Resistance is futile.
However, it is not without reward, although in this confrontation Kelly basically is considered to be a great victory, but after all, there are repeated, dead Jared still refused to give in, so in his resistance Kelly also had to agree to his conditions: she can only stay with Tawana, if unauthorized to leave, then Jared and Caroline will not be responsible for it.
And so it was in this compromising exchange that the war settled down, from an overwhelming victory to a losing battle.
It was clear that neither side was happy about the victory. Jared didn't want to get involved in such a frivolous matter, but he couldn't possibly disobey the Academy President's orders. Kelly had a lot of power, but unfortunately she had no power in the Academy, and her so-called status was more honorary than real, and refusing to let her go wouldn't do any real harm, even if it did happen a few years down the road. But the Academy President was different, and Jared didn't want to jeopardize his long term future for one or two boring liberal arguments. He'd already politely declined, but since the Dean had no intention of agreeing, what good would it do to break the ice? Must he wait for someone to use his position to pressure him? Can't you just pat yourself on the back and walk away? In this world, Jared and the ruling class does not have any irreconcilable contradictions, and he does not want to deliberately create irreconcilable contradictions. If you want to use someone or be used, it's best to make them feel in control.
"Why do I have to live with this magic messenger? You're simply looking for trouble on purpose! Right?"
"That's right."
In the face of Kelly's aggressive and angry questions, Jared simply confessed his thoughts. I should have known that I should not have proposed to let this woman to find the college president, originally listened to Kelly's analysis after he thought that this woman at least in the big picture can still grasp, but did not expect her resentment will actually be so strong. As a result, not only tired of their bad luck, make themselves and idiots like.
"I didn't help you willingly, so in order to prevent you from getting us into trouble, it's only natural for me to restrict your movements. If you're so afraid of death and want to be protected by us, then be a good boy and stay with Tawana. You're a magician, so you'll at least be able to defend yourself against an attack. And remember, we're doing this for your own good."
"What for my sake!"
This woman is really hot when she's back in her element, Jared thought as he looked at Kelly glaring at him. It wasn't that he hadn't seen this kind of woman before, but in all fairness, Caroline's "ladylike elegance" was much better than Kelly's. He compared his first encounter with Caroline to his current one. He carefully compared the scene when he first met Caroline, and then looked at the current Kelly, and quickly realized that even as the same noble lady, the gap between people is indeed very far.
Just as a tug-of-war is a back-and-forth battle, where there is oppression, there is resistance. In the end, the crowd had to accept Kylie's opinion - she couldn't stand living in a small room like a magical envoy's, so she requested that they all be moved to her magician's residence. Considering that the other party could attack Kylie at any time, anywhere, and that it would be a hindrance to fight in a place surrounded by people, Jared nodded his head and agreed to Kylie's request, but then put forward another opinion, which was that Kylie must obey their orders completely and not resist.
As the saying goes, where there's resistance, there's repression.
"Brother Jared and Sister Kelly seem to have a bad relationship ..."
(Maybe.)
Caroline stood and watched Kelly, who was furious with Jared, and Jared, who was indifferent. Slightly uneasy, her female intuition and a much sharper sense of sixth sense made her realize something that even the people involved were not aware of. It was as if Kylie's stubbornness in pursuing them - or Jared, to be more precise - made it clear that there was more to her than meets the eye. If she really hated Jared, she could have just stopped seeing him and stayed away. After all, Jared isn't a womanizer, he's not interested in anyone other than his partner.
Caroline was confident in her emotional connection to Jared, and just because half of her excuse for being a betrothed was to have fun and tease Jared didn't mean the other half was. If it had been a simple relationship, Caroline would have been able to clear her feelings a long time ago. But the long years of reconciliation have left her equally ambiguous about her own feelings. Especially after six years of living together on the run, virtually shut off from the outside world, it's hard to know whether you trust or love someone close to you.
It is conceivable that if the life on the run had continued, the two men would not have had to think about it, that under the pressure of the extreme circumstances, their need for each other and their bonding would have been a matter of course, a stressful situation that needed to be aired out, no matter what the reason, no matter what the cause or the effect. But in this world, everything is different. Instead of chasing, attacking, and oppressing their existence, normal life comes back to them - a situation in which the kind of self-indulgence and indulgence that comes with the end of time is naturally impossible.
So when she felt Kylie's thoughts, which she probably didn't even realize, a flicker of anxiety inevitably swept through Caroline's heart.
"Sister Caroline?"
(Nothing, I think, maybe a little tired.)
Caroline shook her head slightly and said to Tawana with a smile, and if Jared had heard her, he would have known that Caroline was blatantly lying. She could not possibly feel fatigue with her "Tectonic Harmony", except for when her ability disappeared and she was in an extremely harsh environment such as the desert, Caroline's body would not feel well. And that's clearly not the case with her now.
What exactly does Jared think of me?
It might be a little too late to think about it now, but after realizing it, Caroline couldn't help but be afraid. She'd always thought that she and Jared had been the longest-tenured members of the team, and that their feelings would stand up to any consideration - after all, they'd rescued more than a handful of aliens who'd taken a liking to Jared since then. But Jared seemed to be ambivalent about everyone but Caroline. At the time, that reassured Caroline, but now she couldn't help but be skeptical.
Could it be that Jared's unreserved treatment of himself is not because he sees himself as a woman, but as a sister?
Deep down, Caroline is completely incapable of accepting this position.
The rough knock on the door not only startled the contemplative Caroline, but it also stopped the unwarranted taunting and ranting between Jared and Kelly. Kylie stared at the door with a rather disgruntled expression. After all, this was the residence of a wizard, and it was disrespectful to disturb it like this. So she huffed and opened the door, wanting to vent her anger at not being able to win from Jared.
