What a mess. Stupid. Silly. What more could I expect? Didn’t I know it would end like this all along?

Mephina let out a deep sigh as she watched the surrounding landscape pass her by. Their carriage had just left the capital, and the carriage was picking up pace. The fastest carriage available in the Amyss family, and it even had Diamond beasts pulling it. The Amyss family would never employ Diamond beasts to carry a carriage out of respect for Mephina and her family. But this was an emergency, so even if Maphina found it demeaning that beasts of so high intelligence were used like this, she couldn’t find it in her to voice a complaint.

“Lady Mephina, are you sure you should accompany us? It wouldn’t be too late to turn back now,” Lady Lerretha said in a cold voice.

“Why should I?” Mephina questioned grumpily. She had never liked the old witch, but unfortunately, LAdy Lerretha was stronger than her, so she could never beat her up when she was angered.

“You know your presence outside of Amyss will raise a commotion. Even in Cyalis, a Soul beast is something very rare. And in these times, it will be far less popular than your previous visits,” Lady Lerretha responded.

“Who cares what those people think?” Dorello said with a laugh, “We are all Soul mages. If anyone has complaints, I’m not afraid to fight it out!”

“Don’t cause a commotion, Dorello,” Lady Lerretha said with a stern voice, “You know this matter has to be handled as discreetly as possible. It is already a great shame for our family. Thankfully, the Hesfym family seems to want to keep this matter hidden as well. Let’s bring Sellitha out as quickly and as quietly as possible. If we handle the matter in an orderly fashion, everyone will forget this ever happened in a few year's time.”

“As if those Hesfym bastards will let us forget,” Dorello scoffed, “I still refuse to believe it is true. This is Princess Sellitha we’re talking about! Surely you are both aware of her personality?”

“It is true, unfortunately,” Lady Lerretha said in a low voice.

“How do you know?” Dorello questioned, refusing to accept the matter, “Because those Shields people say so? It’s obvious they are afraid of the movements of the Crown Princess in the Academy. They are about to lose their rank for the first time in over a century, so they could only make up this ridiculous story to have us bring out one of our strongest members.”

“Sellitha is not a member of Soaring Souls,” Lady Lerretha said, her voice still without fluctuation, “She chose to join the Scrolls instead.”

“Oh?” Dorello looked at Lady Lerretha in surprise, “Why would she do that?”

“Adion Remori joined them, so she joined them too,” Lady Lerretha calmly explained.

“That’s…strange indeed,” Dorello said with a nod, “But it’s still too far-fetched to have us pull her out of the Academy for such a reason. This doesn’t prove she is in a relationship with him. Isn’t this simply too embarrassing? I feel like an errand boy for the Hesfym family. If they dare make accusations, we should dare ask for proof! But we accept the slander of our princess and head out at their beck and call. It’s ridiculous!”

“You weren’t there,” Lady Lerretha said, sighing, “It is unquestionable. You can ask Lady Mephina if you don’t believe me.”

“Lady Mephina, surely you know Princess Sellitha best. This can’t be true?” Dorello turned to Mephina and asked.

I wish it wasn’t.

Mephina was perhaps the one with the clearest image of what was happening out of all the members of the Amyss family. She regretted her willful behavior that had let Sell and Adion experience each other’s company for that summer.

If I could take it back…I don’t know. I just wanted her to experience a little happiness. Was it wrong of me?

“Lady Mephina?” Dorello repeated, trying to bring Mephina out of her daze.

Mephina turned to look at him, but she didn’t know what to say. She was in the Elder’s Hall just like Lady Lerretha when those people from the Shields and Hesfym family brought forth their case. Even if they didn’t have irrefutable evidence, an idiot could see what was going on with the information that was given.

There could be hope that it was all made up, but with the promise of copious rewards in case they were mistaken, there wasn’t much protest that could be made. The matter would be obvious to everyone as soon as they talked to Sell. And the Hesfym family wouldn’t damage their treasury to such a large extent just to have three Soul mages of the Amyss family waste a few weeks of their lives.

