Chapter 846: She Handled It
Chapter 846: She Handled It
A few murmurs rose in Chris’s favor.Not many, but enough.
Sheila looked at him for a moment, then sighed softly. It was not an exhausted sound. It was closer to disappointment.
"There you go again," she said.
Chris’s smile stiffened. "Excuse me?"
"You cannot argue that leadership should not be about rank, then demand that vice command should follow rank only when it benefits your point."
The arena stirred at that.
Charlotte’s smile widened slowly from her seat.
Asher gave a short, approving sound under his breath.
Sheila continued, "If rank alone should not hand someone command, then rank alone should not hand someone vice command either. You cannot use principle when it helps you and abandon it when it does not."
Chris’s eyes sharpened.
Sheila turned slightly toward Edith. "Edith makes sense because she has proven leadership in group assessments. She remains calm under pressure. She listens before deciding. She gives clear judgment without needing attention. She can help hold structure without creating unnecessary hostility. Students have followed her before, and academy authorities have acknowledged her leadership for a reason."
Edith’s expression did not change much, but pride moved quietly through her eyes. She did not look flattered in the shallow way. She looked seen.
Sheila then looked back toward the gathered second-years. "The higher-ranked students are not being dismissed. They are better suited where their strengths matter most."
That drew attention immediately.
"Asher is powerful and dependable in battle," Sheila said, glancing briefly toward where he sat. "He is decisive, direct, and difficult to shake once fighting begins. That makes him better suited as a field combat leader than vice commander."
Asher’s mouth twitched. He looked like he wanted to object on principle, but after a second, he only folded his arms and muttered, "Fair enough."
Liam heard him and almost smirked.
Sheila’s gaze moved only slightly, not settling too long on Liam. "Liam is strategic and dangerous. His judgment in dangerous situations is valuable. But making him vice commander would divide the year. Many students would obey from fear or discomfort rather than alignment, and that would weaken the structure before Eldervale even began."
A strange quiet followed that.
Some students looked toward Liam and then away quickly. The accuracy of the statement made it difficult to reject. Even those who respected his ability understood what Sheila meant. Liam himself showed no reaction, though inwardly he acknowledged that she had said it better than most would have.
Sheila continued, "Charlotte is perceptive, capable, and adaptable. But her strengths are better suited to flexible and specialized roles where judgment, observation, and quick response matter more than sitting inside a fixed command seat."
Charlotte placed a hand over her chest with theatrical dignity. "How flattering and limiting at the same time."
A few students laughed quietly despite the tension.
Then Sheila looked back at Chris fully.
"And you, Chris, have influence," she said. "But right now, your influence is factional. You are using it to split the year before we have even departed. A vice commander cannot be someone trying to weaken the structure he claims he wants to protect."