Striding with wide steps toward the crowd, I glared at the perpetrator of this mess. He was still shouting loudly at the poor employees.
Once I stood behind Xain, I could see the employee's relieved expression – hoping I'd get this guy out of their face.
And that's precisely what I did.
"Woah, Ethan, you bastard! Put me down!"
I picked Xain up by the collar, like how a mother cat picks up their kitten by the scruff of its neck. This made Xain thrash around in the air. Him being shorter than me by half a head also helped maintain this position.
"Hey! Stop it! Put me down! You're doing this on purpose aren't you?!"
I, in fact, did it on purpose and wouldn't stop what I was currently doing in the future if he still acted like a rebel.
With Xain still in my hold, I spoke to my group. "We'll end the guiding session here. Ilyas, you should get some rest, so treat your wounds in the 2nd floor infirmary before heading home. We'll meet again tomorrow at the same time."
"Hey, I haven't received my guiding yet!" Xain ranted, and Ilyas followed up, "Yeah, how about you Ethan? You haven't received guiding too."
Hearing Ilyas' words made me smile.
He's such a kind-hearted kid.
Even after experiencing this kind of event, he cared about others first.
"We could manage for a day. We'll receive a full-day guiding tomorrow anyway, so rest well and charge up your energy."
Ilyas's head dropped. I could almost see a pair of puppy ears dropping as he tilted his head down. I unconsciously raised my free hand and patted him on the head – a gesture I often used with my sister when we played around – which made Ilyas stare at me in surprise.
"Ah." Realizing my mistake, I retracted my hand and asked something else.
"Should I accompany you to the infirmary?"
Ilyas' face brightened as he nodded vigorously, "Yes, please!"
"How about I accompany him there? After all, I'm the one who hurt him, I should be responsible. You already have your hands full with Xain right?" Cedric interjected.
"It's precisely because you're the one hurting him that I don't trust you."
Even after giving him a side-eye, Cedric didn't back down at my words. So in the end, the three of us ended up accompanying Ilyas to the infirmary. Once he entered, the healing esper immediately got to work.
I fell into a thought.
Immediate reform was needed for these two espers, even though I wasn't confident because my previous attempts of warning them didn't work, I still had to try.
I finally released my grip of Xain, he stumbled a bit before snapping at me.
"You bastard!" what greeted me was a fist flying to my face.
Without a single change in my expression, I caught his fist. It wasn't a serious punch anyway, it's just Xain's way of expressing his embarrassment.
I released his grip and nonchalantly said, "Anyone want a drink? You guys are going to hang around here waiting for Ilyas anyway, right?"
After working together, I had finally caught a clue on how to deal with them. Both Cedric and Xain were people with strong personalities. Treating the two nicely with words wouldn't help reform them, so I needed to be creative.
Walking to a nearby vending machine, I picked whatever drink I thought tasted great and handed it to them.
"What the hell is this cute rabbit drink? You always have the weirdest taste huh?"
"I don't want it."
Xain picked it, but Cedric outright refused it. Sipping the coffee inside the can, I let out a sigh as I thought of my approach.
"How do you guys feel about today?"
"What do you mean?" Xain asked as he also sipped the coffee. "Ugh, what the- this is so sweet for no reason."
"Personally, I think you guys did a great job coordinating even though it's our first day as a team. Though we still can't reach my personal goal of a 20-minute raid clear." I joked at the end of my words.
"You're the only spartan who can clear a gate in under 20 minutes." Cedric said, his attention was now already on his phone screen.
I chuckled, "I work hard to achieve that you know?"
"Tch, show off."
Stirring the coffee inside the can in my hand, I contemplated my words for a bit before asking the simpleton in the group first, "Do you usually go to the gym, Xain?"
To win a war, you had to know your enemies first, so I decided to test the water.
"What's with the sudden question? Are you going to stalk me or something?".
"That's what I'm planning to."
"What?! You like me or something?"
"Do I look like someone who would like you?"
My contradictory words made Xain flush red. He turned his head away when I gave him a bewildered look.
What's with that reaction? I thought he would burst in anger when things didn't go his way.
Regardless of the reason, I continued.
"At least I need to know your usual places in case there's an emergency meeting and you guys are out of reach."
"What? So it's for that? Why don't you say so from the beginning? Yeah, you're right, I'm always at the gym across the street if I'm free." Xain crossed his arms.
Cedric answered without raising his head from his phone screen, "I usually stay in my house all the time."
I nodded in understanding, now I knew what to do with these guys. "All right, starting from tomorrow, we will meet up at Xain's usual gym to train. Captain's order."
"What?!"
"You-"
I grinned at them, "You know what will happen if you disobey a captain's order, don't you? Pay cut and restrictive movement, so you better do as you're told."
Both of their faces were a fascinating sight to see. This would be the first step for these guys reformation project. I might be cheating for using my authority to pressure them, but it's the capitalist world we were living in – the one who held power were the ones to win. I'd be called a fool if I didn't use it well.
"I'm looking forward to your attendance."
I put on the brightest smile I could. Starting tomorrow, I'll shape them into good little pups.