Chương 117: Chapter : 117

The strategy room was tightly shut, but the mood inside was heavy enough to crash right through the floorboards. The 13th Unit had finally returned to their estate, but there was absolutely no cheering, no high-fives, and no celebrating. They had walked all the way back from the Blood Fault Dungeon in complete, suffocating silence. Princess Iris sat at the head of the long wooden table. Her hands were folded tightly in her lap, and her violet eyes stared blankly at the scratches on the wood.

She looked entirely defeated. The dark cloak she wore was covered in dust, but the dirt on her clothes was nothing compared to the heavy weight resting on her shoulders. The rest of the elite girls were scattered around the room, and they all looked terrible. They were covered from head to toe in dry mud, monster sweat, and cave dust. Naomi could not sit still. She was pacing aggressively back and forth across the back of the room, her combat boots clicking sharply against the floor.

Her bright red hair was a messy, tangled disaster. Her hands kept dropping to the hilts of her twin daggers, gripping them so hard her knuckles turned white, before letting go again.

"I cannot believe it," Naomi muttered, her voice shaking with pure, unfiltered frustration.

"I just cannot believe it. We fought off an entire horde of giant, mutated animals. We defeated a massive Lamia boss. We cleared the entire cavern! And then those masked thieves just drop down from the ceiling and take the Core of Luminus right out of our hands!" Laxmi was sitting in a chair, leaning forward with her elbows on her knees. She was so angry that tiny, uncontrollable sparks of orange fire kept popping around her fingers.

"They didn't even fight us! They just threw a smoke bomb and ran away like cowards! If I had just been one second faster, I would have roasted them all!"

"It wouldn't have mattered," Zinia said with a heavy groan. The tough earth magic user was rubbing her sore shoulders.

"They were too fast, and they were too organized. They waited for the exact right moment when we were distracted by the other Royal units. It was a perfect heist." Ira stood perfectly still near the window. Her face was completely flat and emotionless, but her deadpan voice carried a brutal truth.

"Statistically speaking, our situational awareness dropped by eighty percent the moment the 9th and 16th Units started arguing. The masked thieves capitalized on our lack of focus. It was a complete tactical failure on all fronts." Sayma sat next to Princess Iris, taking her thick glasses off to clean the cave dust from the lenses. She looked incredibly stressed.

"Ira is right. We let our guard down. We were so busy worrying about Princess Hestia and Prince Hephaestus that we completely ignored the shadows. Now, an unknown fourth party has a priceless magical artifact, and we came home with nothing." The room fell back into a gloomy, miserable silence. Everyone felt like they had failed their Princess. The tale has been stolen; if detected on Amazon, report the violation. Suddenly, the heavy wooden door clicked open. Ken Eliot shuffled into the strategy room.

He was dragging his cheap shoes across the floor, making his usual, highly annoying scuffing sound. Scuff. Scuff. Scuff. His dark blue servant uniform was completely wrinkled, his shirt was hanging untucked over his belt, and his tie was resting crookedly over his left shoulder. He didn't look upset. He didn't look tired. In fact, he had a massive, goofy, exaggerated smile plastered all the way across his face.

In his hands, he was proudly holding a large, white ceramic plate piled high with slightly squished, half-eaten sandwiches.

"Hey, team!" Ken announced loudly, completely ignoring the bleak, suffocating tension in the room.

"Why is everyone looking so sad? Did somebody die? Because if nobody died, we have absolutely no reason to be crying. Look what I found in the kitchen! The chef left us a whole plate of turkey and cheese sandwiches!" Naomi stopped pacing. She slowly turned her head to look at Ken. Her green eyes narrowed into deadly, dangerous slits.

"Ken," Naomi warned, her voice dropping to a dangerously low whisper.

"Put the plate down and walk out of this room before I throw you out of the window." Ken blinked his sleepy eyes, looking genuinely confused. He picked up a half-eaten sandwich and took a huge, loud bite. He chewed happily for a few seconds before swallowing.

"What is the big deal?" Ken asked, waving the sandwich in the air.

"You guys are acting like the world is ending. So we didn't get the shiny rock. Who cares? It was just a rock! It didn't even look that special. I have seen prettier rocks sitting in my dad's garden back in the Iron Rose District." Laxmi jumped up from her chair, a spark of fire flashing in her eyes.

"It wasn't just a rock, you idiot! It was the Core of Luminus! It is an incredibly rare, ancient magical artifact!"

"Okay, okay, calm down," Ken said lazily, slouching his shoulders and walking further into the room. He offered the plate of sandwiches to Zinia, who just shook her head and pushed his hand away.

"If it is so important, why don't we just go back to the cave and find another one? I mean, the dungeon was huge. There were crystals everywhere. I am totally sure if we look behind a few more boulders, we can find another glowing rock that looks exactly like it." The entire room stared at him in absolute, stunned disbelief.

"Find another one?" Sayma repeated, rubbing her forehead as a massive headache began to form behind her eyes.

"Ken, the Core of Luminus is a one-of-a-kind natural anomaly. It takes thousands of years for raw mana to condense into a core like that. You cannot just walk back into the cave and pick up a spare one from the dirt."

"Well, not with that negative attitude, you can't," Ken argued, popping the rest of his sandwich into his mouth. He chewed loudly, looking around the room.

"You guys just give up too easily. It's called a scavenger hunt for a reason. You just keep hunting until you find the treasure. Or until you get hungry and go home. Speaking of which, does anyone want this last sandwich? The bread is a little bit stale, but the cheese is still good." Naomi's hands began to shake. She gripped the handles of her daggers so tightly that her knuckles were turning completely white. She was breathing heavily, her chest rising and falling with pure, unfiltered rage.

She took a slow, heavy step toward Ken. Luna, the lightning user, was sitting at the table with her head resting flat on her arms. She looked exhausted, but she managed to open one sleepy eye to look at Ken.

"Ken," Luna mumbled lazily, her voice muffled by the table.

"You really need to stop making a mess of this situation. I am giving you a friendly warning because I am too tired to help you hide." Ken tilted his head, giving Luna a goofy, clueless look.

"Help me hide from what?"