Reincarnated with SSS-Rank Trait and Unique Ability-Chapter 29: Conversation with the Chief

The words hung in the air like a blade pressed to a throat.

Ares’s voice was quiet and flat, but it rang with such weight that the room itself seemed still. The Chief sat frozen, blinking slowly as the statement sank into his bones.

"You... you killed them?" he finally managed the words to come out, disbelief cracking in his tone.

Viktor glanced sideways at the boy, but said nothing. His gaze was unreadable, his silence a statement of its own.

Ares didn’t flinch. "They admitted to working with the Guild of Assassins. Anyone who sides with murderers like them deserves no mercy," he said, his voice unwavering.

The Chief’s mouth opened, then closed again. Slowly, he stood from his chair, hands pressed against the table as if to steady himself.

"Do you understand what you’ve done, boy?" he asked, voice rising—not in anger, but in dread. "The headmaster is one of the few stabilising forces in the Kingdom. He controls the academy, the merchant guilds, and half the noble houses. His influence stretches all the way to the capital."

"I know of Headmaster’s influence," Ares replied, almost shrugging it off.

"You don’t." The Chief pointed at him, frustration blooming across his weathered face. "You’ve just made yourself a target. You think those assassins were dangerous? You haven’t seen what the rest of that family can do."

Viktor stood as well, his voice low but resolute. "And what would you have had him do? Let himself be killed?"

The Chief hesitated at the words.

"I saw it with my own eyes," Viktor continued. "If Ares hadn’t acted, I and the other students would be dead."

The Chief slumped back into his chair, rubbing his forehead as if trying to erase a headache.

"This can’t get out. The Headmaster won’t stop until you’re all hunted down for this."

"I know," Viktor said quietly.

"Everyone saw you leave with the twins and come back without them. There will be questions. We’ll need answers. Soon."

A heavy silence settled over the room before the Chief spoke again. "The Headmaster won’t lay a finger on you. Not yet. Your brother’s too close with the prince—it would cause too many problems. Selene and Lucian are from noble houses, so their families will shield them..."

He turned to Ares, sorrow flickering in his eyes.

Ares saw it coming. He could already guess what the Chief was about to ask.

"I’ll go into hiding," Ares said, catching both men off guard.

A shadow passed over the instructor’s face, but he remained silent, letting the Chief take the lead in the conversation.

"Do you understand what that means?" the Chief asked. "Your identity will be gone. Anyone you meet from now on will be in danger. The Headmaster will hunt you until he gets his revenge."

"I understand," Ares interrupted, his expression firm.

The Chief sighed deeply and turned to Viktor. "You and the others leave at dawn. Leave Ares to me. I’ll make sure they don’t find him."

"Leave Ares to you?" Viktor’s brows lifted. "What do you mean?"

"He’ll go to the eastern outpost. I’ll give him a new identity. Even for the Headmaster, crossing the border and reaching that place will be difficult. It’s the last place he’ll think to look."

The instructor glanced at Ares, then back at the Chief, heavy weight behind his gaze.

Ares spoke again, cutting through the tension. "I have one request."

Both men looked to him.

"My mother. Let her know I’m alive."

"I can do that," the Chief said, nodding. "But after that, there will be no more contact. If they discover she knows, they might target her too."

Ares lingered in thought, wondering what he could possibly say in one letter before vanishing indefinitely. Still lost in that thought, he nodded.

The Chief turned to Viktor. "You should go. We don’t have long before the news spreads."

Viktor stood. Seeing this, Ares did the same, and together they moved toward the door.

"I’ll see you both at dawn," the Chief called out as they exited.

***

Outside, the air was cool and sharp. Clouds were beginning to gather over the distant mountains, painting the horizon in shifting shades of silver and steel. The wind stirred the treetops, whistling faintly through the trunks like a warning whispered by the forest itself.

Ares walked beside Viktor in silence, the weight of the meeting still pressing down on him like an invisible shroud.

But he finally broke the silence once they were far enough from the main building.

"Do you believe him?" Ares asked.

Viktor didn’t look at him. "The Chief? He believes in survival first, truth second. But he’s not a bad man. He’s had his share of clashes with the Headmaster and the Guild, so we should be able to trust him."

"Should?" Ares repeated, the doubt in that single word slicing through him like a blade.

Viktor came to a halt and turned, his expression unreadable.

"You can’t trust anyone in this world," he said quietly. "In times of war, allies are often more dangerous than enemies. At least you know where an enemy stands."

Ares frowned, puzzled. What is that supposed to mean? But Viktor offered no more.

They resumed walking.

Soon, they reached the building where Ares and the other students had been staying—an old wooden inn that housed more than just Academy wards. Inside, the air buzzed with chatter and clinking mugs, but the two didn’t linger.

Without a word, they climbed the stairs.

At the landing, Ares and Viktor exchanged a firm nod. The instructor still had to speak with the other two students. Ares, on the other hand, had to pack. If the Chief was right, he wouldn’t be coming back.

Ares let out a long sigh as he sank onto his crooked bed. The room around him felt colder than before, emptier somehow.

There was nothing left to decide. All he could do now was follow the path the Chief had set for him.