Asher, yang sedari tadi menyimak, angkat bicara, "Dia tampak santai dan orang yang baik. Aku terkejut dia tidak mengikuti kalian berdua ke sini untuk mencoba menemuiku." Matanya beralih ke arah pintu, seolah menanti seseorang muncul kapan saja.
Bukannya Asher merasa dirinya selebritas atau orang penting, ia hanya membuat pengamatan tenang. Bagaimanapun, mungkin orang-orang ingin berteman dengan siapa pun dari keluarga Wargrave. Berada dalam tim di mana dua anggotanya sudah berteman dengan seorang Wargrave dan hendak mengunjunginya, momen itu secara alami akan menjadi kesempatan untuk bergabung dengan tim dan ikut berkunjung karena asosiasi tersebut. Hasil seperti itu tampak hampir tak terelakkan dalam situasi tertentu.
'Lagipula, di Bumi, nama Lucifer Morningstar diasosiasikan dengan iblis,' renung Asher dalam hati sambil menggeleng pelan. Meskipun ia percaya pada Tuhan di kehidupan sebelumnya, ia bukanlah orang yang religius. Bukan berarti ia akan tiba-tiba berpikir seseorang terhubung dengan iblis hanya karena namanya; itu tidak rasional dan tidak perlu.
"Dia memang orang yang santai, tapi dia lebih suka menyendiri, tidak banyak bicara," jelas William dengan tenang. Nadanya stabil saat memberikan deskripsi singkat namun akurat.
"Sudahlah soal Lucifer, ceritakan tentang misimu sendiri. Aku yakin kau mendapatkan sesuatu yang jauh lebih seru, berbahaya, dan memacu adrenalin," ujar Finch dengan mata berbinar penuh minat, jelas ingin mendengar sesuatu yang mendebarkan.
Asher terdiam sejenak, seolah menimbang apakah harus menceritakan detail misinya. Lagipula, menurut perhitungannya, misi yang melibatkan Debro itu tampaknya ditujukan untuk siswa tahun ketiga, meski ia tidak sepenuhnya yakin. Finch dan William tampak terlalu minim pengalaman untuk tingkat kesulitan seperti itu saat ini, sehingga rasanya kurang pantas untuk mengungkapkan semuanya secara mendetail.
"Yah... tidak ada yang terlalu menarik. Tapi aku harus memperingatkan kalian untuk lebih serius mengikuti kelas Siluman dan Infiltrasi. Karena mulai tahun kedua, Aula Logistik dan Operasi Misi tidak lagi menyediakan kompas, dan kalian harus melacak sendiri ke mana pun kalian pergi," saran Asher. Ia memberikan panduan yang benar-benar membantu mereka, mengingat selama ini orang-orang hampir tidak fokus pada kelas tersebut karena merasa cukup hanya dengan lulus, seolah mereka tidak butuh ilmu yang diajarkan di sana.
William dan Finch hanya mengangguk diam. Mereka jelas mengharapkan informasi lebih lanjut tentang misi tersebut daripada sekadar nasihat soal kompas, rasa penasaran mereka belum terpuaskan.
Asher, yang melihat ketertarikan mereka, hanya menghela napas dan mulai bercerita. Ia mengemas kisahnya sesuai dengan deskripsi misi yang asli: sebuah misi penculikan sederhana di mana ia melacak pelaku dan korbannya. Ia sengaja tidak menceritakan kengerian yang ia saksikan, seberapa besar skala organisasi tersebut, dan intensitas pertarungannya dengan Debro... yah, ia memang menyebutkan pertarungannya dengan Debro, tapi dengan cara yang meremehkan. Bahkan saat itu pun, ia menjelaskannya sedemikian rupa sehingga jika salah satu dari mereka mengambil misi itu, mereka pasti akan tewas.
"Sial, kau pasti mengalami masa sulit. Misi itu terdengar lebih berat daripada apa pun yang pernah kau ambil," ujar William. Ia tidak repot-repot bertanya apakah Asher baik-baik saja karena ia sudah yakin bahwa temannya itu memang baik-baik saja.
"Tingkat kesulitannya gila," tambah Finch sambil menggeleng, lalu menyandarkan punggung ke kursi dengan embusan napas rendah.
"Mendengar ceritamu, aku jadi merasa bersyukur tidak ikut denganmu. Aku mungkin sudah mati seratus kali," kata William sambil menghela napas, mengakui dalam hati bahwa ia masih jauh dari tingkat kekuatan seperti itu.
