Arsh continued to spend his days in a steady routine. He worked in the library with Mes, and occasionally, they would go out to tour the city. His training sessions with Bera had grown even more intense, and now, Walter and Mr. Herman would occasionally join in as well.
Resisting Mr. Herman's mind control was incredibly difficult. Arsh usually trained with him at the end of the day, but not because of Mr. Herman's working hours; it was simply because after those sessions, he lacked the strength to even lift a finger.
Training with Walter, on the other hand, was relatively easy. With his already heightened senses, it wasn't particularly hard for Arsh to anticipate Walter's attacks. Even though Arsh could counter him, Walter was far from weak, contrary to his appearance.
The most difficult training sessions were the ones he had with Bera. Bera was gradually making the training harder and increasing the power of his attacks. Although Arsh could feel that his body and fighting techniques were improving, he was well aware that this was not enough.
Mr. Herman's attacks caused fatigue in his body, and this could be resolved with some rest and sleep. However, after almost every training session with Bera, he was dragged by Mes to Professor Reiner for treatment. Although Arsh found this embarrassing, Reiner treated him without refusing, and the cracks, bruises, and injuries on his body disappeared completely within a few minutes.
A few days after finding the guards with Bera, everyone was together again at breakfast. At the head of the table was Professor Reiner; to his right and left were Bera and Walter, and next to Bera was Mes. This arrangement now seemed to be settled. Arsh took his place beside Walter. They had their breakfast with brief conversations.
Toward the end of breakfast, Professor Reiner turned to Arsh.
"Herman gathered information about those men you found. He will stop by here in the afternoon. Until then, do not go anywhere today."
"We will be in the library today," Arsh said as he sipped the tea in his hand.
Professor Reiner continued speaking.
"Arsh, what do you say about joining our team? Become an official part of us."
For a moment, there was silence at the table. He could immediately see that Mes was happy about this offer. This was not something new. On the day he first arrived, they had mentioned that this opportunity might be offered to him. However, he was not sure whether this was something he could do. When he came here, he already had some idea of what kind of people he would encounter. He was not afraid of them, but could he spend his life encountering strange creatures?
"I only want you to think about it. As you know, we are short on people. But the frequency of the incidents we have to deal with is increasing. Your siuni is useful for us. Think about it a little and give me your answer."
"You know what my priority is. As for after that… I have no plan. Wouldn't joining you like this cause trouble for you as well?"
"I don't think so. As we promised you before, we will help you. Besides, I think our interests have aligned so far. Let's help each other, Arsh. Think about it without rushing, then tell me your decision."
…
When Mr. Herman arrived in the afternoon, Professor Reiner asked everyone to gather.
Herman opened his briefcase and laid out the documents on the table.
"Arsh, can you check these photographs? Are these the people you were looking for?"
Arsh took the documents Mr. Herman handed him and began looking at the photographs. The first picture belonged to the person they had seen next to the Minister the previous day.
"Dave Thorne… this man was there." Then he glanced over the other photographs. There were also photos of people he did not recognize. All of them were responsible for the Minister's security.
Arsh picked out the faces he recognized from the documents and handed them back to Mr. Herman.
"The people in these photos were with Professor Millway," he said.
"I see… and as expected, they all work for the Minister Hulston," Herman replied, pointing to the photo of Dave Thorne. "One of them is the captain of the second team responsible for the Secretary's security."
"So, the Minister Hulston sent his own personal security. But why? What kind of connection does he have with Professor Millway or this excavation?" Professor Reiner asked.
The situation seemed utterly absurd. It made no sense for one of the most prominent public figures in the country to directly assign his own guards to a task that would cause a massive scandal if it ever came to light.
"We are trying to understand what kind of connection there is between Professor Millway and the Secretary, and what kind of research they are trying to conduct, but so far we have not found anything. For twenty years, Professor Millway has been leading archaeological excavation projects in various regions of Kurshan. He has made significant discoveries, yet in every case, he eventually handed those excavations over to other archaeologists."
"Funding for all research conducted in the colonies by the government is provided through the Ministry of Colonies. At this point, Millway's research has received funding each time. But as I said… we have not yet determined what kind of relationship they have that would make him send his own guards to work with him" Mr. Herman said.
"What about his latest excavation? Was its funding also from the Ministry of Colonies?"
"Yes. In fact, he has not received any funding outside the ministry. Universities and museums also have their own funds for such matters, but aside from the excavations he joined as an assistant in his youth, all of his projects have been carried out solely with funds coming directly from the ministry. He is currently at a research center in Hals. However, security is very tight, so we cannot get inside. Don't be surprised… the Archaeological Research Center in Hals was also established with funding from the Ministry of Colonies."
"Have you found anything regarding Will Jones's connections? He doesn't have a high rank within the organization he is involved in, but perhaps we can find a few low-level connections."
"He was discharged from the hospital just yesterday. No one visited him while he was there. We have our men following him. He has not contacted anyone yet," Bera replied this time.
"Continue the investigation. We cannot act without uncovering the connection between them. If this leads to the Minister of Colonies, we may not be able to get out of this easily," Reiner said.
…
A little later, when the others left the library, only Reiner and Bera remained.
"Do you want to keep Arsh under control?"
"Arsh is a smart kid. He learns quickly, adapts well, his siuni is good…"
"But that's not the reason," Bera said.
"In fact, those are part of the reason. But yes… Bera, you must have noticed it too. We may have come across an opportunity. We cannot take the risk of Arsh acting on his own. We don't know how long this will take. If he becomes impatient and tries to act alone to take his revenge, this opportunity will slip out of our hands."
He understood what Professor Reiner meant. Bera was also questioning the connection in a similar way. He had many questions in his mind. If his assumptions were correct, Arsh's revenge seemed likely to reveal something big that they were after. His intuition was telling him that.
A university professor conducting excavations in Kurshan, the villagers working in the excavations being slaughtered, the killers turning out to be the Colonial Secretary's own guards, and the entire project being funded by the Ministry itself… The fact that these connections were coming to light at all was due to a single variable. That variable was a child who had been tossed into a well to die, yet had somehow managed to survive.
The fact that Arsh had found a siuni by chance, his encounter with Juan, and finding himself in the middle of an operation involving children who were sold to be used as test subjects for Siuni research, and that all of this led them to the trail of General Debraz was what worried Bera. Everything felt too coincidental.
He had liked Arsh. In general, he could say that he was an honest and sincere guy. As Professor Reiner had said, he was also clever and had potential. Still, something did not sit right. What that was would be revealed with time.
As for Arsh's revenge… they would help him. But it was clear that this would not happen as quickly as he expected. That would depend entirely on their luck.