Distorted World: Rise Of The Black One - Volume 2 Chapter 88 48
“Take a seat”
Cornelia said pouring three cups of tea
The two respectfully bow before sitting down on the sofa
“Now, you’re probably wandering what I’ve called you here…”
Cornelia handed the cups of tea to the two
(As: Elise’s mom, principal Cornelia one of the greatest witches known to man with a rumored threat level bordering S class, she’s a generation eight mage and once blew up half a continent with fire)
(As: that particular event was called: “the fall of ash” because starting in fall 234 NYC the ash clouds left by that initial blast covered nearly all of the continent named Zarshia (the continent bordering Argos, on which union city resides))
(As: Elise once showed me a recording of that ash storm from above which was taken by another mage, by measuring the diameter of Ziost through that footage (which is 38226 kilometers) And comparing it relatively to the storm I determined that the storm’s diameter is roughly 2470 kilometers)
(As: to produce a storm of this magnitude she would need to have a kinetic force over 280 petatons (it’s a real unit) of tnt, this singular event alone made her one of the most feared mages around the world)
(As: Elise told me from her recollection of that time that her mother took three days to stock pile enough magic power to achieved this feat, but that means that her mom has enough magicol to rival 93 petatons of tnt daily, I’m beginning to understand what Elise meant when she told me not to piss her off)
Asher thought invoking a primal fear within himself
(As: she is an existence who’s capabilities far exceeded whatever I’ve faced before the presence that I’m seeing right now is the equivalent of a talking nuke Arsenal)
“Hello I am Cornelia von Crestia but you already know that already considering our previous meeting”
Cornelia greeted Asher, sitting down on the opposite sofa
“As: ahh yes, we meet again I have heard a lot about you from Elise”
Asher greeted her back
“As did I, from what I heard Elise thinks very highly of you, you should be honored”
Cornelia said displaying her pride
“E: that’s enough, although I would prefer to properly introduce you two myself the situation right now is too urgent”
Elise said completely serious unlike her usual carefree attitude
“Yes I quite agree, let’s not beat around the bush”
Cornelia crossed her legs
She puts out an air of absolute authority and class making Elise somewhat nervous which is pretty rare for her, but she’s also getting an unfazed reaction from Asher (externally at least)
(E: I really hate it when she’s like this)
a sweat trickles down Elises’ neck
(As: this atmosphere is unbearable, I can choke on it if I’m not careful)
(As: I can tell just from her stature that she’s appraising me, her eyes are closed and she seems relaxed but the air of experience she exudes saids otherwise)
“You can probably already tell but we’re in trouble right now”
Cornelia began explaining, her hand gently swirling the teacup with a spoon
(As: oh, and I almost forgot, she’s 124 years old)
Asher thought trying to get his attention off the teacup
“Two hours ago Avalon’s seismic activity began to act up erratically”
“We tried to stabilise it but something is blocking our attempts”
“As: I don’t like where this is going…”
Asher used magic to direct the sound vectors solely to Elise’s ears, his lips didn’t even move while he said this
(As: through my years of fighting to seek revenge few things can even faze me, but this woman…these kinds of women scare me)
Asher’s mind was churning instinctively planning for the worst case scenario while his stone heart remains silent causing a calming effect on Asher’s psyche
“E: me neither, but just hear what she says, if we play it smart enough we could get something out of this”
Elise replied
“For multiple reasons we suspect that we have a rogue spy on our hands, who’s perpetrating these events”
Cornelia explained, her eyes opened filled with a glint of intention
“E: why is that so?”