Asher tersenyum tipis, "Bagaimana kalau kali ini aku ikut misi kalian?" sarannya, sudah tahu bahwa mereka kemungkinan besar akan menerima tawarannya tanpa ragu.
"Hah, kenapa?" tanya Finch. Meski senang dengan pemikiran menyambut Asher kembali ke kelompok, bahkan jika hanya sementara, ia tetap ingin tahu alasannya.
"Yah, misiku terlalu berat, jadi aku memutuskan untuk bersantai sedikit dengan kalian. Karena kalian berdua akan pergi misi, aku mungkin akan ikut saja," jawab Asher jujur, karena tidak perlu ada yang disembunyikan.
Kata-katanya membuat William dan Finch terdiam sepenuhnya selama beberapa saat. Keheningan itu berlangsung singkat sebelum William akhirnya angkat bicara.
"Aku benar-benar tidak tahu apakah harus senang karena kau bergabung dengan kami, atau terganggu karena kau menggunakan misi setingkat kami sebagai bentuk liburan santai penghilang stres," ucap William. Setiap saat yang ia habiskan bersama Asher mengingatkannya bahwa meskipun ia memiliki kemampuan Copy, ia tidak akan pernah bisa menandingi monster yang duduk di depannya ini.
"Sebaiknya jangan terlalu dipikirkan," saran Finch sambil menggeleng, "tapi bagaimanapun, senang bisa memilikimu kembali," senyum muncul di wajahnya.
"Jadi sekarang kita berempat, ya?" kata William dengan nada antisipasi ringan.
"Tidak perlu khawatir, aku tidak akan mengambil bagian poin karena akulah yang menyusup ke tempat yang tidak membutuhkanku," ujar Asher. Meskipun ia butuh poin, ia tidak akan mencurangi teman-temannya.
"Kita harus mengambil misi tersulit kali ini karena kita bersama yang terkuat," Finch segera menyarankan, antusiasmenya terlihat jelas.
Asher duduk terdiam, memperhatikan Finch dan William yang sudah mulai merencanakan misi apa yang akan dilakukan, energi mereka hidup dan tak tertahan.
"Kalian tahu, saat kalian datang tadi, kupikir kalian berdua juga datang karena rumor yang beredar," ujar Asher tenang.
Finch dan William berhenti bicara sejenak, sebelum William akhirnya berkata, "Kami yakin rumor itu pada dasarnya benar. Lagipula, kau masih di sini, artinya semuanya baik-baik saja dengan keluarga Wargrave, dan semuanya juga baik-baik saja di wilayah dan keluarga kami karena kau tidak pernah menyebutkan apa pun soal itu."
"Yah... benar juga," jawab Asher saat ia memahami maksud di balik kata-kata mereka. Baik Finch maupun William tidak memusingkan detail mendalam terkait perang Kekaisaran. Mereka bukan berasal dari keluarga Kekaisaran atau keluarga Adipati, mereka hanyalah anak-anak Baron, tidak lebih.
Dengan itu, sekelompok sahabat yang sudah lebih dari sebulan tidak bertemu itu melanjutkan diskusi mereka. Tawa bergema di udara saat mereka saling menggoda, membicarakan apa yang terjadi dalam kehidupan masing-masing, meskipun mereka semua tinggal di dalam Akademi Bintang. Persahabatan mereka terasa alami dan tak terputuskan.
Asher, who had been listening, spoke, "Seems like a chill, nice guy, I’m surprised he didn’t follow you both here to try to meet me," his eyes turning towards the direction of his door as though expecting someone else to appear at any moment.
It wasn’t that Asher thought of himself as a celebrity or a hotshot or anything of that sort, he was merely making a calm observation, after all, perhaps people wanted to be friends with any Wargrave, and being in a team where two people were already friends with a Wargrave and were heading over to visit said Wargrave, that moment would naturally serve as an opportunity to join the team and visit by association, making such an outcome seem almost inevitable in certain circumstances.
’Besides, on Earth, the name Lucifer Morningstar is associated with the devil,’ Asher mused to himself as he shook his head lightly, although he had believed in God in his past life, he wasn’t really a religious person. It wasn’t as though he would suddenly start thinking that a random individual was associated with demons simply because of his name, that would be both irrational and unnecessary.
"He is indeed a chill guy, but he likes to keep to himself, doesn’t really talk much," William explained calmly, his tone steady as he gave a brief but accurate description.
