Chapter 89: Making a Reckless Decision

"I was originally planning to go alone, but since we’re all together..."

He paused dramatically before delivering his proposal.

"Let’s raid the Empire’s Research Facility!"

***

Ethan paused slightly.

The Empire Research Facility?

What was that?

"What exactly is the Empire Research Facility?" Ethan asked, unable to stop himself from being curious.

Jake immediately explained that the Empire Research Facility was one of the most heavily involved research institutions in the Empire, a place where some of the Empire’s greatest research, resources, and experiments were kept. Samples obtained from missions were brought there to be studied, along with highly miasma-infused objects and even real miasma corruption samples taken directly from battlefields so that researchers could analyze them and hopefully discover more ways to combat the dangers they posed.

Ethan’s expression gradually became more serious as Jake explained.

Samples from missions.

Highly miasma-infused objects.

Actual miasma corruption samples taken from battlefields.

That did not exactly sound like somewhere three academy students should be planning to sneak into.

Lara seemed to reach the same conclusion almost immediately because she interrupted Jake, smacking him on the hand with an incredulous expression.

"Jake, are you crazy? That place is dangerous! Why would we want to go there?"

"Ouch!" Jake rubbed his hand before looking at Lara as though she had completely missed the point. "Lara, look, although it’s dangerous, they also house many beneficial resources, like the Association’s creations, their potions, pills, injections, or drugs. Those things are only provided and supplied to Sentinels or Guides in the Association. Is that fair? No! So why don’t we go there, look around, and get something useful to us?"

Jake became more animated as he spoke, clearly having no intention of allowing Lara’s objections to ruin his carefully prepared proposal.

"I heard some potions make Sentinels go for a while without needing guiding, while some increase a Sentinel’s match rate, therefore making them able to match with any Guide for a while. Isn’t that terrific?"

He laid out the different potential benefits to both Ethan and Lara with such enthusiasm that, for a brief moment, the idea almost sounded reasonable.

Almost.

Ethan, however, could not help but scoff lightly.

"You’re saying this as if it’s raiding a baby’s house. This is a fucking research facility owned by the Empire. I might not know much, but I’m sure highly important things like that would be heavily guarded, right? And you want us to go there and get caught?"

Lara immediately continued from where Ethan had stopped. "And plus, the things you mentioned are only beneficial to you as a Sentinel. What’s the benefit to us Guides? And why should we risk it?"

Jake looked at both of them with an expression that practically screamed that he had already anticipated these exact objections.

"Oh, please..." he drawled. "You think I just impulsively thought of the idea and decided to do it without thinking it through and having it planned already?"

"Uhh, yeah! That sounds very you-like," Lara responded without even the slightest hesitation.

Jake stared at her.

Lara stared back.

After a moment, Jake sighed as though he had just been deeply wounded by her lack of faith in him.

"Well, sorry to burst your bubble, but I have planned everything."

He folded his arms, looking almost proud of himself now that he finally had the chance to prove that his reckless idea was not completely reckless.

"First of all, of course there are potential benefits for Guides. There are potions that increase purification and stabilization rates and so on, so it’s not like everything there is only useful to Sentinels."

Ethan listened quietly.

"Secondly, the Empire is currently facing monster invasions in different areas. Apart from the rift-open areas, they’re now facing a lot of monsters along the Empire’s frontline, so they’ve deployed practically everyone to help."

Jake’s expression became more serious as he explained his reasoning.

"There will be people guarding the area, of course, but they’ve reduced the number of guards, and it won’t be as heavily guarded since they don’t have powerful officials currently guarding it. With most of the stronger people being deployed to the frontline to deal with the monster invasions, they’ll surely slack off."

Ethan blinked.

He had to admit that Jake had actually thought this through.

It was still completely fucking reckless, but at least it was not an impulsive idea that Jake had randomly pulled out of nowhere.

"Wow, Jake," Ethan said, staring at him with genuine admiration. "You look so responsible. I never thought in the slightest you’d be this reckless or even have this kind of reckless thought!"

Jake’s face immediately brightened.

"Well, I’ll take that as a compliment."

He looked between Ethan and Lara, apparently waiting for their final decision.

"So, are we going or not? Or rather, are you guys coming with me or not?"

Ethan did not hesitate.

Really, there was no reason for him to hesitate.

It was not because of the offers Jake had mentioned, either. Ethan was not particularly interested in the potions, pills, injections, or other resources that might be useful to him because he already had Aster’s book, which contained an enormous amount of knowledge that he could rely on.

What Ethan wanted was something much simpler.

He wanted to make a reckless decision.

Just because he could.

Ever since he had arrived in this world, Ethan had tried to avoid trouble whenever possible, yet trouble had somehow always found its way to him regardless of how carefully he tried to stay out of it. No matter how much he avoided unnecessary conflicts, someone would eventually drag him into one, and before he knew it, he would be standing right in the middle of another ridiculous situation.

So, at least this time, if he got into trouble, Ethan wanted to be the one who had made the troublesome decision himself.

If trouble was going to find him anyway, then why not go looking for it once in a while?

It was a crazy thought.

The logic behind it was arguably even crazier.

But Ethan did not care anymore.

Perhaps he had simply been too careful for too long, and after everything that had happened recently, he suddenly felt like doing something reckless without thinking about every possible consequence beforehand.

Besides, what was the worst that could happen?

That question probably should have terrified him.

Instead, it only made him more curious.

When Lara noticed the look on Ethan’s face, however, her expression slowly changed.

Her eyes widened as realization dawned on her, and she immediately blew out a long breath of exasperation.

"You..."

Lara stared at Ethan as though she could hardly believe what she was seeing.

"Ethan, you’re not actually as crazy as him to agree to this, right?!"