The Chairman's Unannounced Visit
"So you're the Chairman of Carrington Academy?"
An awkward standoff had formed. Though the confrontation had moved from outdoors to in, the atmosphere was little different from how it had begun. For some reason, Ian's guard seemed even higher than usual.
"That's what people call me."
Despite this being their first meeting, Rayegar addressed Ian with casual ease. Given Rayegar's noble rank, it wasn't a breach of etiquette, but Ian was a man of Duke Randert's command and a knight of the Full Moon Knight Order — someone who commanded respect wherever he went in the empire. No noble would so freely drop formality with him.
Bayul, knowing Rayegar's temperament as he did, could understand it well enough — but he worried that Ian's feelings might be hurt by it. His honest hope was simply that the knight would leave without any incident.
"I heard you're Eli's father."
"Strictly speaking, not his birth father. His adoptive one."
An unnecessary correction, and Rayegar pointed it out anyway.
"…Has something happened to Rai?"
There was only one reason the Chairman himself would come looking for a mere student like Bayul: his son, Eli.
Father and son were famously at odds, so Bayul secretly wondered if they'd had a terrible falling-out over the break.
"Hmm… I couldn't say."
"…I beg your pardon?"
"I haven't seen him once since the holidays started."
"You haven't seen Rai at all?"
"Nope."
Even discussing a stranger you'd bumped into on the street, one could manage a more courteous answer than this. At Bayul's dumbfounded expression, Rayegar added, as if to allay his concern:
"Don't fret. He'll land on his feet wherever he is. That boy's survival instincts are such that he'd make it out alive even if he fell into the Zone of Oblivion. He's run away from home before — what couldn't he handle?"
Adoptive father or not, isn't this going a bit too far?
Bayul genuinely wanted to argue the point. Eli had made his choices because of this man — how could he be so indifferent? He felt he finally understood why Eli hadn't responded to Aidan's letter.
Where is he right now, and what is he doing?
Bayul found himself suddenly anxious about Eli's well-being.
"Then if it isn't about Eli, what business brings you here, Chairman?"
Ian, who had been listening quietly, steered the conversation back on course.
"Funny — that's exactly what I was about to ask."
"……?"
"Why have you been following me? I'm the one who's curious what business you have with me."
"Chairman, I'm afraid I don't understand a word of that…?"
Bayul could make no sense of what Rayegar was saying. They had only just arrived in Carrington — how could they possibly have been tailing him?
Apparently he'd forgotten — the one who had been poking around the estate just moments ago was none other than the Chairman himself.
"I didn't think you'd know."
"As you saw, Chairman, we only just arrived here. Sir Ian was with me in Hamilton as well. I believe there's been some misunderstanding."
"Who said this kid was the one following me?"
"I beg your pardon?"
"It wasn't anyone from the Full Moon Knight Order, I'll grant. Chasers, was it? The ones they call chasers?"
"…Chasers, you say?"
Chasers were those affiliated with information guilds who did fieldwork — a catch-all term for agents who gathered intelligence through informants, or surveilled and shadowed a given target.
"Why would chasers be after you, Chairman…?"
"You'll have to ask this kid about that."
Rayegar fixed Ian with his gaze once more. A smile had never left his lips, but in stark contrast, his eyes held no laughter at all. It was a look that carried a clear warning: heaven help you if you failed to explain yourself properly.
"…I truly have no idea what you're talking about, Chairman."
"Oh, but you do. It's written all over your face."
"Is it, now?"
Ian gave a dry laugh.
"Very well. And what exactly does my face say?"
"Let's see — 'Oh dear, we've been found out. What am I supposed to report to His Grace the Duke?' That's what I read."
He was maintaining an admirable poker face, but he couldn't fool Rayegar's eyes. The Chairman's golden eyes flashed sharply for an instant.
"…His Grace the Duke? Sir Ian, what on earth is all this? Why is my father being brought up here, of all places?"
"There's no need to be alarmed, my lord. It seems the Chairman has made some mistake."
"So he ordered you to play dumb and deny everything if you got caught, did he? I must say, I'm a little disappointed in Duke Randert."
"Chairman, that's going too far. Whatever you may be to Rai, you have no right to speak of my father so carelessly."
"I know, I heard. They call him the living legend of the empire, don't they?"
Though Rayegar never said it aloud, in his own estimation Duke Randert was the most impressive human he knew.
"And yet — why would a man like that set people on me?"
"Are you suggesting my father ordered someone to surveil you, Chairman?"
"Ding ding ding! Correct!"
"…Do you have proof?"
"Why do you think I'm here?"
Rayegar was a mage. Bayul didn't know how many circles he'd attained, but Eli had told him he was quite formidable. If someone really had been shadowing Rayegar on his father's orders, it wouldn't have been so difficult for Rayegar to trace the client back through that agent.
Why on earth would Father…?
Now it was Bayul's turn to burn with curiosity.
"To be honest, I was going to go ask him directly, but I thought I'd stop here first on the off chance. I assumed you'd be away for the holidays — and wouldn't you know it, you arrived at the perfect moment."
"We came a little early due to business."
"Lucky you? There's going to be an enormous night market opening soon, you see."
