OLD-WORLD EXTRA-Chapter 499: A Quiet Talk

Elijah jumped slightly, fumbling as he swiped at his screen and switched to another display. His eyes met Emir's for a moment before glancing away.

"Uh... just watching Amon's interview."

Emir's eyebrow rose slightly.

His casual tone was far from convincing, it simply was an obvious lie, but, instead of growing annoyed, he grew curious.

"The boy hadn't lied to him like this before.

So, deciding to play along, he sat down next to Elijah and took away the terminal in his hand. "Mind if I join in?"

"..."

Elijah's mouth opened, ready to protest, but he closed it again and just nodded, knowing that arguing with Emir wouldn't get him anywhere.

They both turned their attention to the interview, skipping through questions that droned on with practiced answers from Amon, smooth as ever.

Emir's eyes dulled as boredom overtook him, none of the questions were interesting, cookie cutter at most, but then, a quite daring independent journalist from the sea of reporters made him pause.

"We've seen some pretty compelling evidence that one of the terrorists was once a student at the Academy! What's your opinion on that?"

The room on screen fell silent, and Amon's gaze shifted as if he had come back to life.

It seemed that he too didn't expect such a question.

But, his experience showed, as he answered with a calm that sent a shiver down the journalist's spine.

"Don't blame the forge for the blood spilled on the sword."

Emir's expression shifted slightly, and soon, a smirk tugged at the corner of his mouth. "Interesting choice of words..."

The weight behind Amon's statement was clear: the Academy, for all its flaws, could not be blamed for what its students became.

It was a deflection, yet there was truth wrapped within it.

"Yeah..."

Updat𝒆d fr𝑜m freewebnøvel.com.

Elijah exhaled, as he seemed to have forgotten to do that in the last few seconds.

But then, just as he was about to say something, a new notification lit up on top of the screen, and his face turned red.

{Sofia: I'm here.}

The name on the message caught Emir's attention immediately since he didn't expect those two to be so close already.

Though he didn't rely much on the 'novel' anymore, he believed that such things wouldn't dramatically change, at least not this much.

He was wrong...

And if one judged by the contents of the message, he was really wrong.

"She's here? You invited her?"

Elijah shifted uncomfortably under Emir's gaze.

"No... I... She heard rumors... wanted to come here... speak to you..."

Though his words scattered, Emir more or less got what he wanted to say.

Sofia had heard rumors of this little party he had planned and she had been bothering Elijah since then, wanting to come by, and have Elijah ask Emir for permission.

But as he presumably refused, likely multiple times, she took matters into her own hands and just came of her own volition.

Emir tapped Elijah's shoulder, telling him that it was fine, then looked at Nathan, assuming that this was what they were discussing earlier.

And apparently, he was right, as Nathan was looking at him, seemingly waiting for a signal. "I'll take care of it."

He waved him off and stood up, heading to the gate.

There was an obvious surprise on Elijah's face, not expecting Emir to have agreed one bit.

However, he eventually calmed as he watched his big brother move, understanding that his mind was not to be understood.

In moments, Emir reached the gate leading outside and stood on the pavement.

Before him was a black truck-sized limousine with tires that reached half his height.

There was no doubt about it, Sofia had arrived.

A chauffeur stepped out of the driver seat, and quickly walked over, reaching the backmost

door.

He slowly opened it, revealing a small set of stairs that reached the ground, and gestured for her to exit.

"We've arrived Miss."

A young girl, with looks so different from girls her age, stepped out.

Her well-toned body was hidden under a gray dress beautiful enough to be worn in a ball with nobles.

But even then, her muscles still showed signs of extreme effort, obvious enough to anyone at

first glance.

That wasn't the only unusual thing about her, for all she was appeared unusual.

Blue hair and bright gray eyes that could be seen from a mile away, as clear as the moon.

She was beautiful.

Her presence drew some attention from the guards on either side of the gate, but they kept it professional, acting like they weren't even there.

Emir, however, didn't find that to be enough, so he gestured for everyone to leave, even the chauffeur who brought her here.

They offered no resistance and immediately bolted off, the guards entering the house while the chauffeur ran to the other side of the street, outside hearing distance.

He wanted to send her hidden bodyguards away too, but he knew that they wouldn't listen to

him.

They were under Richard Alexander's command, not hers so he couldn't have her do anything.

Once he deemed all to be good, he materialized two Aether constructs in the shape of an extremely basic chair, directly opposite each other.

He then gestured for her to sit down while taking his own seat.

