Chapter 735: Self-Annoyance

Liam listened to everything without interrupting, but the more Charlotte explained, the heavier his thoughts became. Being unconscious for a day and a half was not a small thing. In a hostile realm like Nalim, it was practically a death sentence.

If Charlotte had not found him, if she had decided to run like she had originally planned, if she had valued only her own safety in that moment and left him behind, Liam had no real guarantee he would have survived. Even with the academy watching, he could not place faith in Forced Extraction anymore, not after Charlotte had nearly been killed by the Berserker and no extraction had occurred. That meant his survival had depended on something outside his own control, and the thought irritated him deeply.

His irritation was not directed at Charlotte. If anything, her actions had been more than useful. They had been necessary. No, the irritation was entirely toward himself. He had let frustration decide too much. He had wanted a fight, wanted something strong enough to force him to stop holding back, and he had allowed that desire to carry him into a situation where victory still left him helpless on the ground afterward.

Killing the Berserker meant very little if he had been too broken to survive the aftermath by himself.

Liam’s gaze lowered toward the fire.

If this had not been an assessment, if there had been no academy watching from afar, if there had been no Charlotte to return for him, what would have happened? Would he have died unconscious in the forest after winning the fight? Would some lesser demon have found him and torn him apart? Would the victory have become meaningless because he had failed to consider what came after the enemy fell?

That thought bothered him more than the pain in his ribs.

It forced him to remember other times when things had ended similarly. Mystica finding him after the Blood Demon incident in Grandeur City. The aftermath of the Advanced Horror during the Vlardia assessment.

The pattern was clearer now than he liked.

Liam had always focused on eliminating the threat in front of him, pushing through damage and exhaustion without much concern for the condition he would be left in afterward. He had relied too much on the idea that surviving the fight meant surviving the situation.

But those were not the same thing.

That realization settled heavily in him.

And then came the other part.

The academy had seen it.

They had seen more than they should have. Not everything, but enough. More of his output, more of his fused techniques, more of his destructive capacity, more of how far he could push himself when he stopped caring about restraint. Even though he had still hidden a significant portion of his dark magic arsenal, he had revealed far more than he had intended at this stage.

Worse than that, he had given Headmaster Thion exactly what the man wanted.

The thought made Liam’s jaw tighten faintly.

He had allowed himself to be baited, not by direct manipulation, but by circumstance and his own desire to vent. He had made future matters more complicated for himself, and all because he had wanted to break something strong enough to survive his frustration for a while.

Charlotte watched him silently for a long moment, her playful expression fading as she noticed how deep into his thoughts he had gone.

Eventually, she clicked her tongue softly and leaned forward.

"You know," she said, dragging him back to the present, "it’s incredibly rude not to thank the person who risked her beautiful life to save you."

Liam lifted his eyes toward her.

For a moment, he simply stared at her. Then his grip around the dagger loosened, and the blade dissolved quietly back into shadow. His voice, when he spoke, was calm, but there was nothing dismissive about it.

"Thank you," he said genuinely. "I’m actually glad it was you."

Charlotte blinked.

For once, she seemed briefly caught off guard. The reaction lasted only a second, but it was there. Her golden eyes widened slightly, her lips parting as though she had not expected him to say it that plainly. Then, just as quickly, she recovered, leaning back with a pleased smile slowly spreading across her face.

"Well, well," she said, her tone returning to its usual teasing warmth. "Look at you being sincere. Careful, bae, I might start thinking you actually like me." 𝐟𝕣𝗲𝕖𝕨𝗲𝐛𝗻𝗼𝐯𝗲𝚕.𝗰𝚘𝐦

Liam did not respond to that.

Charlotte’s smile sharpened. "But since you’re truly grateful, then it’s best you understand something clearly. You now owe me double. I used my last healing potion on you, and I carried you all the way back here. That is two separate heroic services."

Liam held her gaze for a moment, then nodded once. "Fair."

Charlotte’s expression brightened immediately, satisfaction blooming across her face. "Good. Then I’m using my first reward right now."

Liam looked at her, waiting.

Charlotte pointed toward the deer corpse in the corner. "I need you to cook that."

Liam stared at her.

She pointed again, as if he somehow had not understood the first time. "The deer, Liam. I want you to prepare it the same way you did the other meat before."

For the first time since waking, Liam looked genuinely confused. Not much, but enough that Charlotte noticed and seemed deeply amused by it.

"That’s your reward?" he asked.

"Yes," Charlotte answered immediately. "And don’t look at me like that. This is serious."

Liam glanced toward the deer, then back at her.

Charlotte sighed and waved a hand.

"I finished the rest of what you had already prepared. The smoked deer meat, the fish, all of it. And before you judge me, I was hungry, tired, stressed, and taking care of your half-dead self. I needed food." She paused, then looked away with the faintest hint of embarrassment, though she tried to bury it under her usual confidence.

"Also, apparently, I suck at cooking. All I managed to do was burn pieces of meat over the fire, and compared to whatever you did before, it was terrible. So I caught another deer. Now I need you to make it edible."

Liam stared at her for a long moment.

Charlotte stared right back, completely unapologetic.

Then Liam exhaled quietly and shrugged. "No problem. I can do that."

Charlotte’s smile returned in full. "Good. See? This is why saving you was worth it."