231 231: The meeting
“That woman sure had one hell of a temper. I felt like I would be burned alive just back there. Lucky that I had the system to protect me.”
Alexander breathed a sigh of relief as he broke free of the illusion he had been trapped in. But it was not a mere illusion he had to face this time.
He felt like his life was in danger back then. One wrong move and he would have become a toast because of the danger he put himself into.
‘So lucky that I managed to get out without any trouble.’
Alexander had always had a stroke of luck in the most dangerous situations and this one was no different.
“I should contact Aurora and inform her of what happened. She did ask me to keep her up to date.”
Alexander opened his system tab to contract Aurora but the tab under her name showed up as blank. It was not that she was not online, but there was no connection to her possible at all.
It should only have been possible if Aurora was dead but Alexander could not believe that she had just died out of the blue.
[Everyone, meet me in the central room. It is important to report as soon as you can.]
The sender was Rex. The message had no pre-text of what it was about but Alexander had a feeling he knew what it was about.
“What kind of trouble did you end up causing Aurora? I hope it’s not something too big.”
Alexander had a plan of his own but he would not put it above a friend’s safety. So that was why he sighed and packed up his things. He had to go back now.
The room only had a limited number of people inside. But the most prominent person in the room was the scared tower professor.
Alexander had half a mind to look into his memories to know what had happened but he controlled himself.
The truth of why they had been gathered here would be revealed soon.
“I would like to welcome you all here but this is not an occasion worth celebrating. I will be blunt with you about what happened here and what I saw.”
Ava was the one heading the meeting. Alexander had never seen her this serious before but he could not take her mood at face value.
The female gave him the creeps. There was something unnatural and fake about her every move but she was loyal to Aurora enough for Alexander to not say anything.
“It might come as a shock to most of you but Lady Mei is dead. I presume that she was killed by an unknown organization in the south and Lady Seraphina went mad. Those same people also managed to get a hold of Aurora.”
“You ask us to believe this nonsense? Lady Mei is a goddess. There is no way she was just killed like that. Did you do something to her and are now making up excuses for your fault? where did you lock Lady Mei?”
The maid that had come with the tower’s representative looked mad with grief. Alexander would have had a similar time being in disbelief if he had not heard Aurora tell him about the overlooker’s death.
If a zoodiac could die then so could a goddess. They were humans, to begin with, and even Aurora had a lot of moments where she was vulnerable.
If the tower was not willing to believe it then it was their problem. The Rocx academy had done its job in ensuring that the information reached the right party.
“You are free to believe what you want to, but we already informed your higher-ups of what happened. We have no more responsibility to bear.”
Rex was relentless in speaking. The tower’s representative looked pissed off at being made a fool out of but he hesitated before doing anything.
He was a lowly henchman and even he had heard about what kind of monsters people of the Rocx academy were.
“S-Still, you don’t think you can get away with doing all this? Lady Mei was a goddess and she was invaluable to the tower and -“
“Her death is regretful. But Mei was a goddess in the end. I doubt there was much these people could have done if our opponent was even able to kill off a goddess.”
All senses in Alexander’s body told him to not turn back and face that expressionless face. The power oozing off the elder body behind him made Alaxender tense up.
And he was not the only one who looked surprised to see Lady Minerva enter the fold. The tower’s representative seemed just as much lost as everyone else.
“Lady Minerva, I thank you for responding to my letter and coming here as soon as possible. Are you here alone?”
The elder goddess nodded as she took a seat in the only vacant chair inside the room. Her mere presence seemed to have changed the atmosphere of the room a lot.
The tower’s representative looked like he did not know where to look at. Lady Minerva’s glare aimed at him also forced him to not respond.
“I felt Mei’s death happen so I did not delay in coming here. I also know that the child Aurora is missing. And so is Seraphina since her presence over her domain is thin. It does not look like things are well for your side.”
Lady Minerva was a sharp woman. Alender had never seen someone catch up on the situation so fast.
Moreover, her calm attitude of listening to them out instead of accusing them outright was also very different from the tower.
One had to wonder how the tower became the place it was currently with such a person in charge. It just did not seem right to think that.
“It was regretful that Mei died but I did notice something weird when I reached that cave. There was a weird energy in the cave that made me feel faint. It was blocking my powers from working properly so I was not able to save her body.”
Alexander did not know why he felt like Ava was lying about something. She had a weird tone to her voice that put him on edge.
He should not doubt his ally but he could not help like he was missing something right now.
“I see. It is regretful that this happened but we cannot do anything about it. So, where is her core? Did you manage to find it?”
Lady Minerva did not beat around the bush when she asked that question. She looked straight at Ava when she asked it as well.
Whether she was able to know if Ava lied to her or not was none of Alexander’s business. He just wanted more information.
“It was not there. Whosoever managed to off Mei managed to get her core as well. And we all know who would be the one to benefit most from this mess.”
Minerva had a thinking face before she stood up.
“Alright, the tower will cooperate in this raid on the south. But only because we cannot allow Mei’s core to stay in those traitors’ hands. Once we are done with this deal, let’s never see each other again.”
Lady Minerva had a really cold face and voice. It was a wonder how Ava didn’t even flinch when she faced that look.
Instead, she had a soft smile on her face as she faced Lady Minerva’s hard eyes.
“Of course. We should head out tomorrow for our rescue mission then. As much as I want to wait, I and Aurora did have a contract to help each other out. I don’t want to break it and face a backlash.”
‘Oh, I am sure it is much more than that. Aurora refuses to see what a snake you are and you are taking advantage of it.’
Alexander knew that Ava was not good for their group but he still kept her around just because Aurora wanted her to be around.
But he would not make the mistake of trusting her too much. That mistake would get him killed off quite easily.
“Fine, we will cooperate for now. But I hope that you know what this means. I don’t trust you and you should not trust me either.”
Minerva left the scene and the tower’s representative followed behind her. Ava had a hard smile on her face that concealed the boredom she felt.
“Ava, don’t send away a potential alley for us. Can you not behave yourself for a few minutes?”
Rex asked, his eyes pulled high up as he tried to alleviate his headache. It must be difficult for him to deal with Ava without Aurora around.
“Sorry, I slipped up. If that is all then I will go and find Rita. I am sure that child is having a hard time right now.”
The overlooker left the room as well but not before she shared a sly look with Alexander which gave him the chills.
‘She’s planning something and I don’t like it.’
Alexander hated sticky situations the most and now he could not help but be caught in one.