Chapter 16: Rowan Starlight
It didn't take that long for Kayn and Natas to reach the faculty building.
As he was someone that all teachers pay a lot of attention to due to his status as one of the brightest stars of their school, Kayn was easily able to gain access to the list of every single student of Starlight Hero Academy after briefly exchanging some pleasantries to the teachers he met along the way.
"I guess being famous has its own merits," Natas can't help but admire how easy it was for Kayn to get access to the student's list. If it was any other ordinary student, there's no doubt that they'd be stuck at this first obstacle and be unable to move any farther.
"Isn't that a given? Even inside the 'Tower', there is this thing called 'Fame'. As long as your 'Fame' is high enough, it would be easy for you to move around in every territory," Kayn smiled in response.
After a few minutes, Kayn was finally able to find the list of names for the students that starts with the letter 'R'.
Without wasting any more time, Kayn opened the list and quickly looked up every student with the name Rowan.
"Rowan Dela Cruz…"
"Rowan Rodriguez…"
"Rowan…"
"Rowan…"
"Rowan…"
Kayn started reading all the students with the name Rowan while waiting for Natas to tell him to stop.
"Rowan Sam…"
"Rowan Smith…"
"Rowan Starlight…"
"That's the one!" Natas quickly interrupted Kayn.
"Rowan Starlight?" Kayn turned to look at Natas in doubt. "Are you sure?"
"A hundred percent!" Natas nodded his head with certainty.
"Let's take a look first," Kayn put the list he was holding on the side as he started searching for all files related to Rowan Starlight in another drawer.
Knowing the name of their target further made the search quicker and easier for Kayn.
"Here!" Kayn smacked a folder with a bunch of files inside on the table before swiftly opening its content and spreading it all over the place to specifically look for what they needed — Rowan Starlight's picture.
Shortly after, Kayn and Natas were eventually able to find what they were searching for.
Looking at the image of a young man with red-colored hair and a single earring on his right ear, Kayn finally confirmed that Natas was correct.
"We have our guy," Kayn looked at Natas with a smile. "Now let's clean up all this mess to make it look as if we weren't here from the beginning before we start searching for Rowan Starlight,"
…..
After secretly asking around the campus for tens of minutes, Kayn and Natas finally have some clues as to where Rowan Starlight is at right this very moment. And apparently, Carlos and his goons are also making their way towards that place.
Along the way, Natas can't help but asked Kayn in curiosity, "I forgot to ask you about this since we were preoccupied with something else a moment ago, but what's up with this Rowan Starlight guy? Why does he have the same family name as the school? And why is he a subject of immense bullying?"
"Hmmm… Rowan Starlight…" Kayn paused for a brief moment to arrange the thoughts in his head. "You could say that he is the same as Carlos but had chosen a completely opposite path to that of what Carlos decided to walk,"
"Despite being one of the children of the influential Starlight Family of the Dragon Beast Republic, Rowan Starlight wasn't born with talent, not literally. In all honesty, his talent is actually still commendable. Unfortunately, it just didn't meet the Starlight Family's standards. He was weak compared to all his brothers, sisters, and peers who belonged in the same family as him; thus, he was pushed aside by everyone in his household."
"But contrary to Carlos who gave in to the pressure of his family and developed an inferiority complex. Rowan Starlight, on the other hand, decided to give up on his family instead, and ended up secluding himself from the rest of the students of Starlight Hero Academy,"
"Quite a daring young man," Natas commented.
"Indeed," Kayn agreed. "However, because Rowan Starlight chose a completely opposite path to Carlos who experienced the same fate as the former, the latter decided to force Rowan Starlight to walk the same path as him, describing it as birds of the same feathers should flock together in order to protect each other's back,"
"Sounds fair to me," Although he doesn't like Carlos' character, Natas still thought that the former was correct. When animals gather together to form a group, especially those animals labeled as prey, regardless of them still being weak, no predators would easily or casually try to hunt them down as they fear getting outnumbered and ending up reversing the status quo. This kind of logic has already been proven effective numerous times in the law of the jungle. So, the idea that Carlos had proposed to Rowan Starlight wasn't all that bad, at all.