"…Ah. Yes."
It wasn't the thing to say given the situation, but coming from Rayegar, it somehow didn't sound strange at all.
"Why would the most famous man in the empire take an interest in me? That's what puzzles me."
"…If my father truly did such a thing, it's probably because of me."
"Because of you?"
"Yes — you're the Chairman of the academy his son attends. And given that you appeared out of nowhere after twelve years, he may well have wanted to learn more about you."
"You think so?"
Where earlier he had pressed with widened eyes, Rayegar now responded with utter indifference.
"On this matter, I'll make a point of asking my father myself. Might I ask you to hold off until then?"
"Doesn't matter to me — provided there's no next chaser."
"The next chaser?"
"Ah, did I not mention? I've tried getting rid of them, tried catching them — everything I could think of — and they just keep sending more. Stubborn as all get-out. That's how they ended up following me all the way here."
"…I see. Then I'll do what I can about that as well."
With nothing confirmed yet, he kept finding himself implicitly admitting to it. Some part of him wanted to push back, but given the possibility — however remote — there was nothing to do but cooperate for now.
"Well, regardless — I'd appreciate a swift resolution. I'm not a very patient man."
"Understood, Chairman."
"Truthfully, I have other matters that matter far more to me. And I have a feeling sorting those out will be quite the headache. I'd rather not waste attention on the wrong things."
"Other important matters?"
"Ah, that's my personal business."
Knock, knock.
Then came a knock at the door, and Bar stepped inside.
"Young master, Teacher Rita says to serve tea."
"Thank you, Bar."
What he brought was a cold brew, steeped chill to suit the local weather. Three transparent glass cups followed the guidance of Bar's rough hands and settled before each of them.
Hm?
Yet for some reason, Bar's complexion was as different from when they'd first arrived at the estate as could be. Where was the coltish exuberance that usually had him bounding about in his joy? His face was set so stiffly that one might worry he'd fallen ill.
Can demons even get sick?
Bayul was lost in that idle thought when—
"Been keeping well?"
Rayegar abruptly greeted Bar as if he knew him.
"……?"
At this out-of-nowhere salutation, Bayul — and even Ian — were left utterly bewildered.
The two of them knew each other? How?
But Bar's reaction was somehow off. He flinched — his body gave a visible jolt, so he had clearly heard — yet far from answering, he seemed in a hurry to leave.
"Walking off without so much as a word back? That's a bit rich, don't you think?"
At Rayegar's pointed remark, Bar — who had been attempting a strategic retreat(?) — stopped in his tracks and twisted around, shuffling awkwardly.
"…Good day to 'ee."
"Whether it's a good day or not — you'd know better than I."
"I got nothin' to say."
"Oh, I suspect you have plenty…"
What on earth is this situation?
Bayul was managing not to let it show, but inside he was thunderstruck. Bar was a demon. How could Rayegar possibly know what he was?
What was more, Bar — who stood tall and proud before everyone except Rita — seemed, for some reason, to be cowering before Rayegar.
What could he possibly be afraid of?
"…Do you know these brothers, Chairman?"
"Brothers?"
"Yes. Des, Bar, and Amon. All three work here as servants."
"Ah-ha. So here they go by 'brothers,' do they? But servants! That had me laughing when I first heard it, and hearing it again — it's genuinely hilarious."
Rayegar laughed out loud for the first time since entering the room. It was a splendid laugh that suited his beautiful features, but Bayul couldn't spare it any attention. A remark Rayegar had made some time ago had suddenly surfaced in his memory.
The day he and his friends had visited Rayegar's mansion, as Bayul was taking his leave, the Chairman had tried to tag along, insisting there was something he simply had to see at Bayul's home.
"…Now that I think of it — back then, you said there was something you absolutely had to see at my house."
"Good memory."
"What was it? Could it possibly be… the Des brothers? Have you known them all along?"
"Hmm… whether to say I've known them all along or not… that's a tricky one."
It wasn't exactly a difficult question, yet for some reason he evaded it with practiced skill — as if he simply didn't want to answer.
"Since when, and how, do you know them?"
Could the Chairman be a demon too?
It was the most reasonable suspicion Bayul could form. Had Ian not been standing beside him, he would have voiced it on the spot. The situation was that strange, that suspicious.
"Let's just say we were acquainted, briefly, a long time ago—"
"Big Bro!"
Just as Rayegar was agonizing over how to respond, a savior appeared for Bar. At Death's entrance, the demon's face lit up and he bolted toward him.
"Well, well. Finally meet face to face."
Rayegar greeted Death with a bright, welcoming smile. Death, by contrast, wore the scowl of a man who had just run into his sworn nemesis.
"I'd like a word with you. Outside, alone."
"Shall we, then?"
Rayegar didn't hesitate — it was what he wanted, too. He shot Bayul and Ian a wink, rose with aplomb, and followed Death out.
What are they going to talk about?
Bayul wished he could have told them to have it right there. What was the hidden secret between those two? He burned to know.
Perhaps his feelings reached their mark — Tempesta, who had been lounging by the window soaking up the warm breeze after so long, stretched himself and drifted quietly after the two men.