Inkgrit was certainly surprised to hear the question. Her blank face could not escape Aizen's attention. Aizen knew that he had hit that mark. Usually, when asked about origins, most people would answer quickly and casually.
Aizen thought he would go a little further into the mystery that should be related to the organization. But contrary to what he had imagined, the look on Inkgrit's face suddenly turned melancholic.
"I...
"Coming from a faraway place. A place where all unpleasant experiences occur. But now, I'm happy to be with you here."
"I'm not asking anything of the sort. I'm asking where you're from. What nation? City? Village? What family are you from? Who are you?" Aizen spouted a barrage of questions at once. Inkgrit's answer did not explain her origins and why the girl said this world and the other world.
Inkgrit was neither surprised nor flinched by Aizen's question. She was still staring at the wine in the wooden glass while shaking it gently.
"I have no parents. I was born an orphan. And my origin is a place far different from this world."
Inkgrit then put down the wine and leaned her face slightly forward, looking into Aizen's eyes.
"When the time comes, I will tell you and others about my world. For now, let's be friends for a long time." Inkgrit said while smiling with her eyes closed. For a moment, she looked elegant and beautiful, with her hair loose from the breeze blowing in from the window of the room.
Aizen understood Inkgrit's expression of gratitude. But that wasn't what he wanted to hear. He stood abruptly from his seat and approached Inkgrit immediately, grabbing both of her shoulders slightly tight.
"Spectre? Brotherhood of Spectre? The arms dealers?"
Aizen blurted out words that he hoped Inkgrit would react to hearing that. But, Inkgrit did react, not in the way he expected. On top of that, Aizen's loud voice surprised Milo and Nathan, who were slightly drunk.
"Ah! It hurts. Take your hand off my shoulder!" Inkgrit said while struggling to free herself from Aizen's grasp.
"Aizen, what's wrong? What happened to you?" Milo chimed in while quickly approaching Aizen and Inkgrit. He tried to understand the situation and separated the two.
"Big brother, why are you so loud?" Nathan also joined in and drew closer to Inkgrit and Aizen.
"Could you please let me go?"
"I don't know what you are saying and what you mean. Didn't I say that I would tell you about myself later? Why are you asking something I don't understand?"
Aizen became confused, and his face went blank. Milo and Nathan managed to let go of his grip, which had no strength anymore.
'Did I make a mistake? Does Inkgrit have nothing to do with the Brotherhood of Spectre? So, where did the weapons technologies provided by the arms dealer come from?
'Are there any other engineers besides Inkgrit? It could be. But this doesn't explain why Inkgrit disappeared when the school was a bit chaotic when the first war started.'
As Aizen sank into his thoughts, his heart suddenly tightened. He felt pressure as well as killing intent from outside the room even for a moment.
He then glanced at the entrance sharply and seriously. He slowed his breathing and concentrated on his eyes, ears, and nose. His three senses increased his focus significantly, and guessed who was near the room.
There was none other than Kurusu. The room on the left and right was empty. While outside, no one was hanging around and passing by.
He clicked his tongue and released killing intent like he had done to Inkgrit the first time they met. He wanted to provoke the person who had released the killing intent just now.
But unexpectedly, Inkgrit, with the other two in the room, also felt the pressure from his killing intent. The three were feeling a terrible horror that made the hairs on their necks stand up and cold sweat run down their backs.
"W-Why are you like that?"
"A-Are you annoyed that I d-didn't answer your question?"
"B-Big brother!?"
The three of them trembled until their legs went limp. They could fall to their knees at any moment.
Suddenly, the door to the room opened, and Aizen saw Kurusu, with his cold demeanor, giving a stern, piercing glance toward him.
"Remove your killing intent. Otherwise, I will not hesitate to separate your head from your body even if you are a friend of His Imperial Highness."
However, Aizen didn't immediately shake off his killing intent. He kept his psychological state in check as he glared back at Kurusu.
Kurusu wasn't joking with his words. He slowly walked up to Aizen.
Nathan swallowed his saliva, thinking that the feud would break out if he didn't do anything. But with what power? His body trembled, and his throat felt like something was blocking the words out.
Aizen was dumbfounded. He felt nothing when Kurusu got closer. However, he could feel the seriousness of Nathan's servant to kill him for causing the fourth prince to tremble in fear.
'I'm sure my feelings are not wrong. The killing intent that made my heart tighten was real. It's not just a fantasy.'
Aizen placed greater faith in his senses than in the theory he gleaned from thinking, as it was the one that honed the most during the Omni War. He had never questioned his senses even once despite being doubted by all the living beings in the Azure Realm.
On the other hand, he also knew to be rational. He immediately dispelled his killing intent before the situation escalated and spiraled out of control. Even though he couldn't confirm whether Inkgrit was related or not despite she didn't comprehend what he said before. At least he knew that Nathan's servant certainly knew about the Brotherhood of Spectre. Or maybe there was some connection between them if he was lucky.
"I'm sorry. I just momentarily felt that someone was about to kill me, so I accidentally released the killing intent as well in self-defense." Aizen said as he threw his hands in the air and smiled a little, looking at Kurusu.
Kurusu still didn't stop his steps and continued walking leisurely, approaching Aizen. His eyes showed emptiness, but with a profound face to kill Aizen. His movements could be seen with the naked eye but were nimble and calm.
As soon as the distance between Kurusu and Aizen was less than one meter, Nathan shouted to stop his servant.
"Stop! Go back to where you were. Everything is fine now."
But Kurusu didn't stop and started moving his hands gracefully but surely. Two hands quickly aimed for Aizen's head.
"I said stop! Otherwise, I will report you to the Second Eldest Brother later!"
With Nathan's shout, Kurusu stopped just before his hands wrapped around Aizen's head.
Kurusu then straightened his posture. He turned around, walked towards the entrance, exited the venue, and closed the door.
'Ha! What did I get? That was a deadly and precise move. That steward is a powerful assassin, without a doubt. If that brat had been a bit late in shouting about the second prince, I would have been seriously injured even though I wouldn't have died.'
Aizen knew his current limits, and it was impossible to win against such an assassin.
"I'm sorry. It seems like the celebration mood was spoiled by me. I'd better say goodbye here. Let's continue after the competition festival is over. Next time, let me treat you all."
Aizen then excused himself. Having said that, Milo, Nathan, and Inkgrit couldn't say anything else and stopped what he was doing.
Inkgrit felt guilty and thought that it was her fault. 'Should I be honest with them about where I come from? But why is that a problem and a question from Aizen?' She didn't know what to do and decided to talk more about it later.
Meanwhile, as Aizen opened the door to the room and exited, he stopped briefly in front of Kurusu.
"Behave naturally as a servant serving his master. If you find it difficult to comply with the fourth prince's wishes, it will make someone like me suspect of ulterior motives on your part as a bodyguard."
Kurusu didn't answer and just glanced at Aizen briefly and then stared ahead as if Aizen's presence wasn't there at all.
Aizen didn't mind and chuckled while walking home. The fact that Kurusu know about the organization or be related already made his chances of approaching the arms dealer even more likely.
The rest was slowly digging for information while restoring the full power of his Supreme Knight. Because annihilating the Brotherhood of Spectre meant the Omni War would not happen.
--- ---
The next day, the competition festival event was still as cheerful and lively as the previous day.
In the betting section, students were increasingly busy even though the odds were not much different. That was because the Knight Division was a bit difficult to predict with the presence of the dark horse, Aizen.
But not for Ayduin. He knew Aizen would win and was ready to bet when the match started. Whatever the profit, the important thing was to get more money.