章 31: Forward [10]
*Fwosh!*
Looking at the man lighting a cigarette, which was one of the few luxuries that Jared allowed himself during the weekends, Ms. Valentine waited for him to ask whatever questions he had.
Underneath the night sky right outside of the station, the cool night air calmed both of them down a bit, which was needed after their interactions with a certain young man.
"So... what exactly happened?"
"We found Ray not too far away from the city center in one of the backstreets with three unconscious men spread out on the ground. They didn't suffer any life-threatening trauma, but their injuries were quite severe. One of them even had a fracture in their cranium. Anyway, after that Ray followed us without complaints and is now claiming that it was self-defense."
"Hmm... then it probably was."
"Excuse me?"
"I said, if he claims that it is self-defense, then it probably was."
A brow was raised on the beautiful woman's face and her already sharp eyes narrowed as she had a hard time fully understanding what Mr. Folm was telling her.
"Self-defense? Sir, all of the men were completely unconscious! One of them was bleeding profusely from their head which had been smashed into the ground! You will have to excuse me, but I have a seriously hard time believing that a second or third year at AH would need to go so far to deal with some street thugs."
Releasing a white trail of smoke into the air, Jared claimed a second of silence before answering.
"He is a freshman."
"...he is what?"
"Are you doing this on purpose? Anyway, he is just a freshman who has only been at the academy for one week."
"That... is absurd, isn't it? How is it that a freshman would have the balls to fight with random people on the streets before even finishing a single term? Even if he is strong, you still need a lot of experience before feeling comfortable with a situation like that. Is he part of some large family or something?"
"As I said before, his surname is Flowers."
"...never heard of it. Flowers, huh? Is it a strong family?"
Taking yet another drag on his cigarette, Mr. Folm looked into the sharp eyes of the purple-haired woman.
"I've never heard of them either. The reason being that they aren't a major family, nor is it a family that serves any of the major families. Ray is just a normal civilian who managed to get accepted into AH."
"Then, why isn't he afraid of the repercussions? I could understand it if the genius from the Damaris family did something like this, as it would be near impossible to expel her due to her family's influence, but a normal commoner? He must be shaking in his boots right now."
"Did it look like he was scared to you?"
Shocked at the unexpected question, Ms. Valentine stopped for a moment while pondering. Then, she shook her head, making her short purple hair flutter a bit.
"No. He didn't look scared at all. But... that's weird, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is indeed very strange. Yet, after having only known him for a week, I am not that surprised. In his head, he probably thought nothing of it, he was simply teaching some thugs a lesson. To him, violence is a part of life."
"Haaa... So? What will you do with him? At this point, if he is a student at AH, we have lost the authority to punish him before the academy makes an official statement."
"I will take him back to the academy."
"...and? You won't expel him? Not even a temporary suspension?"
Turning his gaze up at the night sky, Mr. Folm didn't seem all too troubled by the policewoman's questions.
"Ms. Valentine."
"Yes?"
"Have you heard of the young man named Cerus Hale?"
"... I have. A genius from the Hale family whose talent is said to rival that of Hero Hale from the past, as well as someone who is supposed to be able to allow the family to regain its former glory. Why?"
"And have you heard of Zoe Damaris?"
"Of course I have. A once-in-a-lifetime prodigy who is carrying the heavy legacy of the Damaris. Together they are the new hope of Abas. Why are you asking me this?"
"Because what if I told you that there might be another student who rivaled these two in terms of talent?"
"I would say that it is quite a bold statement if I were to believe the rumors about those two. Not just because it is statistically very unlikely to happen, but because there is no way someone like that would be able to go unnoticed. It would go against the agreement of collecting talent across the nations."
"That makes sense and I thought so too at first. But then... what if such an individual hadn't lived in either Abas, Jonum, or Servini?"
"Are you telling me that Ray is from Laktom?! Then how in the world did he manage to get to Abas?! They have complete control of their borders!"
"I'm not telling you anything, I'm just saying that it's a possibility."
Both of them now stood in silence while looking at the masses of people who still roamed the streets of Abas at night. In the end, it was Ms. Valentine who broke the silence.
"Laktom, huh? I haven't been there since I attended AH myself."
With smoke blowing out of his mouth, Mr. Folm smiled a bit.
"You were quite the bookworm back then, weren't you?"
"I wasn't a bookworm! I just like reading books. There is nothing wrong with that! Also, even if you are my old teacher, that has nothing to do with you, does it?
"I guess that's true. But you were also a very diligent student and I truly appreciate that."
"...thank you."
Thanks to the lights shining out from the police office, Jared could see her cheeks getting a bit red but she was too old to have a more extreme reaction to simply flatter.
"Anyway, I'll be bringing Ray with me to the academy and talk to him about the matter in person. Thank you for your service, Officer Valentine."
"Understood."
****
[Ray's POV]
Both me and Mr. Folm were quiet while he drove us in his black car back to the academy, a drive that felt much longer than it actually was. Peering out through the window, my eyes were enjoying the sight of the streetlamps passing by, each one working together to ensure the safety of the cars on the highway.
After some time, however, my teacher opened his mouth.
"So, what are you? A moron or an imbecile?"
"That's a bit rude. don't you think? I already told you that it was self-defense."
"Self-defense, huh? Did you honestly feel that threatened by those punks?"
"No. But they brought it on themselves."
Still keeping my gaze on the outside world, I didn't feel even an ounce of shame for what I had done. No matter what, they had been the perpetrators and I had been the victim, after all.
"Tch! You sent three guys to the hospital and you say that they were the ones at fault? Don't get me wrong, I am not saying it was a bad thing that you defended yourself, but couldn't you have exercised some moderation?"
"Probably not. Because I don't really know how to."
"You... don't know how to hold back? What about when you sparred against Celine then?"
His words made me finally turn my head and look at him, as I had to see what kind of expression he was currently making. Yet, I only found a man whose face was blank.
It was a difficult question to answer, as there was no doubt that from the outside, it must've looked like I wasn't giving it my all due to my hands being stuck in my pockets. In reality, that wasn't even close to being true.
However, it wasn't like I could just tell him the full truth either. Because wouldn't that be even more suspicious? That someone who didn't know how to fight had gotten admitted to the Academy of Heroes which was prestigious enough to make a policewoman lose her temper just because she didn't believe me?
Therefore, I decided to simply hold my tongue.
"Not gonna answer, huh? Doesn't help your case much, does it?"
"That's fine with me."
"Oh, is that so? Then what about the repercussions that you might be facing for using violence against civilians? Don't you think you should at least try to be a bit more reasonable about all of this to make things a bit easier for yourself?"
"Reasonable, you say? Maybe I am a bit unreasonable, but there's nothing I can do about it. I can only act per my personal beliefs and if there are consequences, then I'll simply have to accept that."
These were my honest thoughts about the matter. I wasn't smart enough to live a life of careful consideration anyway, so in the end, I could only do things that I thought and felt were correct. Even if I knew that it was a bit stupid to fight some random thugs in the street, I still felt like it was correct at that moment. Because they were the ones who picked a fight, and that was a good opportunity for me to test myself a bit.
My teacher, however, didn't show any reaction to my sentiment, only repeating what he had already told me earlier.
"Tch! Cocky brat..."
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