Chapter 28 – No Eternal Friend, No Eternal Enemy (3)

Thomas and Willas Wayne. The brothers who blossomed their qualities as magic engineers through talent alone.

But in other words, having received nothing from their nameless Ember, they had to resolve everything on their own.

Brainwashed and abused countless times by cold-hearted parents and a vicious leader armed with the sole thought of sacrificing one’s body to contribute to the Ember, the Wayne brothers were still suffering even after escaping their Ember.

‘This godforsaken Ember. Is it holding us back even here…!’

It was just a moment ago that they had shown the librarian the recommendation letter stamped with Demian Vale’s seal and joined the debate.

Yet even before the debate began, the yellow armband… that is, the tag of coming from this humble Ember, was holding them back like a shackle.

“How dare yellow-band bastards speak the name of Lord Demian Vale. The world is going mad. Do you think you and he are the same? He chose to remain in that Ember of his own accord!”

The fact that they participated in the debate meant that, regardless of their origin, their skills had been verified by the librarian hosting the debate. Yet, a man was still pouring out blatant criticism using the armband as an excuse.

“…”

The Wayne brothers simply kept their mouths shut.

Although they could have retorted satisfyingly that they actually belonged to the Ember where Demian Vale resided and that the recommendation letter they held was written by Demian Vale himself,

‘I don’t want to rely on that Ember and those people whose very sights I hate anymore. Now, I must resolve everything with my own name and skill. Even if only to shake off the tag of being a yellow-band…’

Hadn’t they participated in the debate to settle the dreadful past entwined with their Ember and its people? They could not defile their noble purpose of standing alone just to crush that guy right now.

Furthermore, looking at the badge on his chest with two crossed pistols, that man was from the Vanguard’s Ember, which was the Third Ember.

It was obvious whose words people would listen to.

The Wayne brothers merely clenched their fists, their eyelids trembling as they suppressed their anger.

However, for some reason, rather than the man who was venting excessive anger, it was the rest of the onlookers watching this that was one of the reasons keeping the Wayne brothers quiet.

“Even though the debate is held casually with the candidates taking charge, shouldn’t the yellow-bands have been filtered out beforehand?”

“Well… the librarian must have verified them. Would they just put random riffraff on the participant list?”

“That may be true, but regardless, can you believe what those guys say and do? Is there anyone here who does?”

“That… no.”

Even though they had already pointed out the contradictions in the man’s words and embarrassed him, the crowd was on the man’s side.

In such a situation, boasting about where they came from or who wrote their recommendation letter would never be believed by anyone. In fact, they would be lucky if the police weren’t called on suspicion of forgery.

As the atmosphere grew chaotic in that manner, the voice of someone who had slipped into the crowd resounded.

“If the librarian put a yellow-band on the participant list, there are only two reasons. Either, as you say, the yellow-bands spent a large sum of money to forge documents that guarantee their identity, like a recommendation letter, or…”

“Or…? What is it? Don’t stop there, say it all at once!”

When the person wearing a thick fur hood dragged out their words, the people around grew anxious. Naturally, the longer the silence stretched, the more attention was drawn.

Soon, everyone’s eyes were focused on him, and he spoke.

“Despite their humble status and origin as yellow-bands, they must possess skills great enough to put their names on the participant list.”

“Isn’t that too much of a leap?”

“The second inspection right after entering the Ember, and the multiple random inspections targeting yellow-bands. Do you truly believe they could bypass all of those and stand there? You seem to have a tendency to disregard the security of the Immortal Embers.”

The hooded figure dragged out their words like a speech toward the unspecified crowd, then singled out and pointed at the one with the loudest voice.

“H-How could that be! I was merely… yes! I was just questioning if those guys got lucky!”

The man who was pointed out waved his hands frantically and denied all the arguments he had put forward so far.

“Is that so? Then wouldn’t it be better to watch first? Once the debate starts, their skills will be fully revealed anyway. If the yellow-band’s skill is terrible, it won’t be too late to report them to the police station then, and if their skill is real, wouldn’t that be interesting in its own way?”

The hooded figure’s words had taken control of the atmosphere in the audience before anyone knew it. Everyone was nodding at his words.

Aside from logic, there was a certain magnetism to his voice.

‘What is this? Why is he helping us?’

However, only Thomas Wayne doubted the hooded figure’s intentions. Though the figure used the word yellow-band repeatedly as if discriminating against their origin, in the end, hadn’t he steered the situation so that they, the yellow-bands, could participate in the debate?

Thomas was not stupid enough to fail to notice this.

‘But why does the voice sound familiar? It’s a voice I’ve heard somewhere before…’

Setting aside the discordance tickling his brain, the debate soon began.

The topic was the question given in the subjective section of this exam, concerning the ‘improvement plan for the registration technique of magic engineering compasses’.

“Currently, the registration method of a compass’s location is either the synchronization type or the installation type. You have to synchronize the magical wavelength of the Eternal Embers with the magic circuit board embedded in the compass, or install a location indicator synchronized with the compass in the corresponding area. Simply put, registering a location is only possible in places where the user has set foot themselves.”

The moderator explained that there were two registration methods, just as the host described.

