District 42-Chapter 225: Prestige

"Ok, then. That’s fine for me, as long as you be careful with what you are aiming to do. I know how reckless you can be, White warrior, and the weapons that we have here aren’t supposed to be wielded by someone irresponsible."

Amelia crossed her arms, casting a defiant look towards the soldier.

"Don’t worry, I only plan to have these weapons at my disposal because I am aiming for self-improvement. There are a lot of things that I kept delaying to do, one of them is to seek power and stop to rely on others completely regarding my safety."

Amelia shook her head, agreeing with his point of view. With no technologies at his disposal, Casper really was worthless against someone who had and knew how to deal with it.

"Indeed your limited knowledge about it is what makes you so weak, Casper. However, you are talking to me just like you are going to war or something like this. You are not a Ridire, even though you are always sticking to the Princess. And, besides your abilities, you are still working just on the Main Lab..."

Casper was aware of his position there. He couldn’t let anything about the Sgails slip from his mouth, but his intentions there were far away from his duties as a Sgail.

There was something that the White warrior could talk about just with one person and this person surely was Amelia. She shared basically the same perspective as Casper when looking at humans.

"Well, I am not a warrior from this country, indeed, but that doesn’t mean that I don’t need to fight, Amelia. You know that, if I rebelled against Halden and the Third Lab, there are more things I am prone to go against in this district."

The director got stiff for a while. She supposed before that Casper would be the type of person who would think this kind of thing at some point, but she didn’t have any idea that he would admit it to her.

Amelia looked at him, suspecting the soldier’s intentions and trying to read him.

She was not good at it, though, since she passed all her life without seeing someone’s face.

"Are you implying something like... Frelsi?" She asked, carefully. She leaned her body on the table, talking as if someone could hear them.

Casper shook his head, denying that affirmation.

"No. Not at all. I still don’t know what’s up with the Frelsis. They seem to have ideals that are compatible with mine, but the way they try to achieve what they want is completely questionable for me. And I didn’t interact as much as I need with them to get to a conclusion either, so there is no way that I am thinking in become part of the Frelsi."

Amelia seemed to be relieved by his statement and Casper thought if he was wrong in his judgment.

’Maybe Amelia is more devoted to the Royal Family and the Jarls than I thought she really was?’

The soldier got uncomfortable with the possibility that he was trusting in someone that had divergent ideas.

"How about you Amelia? You don’t seem to be completely loyal to the prestigious people from here either, or am I wrong?"

The head nurse got pensive for a while, looking into space.

The White warrior supposed that she was thinking so much because of indecisiveness or then she was formulating a lie, but that wasn’t the case at all.

Amelia was trying to say her thoughts out loud without the mask restricting her.

In these types of situations, it was easier to talk metaphorically.

"I am a black sheep just like you. I am content with the meal they offer to me every day, but also don’t want to be a white sheep like others. I want to do things in a completely different way."

Once Casper heard that he smiled, getting relieved by knowing that he took the right decision.

’It was the best choice to trust in her, in the end! I don’t see any traces of bluffing on her gestures or in her eyes, either.’

The soldier looked to her with joy, sighing in relief.

"Well, I think we will be getting along very well, Amelia. I am also a black sheep in this case. Though I am still trying to sort out which side is the best to choose. In the end, depending on the outcome, maybe neither side is the best, and then I will need to act in a different way to change things..." 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢

The director saw that Casper had eyes filled with determination. He seemed to be dreaming awake with the day when he would achieve his goals, as it seemed.

"Hey... Why are you trying so hard for a place and folk that have nothing to do with you at all? I mean, you have a big world that you can explore out there and go as far as you want. You have the right to surpass the walls, which is something that no one here has. So, why are you sticking to this messy district?"

That was a good question, which Casper answered immediately. He had asked himself the same thing, after all. The answer was intrinsic in his mind for a long time.

"When you are the only person capable to change everything, in a place where everything needs to be changed, it’s impossible that you will just sit and do absolutely nothing."

That smile was still on his face and grew wider as he said so to Amelia.

Her heart throbbed and she felt her cheeks warming up. She got restless on her chair for a while.

To prevent him to notice her reaction, she stood up, surprising the soldier.

"W-well, let’s do a stroll around the Laboratory. This way you can see as many weapons as you want, and we can talk more about how to raise your influence among the scientists, ok?"

’Her voice is a bit nervous and sweeter than before. It’s too easy to read her in this state.’ Casper was kind of proud of himself.

He was just sorry for her that he just wanted a partnership with her to reach some common goals that both had.

They left Amelia’s room in no time and were already walking through the corridors when she started to explain things to him.

"Ok, for now, we should start with the explanations before I get stressed enough to not feel like saying it."

She pointed the reason why she would be getting so angry throughout the stroll.

A bunch of scientists was already looking at her. Of course, their eyes just showed that, whatever the thing they wanted to solve with her, it wasn’t good news, but just problems.

’Well, she is the director, so no wonder they will expose all the difficulties they have. Also, Amelia seems to be the proactive type of boss, so it helps for them to rely on her.’

The woman cleared her throat, then started to talk.

"Well, there is just one way to get prestige inside the laboratory and it will only depend on your achievements inside there.

"Help other people’s projects isn’t an achievement, it doesn’t help too much to have influent contacts inside the laboratory either."

The soldier got a bit dejected by hearing those words. It just meant that, no matter how hard he tried until that point, it was useless. All the things he did were worthless to get more prestige inside the Main Lab.

"So, if everything I did so far is so pointless, then what do I do?"

Amelia had a concerned expression behind the mask. This part of the explanation seemed to be the complicated thing.

"To gain prestige, you need to achieve high results on your own projects. They need to be high ranked by critics, have an essential usage to the district, and be revolutionary as well. These points will increase your rate, besides other ones that will be taken into consideration.

"Once you have something like this to show to them, your name will be more recognized and eventually will reach the Jarl’s ears.

"The only problem here is that you are not specialized in anything. You can’t do something as amazing as you would need to get really powerful inside the laboratories."

While she explained, Casper was thinking about what he needed to do to make something like that.

’Hmm... Now I understand... For me, it will be hard to achieve something because of my limitations. And it gets even worse by the fact that I am in a district with highly developed technology. I will need help, but who would do all the job for me?’

Right after he questioned himself about it, he remembered someone who had high potential and was under his control.

"Yanke..." Casper smiled.

Amelia looked at him with curiosity.

"Ah, it’s nothing, Amelia. I was just thinking out loud... But, don’t worry, I know a way to overcome this. Thank you for the information."