Chapter 149 Acting

Of course Galen couldn't very well spill this information. He hadn't gotten to be president by simply going around spilling information that was supposed to stay hidden. No, Galen had chosen (very wisely) to keep this information under wraps. There was so much he didn't understand about that. Anyone on the outside who chanced upon this information would assume a lot of things. One of those being; Val had hired some outside mercenaries to help his inept nephew.

But then again, there wasn't any way to find out for sure. Hence, his decision to keep it under wraps. It wasn't really a good idea of meddle with the Marquis' family affairs. It also wasn't a good idea to keep information hidden from the princess. After all, he didn't really lie. He just kept part of the truth to himself till he could find out the whole picture. Lying to a royal was a dangerous gambit. But Galen had been in this game too long to not know how to play it.

Unknown to Galen, he was overthinking the whole thing. He was far from what was on the princess' mind. Without even realizing it, she bore open her own line of thought to him, making clear what her exact priorities were;

"I'm sure you have it all under control mister president, this isn't your first rodeo. I have no doubt that the mysterious students are as powerful as you say they are. But as I said earlier on, I am not interested in any other candidate. The Yamata family line is unique, and as such, I am looking forward to their prodigy."

Galen digested her every word. It all made sense now! Rachel had made clear from the beginning what her feelings were towards the Yamata girl. And he, in a bid to present a much worthy candidate, had completely ignored her own choiced candidate. This had led to the princess' attack on the mysterious trio, even going as far as threatening the job of the person in charge of security.

The whole thing had been a veil. Rachel had simply been lashing back at him for trying to say that her choice wasn't valid. Even though she was a princess, she was also still very much a young lady, and she was used to her opinions being treated like they weren't valid. Rachel hadn't been gunning for him after all, she had only been trying to put out the fact that she didn't care about any other candidate other than the one she had set her thoughts on- the Yamata girl.

Galen was glad that this was it. The princess had handled herself beautifully, even though it was against a non existent threat. So, in order not to exacerbate the matter any further, he did the needful- the old man acquiesced to her opinion;

"Once again, you're right princess. The Yamata lineage is indeed an extraordinary one."

Back in Zavier's dorm room, the conversation had taken a completely different turn, and it was in a direction that Zavier was trying to avoid.

"I am telling you Kacie, people are talking about those three high school students! They are the most powerful students in the world!"

"Don't be silly Nadia, the world is a pretty huge place. No one can possibly know that for sure..."

Nadia stubbornly persisted in a manner that was consistent with her personality as the stubborn one; "How can you say that?! Didn't you watch the same battles I did? Those three aren't anywhere near the level of any other team! The others might as well just pack up and leave now!"

Kacie nodded her head thoughtfully; "You have a point there. But the statistical probability of having three of such powerful students in one area, much less in the same school, is almost impossible. Something's not right here."

Nadda rolled her eyes. "Wow Kacie, you managed to suck the fun out of a casual argument."

"What?"

The younger one lifted up her hands defensively, "I'm not attacking you or anything. But when you come at me with words like 'statistical probability' you just sound all nerdy."

"You're just a kid. You can't understand deep conversations like this."

Nadia retorted; "Hey! Take that back!"

"Whatever. It doesn't change the fact that those mysterious students are a real enigma, and no one seems to know anything about them."

"Well that's not really true. One thing we do know about them is that they kick some serious ass!"

Kacie rebuked her; "Nadia! Watch your language!! Remember you're a lady for heaven's sake!"

"Okay! Okay! My bad about that Kacie. There's just so many rumors flying around about them you know. I even heard someone saying something about them being aliens, or some secret government experiment."

"That's preposterously absurd."

"I know right! All the freshmen are jittery about this trio, everyone has their own theory. Trust me, it's crazy out there. No one knows remotely anything about their real identities!"

At this juncture, Nadia noticed that it had just been her and Kacie contributing to the conversation all along. Zavier had been notably quiet all through. It was as if he had retreated to a world of his own. Nadia decided to pick his brain.

"Zavier you've been awfully silent about this rather controversial issue. What do you think about these mysterious high school students?"

Kacie had also been acutely aware of Zavier's silence. Of course she had assumed that he was probably too tired to contribute. So, she reprimanded Nadia again for disturbing him;

"I have told you to let Zavier be. He doesn't need any stresss or nagging right now."

"But I didn't do anything to stress him! I only asked for his opinion on this clearly controversial matter. Surely that's not too much to ask for?"

Kacie kept her peace. She was also secretly yearning for Zavier's take on this juicy matter, but she was also conscious of the fact that he didn't need any kind of stress now.

All eyes turned to Zavier. This was the moment he had been dreading for a while. He couldn't very well come out in the open and blatantly tell them the truth. It was very likely the truth would cause them brain damage or permanently alter their perception of him. He had been hoping to avoid this conversation with them, but as it was, they clearly wanted his take on the matter. It was perfectly normal for them to do so, and he in turn had to act as normal as possible.

So, Zavier made a great display of pretending to mull over the whole situation. He furrowed his eyebrows and willed his face into a stern expression. Giving off the impression that he was in deep thought. Actually, he had anticipated that this question would arise eventually. He just hadn't expected it to be from Nadia and Kacie. So, he had concocted something ahead of time that would offset the demand for his own answer to the question.

It had to be brilliant, it had to be thoughtful, and it had to be catchy enough to make it look legitimate. So, after some time of pretending to think it over, Zavier finally gave the girls what they wanted;

"First off, there's this general assumption that those three are students..."

His opening was catchy. He could see it in Nadia's longing eyes, and Kacie's bated breath. It was just enough for him to know that they were hooked. After a brief pause, he continued;

"I think that's a very flawed conception. And because this base is flawed, I believe every other theory that has been built on this premise is not just wrong, but blatant rubbish."

As he spoke, it felt like Kacie's and Nadia's eyes were being opened for the first time. Zavier thoroughly enjoyed the looks on their faces as he led them farther and farther away from the truth. Pretending to analyze this further, he continued down this path of lies;

"Think about it guys. No, really- think about it! A band of extraordinarily powerful students just happen to show up, and no one knows their names or faces, or even where they came from? Sounds extremely sketchy if you ask me."

"So what then?" Kacie asked eagerly, "You think they're some kind of mercenaries or something?"

Zavier shook his head thoughtfully. "No. Not mercenaries- lecturers."

He watched through their eyes as the bomb he had just detonated exploded in their brains. Even now, he knew that there was probably a ton of questions flying around in their minds as they struggled to wrap their heads around this theory. Before they could bombard him with more questions, he began to ease them down the alley of his suspicions.

"If you look at it from a much higher perspective, you will be able to see that this entire purpose is targeted at testing freshmen. In my opinion, I think someone very clever among the school's upper management came up with the idea to introduce a set of lecturers disguised as students. This set of extremely 'powerful' students would then wreak havoc amongst the regular freshmen, making it difficult to assemble together. Hence, the true purpose of this exercise; to test the general level of cooperation amongst the freshmen."

Zavier's words fell like dew on an already parched ground. Kacie and Nadia gobbled it all up instantly. It all made sense to them! Especially with the way and tone with which Zavier had narrated his own opinion. Who could have understood it better other than someone who had been in actual battle with them? It had to be Zavier! No wonder he had been so quiet since. Without even realizing it, the both of them had been sucked into the vaccum of a well scripted lie.