Seed of Titan-Chapter 179: The Academy’s Scars

Reina led Drai outside, and they immediately spotted that several maids were gathering around with worried faces. A few meters away from them were two gardeners whose faces were flushed and strained as they tried pulling Horsie away from the decorative bushes he was currently grazing.

Drai had intended to interfere, but Reina quickly stopped him before calling for one of the maids there. Reina whispered something to her, and the maid immediately ran to the pair of struggling men, who soon stopped their futile efforts and watched the decimation of their fruits of labor with pained expressions.

Reina then led Drai to a nearby gazebo that was surrounded by colorful garden plants and a few trees. A pair of maids and a butler who were on standby there swiftly helped them get seated before laying out some refreshments.

Reina whispered some instructions to the butler before turning to Drai, who was already munching on some mini skewers.

"What are you planning to do next, Drai?" she asked.

Drai thought briefly before answering, "I’m thinking of heading back to the academy first. Depending on the situation, I’ll either continue to stay there or leave. What I want the most is to locate my parents or at least find out what happened to them, but I might have to look for a job too. Oh, I also need to get a new comm—my current one might be compromised."

Reina nodded a few times before calling over the butler again, who had just finished speaking through his earpiece. Again, she whispered some instructions before turning to her guest once more, saying, "I don’t think you should return to your campus, Drai."

Tilting his head, Drai questioned, "Why? Haven’t the Order members completely left? Shouldn’t it be safe to go there now?"

"I’m not sure about the safety, but yes, there should be no more Order members left there as far as I’m aware. But that isn’t my point."

Reina paused to sip her wine before continuing, "You’ve been gone for a couple of months, so you’re unaware of the situation. You see, that huge incident has left Soluna Academy in shambles."

Reina’s words caused Drai to drop the pie he had just grabbed. With a concerned look, he said, "Please elaborate, Ma’am."

"I will... if you start calling me ’Grandma Reina’ instead."

A look of utter bafflement instantly took over Drai’s face. However, Reina didn’t seem to care, as she sipped her wine with a flat expression, silently waiting for a response.

Eventually, Drai muttered, "Please, G-grandma Reina..."

A pleased grin appeared on Reina’s face as she put down her wine glass. "Well, since you’re being so insistent, I’ll let you know about the academy’s situation."

Drai resisted the urge to roll his eyes as he kept a straight face and paid close attention.

"For starters, the attack resulted in many casualties, primarily the professors. Furthermore, two of the deans also perished," Reina said.

This news surprised Drai, who immediately tried to recall the deans. Almost instantly, his eyes widened with unease.

He then asked hesitatingly, "Uh... Auri’s aunt—is she..."

Drai’s heart sank as he watched Reina’s smile vanish. However, her following words eased him a bit.

"She’s fine. Fortunately—though perhaps frustratingly during the time of incident—she couldn’t use her powers at all that night due to some kind of restriction. So she, along with other powerless professors, stayed hidden far away from the battle. That’s why more than half the casualties were from the Body Transformation Faculty and Combat Faculty. They were mostly the ones holding the intruders back since they don’t rely too much on spells."

Reina’s words reminded Drai of Herg, who briefly aided him at the battlefield.

"I guess Dean Herg didn’t make it..." he quite ruefully murmured.

"Actually, Herg did make it—though he’s now unfit to teach practical classes due to the injuries he sustained," Reina explained. "Regardless, he still holds the dean position and is probably toiling away there while we’re speaking."

Despite worrying about Herg’s condition, Drai still sighed in relief. He then said, "So, the two deans that got killed—"

Reina quickly interrupted, answering, "Toufan Limmick of the Combat Faculty and Wilfred Arden of the Generality Faculty."

Drai didn’t really know Toufan, so he didn’t think much about his passing. However, Wilfred was someone he got to know pretty well that night, though the events that followed had buried him deep in Drai’s memory, causing Drai to completely forget about the man and his actions until just now.

Hence, he mentioned, "Wilfred is a traitor."

Reina furrowed her brows. "Traitor? What do you mean?"

"I met him twice that night. First, when he worked together with an Order member to attack Zar at his residence. Second, when he ambushed me after I escaped from Nero, a high-rank member of the Order," Drai explained.

"Is that true?!" Reina asked in disbelief.

