CH684

“Hold on,” Rook spoke, still smirking while he eyed Ben. “There’s something that needs to be addressed here. This isn’t a daycare, you can’t just bring any random kid along to it.”

“…Do you have an issue you’d like to present then?” Killi asked, her tone speaking of her opinion on the other more than anything else and shouting to the world that she was unimpressed.

“I do. Get the brat out of here,” He said, dismissively trying to wave off Ben and drawing his teacher’s ire.

“If you have a problem with my apprentice, you have a problem with me.”

“And it’s long been acceptable to bring guests if the skill holder in question sees them as having the potential,” Killi sighed. “You don’t get to decide that.”

“Well this isn’t exactly going to be a regular meeting, is it?” He shot back. “Besides, I’ve been here longer than any of you by a mile, I have an eye for who’s actually going to cross the line by this point and he doesn’t have a chance so there’s no use dragging him here, it’s a waste of all of our time…”

He trailed off as he heard the sound of a soft giggling coming from Yuzu, with her teacher looking like he was struggling to suppress his own laughter.

“What?” The immortal asked. “You think a couple of newbies like the two of you have better judgment than me?”

“Obviously,” Elvat said, with Yuzu nodding her head as well while Killi spoke once more.

“I’d also say you’re an idiot if you really believe that but frankly, you’re well known for your poor judgment by this point. I don’t know why you’ve decided you don’t like the boy and to be clear, I don’t care. I’ve already heard that both of the soulsmith’s guests were brought along at the request of the god Nare and frankly if even then you still think it’s inappropriate to have two guests then Ben can be mine instead. Now, can we go on?”

“No, I’m happy to grind things to a halt if that’s the way you want to be, I don’t believe it’s right for him to be here when he clearly doesn’t have potential and I have seniority on all of you.”

“Does such a thing even matter for someone who’s never reaching godhood?” The divine chef sighed from the aquatic side, seeming both tired and used to things going that way. “You claim seniority but never act your age. Can you do us all a favour and shut it so we can wrap this up? Some of us actually have important work to be doing.”

“And as for potential, I would personally place Ben as the most valuable among the summoned, including myself,” Yuzu added, with the statement drawing eyes from the rest of the table, Ben’s included, with a range of emotions behind them. More than a few were curious upon hearing that but it was the eyeless one among them who seemed to flair up at those words more than anything, even if she chose to stay silent.

It didn’t matter so much that Yuzu had outed him as one of the summoned when nearly half of the people in the room were as well. What mattered was her evaluation of him, something far beyond anything he’d call himself with Rook laughing as soon as she’d said it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

“If he was that valuable then he would have already been in an earlier meeting. Don’t get a big head newbie, I know there’s only five of you.”

“The tier matters less than how you use it,” Elvat sighed. “And frankly, I agree. Now, are you really going to say your judgment is better than two soul mages?”