Chương 123: Chapter : 123

Naomi looked at his messy hair, his oversized pajamas, and the giant bowl of cheap food. A few days ago, seeing him act so lazy would have made her scream at him for an hour. But today, it just made her feel a weird sense of comfort. While everyone else in the house was completely stressed out and falling apart over the Succession War, Ken was just being Ken. He was totally unchanged. He was exactly the same goofy, annoying slacker he always was.

"I don't want your spicy noodles, Ken," Naomi said softly. She walked into the bedroom and slowly sat down on the floor, leaning her back against his lumpy mattress. She pulled her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. She looked down at the floorboards, completely dropping her tough, elite warrior attitude. Ken stopped looking at the movie. He slurped the last few noodles into his mouth, set the empty bowl down on the floor next to him, and turned his body to face her.

He didn't pause the magical screen—the terrible fighting noises kept playing in the background—but he gave her his full attention.

"You look terrible," Ken said bluntly, leaning back on his hands.

"And I don't mean that in a mean way. I mean you look like you just tried to fight a brick wall and lost. What is going on in that highly strict brain of yours?" Naomi let out a shaky, miserable breath. She didn't want to show weakness, but she was just too tired to hide it anymore. She treated Ken like a deeply annoying, naughty friend now, which meant she actually felt safe talking to him without being judged.

"I ruined everything today, Ken," Naomi whispered, her voice tight with raw emotion.

"Princess Iris trusted me to lead the vanguard. She trusted me to be the fastest one in the room. When those masked thieves dropped down from the ceiling, I was literally standing right there. I was right next to the pedestal." She pressed her forehead against her knees, hiding her face.

"I should have reacted faster," she continued, her voice cracking slightly.

"I should have grabbed the Core of Luminus before that smoke bomb even went off. But I froze. I was too busy arguing with Princess Hestia's team. Because of my stupid pride, we lost the artifact. We lost five points. If Princess Iris gets eliminated from this war because we fell behind on the very first week, it is entirely my fault." The room was quiet for a few seconds, except for the cheesy movie playing on the floor.

"Take that, evil ninja!" the movie character yelled from the little screen. Ken reached over and turned the volume on the magical screen down just a tiny bit. He crossed his legs, slouched his shoulders, and let out a very long, very loud, dramatic sigh. Love this novel? Read it on Royal Road to ensure the author gets credit.

"Wow," Ken said lazily, shaking his head.

"You really do overcomplicate everything, don't you? You and the movie guy have a lot in common." Naomi lifted her head, glaring at him with a mix of sadness and annoyance.

"I am trying to tell you that I failed our team, Ken. This isn't a joke."

"I'm not joking," Ken replied, holding his hands up defensively.

"I am just saying, your logic is totally backwards right now. You are acting like the world just ended. You are acting like the shiny rock is gone forever and we can never get it back."

"It is gone, Ken!" Naomi argued, throwing her hands up in frustration.

"The thieves took it! They vanished into the dark! The Upper Council already scored the mission as a failure!" Ken picked up his chopsticks again and pointed them directly at her like a teacher pointing at a chalkboard.

"Okay, let me break this down for you using very simple, highly advanced slacker logic," Ken said, his voice completely casual and nonchalant.

"Because you guys are making my head hurt with all this depressing talk." Naomi frowned, totally confused.

"Slacker logic?"

"Yes. Pay attention, this is important," Ken instructed, leaning forward.

"Let's say, hypothetically, I am holding a giant, family-sized bag of sour cream and onion potato chips. They are my absolute favorite chips in the entire world. But suddenly, a random guy in a mask drops out of the ceiling, snatches my potato chips right out of my hands, and runs away." Naomi stared at him, her green eyes blinking in sheer disbelief.

"Are you seriously comparing an ancient, priceless magical artifact to a bag of potato chips?"

"Chips are very valuable to me, Naomi. Do not interrupt," Ken scolded playfully. He waved the chopsticks again.

"Now, if the guy steals my chips, what happens to them? Does he magically eat the entire giant bag in five seconds? No. That is impossible. He would choke. The chips still exist. He just moved them from my house to his house." Naomi opened her mouth to argue, but she paused. She was starting to see where his ridiculous metaphor was going.

"The Core of Luminus is exactly like my potato chips," Ken explained happily, completely pleased with his own genius.

"It is a physical object. The thieves didn't eat it. They didn't make it stop existing. They just carried it out of the dungeon and took it to a new location in the capital city. It is still out there."

"So?" Naomi asked, her brow furrowing.

"Even if it still exists, we don't know where it is. We don't know who those thieves are."

"So we go find out!" Ken laughed, throwing his hands in the air.

"We just track them down, kick their front door open, and take the rock back! If we bring the artifact to the Upper Council tomorrow and say, 'Hey, look what we found,' they have to give us the points, right? The mission is still technically open until someone actually hands the rock to the Emperor!" Naomi went completely silent. She stared at Ken. His goofy, messy hair and his baggy pajamas made him look like an absolute clown. But his words were hitting her brain like a lightning bolt. He was absolutely right.

The Upper Council hadn't announced a winner yet. The thieves couldn't claim the points because they weren't a registered Royal unit. The game wasn't over. The prize was still in play.

"You..." Naomi started, her voice full of shock.

"You actually make a really good point. But Ken, tracking down an underground stealth unit in a massive capital city is incredibly difficult. We don't have the manpower to search every single alley and warehouse. It would take us weeks to find them on our own." Ken let out another loud yawn, stretching his arms high above his head. He looked at her like the answer was the most obvious thing in the world.

"Then why do we have to do it on our own?" Ken asked lazily.

Naomi just looked at him, completely lost.

"What do you mean? Who else is going to help us? We are a small unit."