Chapter 12

A pregnant pause engulfed the two of them as Lucille went over what she had just heard. She had thought from his calm voice and words that their meeting had gone fairly well even if the meeting itself wasn't ideal to begin with. But he threw a wrench in that idea.

"He did what?" The Hero of Light questioned seriously, her normally cheerful and relieving voice devoid of all emotions beyond a ranging inferno of wrath barely contained. The air itself seemed to still despite her voice merely being transmitted.

'She definitely deserves her ranking.' Dion thought to himself calmly, his breathing undisturbed despite the pressure the surroundings were under. It wasn't due to his own strength, it was merely the kindness of his sponsor shining through her rage.

Glancing out of a woman by his side toward the center of the school he saw one thing that many would consider godlike. One, a ball of light almost brighter than the sun was in the very center of the school on a large tower radiating so much mana that the hairs on his body stood ramrod straight and his instincts screamed bloody murder at him in an attempt to make him run.

"I am perfectly fine." Dion consoled softly, his voice soothing and filled with complete sincerity. Luckily, his words had an effect. While her rage was almost surely still there, the sphere of light was gone though its aftereffects would be felt for quite some time.

"...Where are you?" Lucille questioned him solemnly after she took a deep breath, her voice lacking its usual teasing nature and leaving no room for debate. In her voice was a strange sense of desperation, her voice sounding as though she was nearly having a panic attack.

"I'm still in Gideon's office. He left around two minutes ago to get a doctor so there's no reason to rush." Dion replied calmly, taking careful note of her odd reaction. Her panic wasn't entirely directed at him, rather it seems that she was overlapping him with somebody else in his mind.

It was a fairly common situation, especially for one who had gone through so much bloodshed to be called a Hero. In her case, it was likely that somebody she was close to, perhaps even a lover, had been poisoned.

Whether it's true or not she is almost surely blaming herself for it happening and overlapping his figure with whoever passed away in the past. It would be best if she could think through it calmly however she couldn't do that and Dion didn't expect her to.

In his world, many people had trauma from a variety of things. It was a natural thing that happened in the course of one's life. This trauma affected their vision and whenever they saw the object or fell into a similar situation they would freeze.

Even Dion himself had struggled through trauma before though it was something he had long since grown to live with. It didn't have anything to do with him but the incident still made him nervous in vehicles to this day.

It was a simple situation of a foolish driver that was speeding without a care in the world. He passed by Dion and then… he couldn't make the turn. He crashed and was instantly killed however he had two kids in the back.

In a panic Dion, or Hugo, ran out to see if he could help them only to be met with the gruesome death of the man and the two children screaming out in terror. It wasn't his fault and he couldn't have done anything yet the slight fear of vehicles remained.

Lucille Oran was a war hero, a warrior famed for her strength and wisdom in a world of cruelty, there was no way she wouldn't have lost people close to her. If something as small as a car crash could affect Dion so deeply many wouldn't even be able to comprehend what she felt at the moment.

So many scars, so guilt, all buried into one cheerful person. Perhaps her goal was worth it in the end but it didn't make the pain go away. Truthfully, nothing would. She would have to live with the pain for the rest of her life.

Even if she were to replace those she lost, even if she truly believed everything was worth it in the end, it didn't help her. She would always be fearful of those that took those she cared for, always shaken in front of certain objects, certain faces, certain colors. She would see their faces in everything and nothing, NOTHING, would make that change.

'Who did she lose?' Dion pondered solemnly. After over fifty years she should have grown accustomed to the losses she faced even with her kind nature. Dion himself was in a relatively similar boat in the past after a horrible year and it took only a decade.

That meant that the one that she lost wasn't somebody she could easily forget about. It had to be somebody extremely close to her beyond just being a loved one. A lover, a childhood friend, or even a parent.

The light in the room abruptly shifted, coming together to form the figure of his sponsor who looked much more panicked than he expected. She only let out a breath of relief after seeing he was perfectly alright.

"I'm glad you're alright." She choked out, suddenly in front of him and pulling him into his embrace causing his shirt to be wet by her tears. Awkwardly returning the embrace to give her some semblance of relief he gently pats her back.

"I'm fine. Everything is alright." He chanted softly, his voice gentle and soothing. He was out of his depth, he wasn't one to comfort others, but this was the position he was thrust into so he'd have to deal with it.

They remain in place for a while before Lucille separated from him, an awkward cough leaving her lips as she wiped away any remnants of tears. She wasn't one to show weakness easily, especially to someone so much younger than her, so it was somewhat embarrassing.

"The tea set he used is on the table. It hasn't been touched since he left so it shouldn't be difficult to find evidence to convict him." Dion explained calmly, offering her a chance to avoid speaking about the matter for the time being.

"I see. I'll have it checked out. Are you sure you're okay though, Gideon wouldn't have left so easily if you didn't drink it." She said worriedly, her nerves mostly calmed but some still remained in her golden eyes.

"I used mana to isolate it. Do you have a place for me to dispose of it?" Dion questioned her calmly, ignoring her surprise at his action. While he made it sound simple, isolating a liquid while it moved throughout your body was no easy feat.

It required immense precision and if Gideon Moris was unable to detect him doing so he had done so extremely discreetly as well. For comparison, the difficulty was as if he was performing brain surgery with a sword.

"I'll take care of it too. It might be useful as proof." Lucille said seriously, her golden eyes narrowed in annoyance and a hint of suspicion. It was a natural reaction of course, in the span of one day Dion had changed more than she cared to admit.

In any case, the ball was in her court now. The evidence was gathered and when taking all the reports against him it wouldn't be difficult to get Gideon out of her school. There would probably be some backlash from his older brother but he shouldn't pose too much of a threat.

And with her little display of anger showing just how deeply she cared for Dion, even if only scratching the surface of her care, he should be much safer. At the very least, people would think twice before touching him.

Hopefully, that would be enough.