Seed of Titan-Chapter 184: Just Another Fanboy
At that moment, the girls’ orders arrived, slightly dissipating the somber mood.
Shortly after, as Drai was still preoccupied with his seniors’ worrisome fate, he was suddenly reminded of something.
"Hey, you guys stayed at VV’s HQ until the whole thing was over, right?" he asked.
While sipping their drinks, Auri and Flo nodded, with the former asking afterward, "Why?"
"I mean, couldn’t Liam have rescued the upperclassmen?"
"Liam? The old man guarding Christo?" Auri asked.
"Yeah. From what I saw, he should be strong enough to handle the rest of the Order members responsible for abducting the students on his own—assuming that they’re at most third-stagers and no high-ranking personnel like Nero was helping them. So why didn’t he do that?" Drai questioned, puzzled.
"I don’t know. Maybe because he couldn’t leave Christo’s side?" Auri guessed.
"Uhm, actually..." Flo muttered hesitantly as her fingers fiddled with her cup.
Auri turned to her with a hint of surprise. "Do you know something I don’t, Flo?"
Under her friends’ scrutinizing gaze, Flo gulped before answering, "I’ve seen how strong Liam was when he easily defeated the ones at our dorm, so when I saw him standing idly beside Christo the whole time while we were gathering in the HQ, I couldn’t help but bring up the matter to them."
"And what was their response?" Auri pressed.
"Liam kept silent, but Christo’s reply was unusually cold."
Drai leaned forward a bit and asked, "What exactly did he say, Flo?"
Flo’s eyes looked up as she recalled the moment. "He said, ’Sorry, Flo, but that’s not our problem.’ ...After that, I was too discouraged to bother them again."
Upon hearing this, both Drai and Auri fell silent. Even for their overly rational friend, that sounded a bit too much.
Eventually, Auri remarked, "Nat’s right—that guy is too unreadable. I have no idea what he was thinking back then or if he even sympathized with our seniors’ plight afterward."
Meanwhile, Drai remained silent. He found that this was but a glimpse of Christo’s colder side that he hardly ever showed to them explicitly. And upon taking account of Christo’s complicated background that he had vaguely explained that night, Drai felt it wasn’t too unreasonable for his roommate to have such a pitiless mindset.
Hence, Drai couldn’t help but think, ’So was there more to his kindness to us than meets the eye? How much of it was just an act? Or had he actually been genuine all along? Either way, Christo’s gone dark now, so there’s no way to ask him about this.’
Following that, the group moved on from the sour topic and started talking about their lives instead. Drai didn’t have much to say, so he quietly listened as Flo shared her current academy life, including the recent gossips, the unease among the students, her latest and upcoming lessons, and various other aspects.
Among the things that Flo shared, the one that shocked Drai the most was the fact that some students seemed to believe that his disappearance was related to him being in cahoots with the invaders. Flo also said that she had tried convincing such students otherwise, but her attempts had been completely dismissed, as she was considered "too biased" to have a valid judgment.
Auri also talked about her new classes and classmates, albeit unenthusiastically due to her obvious displeasure toward her new environment. Drai had already heard about this during his evening talks with Auri, so his mind drifted to his eventual departure from the Velles estate, his next destination, and future plans.
Around an hour later, Drai was in the backseat of a black sedan, with Auri sitting next to him. Angel was in the frontseat, occasionally replying to the driver’s questions with extremely short remarks.
This time the sedan didn’t travel through the air but followed the main road deeper into the capital. Unlike in the other major cities in Rivideria, there were no skyscrapers here, but many of the buildings there were grand and occupied a wide and beautifully ornamented land, offering Drai a sight that he could never behold in his hometown, Pontia.
Moments later, the sedan arrived at the gates of such an estate. After the driver exchanged some words with the gatekeeper, the gates swung open, allowing the car to enter.
After a brief drive, they stopped before a mansion that was only a tad less magnificent than that of the Velles.
The moment Drai stepped out, a fist shot toward him, which he instinctively blocked with his palm. But before Drai could question the greeting, a flurry of punches suddenly rained on him.
Drai remained unfazed, parrying the barrage with ease for a short while before he eventually caught both wrists of the feisty assailant.
"What a way to greet a long-lost friend," Drai remarked rather amusedly.
Natalia snorted before replying, "What ’long-lost friend’? You’ve only been away for a few weeks." She then launched a high kick at Drai’s shoulder, attempting to release herself from his grab.
However, Drai merely augmented himself threefold and withstood the kick without moving at all, causing Natalia to wince as her right leg recoiled painfully.
"Hahaha! I thought you’ve been exaggerating, but looks like you’ve actually given your friend here far less credit than he deserves, Natalia," a sonorous voice remarked.
