Sora took a sip of the tea that was served to him before he straightened his back to look at the emperor in front of him again. Even though he had been welcomed to sit and have tea, a lingering tense atmosphere was still there, showing that a serious matter was the purpose of this meeting.
"I guess you are already aware as to why you have been called here abruptly, Mr. Orion."
The silence was popped down by the emperor first without any hint of conveying another topic to lighten up the mood, but it was unambiguous.
"I am aware, Your Majesty. You wouldn't let the Crown Princess directly escort me into His Majesty's office over something trivial. I suppose this topic might be a sensitive one among the citizens now due to the increasing number of incidents in this month only. I wouldn't be surprised if I were one of your suspects on the list."
The cold face of Asteric remained the same, but Sora could see a subtle turn of the emperor's lips upwards.
"It will be easier for you to discuss this among us, and I wouldn't say that your conjecture was a falsification. First and foremost, do you remember when you met the Crown Princess before this?"
Sora raised his eyebrows at the sudden turn of phrase. He spared a glance at the Crown Princess, who sat next to the emperor. There are only three of them in this office right now.
"I'd rather say no, Your Majesty. I have no recollection of meeting Her Highness before today. Is there anything that led you to think otherwise?"
Asteric gave a faint glance at Helenis before the girl spoke.
"Perhaps you would remember if I mentioned the person you saved when the first incident occurred?"
Sora pursed his lips before replying to the event. He heard a sudden, loud sound when he was shopping with Michael, and then he went there to check. There is a blond woman who was helping the others before he saved her from the incoming attack from the perpetrator.
'Oh!'
"You are the lady I saved, Your Highness?"
Helenis smiled.
"It is, and I am grateful for your assistance in helping me and handling the man. I could not express my gratitude more for you saving my life."
"That was just an impulsive action from me to help people in need. I am just grateful that you are safe from harm, Your Highness."
'Shit, she must recognize Michael too if she could even remember my face in that short amount of time. I even called him by his name. They must have investigated the fabricated story about our family by now. They must have known about him being the special exam student since the emperor's secretary had met him.'
Sora needed to calm down. He can get this over with some twisting of his words. He has done it many times before; now it would be easier.
Let's just say Michael was a nickname his family used to call his younger brother before because apparently his parents had a different opinion regarding what to name him. Yes, yes, that will do.
Sora nodded imaginatively over his high-level imagination.
"Please convey my appreciation towards your brother and friend too."
He focused back on the princess. He smiled, hiding all the turmoil he felt right now.
"Of course, Your Highness. He would be very happy if he heard this."
"I would want to invite him to our meeting today; however, it seemed like he was currently busy enrolling in the academy."
The emperor spoke now. Sora diverted his attention to the emperor. The emperor did not hide his intention at all since he mentioned Shuu Orion. Hearing this, he knew the imperial family had investigated everything about him and didn't try to conceal it.
"That's true. He just enrolled in the academy this year through a taxing process, but I must say he was very adamant about enrolling after years of being bedridden. I am actually glad he managed to find his will to continue to pursue his dream after all that has happened to him."
He smiled with his eyes closed, showing them the mask of a loving and supportive older brother.
"My condolences over your brother's condition. I express my contentment over your brother's recovery."
This was too off-topic. He thought he came here just to lie about how he handled the aura outburst, but now they were more invested in his faux family.
"However, may I know the identity of your friend who was with your brother that day?"
His smile froze for a moment.
'Leviathan! How could I forget about him?'
He needed to handle this too. With his voluble tongue, he told another story to these two imperial family members. He answered every question without stuttering and managed to get away from being suspicious.
"You have quite a bond with your friend."
"I guess that is the case, Your Highness."
Leviathan will pay for this. He needed to wreck his brain just to fabricate a story for that vampire. He didn't know how a serious conversation turned into a story about his artificial history.
"We have deviated from our main topic. I apologize for asking too much of your past, Mr. Orion."
"It was not something you should apologize for, Your Majesty. I am actually content sharing my story with someone such as yours, which I didn't expect to hear considering I am just your mere citizen. Meeting you today was already an honour in my state, as was sitting and drinking tea with you, Your Majesty. Please ask away anything that was on your mind."
'So that I can leave here as fast as I can.'
Finally, the topic regarding the aura outburst has emerged. By telling them about how he is a hunter who has not been in service for years and has experience handling the aura outburst, he managed to convince the emperor, just subtly, because he knew the emperor was iffy over his story.
He told them he knocked the man out with his knowledge by pressing the man's pressure point, which he learned by himself. He also told them that he could detect an aura outburst since he had travelled before to other countries and stumbled upon aura records.
He left the palace in the evening with an exhausted brain. He must investigate the imperial family right away and the incident four years ago.
×××××
"I've got something to tell you, kiddo."
Leviathan suddenly showed up in his room through the opened balcony window, which was already becoming a routine for them. He glanced once at the man before he immersed himself back into reading.
"What is it?"
"Sora has told me your task."
Hearing that, Michael closed his book to pay full attention to what Leviathan wanted to convey.
"Tell me."
"Remember the aura outburst before?"
Michael nodded.
"What about it?"
"That incident has occurred many times since then. It seems the incident is someone's venture."
"He wants me to find the perpetrator."
He frowned; that could mean the perpetrator was in this academy, and the aura outburst incident might have occurred here.
'This is bad.'
"Is there any lead as to who they might be?"
Among the students or the professors? It might be the workers too, who could have an easy excess in every corner of this academy. However, the principal could have been aware of someone like that, right?
'The principal is an aura user too.'
It could be that the perpetrator was not even an aura user. Now, he needed to know how the incident occurred and how the perpetrator forcefully made someone suffer an aura outburst.
"Not yet. He said he would investigate outside while you did it inside. He would tell me if he found something. He wanted you to know to be cautious."
Michael pursed his lips. There is one more problem.
"How do I want to prevent an aura outburst? He never taught me that."
Leviathan pulled something from the bag he brought with him. There is a roll of fabric. Once Leviathan opened the roll, he could see several pockets in it, each filled with a syringe that contained a blue fury liquid. There are ten of them.
"Using this to stop the aura outburst."
He pulled out one syringe to inspect the liquid. Sora always has multiple unknown liquids with him. Is his hobby experimenting? Could that world traveller have once wanted to be a scientist?
Michael shrugged, not out of concern.
"I just need to get close to them and insert this liquid to stop the aura outburst."
It was a hassle to think of handling someone like that. It felt like he needed to handle someone who was having a mental breakdown and was using their physical strength to avoid everyone.
He just hoped it would not be frequent.
"What is he doing now?"
"He was called to the palace yesterday."
His fingers stopped fiddling with the syringe.
"The imperial family investigates the incident. It looks like the crown princess remembered our faces and names."
Michael clicked his tongue. He should be more careful when addressing Leviathan when they are outside. Sora also needed to stop calling him Michael; however, he is sure that guy managed to slip away with his lie.
"Ignore it. Let Sora handle the outside."
Michael put the syringe back in the pocket before he rolled back the fabric and put it into the hidden compartment under his desk. He will need to bring at least one with him every day as a precaution. He also cannot let anyone find out about this matter.
"Are you not going to tell them?"
Michael glanced at Leviathan.
"No."
Michael climbed back onto the bed before he put down the night lamp. He pulled up the blanket and closed his eyes, ignoring the gaze of Leviathan, who had many questions to ask.
"Tsk, so cold. Good night."