The SSS-rank Guide Doesn't Need Saving

”H-how did you know—”

”Are you sure it was her?” Ares didn’t allow him to continue his question and asked him instead.

Ser Julian scratched his beard and replied, ”We don’t hand over samples just to anyone. We make sure they belong to the academy and the right classroom that needs it for their lessons, so we need their student badge to check. Her name should still be in the records.”

Ares turned to look at Samanthe, who nodded after looking through the records they got from the old man.

Wondering if this was just a coincidence, Ares thought about the admiral’s sudden interest in her. Does it have something to do with the branch of the Divine Tree? He supposed that was possible since the admiral had never placed his attention on anyone. That includes going out of his way to disrupt his own rest day to attend and escort Aisha to her own annulment ceremony.

But there was still something that didn’t make sense. If that were the case—that the admiral had approached Aisha because he suspected it was she who was responsible for what happened to the branch—why would he send Ares to the academy at all?

If he had already known it was because of her, he wouldn’t have to order Ares to personally investigate the branch. Rather, he’d ask him to investigate Aisha instead!

Of course, it might be because Zeke was already doing it himself.

But there was another thing that didn’t make sense. And that was Aisha’s guide rank.

Was there some kind of mistake?

”Are you sure she was the only one who came by? No one sneaked around?” Ares questioned the old man once more, who vigorously nodded his head.

”Should we investigate her?” Samanthe suggested. ”She might be hiding her rank.”

Shaking his head, Ares withdrew his gaze from her and said, ”No need.”

”Huh? But...”

”We’ll focus on the Divine Tree inside the imperial palace.” Knowing what she was thinking, Ares continued, ”We’ll only investigate her when we have no other leads. Think about how embarrassing it’ll be for us to resort to looking into a D-rank Guide who’s still a student.”

He sounded so convincing that even Samanthe couldn’t doubt his words. But what they didn’t know was that Ares was buying time for their admiral. In his thoughts, if Zeke was truly looking into Aisha personally, they absolutely can’t get in his way!

Ares was already thinking of a way to cover for their admiral when he abruptly raised his head to the sky—a heavy, unfamiliar pressure slammed into him briefly. It was so brief that he barely registered it before it disappeared. Even he questioned if it was an illusion. Until he could still feel a lingering frequency of energy somewhere.

His eyes hardened instantly.

”First Lieutenant!”

Suddenly, one soldier hurried to their side and shoved his findings.

”We found something strange!”

Ares and Samanthe looked down on the device the soldier handed over to them before looking at each other.

On the device, a spike on the energy wavelength around the academy had suddenly appeared!

”What’s going on? Why is there suddenly an increase in energy?” Samanthe muttered under her breath. ”Wait... why is it growing still?!”

Ares’s eyes flashed briefly.

He hurriedly left the building and looked around. The energy that had suddenly appeared was rapidly increasing in size; by that point, it should be visible to him.

”First Lieutenant, did you find anything?”

Samanthe also came out, following his steps, and was only a little late to guess what he was doing.

Ares didn’t immediately reply to her. Instead, he turned to the soldier who had found the strange increase in the wave of energy. ”Has it stopped?”

The soldier shook his head, face already turning pale in shock and disbelief. ”No, sir! It’s still growing!”

Knitting his eyebrows, Ares looked around them once again. As an S-rank Sentinel, it would be impossible for anything like this to go unnoticed. Yet, even he was having a hard time finding the source of that energy.

If someone were actively using their energy, whether they’re a guide or a sentinel, there would be a sign of it. A surge of energy can’t not have its own source, and Ares was trying to pinpoint its location. Yet, he couldn’t find it.

”It’s gone!” the soldier exclaimed and showed that the strange energy had suddenly vanished.

Ares’ expression darkened as he couldn’t understand what was going on.

He couldn’t help whispering, ”What the hell is going on in this place?”

***

Back at Class 7-D.

Aisha was still reeling from the fact that she was able to widen the scope of her mental barrier to the size of the academy. She didn’t know whether other guides could do the same, but she was extremely happy about doing it.

This excitement continued until the end of their class.

Finally, their group headed out of the school gate and thought about training again.

”Where are we heading, Aisha?”

Since Aisha suggested there was a place for them to train after class, they eagerly followed her.

Aisha replied, ”Wait for a moment.”

The three looked at each other and didn’t rush her, engaging in a childish conversation and teasing each other.

On the other hand, Aisha couldn’t help but draw her eyebrows together.

Looking down at her terminal, her messages were left unread by two people.

One was her older brother, Zenick, who hasn’t called or messaged her since the last time they’ve seen each other outside the imperial palace.

By now, Zenick must have already heard about the outcome of her annulment ceremony and what happened to his parents. She wondered if it was the reason why he hadn’t contacted her.

But there was another uneasy feeling she couldn’t shake. Why was she feeling like this?

The other person who hadn’t contacted her since this morning was Zeke. She had messaged him about letting her classmate into the residence he lent to her, asking him if they could train there.

Yet, like her older brother, Zeke hadn’t replied either.