Chapter 80: Maria's Pre-Battle Preparations

‘I am a fool, truly.’I only considered the absolute certainty of Roy escaping his fate, but I completely forgot the fundamental gacha laws governing this universe. Młynar was absolutely destined to receive an Alter, and a single banner would never, ever feature two male six-star operators…’Roy, how in the world did you end up as the free welfare unit!’

Roy followed obediently behind, visibly cowering before my look of utter disappointment. Młynar, on the other hand, calmly stepped forward and gave my shoulder a heavy, sympathetic pat.

“Doctor, encountering failure in life is inevitable. I think you should have been prepared for it long ago.”

No… this was the one specific kind of failure I truly wasn’t prepared for.

When Arknights players see a new operator showcase, they follow a strict psychological protocol. First, they panic about power creep. Next, they compare the new unit to the old roster to see who just got benched, and finally, they settle the score after the official release. First, you borrow anxiety from the future. Then, you pretend to theorycraft their highly specific advantageous niches, point at the previous operator who dominated that exact niche, shout that the community is still blindly hyping her up, and finally hand over the entire discourse to the hardcore Blood Wolf meta-analysts. That is the true mark of a pure-blooded player!

SilverAsh, naturally, was excluded from this cycle.

Holding onto a final, desperate shred of hope, I looked at the assassin. “So, do you have any base skills?”

Roy glanced ahead at Nearl, who was guarding me while casually swinging her massive warhammer, and then at the remnant of the Witch King, who was idly shaking the scepter in his hand. He quickly evaluated his own talents and wisely chose to conceal his more lethal abilities.

“I… I specialize in intelligence gathering.”

“Oh?” I perked up, slightly interested.

“I can significantly increase the probability of collecting clues from the Rhodes Island headquarters!”

Commonly known as the curse of collecting endless Clue 7s.

My vision went completely black. My knees buckled, and I nearly collapsed straight onto the pavement.

“Doctor?”

The white-haired Sarkaz loli, Duq’arael, had already missed out on most of the Kazimierz dating-sim circuit and was currently operating at peak proactivity. She even set aside her usual tsundere attitude, stepping in close and allowing me to rest my heavy hand on top of her head to steady myself.

“I’m fine, just a little dizzy from working overtime…” I muttered with a pale face, waving my free hand weakly while giving Duq’arael’s head a rough, unceremonious pat.

This time, Duq’arael didn’t even need to put on an act. She let out a heartfelt hmph, grabbed my wrist with both hands, and brought it to her mouth. She didn’t dare to actually break the skin, instead settling for aggressively grinding her sharp little fangs against my knuckles.

The faint scent of his blood reached her senses. It was unbelievably pure. She suddenly understood exactly why certain Sarkaz Blood Demons had defected to the other side during the Babel era.

‘My blood descendants are eating this well at Rhodes Island?!’

Her eyes widened, and she instantly became infinitely more enthusiastic. She already knew that the person in charge of the blood bank at Rhodes Island was also a Blood Demon, which meant the pharmaceutical company wasn’t overly squeamish about a little blood-sucking. If she used just a fraction of her natural charm, the Doctor would surely become completely infatuated with her, obediently offering up his neck on a silver platter!

Duq’arael was instantly fully invested in this undercover mission all over again.

“Doctor, it is already 3:00 AM. If you do not have any other hidden tactical maneuvers planned, can I clock out now?”

As a middle-aged man who simply could not handle staying up late anymore, Młynar was the first to propose resting on the way back to their quarters. He had personally witnessed back in the old days just how much punishment his commander could endure. Working under this man, if you didn’t know how to forcefully take time off for yourself, you would end up collapsing on the battlefield sooner or later.

I tapped my terminal screen. The glowing numbers confirmed it was exactly 3:00 AM. I wouldn’t be able to get much meaningful rest if I lay down now, and since I had just slept the day before yesterday, I decided to just push through and not sleep at all.

“Who will accompany me to see Maria?” I thought for a moment, pulling up the tournament schedule. It seemed that because the Delivery Knight Patriot had brutally beaten up all the Infected competitors, Maria had been matched up early against the Corrupted and Withered Knights—the exact opponents she had lost to in the original timeline.

The Witch King had already snuck away into the shadows, shifting back into his small, fluffy Kyubey form. The Subjugator apparently didn’t require sleep.

Nearl had stayed up all night right alongside me, yet she was still so incredibly energetic that her golden hair seemed to literally glow in the dark. “Doctor, traveling alone in Kazimierz without the protection of a Knight is very dangerous.”

There was no need to even ask Duq’arael. Some of a Blood Demon’s biological traits were identical to a vampire’s. To her, asking if she wanted to go to sleep right now was like asking a normal person if they wanted to go to bed at four in the afternoon.

Roy looked like he desperately wanted to continue staying up to farm favor with his terrifying new boss. However, Młynar simply let out a quiet sigh and unintentionally drew his golden sword exactly halfway out of its scabbard. The metallic sliding sound echoed in the quiet street.

Roy immediately froze, offered an incredibly awkward smile, and lied straight against his own conscience. “I… I won’t go. The Armorless Union never works overtime, and I am already completely exhausted.”

Terra Year 1079. The Doctor happily rose from the cold park bench. Thinking there was no one to share his quiet amusement, he ventured toward the Knight Arena to find Maria. Maria was also not asleep, and they walked through the moonlit courtyard together…

“Stop, stop, stop. Doctor, how did you know I wasn’t asleep?”

Maria, still dressed in her oversized, fluffy Cautus-themed pajamas, rubbed her hands together nervously to ward off the chill of the night air. Despite her confusion, she couldn’t help but look up at him with a deep sense of expectation. “Or are you here to give me some pre-battle guidance?”

