Cæ nodded with a solemn severity as he accepted her words with a hint of appreciation.
He was glad that she didn't patronize him by treating him like a child who didn't know what he was doing. Cæ knew exactly what he was doing, what it entailed, and what the consequences for it were if he got caught.
And he wanted it nonetheless.
The only reason that he hadn't sought out the answer before was that he couldn't, not because he had forgotten about Lilia or the accident that ruined his life and killed the one person who made him feel like the world wasn't all that bad.
He would exact his vengeance and unleash the festering hatred and rage within his heart.
For that, he needed the name, and that was beyond his reach because apparently, whoever had killed him was somehow able to bury the investigation and even keep the police officer a whole half year after it happened.
That wasn't something that an ordinary truck driver could do. While bribery was far from abnormal in Elendir, it was still extremely punishable in court, and anything suspicious going on at the local levels was likely to draw the attention of central investigation agencies that would undoubtedly look for corruption in abnormal law enforcement activity.
In other words, burying an investigation that involved the death of a person was not something that one could get law enforcement to do with cheap money. In fact, it was safe to say that money by itself was not enough.
One needed power to get away with murder.
That was what confused Cæ.
How on Alaria did a simple truck driver manage to have that kind of power?
He didn't know.
Regardless, he needed the files on the investigation, which were locked away from him. He was certain that Headmistress Lenolia had the power to get her hands on the document, and her promise to do so largely proved him right.
"Thank you, Madam," Cæ replied with a slightly calmer tone. "I appreciate this."
"I am only paying my dues, Mr. Cæ," she smiled at him softly. "After all, you have managed to identify and recruit a whopping ninety-three additional elite talents from across the slums. This may not seem like much in the face of the student body, but a hundred additional talents for our branch alone will definitely impact our performances and academics."
Cæ shrugged lightly. "We have a few more days left, but yes, it has been a brilliant success of a program. Especially when you account for how little time we had to prepare for it."
The program had been announced two months ago when he graduated from the apprentice program after just one academic year, just ten months.
In the span of two months, he had fleshed out a plan and a system of protocols before rapidly preparing for everything in just one month. Then, across the span of a month, they had aggressively covered two districts a day across half of the slums, and even three a day after the Headmistress expanded their operations.
These two months were the busiest that Cæ had ever been in his entire life.
From managing and leading the talent acquisition program to handling Trinity Housing's business operations as well. He had been swamped with work almost every second of the day for two months straight.
And now, there were only a few days left in the talent acquisition program, and he truly couldn't wait to be done with it.
"You can wash your hands of this business now, you know?" Headmistress Lenolia offered. "I had you lead this venture because of your great practical life experience in the slums. I essentially wanted you to show us how you would do it, and my staff and administration have already thoroughly documented all the planning and strategizing, as well as all the protocols and the structure of your operations. Even without you, they will ensure that the operations flow as they have now. In fact, we won't need you to personally lead each operation into the slums anymore."
The modus operandi that Cæ had created would now serve as the template for all future talent acquisition programs in the slums from the Elendir Institute of Magic. That was what she sought from him: a blueprint for the future.
"…You're right, Headmistress," Cæ stirred in thought where he stood. "I don't really need to be a part of the mission anymore, and I certainly don't need to be a part of its security force anymore. However, I think I will partake one last time tomorrow."
She raised an eyebrow. "Is there something special tomorrow?"
The air grew a little heavy as his eyes sharpened.
She caught on to subtle shifts in his body language that indicated the answer to her question.
He exhaled deeply. "Tomorrow we're going to district one-hundred and twenty-eight. It is a rather dangerous district, known as the Graveyard in the slums, because it is among the most dangerous districts in the slums because it is the nexus of districts with particularly dangerous gangs that often have their little gang wars in that district. I wanted to see what it was like now because…"
His tone grew more serious. "…It's the place where I grew up."
Vivid flashes of the past passed through his mind as he thought about his childhood in the godforsaken district.
It made him feel truly surreal about where he was in life.
She gazed at him with a serious expression. "…I see. Very well then."
"Once this is over, I suppose much of our agreement will be finally concluded, Headmistress," he remarked with a knowing tone.
