The World Is Mine For The Taking-Chapter 1276 - 196 - Boiling Point (5)

"I think you’re much more helpful to me than you let yourselves believe," Myrcella said.

Her voice wasn’t loud. It wasn’t dramatic either. But the way she said it carried a quiet weight that lingered in the air for a moment, like the last echo of a bell that had been struck just once.

It was almost as if she already knew she would end up saying something like that. The words came out smoothly, without hesitation, like they had been sitting on the tip of her tongue long before this conversation even began. Because of that, she immediately followed it up before the silence between them had time to stretch too long.

"I don’t think it’s something you need to think about that much," she continued calmly, folding her arms loosely. "You only need to believe in me."

That was... a bold thing to say.

Telling someone to just believe in you sounded simple on the surface. But the moment those words were spoken, something subtle tended to happen inside the listener’s head. There was always that little pause. That tiny moment where your brain tried to figure out whether the person in front of you was someone worth trusting, or someone who was about to drag you straight into a pile of problems.

Still, sometimes confidence alone had a strange effect on people. If someone looked you straight in the eye and said it with enough certainty, something inside you might just go, well... screw it, why not?

"Well, if you’re fine with me, then why not," she said after a brief pause, letting out a slow breath as if she had already been carrying the thought for a while. "I think right now the kingdom has been walking down a path of destruction, and honestly, it’s starting to get really, really concerning."

She tapped her finger lightly against the table while she spoke, the small rhythmic sound quietly punctuating her words.

"And it would be really, really bad if people with bad intentions managed to slip behind the throne," she added. "At that point, things would become seriously troubling. The kind of troubling that keeps people awake at night."

It was really concerning.

That wasn’t even an exaggeration. If anything, it might have been putting things a little too politely.

But even with all that in mind, I didn’t think I would allow something like that to happen.

Right now, we were taking every precaution possible.

Of course, the biggest problem was that unknown variable.

Moriarty.

With someone like that involved, I didn’t think this situation would stay a simple political struggle.

No, that would have been far too convenient.

This had all the signs of becoming something much larger. Something messy. Something complicated. A conflict where too many pieces were moving at once, and half of them were probably being moved by someone we couldn’t even see yet.

In short, it was the kind of situation that made people wish life came with a manual.

Unfortunately, it didn’t.

After that, the conversation gradually shifted toward another subject—one that Myrcella had been thinking about for quite some time.

Her plan.

More specifically, her intention to allow all cadets the opportunity to graduate as magic knights, even if they weren’t part of the Gold Class.

"I’m working on that right now," Galdea said, leaning back slightly in her chair as she spoke.

She let out a short breath through her nose before continuing.

"The tradition of only allowing Gold Class cadets to graduate as magic knights is honestly pretty outdated at this point. I mean... seriously outdated."

She lifted a hand and gestured slightly as she explained.

"And considering there are only less than a hundred magic knight graduates each year, it’s really not enough to build a stronger military force. Not even close."

Her tone wasn’t angry, but there was clear frustration underneath it.

"The older magic knights are retiring year after year," she went on. "Meanwhile, fresh graduates are entering the ranks. But the numbers just don’t match up the way people think they do."

She shrugged.

"Basically, the kingdom isn’t developing the way people in the past imagined it would. In fact, the number of magic knights produced every year keeps decreasing."

She paused for a moment before adding another point.

"I mean, some cadets in the Gold Class genuinely want to become magic knights. That’s their dream, and they work their asses off for it. But there are also cadets in the Gold Class who don’t even want that job. They’d rather pursue something completely different."

She gave a small, almost amused shake of her head.

"And honestly, who could blame them?"

"Well, that’s one of the main issues with this old tradition," Myrcella said, nodding slowly.

Her voice carried that same calm confidence as before, but now there was also a quiet determination behind it.

"Because they believe they’re protecting the tradition so carefully, they’ve become stubborn about changing it."

She paused briefly before continuing.

"And when people become stubborn about tradition, things tend to stop moving forward."

Her gaze shifted slightly, as if she were picturing the future in her mind.

"If we don’t make a change, then everything will just become stagnant," she said. "And when a system becomes stagnant, it eventually starts to rot."

That was... honestly a pretty accurate way of putting it.

It wasn’t like people would keep seeing the position of magic knight as the ultimate dream job forever.

Times were changing.

The world itself was changing.

Modernity was slowly creeping in, and with it came new opportunities, new careers, and new ways of living. There were jobs now that paid far more than being a magic knight ever could, and most of them didn’t involve risking your life on a regular basis.

Which, for some reason, people tended to appreciate.

Strange concept, I know.

Because of that, fewer people would choose the path of becoming a magic knight.

Sure, there would always be some who still dreamed of it. There were always those stubborn, passionate types who refused to give up on an ideal.

But compared to the numbers from a few years ago? 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Yeah. It would be a noticeable drop.

And that drop would slowly become a serious problem.

The academy existed to produce the kingdom’s military backbone. If fewer and fewer students enrolled with the intention of becoming magic knights, the entire system would start to weaken over time.

And once that happened, the kingdom itself would begin to feel the consequences.

If that future was going to be avoided, then both the academy and the kingdom needed to adapt.

Tradition wasn’t a bad thing. In fact, it had value. It gave people identity, continuity, and a sense of history.

Personally, I believed it was necessary to preserve tradition.

But tradition that refused to change eventually turned into a cage.

And cages weren’t exactly known for helping societies grow.

If change never happened, problems would eventually appear down the line, like problems that would be far more difficult to fix later.

"Right now, based on what I’ve been seeing, I think it could work," Galdea said after a moment.

Her tone was thoughtful now, more analytical than before.

"However, with everything happening at the same time, it’s going to take time."

She let out a small sigh.

"Unfortunately, I don’t think we’ll be able to make it happen within this academic year."