"Bullshit!!!"
Jared inclined his head, a stone mixed with the sound of wind and angry shouts flew past his ear, it seems that this lady not only has extraordinary magical power, but also has a very good hand.
"I'm telling the truth."
The boiling hot water could not be used to fill up the stomach for breakfast, but it was better than not eating anything at all. Jared was careful not to spill the hot water in the bronze helmet in his hand that was many years old, and shrugged his shoulders helplessly at the scowling Kylie on the other side of the table." According to my deduction, if that's really the case, then the other party's target is you. And in other words, you are one of the culprits who dragged us into this dangerous situation."
"This can't be right!"
Kelly huffed and got up, but she'd almost thrown all the rocks around her.
"Then may I ask if this so-called guardian test in the academy has always been a matter of shoving someone into a forbidden area and waiting for them to come out on their own?"
"This ..."
Tavana lowered her head, and after a few moments of careful recollection, shook her head firmly.
"Students who study magic at the academy are strictly protected by the academy, there's no way we'd be put in a life-threatening situation. ..."
"So, what do you want?!"
Kelly stared angrily at Jared, with a sharp look that would normally scare off a bunch of ignorant idiots, but had no effect on Jared whatsoever.
"It's simple."
Jared held out a hand, pointing deeper into the forest.
"You go, or we go."
"You mean ... separate?"
"That's right. Let's go our separate ways. I don't want you to get involved. Caroline and I are just warriors, and Tawana is just a girl. We don't want to be involved in some murderous and dangerous plot. It's best we stay separate to be on the safe side, and frankly, we don't have any food right now, so if we can find something to eat, it's always better to share it with one less than one more."
Jared's demeanor was bland, but his words were unforgiving.
Tawana is stunned.
Caroline took quiet little sips of water from her helmet, not caring, after all, that's what happened.
Kelly stood in disbelief, her fists clenched and her eyes wide. For a moment she thought she'd misheard, but her reasoning told her that it was the truth. Not only did the man in front of her not want to protect her in the slightest, he even saw her as a burden. A hot potato that he wanted to get rid of...?
"Caroline is my companion, my valued friend. Tawana is our guardian, and we all have a legitimate need to guard her. But only you, my lady. Not only are you useless, but I can't imagine any emotional connection between us. Boring encounters should end in boring goodbyes, and at a time like this, there's no such thing as too many. And I'll tell you plainly, ma'am. You're a nuisance to us."
"... you this ..."
Kelly glared at Jared through gritted teeth, and if sight could kill, she'd have killed him a thousand times over.
"Brother Jared, I think ..."
(...)
Tavana wanted to say something, but Caroline squeezed her shoulder and shook her head gently, but firmly.
"... Good, very good."
Kelly glared at Jared, half gritting her teeth.
"I'm leaving, I'd like to see, without my assistance, you'll be food for that group of undead in a few days!!!"
"Please."
Jared stopped talking, and Kelly just turned around and walked right out.
"Wait, Sister Kelly ..."
"Tawana, leave her alone."
Jared interrupted Tawana's call, staring into Tawana's eyes, making the girl feel a pang of tension for no apparent reason.
"What do you want? Call her back? Let her go, she's not the one we were meant to meet, and believe me, Tawana, we've been in this situation many more times than you have. Morality, justice and kindness will not save you. If you want to live, you must learn the minimum amount of cruelty. Discard the useless and leave only the useful. Only then will you have the best chance of surviving."
"So ... will you abandon Sister Caroline too?"
Tawana bravely looked straight at Jared, while Caroline, who was the center of the conversation, just sat there in silence, staring at the boiling hot water and wondering what she was thinking.
"No."
Jared spoke up dryly.
"But ... you just said ..."
"If that happens, I think I'll die with her."
Jared shook his head with a bitter smile.
"Look, Tawana. Comparisons like this are meaningless, Caroline and I have been together for a long time, and we've both been in situations where we would have sacrificed our lives for each other. But we've never given up on each other in those situations. It's a bond that's built over time. That's why I'd rather die with someone I know than risk my life for someone I've only known for a day. It's not romantic, it's stupid, and that woman is just one more mouth to feed. Under normal circumstances, maybe we could have acted more like normal people, lived and died together, suffered together. But we can't do that now. There's no food in this hellhole, and we probably won't find it. There's a good chance she's the cause of the danger, in which case the only way to get away from it is to abandon her. And, as I'm sure you know, she's proved herself to be an unstable element. Under these circumstances, we don't have the luxury of letting a young lady lose her temper."
"..."
Tawana was silent, not saying a word. Jared could only shrug his shoulders, she was still a child after all. She had never been in a similar situation, nor had she ever experienced the seriousness of the damage that could be done by a foolish decision. There were things that didn't make sense, but in fact, there were times when you didn't need a reason to do something.
You don't need a reason to save a life.
So why does abandonment require a reason?
"Haaah ..."
Jared walked over to Caroline's side and sat down, letting out a long sigh.
(You shouldn't have been so direct.)
Caroline complained.
"Well, what else can I do?"
Jared scratched his head, unsure of what to say.
(It would be better to take Kylie away from here, then drive her away or kill her, and tell Tawana lies like she lost herself because she had a tantrum, right? After all, Tawana is still a child, and I don't think she has to accept what we've been through.)
"... said the same thing, I'm a little excited."
Jared shrugged his shoulders and nodded in recognition of his mistake. In that situation, he had only thought about how to get rid of this trouble, completely forgetting that Tawana's thoughts were completely different from theirs. But now that it was over, it was too late to retrace his past mistakes. So he quickly gave up on his introspection, and then stood up, briefly packing his clothes.
"So, let's go."
(Where to?)
"Along the riverbed."
Jared's obviously got it all figured out.
"Since this place was at least once inhabited, there must be some remnants of man-made structures near the water source, where, if we're lucky, we might be able to find 'some food'."
Hearing Jared's implied explanation, Caroline nodded her head in understanding. Although Tawana was curious as to what Jared meant by that, she couldn't accept Jared abandoning Kylie like that, so she could only pretend to be sulking and didn't take the initiative to ask Jared about it like she normally would have done. It was too much for a naive girl to abandon her traveling companion, even though they had only known each other for a day. And why did Jared abandon her instead of helping her when she was in danger and in trouble?
But Tawana didn't fight it, and deep down she thought Jared was right. But Tawana didn't want to think that, because it would make her feel like she was being mean and obnoxious. Moreover, Caroline, who had always been on the same side as her, didn't speak out against it, which left her helpless without reinforcements. Even if she wanted to say something, she didn't know what to say.
It was then that Tawana noticed Caroline suddenly stop for a moment, and although she then resumed her walk, it was a small gesture that Tawana found a little surprising. Because Caroline, unlike Jared, rarely made meaningless gestures. She looked around curiously, and then realized that not far behind them, a figure was quietly following. Though she tried her best to keep herself undetected. Unfortunately, wizards aren't thieves and don't have any experience in hiding themselves, so even Tawana could easily spot her with this kind of childish hiding.
Kelly, who was following Jared and the others at a distance, wondered what she was thinking.