Chapter 373: Answers from beyond
In the salon of Astelias apartments, after learning of his attack on Sofia and her students then of the events of earlier that day, Cardinal scrolled through his system logs.
Hmm, this is proving to be less useful than I thought. There are a few monster kills in there, and this is most of it I assume, from this, that my person was primarily used as a tool to hunt you down, Miss Sofia.
Things are better this way I suppose At least he wasnt indirectly responsible for slaughtering more Orphanages.
As the discussion continued, Astelia eventually brought Sofia apart to discuss something in private. She wanted to share the secret of the academys hunt for some level 500 person with Saria, Alith and Cardinal, which they had kept under wraps until now for fear of antagonizing Beligenus. Now that the immediate threat of Scriptures pawn was removed, it would be best to let everyone know of this other issue.
Sofia thought about it for a moment. We should probably tell Zerei too, then, she will want to help us if anything happens, its better that she knows what she could be up against.
Astelia nodded, Go get her while I get my Uncle up to speed with the token competition.
Alright.
Astelia returned to the salon while Sofia left the apartments, to her surprise, a white-bearded old Exidian in a long robe was waiting for her just outside of the room, absentmindedly looking out the windows of the stairwell of the teachers tower.
Sofia closed the door behind her and walked up to the headmaster. You heard us, I take it.
Do you think I would be oblivious to the happenings inside of my home? Beligenus softly answered, still looking out the window.
Then what? Are you going to ask that we dont say anything?
No. In fact, I will do nothing. I am only here to ask you if you really want to go down that path. Sometimes, knowledge is a curse.
Are you ready? Sofia asked in return.
Ready? Beligenus looked at Sofia.
Yes. Are you, Tartaros, the Emperor, and Elizabeth, ready to catch that person, like you planned?
We have been for a while now. All we need is for them to slip up. You only need to wait until the competitions prize distribution and the time will come. We will do our best to ensure everyones safety.
I see. Good, good. There shouldnt be any issue with telling them, then. Sofia concluded, Were not going to compromise your plan. Unless the fish can hear us talk here?
They cannot possibly
Alright, then. Thank you again for helping us rescue Cardinal. We owe you so Ill help with this plan of yours if I can. I suppose you still wont tell me who the fish is and what they have to do with my students?
I fear
Sofia rolled her eyes and saw a weird thing atop the stairs on the upper floor as she did. Some sort of an iridescent pole.
Say no more, I get it. Just be ready to intervene anytime, then. I dont want to die because that person decided to attack when you were out polishing your scales or something, Sofia told the headmaster as she headed up the stairs toward Zereis floor.
The headmasters mana disappeared as she was halfway up the stairs, she looked back, and he was gone.
But its still waiting for me up there.
The student from the Deep.
I see.
I suppose that Deep creature has been learning more than just whats being taught in class.
Where did you even get that? Topaz asked, weirded out, And who is that creepy old man behind Lola?
Opal raised a hand. She crawled on her bed to grab her pen and notebook at her feet, and scribbled a few words.
Lolas Family Ancestor, she showed me paintings during the party. Said she had only ever seen him in paintings.
Lolas ancestor
Sofia had a flashback to her discussion with Lola in the hallowed trees dungeon.
My family has been in the art trade for generations. Our great ancestor is a very famous smith and sculptor He helped build the Death church, the imperial palace, and a lot of the older parts of the city.
And then when pressed about the Issue last time with Astelia, Tartaros had told us a few details
The person we are trying to bait out of hiding and terminate is a traitor of the Empire and the reason for the late Empress passing. They were last identified by the system as a level 508.
A traitor Not here but Lola was speaking about him in the present tense. Not dead.
Helped build the imperial palace. Reason for the Empress passing.
And
The weird presence. That feeling of being observed. It only happened twice.
Once after the priest of Death left when Astelias student tried to poison Shaily
And once in Lolas mansion!
I need to go check on Lola.
Sofia told Opal and Topaz to get back to sleep, and let her graveyard skeletons carry her through the floor.
Lola was sharing a room with En, Sofia appeared in their room from the floor. En immediately woke up, T- teacher?
Sorry to wake you up, En, you can go back to sleep, I just need to have a talk with Lola.
Is she in trouble?
She might.
The subject of conversation also woke up from the chatter. I- I what?
Get dressed, Lola, we need to have a talk, the sooner the better.
W- why, what is going on?
Dont worry alright, you did nothing wrong, but this needs to happen now. Just get dressed and follow me.