But how could they be so careless? It hasn’t been that long since they started the Academy, and things have already come to this. And for the Hesfym family to be willing to stake so much on this, they must have been absolutely sure. They must have been careless to the extreme!

Just as Dorello was about to bring attention to his question once again, Mephina let out a sigh and answered, “I don’t know. We will see when we get there. Speculating is pointless.”

“You know as well as I do, there is no speculation left to be had,” Lady Lerretha scoffed, “What we could confirm by ourselves all agreed with what those people have told us. If it was just that, we could have handled the matter carefully and silently. We could allow Princess Sellitha to remain in the Academy so as not to bring attention to this matter. But with the Hesfym family pressuring us, even willing to pay such a large compensation in case they are mistaken, there can be no doubt.”

“They…they were willing to stake so much in this?” Dorello asked.

Lady Lerretha briefly explained the situation that had occurred in the Elder’s Hall. Mephina wasn’t in the mood to listen so she tuned out their conversation and looked out the window again.

I don’t feel good about this. How can the Royal family be driven into a corner like this? Even if we handle the matter perfectly, the truth will come out. Sell will be whispered about, and rumors will spread. Even so, Lord Hesfym seems very determined to go through with the wedding. I suppose things haven’t gone too far between them so as to have a point of no return. But I would have thought Lord Hesfym to be too prideful for this kind of forceful behavior. Especially since the truth will come out.

What really baffles me is that the family believes this will work. It appears no one ever truly got to know their own princess.

Perhaps things could have worked out if things came to an end quickly. But not now. I’m sure Sell will resort to attacking everyone in her rage. We could knock her out. But then what? She would just become more furious.

This tale has been unlawfully obtained from Royal Road. If you discover it on Amazon, kindly report it.

Perhaps that brat can find a way for the Headmaster to step in…no, that seems unlikely.

I truly can’t see a way this ends well.

----------------------------------------

“How about it?” The Headmaster asked, “Do you feel anything?”

“Maybe…something?” Adion answered hesitantly.

“No, you don’t,” The Headmaster chuckled.

“Fine, you were right. I just wanted to try it out. Surely I will be able to grasp it eventually if I continue to do this long enough,” Adion said.

Adion had been practicing runes for months now, and what he was most curious about was if he could discover some new runes for himself. Mainly runes relating to space.

There was a process of doing this that runemasters used. A certain strange metal that had been named ‘rune stone’ was used. It had the peculiar property of tracing rune patterns of whatever magic it came into contact with. Other natural metals and ores could be used in the same way, but nothing came close to being as efficient as a rune stone.

It wasn’t something easy, however. Even a runemaster in the Soul stages would struggle for years to unravel all the intricacies of a certain runic pattern, which was especially true for complex runes.

Adion had thought he could be able to notice something, but the Headmaster had always told him he was far from ready. Today however, he had finally yielded to Adion’s request and gave him a rune stone to try for himself.

Even if Adion didn’t think he would be able to perfect it on his first try, he still believed he would be able to notice something. But when Adion had given it a try, the result was far from any runic pattern at all. And Adion didn’t even know what he did wrong or how to improve.

He had wanted to figure out a runic pattern for teleportation. It would be world-changing if he could figure something like that out. Even if there was the teleportation formation at the Remori manor, Adion had no access to it. And he wanted to make the discovery himself. That would allow him to understand it on a much more fundamental level.

Unfortunately, when Adion had grabbed the rune stone, he realized he had no idea how he would inject teleportation magic into the rune stone. The result would just be that he teleported the rune stone away. So instead, he figured he should start slow and figure out the process of the rune stone slowly. He instead froze the space in the rune stone, this time not using his Authority, but self-conjured space.

But Adion couldn’t feel any kind of pattern in the rune stone he was holding. He didn’t even feel any difference in it at all.

