Seed of Titan-Chapter 212: Everyone Fooling No One

Sol gulped in trepidation. He could ignore the pain in his shoulder but not the impending consequences of his rashness. His mind raced as he sought a way out of this situation.

"General," Sol eventually spoke up, "Luna’s—I mean Ellie’s hypnosis didn’t work against Private Drai, so we had to resort to using my skills to force out a confession. It turned out that he couldn’t stand the process and seemed to have attempted to fight back or escape by activating that aura skill of his."

"Are you saying the suppression ring caused this mess?" Alancho questioned as he glanced at Drai’s bloody face again, along with the thick metal collar right below it.

"Yes, though I don’t know what had actually happened for him to bleed like that. There might’ve been a mishap with the collar’s mechanism, or perhaps Private Drai had an adverse reaction to the stimuli."

Sol knew that if Drai ever regained clarity, he would definitely try to expose this made-up excuse. Since Sol suspected that Drai had somehow sustained irreversible neurological damage, he was rather optimistic about his chances. Besides, even if Drai did recover, Sol believed a suspected insurgent’s words would still hold less weight compared to his and Luna’s—that was if they played their cards right.

Unfortunately, Luna seemed unable to play along, as she was faintly trembling with a visibly pale face. Always being on the questioning side hadn’t prepared her for being on the receiving end of pressure.

With his honed senses, Alancho of course noticed this. Yet, instead of questioning the distressed lady, he briefly recalled his late wife and emanated a flash of deep sorrow.

Responding to his abrupt emotion, another figure stepped into the room. Upon seeing who it was, Sol’s heart instantly sank.

"So, was that what really happened here?" Alancho asked again without heeding the newcomer.

"...No," Sol replied weakly before going limp, but Alancho’s strong grip prevented him from slumping to the floor. Then, Alancho unlocked Drai’s collar with his free hand and secured it on Sol’s neck.

Turning to Luna, he ordered, "Hand him to the guards outside for detainment and write a detailed report of what had really happened here."

Luna wanted to sigh in relief, but the pressure coming from Alancho was too much, so instead, she frantically nodded back before hypnotizing Sol for convenience and walking his dazed self out.

"I never liked that Jonah guy. He always projects a really funky taste," Ailem mentioned as she walked to Alancho’s side.

"What kind of funky taste?" Alancho curiously asked, his passing fit of sorrow had faded completely.

"If I have to picture it, maybe like a sweat-drenched sock dipped in soy sauce? Not that I ever tried such a culinary wonder myself, of course."

"...No wonder you dislike him," Alancho remarked, his eyes still glued on the unmoving Drai.

Glancing at the seemingly impassive general, Ailem said, "So you noticed too?"

"Yes. He regained consciousness the moment I questioned the sock guy. I don’t know why he kept up the pretense, but I decided to play along."

With a chuckle, Drai opened his eyes.

"Sorry, Uncle. I didn’t want to ruin the show, you know? I think you called Captain Ailem too early—you could’ve fished a lot more interesting lies from that hypocrite."

With a much warmer tone, Alancho said, "If I had a lot of spare time, then I might have. But I’m currently pressed to deal with my colonels who let all this happen. Not only did they accuse you, they also detained Ailem. Luckily, she hadn’t been subjected to the same treatment as yours, perhaps because she’s one of my closest aides despite her rank."

"They probably feared that I’d retaliate by revealing any of their misplaced feelings that might jeopardize their positions," Ailem shrugged. She then took out a handkerchief and wiped off the blood from Drai’s face while asking, "So, was it Jonah who caused this?"

"That Sol guy? Yeah, he practically plunged my head into hellfire. What an asshole," Drai grumbled as he recalled the agonizing experience.

"Surely he didn’t do it for no reason?" Ailem inquired while removing the last bit of blood from Drai’s chin.

"Well, the guy got mad when I mentioned he was an idiot because he couldn’t tell that I’ve been speaking only the truth the entire time."

Hearing this, Ailem let out an amused snort. Meanwhile, Alancho shook his head in disbelief, though based on his smile, he clearly found Drai’s ill-timed bluntness funny too.

Putting her soiled handkerchief away, Ailem finally released Drai from the chair. Looking at his healthy complexion, she muttered, "You must’ve recovered so quickly because of your ’good genes’..."

Her words startled Drai, who immediately guessed that Frost must have mentioned in the preliminary report the exact phrase that Drai had used back in the field to keep his healing skill a secret.

