SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant-Chapter 489: The God of War [IV]

"First, you stop thinking only about survival." 𝕗𝐫𝐞𝕖𝕨𝐞𝗯𝚗𝕠𝘃𝐞𝚕.𝐜𝗼𝚖

Dravok said it while looking at Trafalgar.

Trafalgar held his gaze without giving ground. "Then speak clearly."

Dravok took a slow drink before setting the glass down again. "There is something I intend to prepare. It will take time. Two years if things move well. Three if they don’t."

"For what?" Rhosyn asked at once.

"For what comes after," Dravok replied. "And for what will be needed when the seal weakens further. I won’t explain all of it today. Not because I enjoy keeping secrets, but because there is no use laying every stone on the table before the foundation is ready."

Then his eyes moved from Trafalgar to the others.

"Rhosyn, I will need your help."

She did not look surprised for long. "With what exactly?"

"Your class," Dravok said. "Your class is highly effective for what I want to do. The ability to touch dimensions, transitions, and things of that kind is exactly what I need."

That made her go quiet for a second before she asked, "How do you know about my class?"

Dravok’s expression barely shifted. "I knew you in those days, so there are quite a few things I know about you. Don’t concern yourself with that for now. I’ll explain the details later. I don’t want Trafalgar wasting his attention on this when he should be focused on what belongs to him."

Trafalgar spoke before Rhosyn could answer. "I don’t think you need to worry about me."

Dravok looked back at him. "Really?"

"Yes, really." Trafalgar’s voice stayed even. "What you asked of me is actually simple enough. It’s what I’ve already been doing for a while now. I only need to keep moving the way I have been. So no, you don’t need to concern yourself with that. I stopped wanting to merely survive some time ago."

For the first time since the conversation turned in that direction, Dravok looked genuinely surprised.

Beside Trafalgar, Rhosyn glanced at him once, and Caelvyrn’s mouth curved faintly, as if that answer had pleased him far more than he intended to show.

After that, Dravok looked at Caelvyrn.

"And I will need yours as well."

Caelvyrn let out a faint breath through his nose, half amused. "You vanished for centuries, and the first thing you do when we meet again is put work in my hands."

"If I wanted comfort, I would have called someone else."

Caelvyrn smiled at that. "Good. I was starting to worry you had changed."

Dravok did not answer that immediately. His fingers rested against the side of the glass for a moment before he said, "What I want to prepare will not be something ordinary. It will take time, precision, and the cooperation of people I can still rely on. That is why I need both of you."

Then his gaze returned to Trafalgar again.

"And that is why, while the three of us prepare what must be prepared, you will continue with your own path exactly as you said."

Trafalgar held Dravok’s gaze for a moment longer, then asked, "And after that?"

Dravok did not look away. "After that, when everything is ready, I will train you myself."

For the first time in a while, Trafalgar looked genuinely surprised. It did not show much on his face, but it was there. "You will train me personally?"

"Yes."

"When?"

Dravok took another drink before answering. "Not yet. It is still early for that. First, Rhosyn and Caelvyrn will help me prepare what I need. Until then, your task does not change. You finish the academy. You keep building your name. You make use of the world as it exists now instead of rejecting it like a fool."

Trafalgar listened without interrupting.

Dravok continued in the same even tone. "The academy matters in this era whether I like it or not. Influence matters. Visibility matters. The place you hold in the eyes of others matters. You still have two years left there. Use them well."

Trafalgar leaned back slightly. "So after two years."

"More or less." Dravok’s fingers rested against the glass. "If what I want goes smoothly, that will be enough. If it doesn’t, then perhaps three. It depends on how long it takes to shape a place fit for what I have in mind."

That made Rhosyn’s eyes narrow faintly. "A place?"

Dravok glanced at her. "Something closed. Something separated from ordinary space. That is all you need for now."

Rhosyn stayed quiet for a second, then asked, "And that’s why my class is necessary?"

"Yes."

That answer made her go more serious than before. By now, even she could tell this was not some vague idea he had been carrying around for centuries out of habit. He had thought about it. Planned around it. Measured what he lacked and who he needed.

