Aethernea : Soulbound [Book 1]

Episode 70 - Mana Crystallization

Previously:

After receiving the damage report from Deora Thayn and Zerel Reysic, Eruan Arite is left alone in his room contemplating the problem of Elaru Wayvin. On his desk lays a report on Elaru Wayvin and the "murder" incident. Eruan Arite finds Elaru's face familiar.

* * *

Did he see this redhead before somewhere?

Eruan Arite had an impeccable memory. If he had seen the girl before, he would have surely realized it, if not remembered where he had seen her. Yet, he was sure only of one thing – this was the first time he saw her face.

Which meant that the sense of familiarity should be caused by the resemblance of her face to someone he knew.

Yet, no matter how he searched his memory, he couldn't come up with the face of a person that this redhead reminded him of.

He even tried concentrating on specific features. Such as her hair and skin color. There was, indeed, several people he knew quite well that had a matching hair and skin color, but that's where the similarity ended. No matter how he looked at the girl, her face didn't resemble those individuals at all, not to mention that her race was wrong.

If he covered the rest of her face and looked just at her eyes, the sense of familiarity grew, but at the same time, he couldn't point out a single person with eyes like those.

The more he thought about it, the more puzzled he became. Perhaps her features were in the exact boundary of being similar enough to invoke the sense of familiarity while being different enough for him to be unable to point out who they reminded him of?

Eruan shook his head. Was this matter really worthy of his time? For all he knew Elaru Wayvin's looks could be just a façade. Not her true appearance.

Regardless, he could just ban her from participating in the exams, and the matter would be dealt with.

Or would it?

What if, later on, it turned out that he banned her without just cause? That he pinned the blame on her that wasn't hers to bear?

And what if the face he was looking at was indeed her real appearance? What if his subconscious mind was trying to tell him that remembering who she reminded him of was important? That remembering would allow him to pinpoint her origin. And that her origin was important?

If I ban her, would that draw out the person standing behind her in the shadows?

Or would that... just make her disappear?

Eruan's frown deepened.

"Icya... Tell me, does this face remind you of someone?"

He could feel his vice-principal frowning deep in thought. "I'm not sure. Perhaps... Vaguely it reminds me of..."

She didn't need to continue. Eruan could tell who she was referring to. "Ignore the hair and skin color. Concentrate on the face."

"The lips are also similar..."

Eruan closed his eyes and sighed. He could tell that his vice-principal also felt a sense of familiarity, but it was much less potent than his. It was so slight that it might as well not be there.

She couldn't help him with this matter.

Eruan Arite rubbed his tired eyes and sighed again. Ban or not to ban?

Eruan's mind suddenly cleared. I don't make uninformed decisions. The optimal course of action would be postponing the final decision until I have more information on the matter.