That very night once the banquet had ended and many of the recruits had retired to their quarters, Aron called for a brief gathering with Jagu, Jin, and Evanora just near the exit of the manor.
"So, was that a success? I can't really tell what the end goal was here," Jin asked Aron honestly while slightly shrugging his shoulder. Much of Aron's plans were still very unclear to them but they were confident in his decision making thus far, so they didn't question him on it. "More or less, yes, we ended the night with ten plus recruits so it can be considered a success."
"What comes next? As things stand, I'll barely experience any growth staying in this damned city." Jagu growled in irritation and expressed his thoughts. His initial thoughts about the academy was a place he could find strong opponents and hone his battle skills, but instead all he'd experienced so far were classes that he felt held no purpose.
"Starting tomorrow you need to make preparations for departure. However, don't let anyone from our faction be seen publicly making moves, on the surface everyone should go about their days normally, so pass the duties such as gatherings supplies and the like to servants." Aron didn't go into much detail as usual but Jin more or less understood the reason behind his words and nodded his head in agreement along with Jagu, who was pleased to hear the word "departure."
Having purposefully revealed information about the formation of his faction to Belle, Aron knew she'd now keep a close eye on everything he and his members did from now on. However, this meant the focus would solely be on them leaving blind spots for their plans to keep progressing, the simple art of misdirection.
The following day the plan had been set in motion, on the surface, every member of the Sovereign faction had gone to the academy per usual including Aron. It wasn't hard to know that he was being watched, but he remained unresponsive to it and went about his day.
To raise the curiosity of those following him, he decided to pay Arch-Mage Uva a brief visit, this was bound to cause Belle to reach all sorts of worrisome speculations at the very least.
However, not long after Aron had come into the arch-mage's office, a knock resounded on the door. Lady Uva allowed entry and it was none other than Belle who walked in. "Oh, Seems I came at a bad time, am I interrupting?" Upon seeing Aron and Lady Uva seated opposite of each other talking, Belle acted like she had been unaware.
'Seems she's unwilling to simply speculate,' Aron thought to himself while showing a small smile, Belle's acting had no flaws and she came across as she usually would so Lady Uva greeted her sincerely. "Not necessarily, we were merely discussing some interesting principles," Lady Uva replied vaguely but Belle remained determined.
"Is that so? Then, is it all right if I join you?"she asked in a kind manner, causing the arch mage to look at Aron. "She's my personal disciple, if it's okay with you then I don't mind her presence," Lady Uva said in an attempt to allow Belle to stay. Aron, however, soon stood from his seat and prepared to leave.
"Who you choose to share information with is solely up to you, I just feel it's too early for me to judge people's characters. Anyway, if you'll excuse me." Aron's tone purposefully carried some slight irritation as he said this and prepared to leave. Internally, Belle was scowling but on the surface she showed an apologetic smile and chuckled nervously. "Ahaha, it seems I really did come at a bad time, I apologize Lady Uva."
Her tone caused Lady Uva to feel sorry for her as she hadn't really done anything wrong. On Aron's part, she felt he wasn't ready to trust someone so soon so she really didn't know how to carefully diffuse this situation.
"It's quite all right really, the discussion holds sensitive information about Sir Aron here, so I really feel it's up to him on who he's comfortable sharing it with. The same way I wouldn't carelessly talk about your sensitive information to anyone," Lady Uva replied to Belle and she nodded as if understanding, but she couldn't help but clench her fist ever so slightly.
Lady Uva's statement only made her feel the information was indeed important. "I see, if it's like that I completely understand then," Belle expressed in an understanding manner causing Lady Uva to show her a gentle smile. Aron, on the other hand, left regardless without uttering another word.
"Perhaps in time, once he learns more about you, he'll be willing to speak in your presence," Lady Uva advised in an attempt to make Belle feel better. "It's rare for you to put someone in high regard, is he special?" Belle asked frankly, if she couldn't learn the information or what he was planning, then she could at least learn how valuable the arch mage considered him to be.
"Special? Hmm, well, I suppose it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say his information could elevate the academy by leaps and bounds," she replied honestly causing Belle to fall into deep thought, it seemed she now needed to change her approach to the matter entirely.
As Aron was walking away, he bumped into a chubby older man who was sweating profusely. "Darn it, watch where you're going will you?!" the chubby man expressed his irritation, upon closer inspection, it was clear that man was a professor.
Aron glanced at him blankly for a moment and said no words. The chubby man recognized Aron fairly quick but still held up his arrogance, he did, after all, rank higher than him. "Well, as long you understand, hmph!" With a loud humph, the chubby man prepared to walk away, Aron then noticed the man forgot to pick up a paper that had fallen on the ground.
Aron was about to walk away but then what was on the paper caught his interest. "A Death Stalker?" he muttered aloud with his brow slightly raised.
"What? You recognize that creature?!" When the chubby man turned, thinking Aron was insulting him, he saw that Aron was actually referring to the paper the chubby professor had dropped. 'I suppose it's rare even here,' Aron thought to himself, thinking that not many had seen one. To answer the man's question, he only nodded before handing back the paper.
"Quickly, tell me everything you know of it!" The chubby professor excitedly said but the fact that he was commanding in asking irritated Aron slightly. "I only know it's name and appearance, nothing more." With those words, Aron turned around and left leaving the chubby man fuming.
Later that evening just as the academy's classes were about to end, the same chubby professor Aron had bumped into could be seen standing in front of the two library large doors while sweating slightly. He cleared his throat and confidently entered.
Inside, he found the library to have been mostly empty aside from a few students scattered around. His focus, however, was towards the woman standing behind the receptionist desk reading quietly, Lady Rose.
"Evening, Lady Rose, how are you?" he asked in a charming tone and leaned against the desk, but Lady Rose only slowly lifted her head and glanced at him coldly without responding, the chubby chuckled nervously and tried bringing other topics for small talk but she remained silent and just looked at him, causing more and more invisible pressure to befall the poor man's heart.
"Ahah, as silent as ever, a woman of few words is indeed more beautiful. *Ahem* I forgot to mention that I did some heavy research and discovered the name of the creature you had sketched, given time I could give you a full essay," the man boasted, but Lady Rose's expression remained showing little to no interest. "How?" For the first time she spoke, her voice music to the man's ears.
"Ahah, I can't divulge my methods so easily now, can I? But I'm willing to share them with you, perhaps over dinner?" he suggested, but Lady Rose didn't speak and just returned to reading her book as if all interest had faded.
The chubby professor continued trying to be enticing but to no avail, he even revealed the creature's name and said he'd say more once they held a conversation, but she didn't even look at him anymore.
It had now reached a point where it was just pitiful, he could see some students talk in whispers while looking at him and just then did he realize how he came across. She had asked him a simple question, but he ended up rambling for a while about things that didn't interest her in the slightest.
Before he could speak, a young girl rushed into holding the same sketch as the chubby professor. "Lady Rose, I've managed!" she said excitedly before placing the sketch before her. Hers not only had the name of the creature but it was neatly labeled and even stated some characteristics about the creature.
"How?" she repeated the same question and the girl answered honestly.
"Well, I did as much research as I could and I came up with nothing, so I tried asking commoners since they usually come across creatures in the wild, luckily, I found one who quickly recognized it and even gave a few brief details about it when I said it's for an assignment. I wanted to ask more but he didn't stop walking, and after a while he just ignored me..." Lady Rose didn't immediately respond to the girl but instead looked at the brief details given.
"Who?"
