Chapter 6: Welcoming Ceremony [2]
[Stats reminders for readers]
━━━━━━━━━━
STATUS
━━━━━━━━━━
Name: Alden
Class: Undefined
Level: 3 — EXP: 750/1000
Power Combat: 3.0
Rank: F
Skill: Soul Rendering (SSS+ Rank)
━━━━━━━━━━
━━━━━━━━━━
Soul Rendering — 25%
━━━━━━━━━━
◆ Soul Extraction [Active]
◆ Soul Library [Active]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
??? [Locked]
━━━━━━━━━━
Soul Library
Species: Wolf — Fragments ×3
Blueprint Progress: 43%
✔ Keen Hearing [Equipped]
✔ Predator’s Instinct [Equipped]
??? [Requires 50%]
??? [Requires 100%]
━━━━━━━━━━
Chapter— 6
"Don’t let him run!"
"Grab him!"
"He doesn’t belong here!"
Dozens of students rushed at Alden from every direction. From the entrance, from the decoration stations they’d abandoned mid-task. Weapons drawn on some. Mana building on others.
Alden didn’t move. He watched them come.
"STOP."
Every student froze mid-step, some with their arms already extended, some with their mouths still open mid-shout.
At the academy entrance, an old man stood with a wooden staff.
He didn’t look like much. White-haired.
"Do not," he said calmly, "lay a hand on that boy."
The students looked at each other.
"...Who is he?"
"Why is he protecting that guy?"
"Is he related to him or something?"
The old man ignored all of it. He walked toward the stage with unhurried steps, staff clicking against the stone courtyard, and when he reached the center he turned and looked at the assembled academy.
"My name is Darius Thorne." A short pause.
"As of today, I am the newly appointed Headmaster of Astral Academy."
Then everyone processed it at once.
"WHAT?!"
"The new Headmaster?!"
Then they started bowing, students snapping forward from every direction, voices falling over each other in sudden formality.
"Welcome, Headmaster Thorne."
"We look forward to your guidance."
"It’s an honor—"
Darius nodded patiently. "Thank you. I intend to lead this academy with fairness and responsibility. I hope we can work together."
Alden watched from the side of the courtyard.
’And here he goes.’ He kept his face polite. ’Showing off.’
Before the atmosphere had even settled, one student stepped out of the crowd and pointed directly at Alden.
"Headmaster. You don’t know what kind of person he is. That student attempted to assault one of our own. He should be expelled immediately."
The crowd came back to life.
"That’s right! He shouldn’t even be standing here!"
"Kick him out already—"
Then movement from the far side.
Sierra appeared at the edge of the gathering. The moment her eyes found Alden she stumbled backward, her hands flying to Nicholas’s sleeve, her whole frame pulling behind him.
"N-Nico..." Her voice came out fragile. Barely holding. "He’s here. I’m scared."
Nicholas moved in front of her immediately.
"It’s okay. I won’t let anything happen to you."
Roselle stepped to Sierra’s other side, one arm around her shoulders, and looked toward Darius with steady eyes.
"Headmaster. This is the victim. Since the incident she hasn’t been able to sleep properly. She panics when she hears his name." Roselle’s grip on Sierra’s shoulder tightened slightly. "If someone like him is allowed to stay at this academy, what does that tell every other victim? Justice should protect the innocent. Not the people who destroy them."
Heads nodded through the crowd. Voices agreed.
Darius listened to all of it. Then he asked one question.
"Do you have proof?"
Roselle blinked. "...Pardon?"
"I asked if you have proof."
Nicholas stepped forward. "Headmaster — when I entered the room, Sierra was crying. She was terrified. Doesn’t that speak for itself?"
"I’m asking something specific," Darius said. "Did you personally witness Alden assault Sierra?"
Nicholas held the question for several seconds.
Then he lowered his head. "...No. I did not."
"So your conclusion was based on what you found afterward."
"...Yes. But, evidence isn’t always visible. Sometimes protecting someone means acting before proof exists."
Darius turned toward the crowd. "Then let me ask all of you something. If a person is found crying, does that automatically make the nearest person guilty?"
