Chapter 88: Returning to the Academy
Edward and Aurora walked around the deserted hospital for a while, where they only saw a few staff mbers and so wounded soldiers.
During that ti, he noticed a window in the system that he hadn’t seen before.
[You have killed the Lich of Death of Level 30.]
[
2,400 EXP...]
’Even though there’s a 15-level difference, my butterfly’s ability is still too powerful. It’s impressive that it was able to kill that thing.’
He sighed when he saw that 2,400 experience points was still not enough to advance to Level 16, leaving him halfway there.
’I think it was worth using, even though it almost killed .’
After a short walk, Edward returned to his room to recover, as he was not yet able to travel. He focused on completing the docunt for the mission delivery and spent a few days recovering.
On Saturday morning, they departed in a carriage sent by the Academy to pick them up. It was a high-end carriage; the beasts pulling it not only did not need to rest, but were astonishingly fast, and the carriage was extrely comfortable. So they were able to return very quickly and recover during the journey.
Once inside the academy grounds, Edward and his group were greeted by one of the junior instructors, who helped them.
"Gentlen, you are incredible, but please don’t overexert yourselves," said the professor as he helped Edward and Arnold walk and guided them alongside Aurora to Instructor rvan’s office.
"I was once a student myself, and I am well aware of the dangerous missions you are given. I heard about your exploits this ti, so I know you are incredible, but trying to overexert yourselves to..." The instructor didn’t need to finish speaking for them to understand.
Edward simply smiled and said nothing. During the entire trip, neither he, Aurora, nor Arnold had spoken a single word, each lost in their own thoughts.
Throughout the trip, they spoke almost nothing, except to eat.
The professor said nothing more, although he was clearly concerned about them. He took them to rvan’s office, who was already waiting for them at the door. Then he left.
Edward stepped forward to hand him the mission report.
rvan read it carefully, not wanting to miss anything. There was so much he needed to know about this mission that at so point he stopped reading and looked at Edward.
"This Lich... he was gone when the ard forces led by General Lawyer entered... What happened to him?" he asked.
Edward shook his head. "I don’t know. He didn’t follow us, but sent his subordinates to do so. What I know is because they told , since I fell unconscious after a certain point," he replied.
rvan looked at Aurora for information, but they had the sa information as Edward.
"After General Lawyer ntioned it to ..." Aurora suddenly spoke up. "We were theorizing that perhaps he fell down the ravine that divided the mine. Do you know where that place leads? It’s the first ti I’ve seen one in a mine."
"I’m just as puzzled as you are about this. But your logic is quite possible. That ravine is a place where many people have died. Down there, there are only piles of dry bones of miners and even beast masters. The reason why the fortress is located there is because we want to get down there, since that’s where the largest concentration of silver is," replied rvan.
"Is it difficult to get there?" Edward asked, puzzled.
"Quite difficult." rvan was not specific, but it didn’t matter anyway. "Since the Lich surely fell down that ravine, I won’t ask any more questions about it."
rvan looked at Edward. "May I ask what left you in that state?"
Edward nodded. "It’s shared magic, instructor."
"Shared magic? With your summoned beast?" rvan asked.
"Yes. One of my spells allows
to gain strength by sharing damage with my summoned beast, but it’s a double-edged sword. It can kill
if I’m not careful," Edward replied, without explaining too much about the effects.
"Really? That’s truly incredible," rvan replied, amazed by such magic. "What elent gives you that ability?"
"It’s fire, sir."
"Fire?" rvan frowned... If it were water or earth, it would make sense, but fire?
"I’d rather not talk about it too much." Edward smiled. "It’s part of my trump cards."
In fact, if it weren’t for the need to give a logical answer as to why he was like that, he wouldn’t have said it. He couldn’t say he was injured by the beasts, because the doctors and General Lawyer already knew the truth, so he could only be honest.
rvan smiled. "I understand. Anyway, if you have magic like that, you could surely investigate it further and beco a Magic Investigator. It will help you enormously."
"I understand, instructor. I’ll think about it."
"Well, I hope you recover soon. Tell , did you find your father in there?" rvan seed very interested in the answer to this question, Edward could tell.
"No, instructor. My father wasn’t among the miners," Edward replied.
"Hmm, well, he’s probably in the other mines. Have you received any information from him?"
Edward shook his head again. "My father doesn’t usually send
ssages when he’s working, so I can only wait for him to co back," he replied.
"Oh, I see. Well, I hope you can concentrate on your studies then." rvan then looked at Arnold. "I can’t help you," he said, shaking his head.
"Sothing like that, only one of the Elders or a very high-level mage could do it." He was sincere. "But, for the sake of the report, I must ask, how did you end up like this?"
Arnold stared at him for several minutes before answering. "I defended myself using my summoned beast, which ended up destroyed, and that affected ."
"That..." Even rvan was surprised by the few words spoken. "Could you elaborate?"
"Just put that a death spell killed my summoned beast and that affected my spirit." Arnold shrugged, not caring who he was talking to.
The lack of respect he showed him made rvan frown, but he said nothing. He simply nodded.
"You can go back. Go to Elder Owen or one of the Elders, they can help you with your ailnts." With that, he dismissed them.
They went to Owen’s office, where he was working.
"Wow, a blow to the spirit of a cursed spell, that’s peculiar to see," Owen said as soon as he saw Arnold. "Who hit you like that? I haven’t been inford that you were on any missions."
"Huh? That can’t be, Elder Owen," said Edward. "We sent you the information recently, and the mission was given by Instructor rvan. We were resolving the issue in the Silver Mine."
"Hm?" Owen frowned and looked up to et Edward’s eyes. "That mission... I’m sure it wasn’t yours to take, even though I know you would have taken it anyway."
"Instructor rvan knew the sa thing you did. He approached us to see if we would take it, since... well, he thought my father might have been there."
Owen didn’t respond; he simply went back to what he was doing. "Well, if you’re lucky, it’s not an overly difficult mission for you, if you have Miss Ashford’s help." He spoke as he continued to look at Arnold’s body and spirit.
"But since we’re not playing the lottery, we judge that mission to be a high-level one due to the possible presence of the Lich. I’m surprised rvan didn’t know that; it looks like he’ll have to be scolded terribly," Owen said. "After all, you had the worst luck, right? This cursed spell could only have been cast by a Lich."
"Hehe." Arnold sneered. "Bad luck? I wouldn’t dare insult luck this ti."
Owen looked up and stared into his eyes... Aurora also noticed sothing strange in his tone of voice.
Owen nodded after exchanging glances with Arnold and laughed. Suddenly, he stood up. "Let ti pass, in two weeks it will disappear naturally," he replied.
"Can’t you break it, Elder Owen?" Edward was stunned.
"I can do it," Owen affird. "But I won’t. Rest as long as you need to and stop tempting death. There are people out there more malicious than you can imagine. If you don’t prepare well for missions, you will die. I wouldn’t want such talented people to die so early."
Owen waved his hands to signal them to leave and that he wasn’t going to talk anymore. He practically kicked them out of the office, where Edward, Aurora, and Arnold looked at each other before letting out a long sigh and returning to Edward and Arnold’s apartnt.
.
Sitting in the living room, with Arnold sprawled on his beanbag chair and Edward and Aurora on the sofa, they didn’t say a word. They didn’t even look at each other.
They simply breathed calmly and looked at the ceiling or the walls. When loneliness struck them and their minds were clear, their hearts felt heavy.
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