"It's for the better," she closed her eyes with a soft smile. "It has been a fruitful exchange, but I do not wish to take away from you any more of your time and focus. Soon, you will commence your Senior Program, and that will undoubtedly take a lot of your time, I can assure you."
Cæ nodded. "I am aware. Once I get involved with my senior program, I intend to withdraw a little from my businesses and focus on my magicademics."
He didn't intend to be immersed in Trinity Housings his entire life. While he had indeed grown attached to the company, it simply didn't have the scope for great expansion in terms of profits to get him to where he needed to be, although it had indeed given him a wealthy foundation of capital.
However, if he wanted to get anywhere near the kind of power that he sought to change the world, he would need to get on with many more commercial ventures. Thankfully, he knew that this was going to happen from the very start, which was why he had gotten someone on board from the very start with just that intention: Feidin.
He, along with Seliphaz, was undoubtedly going to lead the company to high heights.
That didn't mean he was going to be entirely detached from it, of course, but he wasn't going to spend every single day at headquarters from this point on, although he did intend to keep track and continuously talk with the two of his business partners to make sure that they were all the on the same page.
There were also going to be instances when Trinity Housings would run into speed bumps or face competition in the future, which was when Cæ would step back in and take leadership to update their commercial strategy as best as he could.
Until then, he intended to scout for more ideas and focus on improving his magical mastery.
"You might want to focus on preparing for the Magic Contest right about next year," she remarked. "After all, with your talent in magic, you should be able to perform spectacularly and earn yourself a good reputation in the eyes of scouts."
"Ah…" Cæ murmured. "Right. Magic Contest."
He hadn't even given it any thought since he was swamped with so many different matters.
He wasn't the most excited for this event since he wasn't sure how much it contributed to his goals and ambitions.
Since he wasn't interested in being employed by anybody, the gains and benefits that usually had the entire campus and even much of the magicademic sector in Elendir pumped and excited for the event weren't of much allure to him.
"Hmmm…" he pondered in thought. "I might consider it. I suppose there is some merit to the positive reputation that would come from achieving success in it."
To a certain extent, it was the same as with the student council.
Having that on his resume was undoubtedly a huge merit. Especially having the credit of having led an entirely brand-new and controversial program to complete success. If he gained the fame that came from being a winner in this contest, then it would probably be much easier to earn the trust of important people in the future.
"I was intent on participating originally," Cæ remarked with a slightly more eager tone. "However, I might take it more seriously now."
She raised her eyebrow with a hint of surprise. "I must admit that your energy for this event is remarkably muted. I didn't think that you were this devoid of any excitement for something that all your peers and other students in the magicademy were particularly hyped about, sometimes for years ahead of time."
The Magic Contest was held only once during the Elendir Mana Festival, which celebrated the power of magic once every three years, as opposed to being an annual holiday.
Cæ was aware that it was an event of significance, having first experienced it well after he was deep in his adolescence, after getting the job of waiter at Selvig's Ristorante.
It was indeed a truly massive festival that charged the atmosphere of the entire nation for a week.
"…I was exposed to the festival and everything associated with it very late in my life." His tone was solemn. "It doesn't carry the same meaning for me as it does for everyone in the inner city. It simply doesn't exist in the slums."
The slums didn't have any magic.
The people had very little mana because they had very little magicapita and there was no magitechnology of any kind either. Thus, they didn't celebrate because they had nothing to celebrate whatsoever.
Cæ had mixed feelings about all of this at this stage in his life.
On one hand, he had come to truly love and enjoy magic as a passion unlike any other he had ever had in his entire life.
On the other hand, he also didn't particularly like how much magic contributed to the state of affairs that he wanted to destroy from the very bottom of his heart.
"Well, I'll spend more time pondering about it when the Magic Contest actually comes, mam." He shrugged lightly. "For now, I just want to go at it with one final day in the talent acquisition program and put an end to this brief but extremely intense chapter of my life and move on to focus on other commercial ventures and honing my magic skill."
"Very well then," she nodded with a soft smile. "I will let you know when I learn about the information that you sought."
It wasn't long before Cæ departed from her office amicably.
Their little partnership had been hectic and stressful, and although it had yielded outcomes that were positive overall, he had to admit that he never wanted to get into a partnership with the shrewd and crafty Headmistress ever again.
For now, he simply wanted to complete his commitments before moving on to the next phase of his life.