General Lucas

Lucas moved his eyes to take a good look at the new girl. As a good friend of Ivan, Lucas had met her quite a few times. She had always been a well-mannered child.

'She has the same gentle look, yet…' Lucas could only sigh in his heart. 'Well, looks can be deceiving.'

"Have you witnessed the murder?" The question from the top row drew Lucas' attention to the problem in his hand.

"Yes," said Elijah in a low voice.

"Have you been on the spot? Do you have any proof of that?"

Elijah replied with a nod, "I can submit it later on."

"If you were there, why didn't you stop them?" As soon as he asked, Lucas could feel many eyes at his back, but he didn't care.

"Why should she do that? What would have happened if she had gotten injured while trying to stop them?" The response came from the side.

"Why didn't you let her stay in the room if you were so scared of her getting hurt?" Lucas flicked his head to look at Ivan, but before he could say those words, someone spoke from the last row.

"Silence." With the order, both of them turned silent. The man from the back spoke again, "Girl, do you know about his motives?"

"I'm sorry. I am not sure about it, but I think there was some kind of misunderstanding between them."

'Misunderstanding?' This is the first time that Lucas had heard of it. He wasn't sure if she was telling the truth or lying without hesitation.

'If only that little shit had accepted my call…' Lucas couldn't help but curse Aiden in his heart again. But when he looked at the girl next to Elijah, he felt that something wasn't right.

"Captain Lyla, do you know anything about that?" At Lucas' question, Lyla shuddered a little. Lucas didn't notice it, but he didn't fail to notice that Lyla looked towards her brother for a moment before she turned to Lucas.

"I don't know." There wasn't a single shard of hesitation in her voice.

'You must have known something about it.' Lucas cried in his heart, but he couldn't accuse her in the open. However, he didn't fail to notice the undercurrent.

"You have rescued some older operatives, didn't you?" One of the directors asked.

"Yes." Lyla said with a straight back, and continued, "It was Aiden who had rescued them."

"What happened to them?"

"Everything was all right until they were rescued. But after the mission was over, an 'S-graded' beast attacked them, and…" as she spoke, the screen changed behind her.

It showed pictures of a few people or something that looked like a human being. White bones were exposed from some part of their body, and if that wasn't enough, those bones were wrapped in vines and moss.

'What the hell is this?' Lucas wasn't sure what he saw. And he wasn't the only one. A shriek escaped the throat of the woman who was sitting on the other side of Lucas.

"Are they dead?" She couldn't stop herself from asking.

"No. They are all alive."

"How?" The voice was laced with surprise, and the person wasn't the only one. Everyone in the room wanted to know. "How did you escape from the S-graded beast?"

"The beast was a friend of Aiden." It was Elijah who cried out loud. As soon as her voice faded, a silence followed.

"Vice-captain! What kind of joke is that?" Lucas didn't know who asked the question, but it was the question he too wanted to ask.

"What Elijah had said is the truth." Lyla's face was still void of any expression. "The beast had said it himself."

"Ok, that's it. You can leave now." While Lucas was trying to contemplate how Aiden could do something that seemed impossible, one of the councilmen spoke from the top row.

'What the hell are you trying to hide?' Lucas frowned as the last pixel faded from the meeting room. 'It looks like the work of one from the council. No wonder the director is silent.'

Lucas decided to watch where the things are going. As the host changed the data on the screen.

[1. Aiden- 2013 Credit points; +4 Authority.

2. Lyla- 672 Credit points; +2 Authority.

3. Elijah- 532 Credit points; +1 Authority.

4. Sara- 211 Credit points; +1 Authority.]

"The list doesn't include non- officer operatives." A wave of surprised stares greeted the host. He didn't hesitate to add, "The data has been confirmed by the ESS and the Captain. There is nothing wrong about it."

"How can there be nothing wrong with it?" Lucas wasn't sure which director spoke, but he could understand where the things were heading. "Even if he had completed those missions, how can we forget that he is a murderer?"

"Huh?" All of Lucas' intention of the 'Wait & watch' tactic went down the drain with one sentence. He left the seat and went towards the host.

He wasn't sure why he was protecting a teenager. He is indeed somewhat capable and better than the average, but he wasn't a soldier that Lucas couldn't train. But for some reason, Lucas was very irritated when he heard it.

"Murderer?" Gen. Lucas couldn't help smiling thinking about it when he heard the sentence. "Isn't that what you call all the soldiers who have already served their purpose?"

"General, what are you doing?" The Director of Military Affairs' angry voice drew his attention. However, Lucas smiled at him. Even if he couldn't see the frown on the faces of the people who were sitting in darkness, he could feel it on their faces in the last row.

"Can you put the data on?" The host wasn't sure how to react as he received a set of data from Lucas, but he still put it on the screen.

"This is the list of drugs given to Aiden before the ship reached Earth. I've checked the results on humans…" Ivan was quick to avoid his eyes as soon as his eye met Lucas'.

Lucas smiled and said, "Well, we have Dr Sachi, the great mana physician, with us. Perhaps she could tell us what it is." Looking at Sachi, he said, "Dr. if you may…"

"General, what is this?" This time, it was the director of R&D again, "Is it some kind of game?"

"That's exactly what I want to know?" Lucas tried hard to keep his smile on his face, but he couldn't stop his face from twitching from time to time. "Why are you calling him a 'murderer' without hesitation?"

"What?" the director was expecting such a reaction, but he was quick to recover. He said, "The captain and vice-captain testified against him. What else do you need?"

"So we sent eight teenagers to do adult's work. When they came back, a few jealous ones accused him of being a murderer, and what should we do…" Lucas smiled brightly and said, "Of course, we should accept that he is a murderer."

"General, come to the point." An impatient voice sounded from the last row.

As the general nodded, the host changed the data on the screen. He said, "As you can see, Aiden is part of my force. And according to the rule, whether a suspect or a murderer, a soldier is always punished by the military law. So…"

"Denied." Even before Lucas put forward his proposal, they denied him. Yet Lucas just smiled. But before he could say anything, someone else spoke.

"I'm not 100% sure, but I can tell with 90% certainty that if someone follows this medication, there is a 32% chance of being diagnosed with mana poisoning." Sachi couldn't be more certain about it.

"And what if he cultivates mana following the Eastern cultivation technique and enters a high mana zone like the Earth?"

"Eastern cultivation technique? Eastern…" Sachi muttered the word a few times before she said, "He will have a 97% chance of having mana poisoning. But as he is cultivating eastern technique, then… No."

"Yes, Acute mana poisoning," Lucas said what Sachi was too scared to say.

"But there is no cure for Acute mana poisoning. How did the boy survive?" Sachi was very curious, but Lucas ignored her.

"So, I am saying that someone was trying to kill him even before he had reached Earth." Lucas smiled at Ivan and said, "I have no idea who it is, but the murder we are talking about might just be the act of defence."

He looked at the dark last row and said, "I just want to ask the councilman to give Aiden a chance to testify himself before you call him a murderer."

"24 hours." Someone from the last row said and continued, "if that boy doesn't appear within the time limit then…" The old man didn't complete his sentence as his dark body pixilated and vanished from the place.