Chapter 30: Discussion [3]
The same people who had been nodding along with his explanation a few moments ago were now looking at him like he was part of the problem.
Alden’s expression went flat.
"Roselle." He kept his voice even. "I already told you I have visual prowess."
"That’s not enough." She shook her head, and her voice stayed reasonable in a way that made it harder to argue against. "Mana Eyes have limits. Everyone knows that. There’s no ability that lets someone see through an entire academy and locate a specific person. You’re describing something that doesn’t exist."
’Then how exactly am I supposed to explain Insight to you.’ He clenched his jaw. ’Or Soul Rendering. Or any of it.’
He couldn’t. That was the whole problem.
The voices around the room kept coming.
"He’s not answering."
"How does he know so much if he’s not involved?"
"He found the Core bearer when nobody else could."
"Isn’t that suspicious?"
"Maybe he’s been playing us this whole time."
The words piled on each other and Alden stopped hearing them as individual voices and started hearing them as a single thing — the same thing he’d been hearing since the first evening he’d woken up in this world with someone else’s handprint on his cheek.
’Again.’
His breathing slowed.
’No matter what I do. No matter what I actually do. I’m still the easiest person in the room to blame.’
He’d stood in the entrance of that courtyard and not moved while they rushed at him. He’d gotten three groups of first-years to safety while they whispered behind his back. He’d guarded that lecture hall until Leon arrived. He’d gone underground into a fight with an S-Rank dragon with two people who’d barely looked at him before that day.
And here he was. Same room and same eyes.
"Alden is safe."
The room turned.
Leon stood up from where he’d been sitting.
"He’s not the intruder."
Roselle looked at him. "How can you say that with confidence, Leon?"
"I don’t have something I can put on the table, Sis." Leon met her eyes directly. "But I was with him during the incident. I watched him protect the injured students. I watched him guard the lecture hall. I watched him fight that dragon while he was already bleeding." His expression didn’t waver. "What I saw doesn’t match what you’re describing."
"Watching someone do good things during a crisis doesn’t make them innocent," Roselle said. "People can do both."
"I’m not saying it proves everything." Leon shook his head. "I’m saying what I personally witnessed doesn’t match your accusation. That matters."
"I agree with Leon."
Legion stepped up beside him, bandages still wrapped across his shoulder and arm, clearly running on less than full capacity.
"We should be tracking the real intruder right now instead of turning on the person who found Claire." He looked at Nathan directly. "Accusing Alden is a waste of time we don’t have."
Alden looked at both of them standing in front of him, defending him.
’...You two.’
The anger in his chest eased for a second. Just a second.
"You’re both wasting everyone’s time." Nathan’s voice cut through it.
He looked at Leon and Legion with the flat impatience of someone who has already decided the conclusion. "Move aside. We’re questioning Alden."
Leon opened his mouth to speak, but just then, Alden put a hand on his shoulder.
Leon stopped and turned.
Alden shook his head. He looked back at Nathan.
"There’s no point arguing with people who already made up their minds."
The room went quiet.
"Apparently," he said, "having an empty head doesn’t stop someone from having a loud mouth."
Nobody moved.
Nathan’s chair scraped back hard.
"Watch your mouth."
Augustus raised one lazy hand. "Whoa. Calm down."
"This isn’t—"
"I know." Augustus leaned back. "That’s why I’m telling you not to make it worse."
Nicholas looked at Alden with eyes that had gone sharper without going angrier. "I understand you’re frustrated. But you shouldn’t have said that."
Alden looked at him for a moment.
"If you want to be taken seriously here, you need to hold your composure more than anyone else in this room. That’s just how it works."
Alden said nothing.
Then he exhaled.
"Maybe." He turned toward the exit.
"But I’m done wasting time. If nobody here wants to believe me—" he started walking— "I’ll find proof myself."
A hand landed on his shoulder. The grip was hard on him.
"Don’t you think it’s rude to walk away while someone’s speaking to you?"
