I almost laughed from the absurdly swift response I had received from the Codex.
The Codex was silent throughout the entire exchange I had with Professor Orin up until this point, but now it suddenly wants to help?
I didn't know whether to be grateful or mad.
'You mentioned you cut off my perception?'
[THAT IS CORRECT]
[USER IS NO LONGER PERCEIVING EXTERNALLY EMMITED AETHER PRESSURE]
'I see... well, I guess thank you for now.'
[SYSTEM ACKNOWLEDGES USER'S GRATEFULNESS]
The response was dry enough almost to sound smug.
'... I don't know if I would say that I gratefully—'
[SHALL THE SYSTEM SWITCH ON AETHER PERCEPTION?]
'No! No. Nope. No need. As you said, I AM VERY grateful.'
Across the room, Professor Orin's expression changed slightly for the first time since he released the pressure.
His eyes sharpened.
He had seen the change in response to the pressure he was imposing— or should I say, trying to impose on me.
'Of course, he has.'
One second, I had been visibly struggling to stay upright in the chair. Next, my breathing had become even. My shoulders had loosened, and my expression had returned to something dangerously close to what some would call composure.
The orange-yellow glow began to thin around him.
And then vanished.
He huffed once, the sound somewhere between disappointment and reluctant amusement.
"Well," he said.
The room felt strangely empty now.
He rolled one shoulder as if easing out of a stance.
"It was only meant as a harmless prank," he said casually. "I didn't actually think you'd be able to handle the pressure I gave off, but you surprisingly did."
I stared at him blankly.
'There is no chance in hell that was "only a joke", I felt like I was about to die.'
He most likely knew that's what I was thinking... or didn't care.
Or both.
He rubbed one hand lightly along the side of his neck; his posture was now much looser than it was before.
"Oh, well. Another mystery to you that needs answering, I suppose."
I said nothing.
Mostly because I wasn't yet sure whether I wanted to respond to the fact that he had just tried to crush the truth straight out of me, and then downgraded that experience into what sounded like some playful prank.
The silence that followed was different from the one earlier.
Not strategic.
Uncertain.
Professor Orin let the silence sit for a moment, then exhaled softly and said, "Look, Kael. You don't need to worry."
That line, predictably, made me worry even more.
He must have noticed, because one corner of his mouth shifted upward in the faintest sign of hilarity.
"No one else but me knows you wield dual affinities," he said.
That did not help anywhere near as much as I think he hoped it would.
'He's either telling me the truth, in the hopes of gaining my trust, or he's telling me a version of the truth that he wants me to act on, to get more information. Regardless, neither option was comforting.'
I stayed still in the chair, trying to decide which direction to respond in that would cause the least damage.
Reveal what he wants to know?
Or keep denying it?
'Maybe I could get away with saying as little as possible and try to survive just getting out of the room?'
The issue is that everything about the conversation's direction has changed. Before, I was trying to manage all the uncertainty Professor Orin was bringing to prevent any unwarranted assumptions. Still, now... now I'm just trying my best to avoid any confirmations the Professor might have. He had already said too much, seen too much, and pressed too hard. Whatever fiction I kept standing now had to be useful, not just plausible.
The Codex interrupted again.
[RECOMMENDATION: REVEAL RELEVANT INFORMATION TO SUBJECT ORIN DAVAN]
I almost closed my eyes.
'Huh? Now you're trying to be helpful?!'
[CORRECT]
'I'm not praising you!'
[IT IS STILL ACCURATE]
Despite everything, the exchange nearly pulled a scoff of laughter out of me.
Nearly.
'You weren't saying much earlier,' I thought consciously. 'When he first mentioned dual affinities, you disappeared. But now suddenly you're quick to tell me I should just reveal everything?'
The Codex responded after the briefest pause.
[NOT EVERYTHING, ONLY INFORMATION REGARDING DUAL AFFINITIES]
[THE SYSTEM ASSESSES THAT SUBJECT ORIN DAVAN HOLDS NO MALICIOUS INTENT TOWARDS THE USER]
'That is a very interesting assessment considering he almost crushed both of my lungs.'
