"Else… We are going to get married next week. Choose your poison."
"…"
Evan and the others fell silent, never expecting such a word coming out of her mouth. They dropped their jaws and widened their eyes.
"Congratulations?" Kai couldn't help but congratulate them with an unsure tone, especially because Isabelle said 'Poison' that confused him too much.
Evan looked down and scratched his head, looking at Kai. "This is not a matter that should be congratulated, Captain."
He let the others see the second document.
"What?!" Kai facepalmed. The second document turned out to be their marriage form. According to the administration, they only needed one week to process this. That was why Isabelle said they would marry each other next week. And the marriage form was complete, including the signs.
"Because of the pressure of the two families, especially after we agree to date, our two fathers plot against us and somehow get our signature. They then completed everything without us knowing. Only a day later, they inform us about it and somehow blackmail us to do everything.
"I don't mind marrying her, but I know it's not now. The reason is similar to why you haven't married the girls. And everything will surely become hard if we marry now, so we can only accept this mission to buy time… At least until we graduate." Evan let out a long sigh.
"So, that form is fake?" Kai noticed something was off about the form.
"This is the photocopied one. If not, we have ruined this form… No, Isabelle won't even come here and rip this form herself."
Isabelle closed her eyes with her hand and sat next to Evan. "In other words, if we don't agree with this, they will send the right form to the government. After that, they will do everything to make us bear a child…"
"I can somehow understand your frustration…" Kai nodded in understanding. Although it wasn't as extreme as them, Nathan indeed pushed him like this. Stil… "You can just reject or escape from your house, right?"
"As I said, I have no problem in marrying her, but the moment we decide to escape or something… They will make us marry another person… At the very least, our sailing won't be as smooth as right now." Evan sighed.
"Isn't it because you have gotten stronger now?" Isabelle harrumphed.
"How can you say that? I train to protect you on the battlefield because you are a goddamn sniper… And you are blaming me for this?" Evan looked at her with a sad expression as if she just wronged him.
"You can wait until you graduate if you want to get stronger."
"When?" Evan rolled his eyes. "The day when I got beaten by terrorists and had you avenged me still lingered in my mind… I know you can see the best option for us, but I still have my own pride, okay?"
The two argued a bit more. As much as they were shaking their heads on the complexity of this matter, they knew that Isabelle and Evan were a good pair. Evan didn't want to have multiple wives because he didn't want conflict and lost control of all of them, especially if they fought against each other. It would ruin their family altogether. At the same time, Isabelle got stronger to protect Evan, whose fighting ability was subpar.
Their families took advantage of this. From another perspective, they could see the reason they sent this mission was to strengthen them as an individual and as a couple. The marriage was the one that made it worse.
"Ahem…" Kai coughed to get their attention, trying to calm the situation down. "Anyway, I know that you two love each other but can't accept the second option. How about the first option? What is the mission?"
"It's a mission coming from the president of this base himself, not the president of the student council, making us unable to reject this. The mission is to assume a group of two, which are me and this guy and head to Nunavut. Due to its terrain, it's perfect for my sniping ability to kill the monsters.
"We are assigned to clear a certain region containing around a thousand magical beasts. I can do it alone since I am the sniper, but Evan is there to protect me in this matter. If there are monsters coming after me, he shall fight those monsters.
"I think this is a good mission myself because I know Evan lacks experience, so this is the place to gain fighting experience… Still, I am unsure because the danger is a bit higher." Isabelle glanced at him worriedly.
Kai smiled. "I think this is fine. Evan's fighting ability is by no means weak. Although there are a few parts where his movement looks a bit stiff, I think he just lacks experience. If you are alright with this mission, I won't say anything. But I need to confirm it again. You are going to have a separate group from Lion and Eagle Groups, right?"
"Yes." Isabelle nodded.
"I think we will have a mission soon, but how is your group?"
"We will also get a new mission since my father said there is a plan to increase the Eagle Group's overall strength. And because Tommy is the fiance of our student council president, his growth is necessary, so they approve this idea. As for what kind of mission it is, I don't know." Isabelle shook her head.
Meanwhile, Evan sneakily read the first document, containing the mission. Since he had no choice other than accepting this mission, he decided to professionally browse the entire document. After that, He asked, "By the way, when are we going?"
"Five days from now."
"I believe they are going to make us do another mission in December. The threat won't be as effective as this, but I think they will always have a way to do this, so…" Evan hesitated to say it, but Isabelle understood his concern.
"It's fine. I will let them do whatever they want for now. We will have a three months holiday after that, so I will prepare my weapon to make them unable to give us a mission like this. How is it?"
"I will help you by gathering all those data. Or want me to dig up all my father's embarrassing pictures? It has been locked in his computer, but I should be able to do it after the holiday. What do you think?"
"Good. They can threaten us, but that doesn't mean we can't do the same. I will let them know the pain we are going through." Isabelle grinned, planning to take her revenge against her parents.
Kai only shook his head and smiled. Looking at their synergy really made him relax because he and the girls had a similar relationship.
"That's why I am sorry, Captain. For the time being, I can't go with the group." Evan apologized.
"I know. You don't need to worry about this. We will do just fine." Kai patted his shoulder and smiled. "Besides, there are still five of us in the Lion Group. We know how much we are relying on you… In fact, it's only because of you that we can fight without restraint, knowing that you will simply heal us if we get injured.
"However, it's also good for the others to get a bit more careful as to not getting injured, treating as one injury could lead to death. So… Let's get stronger together during this period and create a better team next year." Kai stretched his hand.
Evan smiled and shook Kai's hand. "Thank you, Captain. My choice of joining you wasn't wrong."
Kai nodded and glanced at Isabelle. "Please help Evan."
"I will beat him into shape." Isabelle snorted.
"Ahaha."
"Do you need my help in the strategy?" Kai asked.
"I don't think so. The current plan is just to hide and shoot. If we calmly end them one by one, I think I can kill all of them within a few days."
"Well, you only need to kill those beasts from one spot. I think you can even kill three hundred of them in a single day."
"Yeah. I have seen the terrains, and I think there won't be many beasts coming from a group. As long as I use my suppressor to not make a loud sound, I should be fine. Meanwhile, if I get a huge group coming, Evan can be my meat shield… It's a bit tiring, but I think I can finish this mission within three days." Isabelle explained. Sniping took concentration, so it was normal for Isabelle to say that.
Many people thought sniping was just to aim and shot when they were alone, they also needed to consider many things such as positioning, waiting for the right time to shoot, and so on. She might need at least a minute to kill one, so it was a long process.
Kai nodded but didn't say anything. Instead, he turned his head to the door, feeling the incoming danger. He facepalmed as if he didn't want to see what would happen next.
*Bang!* Just like how Isabelle entered the room with a bang, an old man suddenly entered the room with a smile on his face. The old man was none other than Michelle's grandfather, the only old man that seemed to have so much idle time, Nathan Graham.
He applauded for himself and laughed. "Haha… I have come."
Kai's expression darkened. At this point, the only reason he would come was to give them a mission or an important announcement. And with how Isabelle and Evan had gotten their own mission, Nathan's objective must be…
"I have a few good news for you and one bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"