"Makes a lot of sense." Silas nodded along with Virginia, who were both back on the private room after their respective tests. About an hour had passed by now, half of which Aris spent quietly sulking before Silas first appeared, followed by Virginia who had also finished her specialized test.
Interestingly enough, Silas had also climbed up in rankings. The man was now a fully fledged High A rank, just half a rank below Aris and Virginia.
Virginia, meanwhile, looked exhausted after her test. Naturally, the examination to determine the nature of an S rank was quite tiring, so nothing was really out of place. Aris would soon have to go through the same test himself, which he was not looking forward to.
In a nutshell, everything was proceeding as smoothly as it could.
So naturally, the attention fully turned towards Aris's evaluation.
"So," Silas leaned in forward. "What happens now?"
"What happens to what?" Aris shot him a look, doing his best to keep the irritation out of his voice.
"What happens to you." He paused, taking his time with the words. "What are you going to do about getting an S rank evaluation."
Aris shifted in his seat, not exactly sure himself.
"Considering your status as an independent awakened, you'll most likely get hounded by recruiters the moment you step outside this building." Virginia chimed in, "I'm somewhat lucky in that regard, my family has claim over me. So i don't need to worry about drafting."
Silas nodded, "You also have an active contract with Gareth's cohort. Whats going to happen to that?"
Aris looked at him for a long moment, then at Virginia, then shifted his gaze to the space between them. Despite his relatively calm front, there was a lot going on inside his head, carefully sifting through all the options he has in order for him to end up at a relatively painless solution.
A faint frown creased his lips.
It was not looking very likely, the possibility of playing this off as a fluke.
"I don't really know," He said finally, sinking further into the couch he was laying in, "I want the money from the clearings so I'll participate until the contract is over."
He took a moment to think.
"As for the recruitment, I'll just.."
A long moment of hesitation.
Then he groaned when he realized he didn't even know what he was going to say.
"I don't know."
"Figures." Virginia chuckled.
Silas turned to the woman, a concerned look on his face. "Has he always been like this?"
She shrugged. "Basically yeah,"
Outside the private room, the ordinary sounds of the association building continued. Footsteps in corridors, the distant administrative hum of an institution processing its daily business, completely indifferent to the conversation happening on the other side of this door.
The three of them let the silence hang between them for a while, the weight of the situation truly settling in as they continued their conversation.
"I'll need to find a manager." Aris said, straightening, finally coming to the decision that sulking was not going to get him anywhere. "Do you have anyone i can borrow?"
Virginia considered the question for a moment, her weary eyes studying one of the paintings in the room.
"I have Lyra."
Aris blinked.
"Lyra works for you?"
"We hired her after the incident" She hesitated. "Well, it was mostly my insistence. I would have her rather work for us than someone else."
The silence that settled had a different texture than any of the ones before.
Lyra was a ghost of his past, a shard of the history that he didn't want to let close, lest it cut him again. However, the current situation took precedence over that, and he needed a manager, someone he can trust. So if Lyra was the only choice, then Lyra it was going to be.
"I'll take her," He straightened in his seat, looking at Silas. "We're changing our plans for today, you're going to help me move."
Silas opened his mouth to say something, no doubt a stupid comment, only to get interrupted by Virginia.
"You can crash at my place if you want, i can convince father to house you until things quite down."
"Thanks, but I'll decline." He shook his head, "I'd rather not get in even bigger trouble, i can find an apartment in the Crown District."
The Crown was going to be his safest choice in finding a new residence, he was confident in Lyra's abilities to negotiate her way into a nice home. Plus, considering that his status as an Ashborne was out now, he didn't need to shy away from using his family's bank account to do whatever he want.
Well, there was that.
He was filthy rich now.
At least something was going his way.