Death, Devotion, Dissonance

*****

Endra's days in the Academy continued. Contrary to his expectations, there wasn't much change in his relations.

He was still good friends with Phel. The boy also told him about the short relation he had with Arza and how he was forced by his parents to stop. Endra offered Phel some empty words of consolation, but the whole incident was as Endra predicted. He was surprised that Arza actually accepted Phel's feelings, but as it was Arza, the reasoning could've been anything.

As for the red-haired boy, he and Arza made a vocal agreement to not meddle with each other's business. These things were usually done in silence, but as it was Arza, things needed to be said out. The good part was that, since a verbal agreement was reached, Arza never mentioned the topic again, and also seemed to have lost his interest in it. It was convenient, and Endra became sure that Arza was some sort of crazy.

Endra couldn't care what kind, as long as it could be predicted and controlled.

The same kind as Decatur.

The young Count was getting desperate in his attempts to one-up Endra at something. Endra guessed it had something to do with him trying to enter the World of Fire, but of course, he did not give him the satisfaction. And even if he did throw a match or two, he felt Decatur wouldn't be satisfied.

Hence, Endra decided to completely ignore Decatur. He was, after all, an adult. Same with Arza, whatever childish ideas the students had, Endra had to be above it. It was a matter of personal pride.

But he would be lying if he said he wasn't satisfied by Decatur failing in the background. Even without trying to, Endra was simply better than him.

Hypocritical much? That was okay. Endra kept himself to a different standard. A much lower one.

As for the adults in his circle, he became oddly close to Terrence. It was mostly due to the free room he got at their place at first, but as things tended to go, Endra became genuinely interested in the man. Of course, Terrence only spoke about things when he was truly drunk, but those days weren't rare for the soon to be divorcee.

Endra realized that the man's talk about truly loving Leanne and distancing himself because he wanted to rise up in society wasn't a complete lie. It lost a bit of power when he randomly said: 'I cheated on her, yes. But it wasn't only with whores and prostitutes.' At the time, Endra wasn't in the mood to ask what the difference was.

Of course, Endra was no snitch, and he was no judge. He only sat there and listened to the man's words.

He soon realized that if the divorce is successful, Terrence would have to leave the city, and Endra would most likely be left without a rent-free place to live in. At that point, Endra had basically moved into their place.

The gears in his head turning, Endra decided to help Leanne split with the house in her possession. News came that she was coming back to Ankelite city at the time, so if she continued working in the Academy, she'd have to have a place to live in. And thus, Endra would get to keep his room.

So, he started planting ideas in drunk Terrence's mind. To change his perspective of her and the divorce. It was easy enough, with how he seemed to still like her very much.

'She must've felt neglected while you were gone.'

Endra said this sentence in its various alternatives at least a hundred times as Terrence gulped a bottle. Hear something a thousand times and it would inevitably start to make sense. Especially if you're mind being so vulnerable with all the alcohol swimming through you brain.

'Maybe there's still a chance for you…'

'But you can't act desperate, you have to make her want it.'

'Let the divorce occur silently. You can even be magnanimous.'

'Let her keep whatever she wants. She'll wonder why you've changed so much…'

'Stay apart for a few months. and inevitably… she'll start thinking about you again.'

Sweet nothings. Probably untrue, but it sounded reasonable. At least Terrence thought so, as everything they owned in Ankelite city went to Leanne. She did seem surprised, but Endra didn't think she was thinking about Terrence much during her surprise.

Anyhow, The Lanesbreau family was no more, and Terrence soon went back to serve the Duchess. Leanne resumed living inside it, and didn't mind Endra living in it too.

She, of course, did not learn the truth, though… she tended to send wary glances towards him occasionally.

Endra was confused by her behavior, but his relation with Leanne was mostly unchanged. The woman came back from the capital, was the center of attention for a while due to what she did with the king, then it was back to normal life for her.

She was acting all bashful about it, but Endra could see how she disliked the attention beneath. Obviously, he didn't pry and tried his best to not mention it in her presence.

He was freeloading in her house, after all. He couldn't make the houseowner feel annoyed or awkward.

Thankfully, it didn't seem like he was going to get kicked out any time soon.

With the Chairman, though, Endra kept his distance. The man would send him knowing grins and smiles here and there, and that was the extent of their communication. Endra was almost starting to believe what the Chairman said about not wanting anything from him.

Curious, he checked on what Heralt had on the Chairman. Heralt's organization targeted every potential enemy, so of course, someone like Kent had huge potentials to be recruited by enemies.

What Endra learned was that Kent was clean. There was only one instance of him being approached by Orgonians. At the time, Kent simply killed the unknown enemies. Similar to how Endra first noticed their existence, the chairman used airflow to determine their location and then killed them using an Absolute. Then, he brought the body and its equipment to the kingdom and was done with the incident.

Endra suspected there was something else going on with the man, but he couldn't know what. And even if he knew, he felt he wouldn't be able to do anything about it anyway. Hence, it was better for him to be as far away as possible from the Chairman.

He did get closer to Heralt, however. The man still showed zero emotions most of the time, but he did crack a smile whenever Endra brought in new turncoats and spies.

But the moments were rare, as turncoats were much rarer to find than Endra expected. He only found four so far, and that seemed like a lot, with how much he searched for them.

For his troubles, he received a spell that allowed him to create a shield from his soul, but Endra wasn't liking the need to grind for these spells so much.

If Heralt wanted more capable soldiers, he'd need to give them more options to use. How else were they supposed to be productive?

Endra voiced these concerns, but Heralt only replied with: 'We tried that before, worked much worse than you'd expect.'

Endra also asked why everyone else couldn't learn of Otherworlders. Surely, these clashes in the dark would end up better with the whole of Alvox on their side.

Heralt replied with: 'Twelve's orders. The Empress's will, essentially.. The tangible type.'