Nobody answered.
"No," he said. "It does not."
He folded his hands behind his back and walked slowly along the edge of the stage.
"A victim deserves to be heard. That is true. But so does the accused. When punishment is handed down without evidence, justice stops being justice. It becomes emotion with authority behind it."
Several students found something interesting to look at near their feet.
"A single accusation. A few tears. And every one of you had already reached a verdict. None of you asked for evidence. None of you questioned anything. You followed the crowd."
One student from the middle pushed forward, not ready to let go. "But Headmaster — Sierra has always been kind. She helps everyone, she’s respected, she’s never done anything wrong. Someone like her wouldn’t lie about something like this. Why would she?"
Darius looked at him.
"Why wouldn’t she?"
The student opened his mouth. Nothing came out.
"Having a good reputation does not make a person incapable of lying," Darius said. "Being kind does not make someone incapable of manipulation." He glanced briefly in Sierra’s direction.
"Every person has motives that others cannot see."
"I swear I didn’t," Sierra said through her tears. "I didn’t lie. And I don’t want to remember any of that—I’m scared."
Then the crowd broke again, louder this time.
"That’s insane!"
"He doesn’t even know Sierra, if she were his own family, he’d never be saying this!"
"Exactly! He’d be demanding punishment like the rest of us!"
Darius waited. He stood at the center of the stage while the shouting ran its course, watching the crowd with patience.
When the noise died down enough, he cleared his throat once.
"Ahem."
Silence returned.
"There appears to be one thing all of you are mistaken about."
He looked toward Sierra, but she avoided his eyes.
"She is not simply a student at this academy. She is my granddaughter."
"WHAT?!"
"Sierra is the Headmaster’s granddaughter?!"
"That can’t be—"
"He’s defending Alden even though the victim is his own family?!"
’She’s a fellow Thorne?’ Roselle thought, looking at Sierra. ’But why wouldn’t her own grandfather support her? Does he hates her or something?’
Every student who had confidently declared that Darius would never talk this way if it were someone close to him was now standing in the exact argument they had just made, looking at the exact situation they’d said would change everything.
And it hadn’t changed anything.
Darius was standing in the same spot, saying the same things.
Several students stopped making eye contact with each other.
The logic they’d been holding up had just fallen on top of them.
Alden watched it happen and said nothing.
Then, from somewhere at the far side of the crowd, the sound of two hands meeting.
Clap.
Clap.
The crowd parted, the way she moved made people step aside before they’d decided to.
She walked through the gap with her hands folded neatly in front of her. Long white hair, straight and even, moving slightly with each step. A special black academy uniform. Crimson eyes moving across the crowd.
A few whispers went through the students closest to her.
"She’s—"
"Don’t stare, the Vice President will notice."
A faint smile settled on her lips.
"Our new Headmaster has only just arrived," she said. "Continuing to argue in front of him would be disrespectful. It would also be unbecoming of Astral Academy’s students. I think we should welcome Headmaster Thorne properly first." A brief pause. "Everything else can be addressed afterward."
The tension didn’t disappear. But it stepped back.
"...I mean, she’s got a point."
"We can deal with this later."
"Yeah. Later."
One student directed one last glare at Alden before turning away. "This isn’t over," he said, to no one and everyone.
The crowd gradually dispersed back toward the decorations and the ceremony preparations, the energy of it deflating into uncomfortable compliance.
Alden watched the white-haired girl from where he stood.
’So this is how she makes her entrance.’
In his novel she’d appeared three Chapters later, in a completely different scene, and he’d written her entrance as something louder. He’d revised it twice and never been happy with it.
This was better.
Darius smiled. "I see there are students who actually understand and care about the academy’s reputation. Great job, Vice President. What is your name?"
"It is an honor to make a good first impression on the new Headmaster, and to receive your first compliment," she said, bowing elegantly with a sly smile.
She raised her head. "I’m..."
Alden’s eyes stayed on her.
Seris Ravenveil. Third-year student and Vice President of the Student Council.
One of three antagonists who, in the story he had written would eventually shake the entire world.