Caelvyrn gave a low hum, the first real sign of interest he had shown since Dravok began speaking of preparation. "Now that sounds troublesome enough to be worthy of you."

Dravok looked at him. "You can refuse, if you want."

Caelvyrn’s smile returned at once. "No. You know very well that saying it like that only makes me more curious."

"It should," Dravok said. "Because if I am asking for your help after all this time, then it is not for something trivial."

Caelvyrn let that sit for a moment before giving the smallest nod. "Fine. Then this time, we are allies."

"This time," Dravok said, "you will act like one."

A faint breath left Caelvyrn through the nose, halfway between amusement and acceptance. "How commanding."

Then Dravok looked back at Trafalgar.

"So yes. When that part is complete, I will take you myself." His pale green eyes stayed on him, direct and steady. "And by then, I expect you to have made those years worth something."

Dravok turned his head slightly. "And you."

Vivienne straightened at once.

Dravok looked at her the same way he had looked at the others, but there was something more familiar in it, the kind that came from years rather than minutes. "You will go to the academy as well."

Vivienne blinked.

For once, she looked completely unprepared. "What?"

"You heard me."

She stared at him as if waiting for the rest of the sentence to turn into a joke. It did not.

Dravok took another slow drink before continuing. "You’ve been with me since I picked you up. At this point, your social skills are nearly nonexistent. You need people around you. Structure as well. I already enrolled you. You will start next year from second year."

Vivienne’s face changed immediately.

"There is a problem..." she said, and for the first time since entering the bar, she looked genuinely nervous in a way that had nothing to do with the Void Creatures or Primordials.

Dravok’s eyes stayed on her. "What problem?"

Vivienne opened her mouth, then closed it again.

She clearly did not want to answer.

Trafalgar looked at her for a second, then spoke before she could keep struggling with it. "She pretended to be the sister of a friend of mine to get close to me. The adopted son of the headmistress, to be exact."

Vivienne looked like she regretted staying in the room.

Dravok turned his head toward her again, and this time the look he gave her lost even the little patience it had before.

"You did what?"

Vivienne looked like she wanted the ground to open beneath her. "I needed a way to approach him."

Dravok kept looking at her for a second.

Then, unexpectedly, he laughed, it was enough to show real amusement.

"After everything I taught you, this is the mistake you make?" He leaned back slightly, still looking at her with that faint, disbelieving amusement. "Your class lets you borrow identities. Slip into shapes that could exist, lives that could fit, roles people would accept if they saw them in front of them. And with all of that, you chose to become the sister of someone close to him. Worse, someone close to the headmistress."

Vivienne lowered her eyes. "At the time, it seemed like the fastest option."

"The fastest," Dravok repeated. "Yes. And one of the clumsiest."

Of everyone at the table, Vivienne was the only one who looked as if she would rather be anywhere else.

Dravok’s amusement faded after a moment, though not completely. "No wonder you’ve been nervous."

Trafalgar glanced at Vivienne once, then at Dravok. "She’ll be starting next year?"

"Yes."

"In second year?"

"Yes."

That made Trafalgar pause for a second longer than before. "So we’re the same age."

Vivienne looked even less pleased by that being said aloud.

He had not expected it. The way she carried herself made her seem different from that, a little older than him perhaps.

After a short silence, Trafalgar spoke again. "Actually, you can come with me today."

Vivienne looked at him immediately.

Rhosyn did too, though she seemed to understand faster where he was going with it.

Trafalgar continued, "I’m going somewhere later. Rhosyn will be there. Xavier too. We can explain what happened properly before this becomes more annoying than it needs to be."

Vivienne hesitated. "You really think that will help?"

"It’ll be better than letting it sit there," Trafalgar said. "And if you’re going to the academy anyway, then this is something you’ll have to deal with sooner or later."

Dravok gave a small nod. "Good. Then that is settled."

Vivienne let out a quiet breath, though the tension in her face remained.

Dravok looked at her one last time. "Then start correcting your mistake, Vivi. You made it. Now deal with it."