SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant

Trafalgar finally lifted his gaze and looked at Caelum properly.

Even with the uniform, the ash-brown hair, the thinner glasses, and the posture of a perfect train waiter, there was no mistaking him. Caelum had changed just enough that an ordinary person would not question him, but Trafalgar had spent far too much time relying on the man to be fooled by a different face.

”Honestly,” Trafalgar said, keeping his voice low, ”it surprises me how well you do everything I ask of you. It’s almost impressive.”

Caelum lowered his head with perfect politeness while placing the first plates on the table.

”Your words honor me, Young Master, but it is my duty.”

Trafalgar watched him arrange the food with the hands of someone who could probably serve breakfast, slit a throat, forge a document, and disappear through three sealed doors without changing his breathing.

”We have a little time before Cynthia returns,” Trafalgar said. ”I have a question. How did you manage to get in? I doubt changing your appearance was enough.”

Caelum placed a glass of juice near Cynthia’s side of the table, then set Trafalgar’s coffee down with the same professional care.

”I took a false identity, modified several records so I would appear as secondary staff assigned to the train, and passed the checks as a last-minute substitute.” His tone stayed formal, soft enough that anyone nearby would hear only a waiter explaining the menu. ”The other waiter was unable to come to work.”

Trafalgar’s brow moved slightly.

”Unable?”

”Yes, Young Master. He could not attend his shift.”

Trafalgar stared at him for a moment.

Caelum’s face gave him nothing. Just that calm service expression that somehow made the answer worse.

”Fine. Never mind.”

”As you wish.”

Trafalgar picked up the coffee, more to have something in his hand than because he actually wanted to drink yet.

”By the way, in Aurevane we will have a lot of work to do. You already know the important part. If we find Selara’s master, we need answers.”

”I understand completely, Young Master,” Caelum replied. ”I also have everything prepared for what will happen inside the city. However, it is not certain our target will truly be present.”

”That’s true,” Trafalgar said. ”But the possibility is high enough to act as if he might be.”

Caelum inclined his head.

”Once inside Aurevane, I will use another appearance. This identity will end with the train. In the city, I will be present at several important events under a more distinguished role.”

Trafalgar’s fingers paused on the cup.

”Distinguished?”

”Enough to move through places a waiter could not enter.”

”Of course.”

”It would be inconvenient if I were limited by service corridors during the Conclave.”

Trafalgar let out a quiet breath through his nose.

”Somehow, I feel like asking what identity you prepared will only make me more tired.”

”That may be accurate.”

”Then I won’t ask.”

Caelum’s eyes lowered in what could almost have passed for approval.

”A wise decision, Young Master.”

Trafalgar leaned back slightly, giving the restaurant car a brief glance. The people nearby were eating, speaking quietly, reading documents, or watching the staff move between tables. No one seemed to pay attention to them. That meant Caelum’s disguise was working exactly as intended.

”Anything else?”

Caelum’s expression did not change, but his voice became a little more precise.

”One warning before I leave, Young Master. You should be careful during this journey. Given the train’s cargo, the number of important guests, and the value of the materials being transported, the probability of an attack is not negligible.”

Trafalgar looked at him.

”An attack on the train?”

”Yes. Not necessarily aimed at you. More likely a robbery, sabotage, or an attempt to steal from the cargo cars. There are too many valuable objects on board for criminals to ignore the opportunity completely.”

”The security is supposed to be heavy.”

”It is,” Caelum said. ”That does not make it flawless. It only means anyone attempting something will either be very prepared or very foolish. Sometimes the difference becomes clear only after the first explosion.”

Trafalgar did not like how reasonable that sounded.

”I know. Director Selara already told me this train carries too much money, too many materials, and too many famous people in one place. I’ll be careful.”

”I will also be present if anything happens.”

”Don’t act unless necessary. Observe first.”

”Understood.”

Caelum reached for the empty space near the table as if adjusting the placement of the cutlery. To anyone else, it looked like service. To Trafalgar, it was the end of the conversation.

The disguised waiter straightened.

”I will return shortly with the remaining items.”

”Right.”

Caelum left with the same calm pace he had used to arrive.

Trafalgar watched him go for a moment before lowering his attention to the coffee.

’He really is incredible.’

Caelum had told him the steps, but each step carried a mountain of preparation behind it. A false identity. Modified records. A substitute position. Passing inspection. Another identity prepared for Aurevane. All of it in two months, while also keeping track of House Morgain, Euclid, Silas, and whatever else he had deemed necessary.

’He says it like he simply changed clothes and walked in, but to do something like that in a train under Council regulation, he must have prepared a lot.’

Trafalgar’s thumb moved along the cup.

’Now the question is whether Selara’s master will really be in Aurevane. Finding him is important. What he did with that potion is not something we can ignore. If he created something capable of giving intelligence to a Void Creature, then answers from him could tell us much more than Selara’s guesses. And there may still be a connection to the Vaelion as well...’

The old master had once been tied to something ugly involving a Vaelion branch. Selara believed he had been imprisoned or removed long ago. If he was alive, if he had been moving again, then someone had either freed him, hidden him, or used him.

None of those options were pleasant.

Before Trafalgar could keep following that line of thought, Cynthia returned from the bathroom.

Her hair looked a little more arranged now.

He noticed the detail immediately. She had fixed it just enough that the loose strands from earlier no longer framed her face in the same way. It was a small thing, and he chose not to mention it, but she looked good.

Cynthia sat across from him and glanced at the table.

”Wow. They brought everything quickly, and it all looks good.”

Trafalgar lifted his coffee.

”Then let’s eat.”

The rest of the food arrived a moment later, delivered by another waiter this time. Toast, eggs, fruit, juice, coffee, and a few small sides that looked far too refined for a train breakfast. Cynthia took a bite and paused, clearly surprised.

”This is actually good.”

”Selara did say the restaurant was good.”

”Selara also said not to vomit before eating here.”

”Both statements can be true.”

Cynthia gave him a small look across the table, but there was amusement there.

They ate while the train finally began to move.

At first, the shift was barely noticeable. The stabilizing runes beneath the floor absorbed most of the movement, and the restaurant car remained steady enough that the glasses did not even tremble. Outside the long windows, the platform began sliding away. Workers became shapes. Shapes became color. Velkaris station stretched past them, then fell behind.

The speed grew gradually.

Cynthia turned toward the window with quiet fascination, watching the city disappear faster than she expected. The buildings thinned, the outer districts blurred, and soon Velkaris itself was no longer visible except as a distant suggestion behind the morning haze.

She lowered her fork slightly.

”It really moves fast.”

”And it is not even at full speed yet.”

Cynthia glanced back at him.

”That does not make me feel better.”

Trafalgar drank his coffee and let his eyes drift toward the window.

Caelum was inside.

Selara was looking for a man who should have been long gone.

Cynthia was sitting across from him, eating breakfast as if this were only an academy trip.

And somewhere in the train, there was enough money, alchemical material, noble arrogance, and hidden cargo to make the entire journey more fragile than it looked.

Outside, Velkaris had already vanished from sight, while breakfast arrived warm, expensive, and far calmer than the rest of the journey had any right to be.