I reached out and handed my own cold hands over to her. Maria didn’t miss a beat, immediately and dutifully taking them between hers and rubbing them together to share her warmth.

“Have you finally grown tired of watching those corporate cheaters and want to command me to teach them a lesson?” she asked softly.

I didn’t answer her directly. Instead, I looked down at her and asked, “Maria, is your true ideal to become a world-renowned Knight?”

Maria answered purely on instinct. “Of course, ever since I was a child…”

She suddenly trailed off, unable to finish the sentence. Standing there in the quiet courtyard, she realized that her absolute favorite job was actually just being a blacksmith in a dusty workshop. What was the original reason she had sworn to take up the sword and become a Knight in the first place? It was solely to restore the fading glory of the Nearl family name.

But the harsh reality was that with the Sector Zero issue exploding into the public eye, even the grand Knight Arena was no longer a place of glory. It was just a bloody stage for corporate profits.

I looked into her eyes, speaking with a rare, heavy seriousness. “I can command you to defeat the Corrupted and Withered Knights. I can command you to defeat the Nightmare Knight and the Blood Knight that follow. I can even command you to defeat your sister, the Radiant Knight.”

There are many people on this land with absurd resistances and terrifying Arts, but real combat isn’t a simple numbers game. No one can completely immunize themselves against her attacks. As long as you can break their defense, you have the tactical room to maneuver against absolutely any opponent.

Maria hesitated. This easily attainable, guaranteed honor was too scorching to hold, leaving her completely caught in a painful dilemma.

“On your own, you cannot defeat the Corrupted and Withered Knights, and a simple craftsman cannot shake the massive foundation of the Kazimierz Commerce Union. But becoming a true Knight can.”

Maria fell silent again, her hands slowing their movement over mine.

I didn’t urge her to speak, waiting quietly in the cold air for her to make her choice.

Finally, Maria let go of my hands. She took a step back and smiled, a bright, entirely free expression washing over her face. “Even if I fail on my own, the Doctor must have a backup plan ready to go, right?”

I didn’t commit to an answer. Or rather, that had been my exact plan from the start.

Her expression still held a tiny trace of reluctance, but her tone was absolute. “Then, whether I fail or not doesn’t really matter, does it? I am Maria first, and a ‘Nearl’ second.”

She looked down at her calloused hands, the hands of a mechanic. “A craftsman’s role may not be as grand or significant as a Knight’s, but that is the light I shine myself. The Doctor commanding me is actually a waste of your energy. My sister is the Knight you are used to using on the battlefield.”

Maria’s eyes lit up again, as if a heavy fog had suddenly cleared from her mind. “Even if I am weak, I should shine as brightly as I possibly can! I came to participate in the Knight Arena to illuminate the darkness, not to be the focal point of the spotlight!”

‘That’s not quite right, you literally play Wis’adel’s…’

I swallowed my gamer retort, raising my hands to give her a slow, genuine round of applause. “No regrets?”

“Mm, I’ve thought it through!”

“Alright. Then let me give you some highly specific pointers on how to fight the Corrupted and Withered Knights without getting the short end of the stick.”

“Huh?” Maria blinked, somewhat dumbfounded. “Didn’t you just say to let me make my own decision?”

“They’ve already agreed to send two people against you in a rigged match. You decide the win or loss on your own terms, but if you find that you can’t win, remember to use my exact tactics. Don’t get shortchanged, and absolutely don’t let them have an easy time, even if you do lose.”

Maria accepted this logic at light speed, leaning in eagerly. “Okay, then tell me more! I couldn’t even tell you knew how to guide operators in close combat…”

‘Is the Doctor going to teach me two secret sword skills for a desperate comeback? Or analyze their psychological weaknesses?’ She waited, brimming with expectation.

“Neither. Just remember to hit the ranged one’s casting hand at exactly the seventh second after they activate their Originium Arts. Silence them for exactly three seconds while retreating backward. At that moment, your Radiant skill intensity will be at about 120%, and then every three seconds after that, your Originium Arts will align perfectly with the melee one’s attack axis…”

Maria stood there, utterly dumbfounded. “Huh?”

This was ridiculously, absurdly detailed. What was the difference between executing this frame-perfect micro-management and just declaring her the winner?

“Don’t worry about the late game. You won’t be able to cycle your skills properly after the three-minute mark anyway, so just remember not to get hacked to pieces before then.”

Maria let out a long breath, and it was hard to tell if it was a sigh of disappointment or deep relief. Looking up at the Kazimierz sky that was already beginning to brighten with the approaching dawn, her mood was incredibly complex. No one could face a battle completely calmly when the greatest tactical mind in the world suddenly told them they were mathematically bound to lose.

“You’ll be a reserve operator for Rhodes Island soon enough. It’s perfectly okay to lose a rigged match, but don’t let them take advantage of you.”

I suddenly stepped forward, stood slightly on tiptoe, and gently touched her soft Kuranta ears. “I never once said craftsmen were useless. Besides, you were already completely worthy of the name ‘Nearl’ the very moment you gathered the courage to enter this competition.”

Maria’s face suddenly flushed bright red, and her ears twitched uncomfortably under my fingers. “Ah, I didn’t… Thank you, Doctor.”

How strange. A Kuranta couldn’t even empathize with her own mindset from just a few days ago.

Maria suddenly thought for a moment, her blush deepening as she reached into her pocket. “Um, Doctor, I actually still have my family’s household register right here. Do you… still want it?”

I stared at her. ‘…?’

What in the world would I do with your family’s household register?

[Rhodes’s Note:

Enjoying the operation so far, Doctor?

(This daily grind literally pays the landship’s rent! 🙇‍♂️):

Massive thanks for reading and supporting the operation!]