"Not likely," Kayn shook his head. "When Carlos expressed that opinion to Rowan Starlight, the latter sneered at him and insulted him by calling him a small-minded person. Saying that he is weak and afraid, and someone who can't walk independently and without relying on his family,"
"I guess, it's a matter of perspective," Natas was easily able to understand the point of view of both parties.
Kayn didn't mind Natas interrupting him as he just continued with his story, "Everyone admired Rowan Starlight for his belief and principle after that. But in the end, that small fiasco of Carlos only lasted a short period of time. After being insulted in public, Carlos swore to destroy Rowan Starlight's life one way or another,"
"From then on, not a single day passes without Rowan Starlight getting humiliated and receiving Carlos' all-out bullying. And because there's no one in his family who cares about Rowan Starlight, hence no one bothered to stop Carlos, which just further added even more fuel to Carlos' ego and goal of burning the former down to ashes,"
"It seems like it was Rowan Starlight that brought such trouble to himself," Natas expressed his thoughts after hearing Kayn's story about Rowan Starlight.
"Well, who am I to judge?" Kayn decided to stay neutral on Rowan Starlight and Carlos' problem. After all, both sides have their own fair share of mistakes, so there's no telling for certain who is really at fault. "By the way, just from the fact alone that Rowan belongs to the Starlight Family, I could already guess to some extent the reason why it became one of the dark secrets of Starlight Hero Academy. But what exactly happened?"
"I honestly don't know," Natas was also clueless about the event that happened to Rowan Starlight. "That brother of mine didn't tell me about it, saying that it's much better to have as few people knowing about it because his incarnation doesn't want to constantly remember about what happened,"
"I guess it was devastating and painful for him," Kayn understood the likely reason.
"Probably,"
A few moments later, Kayn and Natas finally reached their destination — the Technological Building of Starlight Hero Academy, which is located at the very edge of the campus and in a secluded spot, as it wasn't as important as the other departments. Despite that though, sufficient funds seemed to still be flowing enough into the development of the Technological Building since everything around it looks new and up to the latest trends of technological development and changes happening all over the world.
Unlike the other buildings of Starlight Hero Academy, the Technological Building reflects quite evidently the meaning behind the word 'Technology'. To describe it simply, it looks high-end and high-tech. Almost every single area they looked at, they could see some sort of gadget or technology. For instance, motion detector sensors, holographic images, and dozens of automated stuff. There were even robots roaming around that acted as the staff that maintain everything around the place.
However, one thing was unique about it; the Technological Building is a very quiet and inconspicuous place, that's probably why Rowan Starlight choose this as his secret hideout, and why the news of what happened in this place never became widespread on the campus as it could be easily suppressed by the Starlight Family.
The reason why Kayn and Natas were easily able to confirm it is the Technological Building when they were out searching for clues about the location of Rowan Starlight a while ago was that almost everyone knows the latter likes gadgets and technology. Above all, his power is also related to this matter. So, if there is anything that Rowan Starlight could use to cause something bad to happen, it's probably found at this place.
Moreover, the movement pattern of Carlos and his goons also seems to lead to this place, which is highly unlikely for him as he was never the type of person that prefers to spend time with the sort of stuff found in the Technological Building.
"I believe that we are in the right place since it's strangely tranquil out here," Kayn muttered. Although classes have long already started, which could explain why it is quiet out here, weirdly enough there are actually no students nor even teachers, or Human beings in general, to be found walking outside the Technological Building. It almost felt like this place has been abandoned.
"I don't know what exactly is happening right now, but we still have less than four hours left before anything goes wrong in this place. So, let's take advantage of that opportunity to make some preparations," Natas proposed to Kayn.
"Okay, so what's your plan?" Kayn readily agreed to Natas.
"Since no one can see me, I'll scout the inside of the Technological Building first in order to provide you with relevant intel afterward, that we both can use to deal with what will come later on. In the process, I'll try to locate Rowan Starlight if possible, and Carlos and his goons as well, that is if they are already inside,"
"I understand. Meanwhile, I'll secure us all the possible escape routes that we could use to get away from here after solving the problem with Rowan Starlight,"
"Sounds good to me,"
"Let's meet again at this location three hours later. Let's move out!"
In the next moment, both Kayn and Natas immediately went into separate ways to take care of their own responsibilities.