Chapter 107 25.9 - Joint Dungeon
"You may leave now, student Astron," Professor Eleanor White said, her gaze piercing and stern. I had been under her scrutiny for what felt like an eternity, her questions probing into every aspect of my actions and intentions.
It was something I had been expecting anyway the moment I had heard about the rumors, so I just answered the questions she had asked.
I stood up, trying to maintain an air of composure despite the discomfort of the situation. I had dealt with similar interrogations before, so I knew how to handle them. "Thank you for your understanding, professor."
Since this was a fairly new event, she didn't make it too long. Nowadays, her attitude has changed from overbearing to slightly normal.
Even though she still had that squinting gaze whenever she looked at me.
She fixed me with a sharp gaze, her voice cold and cautious. "Your assurance is noted, but let me make this clear. My eyes will be on you. Be cautious in your actions and associations."
She said as her eyes bore into me. However, I could see, under her eyes, there was a clear annoyance at the fact that she was wasting her time. It seemed she lightly given up on me.
'This was what I wanted anyway.'
As an instructor, she was not a bad person....If you were talented. If you were not talented, you had no value in her eyes. Even if you were someone hardworking, you would probably hardly enter her eyes.
Therefore, such a woman also didn't deserve anything from me. If you are looking for merits while dealing with people, you should also expect the same.
If Eleanor White was a woman who determined someone's values according to her own, I can do the same.
I nodded 'respectfully,' acknowledging her caution. "Understood, Professor."
With that, she allowed me to leave the place.
As I walked out, I remembered Mason's gaze as she looked into Sylvie. While the group was leaving, I was observing them from afar, talking with Eleanor White at the same time.
'He will be acting soon.'
In the game, Mason acted quite carefully while he was around Sylvie. It may not look like that, but the academy is putting quite a lot of importance on healers, so they were protecting Sylvie.
If something happened to her, the academy would immediately act and track those who harmed her down. Healers were a rare type of Hunters, and they were hard to find and raise. Therefore, they were valuable.
That was the reason why Mason was acting carefully.
'He must have already gained quite a bit of trust.'
Adding the dungeon and the people surrounding Sylvie, it wouldn't be hard for demon followers to gain her trust.
This was their plan.
'Let's see what will happen.'
No matter what, to harm Sylvie, they would need to isolate her from the academy, and this would be the tricky part.
Inside the academy, they wouldn't be able to act this freely since they had already used their shot. With the investigations occurring here, for now, they need to lay low.
Just like that, I reached my room and immediately took a shower. And following that, I simply left for the training rooms.
*******
In a room filled with a lot of luxury ornaments, a girl with blazing red hair sat on her wide bed, holding her watch.
[Dog1: Young Miss. The footage you requested has been sent. You can check it in the attachments.]
[Why is it this late?]
[Dog1: The academy put up a strong front at first. This case seems to be sensitive. But, rest assured, no problems will occur, Young Miss.]
[Good. Have you got anything from the case I requested.]
[Dog 1: For now, we have yet to make any advances. We are currently digging Astron Natusalune's past as you have ordered.]
[I see. Make sure that this doesn't reach the mother's ears. I don't want to deal with that for now.]
[Dog1: Rest assured, I won't talk about this matter to anyone; Matriarch is included as well.]
[Good.]
Looking at the messages sent by one of the people she had picked, she opened the attachments section.
There stood a video file. It was a special footage where the minutes of her unconscious version were recorded.
Even though she didn't feel like he did something inappropriate, she wanted to make sure. But, more importantly, one thing had been bothering her for a while now.
'How did he beat all those Snow Wolves? Weren't they berserk?'
She remembered the Snow Squirrel got quite a lot stronger after it went berserk. Then, wouldn't the same imply to Snow Wolves? If so, according to the last time they explored dungeons together, his strength shouldn't have been enough to deal with all those monsters.
"Tch...Annoying bastard...."
That was the reason why she had requested this footage using her family's name.
And in the end, she was able to get it. Even though Arcadia Hunter Academy boasted its strong reputation, the Emberheart Family also had their own influence, and by using their daughter's life to get threatened, they acquired this footage easily.
Opening the footage, the first thing she noticed was herself lying on the ground. She was unconscious, with blood pouring from her nose and her ears. It was clear that she was quite injured.
'I was careless back then.'
She inwardly cringed seeing herself this pathetic and gritted her teeth. This was a mistake that stemmed from her arrogance.
"Grrr..."
At that moment, the wolves made their appearance on the scene. At first, their number wasn't that high; only five of them were present.
For her, that number would be nothing, but now that she was unconscious, she would die under the attack of monsters.
"Raaaarr.."
SWOOSH!
As one of the wolves lunged forward, seeing the unconscious prey, suddenly something flew. It was an arrow.
Following that was a complete massacre.
"This?"
All of the arrows hit the monsters from only vital spots. They were shining in the color of green, and from the looks of it, the strength of the arrows wasn't that high.
"What a precise aim."
She acknowledged. She was observing Astron on this trip, and naturally, she also observed Leon since the two were in the same position.
Thus, she knew how difficult what Astron did was.
"Now that I think about it, he also completely timed his attack at that time."
She knew Astron wasn't this strong before; neither was he this proficient at handling bows.? Right now, those five wolves simply died in a matter of four seconds.
"Just what happened this week to make him stronger this much."
