Harem Online: My Party Is Full of Beautiful Celebrities-Chapter 70: Martin’s Come In Clutch!

The crystal spear floated above the Forest Table, and the entire chamber held its breath.

As much as the elders hated to admit it, this was a groundbreaking moment. Their hands were tied. The world had been ravaged by monsters, and the academies had become the last safe sanctuaries.

The academies had survived this long only because players kept answering the Light’s call and stepping into a world that was already breaking apart.

No elder in the room could deny Cassandra’s eye for talent anymore. The players under her command had already proven their potential, and if she walked away disappointed today, the academy would feel it.

Others would see it too. Players might stop looking at this place as a rising sanctuary and start looking elsewhere.

Then the spear spun without warning like a drill. Crystal shrieked against ancient wood as it punched through the Forest Table and buried itself there like Excalibur in stone. The impact sent a hard tremor through the chamber, and for one breath, even the elders looked as though they had forgotten how to speak.

Martin’s eyebrow twitched. Not again!

Cassandra stared at it with wide eyes. For a brief instant, even she looked stripped of all polish and calculation. Then the shock sharpened into something brighter, hungrier, and far more dangerous.

A system window unfolded before her.

[A Wild Crystal Spear has received the Blessing of The Light]

[A Wild Crystal Spear (Purple) has become the symbol of hope and ambition for the Night Espresso Guild and is now ready to be used to claim territory from the claws of monsters. In order to claim the territory, the guild conquest quest must be issued and completed.]

Her smile broke wide with excitement, but to the stunned elders, it was a wake-up call. That crafty vixen had just become the academy’s first real hope, and the realization tightened the air around the table. She moved with such speed and efficiency in her pursuit of influence that some of the elders could almost feel her claws closing around their throats while they were still trying to understand how she had gotten so far ahead.

And if she kept moving like this, so fast and so cleanly, then one day even the academy itself might become something she tried to claim.

The thought should have been laughable. She was only level one.

Yet the pressure she put on the room was real enough that one elder’s mouth thinned in irritation, another tightened his grip on the armrest, and a third simply watched her in grim silence.

More than one elder felt his age then, like rust sinking into old steel.

Cassandra rose and reached for the spear. Her fingers closed around the shaft, and the room watched in silence as she pulled once, then harder. The weapon did not move.

Her hand lingered on the crystal for a beat, her thumb brushing along the shaft as she bought herself just enough time to hide the failure behind composure.

Several elders sneered.

One leaned forward first, his mouth already curling around what was sure to be a cutting remark. Another shifted in his seat with the look of a man preparing to enjoy the lesson. Their eyes settled on Cassandra with the ugly patience of people who thought the room had finally put her back in her place.

Then Martin reached past her shoulder, wrapped his hand around the spear, and pulled it from the Forest Table with effortless ease. Crystal scraped against wood with a sharp, clean sound, and the spear came free so smoothly that the sneer on one elder’s face froze before he could hide it.

The chamber fell silent.

Cassandra went still beside him, and even she seemed caught off guard by how casually he had done it. Across the table, one elder’s fingers tightened against the armrest, while another’s gaze sharpened with sudden, unwelcome interest.

One elder clenched a hand beneath the table.

Martin had done it so casually, without ceremony, without showing off, as though the act itself did not strike him as remarkable. Had the Light Tree judged him as well, deeming him fit to support Cassandra Selfmore?

He was no mere player who had cleared the Hidden Level One Dungeon. He was beginning to look like the real thing. A true hunter.

Unaware of the thoughts stirring around him, Martin handed the spear to Cassandra. She gave him her usual smile, but the relief in it was impossible to miss as she tucked the weapon into her inventory.

She looked over at the elders. "We’ll be leaving now. This alone was worth every penny. I’ll contact you soon about the expansion and about where I intend to build my Guild House."

The elders gave slow nods.

That was where their leverage still lived. Cassandra could not simply point at a map and choose where to launch her guild conquest quest.

The academy had bled for every safe stretch of land it still held, and every new claim pressed against borders where monsters tested them day and night.

Expansion was never just ambition. It was supply lines, casualties, ruined walls, and people gambling their lives so one more piece of the world could remain human.

As long as that path ran through the academy’s front lines, she could not ignore them.

Once Cassandra and Martin left headquarters and no one else was nearby, she slowed to a stop and turned toward him. The playful authority she had worn so easily inside the chamber softened, and when she looked him straight in the eyes, the look felt less like performance and more like trust.

"You saved my image today. Thank you. Is there anything I can do to repay you?" she asked.

Her voice was sincere, even warm, and without the elders around, it reached him differently. Martin held her gaze a little longer than usual. Her eyes still carried that same sharp intelligence and dangerous confidence, but now there was relief in them too, and something quieter beneath it.

He felt strangely close to her then. Not because she was famous, beautiful, or untouchable, but because in that instant, she seemed to need him. The feeling settled somewhere deeper than pride and made her warmth feel oddly familiar.

He smiled and nodded.