Cipher’s Office within the Silver Association Base

Cipher has never before wanted to slam the phone down in the middle of a call and destroy the device more than right now.

“I’m sorry, but since you were the orphanage director that raised her all the way till her becoming an adult, you are legally considered her guardian, and therefore you are responsible for filling out the portions of the paperwork meant for each student’s legal guardians,” Alfred says with his mirth clear in his voice.

He’s enjoying this! He’s seriously enjoying making me suffer through mounds of paperwork?!!

“What self-respecting university requires a parent to sign and read through fifty-six documents!!!!” Cipher shouts, his voice echoing down the hall out of his office despite the door being shut, startling anyone who happened to be walking by. “It’s ridiculous!”

“Why, I’m sure your parents had to sign those too,” Alfred says, skillfully hiding his amusement this time behind a wall of sternness. “In fact, I can go ahead and call them right now if you want me to.”

Cipher immediately backtracks, saying, “Nonono, that’s fine. There’s no need for that! But are you sure that all of these documents are-”

“My apologies, Cipher, but my assistant is calling me. If you have any other questions, then you may forward them to the Registrar,” Alfred cuts him off with a smile on the other side of the video before bowing his head and saying, “Good day to you.” Then the call drops.

Several seconds pass silently in the office before a loud shout can be heard once again by anyone wandering by his office door.

I understand that he might be mad at me for organizing that little party back when I was a student at Lion’s Heart, but does that really deserve sending me extra documentation that wouldn’t have been necessary? And he can’t convince me that signing a document about Scarlet’s ‘permission to go to the swimming pool’ is something that a guardian should be fucking signing!!!

A knock sounds from his door, making Cipher raise his head and look through his nanomachines at whoever is on the other side of the door. And when he sees Sylver there, he says, “Come in.”

Sylver quickly makes his way into the office, only briefly glancing at the stack of documents before sending a look of pity towards the leader of his Association.

“Don’t give me that look,” Cipher mutters. “What did you need?”

“It’s about Scarlet,” Sylver says, making Cipher groan and put his face in his hands as he mutters, “Just what did she do now…?”

Sylver blinks in surprise before saying, “I was training her for a while and noticed that she was quite a bit stronger than she should’ve been when fighting against me. Stronger against me than the dummies. So after some sparring with her, I realized that she has to have her Predator Skill at either Predator III or Predator IV.”

Cipher’s head shoots up from the desk as he shouts, “She what?!”

His shout doesn’t faze Sylver, and he continues, “Furthermore, after more sparring, along with asking some questions of the researchers who were with her, I’ve come to the conclusion that she likely has Predator IV.”

“But that would mean that she’s fought and killed something at least fifty levels above her,” Cipher mutters, anger beginning to flare in his eyes as he realizes what Scarlet had said when he was talking about her fighting the demon knight. And as he thinks about it, he vaguely remembers seeing her face twitch when he said it was probably around level thirty. “That little sneak…”

“If there’s nothing you need me for, then I’ll take my leave,” Sylver says before turning around. But before he can reach the door, Cipher says, “Wait, you said you were training her? What did you teach her? I need to know for when I start her combat lessons tomorrow.”

Sylver turns around and begins explaining each of the moves he taught her, along with the basics of sparring while using her skills.

After listening for a few minutes, Cipher narrows his eyes on Sylver.

Why do I feel like they did something else as well, but he won’t say?

Sylver doesn’t let any signs slip, so Cipher lets it go. But he does ask one more question.

“Why did you teach her, anyways?”

This time Sylver opens his mouth to speak, only to pause, not getting anything out for a few seconds. Then he eventually says, “I don’t know.”

Cipher frowns, but still says, “Alright. You’re dismissed.”

Sylver nods and leaves the office, shutting the door behind him with a click that resonates throughout the room as Cipher continues staring at the door.

Suspicious. Very suspicious.

He continues staring at the door for a few seconds before shrugging.

Then again, he’s never really been the type. So I doubt it’s that.

Cipher looks up at the ceiling before closing his eyes with a grimace.

She killed a demon over fifty levels above her in her first Fracture, has the highest recorded capabilities in the world, and uses blood magic.

Several seconds pass in silence.

And for some reason has wolf ears despite having regular blood magic.

Cipher eventually opens his eyes and turns on his office computer. He then navigates to a folder that he has yet to show Scarlet and clicks on it, opening the folder. One that is labeled ‘White’.

Inside of the folder is the image of a baby Scarlet with raven black hair and small little specks of red in her otherwise grey eyes. The baby is being held by a woman with stark white hair and grey eyes. Eyes incredibly similar to the ones Scarlet used to have before becoming a Guardian.

But what strikes Cipher more is the similar appearances between Scarlet’s current appearance as an adult and ‘White’s’, despite the drastically different colored hair and eyes.

Is she really your daughter? Because if so, then everything would finally make sense… sort of. Because the ears still aren’t making sense to me.

“It would also make things even more complicated,” Cipher mutters after a few seconds.