初女破初的娇喘

He had already developed a great dislike towards this person. This guy hasn\'t helped them even once! Now, all of a sudden he\'d say something like this? Isn\'t this an attempt to sabotage his chance?

Cedric on the other hand didn\'t seem fazed by the glare he was receiving from Mark, as well as the looks of doubt the rest were giving him. He simply raised his brow at them and said:

"You call yourself a Master yet you can\'t even discover where you went wrong...hmm, oh well. It seems that you aren\'t willing to listen...again, so suit yourself. Don\'t say I didn\'t warn you."

Cedric shrugged and went back to his previous seat, sipping at his drink loudly.

His words alarmed Mark all of a sudden. Despite his clear dislike towards this person, he couldn\'t forget that he was also the same guy who tried to reason with him earlier, and it turns out that Mark should\'ve listened. Everyone knows how that ended up for Mark, so now that he received yet another warning, he couldn\'t help but feel wary.

Uneasiness surged in his heart. He inspected the carvings he left on the new gear, searching for any signs of mistake, or anything that led to the discovery of \'rabbits\'...however, even after searching for a while, he couldn\'t see anything.

"How is it, Master Mark? Was there truly another mistake?" The Archbishop\'s inquiry chilled him to the bone.

Mark bit his lips in frustration. The unease he was feeling was strong, yet he just couldn\'t find where he went wrong.

\'...or maybe, I didn\'t make any mistake in the first place!\' A voice said at the back of his mind, causing him to inhale sharply.

He looked at Cedric who was observing him from where he was. Even with his mask on, Mark could tell that Cedric was wearing a mocking smile, clearly directed at him. And that could only mean one thing...

\'He\'s doing this on purpose!\' Mark concluded.

It was true all along, this guy was trying to snatch his opportunity. He\'s trying to mislead him and make him doubt his skills so he can step in and take the credit!

\'How hateful! Sadly for you, I\'m not stupid!\' Mark snarled inwardly.

He gritted his teeth and replied: "Please disregard that guy\'s words, Dear Supervisors. That man hasn\'t even tried to help us since we started this project. All he wants is to cause discord among us."

"I\'ve checked my work multiple times already. I am completely confident that I haven\'t made a single mistake. This gear will fix the issue, the Lighthouse will shine its light through this."

Mark\'s words were filled with burning conviction. He glanced at Cedric vindictively, inwardly sneering at him. He was confident that he had won this round, but for some odd reason...he still couldn\'t shake the doubt at the depths of his heart.

"I certainly hope so, Master Mark." The Archbishop sighed.

He and the Commander decided to not meddle in the friction between Mark and Cedric. After all, all they care about is this project. Once the lighthouse was fixed, they wouldn\'t see these people ever again so there\'s no need for them to step in.

Seeing as Cedric didn\'t even bother arguing, they proceeded with the installment of the parts. One by one, the pieces that made up the Light Source were assembled. They were extremely meticulous during this process, making sure that everything was in its proper place.

"Right, all that\'s left is to turn it on." The Archbishop stated, "I hope it works this time."

This is the part where Mark\'s nervousness climbed to its peak. His palms turned sweaty and he prayed for his success. He couldn\'t help but glance at Cedric, and seeing him looking so relaxed caused him to feel even more nervous.

However, it\'s too late for that already. The supervisors already flipped the switch and the rumbling of the machinery echoed all over the place.

Brightness immediately greeted them, blinding everybody momentarily. Seeing this, everybody was relieved.

Whew!

That was the sound of a collective sigh of relief coming from everybody. Mark then felt tension dissipating from his body. It was then followed by glee and exhilaration.

"Ha! Rabbits he says! You absolute bufoon, do you see this!? This was the part that you were trying to sabotage! Hmph! Fortunately, I can see through you!

You must be one of those cultist— huh!?"

Mark couldn\'t even continue what he was trying to say because out of nowhere...

BOOM!!!

...an explosion shook the entire Lighthouse. Everybody panicked and dropped on the floor. Mark\'s heart suddenly sank to his stomach.

Squeak! Squeak!