“Not even I’m wealthy enough to waste rune stones like that,” The Headmaster denied Adion’s request, “The current you have no chance of even injecting the most basic heating rune. You would have to have a much deeper understanding of runes before trying something as ridiculous as discovering a new runic pattern, especially one so complex that it deals with space.

“To engrave a runic pattern in a rune stone takes a ridiculous amount of finesse, and you would definitely have to waste hundreds of rune stones before seeing any results, even if you became a runesmith of high caliber. The current you wouldn’t even be able to do it if you had 10,000 rune stones.”

“Haaah,” Adion sighed, “Alright, I believe you. I guess I’ll have to wait.”

“So hasty with everything,” The Headmaster said, shaking his head.

“Have you ever discovered a new runic pattern, Headmaster?” Adion asked.

“I have,” The Headmaster said with a slight smile, “And from start to finish, it almost took me 200 years of work.”

“200 years!?” Adion yelled out in shock.

“Of course,” The Headmaster nodded, “It was quite a spectacular rune, so that is to be expected. And the result was more than worth it. That discovery earned me the title of Sage, after all.”

“It was a rune that made you a Sage?” Adion asked, “What kind of rune was it?”

The Headmaster seemed to hesitate for a moment before answering, “It was a communication rune.”

A communication rune? I think I heard Prago mention something about that once. It was true? And the Headmaster was the one who discovered it?”

“With that runic pattern, I constructed a runic device called touban,” The Headmaster said, “It allows for sound to travel over vast distances. But it comes at a great cost of mana, and there is a limit, so it can not be used casually. But if there was an emergency on the other side of Cyalis, I would hear of it immediately, and even if something were to happen on the other side of the continent, a string of mages with toubans in hand could use it to communicate the information to me.”

“Incredible,” Adion muttered, “Why isn’t this widely known?”

“It’s by no means a secret,” The Headmaster said with a smile, “I’m sure you would stumble upon the information eventually. But even a Noble family would have to save up money for a long time before they would be able to afford one, so it’s not strange that you haven’t come across it.”

“I can’t believe something like that exists,” Adion mumbled, “You basically know everything going on all over Shiora all at once. Could you even communicate with Quemer?”

“Quemer is far, far too distant to establish a connection. And like I said, the cost is very high, so unless it’s urgent, I receive my information by letter just like anyone else.”

“I see,” Adion slowly nodded, “How come you could discover a rune like that? Can you communicate over long distances yourself? With just your magic? Are you Gifted?”

“Haha,” The Headmaster laughed, “I believe I’ve spoiled you with too many answers lately, so I’ll leave that for you to ponder about yourself.”

“But…alright,” Adion nodded, slightly vexed.

“Anyway, that should be it for today,” The Headmaster said, “I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll see you in two days again.”

“Alright, thank you for today, Headmaster,” Adion said, getting up to leave.

But just as he was about to exit the Headmaster’s office, Adion stopped by the door.

“There is one thing, Headmaster,” Adion turned around and said.

“And what is that?” The Headmaster asked.

“Well…” Adion hesitated, “Is there a way to find out about people in the Academy? Information about them?”

“There should be all sorts of places for that,” The Headmaster nodded, “The administration office is one of them. It will cost you some credits, but I believe you can afford it. If you want to dig up dirt on someone, however, you will have to look elsewhere.”

“I’ll try the administration office then,” Adion nodded.

“Who has caught your attention?” The Headmaster asked.

“It’s…I saw someone last night. Someone I can vaguely remember, but I don’t know from where,” Adion answered.

“I see,” The Headmaster nodded, “Well, good luck.”

“Right, thanks,” Adion nodded and stepped out.

It has to be nothing. But I just can’t get that girl out of my head. Every time I think about how she looked at me, I get this sinking feeling in my stomach.

I’ll see if I can find anything out. I’m sure it’s nothing, and I’m just imagining things.