Chapter 21: What’s Wrong with the Captain?

Inside the Dawn’s Edge base.

No matter how lavishly decorated, the heavy atmosphere in the air couldn’t be suppressed.

Liz sat on the sofa, her gaze fixed on the cup of black tea in her hand.

Yet her pupils were completely unfocused, and no one knew what she was thinking.

“Jessica, what do you think is wrong with the captain?”

“No idea.”

Bethany also admitted she was clueless.

At that moment, the door to the room was pushed open.

Letia, dressed in a black priest’s robe, stepped in with unsteady footsteps.

“What’s going on with you all?”

Letia sensed the oppressive atmosphere as soon as she entered.

“Are you thinking about what to have for dinner?”

“Lethia, maybe ease up on the jokes. The captain doesn’t seem to be in a good mood.”

Bethany’s words made Letia chuckle.

“The captain hardly ever seems to be in a good mood anyway.”

“Hey…”

“No, it’s nothing,”

Liz interrupted Bethany, downing the now-cold tea in one gulp.

Bitter, hard to swallow… nothing like the tea Red brewed.

She rubbed her temples and once again resumed that proud, aloof demeanor.

“I’m just having a headache over how to tackle the 24th floor next.”

“That makes sense,”

Bethany said after learning about the all-female squad:

“That Red really can’t stand seeing us do well. Even after leaving the team, he still puts labels on us, stopping us from recruiting in peace.”

Liz didn’t respond to Bethany’s flattery, since she had indeed mentioned this to Red before.

Only this time, it was brought out into the open…

“Enough about that,”

Liz didn’t want to argue further on the topic.

“We should focus on how to attack the 24th floor. Bethany, please come up with a battle plan in the next few days.”

Bethany was stunned when she heard Liz’s arrangement and pointed at herself.

“Huh? Me?”

Normally, making strategy routes and battle plans would have been all handed to Red.

Having her do it… that definitely didn’t seem right.

“Why not let Letia do it?”

Bethany tried to dodge this unpleasant task, fully aware that if the plan went wrong, she’d be the one blamed.

Just like when Red was blamed before.

“Compared to me, a priest who only received St. Light Education, you who come from the Forest should be more suitable, right?”

Letia definitely wouldn’t take this job.

She was lazy.

More importantly, Lethia’s current focus wasn’t on dungeon strategies.

“Weren’t you often working with Red? You saw how he made plans. Isn’t that better than me, who only knows how to eat, sleep, and relax?”

“Um…”

Bethany was momentarily speechless, and Liz nodded in agreement.

“Bethany, since you’ve helped Red with this before, that’s why I want you to take over.”

“Fine…”

Bethany reluctantly nodded.

Had she helped Red?

That wasn’t true at all!

She had just used helping Red as an excuse to slack off somewhere.

To put it plainly, she was just goofing off and hadn’t really helped.

But now, she couldn’t admit that…

Maybe she should ask Red for help?

Men just needed a little temptation and a bit of gain; helping her out wouldn’t be a problem, right?

Bethany couldn’t help but scheme silently.

“There’s one more thing,” Liz said slowly.

“As for recruiting, I want to put that on hold for now. Instead of forcefully bringing someone in and wasting a lot of time on adjustment, it’s better to maintain the status quo.”

At this, Liz stood up and picked up her Knight Sword from beside her.

“Recruiting others is no match for improving ourselves.”

With that, she walked out without looking back, heading toward the Training Ground.

Letia looked at the two of them with a knowing expression.

“Did something happen to Liz?”

“If you ask me, I don’t know either.”

Bethany was just as puzzled.

***

By midnight, Liz finally put down her Knight Sword.

After six continuous hours of training, she was drenched in sweat, and her hands were numb.

Her mind was the same.

Maybe she was just trying to use training to numb her somewhat chaotic thoughts?

Recalling the way Red looked at that Litt earlier that afternoon, Liz felt a little dazed.

But mostly… just annoyed.

Why?

She had given Red so many favors, yet he valued some mysterious white priestess who had been around less than three days more than her.

He kept saying he cared for her, but she had always been thinking about him too.

Liz stabbed her Knight Sword into the ground and couldn’t help but bitterly mutter,

“This is what men are like…”

“Done training?”

A commanding voice came from above, making Liz flinch slightly.

She looked up to see Letia sitting on the balcony railing of the second floor, holding a sesame flatbread, silently observing her.

“Letia? What are you doing here?”

“Trying to sleep, but I kept hearing noises here, so I came to check.”

Letia said this indifferently.

“I thought you came to see me for something.”

Liz sheathed her Knight Sword and sat on the steps.

For Liz, apart from Red, Letia was also a bit of an oddity in Dawn’s Edge.

Her social skills were excellent; she could even chat easily with the awkward Red.

But she never got too close to anyone on the team, nor did she stay too distant.

Letia brushed crumbs off her hands and jumped down from the railing.

“I heard you had an argument with Red this afternoon?”

“No!”

Liz’s face was icy as she firmly denied it.

“Everything I said was the truth. That white priestess named Litte definitely has designs on Red!”

“Oh…”

Letia said casually.

“But Red hasn’t been part of Dawn’s Edge for a long time.”

Implying that since he wasn’t one of them anymore, why should they care?

That simple remark shut down all of Liz’s complaints.

After a long moment, Liz flushed red and bit her teeth.

“Red was at least with us in Dawn’s Edge. If he’s being deceived and others find out, it damages our reputation…”

That excuse was so weak it could barely stand.

Letia could only shrug and say,

“Then why don’t you just investigate her true identity?”

“What do you mean?”

Liz hadn’t caught on yet.

“I mean, since you think she has bad intentions, why not dig deeper?”

“You know the White Church delegation came to Nightfall Town not long ago, right? Some of them were undercover.”

“And with your strength and background, finding out the true purpose of that White Church delegation’s visit to Nightfall Town shouldn’t be too hard, right?”