Choices and Decisions (6)
Eribóea.
Commonly known as Lady Achaea, she was lost in thought for a moment in the living room of her mansion.
‘Carla's behavior has suddenly changed.’
She has been receiving reports even after Machia.
As the leader of a group of nobles united with the determination to defeat the devils hiding within Atlas, she could receive all sorts of information related to Carla.
However, after Machia, she couldn't get any useful information about Carla.
Carla began to act like the headmaster of any other school. She stopped all her suspicious activities.
‘……Now she has the audacity to act so brazenly. That devil.’
Eribóea's face quickly contorted into an unpleasant expression.
Frondier, who confessed to being a devil during the Machia incident, defended Carla, claiming she was human.
Of course, Eribóea didn't believe it. She believed they were both devils.
However, after Frondier's warning during Machia, all signs that could point to Carla being a devil had disappeared.
Carla no longer approached men with ulterior motives or disappeared from Atlas. Her strange obsession with devils had also vanished.
Considering the timing, it was only natural to assume that Frondier had instructed her to do so. This was clear evidence that he and Carla had a complete superior-subordinate relationship.
‘Frondier acted as if he had some important information. Information that could even be fatal to me. But what could it be?’
Lady Eribóea was a woman who had lived her life wielding connections as weapons. Of course, this was possible because of her own exceptional ability to maintain those connections.
She was sensitive to information, knew how to use it to her advantage, and was adept at winning people over to her side.
But that was precisely where Frondier had struck.
Eribóea, with her connections reaching everywhere. She, too, held onto a secret or two that high-ranking nobles would never want to be exposed. Of course, it wouldn't do her any good to reveal them. They would all go down together.
However, what if someone who wouldn't be harmed in the slightest, someone like an observer across the river, possessed the same level of information as her? Or what if they had something even more damaging?
‘That face, that expression, that atmosphere. There must be something.’
There's no way he could speak so confidently and boldly with just empty bluffs. He walked right into the middle of Eribóea and her group's planning and threatened her. It would be impossible without considerable backing.
"I'm home."
Just then, her son, Aias, opened the front door and entered.
"Mother, what are you doing?"
“......”
"Mother?"
Eribóea looked at Aias silently for a moment.
To say someone had changed, her son Aias had changed as well.
Although she didn't tell Aias, Eribóea was well aware of how her son was perceived within Atlas.
This was information that easily came to her, not because she needed to spy or eavesdrop, but because Aias was so famous.
His skills are unmatched, but he uses his power as a blindfold, walking around with his eyes closed.
That was a polite way of summarizing the public's assessment of him. It was so polite that it pained Eribóea's heart as his mother.
"Aias, it's vacation now, how was your first semester?"
"......It was fine."
Unsure of her intentions or if she had any at all, Aias responded casually.
Aias was usually respectful to Eribóea. He always acted politely with his mother, father, relatives he frequently interacted with, high-ranking nobles, and those from comparable families.
It wasn't that he acted recklessly anywhere else.
It was the mark of a coward who only showed arrogance in the absence of strong individuals, but it also meant that he knew better than anyone that his strength wouldn't work on anyone above the pro level.
But Aias had changed. It was hard to pinpoint what exactly had changed, but recently, Eribóea had detected something different in Aias's eyes.
As if to prove it, the negative rumors about Aias had drastically decreased recently. However, he hadn't been active in places where he could showcase his talents.
Simply put, Aias wasn't moving in any particular direction. Eribóea didn't know if that was a good or bad thing yet. Aias himself probably didn't know either.
"Right. Do you have any plans for vacation? Are you going somewhere with your friends?"
""Um, not really."
It was the answer Eribóea expected. Aias was popular, but he had no friends. Many volunteered to be his friend, but there was no one who could truly be called a friend.
Most of those who approached him were either after the Achaea family or hoping to get some scraps from him in the future, considering his promising potential.
At that moment, Eribóea's eyes sparkled.
"How about that, that Pielott boy?"
"......Pielott?"
Aias's face immediately scrunched up in displeasure. It was a face that suggested he didn't even want to think about it.
This was it. This was the reaction Eribóea wanted. It was the first time Aias had shown such a reaction just from hearing the name of someone his own age. It meant that Pielott was someone significant to Aias. It wasn't like she was doing this just for amusement.
"That boy, I saw him, and he seems alright."
"Mother, we haven't even talked properly with him."
"A mother knows just by looking. Didn't you see him in the teacher's office?"
"......Can you call that seeing him? You hated him so much back then."
Aias recalled the time Eribóea caused a scene in the teacher's office, and his cheekbones ached.
Of course, the reason Eribóea thought highly of Pielott was that he was someone his age who surpassed even Aias's skills.
And it seemed like there was a significant gap between them. From Aias's perspective, it must have been a fresh shock since it was his first encounter with him.
‘Somehow, I feel like Aias changed because of that boy.’
The flow of logic unfolded perfectly in Eribóea's mind. The transfer student who was more skilled than Aias. Aias, stimulated by him.
He must have realized that he couldn't stay like this and had entered a new phase, discarding his arrogance and striving for improvement. That's why Aias was momentarily stagnant. In a way, it was a preparation for a higher leap.
Yes, that's right. When she saw him last time, Pielott seemed like a sincere child. He probably never wasted his life on useless pride or arrogance. Sincerity and humility were his nature. That's the kind of friend Aias needed.
‘There are worst-case scenarios like Professor Frondier, but as expected of Atlas, you can meet children like Pielott. It would be good for Aias to distance himself from that teacher and make many friends like Pielott.’
Eribóea thought to herself.
Frondier had uttered those absurd words about wanting to create a "society where devils and humans coexist."
Of course, she didn't believe he meant it.
However, if the superficial reason for placing his subordinate as the headmaster of Atlas was that, then he wouldn't do anything unnecessary to the students.
Meanwhile, Aias, who had been scratching his head for a moment, spoke up.
"......Well, I actually thought we might train together. Pielott and I."
"Oh my, really?"
Eribóea was surprised. Saying they would train together meant that one of them had made the suggestion! It didn't matter who it was. The point was that there was an opportunity for them to become closer.
Of course, the truth was that they were simply going to participate in the Magic Engineering class together.
"But it didn't work out that way. We ended up training separately, and he said he's going somewhere for vacation."
"Oh dear, that's a shame. Where did he say he was going?"
"He said he's going to the capital."
The capital. Come to think of it, Pielott was a transfer student. If he came from somewhere more rural than Atlas, he might have romanticized the capital.
‘That's possible. Now that I think about it, it's been a while since our family went on a trip with Aias. We should take this vacation as an opportunity to go somewhere…’
As Eribóea was thinking that,
"......Come to think of it,"
A quiet voice escaped Aias's lips, as if he had remembered something.
"Professor Frondier is going on vacation around that time too,"
"What?!"
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