After taking my seat, I first picked up a delicately shaped tea pastry, tasting it carefully before swallowing it.
My taste buds indeed sensed the corresponding texture and flavor, but once it fell into my stomach, there was no matching feeling of fullness, just like inside the Box of Shitten.
"Hehe, how is it? The sweets Nagisa personally made have managed to simulate real flavors, haven't they? Even after staying in a dream for so long, it still makes one feel nostalgic,"
Seia said with a gentle smile as she looked at me.
I nodded. "Nagisa really is skilled, whether it's black tea or tea pastries."
"My, my. That tone of yours, it seems that during the time I was detached from worldly affairs, you have already met with Nagisa privately quite a few times."
"Nothing of the sort," I retorted righteously. "It was clearly all for official business."
"Hehe, is that so? Well then, let's just take it as that, shall we?"
Seia spoke those strange words with a knowing smile. It was slightly irritating, yet also made one feel subtly guilty for no clear reason.
I brushed past that topic. "Let's get straight to the point, Seia. What is your current situation? Are you unable to leave the dream?"
"It is not that I cannot, but that I should not, or perhaps that I am unwilling."
"...In other words, you can actually wake up at any time?"
"You may think of it that way," Seia replied calmly. "But at present, I still have a reason to remain here. So if the purpose of your visit is to bring me back to reality, then I can only offer my apologies to you, and to Knight Captain Mine, who has been carefully looking after me all this time while enduring solitude."
Something that must be done within the dream, and without even the leeway to wake up midway to pass some information to Mine…
Or was it simply because there was no need?
Regardless, now that I knew Seia's continued coma was not due to some injury undetectable by medical means, but rather a choice she herself had made, my most basic concern had already been resolved.
I then asked the second issue I cared about most.
"Then, regarding the identity of the person who attacked you…"
"The one who commits the sin is never the blade that wounds, but the hand that wields it."
So the meaning was that the executor was merely an insignificant pawn, while the true mastermind who planned to kill Seia remained hidden in the shadows, their identity unknown?
I continued, "Then about the one pulling the strings, do you have any guesses?"
Across the long table, I fixed my gaze on Seia's eyes. "If you have any suspected individual, please be sure to tell me."
Whoever intended to murder Seia and cast my important student into this state, no matter who it was, I would make them pay the appropriate price.
Even if they were a fellow student, I would never forgive them lightly.
Seia held my gaze for a long time before speaking slowly. "Just as I mentioned to you before, although I can see visions of the future in dreams, this ability is not something I can control at will. Each time, I can only see fragmented, broken pieces."
"So that's why you've been staying in the dream all this time?"
"Hmm."
Seia shrugged noncommittally.
At first glance, there seemed to be no issue. But for someone as intelligent as Seia to not even have a single suspect…
Was it that she truly could not think of anyone at all, or that she was unwilling to follow that line of thought?
Even I hoped it was the former, while fearing I might end up being the latter.
After a moment of silence, I asked again, "In that case, regarding the reason you were attacked, do you have any leads?"
Just as I thought I would return empty-handed once more, Seia closed her eyes and spoke after careful consideration.
"...The Eden Treaty."
"...So it is as I thought?"
Understanding the meaning of those words, I could not help but smile bitterly.
This truly was the worst possible scenario.
No wonder Seia could not even think of a suspect for the time being. At least it was not that she had already concluded there was a traitor within Trinity, or even within the upper ranks of the Tea Party.
If it really was to sabotage the Eden Treaty…
Then the range of possible culprits was wide enough to encompass all of Kivotos.
"At its core, the so-called Eden Treaty is an agreement to no longer hate one another. The near blood-feud level of hostility that has long existed between Trinity and Gehenna, it draws a period at the end of that. In order to eliminate the hatred that could only continue to accumulate due to mutual distrust, it serves as the process of beginning to build a new relationship of trust in its place."
Seia paused here. "Simply put, it is a peace agreement between Trinity and Gehenna."
The relationship between Trinity and Gehenna could indeed be described as being like oil and water.
Aside from a small number of rational, peace-loving, or indifferent students, most students from the two academies held prejudice against each other due to historical reasons.
If the treaty were successfully signed, and these two hostile forces truly shook hands and made peace, eliminating conflicts born of hatred, it would undoubtedly become an important milestone in the history of Kivotos.
But the problem was, what would happen after the treaty was signed?
The Eden Treaty could safeguard the interests of all Kivotos, but would the new behemoth born from it swell to an uncontrollable degree, becoming a threat that left many people unable to sleep or eat in peace?
Originally, not to mention the subsequent impact, even the drafting of this treaty itself would have been nothing more than a pipe dream.
However, all opposition and doubt were completely transformed into silence and approval under one person's authority and skill.
The GSC President.
Still that incomparably mysterious woman, capable of persuading Trinity and Gehenna to set aside their hatred, and capable of making everyone sincerely believe that she could quell all the turmoil born from this treaty, guiding the two academies into a new era without deviating from the right path, achieving a perfect ending that satisfied everyone.
Only…
"Only, with the disappearance of the GSC President as the turning point, this treaty lost all meaning."
Seia said calmly.
Thinking about it now, could it be that even the disappearance of the GSC President was part of the conspiracy?
Just how vast, how terrifying a vortex had I been swept into?
Taking a deep breath, I used this meaningless action within the dream to try to calm myself.
Then I asked, "If that's the case, why would someone still target you, Seia, for this reason?"
"The GSC President has indeed disappeared, but that does not mean that the two academies which, under her guidance, have already reached a consensus and begun operating toward this goal, will simply stop. Unless…"
Seia sighed. "As you can see, one of the academies' representatives, due to force majeure, is no longer able to serve as a signing party to the treaty."
For a moment, the entire scene fell into silence.
Only after a long while did a strained voice squeeze out from my mouth.
"In other words, the next one is…"
Seia closed her eyes and said nothing, only nodding slightly.