Chapter 52: Masterpiece Of Deception
"Please, we need your fingerprints to confirm your identity." Zion stopped the family of three, gesturing to the device in his colleague’s hand. His tone was professional but left absolutely no room for negotiation, the overwhelming weight of his SSS-Rank aura quietly suppressing any thoughts of resistance.
"Huh? Why?" The woman asked in surprise, her eyes darting nervously to the heavily armed Association guards forming an impenetrable perimeter.
"You know what happened a while back, we are still searching for the culprit, your assistance will be greatly appreciated." He said, his gaze flat, devoid of any genuine empathy for the terrified civilians trapped in his dragnet.
"Al... Alright."
The woman walked towards the colleague, her hands trembling slightly under the intense scrutiny, and placed her thumb on the glowing glass of the scanning device.
[DING!]
[Name: Kirby Gavin.]
[Age: 28.]
[Gender: Female.]
[Hometown: Vaeloria Country. Silverspire.]
[Class: Unawakened.]
"Thank you for your cooperation... Please, next." Zion said, immediately dismissing her existence the moment the system confirmed she wasn’t a threat, as she removed her finger. Her husband stepped forward, placing himself protectively between the guards and his family, and placed his finger on the screen.
[DING!]
[Name: Gavin Stone.]
[Age: 35.]
[Gender: Male.]
[Hometown: Vaeloria Country. Sunreach City.]
[Class: Awakened. E-Rank.]
’E-Rank, his rank is too low.’ He thought, analyzing the man’s meager spirit energy with a dismissive glance, and moved to the side, clearing their path.
"There is no need for your daughter to confirm her identity, please be careful on the way." He said, upholding the Association’s strict protocol.
"Thank you." Gavin nodded, wiping a bead of sweat from his forehead, and helped his family out of the fair, eager to escape the suffocating presence of the high-tiers.
’Luckily the people left inside aren’t many, we will be done in an hour.’ He thought, running the calculations in his head, and paused, staring at the two people walking towards them. His eyes lingered on the lady for some seconds, genuinely stunned by the sight before him.
’Can someone be this beautiful?’ He thought, momentarily forgetting his grim duty, stopping the two as they approached the checkpoint.
"Please, we need you to confirm your identity."
"Sure." Asher nodded his head smoothly, exuding an aura of complete calm, and gestured to Kelly: "This is my wife."
He made sure to add the word, "Wife" because he noticed Zion’s gaze was on Kelly. It was a subtle but firm establishment of boundaries; Asher was no longer a man who backed down or hid in the shadows, not even from an SSS-Rank Association Captain.
"Alright... Please." Zion gestured to the device, recovering his professional composure.
[DING!]
[Name: Asher Aetheldawn.]
[Age: 20.]
[Gender: Male.]
[Hometown: Vaeloria Country. Silverspire.]
[Class: Awakened. B-RANK.]
’B-Rank, he is strong, but not strong enough to face an SSS-RANK.’ He thought, definitively ruling the young man out as a suspect for the catastrophic battle that had just leveled half the fairground, and turned to Kelly.
"Please..."
"I don’t want to!" Kelly snapped, violently flinching away and hiding behind Asher, her body visibly trembling in fear as she clutched his jacket.
"....?!"
Zion, the guards, and others present were completely dumbfounded by the sudden, intense outburst.
"I am sorry, my wife has some mental trauma... But no worries, she can still do it." Asher said softly, playing the role of the patient, weary husband to absolute perfection.
"No... No need." Zion shook his head, raising a hand to stop them.
’Such a beauty... It’s bad. Besides, I can’t sense any trace of spirit energy in her.’ He secretly scanned her body with his energy, a highly intrusive technique, and after confirming she wasn’t hiding her strength or using any concealment abilities, he made way, waving them through the blockade.
Asher nodded, and gently held Kelly’s shoulders, shielding her from their stares, and slowly walked out of the Fair, slipping right through the Association’s supposedly airtight net.
___
On a rooftop overlooking the exit, Marianne stared at them with a slight frown, the wind whipping at her coat, watching as the two got into a taxi and drove away into the neon-lit city.
"How did he change his family name? I thought he was Asher Starfire?" She brought out her phone, her thumb flying across the screen as she bypassed public networks and entered the restricted, high-security list of noble families, searching the family or clan known as Aetheldawn.
[Warning...]
[You are not qualified to view information from this family.]
"....?!!!"
Marianne was stunned. Her eyes widened as she stared at the glowing red text on her screen. As one of the strongest Guild Masters in Vaeloria, she had A-Rank security privileges, but still, she couldn’t see any information about this new family?
’I am confused, does this family has SSS-Rank security? Is he a son of a powerful family who got lost when he was a child?’ She sighed, her mind spinning with political conspiracies and hidden bloodlines.
’I have to investigate this, and that woman beside him, that should be Kelly...’ She turned to the direction of the battle, a small frown appearing on her face as she realized the boy they had all written off as garbage might be tied to something ancient and untouchable.
___
[In the Taxi.]
"Fufufu, that was so fun." Kelly said with a laugh, the trembling victim act vanishing the instant the taxi doors locked, replaced by her radiant, confident smirk.
"Yeah, I didn’t know you are good at acting." Asher said with a smile, genuinely impressed by her terrifyingly quick adaptation.
"I’m good at many things, besides; Your plan is perfect!" She said, turning to face him, the adrenaline of outsmarting the Association still rushing through her veins.
"Well..."
__
[Half an Hour ago.]
Asher stood in the crowd, staring at the line leading to the exit checkpoint, he exhaled softly, analyzing all possible variables and outcomes.
"Okay, this is the plan."
"What plan? You are a B-Rank, there is no way they’ll suspect you." Kelly pointed out, applying basic Awakened logic to the situation.
"No, I am still registered under the Starfire family, if they see my family, they will suspect me... Not only that, a lot of people can recognize you as my wife, and my wife isn’t cured yet." He explained, acutely aware that the Starfire name was a beacon for trouble.
"So you want to register our family name right now, and you want me to pretend?"
"Yup, that’s my plan... There is only one Asher Starfire, but there are many Ashers in the world."
Kelly thought about his words, her brilliant mind quickly assessing the risk factors. He does have a point; although the Starfire family are strong, they aren’t clean... The Association also has eyes on them, monitoring their illegal expansions. If they noticed one of that family’s descendants was present when the incident happened, they won’t stop and arrest him, but they will make him a suspect just for leverage.
She, on the other hand, will only add to the problem. There must be people around who knew her situation; if they noticed she was cured, suspicion will grow, rumors would spread to their enemies, and it’ll lead to more headaches.
In short, Asher’s plan was the best course to take.
"Alright then, I can do it... But how can you register a family name? You might have money, but you don’t have any reputation." She challenged, knowing that legally establishing a recognized Awakened or Business family required deep political connections and months of bureaucratic processing.
"Leave that to me."
Asher brought out his phone, and started tapping random words to look busy, but his mind was already communicating with the omnipotent entity bound to his soul.
’System, I want to register my family name... Family name: Aetheldawn.’
{Registering... 10%...50%...80%....100%.}
{Congratulations, Names Registered, and Family has been upgraded into one of the five Ancient Families.}
’What??!!!’ Asher was stunned speechless, his breath hitching in his throat. His System hadn’t just bypassed a server firewall; it had retroactively rewritten the world’s geopolitical databases and history to place his new family at the absolute pinnacle of human society.