When the smoke cleared, everybody was greeted with the sight of rabbits. They look real but in reality, they\'re mere energy constructs, still, they behave like real ones, jumping here and there in confusion.

"My, how adorable..."

Cedric\'s voice sliced through their dumbfounded faces. They all saw him crouching down and picking up at least three rabbits, cradling them in his arms.

He then looked at Mark whose face was now drained of blood and said: "...I could\'ve sworn I heard you saying something earlier. I didn\'t hear it much because of the explosion. Care to repeat that?"

"I-..."

Complete despair gripped Mark\'s heart. He roared \'How!?\' in his heart, truly unable to understand how this happened. How did he fail? How can this be? And so on...

Unfortunately for him, he had lost all chances of ever redeeming himself once he heard the Archbishop\'s enraged voice.

"Rabbits! Why is it rabbits? Does my fucking Lighthouse look like a barn to you!?" The old man snarled at Mark. "Fuck! The Core was completely drained of energy too! Do you know how much time and resources we pour into one of those!"

"You said you were completely confident! Then what the fuck is this! Is this what your confidence looks like!? Rabbits!?"

The Archbishop shook Mark as he repeatedly snarled at him. Mark was terrified to the core. It was at this moment that he knew, he completely fucked up.

"Commander Wilson! Deal with this imbecile! Throw him somewhere far away! I don\'t ever want to see him again!" The Archbishop let go of Mark to allow the Commander to take care of him.

"P-please don\'t! I...please have mercy! I swear I didn\'t do it on purpose, I-..."

"I grew tired of your excuses, Boy." Commander Wilson gritted out as he gripped Mark\'s collar.

He then twisted his upper body and threw the poor guy off somewhere. God knows what his fate will be, but whatever it may be, neither of the Supervisors cared.

"You!" The Archbishop\'s eyes landed on Cedric.

The rest of the experts here gotta give it to him, Cedric didn\'t look terrified at all. He met the gaze of the fuming Archbishop and replied:

"Yes?"

"You know that this was gonna happen! Why didn\'t you stop it!?"

" \'I\' didn\'t stop it?" Cedric blinked, even tilting his head to show his confusion. "Are your senses failing you now too? Weren\'t you here all this time when I tried to warn all of you of what\'s gonna happen?"

The Archbishop froze upon hearing that. He was still fuming in anger but his reason was still there. He took a deep breath and said:

"Apologies. My anger got the best of me. Indeed, you tried to warn us. We were the ones who chose to ignore your warnings."

Cedric was impressed. Now, this...this is a reasonable man. Not like the Pompous Prick from before.

"It\'s fine, no real harm was done." Cedric replied, "Tell you what, it\'s getting late. How about we focus on the task so we can have this thing working properly?"

"Yes, that\'s what we\'ve been trying to do all this time." The Archbishop snorted despite himself, "Will you lend us your aid now that the stupid fool is gone?"

"Absolutely!" Cedric nodded energetically. "You\'d have to replace the Core first though. I\'m afraid that one would no longer do."

Everybody now paid attention to the Light Source and it\'s just as he said, the core was broken.

"Commander, fetch a new core for us to use. Also, sue Mark or whatever for the damages he caused us. Make him pay dearly."

"As you wish, Archbishop."

"Also, fetch a new batch of parts too. I believe the gears and other things have been damaged by that explosion." The Archbishop continued.

But before the Commander could even move, Cedric suddenly interjected:

"Honestly, there shouldn\'t be any need for that."

That got everybody\'s attention.

"How can you say so?" The Archbishop asked.

"We have Master Smiths here. I\'m sure one of them has a maxed-out 『Repair』 skill. We could just use that to restore the other parts. It won\'t work on the core though, that\'s why we need a new one." Cedric shrugged.

Everybody was stunned by his words. Right, how did they not think of that? It turns out to be that simple. But before anybody could say anything, Cedric decided to land the deathblow.

"Actually, that\'s all you ever needed in the first place. If a Master Smith used 『Repair』 on every piece of the Light Source besides the core, you would\'ve had it up and running by now. There was no need to make a new gear at all."

That caused everybody to groan in discomfort.