SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant

Chapter 525: Chapter 525: Awkward Encounter

Trafalgar was in his room getting ready to go out.

A little earlier he had still been under the shower, water running over his shoulders while a towel stayed wrapped low around his waist. The heat had helped more than he expected. The academy hall, the projection, Alfons walking out, hundreds of students staring at his name in first place, all of it had stayed in his head longer than he liked.

’I don’t remember the last time I went to something like a casual party,’ he thought while drying his hair. ’Not really. On Earth, sure. Back then I used to go out with my friends after finals sometimes. It’s been a long time since something like that.’

That much was true.

Back there, it had happened naturally. People finished exams, complained for a while, laughed over whatever disaster had nearly ruined them, and ended up going somewhere together because being young made that kind of thing easy. Here, something as simple as going out with friends felt strangely complicated. Trafalgar could already tell tonight would not be as quiet as he wanted it to be. Things rarely stayed simple around him for long. Fate had a bad habit of circling back whenever his guard dropped.

By the time he finished dressing, the sky outside the academy had already shifted toward evening. He adjusted the collar of his coat, gave himself one last glance in the mirror, and left his room.

The corridor outside was quiet in the way the highest floor usually was.

And, of course, Alfons was already there.

The Vaelion heir stood near the circular platform that served as the lift, waiting for it to rise back up. He was dressed well, as always. Clean lines, careful tailoring, not a single detail out of place. He looked like someone who had spent longer preparing than the situation actually required.

Trafalgar walked over without changing pace.

He did not say anything. He had no reason to. He was dressed, he was not in the mood for an argument, and he had even less interest in starting one with Alfons over nothing. So he simply stopped beside him and waited for the lift.

The silence between them settled in immediately.

It was not a pleasant silence. It had shape. Weight. The kind that made the descent feel longer before it had even begun.

A few seconds later, the circular platform rose soundlessly into place. Both of them stepped onto it, and the runes beneath their feet lit up with a faint glow before the platform began to descend.

The ride should not have taken long.

It felt endless.

The open space around them, the soft hum of mana beneath the platform, the absence of any sound except the mechanism itself, all of it stretched the moment thinner and thinner. Trafalgar kept his attention forward. Usually Alfons was the one who tried to turn this kind of silence into a blade. He was already expecting some poisoned remark by the time the platform passed the next level.

Instead, Alfons spoke without heat.

”What did you hunt?”

That made Trafalgar glance at him.

The question was so simple that it caught him off guard more effectively than an insult would have.

”A sand worm,” he answered.

Alfons said nothing after that.

He stayed facing forward, expression unchanged, though the answer had clearly landed. He knew what a sand worm meant. He had not taken second place by accident either. Whatever he had hunted, it had been enough to stand above nearly everyone in the year.

After that, neither of them spoke again.

The rest of the descent passed in the same uneasy quiet until at last the platform reached the lower floor. Trafalgar stepped off first and headed toward the building entrance without slowing. Alfons moved in another direction, leaving as cleanly as he had arrived.

That was enough for both of them.

Once Trafalgar stepped outside, the colder evening air met him at once. The campus had not gone quiet yet. Students still moved through the paths and wider roads, some heading back toward the dormitories, others taking full advantage of the freedom that came after the last exam.

His group was already waiting for him outside the building.

Xavier raised a hand first. Bartholomew stood beside Cynthia, who looked as composed as ever, though not quite enough to hide that she was more relaxed than she had been earlier. Zafira was there too, calm as usual, as if being part of a spontaneous post exam trip required no adjustment from her at all.

”Good,” Xavier said the moment he saw him. ”Now we’re all here. Ready?”

Everyone nodded in one form or another, and together they started toward the academy station.

It was the first time Trafalgar had taken a train in the opposite direction. Usually the route meant Velkaris. Work. Euclid. Family matters. Movement with purpose. This time it was different. They were leaving the academy for something lighter, heading toward a neutral city he had never visited before, simply because Xavier had decided they should.

That alone made the whole thing feel slightly unreal.

When the train arrived, they boarded the first carriage as always. The wagon reserved for people with status and influence was nearly empty tonight, occupied by only a couple of other passengers who kept to themselves and had enough sense not to intrude. Velvet seating, polished wood, warm mana lamps, and that same faint scent of expensive materials hanging in the air. The carriage looked built for comfort rather than travel.

Bartholomew was visibly not used to any of it.

He sat carefully, almost stiffly, as though the seat itself might judge him for existing on it. Trafalgar noticed without commenting. If not for him, Barth likely would not have been inside a carriage like this in the first place. At least not casually, not as a matter of course.

Outside the window, the academy began to pull away.

For a while, no one said much. The rhythm of the train filled the space between them, smooth and steady, and the ride took on the strange quiet that comes after a long day has already taken most people’s words.

It was Cynthia who broke it.

”By the way,” she said, turning slightly toward Trafalgar, ”did you and Alfons really come down together? I wasn’t expecting that.”

Trafalgar had been watching the scenery beyond the glass. He lifted his head a little and answered without much thought.

”Oh. That was just coincidence,” he said. ”I didn’t want to keep you all waiting, so I got on the lift with him.”

That was explanation enough.

No one pressed any further. Maybe because there was nothing else to ask. Maybe because the idea of the two of them sharing even a brief, quiet descent already sounded awkward enough on its own.

The rest of the trip passed without incident.

Eventually the train slowed, the motion beneath them easing as the city approached. When they stepped off, Trafalgar understood immediately why Xavier had not bothered overselling the place.

It was another neutral city, large and prosperous, with the same broad signs of wealth and magical engineering that made Velkaris feel alive at every hour. The architecture was not identical, but the scale was familiar. Wide streets, mana lamps already lit as evening deepened, busy stations, polished stone, towers catching the last light, and enough movement everywhere to make the city feel sleepless.

Trafalgar was not amazed.

At this point, the world had shown him greater things.

Even so, it was new, and that alone kept his attention on it as they moved.

Xavier clearly knew exactly where he was going. He took the lead at once, and the rest followed him through the streets. The farther they went, the easier it became to spot other academy students around them. Not just first years either. Students from all three years could be seen in the district ahead, some already in groups, some dressed a little better than usual, others laughing loudly enough to make it obvious where the night was heading.

Whatever Xavier had picked, it was not some hidden corner.

It was a place the academy knew well.

And as Trafalgar followed the others deeper into that part of the city, he had the quiet feeling that the night was only just beginning to become interesting.