Unmotivated Deity

Unsurprisingly it was Julie that entered the room next, her mood having cooled some with the acceptance that she wouldn't be escaping this unit. She sat calmly across from Jien and seemed to gaze at him expectantly. This became an awkward silence as Jien continued to read for several long, quiet minutes, his eyes lit by a faint light.

Soon enough he closed the book gently before looking up to meet Julie's somewhat irritated gaze. His gaze was calm and cool, leading her to take a breath or two to calm back down before starting the conversation that would determine the future of their unit. "I don't like you." These were the first words out of her mouth and she looked to confirm his reaction prior to continuing.

Jien didn't seem affected by her pointing out her dislike for him. His gaze remained steady and his calm unperturbed by the statement. After a few more moment she chose to continue, seeing that Jien seemed fine despite her dislike. "The way you treat combat like a chess match is counter to everything I know and I can't follow you, but I am also forced to be a part of this unit."

This was about all she could say to summarize her feelings. Everything she had learned, from her patron god to her own personal experience in the Dungeon Ring told her that combat in and of itself was sacred. To treat it like a game was dishonor to those putting their lives on the line. This was the conflict she had after the battle.

They had beat her fair and square under Jien's command. While she could complain about the loss it would look down on both her efforts and theirs. She couldn't bring herself to make such a move. It would leave a bad taste in her mouth. However, that didn't mean she had to like the means that had led to that defeat and how Jien seemed to use the others as pieces to wear her down prior to beating her when she was worn down.

Jien sighed deeply when she said this. It was more or less what he feared would happen since the match ended. Julie appeared to have a very pure view of battle but he didn't share that view. He saw battle as an equation to answer with the most accurate equation one could think of. He had indeed had the others act to tire out Julie, especially after seeing her reaction to them trying to wake their passed out members. They had succeeded in that plan and exhausted her before he finished the fight. After he found that the path he chose may not have been the absolute best but hindsight was 20/20.

Now that she had made her point it was his turn to respond. He had been thinking of what this conversation would be like and now he finally knew. He gathered his thoughts for a long moments before starting his response. "Whether you like my style of combat or not makes little difference in the grand scheme of things."

His voice retained the same calm when making this statement. "You are stuck with our unit just as much as we will be working with you in the future regardless of your feelings." This statement nearly brought back the rage she had just settled not long before walking into the common area. To not blow up at the boy sitting across from her for telling what was the honest truth, she took several deep breaths.

Only when she finished calming down did Jien continue on the topic. "I gave it some thought and over the remainder of this week we will be testing different battle formations. If you don't want to be led into combat by me as a leader, then do your best to be that leader for the other members." He paused for a moment to see her reaction, one of interest that shown in her eyes.

"You don't seem to have leadership experience, and your background speaks to this fact but that doesn't mean that you would be a good or bad leader. You have great battle sense, use it to lead the others and we can look at how to formulate the unit into two smaller teams. If you can lead the others well enough then one of those teams will be under your command and the other will be under mine."

This was what he had ultimately decided. It would give their unit flexibility in achieving what was needed. The base of the team would be Jien and Julie working as Controllers. Jien would control his team using tactics where Julie would lead hers with her combat sense. This would provide them both of best worlds.

The best part of this strategy is that they could swap members between the two teams as the goal that they needed to fulfill changed, allowing for optimal teamwork.