Elise asked respectfully
“The teachers and staff here are the only ones capable of interfering with Avalon’s seismic actions have been specifically chosen for their loyalty and commitment, they also went through serious psychological evaluation before being given their positions so it cannot be them”
“We can also rule out the citizens because none of them knew about the seismic control center of Avalon and anyone who knows about it is bound by “contractus” so the secrecy is preserved”
“So, this means…”
(As: there it is…)
Just as he suspected Asher sighed
“E: a student is the only possible suspect”
Elise said, scratching her chin also having the similar sense of annoyance as Asher
“As: which unfortunately…includes us”
Asher concluded
(As: I really don’t want to be here…)
Asher frowned (or at least attempted to) thinking about all the unsavory possibilities that’s opening up to him
“Precisely, even though it’s rare some students have learned of the existence of the seismic control center through various exploits”
“We didn’t really payed mind at first but now that an incident like this has happened we cannot turn a blind eye any longer”
“And I hate to say it, but since you’re aware of the existence of the center, you too are a possible suspect”
(As: so that means…)
(As: it’s her fault!)
Asher looked at Elise angrily causing her to scratch her head and turn away smiling nervously
(As: why did I have to be so curious!?)
Asher then turned to cursing his own curiosity
“As: so are we under arrest or something?”
Asher said carefully considering his options
“Oh no, nothing like that, I know full well that Elise didn’t do it and since she’s so fond of you I trust that you have no reason to do this either, I mean…what would you even gained from doing this”
Cornelia reassured the worried Asher
(As: phew…so Elise ended saving me in the end, what a relief)
Asher silently gave Elise a sign of approval (AKA: a thumbs up)
Elise winked back at him
“But having said that I do have one request”
Cornelia said
(As: oh no…)
All the relief Asher just had was shattered again
“I will have you two and your so called “coalition” personally look into this”
“E: pffft!!! Wait what!? Why?”
Elise almost spit out her tea, the move her mom just made completely caught her off guard
“Although you are free of being suspected responsible for this incident, I do know for a fact that another incident was directly caused by you”
Cornelia explained her eyes shined in disapproval
“E: you mean?”
Elise had an idea of what her mother was talking about
“Yep, the mysterious sinkhole incident five months ago…”
(As: what!? I thought we covered that up perfectly? We even quadruple checked it every week to make sure no leads would tie us to that)
“I’ll admit, collapsing the celling on them was a smart way to farm experience and materials but your actions have caused multiple problems”
“For starters the beginner dungeon is now unusable and the monsters stored there have been running wild on the surface”
“And not only that the damage you caused will take an exponential amount of resources to fix”
“So, I’m having you investigate this to atone for your actions in the past”
Cornelia smirked having checkmated both Asher and Elise
(E: We’ve underestimated her, she was waiting for the perfect moment to ensnare us into taking on this case, I’ve should have expected this from our last conversation, since we’re students having us solve this is ridiculously less costly than expending the other facilities of Avalon)
(As: she’s using this as an excuse to personally evaluate our abilities while making sure that the coalition stays firmly under her thumb, she’s trying to force us into becoming her personal task force, since the staffs and teachers are too preoccupied to do the dirty work themselves and since the perpetrators are students we have a highest chance of catching them off guard)
Asher and Elise looked at each other for a minute then they sighed admitting their defeat
“But of course nothing is free so I am giving you a reward for this”
Cornelia said
“E: oh really…what now?”
Elise asked exasperated
“If you do this I will give you two enough money to do whatever research you like for the next month”
Cornelia declared
“As&E: what!?”
The two of them gasped
Money has always been an issue for Asher and Elise personally because both of them have a tendency to experiment with magic above their grade (this is why they work together so well) so the materials they’ll have to use is much much more expensive then what the other first years usually buy, monster hunting is still an option but after that “sinkhole” incident mass murdering monsters AND avoiding suspicion is beyond hard and frankly it’s just not very practical anymore
“Yep so…are you interested?”
Cornelia finalized her trap
Elise and Asher looked at each other and “uhh” and “eh” were heard, they knew full well the disadvantages of being beholden to the principal but finally they came to a decision
“E: we’ll do it”
Elise said with determination
“Very good, I’m expecting a lot from you”
Cornelia said
Asher and Elise than left the room after bidding farewell to Cornelia
