Unforeseen Circumstances

Lord Kaiser knocked on Atsuo’s door to get him for lunch.

Atsuo took his time opening the door, yawning.

“…What…?” he asked sleepily.

“We’re going for lunch. Let’s go” Lord Kaiser said, motioning him to follow.

“Huh? Already?” Atsuo groaned, “let’s go a little later…”

“I’m afraid that’s not an option…” Lord Kaiser said grimly, “lock your door and let’s get going.”

Atsuo looked at his slightly worrisome expression and changed his attitude.

“…Did something happen?” he asked seriously.

“I’ll fill you in later…” Lord Kaiser responded, glancing at Eskasa and Rivia, “let’s go.”

Atsuo no longer argued but wondered what happened instead as he followed his friends to the cafeteria.

They entered the hall, but not without people staring and whispering to their friends again.

It seemed as if the story of what happened earlier spread among all the Minae students and some were clearly not happy about it.

But to do something about it would mean going up against Lord Kaiser, Eskasa, and Crod, which really demotivated a lot of the students out of taking action.

It was a regular lunch that did not let the group of friends enjoy their food to the fullest due to occasional scathing stares from other students.

There was one close call with Lord Kaiser when some student could not stop glaring at him, but everything was quickly settled once he got a good look in Lord Kaiser’s eyes.

The rest of their meal after that went smoothly.

The same could be said about the dinner later that same day. Even though the stares were still present, the group of friends were getting used to it little by little.

As long as they did not openly scorn Atsuo, the friends were willing to let it slide.

After their dinner, they spent the rest of their evening discussing the lessons with Arete they were going to have tomorrow.

To them it seemed as if it was going to cover something abstract and potentially useless, however none of them knew the actual truth behind Drezore’s renown.

As such, they were going into tomorrow blindly, just like most of the students who were given the chance to take part.

The offer was extended to not only the people occupying the podium, but individuals obtaining vast and limitless potentials during Arete’s trial.

Like Lodre said, there were around twenty students preparing to take part besides the group of friends.

Without discussing much the friends agreed to leave it up to their imagination as they went to their own rooms and prepared to sleep for the important day.

Before Atsuo went to get a good night’s sleep, Lord Kaiser stopped by his room to tell him something.

Atsuo opened the door to find him, drenched in cold sweat and visibly disturbed

“I just saw a Red Dreig down the hallway…” he said concernedly, quickly shutting and locking the door behind himself.

Atsuo was speechless as he stared at the perturbed Lord Kaiser.

“…Are you sure?” he asked uneasily.

“Yes,” Lord Kaiser said, “…make it so that I was hallucinating…”

He motioned Atsuo to hurry up as he side-eyed the door nervously.

“What if you were seeing things?” Atsuo said.

Lord Kaiser nodded thankfully.

“Can you check?” he asked Atsuo.

“You were the one who saw it…” Atsuo responded, astonished from his sudden denseness.

“…Right…” Lord Kaiser gulped, walking to the door.

He gave Atsuo a disturbed look, before slowly opening the door and peeking down the hall.

A few seconds passed when Lord Kaiser hastily shut the door again.

“It’s near my room…” he said anxiously, looking at Atsuo.

“It didn’t disappear?” Atsuo asked in disbelief.

Lord Kaiser shook his head grimly.

“…I think it’s a hallucination now…” Atsuo said, to which Lord Kaiser frowned, “At least it’s harmless… probably…”

“…Can I just sleep here?” Lord Kaiser asked.

Atsuo taken aback, looked back at his small bed.

“We’re not sharing the bed…” Atsuo said seriously.

“Take the chair…” Lord Kaiser said, getting on Atsuo’s bed.

As soon as Atsuo was about to voice his discontent, they heard a knock on the door.

Atsuo quietly came to the door, glancing back at Lord Kaiser.

His eyes widened, he slowly opened it, staring through the small crack.

Behind the door was a young woman Atsuo recognized to be the waitress from their first ever time at the Minae cafeteria. Except this time, she wore a butler’s outfit with a letter in hand.

Atsuo eased the door open, greeting her and wondering about the reason for the late visit.

“Good evening,” she bowed, “I have a letter for–”

She stopped at the sight of Lord Kaiser on Atsuo’s bed.

“…Forgive me for the interruption…” she said while blushing.

She quickly put the letter in Atsuo’s hand, bowed, and closed the door behind her.

Atsuo looked at Lord Kaiser in disbelief, who had his jaw dropped.

“…Hurry… tell her…” Lord Kaiser said with a depressed look on his face.

Atsuo opened the door and ran out into the hallway, but the woman was already gone.

He turned to Lord Kaiser dejectedly, to which he deeply exhaled.

“…I’m going to my room…” Lord Kaiser said miserably, getting up from the bed, ready to leave.

“Wait!” Atsuo said, closing the door behind him, “Look at the letter…”

Lord Kaiser gave the letter a wretched glance.

___________________________________________________________

To Atsuo and Lord Kaiser of Brimor

From D, at Vilne Station

___________________________________________________________

Lord Kaiser flinched, looking at Atsuo.

A certain individual instantly came to mind.

“Deimos?” they asked simultaneously, followed by nodding.

“…Open it…” Lord Kaiser said hesitantly.

Atsuo heeded and opened the envelope. Inside was a brief letter with messy writing that reflected a sense of urgency.

“It seems he was in a bit of a hurry…” Atsuo noted, unfolding the letter.

“That can’t be good…” Lord Kaiser said uneasily, “let’s hope it’s his normal handwriting...”

They started reading the contents and were dumbfounded about just how much more severe the situation really was.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

This is not a congratulations letter.

You have to get out.

I am wanted across Rozair because they still can’t find Veto.

Every search conducted in your absence went up in smoke.

They’re already making connections between Veto and the both of you, because of the messages received in Themis.

It won’t be long before they figure out that you’re in Taigoren by my orders.

From their eyes it would be seen as a means of escape.

You need to get out of there, but not suddenly. Obviously at night. Give it a day, but no later than after tomorrow.

Keep this matter secret. Do not get others involved.

- D. from Vilne Station

P.S. I heard the both of you have obtained limitless potential, do not, I repeat, DO NOT sign the IAP. Find me at Uverd after you escape.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Atsuo and Lord Kaiser took a few seconds to process what they have just read, before turning to get each other’s opinion.

“Doesn’t seem like he’s joking…” Atsuo said seriously.

“It would be a fucked-up thing to joke about…” Lord Kaiser said, “…we can only guess how long the letter was getting here, which raises some concerns…”

“So what, you want to leave today?” Atsuo asked.

“No. We’ll wait until tomorrow midnight just in case–” Lord Kaiser cut himself off, remembering something, “…I forgot, just use your ability.”

“What if it didn’t take long for the letter to arrive?” Atsuo said expectantly.

“Okay,” Lord Kaiser nodded, straightening up, “we’re leaving tomorrow, midnight.”

Atsuo agreed and Lord Kaiser went back to his room, surprisingly in a slightly better mood than before, despite the sudden circumstances.

Strangely, Atsuo did not think much of the letter. It seems that everything he has been through up to this point has conditioned him to such an extent that he stopped worrying, remaining composed.

He turned off the lamp on the nightstand and went to sleep.