Chapter 159 – Persuading.

Katherine lounged on her makeshift throne like a queen of the forest. The twisted vines that formed her seat pulsed with life, shaped by spirit magic into something between a chair and a throne. Red roses bloomed along its edges, serving no purpose beyond enhancing the elegance of the structure. In her hand, she held a delicate porcelain teacup, while another student stood nearby, waiting silently to refill it.

The young lifted the cup to her lips with an exaggerated sigh, her expression one of languid boredom. Her azure eyes drifted lazily to the frantic skirmish before her, where four students from Class B struggled to subdue the thunderous tiger. Lightning arced between trees and scorched the earth, but Katherine remained untouched, perfectly at ease.

“Do you really want to become my retainers with this sort of performance? If Arwen earns more points than I do, don’t expect to ever see your names rise above B Class.”

Her voice rang out through the roar of battle and the crackling thunder from the lightning-clad tiger. Her words were sharp, her tone filled with disdain. The summoners in the clearing flinched, not because of the monster, but because of her. One of the students, a tall boy with shaggy hair and a sweat-soaked collar, shouted back without turning his head.

“We’re trying, Lady Grandwell. But it’s stronger than we thought…”

“I can see that.”

Katherine replied with mockery in her voice. She set her teacup on the blooming armrest beside her.

“And yet, I can’t find a reason to care. Take care of it. You have five minutes.”

The tiger roared again. Bolts of electricity burst from its paws as it slammed one of the summoned beasts into a blackened tree stump. The creature, a rock wolf made of summoned stone, vanished in a puff of fading mana. The summoner, a girl with dirt-streaked cheeks, stumbled back with a grimace. Katherine rolled her eyes. She had already given her ultimatum, and her own summons stood waiting at the edge of the clearing. Two red orcs, one a warrior and the other an archer, remained still and alert.

“You’re embarrassing me! Arwen’s group took down a much stronger creature than this small pet kitten!”

She continued to mock and shout at the group of young summoners, none of them brave enough to challenge her claims. Every one of them knew the truth. The lightning tiger was the strongest monster in the area. There was a clear reason why, even with five people, they were struggling to bring it down.

To make matters worse, the fight was entirely unnecessary. The test could be completed by defeating a few weaker monsters. That alone would have been enough. But their leader, after encountering the boss monster of the area, insisted on defeating it to become the undisputed victor. Slaying the beast granted an instant pass, a tempting reward for those reckless enough to try.

Unbeknownst to the group, a suit of armor watched them from a distance. Behind him stood two young girls who trembled in fear, trying to back away, but it seemed he had other plans…

*****

“I didn’t think we would run into Katherine here. I mean, Lady Grandwell. Maybe we should take a different path.”

Said Astrella, her voice carrying a hint of disdain that quickly turned to fear when she remembered she had left out the noble title.

“Y-yes. There is no reason to put ourselves in danger, we’ve already gathered enough to pass, maybe we should just ”

Whispered Gwendolin. She tried to make herself smaller as she hid behind a tree. Even though Rusty was at her side, the fear of her tormentor could not be cast off so easily. In her mind, escape was the only logical course of action.

To her dismay, her steel friend had other ideas. Instead of retreating, he crept forward and crouched low in the bushes, watching the scene unfold. He saw the monster locked in combat with four other summons, each one defeated and then summoned again in a desperate cycle. The young summoners were burning through mana recovery items like candy, but their supplies were clearly running low.

The white tiger had taken damage, but it was still standing strong. From Rusty’s perspective, the summoners would eventually lose—unless the one named Katherine decided to send her orcs into the fight. He recognized one of them. It was the same creature he had faced during a previous summoning quest. Now there were two. Either the blonde girl had grown stronger, or the duel they fought before had restricted the number of summons she could use. He was not sure what the limit was, but judging by the performance of the other summoners, three seemed like the limit of her mana.

“Rusty, what are you doing? We should go back before they see us.”

“You wish to go back? Why?”

“W-what do you mean? It’s Katherine…”

“So? I defeated her monster once already. I can do it again.”

“D-defeat her again?”

The two exchanged thoughts in silence, speaking mind to mind and leaving Astrella out of the conversation. Although she had also agreed with the idea of retreat, for some reason she had not moved. Her fingers clutched the bark of a nearby tree, squeezing so tightly that her fingertips were beginning to turn pale.

“Why not? This could be a chance to get your enemy out of this test! It will increase our chances of being first!”

“F-first? My enemy? What are you talking about?”

Gwendolin denied it, but Rusty knew better. He shared a strange connection with this girl, something deeper than words, and through it he could sense her emotions with uncanny clarity. One feeling stood out above the rest: rage.

Every time she looked in the direction of the blonde girl, he could feel it. Anger burned just beneath her fear. Gwendolin clearly wanted to fight back, but she was far too afraid to act against her tormentor. Rusty, however, had no such limitations.

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He studied the battlefield calmly, analyzing every movement, every weakness. His battle instincts told him they could win, but only if his summoner cooperated. He needed her presence. If she strayed too far from him, the bond would break and he would vanish. Without her mana to sustain him, he would not be able to endure a prolonged battle.

“You wish to retreat now, Gwendolin?”

He spoke softly, but each word carried weight. The polished surface of his helmet caught the light from Airy, who was fluttering nearby in a slow circle. Though he had not spent much time in the human world and still struggled with speech, he had learned a few things from his guides.

Aburdon had always told him that words could move people. With the right ones, almost anyone could be persuaded to act. Rusty had taken that lesson to heart. By now, he understood that Gwendolin did not truly want to retreat. She wanted to fight. What held her back was not a lack of will, but a lack of belief. She did not think he could stand against her tormentors. That had to change.

If she was going to be his summoner for the rest of his quests, then he needed to address that flaw. He refused to be partnered with a coward. She had to see that fighting was not only possible but necessary. People like Katherine would not be defeated by fear or silence. Without resistance, nothing would ever change. And if she ran away again, it might never change at all.

“Do you truly want to run from her again?”

Gwendolin flinched at Rusty’s words. Her fingers tightened around the neck of her mana bottle, as if clinging to it could serve as an excuse not to fight. The bottle was nearly full. There was no urgent reason to join the battle. At least, that was what she tried to tell herself. Part of her still hoped that Katherine would win, continue to be the top student, and then forget about her entirely. If she kept her head down, maybe she could slip by unnoticed.

But deep down, she knew that hope was fragile. This trial had drawn attention to her. Her performance had improved. She was probably ranked in the top twenty now, and that alone would be enough to make her a target again. Katherine would see it as a challenge, or worse, an insult. She would use it as an excuse to send others after her, just like she had before with those three students.

“I… I just want to pass the test, but…”