Chapter 102: Alone [17]
While Walter was having these thoughts,
In Edward’s office.
After hanging up the call from Walter, Edward leaned back in his seat and fell into thought.
’He tried to kill Leon for real as soon as he got a good excuse to do so, and Asher is not stupid enough to do it without caring about the consequences. Does he already think that he is now powerful enough to survive on his own?’
Then he let out a laugh and muttered,
"Well, who knows? Maybe he is now. I don’t even know the location of his other vessel, or his main vessel, if he even has one. Or maybe he has already reached Master rank."
Edward paused, and his expression turned grave.
"I was worried that his technique was the same as that ’man’s’ from the past, who went completely mad because of his own technique, and whose technique eventually became his own destruction."
He sighed and continued,
"But looking at how Asher still has his sanity intact, even though he has never been the same as a normal human... well, he has always been weird, so I guess that’s normal. And since he can still think logically, I guess his technique is different from that ’man’s,’ even though it seems similar."
Then he let out an insane laugh and said in a crazed tone,
"So now I don’t need to worry about my actions affecting him, since he is already strong enough to survive. So I am finally free. Should I cut down those bastards whom I have always wanted to cut?"
But then his expression turned into a mixture of joy and sadness, as if remembering a moment that brought him both happiness and pain.
In a low tone, he said,
"But it wouldn’t really change anything in the end, would it? Maybe now I should just live a life that I won’t regret when I’m dying, just like Asher says he wants to live."
Then he called for Arthur.
After a moment, Arthur appeared, bowed, and asked, "Is there anything you need me to do right now?"
Edward looked at Arthur and then said calmly, "Yeah, I need you to send messages to the Silverleaf Family, the Voltaris Family, and the Church."
Arthur asked in a confused tone, "What happened that you need to send messages to them?"
Edward looked at Arthur and said, "Asher happened, and the kids from those three families suffered a little trauma and nothing else."
As soon as Arthur heard "Asher happened" and "a little trauma," he thought, ’Asher and anything related to him can never be little’.However, he didn’t voice his thoughts and simply replied, "Okay. What would you like me to write in the messages? An apology letter or some compensation?"
Edward looked at Arthur when he mentioned compensation and said, "What apology and compensation? Just tell them in the messages that it’s their kids’ fault for being this mentally weak and that we don’t care. Of course, don’t forget to sugarcoat the message."
Arthur looked confused for a second and then said, "Sorry, did I perhaps hear wrong? Could you tell me again what to write?"
Edward looked at Arthur and then said in a serious tone, "You heard nothing wrong. Just do as I say and only send those letters to the Voltaris Family and the Silverleaf Family. I will send the letter to the Church myself."
Arthur remained silent for a moment.
He had worked under Edward for many years and knew better than most that arguing was usually pointless.
"Understood," Arthur replied with a slight bow. "I’ll make sure the message is... diplomatic."
Edward nodded. "Good."
Arthur hesitated before asking, "Should I at least mention that their children will recover with time?"
Edward replied calmly, "Yeah, also write some lies like that."
Arthur stared at Edward for a few seconds.
For perhaps the first time in a long while, he genuinely wondered whether his employer had any intention of maintaining good relations with the two families.
Then Arthur nodded and started heading out to send those messages.
Just as he was about to leave, Edward spoke.
"Don’t send them tonight. Send them tomorrow."
"Understood"
The next day, 8:00 AM.
S-Class Dormitory.
Cafeteria.
Everyone was having breakfast, talking with their friends, and enjoying themselves. There were no classes for the last two days of the trip, and everyone was simply waiting for the test results to be announced.
However, at the table where Asher’s team always had breakfast, only Aria, Adam, and Noah were present. There was no sign of Asher anywhere.
They had been waiting for him, but he still hadn’t arrived.
Adam looked at the seat beside Aria, where Asher always sat, and then said, "The test already ended last night, fifteen hours before it was supposed to, and the person most likely responsible for it is nowhere to be seen. He even skipped breakfast today, which he never does. What happened to him?"
Then he looked at Noah and said, "I got eliminated at rank 142 thanks to a certain someone being on the same team as me, so I don’t really know what happened during the exam. But you were eliminated at rank 30, so you must have met Asher, right? Did something happen to him? He’s even skipping breakfast and isn’t picking up his calls."
Noah looked at Adam and said, "I only met that bastard for barely two minutes before I got eliminated, and he didn’t even save me when I was getting eliminated by that mus—"
He suddenly paused, looked around the hall, and then continued,
"That big guy."
Aria looked at Noah and asked in an indifferent tone, "No one asked what happened to you. He asked about Asher’s condition when you met him."
Noah was about to complain about why she was being so cruel to him, but the moment he saw Aria’s indifferent expression, he swallowed his words and answered in a low tone,
"He was more than fine."