Alden stopped and turned his head slowly.
Daniel stood behind him, hand still planted on his shoulder.
"I don’t like people touching my shoulder." Alden grabbed the hand and removed it.
Daniel’s face twisted. "You think I was asking?"
He stepped forward.
"I’m telling you to stay put." His arm came out again.
[DING!]
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
[Prediction Activated]
Incoming Attack — Target: Head
Direction: Rear
Time to Impact: 2.7 seconds
Accuracy: 97%
━━━━━━━━━━━━━━
Daniel’s fist was already moving.
Alden tilted his head left by about three centimeters and the fist went through empty air beside his ear.
Before Daniel’s arm had finished its arc, Alden caught the wrist.
His fingers closed around it.
Daniel froze. "What—"
Alden pulled him in one clean motion. Daniel’s feet left the ground. His entire body went upside down, suspended by one forearm, head pointing at the floor.
Their eyes met at an angle that wasn’t meant to be comfortable.
Alden’s eyes caught the light differently for just a moment, a flicker of red that came and went before Daniel could be sure he’d seen it.
But he felt it.
’N-not this again...’
The same thing from the dormitory. The same void, the same pressure, the same message his body sent to every part of him simultaneously before his brain had finished processing anything.
Run!
Daniel’s face went the color of old paper.
Alden’s expression didn’t change.
"Get off me."
He pushed the arm forward.
BOOM.
Daniel hit the floor. The tiles under him cracked from the impact and he stayed down for a second, hands coming up to his head, a sound escaping him that had no dignity in it.
"ALDEN!" Nicholas was already moving. "Stop this—"
Nathan’s mana surged.
"Alden!" His voice filled the room. "You just assaulted a student directly in front of the Discipline Committee. Do you actually think you can hit someone in this room and walk away from it?!"
He pointed at Daniel.
Roselle stepped slightly between them. "Nathan, slow down—"
"I’m not slowing down—"
"He attacked me." Alden’s voice was flat.
"For your kind information." His eyes moved to Nathan. "I was walking toward the exit. He grabbed my shoulder. When I removed his hand he grabbed me again and threw a punch at the back of my head."
He pointed at Daniel, who was still getting up.
"What I did was defend myself."
Nobody spoke.
"So explain something to me." Alden took one step forward. "Why are you standing there going after the person who defended himself, instead of asking why someone threw a punch from behind in the middle of a Student Council meeting?"
Still silence, nobody opened their mouths.
"Or is that how the Discipline Committee operates?" His voice dropped a level. "Someone attacks first, and the person who’s still standing is automatically at fault?"
Nathan’s jaw locked.
"You—"
"That’s enough." Nicholas stepped in. "Alden. I get it. But provoking him further doesn’t help you. Please apologize."
Alden looked at him.
"I’m being accused of causing a disaster I tried to stop. I’m being questioned for knowing things that helped everyone in this room. And now I’m supposed to apologize because someone came at the back of my head and I moved out of the way." He let out a slow breath. "I’m done pretending that’s reasonable."
Nathan’s mana flared.
It erupted from him in a visible surge of yellow light, filling the air around him, the temperature of the room shifting with the pressure of it.
"You’ve crossed every line there is." His eyes were hard. "If you won’t behave on your own, the Discipline Committee will make you."
Alden turned to face him fully.
And something unusual happened.
A faint darkness at the edges of his silhouette, like shadow that wasn’t responding to the light correctly. Then it spread. Black mana bled from him in slow curling threads, moving through the air like smoke from something that had been smoldering underneath for a long time.
The students closest to him stepped back before they’d decided to.
"What is that—" Roselle’s eyes went wide.
Seris let her eyes sharpen for just a moment.
Alden didn’t notice any of it. His focus had narrowed to one person and his fury had filled in everything else.
His eyes stayed on Nathan. Still crimson.
"Then come," he said quietly.
The dark aura thickened.
"Bring it on."
___________________