[ADDITIONAL ASSESSMENT: EVEN DURING PRIOR PRESSURE APPLICATION, MALICIOUS INTENT WAS NOT DETECTED]
'That's ridiculous.'
Yet, it still somehow mattered.
The Codex was rarely sentimental, and I had never once seen it exaggerate trust for emotional convenience. If it was saying Professor Orin meant no actual harm, even while doing… whatever he was doing, then I had to take that possibility seriously.
Not blindly.
But seriously.
Across from me, Professor Orin was waiting now.
He wasn't pressing.
Nor was he helping.
He was simply watching me think through the wreckage of the situation.
That, more than anything, made my decision slightly easier than before.
If he'd tried to force the next step too, I would have probably resisted on instinct.
Instead, he stood there and gave me the opportunity to choose.
I let out a slow breath.
Then another.
When I finally spoke, it wasn't an admission.
Not directly.
It was the only question that mattered.
"How did you find out?"
And there it was.
A small, unmistakable smile appeared on Professor Orin's face.
Not a triumphant one.
More like the smile of a man who had just watched someone put down a weapon and considered that a sign of camaraderie.
"Finally, I'm glad you decided to tell me," he said quietly.
I didn't return the smile.
He didn't seem to expect me to.
Professor Orin moved back toward the desk and finally sat, folding one leg over the other with a degree of comfort that felt almost offensive after the last several minutes we had just had.
"During the Maze Trials," he said, "every chamber was being monitored."
I stared at him.
'That makes sense. They most likely wanted to keep a close eye on the contestants if anything had happened.'
Of course, the Academy had not simply thrown first-years into a lethal simulation and decided to trust that if anything went catastrophically wrong, someone would mention it later. Cameras, or whatever magical equivalent they used, were obvious when you think about it retrospectively.
Professor Orin continued.
"There were observation arrays built into each segment of the maze," he said. "Visual recording. Limited Aether pressure tracking. Enough for faculty review if needed."
"If needed?" I repeated.
"Yes."
I said nothing.
He rested one elbow on the arm of the chair and looked at me with the kind of open calm that made him look almost annoyingly human again.
"I had already taken an interest in you before the practical exam," he said.
That line made me feel a bit uneasy.
"What do you mean by that?"
"You were an unusual student; there was something about you that gave off an interesting vibe, one that I had not felt in a long time."
'I mean... I guess I can see where he's coming from, but it's still not reassuring nonetheless.'
He noticed my slight change in body language.
Then, perhaps mercifully, elaborated.
"You were far too precise for a first-year commoner with your background. Your theory wasn't merely good. It was selective in the way only certain kinds of minds can be. You think in structures. In corrections. In systems."
He gestured lightly.
"And then there was the special written exam that we assigned you."
Right.
There was that.
I had almost forgotten that he had been there for part of that.
Professor Orin went on.
"So yes. I was curious. When the Maze Trials began, I decided to frequently check in on your chamber."
A beat.
"I was the only one."
That helped a little.
Only a little.
He watched my face carefully.
"Do I seriously have to explain the rest to you?"
"..."
Noticing that I wasn't going to budge unless I got a full, proper answer, he said his next line with a maddening calm.
"Ok, ok, fine. It's simple, really. I saw you start the maze using Ignis magic, fighting the constructs it created. Then, I saw you fight Cyril Valenhardt using Ventus magic. If you put the two together, it becomes obvious, don't you think?"
Rational, simple, and completely devastating because it was so obvious when you actually think about it, that I immediately hated myself for not arriving at that conclusion first.
The chambers had been watching.
And he had already been interested in me.
So, he decided to check in on my performance.
Which led him to see both of my affinities.
And because I had been too focused on surviving Cyril, surviving the maze, surviving the collapse afterwards, I had somehow failed to properly account for the most basic institutional truth in the world— no, every world.
'An invigilator constantly watches every examiner'
I leaned back very slightly in the chair and stared at the desk for one long second.
Then I said, with all the dignity available to a person realising the scale of his own oversight.
"Ah…"
Professor Orin waited.
I looked back up at him, somewhere between horror and offended self-disgust.
"…I'm an idiot."
That, finally, got a real laugh out of him.