This method was simple and highly accurate, but it had a fatal disadvantage.

That was none other than the need to personally go to the corresponding area on foot.

“Therefore, most compasses often have only one or two locations registered. While it is unavoidable due to realistic limitations, it is a highly inefficient method. You may raise your hand and speak freely about methods or techniques to resolve this.”

Soon, the participants began to engage in a heated debate under the moderator’s coordination.

Sitting in their seats, the Wayne brothers forgot all about what had just happened and began to focus on the debate.

“As you all know, registering a compass location is not a problem that can be solved by technique. Thus, our Ember links up with businessmen or merchants who have no choice but to travel frequently between various cities, gradually expanding the number of registered Embers on the compass…”

“Our Ember imports location indicators in large quantities and adopts a method of synchronizing them to a single compass. By doing so, synchronizing the magic circuit board of that compass with another compass allows connection to the indicator…”

Various arguments of the participants were presented. They were developing their logic according to the methods practiced by their respective Embers.

“The debate seems to be getting too heated. We will take a five-minute break to cool down.”

Their logic was so thoroughly armed that the moderator had to stop the debate.

Indeed, exchange between Embers was an essential element in achieving rapid growth of a city. The registration technique of compass locations was an agenda discussed as a top priority not only in the magic engineering department but also in the leadership.

Hence, they had already mastered this topic with their own logic. They had debated the same subject dozens of times before.

It was an disadvantageous topic for the Wayne brothers. In most cases, the yellow-bands’ Embers had to discuss survival rather than exchange.

Hadn’t their Ember also focused on independence and self-sustenance rather than exchange?

A compass was an unfamiliar item to them.

However.

“This motherfucker. Did you see that son of a bitch moderator look right at us and pass us by? He doesn’t want to give us a chance…!”

“Thomas… we won’t just end up being discriminated against like this, right?”

Someone who could not even open their mouth just because it was unfamiliar could not be called a genius.

As the Wayne brothers were geniuses acknowledged by Demian even at the age of nineteen, they had confidence in the debate. Hadn’t they already written the subjective portion near-perfectly in the qualification exam, confident in passing?

Thus, the fact that they could not say a single word in the debate that had lasted for an hour was not due to their confidence. It was the fault of the moderator, who consistently ignored them even though they had their hands raised all day.

If things continued like this, the debate would surely end without them ever showing their skills to the recruiters who would be watching, hidden here and there.

Leaving the timid younger brother Willas aside, Thomas could not just sit quietly and take it.

“If they play dirty like this, we have no choice. We have to play dirty as well.”

“What are you planning to do? Those guys are all from Embers that rank within the top ten.”

“Shut up, Willas. Then do you want to just take it like this? I will set the stage, so you just get ready.”

Along with Thomas, who seemed to have resolved something, Willas entered the debate hall following the moderator’s call announcing the resumption of the debate.

It was just when their arguments of ‘I am right’ and ‘you are wrong’ were dragging on tediously.

“They are saying things that aren’t even funny.”

It was a scoff from Thomas, who was yawning. The ripple effect brought by his scoff, filled with blatant disregard that accurately pierced a brief lull, was tremendous.

“Yellow-band, what is so funny?”

“I laughed because it was funny, do I need a reason?”

The participants began pouring the anger accumulated from their arguments onto the Wayne brothers.

It was already annoying that yellow-bands had entered the refined and high-level debate, so it was a natural reaction for them to be angered when they ridiculed the debate.

Soon, the participant who had been talking the most glared at the Wayne brothers as if to kill them and spoke.

“Do you guys, who occupied two seats that everyone wants to sit in just by luck yet didn’t even open your mouths, have any right to speak? Do you truly know no shame?”

The candidates sitting in the audience were shaken. Just as he said, the debate was the best arena of opportunity to negotiate immigration to an Ember from a position of advantage.

However, unlike other candidates who just wanted to transfer with good treatment, Thomas Wayne, whose purpose was to escape their Ember, staked his life on this.

Since their mindset itself was different, their moves were also bold.

“The fact that we couldn’t say a single word is the fault of the moderator, who pretended not to see us and passed us by. From start to finish, even while the argument was ongoing, we had our hands raised, yet we weren’t given the floor even once.”

“Making up stories again…”

“Are you joking? Surely you’re not going to say that not a single person among this crowd saw us raise our hands? If you honestly say you were afraid of being overwhelmed by our logic, I would rather understand, you cowards.”

At this moment, the aura he displayed was not that of a yellow-band. Thomas Wayne’s aura alone was more distinct than the combined spirit of everyone here.

“Very well. I admit my fault for not giving you the floor, out of concern that you would muddy the waters of the debate. If you focused on the debate, you must know what the argument is about, so speak up. I will give you the floor.”

The moderator spoke, swallowing his anger from being mocked by a yellow-band.

However, the floor was also given intentionally. Since the debate had already progressed for over an hour and a half, there was no way they could remember the details.

Yet at the Wayne brothers’ subsequent words, they had no choice but to shut their mouths.

“The first one to speak was participant number 3, Derek Melsbain. The logic you developed was…”

From the beginning of the debate to the end, they began to refute all the conversations the other participants had shared.