The woman that stood behind Eva was the Ophanim, one of the strongest Origin Users in the world and the current headmaster of the Origin Academy.
With her beautiful, calming appearance and her beautiful smile, anyone would've felt instantly relaxed when looking at her even though she was clearly someone of high position. However, that wasn't the feeling Eva had at that moment since she knew that this person wasn't normal at all.
In fact, she did hear about this woman named Ethia from Kai and she had kept her description in her mind since she seemed like a potential threat. To think that she would meet her here, while she was doing something she clearly wasn't supposed to do.
'Tsk, this isn't a good situation.' Eva thought to herself with a calm mind. She had already planned for if she gets found so she had taken the uniform of the school and had already written down what she needed to say.
"So, what are you doing here, little miss? This is professor Kaya's office, isn't it?" Ethia asked with a small smile that didn't seem threatening in the least.
Eva hid her expression and smiled respectfully. "My apologies, miss headmistress. I have been assigned to clean professor Kaya's office. However, my curiosity took over me and I started reading the books in her shelves. My deepest apologies."
Her response was perfect as it didn't leave for Ethia any chance of questioning her. Eva didn't want to hide the fact that she did look into the office. She used that subtle mistake to divert Ethia's suspicion from her identity.
The woman's eyes squinted for a moment before she nodded her head. "It's no good to look into the professor's belongings, they could have important secret files."
"Yes, my apologies. I will excuse myself then." Eva bowed before she walked past Ethia to leave the office.
However, before she could leave. Ethia turned around and asked. "Can I see your student ID if you don't mind?"
Her question made Eva halt for a second. Ethia's eyes kept staring at Eva's back as silence took over for a few moments. An invisible tension could be felt between the two. But, in the end, Eva did turn around with a smile.
"I forgot my ID in my jacket in the classroom. Can I go get it if possible?" She asked.
"Which class?"
"Class 2-B." Eva replied without any hesitation.
"I see. No worries, I will check it myself. Remind me of your name again."
"Sicilia… Sicilia Filmor." Eva replied.
'Glad I did memorize some names from this academy before coming here.' Eva thought to herself secretly. "Can I excuse myself then, headmistress? I have things to do."
"Hmm, of course, go ahead." Ethia thoughtfully pulled out her phone as she started fiddling with it.
So, Eva bowed again and left the office and walked away calmly. However, when she took the turn, she quickly dashed through the corridor before she vanished at top speed.
"I need to leave this place before she realizes I'm lying." She murmured to herself as she jumped through the window landing in the academy's garden before she started running toward the exit of the academy.
By the time she passed the exit and reached the street, she quickly blended with the people walking back and forth. Her movement was skillful and seamless as if it wasn't even meant to be intended to escape.
A few minutes later, Eva was already hundreds of meters away from the academy, sitting on the edge of a building. Her face had a small frown on it.
'I didn't get enough information to know where Kai went exactly. I need to go there and search myself.' She clicked her tongue at her bad luck. 'How did she even know that I entered that place? Was she following me? Or was she suspicious of me?'
Eva was sure that Ethia's appearance wasn't a mere coincidence since the woman seemed to know that Eva had entered that office before she did. Her questions also were clearly out of suspicion of Eva's identity.
If it wasn't for her preparation beforehand, Eva could've been captured and what would happen next would simply be a disaster.
"Sigh, what a mess."
"What mess exactly?"
Eva's eyes widened as her senses kicked in, instantly, she jumped on her feet and turned around. Her hand already summoning a sword that was ready to deflect any potential attack.
'What?!' Eva's face darkened when she saw the person that spoke to her. It was none other than Ethia. She had her usual calm smile.
"You're really quite the tricky girl, aren't you?" She said gently. "Easily lying, changing your identity, swiftly changing your behavior however you wanted. I really believed you for a second there."
"..." Eva remained silent as she slowly channeled her Origin.
"But, I also wasn't fully convinced of your life. You know why? Because I do remember the faces of every single student in this academy, even the new ones and yours wasn't familiar to me. No, perhaps I didn't phrase this well, you are familiar to me, after all. Miss Eva Lavine."
'Sigh… Am I cursed to be recognized by every single person I don't want to be recognized by?' Eva thought to herself, her hand tightly clenched to her sword.
This wasn't the first time she was identified by someone. The first time was Arthur who clearly learned her identity after a long research and the second was Ethia who somehow recognized her in a few minutes.
This was clearly not a mishap from Eva but something different. Both of these individuals were quite unique and hard to understand which was a trait they shared. They were, after all, mysterious, strong, and with hidden motives.
"So, for what reason did you pay a visit to our academy? You surely weren't there for a visit, were you?" Ethia asked.
"... Yes, it was a visit. I heard good things about this academy and wanted to check it out myself." Eva smiled slightly in response.
"Oh? I'm honored to hear that the great Eva Lavine wants to join our humble academy. Leaving the hitman guild and joining Divinity is always a wise choice no matter what the situation was." Ethia clapped with her hands, clearly happy from Eva's words.
"So, for what reason where you checking professor Kaya's office? Or perhaps, are you in contact with her? If you do then, do please tell us where she went since we can't contact her." Ethia said.
"I do not know her personally. But, I'm looking into the same things she's looking into. Let's say we have a common goal between us."
"Shared goal? Interesting and what that goal might be if I may ask?"
"None of your business. Now, I know that you aren't here to fight since a fight would destroy the city and bring unnecessary problems to you and to Divinity. So I suggest that we don't resort to that."
"Hmm, that makes sense. I wouldn't want to harm innocent people by mistake. Not that I want to fight you in the first place, Miss Eva." Ethia said with a simple shrug.
"Oh? You don't want to fight a spy that infiltrated your academy?" Eva asked with a raised eyebrow.
"Hmm, of course not. We don't have anything to hide in that academy, Miss Eva. When I said secret files, that was simply to keep curious people like you from looking into it even further."
Hearing those words, Eva laughed sarcastically. "Nothing to hide? You have everything to hide. Divinity is hiding the truth from the people and although that is good for now. I know that they won't hide it for long."
"Keeping information from being revealed till their right time isn't hiding them, its protecting the people from the danger of knowing too much before they are able of grasping the basics of the truth. We are simply being wise, Miss Eva."
"Greed isn't being wise, it's being foolish. Your goals aren't as noble as you say. They're driven by the desire to control and rule rather than to benefit this world."
Ethia tilted her head in confusion at Eva's words as if she couldn't understand her. "What's wrong with ruling over people if we're going to help them? With Origin, many illnesses could be healed. People will become stronger, faster, smarter, wiser. This will help our world evolve like never before. Hiding this amazing power from people is but a dumb thing, Miss Eva."
"You do know that this power isn't something that everyone should possess. Those who can wield it are already capable of destroying the world if they want to and nothing can stop them. What do you think would happen if every single person was able to put their hands on Origin? We're going to enter an era of chaos that would turn this world into hell on earth."
"... Is that your belief, Miss Eva?" Ethia's smile finally vanished and was replaced with a serious look.