She mumbled to herself, comparing his past self and his current one. To be honest, she herself didn't know why she was this engrossed in analyzing him, but she had a hunch that this guy was hiding quite a lot of things.
She hated to admit it even to herself, but she was intrigued. This guy was a mystery, and she was getting sucked into it one by one with each interaction.
[Ding!]
While she was thinking about that, suddenly, a notification sound came from her smartwatch.
<Apexium>
This was the group chat her friends created.
[Julia: Hey Ethan, how was the dungeon this weekend?]
[Lucas: Yeah, why didn't you talk about it yesterday?]
'What is this dungeon thing?'
She thought as her fingers moved rapidly.
[Irina: What is this dungeon thing about?]
[Jula: Heh. You may not know it, but Ethan went on a date with a fellow classmate in the dungeon.]
"Pfffttt.....Date in dungeon...."
[Irina: Who the hell goes on a date in the dungeon?]
[Lucas: Apparently, our blockhead Ethan does.]
[Irina: '^-/-^']
[Ethan: It was a serious exploration, not a date. We almost died, you know?]
[Julia: Hah? You almost died? You are joking, right?]
[Ethan: No, I am not. A demon contractor was at the party, and he betrayed us.]
[Lucas: Demon Contractor? Really?]
[Ethan: Yes. Astron was there too.]
'Astron was there too.'
With Astron's name being mentioned, she curiously started staring at the screen. She wanted to type, but she also didn't want to look too much intrigued. She knew these guys would naturally speak about this before Victor just to joke, and she could see what would happen later.
[Julia: Oh? Astron was with you guys? How did it go?]
[Ethan: He was quite good. I am not sure how, but even though he doesn't look strong, he contributed quite well to the exploration.]
[Irina: That's surprising. I never thought Astron would be that skilled.]
She wanted to see their opinion on that guy. What Julia, Ethan, and Lucas thought about him.
[Lucas: Yeah, he always seemed more like the quiet type. But hey, people surprise you.]
[Julia: But, I guess this confirms that this dungeon exploration was a date ???).]
[Ethan: Not again. How many times do I need to tell you about this?]
[Julia: Okay, man. Chill. Anyway, did you get to talk to him?]
[Ethan: Not much, really. You know he is not the type to talk much. But he seemed different. More focused, I guess.]
Hearing Ethan calling him different; she thought she got a clue.
[Irina: Different? How?]
[Ethan: To be honest, he almost died after the boss monster attacked him just after we were betrayed by that Demon Contractor. It was quite a blow, and I am sure it must have taken quite a lot of time to heal. After we defeated the boss, we looked around everywhere in the dungeon, but we couldn't find any traces of him afterward. I really thought he was dead.]
[Julia. What? It is crazy. Do you know what happened to him, then?]
[Ethan: Well, apparently, he was sucked by the hidden stage.]
[Lucas: Hidden Stage? Are you sure?]
[Ethan: Yes. I asked my butler to look into this case. According to his testimony and the data obtained by the association, it seems he really entered the hidden stage.]
Hidden Stage.
Irina was familiar with that word; after all, that was the place where he was being kept.
[Irina: Do you know what kind of hidden stage it was?]
If it was a hidden stage, that may explain why he got this strong in such short amounts of time.
[Ethan: Sadly, no. The data obtained was limited since the dungeon was unstable.]
[Irina: I see. But, guys. What do you think about that guy and those rumors?]
She finally came to the point. The people she was talking to were all people with high standing, and naturally, they were bound to be people with good judgment.
[Ethan: Honestly, I don't think much of those rumors. Astron strikes me as someone focused on his training. He's always at the training grounds whenever he's free.]
[Julia: I agree. I've seen him training diligently whenever I pass by. We sometimes came across while running in the morning, and he would be returning when I would just leave my room. So, I think those rumors seem baseless and unfounded.]
Hearing the opinion of the two, Irina thought about that for a while.
'I might have judged quite fast.'
Just yesterday, she had visited him, so she was in a bad mood.
At that moment, she remembered what he said.
"This prejudice of yours....One day, it may bite; you should be careful."
'Prejudice....'
She thought about it for a little, and she understood that she was indeed acting a little bratty. Maybe it was because she thought Astron was someone below; she always wanted him to act as she wanted, but he never did so.
No matter how overwhelming she was, he stood up and said whatever he wanted and acted however he wanted. This reminded her of him, and she was not happy with that fact.
[Irina: But, there are testimonies of people he assaulted in the forums.]
[Julia: Come on. We both know how easy it is to create such testimonies, right? Wasn't there an article about you just recently, saying you burned someone alive in Nexoria City?]
'...'
[Ethan: You are right; it is easy to create such testimonies. But the question is, why someone is targeting him?]
Seeing this, it also made sense that someone was intentionally targeting Astron by spreading rumors about him.
Considering this was a pattern she often encountered, she understood that he probably offended someone with high standing.
But who could it be?
'I guess this is how I should pay you?'
She thought as she changed the chat rooms.
<Dog2>
[I have a job for you.]
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You can check my discord if you want. You can see the illustrations of characters there.
The link to the discord server is in the description of the book. historical
--------------------A/W---------------------
Sorry for not updating Eroge for a while, I am dealing with a lot of things at the moment right now and I don't have the time to spare enough. Writing the starting parts of a novel is a lot easier than writing the developed parts of the story, so Eroge actually needs a lot more attention to write.
But, I will start updating it soon as well, the novel is not dropped.