if you don’t believe in my sincerity, at least count on my ambition."

Arlet’s goal was to rise in the Ak’ashi Guild so he could gain Shen Ak’ashi’s attention.

"That means I will do everything in my power to make sure this team succeeds, no matter what. I won’t hold anyone back, and most importantly... I won’t betray my teammates."

Theo smiled and nodded silently.

’He’s not wrong...’ More often than not, a selfish man was much easier to deal with than a selfless one, since one could point out their desires.

’Where your treasure is, there your heart will be also. As long as Arlet’s ambitions are tied to helping us, we can rely on him.’ He finally chuckled aloud, turning to face the most curious of the group.

"Arlet... I know something about this mission that you don’t. Want to hear it?"

The boy’s eyes lit up, even with the shaded lens of his glasses obscuring them. He nodded coolly, still trying to keep a hold of his composure.

"Only if you promise to keep it to yourself." He smirked, also glancing at the stunned Liyah and Kaycee. "This goes for everyone here as well... okay? None of you must say a word to anyone!"

"Yeah, sure."

"No problem. You know you can trust me." The way Liyah said this connoted something meaningful as she quickly glanced at Arlet before scoffing slightly.

Theo noticed all of this, but chose not to comment on it.

Instead, he smiled.

Then, he proceeded to drop a heavy bombshell on the whole team.

"The Ak’ashi Guild was the one responsible for the destruction of the Sarvos Fortress."

Everyone’s eyes widened as soon as they heard this. The destruction of Sarvos’ Fortress was big news, one that even Kaycee had told Theo at some point—not knowing that the latter already knew, and even experienced it firsthand. There were many theories as to what could have caused it, and the speculators were split into three major camps:

The ones who believed the Revolutionary Army was responsible.

The ones who believed one or a union of multiple surrounding Nations with a hidden power and an agenda was responsible.

Finally... the ones who believed a Supreme Lord was involved.

The previous two were big deals, and they were very possible—though with the way the Sarvos Civil War was going, it was beginning to look less likely. After all, this mysterious force should have launched another attack of equal or even greater scale after what they did to the fortress. Even if the Armament they used was a Consumable-type, they would have launched some attack of significance in order to capitalize on the destruction of Sarvos’ fortress.

Yet... they did nothing.

It seemed like there was almost no tactical reason for the destruction of the Fortress.

Even the Revolutionary Army, which mostly benefited from this, were at something of a stalemate with the Sarvos Army. Their situation hadn’t really improved, though the ability of Sarvos to defend itself and quell the resistance had weakened significantly.

That made many to begin gravitating towards the third camp.

—A Supreme Lord!

If that was indeed the case, then the situation would have exceeded the level of a ’big deal’ and it could even lead to war—especially if the Supreme Lord was Shen Ak’ashi. After all, Sarvos was still in the territory of Roehel and Yabamiah, and a Supreme Lord intruding on the affiliate of these two Great Nations—to the point of destroying a major landmark—was cause for war.

It wouldn’t be too surprising if there was a Grand Assembly held by the Supreme Lords if such a thing happened to be true.

Yet—

Theo had just admitted to something like that so freely!

Sure, he was keeping his voice down, to the point where no one would ordinarily be able to listen in, but such sensitive information caused everyone around the table to tremble in dread. Theo wasn’t known for making jokes about such heavy matters, and his grim expression confirmed that this was no joke.

It was real.

He was telling the truth.

"D-does this mean... the facility my sister and her team rescued you from was actually... that Fortress?!" Liyah mumbled, her voice shaky.

When they first met, Theo had told her about how her sister rescued him in Sarvos, but she always assumed it was some sort of shady underground facility.

... Not the Sarvos Fortress!

"Yes."

After dropping the bombshell, Theo decided to go into details, his expression and tone at perfect ease. The three who listened to him were shocked by how calm he was as he went over the details, as if it was a completely ordinary phenomenon.

By the time he was done, he smiled at Arlet. "You wanted to know... so I hope you don’t regret it now."

Frankly, Arlet was feeling a great deal of regret.

This was something he shouldn’t have been privy to, and because of his knowledge, all kinds of trouble could seek him out in the future. However, he couldn’t fault Theo since he was the one who asked for it.

"I’ve decided to trust you all with something so important. I don’t need to overstate how dangerous the situation is, and the risk I took to tell you guys." His voice was soft. "I hope you can all have my backs and talk freely as I have."

Everyone nodded slowly, evidently still shaken by what they had heard.

"We’re a team... so let’s start acting like one."

Theo stretched out his filthy hand in an attempt to make a team huddle, waiting for his teammates to stack their hands on top of his. However, after noticing he was yet to wash it, he laughed sheepishly and did so.

Everyone found this to be a lighthearted sight, and they joined him in laughter. It wasn’t quite enough to fully break the tension, but... it was effective to an extent.

At the very least—team huddle or not—everyone understood one key thing.

They were in the same boat.

"Nice to see them getting so attached to each other..." Kamara watched from a hidden location, her expression not matching the words that proceeded from her lips.

After all, at the moment, her deep black eyes were gleaming with murderous light.