Does Spring Come Even for a Dying Esper

“What?”

“Hm?”

The unit commanders who were in the middle of vying for Iberis’s support stopped talking as Lucas interjected. Their eyes reflected a mix of interest and confusion at his sudden action.

“Captain.”

“Unless it’s an A-rank or higher rift or operation, Major Hyun won’t be providing support to other units from now on.”

Lucas dropped a bombshell in the conference room, ignoring Iberis urgently calling him from the seat next to him.

“Huh?”

“What does that mean…”

Not just the three majors who were arguing, but all the unit commanders reacted to this sudden declaration. The aides behind them also widened their eyes in silent shock.

“What are you suddenly saying?”

“Not coming to support? Why?”

Carlos and Yurina, who were about to request Iberis’s support, muttered with bewildered faces. The expressions of others were similar.

“Ahem, Captain Illum. What do you mean by what you just said?”

Kyle, who was in charge of conducting the meeting, asked Lucas on behalf of everyone. His face, which had looked friendly just moments ago, was now stiff.

“I meant exactly what I said.”

However, Lucas was not one to be intimidated by people’s reactions. He calmly answered with his characteristic impassive expression and calm voice.

“Well, there must be a reason for reducing Major Hyun’s help to us, right?”

“After being assigned here, I analyzed the Major’s cooperation missions with other units that have been consistently occurring over the past few years.”

“Huh?”

“As a result, I concluded that other units make quite a lot of support requests. With nine units taking turns contacting, he’s been going out to provide support about every three to four days.”

Lucas calmly stated what he had figured out and his conclusion. Just as the N-0 unit people relied on Iberis, so did other units.

There are two ways to solve the chronic lack of guidance problem. Either somehow find a suitable guide for the Esper, or use abilities within reasonable limits and endure with medication.

Naturally, Iberis failed at both. The reason was one: the excessive workload placed on him.

It’s true that Espers have stronger bodies and extraordinary recovery abilities compared to others, but that’s only when they’re not broken. Because they’re not ordinary, once they break down, it’s actually harder to fix them.

Especially in Iberis’s severely damaged state, recovery through guidance would take a long time. Honestly, complete recovery couldn’t be guaranteed. Even if Iberis escaped his terminal condition, he would likely need constant management.

So to prevent further deterioration, it was crucial not to overexert anymore. If he continued to use his abilities like now, forget treatment, even maintaining the current state would be difficult. That’s why Lucas took drastic measures to reduce Iberis’s workload.

“Therefore, I recommended reducing the workload for the Major’s condition management and recovery, and all N-0 unit members agreed.”

“Well…”

As Lucas finished speaking, sighs erupted from various corners. The unit commanders’ reactions were not good. Until now, whenever they had troublesome or difficult tasks, they could easily solve them by asking Iberis for help, but now they’re being told they can’t do that anymore.

“Hey, Guide. You seem not to know because you haven’t been here long, but… refusing support requests just because we’ve received a lot of help from Major Hyun is…”

“I’m not refusing. As I said earlier, we will cooperate as much as needed if A-rank or higher problems occur.”

“Look here. The world doesn’t revolve around ranks. Even if it’s classified as B-rank, depending on the number or species of monsters, it can be equivalent to A-rank. What about those cases?”

“In such cases, please send a request, and we’ll review it before responding. Also, our unit has already appointed Lieutenant Brenda Cali as the person in charge of B-rank and lower rifts and operations. Unless it’s a special situation, Lieutenant Cali, not the Major, will be providing support.”

“What?”

“One more thing, according to military law, when requesting cooperation from other units, there must be a valid reason. However, only a few units have properly followed this format so far. Please strictly adhere to the procedure from now on.”

Carlos’s mouth fell open in disbelief. Every word coming out of Lucas’s mouth was outrageous. He gritted his teeth, feeling his irritation surge.

“If it’s urgent, we can proceed informally, what’s the big deal? And Major Hyun is the only S-rank Esper in our N sector. What’s wrong with making support requests?”

“B-rank and lower rifts and operations can be carried out without an S-rank Esper, can’t they? But looking at the support reports, there were many cases where help was requested from the Major even for C and D-rank rifts.”

And our kind-hearted Major accepted most of them. Lucas glanced at Iberis, who had frozen stiffly in shock at the trouble he had caused, and swallowed a sigh. He thought that being so gentle, Iberis was just being taken advantage of by others.

“That’s…”

“Requesting support for missions that can be resolved without assistance falls under dereliction of duty, Major Norris.”

“What did you say? Dereliction of duty? Are you done talking?”

“According to the statistics, Major Norris, you’ve been requesting support frequently even in non-emergency situations. Did you know that N-6 unit has the second-highest number of requests after N-1 unit?”

“What…”

“I looked into why a rear unit would need help more often than frontline units, and found that all the missions had low risk levels. Isn’t it dereliction of duty to pass on problems that you, as an A-rank Major Norris, could easily handle to our unit?”

At this scathing remark, sparks flew from Carlos’s eyes. Unable to contain his anger, he burst out shouting.

“Ah, can’t we just help each other out! What takes us an hour, Major Hyun can finish in 10 minutes! What’s wrong with taking the easy way!”

“It’s because of that ‘easy way’ that the Major has suffered from chronic lack of guidance. He even collapsed last time from overexertion. As unit commanders, you should know why I was assigned here, right?”

The unit commanders, who had been secretly sympathizing with Carlos, hesitated when the incident of Iberis falling into a coma was mentioned. An Esper falling into a coma due to lack of guidance meant they had overexerted themselves to the point of physical harm. Lucas was pointing to the commanders’ frequent support requests as one of the causes.

“That’s all I have to say. From now on, I hope each unit will handle what they can resolve on their own.”

“This is really! Getting all cocky now that we’ve been listening? Who are you to tell us what to do!”

“As the Major’s attending physician and exclusive guide, I have the right to recommend stopping excessive mission performance.”

“Shut up!”

Bang! The excited Carlos shouted loud enough to shake the conference room and slammed the table. He looked ready to pounce on Lucas at any moment. In fact, he tried to attack. If it weren’t for the ice spikes that appeared before him.

“Stop.”

“Ugh!”

Carlos, who had reached out to grab Lucas’s collar, froze as ice spikes sprouting from thin air pointed at his neck. He rolled his eyes to look at Iberis sitting next to Lucas.

“Major Norris, were you just trying to attack my guide?”

“No, I…”

“No? Even though you reached out your hand?”

Iberis spoke with a chilling face and released his mana. Instantly, the air in the conference room turned cold.

“Major Hyun, are you taking that arrogant guide’s side? Didn’t you hear what he was saying to us? It’s practically insubordination!”

“So?”

“What?”

“The Captain did talk back to you articulately and act arrogantly, but is there anything wrong with what he said? It’s all true. You’ve been pushing all the bothersome tasks onto me. Did you really think I didn’t know?”

Carlos closed his mouth at the frosty voice. His body trembled involuntarily at the cold piercing his skin.

“I responded to your support requests not because I didn’t know you were using me, but because I didn’t want anyone to get hurt.”

After silencing Carlos in an instant, Iberis’s gaze turned to the unit commanders. His words plunged the conference room into an uncomfortable silence.