Upon hearing the familiar voice, Drai instantly froze, allowing Natalia’s wrists to slip free. His gaze slowly drifted to the mansion’s entrance where an imposing figure clad in a luxurious, dark robe was standing there gleefully.
Auri arrived before him and greeted with a slight bow. "Uncle Alancho."
"Auri, my dear! How could you look prettier whenever we meet?" Alancho cheerfully said as he patted her head. Turning to her daughter, he added, "Natalia dear, you should really learn a thing or two from Auri about feminine matters, like makeup and whatnot."
Natalia gave her father a middle finger before grabbing Drai’s shoulders, shaking him.
"Hey, what’s wrong with you? Come on, let’s head inside," she said. However, Drai remained stunned.
"Please come inside, everyone," Alancho said as he turned around and entered the mansion, followed by Auri and Angel. Their black sedan also slowly drove away, heading to the parking area.
Meanwhile, it took a few gentle slaps from Natalia before Drai could finally regain clarity. The two soon joined the rest that were already seated in the reception area. Like the sitting room in the Velles mansion, there were many comfy-looking, posh chairs there that surrounded a long and rather wide lounge table, complete with various refreshments. In addition, a butler and maid pair also stood nearby.
While Drai was fidgeting in his seat, Alancho opened the conversation.
"Welcome to my humble abode, dear friends. I hope you’re not in a hurry, as my daughter has been really itching to spend time with you. Ever since she started getting house-tutored, she’s been pretty lonely."
"I’m not lonely!" Natalia immediately refuted, slightly blushing. "I was just... bored."
"Sure, sure..." Alancho remarked while winking secretly at Auri, who couldn’t help but chuckle.
"By the way, who is this, Auri? And where’s Cassian? Is he on a holiday or something?" Alancho asked as he glanced at the stone-cold Angel sitting beside her.
"Ah—this is my temporary aide, Uncle," Auri replied while nudging Angel with her elbow.
"Greetings, sir Alancho Skyward. I am Angel, Cassian’s stand-in," Angel introduced herself with a bow. She then added, "My predecessor is currently recovering from a debilitating injury, prompting my assignment."
"Cassian got injured badly? Were you attacked, Auri?" Alancho questioned, looking concerned.
"No, Uncle. He got injured in a personal duel," Auri replied with a resigned smile. 𝙛𝓻𝒆𝓮𝒘𝙚𝙗𝒏𝙤𝙫𝓮𝒍.𝓬𝒐𝙢
Hearing this, Natalia felt intrigued, as she was aware of the guard’s prowess. "Who did he duel with, Auri, and why?"
After a moment of deliberation, Auri’s face eventually turned helpless as she silently pointed at Drai, who hadn’t been paying attention to the conversation, seemingly preoccupied with his own thoughts.
Despite the simple gesture, it forced everyone’s eyes to lock on the half-dazed boy. Even the mostly-disinterested Angel squinted a bit as she glanced at the young guest of her estate despite knowing the gist of the incident already. Up until this moment, she still couldn’t quite fathom how someone the same age as her Young Miss could easily triumph over one of their specially trained guards.
"Hoo... Looks like your friend isn’t simple at all, Natalia," Alancho remarked, his eyes sparkling with excitement.
Being quite at a loss for words, Natalia muttered with a shrug, "His strength isn’t, but his thoughts are pretty simple."
"Really?" Alancho thoughtlessly replied, still focusing on the intriguing young man.
"Yes," Natalia said. "Just look at his face—he must be wondering how he should ask for a photo with you along with your autograph, Father."
Auri, and even the servants standing by, chuckled upon hearing Natalia’s conjecture. In contrast, Alancho’s interest seemed to deepen.
"DRAI," he called with a booming voice, startling the person in question.
"Uh—w-what’s wrong, s-sir?" Drai hesitantly asked, looking quite lost.
"First, ease up on the formalities and call me ’Uncle Alancho’ instead. Is that clear?" Alancho said with a commanding tone, to which Drai frantically nodded despite his bafflement.
"Good. Second, do you want me to take a photo with you and sign it? I can even throw in a personal message if you want," the general said.
Alancho’s offer was like a dream come true for Drai, who excitedly nodded in response, uncontrollably grinning.
Seeing Drai’s overwhelming eagerness, Alancho inwardly chuckled, thinking, ’The boy’s definitely another huge fan of mine.’
Stifling his amusement, Alancho continued, "I’ll happily grant this along with other reasonable requests you may still have, but only if you fulfill a single request of mine."
Still nodding eagerly, Drai said, "Okay, what should I do?"
Alancho’s mouth curved into a grin as he replied, "Fight me."
