SSS Talent: From Trash to Tyrant-Chapter 474: Caelvyrn [III]

"He’s an unusual one," Caelvyrn said. "Always has been. He lived by his own rules and kept to himself most of the time."

Rhosyn’s brows drew together. "By himself?" She looked faintly puzzled. "That is strange. One of ours living alone for so long isn’t common."

Caelvyrn gave her a sideways glance. "And yet here you are alone."

Rhosyn clicked her tongue. "That is different."

"Is it?"

"Yes." Her voice sharpened. "What happened to me was a bad situation. That doesn’t change what we are. Our people stay together..." A brief pause. "Usually."

Caelvyrn did not argue further, though the look in his eyes made it clear he could have.

Trafalgar stepped in before the conversation drifted. "Let’s not get lost in that. What do you mean when you call him unusual?"

Caelvyrn rested back in his chair, one hand still near the glass. "You’ll see soon enough when you meet him." His gaze lingered on Trafalgar for a second. "Still, if you want a first impression... he isn’t bad to deal with. Better than most, actually. But he has always preferred solitude. That’s why this surprised me."

Trafalgar stayed silent, waiting.

"Someone like him doesn’t send people around asking to meet others," Caelvyrn continued. "He keeps his distance. So hearing that someone came to find you in his name feels wrong. Strange, at the very least."

That made Trafalgar’s eyes narrow slightly. "There is something else," he said. "The girl who approached me said she was his disciple."

Caelvyrn looked at him. That was the part that actually caught his attention. "A disciple?"

"Yes. She came looking for me in his name."

Rhosyn looked between them. "Why is that strange?"

Caelvyrn stayed quiet for a second before answering. "Because someone like him taking a disciple is unexpected. He was never the type to keep people around him for long. Much less teach them." His fingers rested against the table. "That alone tells me more time has passed around him than I thought. Or that something changed."

Rhosyn remained still, listening.

Caelvyrn looked back at Trafalgar. "Go on. What else did she say?"

"Nothing else that changes the core of it," Trafalgar said. "What matters is that she came looking for me, and that he wants to meet." 𝗳𝚛𝚎𝚎𝘄𝕖𝕓𝕟𝕠𝚟𝚎𝕝.𝗰𝕠𝐦

Caelvyrn gave a small nod. "Then that much is enough." He picked up the glass again, though this time he did not drink right away. "The reason that girl surprises me is simple. He was always an old bastard." A faint curve touched his mouth. "But more than that, he was the most gifted fighter I know."

Rhosyn’s expression shifted. "The most gifted fighter? Most Primordials are born with absurd talent by default. People like Trafalgar already prove that."

"I know," Caelvyrn said. "But not like him."

Rhosyn stayed quiet.

Caelvyrn lowered the glass back to the table. "What he had wasn’t just talent. Not bloodline quality alone either. He had a gift for war itself. Combat, battlefields, killing, surviving, reading the flow of a fight before others even understood it had begun. That sort of thing came to him as easily as breathing. He was made for it."

Trafalgar listened without interrupting.

"That is why I thought he died long ago," Caelvyrn continued. "Someone who lives like that, always chasing conflict, always standing where blood is about to spill, should eventually fall. So after enough time passed, I accepted it. Then the war happened, and I felt that energy again." His eyes narrowed slightly. "What unsettled me was not just that he was there, but that he had chosen to appear around a war involving the Eight Great Families." He tapped one finger once against the table. "Something on that battlefield caught his attention. It could have been you, Trafalgar. Or..." his gaze shifted toward Rhosyn, "it could have been her."

"Then it must have been me," Rhosyn answered at once. "Sensing Trafalgar directly should have been impossible."

Caelvyrn gave a faint sound that could have meant anything.

Trafalgar noticed it, but let it pass for now.

"In any case, the picture is clear enough," Caelvyrn said, leaning back slightly. "He noticed something. He sent someone after you. And now we’re moving toward him instead of the other way around." His violet eyes returned to Trafalgar. "Is there anything else you need from me before that?"

Trafalgar shook his head. "No. That should be everything for now." He rested one arm over the chair and held Caelvyrn’s gaze. "I only wanted to tell you before the meeting happens, so the three of us would be working with the same information."

Caelvyrn said nothing.

"And hearing the way you talk about him helps." Trafalgar’s eyes narrowed slightly. "At least now it doesn’t sound like we’re walking into something blindly hostile."

Rhosyn glanced at him, then back at Caelvyrn. For a second, the dragon looked almost amused. Almost.

"That may be true," he said. "Or it may not matter."

"What do you mean?"

"I mean that even if it is dangerous, there may be nothing we can do about it."

Trafalgar leaned forward slightly. "You’re saying he could try to kill us?"

Caelvyrn lifted one shoulder. "I am saying we do not know what he truly wants. Until we do, any outcome remains possible." His violet eyes settled on Trafalgar. "And in your current state, yes. He could probably break you in half like a stick."

Rhosyn’s face tightened slightly. Trafalgar only held the dragon’s gaze.

Caelvyrn took another slow sip from the glass before adding, "That said, you are growing well. Fast too. Far stronger than the first time I saw you."

Trafalgar accepted the words without reacting much, though the weight behind them was obvious enough. After that, Caelvyrn seemed to decide the conversation had reached its end. He reached into his clothes, took out a small piece of paper, and left it on the table between them. A hotel name written on it.

"I’m staying there for now," he said.

Trafalgar looked down at it once, then nodded. "Fine. When it’s time, I’ll send someone to pick you up."

"Sounds good to me." Caelvyrn rose from the chair with easy grace. For a moment it looked like he would leave without adding anything else.

Then he turned his head slightly toward Rhosyn and gave her a small wink.

Her expression changed at once. Caelvyrn’s mouth curved faintly, and then he walked out.

The door closed behind him.

Rhosyn stared at the door for a second before speaking in a flat voice. "Can I kill him?"

"I’d rather you didn’t."

She clicked her tongue softly. Trafalgar leaned back again, his eyes shifting briefly toward the paper on the table before looking at her properly.

"What do you think about all of this?"