Chapter 270: Game

Meanwhile, at the Aetherium Academy.

Asher and his friends finally returned to the academy. By the time they arrived, it was already 7:09 PM. After returning to the academy, they all went back to their respective rooms to rest after spending the day outside.

Asher also returned to his room. He closed the door behind him, walked toward his bed, and immediately fell onto it, wanting nothing more than to rest for a while.

However, before he could even close his eyes and properly relax, he suddenly heard a familiar voice.

"So what did you want to talk about, Asher?"

It was the voice of Eldric.

After pausing for a moment, the voice continued in a slightly different tone.

"Or should I say, Coward."

Asher didn’t react much to the voice, as he had already expected Eldric to contact him. He remained lying on his bed for a moment before finally opening his eyes.

Then, without doing anything else, he said in a tired voice,

"You shouldn’t peep into the students’ rooms. That’s bad manners, you know."

There came no response to what Asher had just said.

The room remained completely silent for a few moments.

Asher sighed, knowing that Eldric wasn’t going to respond to his little complaint. He slowly stood up from his bed and stretched.

"Yeah, we have something to discuss. I will be there in a minute."

Still, there was no response.

Asher didn’t seem surprised. He started walking out of his room and headed toward Eldric’s office at a slow pace.

No one stopped him along the way. The academy was relatively quiet at this time, with most students already in their rooms, resting after returning from their activities. 𝘧𝓇ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝘣𝓃ℴ

Asher continued walking for a while before teleporting through the academy.

After moving through space, he eventually reached Eldric’s office.

And then, without even bothering to knock, he opened the door and went straight inside the office.

After opening the door and entering, Asher found Eldric sitting calmly in his chair.

No one else was in the office.

Asher looked around the room for a moment, carefully checking the surroundings as if he were making sure that nobody else was hiding somewhere.

Then Eldric finally spoke.

His voice remained completely calm.

"There is no one else here. We are the only two here."

After listening to this, Asher took a seat in front of Eldric. He then summoned a juice from his subspace, took a small sip, and casually looked at Eldric before saying in a calm tone,

"So, what have you guys decided to do? Wait for me to reach Grandmaster Rank, and probably try to protect that puppet from me?"

After listening to this, Eldric’s expression remained the same as before, but there was a slight unease in his eyes now.

He remained silent for a moment before saying in a calm and slightly surprised tone,

"I wonder if you were actually present there to know all this."

Asher looked at Eldric and then replied calmly,

"Of course I wasn’t there. How could I eavesdrop on Three Saints? I am too weak to do that."

Asher took another sip of his juice before continuing.

"It is just that... that is the only thing you can do right now, and nothing else. I know myself well enough. That is the only choice you can make right now, so it wasn’t hard to guess."

Eldric remained calm on the outside, but internally, there was only unease.

He couldn’t understand why Asher had come here personally, or what exactly he wanted to discuss. The fact that Asher already knew about their decision only made him more cautious.

Still, Eldric didn’t allow any of those thoughts to show on his face.

And then Eldric said, his voice still calm,

"So, what is it that you want to discuss with me?"

Asher looked at Eldric for a moment and then said,

"Nothing much. I want to ask if you will be taking part in this war or not."

He paused for a moment before continuing.

"Since the Demons have only two Saints, it will be a problem if you also fight."

Eldric remained silent for a moment, carefully looking at Asher before finally saying in a calm tone,

"And what if I decide to fight? What would you do?"

After saying this, Eldric expected to see at least a little reaction on Asher’s face.

However, there was none.

Asher was still sitting comfortably in front of him, calmly drinking his juice as if Eldric had asked him something completely ordinary.

For a moment, Eldric watched him, waiting for some response or change in his expression.

But Asher remained completely calm.

And then Asher said,

"Nothing much. I will have to take the long way, and that’s it."

He paused for a moment and took another sip of his juice before continuing in the same calm tone.

"Slowly kill everyone on this planet and wait until you guys break mentally and emotionally."

His tone stayed calm, but what he was saying was anything but.

"Though that will take decades. We will be playing hide and seek for a very long time, after all. I wouldn’t lose much more than a few decades, or maybe even centuries, of my time. And there is still a chance that I might fail."

Asher said it so casually that it almost sounded like he was discussing an ordinary plan rather than something that could affect the entire planet.

And then Asher continued,

"But for you, it will be different. You guys can lose everything that you cherish."

There was a short pause.

"And I don’t think you would want that, would you?"

Eldric replied,

"Yeah, I wouldn’t want that."

Asher smiled, then nodded before saying,

"This is why we are playing this little game for the next two months, where I will achieve what I want in less time and might still fail, but you guys will have a chance to protect what you want."

He paused for a moment before continuing in the same calm tone,

"Isn’t that an advantageous game for you?"