"Well, enough about Lucifer, tell us about your own mission, I’m sure you had something much more fun, dangerous, and blood pumping," Finch spoke as his eyes shone with keen interest, clearly eager to hear something thrilling.
Asher stayed silent for a moment as though pondering whether to truly go in depth about the mission, after all, according to his calculations, the mission that involved Debro seemed to be intended for third year classmen, but he wasn’t entirely certain. Finch and William seemed far too inexperienced for such a difficult level at the moment, making it somewhat inappropriate to reveal everything in full detail.
"Well... nothing really interesting, but I should warn you to take the stealth and assassination class more seriously, because from the second year onward, the Logistics and Missions Operation Hall stops giving compasses, and you would have to manually track whatever or wherever you are going," Asher advised as he gave guidance that would genuinely help them, after all, people barely focused on the stealth and assassination class as they had all settled for just passing the class, as though they didn’t need the knowledge that came from it.
William and Finch simply nodded their heads, remaining silent, clearly expecting more information about the mission rather than advice about compasses, their curiosity not yet satisfied.
Asher, seeing their interest, simply sighed and began to speak, shaping the story into what the mission had originally been described as, a simple kidnapping mission in which he located both the culprit and the kidnapped individual. He deliberately left out the horror he had witnessed, how vast in scale the organisation truly was, and the intensity of his battle with Debro... well, he did mention his battle with Debro, but only in an underwhelming manner, and even then, he still explained it in such a way that if either of them were to take on that mission, they would most certainly die.
"Damn, you must have had it quite rough, the mission seems harder than anything you’ve ever taken," William stated, he didn’t bother asking Asher if he was okay as he was already certain that he was.
"The difficulty level is insane," Finch added as he shook his head, leaning back into his seat with a low exhale.
"Hearing about your mission, I sort of feel glad I didn’t come with you, I would probably have died a hundred times over," William stated as he sighed, mentally acknowledging the fact that he was still far from such a level of power.
Asher smiled slightly, "How about I follow you guys on a mission this time?" he suggested, already aware that they would most likely accept his proposal without much hesitation.
"Huh, why?" Finch asked, although pleased at the thought of welcoming Asher back into the group, even if temporarily, he still wanted to understand the reasoning behind it.
"Well, my mission was overwhelming, so I’ve decided to relax a bit with you guys, and since you both are going on missions, I might as well just join," Asher answered truthfully, as there was no need for deception.
His words caused William and Finch to sit in complete silence for a moment, the silence lingering briefly before William finally spoke.
"I really don’t know if I should be happy at the fact that you are joining us, or be bothered at the fact that you are using missions at our level as a form of stress relieving, laid back vacation," William intoned as every moment he seemed to spend with Asher reminded him that even though he possessed the ability to copy, he could never measure up to the monster sitting before him.
"Best not to overthink it," Finch advised as he shook his head, "but either way, it’s good to have you back," a smile appearing across his face.
"So we are four now, huh?" William stated, his tone carrying mild anticipation.
"No need to worry, I won’t be taking any shares in the points as I’m the one inserting myself where I’m not needed," Asher spoke, although he needed points, he wouldn’t cheat his friends of theirs.
"We should take the hardest missions this time since we have the strongest with us," Finch immediately suggested, his enthusiasm evident.
Asher sat in silence, looking at Finch and William as they had already begun planning what missions to carry out, their energy lively and unrestrained.
"You know, when you two came, I thought you both also came for the rumours flying around," Asher stated calmly.
Finch and William stopped talking for a moment, before William finally spoke, "We are sure the rumour is basically true, besides, you are still here, meaning everything is fine with the Wargraves, and everything is also fine within our own territories and families since you never once mentioned anything about it."
"Well... true," Asher replied as he understood the meaning behind their words. Neither Finch nor William concerned themselves with the deeper details relating to the Empire war, they weren’t from the Imperial family or any Ducal family, they were merely children of Barons, and nothing more.
With that, the group of friends, who hadn’t seen each other in over a month, continued their discussion, laughter echoing through the air as they teased one another, talking about what had been happening in their individual lives, despite all of them residing within the Star Academy, their camaraderie natural and unbroken.
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AUTHOR’S NOTE: Happy new month, everyone. I will like to say that, although Asher, Finch, and William are going on a mission, I won’t write about it; I will just skip it.
But on that note, do you all need a Thalric and Asher mission or not? Depends on you guys.
Also, it’s a new month, and this greedy author is here to ask for golden tickets, as usual. Well... if you are rich enough, a free super gift would be nice for this greedy author. Thanks for reading, love y’all.
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