"So you’re telling us that Lord Ashborne here survived because of pure chance?"
The Vice Chairman had the kind of look you usually had when you were trying your hardest to not punch soone important in the face.
Silas, anwhile, looked smug, amused even. He had the sa stupid kind of expression that he showed Aris whenever he was about to do sothing devious.
The Vice chairman, Ryochi Sato, let out a long exhale.
He had an uncommon na, a na with roots deep into the ancient world. Sa was the case with his appearance, it was anything but common.
He was a man built entirely for the purpose of occupying rooms and making them feel smaller. Broad across the shoulders in the way that said the desk job was recent and the field work wasn’t, sowhere in his mid-sixties with the kind of face that had been handso once and had since settled into sothing more useful—sharp jaw, heavier now, deep set eyes the color of old iron that hadn’t softened with age so much as calcified. His hair was dark grey, cut close on the sides and left slightly longer on top with the precision of a man who still cared about appearances without wanting anyone to know he did. There was a scar running through the left side of his jaw, thin and old, the kind that had stopped having a story and just beco a feature.
He wore the association’s formal charcoal with the ease of soone who had been wearing uniforms his entire life and had simply exchanged one for another. The dals on his chest were the functional kind, not ceremonial, but the ones you got for surviving things rather than attending them.
He looked, in summary, like a man who had dealt with impossible situations for thirty years and had developed a finely calibrated tolerance for nonsense.
That tolerance was being tested.
"Pure chance," Silas confird, pleasantly.
The poor giant looked like he was begging for rcy.
He turned to Virginia, simply deciding that this topic could wait.
"You were saying?"
Virginia shifted in her seat. He could feel the laugh she was trying to hold back, as uninterested as she looked on the outside, Aris was exceptional at understanding a person through the quality of their mana. And Virginia’s mana signature currently looked like it was bubbling with mirth.
He was starting to actually feel bad for the Vice Chairman.
"I’m saying that you already have more than enough to deal with for now. Why not just let my friend stay under the radar for a little while until things have cald down? I’m sure no one is going to be particularly interested in the Ashborne now that they have a better plaything."
A long beat of silence, before Ryoichi Sato replied.
"We don’t even know if the Aureate is going to wake up. My lady, i an no offense, but this is simply just ridiculous."
"What’s ridiculous is that you’re trying to attach an innocent bystander to a nuclear bomb."
Ryochi Sato blinked twice, then turned to his assistant, gesturing him for sothing.
The Assistant, a young man who looked remarkably kept together considering the things going on in this room, handed Ryoichi a particular sheet of paper.
"I hardly think the last remaining Ashborne could be considered a bystander." He slid the paper over the table, pointing to a particular part of it so that the four of the could see what he was talking about.
"More than half of the major families and guilds of the world, even emissaries of the city states from southern Europe has sent requests for eting with him. We are already drowning without them knowing that you are an S rank."
He was speaking directly to Aris now, looking into his eyes.
"If any one of these people were to figure out that you extracted an Aureate out of an Aberrant dungeon." He paused, letting the tension settle quietly. "It will simply be out of our control to do anything to protect your peace."
Amari answered in his stead this ti.
"I don’t exactly understand why that would lead him to beco a partner for the Aureate."
Virginia nodded. "You have many more awakened that are much more stronger than him. Hell, this guy here already thinks that he’s stronger than Lord Ashborne." She pointed to Silas. "I simply fail to see the point in tying them together."
"That’s what i have been saying this whole ti-"
"And, that is not considering the fact that you still haven’t explained to us how you failed to predict two Aberrant Dungeon appearances that happened so close to each other." Amari again, interrupting him.
"We also need to talk about why Regulus Au Nyx was reported dead when this situation clearly tells us that he’s only been missing in action." Silas chid in.
"I don’t think the common people will be very happy to hear that the association had a lapse in a dungeon prediction that could have wiped out the entirety of Ilvane."
There it was, the final nail in the coffin.
Beautifully done by Virginia, Aris had to admit.
Ryoichi Sato took in a deep breath, taking a mont to quietly absorb all of the audacity before opening his mouth to answer.
His words were slow, patient with the youngsters that were pushing his limits.
"I understand your concerns, but the only person that we believe the Aureate saw before going under was Lord Ashborne, we cannot in good conscious, allow anyone else to treat to him in case he is not sound of mind anymore."
He raised a finger when Silas tried to reply, continuing with his speech.
"The Association will make sure to keep this entire situation a secret, including the Aberrant dungeon, as long as until the Aureate is deed fit to assimilate back into society. Until then, it is a humble request of ours to you, we are ready to accept any and all demands as long as they are within reason."
He placed his palms flat on the table and bowed deeply to them, an old practice from Ryoichi Sato’s motherland.
A long mont passed by as nothing happened.
Aris blinked when he realized.
Turned to Virginia.
She looked shocked too.
Silas was a little confused.
Amari had no visible reaction apart from the light crease in her brows.
Weren’t these guys supposed to invoke the prophecy?
Major world political disturbance?
Enemies from other countries and regions?
How the hell did this turn into a baby sitting project!?
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