Sensing his emotion, Ailem merely smiled, whereas Alancho said, "Don’t worry, Drai. Not only you, most other people also prefer to keep their abilities to themselves. Even I have plenty of skills that I’ve never spoken about to anyone else."

Drai sighed in relief. He was still extremely reluctant to reveal his essence-related skills, especially since Bio Drain worked on humans. And if by revealing it he would be forced to reveal how he obtained the skill too, he could end up creating a lot more people capable of draining essence, which was something he dreaded since any of them could potentially discard their conscience for a rapid increase of power. After all, not everyone loved toiling themselves like he did.

The three of them then moved to the other room and sat by the table.

"Truthfully, I can’t bring myself to think that you’re part of the insurgents or had a hand in today’s events," Alancho said, his face a lot more serious now. "But before we can let you return to your squad, there are questions that you must answer honestly."

Drai couldn’t help but feel a bit nervous since he had a few other things aside from his essence-related skills that he’d rather keep to himself, but having no choice in the matter, he could only nod back.

"First, how did you get hold of that pendant of yours?" Alancho began asking.

"My friend, Christo, gave it to me the night when the academy was attacked. I’m sure you’ve heard about him from Nat."

Hearing Drai’s last remark, Alancho smirked and said, "You’re mistaken. It’s Natalia who first heard about him from me before she joined Soluna Academy."

"Oh, my bad," Drai replied as he recalled the things Natalia told him after VV’s first gathering. Among them was one that mentioned her negative feelings toward Christo was due to the information she got from her father’s circle.

’I guess technically Uncle Alancho is part of his own circle, but from the way Nat said it, I thought it was someone else who informed her about Christo. Was that not the case? Or did Uncle Alancho informed her after she had already gotten the info she mentioned?’ Drai pondered.

"Even without Ailem here, I know that you’re not lying," Alancho added. "Because of your pendant, my faction’s suspicion is almost confirmed."

"Is it related to Christo being royalty?" Drai asked since he clearly remembered what Sol had mentioned earlier regarding Christo’s peculiar circumstances.

"Forgive me, Drai, but I cannot divulge the details. However, I hope you can distance yourself from Christo from now on."

"Eh? Why?" Drai blurted. Although he hadn’t actually kept in touch with Christo since his roommate went dark, being literally told to keep away from one of his best friends bothered him a lot.

"His circumstances are complicated. If you associate yourself with him too far, you might land yourself in trouble that even I can’t easily handle. I’ve also instructed Natalia earlier to inform this to your other friends," Alancho explained.

Drai went silent briefly before he eventually replied, "Alright, I’ll try."

"Good. If things don’t actually go as expected, you can ignore my words and return to being buddies," Alancho said with a reassuring smile.

Sitting beside him, Ailem remained quiet despite knowing that Drai’s reply just now was insincere. She thought this matter was best kept to herself, not only because it was rather trivial, but also because it was unlikely that Drai would change his stance even if she revealed his lie. Basically, Ailem didn’t want to potentially incur Drai’s displeasure for nothing.

"Next question, did Christo ever speak about anything regarding his background or have you noticed any peculiarities related to him that might hint at bigger and more severe matters than those related to the academy?"

Drai paused to think before answering, "I don’t really get what you mean by the ’matters’ you mentioned, but I haven’t really noticed any peculiarities about him aside from him having a powerful old guard and being so secretive about his family and whatnot. But he did tell me the gist of his circumstances the night of the invasion. He said his family was powerful but couldn’t freely use their power, and he was given some kind of burden by them, which he didn’t really want since his true passion is adventuring."

Alancho’s brows furrowed as he listened to the last part. He then asked, "That old guard of his, what do you know about him?"

"His name is Liam. He uses a rapier and is hella strong. He also doesn’t talk much even to Christo. That’s all."

"Anything else Christo mentioned that night?"

"Well, he said the pendant was a good luck charm and I should always keep it with me. What else... Oh, right—he told me to warn my parents about strangers, but I didn’t manage to do that before I got sent away to the wilderness by Zar."

Alancho frowned, seemingly concerned about something. For the first time since they talked, he glanced at Ailem, wanting to get her verdict. And upon seeing that Ailem gave him a tiny nod, his brows narrowed even further.

Shortly after, Alancho asked, "Is that all?"

"Yep, I think so."

Just then, Ailem cleared her throat and shook her head slightly, causing Alancho to look straight into Drai’s eyes.

"Ah, there’s also his book!" Drai blurted in response while his eyes looked around the room, refusing to clash against the general’s scorching gaze.