The room went dead silent immediately after Annette spoke.
She leaned back in her chair and unapologetically added,
"I'm not sorry that I sound cocky. It is just the naked truth. I understand that you guys wish to proceed with our best interest at heart, but you see, we really do not care about all of that."
The Commander stared blankly at her for a moment; it was incredibly difficult to tell what he was thinking, whether he was pissed off by her tone of speech or he simply found it amusing.
Either way, a ghostly smile was stuck on his face.
Gilbert also added after Annette,
"What Annette is saying is true. She was a Master in the Central Plains. In fact, she had hit a wall, with the growing dangers of rifts, and the recent one had just taken her eyes. She was very skeptical of going back into rifts, which was why I invited her to be a temporary instructor at the public academy.