But the people outside seemed angrier than she was.
"Hand over those two!!!"
A dark-skinned man with ram's horns stood in the doorway, his eyes as red as blood, and his words baffled Kelly.
"Moka! Are you off your meds?!!! How dare you come to me and mess around?!!! What the hell is going on?!"
"Don't make excuses, I know, those two are in there, hand them over! I'm going to cut these two into pieces!"
"This is the Academy."
Kelly sank back, coldly.
"Not a tavern in the ghetto, not a village in the countryside, Moka. Have you no regard for the law or the Academy's elders? Or do you want to be expelled?"
"You ...!!!"
The dark-skinned man named Moka couldn't say anything because of what Kylie was saying. Yes, Kelly was right. This was the Academy. This wasn't an arena or a bar in the ghetto where you could take an axe to anyone you liked and slip away before the guards arrived. This is a sanctuary for the study of magic, the Academy, the supreme place of magic in the Empire.
Jared whistled in surprise, Kelly was so much better than the unproductive bickering she'd been doing earlier, and it seemed that this was what she looked like when she got serious. But when the man saw Jared, he reached out in anger and pointed his hand at him.
"That's the man! Injured Yolian!"
"Yulian?"
Kylie swept past Jared in some confusion, she had gone to the Headmaster's place immediately after parting with Jared, so she was completely unaware of what had happened in the Emerald Tower.
"Did you hurt her?"
"Who's Yolian?"
Jared doesn't recognize the name.
"The half-elf that you bullied with your brutality in the Tower of Green!"
The man named Moka, who looked part human and part ghost, said fiercely.
"So it's that 'only'."
Jared's cotton wool retorted, but the man seemed oblivious to the small insult in his words.
"That's right, it's that half-elf! You actually bullied a weak woman like this, do you have any manly backbone and dignity left?"
Jared froze for a moment, the other man's bluntness taking the edge off of him. Originally, he tried to make this man angry through sarcasm, and then he would make a pile of him. But did not expect this man not only did not hear the hidden meaning of his words, and even said the vibrant words, so Jared immediately lost and his motivation, began to bring the normal cold tone of voice to explain.
"She insulted my most important partner and tried to hurt her, and I merely gave the woman the punishment that suited her, so that she would not be so self-righteous in the future. I don't think I've done anything wrong, and to me, I don't show mercy to women and children just because they come to me. It's an insult to them, and it's just as stupid."
Under Jared's undisguised speech, Kelly looked at him with a strange expression, while Tawana gazed at Jared's figure with adoration and longing in her eyes. It's not hard to imagine that every little girl has dreamed of having a prince riding a white horse as her shield while saying "Don't hurt the most important person to me ..." or something like that, although Jared was not riding a white horse, nor was he wearing armor, and the person he was protecting was not himself at all. Although Jared was not riding a white horse or wearing armor, and the person he was protecting was not himself at all, the mere sight of such a scene made little Tawana's heart very excited.
Caroline's cheeks blushed slightly as she looked over at Jared, once again realizing the incomparable feeling of security and the happiness of being guarded.
The man known as Moka also froze in place.
In fact, he did not see the whole process, but as one of the half-elven's loyal suitors, Moka, when he heard the rumor that the "weak" (although from the point of view of size and gender, it is quite true) half-elven girl was broken by a human man's arm and fingers, and even trampled on her, the anger for the innocent weak and bullying and indignation, coupled with the love, like fuel to the fire, so Moka immediately left the Dark Tower in a rage, after making a big fuss, the anger was like fuel to the fire, so Moka immediately left the Dark Tower in a rage, and after making a big fuss, he left the Dark Tower in a rage. When the rumor spread that the half-elf girl had her arm and finger broken by a human man, and even trampled on her, the anger for the innocent and weak being bullied and the love was like fuel on the fire, so Moka immediately left the Dark Tower in a rage, and after a lot of trouble, she finally found the culprit who had already lived in the wizard's residence.
Originally, in this straight and a little hard man's imagination, the murderer who bullied the weak would be a gutless rogue, so he was mentally prepared to face a scoundrel or a vicious and tyrannical evil spirit. But Jared's tough but direct speech left him in a state of bewilderment - a kind of toughness that insisted on his principles and would never change them. It wasn't the kind of firmness that an ordinary bully could have. So he froze there for a moment, not knowing what to do. Although he had heard the whole story, it was easy for a man with unrequited love to ignore or deny any negative rumors about his loved one - not that he could blame him, all men are like that.
"I don't think I've done anything wrong, so I'm not going to apologize for taking it for granted. What, are you still going to do it?"
As Jared finished his speech, he too was confused by the man's attire. From the look of his robes, he should be a wizard like Kylie, but this man was wearing steel gauntlets on both sides of his arms that only a samurai would use. Moreover, compared to Kylie's robes, which were so long that she would trip over them if she stepped on them, this man's robes were not that exaggerated in length, and he looked to be wearing a weapon around his waist, so he didn't look like a mage at all.
The scene was deadlocked for a while, and Jared was going to come up with a few words to get the other side off their backs, and then this would be the end of the matter. Besides, they were too busy to be bothered by something that came out of nowhere. But at that moment, a shrill voice broke through the air and rushed in unimpeded.
"Kill this man! Moka!!! He deserves to die!!!"
Jared frowned and looked over, only to see the half-elf whose hand he had broken and was now wrapped in bandages pointing angrily at him and shouting at the man. Her voice seemed to contain some kind of unknowable magic, Mokuba's eyes became cloudy, his breathing was heavy, and at the same time he put his hand to the dagger at his waist.
The confrontation finally turned into a full-scale war.