"Yes. I don’t know what would’ve happened if Zar hadn’t rescued me from Wilfred. The old man used a gem artifact to bypass the spell restriction before killing the dean, who had been threatening my neck with a knife while waiting for his accomplice to arrive," Drai further described. Whether due to his increased intelligence stat or the significance of the incident, the events that had unfolded that night remained fresh in his memory. He could even vividly recall the sensation of cold steel pressing against his neck after he was caught off-guard by Wilfred.

Reina rubbed her wrinkled chin, contemplating Drai’s words. She then asked, "Did you see any other traitors?"

"Yes, there are three others that I know of. First is Paul, a professor of the Body Transformation Faculty. Second, Smith, a student from that same faculty—my classmate. Third, Tamara, a student from the Combat Faculty. They all probably falsified their identities and levels."

"Hmm... Alright." Reina then turned to butler. "Have you been listening, James?"

"Yes, Madame," James replied.

"Good. Put all that into a report and send it to all relevant parties by today," Reina instructed. "Make sure not to mention Drai and make me the guarantor instead. You can start after we’re done here—there might still be more crucial information that Drai hasn’t mentioned."

James nodded and made a few notes on his comm, while Reina turned to Drai again, asking, "Now, what else can you tell us, Drai?"

However, Drai didn’t immediately reply, as he had just realized something.

"Why haven’t you learned about all this already?" he puzzledly questioned. "Shouldn’t Zar or Professor Ravi have at least informed the officials about this and other details, such as the Crimson Order’s involvement?"

"Ah, right—I haven’t told you about them yet." Reina’s expression softened as she leaned a bit closer and softly said, "From Auri’s stories, I reckon you are pretty close to Ravismus Ondor, so what I’m about to say may sting a bit... Unfortunately, ever since the Order retreated from the academy, both Ravismus and Zar were never seen again."

Since Reina had warned him, Drai was able to brace for the worst case—that both men had somehow perished. However, the slightly better news still managed to weigh down his heart. Zar’s disappearance only caused him to worry about his academy’s future and the matter regarding his connection to the Verdant Order, but in Ravi’s case, Drai was panged by grief.

"What happened to them...?" he whispered weakly.

"No one seems to know what happened to Zar or his current whereabouts. He just vanished and never appeared again. Aside from your testimony earlier, he was last seen just outside his residence by the Nature Faculty’s dean, Lua Utulu."

"Yeah, she was there protecting Zar when Wilfred and that dragon lady, Theia, attacked the rector. I remember her getting badly injured from fighting Theia right before I helped them," Drai recalled.

However, Drai’s statement stunned Reina, who ended up asking, "You helped?"

"Yeah, what’s wrong with that?" Drai asked as he noticed Reina’s perplexity. "How could I stay still and let those bastards do as they please right in front of me?"

Ignoring the crass remark, Reina said, "It’s not that you’ve done wrong by helping, but really? A first-stager helping a fourth-stager? Am I supposed to believe that you could thwart an opponent that had badly beaten a dean?"

"Oh..." Drai blankly exclaimed upon realizing that he had just baffled the old lady with his absurd overpoweredness, which was still unknown by the estate’s residents. Scratching his cheek, he muttered, "Well, it was a surprise attack, and I also had a skill that often intimidates my opponents—maybe that’s why I was able to drive them away."

"Didn’t you say Wilfred was also nearby? Why would he just let you do that?" Reina pressed further.

Drai chuckled awkwardly before replying, "Something must be wrong with that guy’s brain. Why else would he defect to the Crimson Order? And he must not be very confident in his strength since he was weak enough to get one-shotted by Zar."

While Drai could’ve just admitted that he’s actually an overpowered abnormality, he worried that this wasn’t the right time to reveal his actual strength or if he should even reveal it to the Velles. Besides, he also thought that an honest disclosure probably still wouldn’t sound convincing enough to Reina, who could end up thinking he was merely a boastful, lying brat.

Meanwhile, Reina quietly studied Drai, not buying his flimsy excuses at all. She knew the young man was hiding things from her.

In the end, Reina decided not to force a confession out of Drai. Even though she had only known him for a very short time, she could sense his genuine nature.

Seeing as his host seemed to have shelved her inquisitiveness, Drai resumed his previous inquiry, asking, "What about Professor Ravi? Did he also disappear without trace?"

Drai felt that if this was really the case, there was a possibility that Ravi had gone into complete hiding, since the professor was well aware that he was being specifically targeted.

Alas, Reina’s grim reply instantly crushed all hope.

"I’m afraid not. Many eyewitnesses reported that Ravismus was captured and taken away by the Order upon their retreat, along with hundreds of students."

***