Aethelos: The Bastard of Light

The silence in the isolated corridor stretched for long seconds. Brock continued watching the three of them, waiting. · Lygar huffed, clearly irritated by the pressure. · “You know what?” he suddenly said. “I was the one who killed one of the soldiers. But it was self-defense. Now do something to help us. After all, you owe us one.” · Brock raised his eyebrows slightly. · “Self-defense? A decapitation, Lygar. And the other one… the body never turned up.” · “I already said it was only one of the soldiers,” Lygar replied, his voice sharp. “Don’t add extra deaths on me. And yes, it was a decapitation.” · Yana stepped forward, interrupting him. · “Professor, the truth is they were after me. I screamed for help…” · Brock turned his face toward her, surprised. · “After you? Why? The soldiers? Do soldiers usually do that to you?” · “Yes, professor,” Lygar cut in. “They’re prejudiced, as always.” · Yana shook her head and continued, calmer but firm: · “The truth is they said they needed someone with my abilities… At first, Eli tried to help me when I screamed for help. In the end, Lygar showed up to help us.” · Brock remained silent for several seconds, clearly processing the information. His eyes moved from one to the other. · “I’m going to believe you,” he said at last. “I feel like there are loose ends here… but I’ll believe you. The truth is those soldiers might have been terrorists themselves. And if that’s the case, that behavior… makes the social situation in the kingdom even worse. An invasion of the academy already scares the people. Now, an infiltration into the kingdom’s defense system is far more serious.” · Eli looked directly at him. · “Why are they doing this, professor? Why invade the academy… and, if you’re right, why infiltrate the country’s security? What’s the purpose?” · Brock held his gaze seriously. · “We don’t know yet, Eli. But that’s not your problem.” · Then he turned to Lygar. · “Lygar. Thank you for telling me the truth. However, your methods for helping Eli and Yana are clearly questionable.” · Lygar opened his mouth to reply, but Brock raised a hand, cutting him off. · “I don’t want any more discussion about this. Go live your lives. If anyone asks you questions, just say you were training to give your best for the kingdom. You may go.” · The three of them hesitated for a moment, then nodded and walked away down the corridor. · Later, Brock entered Joseph Ville Light’s office and closed the door behind him. He told him everything: Lygar’s confession, the pursuit of Yana, the possibility that the dead soldiers were themselves infiltrated terrorists. · Joseph listened in complete silence. When Brock finished, the director ran a hand over his face, clearly worried. · “Brock… if there are terrorists inside the defense service, what guarantees us they don’t exist in other areas of the kingdom?” · He looked him in the eyes. · “Don’t mention this to anyone, please. Keep it just between the two of us.” · Brock gave a tired, humorless smile. · “You’re doing this with all of us, aren’t you?” · Joseph frowned. · “What?” · “The same way you’re asking me to keep it only between the two of us… you must be doing the same with Lito, Kael, Ágata and the rest of the staff.” · Joseph didn’t deny it. He only looked away for a moment. · “Maybe… You can go, Brock.” · Brock walked to the door. Before leaving, he stopped and asked one last question without fully turning around: · “Joseph… are you going to expel the three students?” · The silence that followed was long. · Joseph still hadn’t answered when Brock left and closed the door behind him.