Emir had positioned himself purposefully-just enough to avoid sparking any jealousy, as he

knew that Lyra was watching.

Sofia settled into the seat, her hands fidgeting slightly.

He leaned forward, his usual commanding presence softened, but only just.

"I hear you wanted to talk..."

"..."

She silently looked at him, mouth shut.

"If it's to the point of coming after Academy hours I can only presume that it's very

important, so speak up."

"..."

Still, his encouragement seemed to have fallen on deaf ears as she only stared at him.

Emir, holding back an annoyed sigh, showed a soft smile that was quite unlike him.

"I'm your professor... Whatever you have in your mind you know you can talk to me about it."

That was when she finally met his shades-covered gaze with an expression that was both

vulnerable and determined.

"I... I feel lost."

Those two words seemed to have taken everything out of her to have gotten out.

Emir nodded slowly, finally understanding why she had come here.

The 'Seed' he planted back in the Rite, had finally 'Sprouted.'

Sofia recognized something within her that was holding her back.

Arrogance.

She once believed that she only held that for those her age, as most of them were nowhere

near her level, but in the ruin, she made a mistake.

She underestimated her opponent.

The girl who strove after perfection, claiming to be near it while at the same time always using it as an excuse as to why she lost against her more 'talented' sister, had now found out

that she wasn't close to such a thing at all.

Sofia wasn't losing because of the lack of talent, but because of her arrogance.

She didn't fully listen to what Olivia did, she didn't fully learn what Olivia did, and she didn't fully practice what Olivia did, deeming it all as beneath her.

It was quite obvious if someone from the outside looking in thought about it, after all, the way she acted towards professors and other students was indicative of that, at least to a certain degree, but for the girl herself, this was a wild revelation.

She likely felt lost because she had realized her path to this point was wrong in and of itself.

Her loss against that Technomancer certainly didn't help, and realizing that Emir 'read' her like an open book since they first met didn't help either.

Everything came down at once and she didn't know what to do anymore.

That was why she came here, she knew that someone like Emir would give her a solution, a

man she acknowledged as superior, her so-called muse.

Sofia was allowing herself to be vulnerable.

Emir meanwhile, allowed a small smile to cross his lips, yet beneath, it didn't reach the eyes

behind those shades.

Unknowingly, Sofia had given him exactly what he wanted-a chance to mold her further, to

shape her into the powerful specialist he knew she could be.

Her becoming a tool in the process was simply a by-product.

"I think everyone feels lost sometimes... I once did, a lot."

He chuckled, surprising her with a rare glimpse into his own vulnerability.

"But I've found my purpose. I have my own path. You must find your own, and besides, I enjoy

what I do."

Her hands unclenched slightly, but she still looked down, hesitant.

"What if I don't know where to start?"

A glint sparked in Emir's eyes as he leaned forward, adopting an expression of patient

understanding.

"You start by recognizing where you went wrong. Arrogance has its uses, trust me, I know,

but left unchecked, it blinds you. You need to see past that if you're to become who you're meant to be."

Sofia's eyes darted up, not expecting Emir to have seen through her this clearly.

"..."

But Emir didn't stop there, pressing just enough to cement his influence without revealing the

true extent of his intentions:

"It won't be easy, and you'll face more failures, we all do. But if you're here now, admitting you feel lost, then you've already made progress. The path ahead is yours to walk. It might be already forged, but it can be sharpened, perfected. Don't forget that."

|| ||

||

11

||||

"..."

They shared silence, a long one that lasted until she nodded.

Lightly and barely noticeable sure, but it was there.

A moment passed, and then Emir, maintaining the guise of a mentor, reached out and patted

her head gently.

It was an extremely unfamiliar gesture coming from him, but one that carried just enough

warmth to reinforce the trust she had in him.

Like a father encouraging a child, he set the stage.

"Good. When you find a method to improve your path, just make sure it's one worth learning...

you don't have to walk in your sister's shadow anymore."

His hand lingered for just a second before he pulled back.

Sofia didn't react to his hand or to his words, she simply kept her head down, staring into the

ground.

Then, slowly, she smiled, a smile so tiny that it rivaled Lyra's when she first met Emir.

It seemed that not a single thought of this weird dynamic had entered her mind.

His status as her professor was cemented and his age was wholly irrelevant.

Agaiin, he was her muse.

Emir's smile finally reached his eyes.

He was more than sure that the plant had taken root deep within her mind.

Now, it was only a matter of watching it grow until he needed to reap the benefits.