Aeren stood up from his seat and left the place, leaving the man behind. A few guards had been following him without Aeren knowing—or so they thought.
They had been assigned to follow Aeren and had been tracking him for a while. Aeren had glanced at them a few times but ignored them.
Aeren left the stadium and went outside, then disappeared before everyone's eyes. One guard screamed, "What happened? Where is Aeren?"
The other guards looked at him but didn't know what to say because Aeren had just vanished into thin air.
"We don't know. You saw the same thing we did."
The guards calmed themselves down and breathed in relief when they realized someone was responding to them.
"Let's go to the boss. We'll report what happened with Aeren."
The boss would handle it later. The guard sighed and walked away from the stadium toward their quarters.
They reached the guard quarters in half an hour. Four to five people were with him as they saw the three-story building and observed the surroundings—their people were enjoying themselves.
He took one last breath, then entered the building. He didn't stop at the reception desk and went directly to the boss's office. They all had permission to meet the boss without restrictions.
He knocked on the door and waited for a reply. "Come in." After hearing this, they entered the office, but to their surprise, Aeren was sitting across from the boss and turned his head toward them.
Aeren stared at them without showing any emotion on his face, and they started sweating after seeing him there.
The boss looked at them and asked, "Hmm, what is it?"
He had assigned them to follow Aeren, but he hadn't told them to reveal themselves when Aeren was around.
"Who are they, boss?" Aeren asked innocently.
All of them froze at his question. Aeren knew about them but felt it was right to ask. He looked at the boss.
The boss sighed, looked at his men, and said, "You can all leave this place, I want speak with him."
The guards glanced between Aeren and their boss, thinking, Man, Aeren knew from the beginning. And here we were thinking Aeren was just an idiot who didn't know his surroundings. He's more dangerous than the royals gave him credit for.
The lead guard sighed internally and didn't show his shock. "Yes, sir."
All of them left the office, leaving only two people behind.
Aeren turned his head, his eyes still asking questions, and the boss could see his signal.
"Aeren, I trust you, but you know, I just wanted to confirm that you're not evil."
Aeren continued staring at him and said nothing, thinking, Evil, huh? Do they really exist, or do people create them with their point of view?
Aeren considered this and left such concerns for others to think about. He didn't believe the boss's words and said, "Yes, I know. You did the right thing." Though he said this, Aeren didn't really care because night had come and the waiting was almost over.
The boss nodded and looked at Aeren, thinking, Aeren, don't act like you're innocent. I was there when you were killing children, and I will never let you off. If I don't have the power to kill you myself, I just need to find someone who can.
He looked at Aeren and said, "Thank you for believing me. I will always remember your trust for me."
Aeren stood from his seat and was about to leave when the boss asked again, "Where are you going?"
Aeren didn't stop, and when he reached the door, he answered, "Guard duty." He opened the door and left the office.
Aeren had already noticed two or three people watching him from inside, ready to attack, but since he was leaving, they stopped their intent.
"Did he notice us?" one of them asked the boss.
The boss was still staring at the door where Aeren had left, his legs shaking under the table, though he hadn't shown this to Aeren and had spoken calmly. He couldn't believe he was still alive even though he had been in the presence of a disaster that could have killed him without reason.
"No, I don't think so. If he had noticed any of you, he would have killed us."
All of them nodded, and one asked, "What did the principal Valerius say about Aeren? You know we can't handle him, right?"
The boss continued staring at the door, fearing Aeren. He couldn't even tell when Aeren might come through that door and kill them without them knowing.
"He's watching over him. Don't worry about it."
All of them nodded with sighs and trusted the principal.
Aeren came out of the building, looked at the moon, and thought, Before executing the final plan, I need to clear a few errors that could get in my way and might cause problems. But those errors aren't a problem right now. I'll deal with them along with other problems during the festival competition.
Aeren started walking toward the stadium and changed his clothes this time. Aeren would hardly be noticed by anyone around—he had given others permission to see him, but they would notice him as just a common human being.
Aeren walked ahead and reached the stadium. The stadium would have been empty before, but because of the festival, people had started coming, and Aeren saw lines of people at every entrance.
Aeren could guess there were almost a million people entering the stadium. Because of free entry to watch this competition, everyone had come to see the sparring matches of the future generation.
They would become future kings, future knights, future saviors, future heroes, and more than people could imagine.
Aeren could see blood that would be spilled around the stage. If they had no plan against that demon, Aeren could envision a waterfall of blood on the stage from a million sacrifices, and this would break the balance between worlds.