The Rebirth of Evelyn Knox

After finding out that the actual worth of the item was so astronomical, how could Evelyn rest easy letting her friend keep it when it could prove to be a disaster?

She tugged at her friend's sleeve, worry clear in her pink eyes. "I think a hundred spirit cores should be a significant sum even for the professors, right? That Aurora lady is probably searching for it all over the place. She'll eventually realize that she might have forgotten it in her old room, and then when she finds out you may have it… won't that be bad?"

Cecilia shook her head with a smirk, wondering if her friend knew how adorable she was being.

"Nu-uh, that's where you're wrong, little Evey. I saw her just two days ago, and Aurora was lazing around in front of that gloomy lake like she always does. Snoring with her mouth open, ehehe. I wonder how many flies she catches every day."

"…"

The ash-blonde blinked at Evelyn's deadpan face. "What's with that look?"

Evelyn sighed. 'Alright, I guess it's fine to be a little immature. She'll learn with time. But for now I should just convince her to return it to avoid a disaster.'

"Regardless of her nonchalant attitude, I still think you should return it, Cecilia, just to be safe. Since Aurora can easily find out you have her artifact, and we're probably helpless against her, you shouldn't be greedy. Especially since you openly showed it off earlier in the carriage, the likelihood of it being exposed is—"

A burst of laughter from her friend ended up interrupting Evelyn mid-speech, making her eyebrow twitch irritably.

"Ahahaha, oh, I get it now. I forgot to tell you, I did try to return it, you know. Although I asked for a ten percent finder's fee."

The pink-haired girl couldn't help but stare at her friend slack jawed. Would it have killed her to tell her that earlier?!

"What's that look? Ahem, anyway, she told me, and I quote...

'Treasure lost, treasure found. It's a natural thing. Why do you have to come to me because you found one that I had lost? My destiny with it came to an end, and some day, so shall yours'. Anyway, all I got out of that is 'Finders, Keepers'

...so it's mine."

Evelyn could only nod reluctantly. "Well, although her statement sounds vaguely threatening, I guess it is yours now since she let you have it. Do all professors here talk like that, though?"

Cecilia scoffed. "I would go crazy if that was the case. It's just her. Aurora is also called the 'Destiny's Star' probably because all she talks about is destiny this, destiny that. Blah Blah Blah."

The pink-haired girl blinked. "Is that really the reason she's called 'Destiny's Star'?"

The ash-blonde girl burst into laughter once again, only calming down after Evelyn glared at her for a solid minute.

"Oh, don't take it so seriously, I was just guessing. Actually, when you meet her, you'll think she's like ten years old based on her appearance, but actually she's older than anyone else in the academy. Even the headmaster has to listen to her, from what I heard. 

"So no one really knows the story behind her title. I've skipped the lake almost a dozen times to find out, but nothing so far. By the way, skipping the lake is just her punishment method. It's super, duper fun! I highly recommend giving it a try! In fact, let's go together to annoy her later, ehehehe."

Evelyn groaned, deciding to just ignore the last part.

'She always seems so much more mature in her letters, but the real thing is… well, I guess I'll get used to it. It's like she's gotten way more childish now than she was three years ago!'

"Heh, your reaction was hilarious, though. Little Evey's eyes went suuuper wide when she thought I stole the purse, ahahaha…"

The pink-haired girl rolled her eyes. "Don't laugh!"

"Sorry, sorry. By the way, speaking of her, Aurora actually told me something really strange that day. It's been bothering me ever since, because she normally doesn't take the initiative to say anything to me unless I pester her for at least an hour or two. I can't make head or tails of it, though."

Evelyn couldn't help but be curious. "What did she say?"

Cecilia sighed. "She just said 'You chose well', and then nothing else. No matter how I pestered her to explain, she kept ignoring me!"

'Hm… I guess this professor really likes giving out cryptic messages, huh?'

But even if she tried, Evelyn couldn't make much sense of such general, vague words either. "Sorry, all I can think is maybe she meant you made the right choice to try returning her purse, or she would have obliterated you or something. But that contradicts her earlier statement, doesn't it? So I guess I really can't help. And I doubt there's anything we can do to her if she doesn't want to say any more, right?"

Seeing her friend shrug helplessly, Cecilia rolled her eyes. "Psh, you don't know, Evelyn. Aurora doesn't seem to get mad no matter what, so if there's something you wanna ask, you can just keep on pestering her. Don't do that to other professors though, or it'll turn real bad real fast!

"Oh, but if you really overdo it, she'll send you flying into the lake like a skipping stone. But she always protects you with a bubble, so it doesn't really hurt. Like I said earlier, it's actually quite fun, highly recommended! Anyway, don't worry, now that I'm back, and even have 'reinforcements', Aurora can kiss her peaceful days goodbye until she tells me what she meant!"

Cecilia really likes to test people's limits, doesn't she?

==========

Meanwhile, the 'never gets annoyed' Aurora was frowning irritably as she watched the professors argue with the headmaster.

Arguments flew from one side to the other, and the middle-aged man in the center just held his head with a frown.

At this time, a staunch looking dark-skinned man in purple robes slammed his fist on the table, silencing the discussion. "Why are we wasting time like this now? I've always said we can't rely on that beast to escort our students! Look what happened now… Not to mention our heritage artifact is lost, even our most exemplary student is missing! We should all be moving out into the forest immediately, not sit here arguing!"

"Professor Jiang is right, headmaster! Even if you don't want to order anyone to go, you shouldn't forbid us from going by ourselves!"

There were murmurs of affirmation all around the table, and the middle-aged man with dark hair seated at the head seat frowned deeper.

"I have already dispatched a search team for the recovery of the Helion Chain. As for Craig… well…"

Looking at the generally bold headmaster hesitating to speak, the rest of the staff couldn't help but feel something wasn't right.

A gentle voice, calm as a peaceful lake, echoed at this moment. "It was I who forbid the headmaster from seeking he who does not need to be sought."

It took them a while to realize just who was speaking, and then everyone's gaze snapped to the tiny platinum blonde little girl on the headmaster's rightmost seat.

"What does that mean, Lady Aurora?"

"Right! We can't just abandon him when he perished on a task assigned by us. Even if he's already dead, we still need to retrieve the body to be sure!"

Aurora simply closed her eyes and leaned back in her seat leisurely, completely ignoring them.

The headmaster sighed. 'I suppose I should be grateful she considered helping me out at all.'

"This matter is not open for discussion anymore. Please return to your posts. I shall keep you updated if there is any update on the situation."

Although most of them were extremely dissatisfied, they could only grumble and leave the conference hall one by one. Anyway, unlike a particularly fearless student, none of them dared to directly defy Aurora's will.

Within a minute, only the platinum blonde little girl and the headmaster remained in the room.

"I followed your instructions, lady Aurora, but are you sure this is the right thing to do? The Helion Chain—"

The little girl jumped down from her chair with a snort, glaring at the headmaster from the corner of her eyes. "Greedy. Since our destiny with the Helion Chain is coming to an end, there is no use in spending too much effort to find it. For even if we do, we shall not be able to keep it for too long."

The headmaster gritted his teeth, but could only contain his anger. After all, he didn't want to be seen 'skipping the lake' by the students, or he would never be able to show his face in front of anyone ever again.

"Y-You... be more reasonable! There is no certain destiny in this world, everyone decides their fate by themselves, okay? This is a fact that our founders believed in, and has been proven through the test of time. Even if it is you saying it, I refuse to believe it!"

Aurora moved towards the window, her gaze forlorn as she stared at the pink moon in the night sky.

"Then remain an idiot, headmaster. That... is your destiny."