Chapter 117

The Three Rivers Academy of Magic

After getting into a short coughing fit, Kim settled down after a puff of her inhaler and watched the Beastfolk boy gazing lovingly at the Guqin.

“Thank you very much, Lady Sooyoung. I will be sure to pay you back as soon as I can!”

“(Cough)…you know…(cough), regarding the payment. How about this? I just need some of your time,” she said as she took a glass of warm water from Hirun.

“I want to take pictures of you!”

“Pictures?” Martell asked in puzzlement. “But don’t a single picture take months?”

Martell often had paintings created by his former masters, so he knew exactly how long and painful the process was.

“Oh, don’t worry. I have a Camera. Haynim Abbas had allowed me to exchange a mechanical camera for my points after I told them the advantages of it!”

“I – I don’t understand.”

“Short term is, this magical tool allows me to take pictures instantly.”

What followed after that brief explanation was the strangest, most disturbing thing he had ever experienced. He was made to do poses while she walked all around him with a strange box aimed at him. There was no more of that sickly young woman before, but a beast that was controlled by her desires.

After she was done, she had an expression of contentment. And thus he was debt-free.

But for some reason, Martell felt strangely unnerved.

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While Martell was having mixed feelings about the exchange, on the other part of town, Connie and Illumca met the curious sight of two old men bickering in front of the Hunter’s Guild Reception. One was the old dismantler and the other a stocky bearded man. A tall man in stained white clothes was trying to calm them both.

“Come on, give them to me, Klaus. I’m gonna pay good for them!”

“Rowan,” the dismantler said with a sigh. “As I said, it ain’t mine. Youse need ta speak ta the owner.”

“Now, now father. It’s no good for you to force uncle to sell you the materials,” the young man said.

“I’ve been sitting in that goddess forsaken hole for months working on something I can’t even -!”

“Pops!!” he scolded the old man with a horrified face. “Psssht!!”

“What’s this, then?” Connie asked as she walked towards them.

“Ah, Lady Steelheart,” the old dismantler named Rowan greeted her. “If ya wanna ask for materials, ya should ask her. She’s the one who has the rights.”

“Ooh, you are the one who owns the Named Demon’s corpse? Can you sell some parts to me? The bones, mainly! I’ll pay a very good price for them.”

“Hmm? What for?”

“Brother. I know youse get excited when you see good stuff. But youse need to explain better,” Rowan sighed exasperatedly. “Bennett here’s my brother. Owns a Smithy four blocks away by the name of The Forge Maiden. He came by fer the first time in months and then he saw me workin’ on yer materials. He’s been pesterin’ me fer the bones fer hours now.”

“What do you want the bones for?” Illumca asked.

“To make weapons of course!” the old man said proudly. “When I saw the bones of that thing, I just cannot help but felt like it was meant to be!”

“Oh, are you any good?”

“Any good?” the man scoffed. “Any good?! I’m the best blacksmith in the whole kingdom!”

“W-well, father. T-that’s not entirely true.”

“That’s right! You lost to Grido last year!” a Hunter drinking nearby chimed in.

“That was a fluke! Okay, maybe not a fluke, but still!” The man groaned while he shook his fist at nothing. “Next time, Grido! Next time!!”

Seeing this, Klaus shook his head and gave Connie a wry smile. “My brother’s like this. But I can vouch for his skill. He made the Guild Master’s weapon, after all.”

“Hmm…” Connie had never met this elusive Guild Master before, but the man seemed to be held in very high view by the Hunters. And the rumors of his strength were legendary. “Do you accept custom weapon requests?”

“Of course. But I’m not cheap, mind you.”

“Oh, if there is anything I am lacking right now, it’s definitely isn’t money.”

“Uh, father?” the sensible son said awkwardly. “Perhaps we should talk about this somewhere else? We are blocking the road.”

The conversation was then moved towards a table where Connie produced Fasina’s fangs.

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“Gah! Two perfect Crimson Firesnake Fangs!” By now, the Blacksmith was positively salivating. “Oh, these are great. Look at that son! The luster of it, the slight tang of poison.”

“Father! It’s dangerous!”

“Don’t be daft, boy. The venom’s only dangerous when it got inside your body,” Rowan caressed the fearsome fangs with as much care as one would a beautiful lady's cheek. “This will make a good weapon. What do you have in mind, then? A sword? A spear?”

“A pair of daggers for her,” she replied. “And a custom work for me…if you can.”

“Connie - !”

Connie placed a finger on Illumca’s lips and said with a reproaching look. “Those daggers will not keep up with you. You need new ones.”

“Daggers for the dark elf? Very well,” the old man smiled. “And this custom work?”

Connie explained what she wanted. The old man took notes in his head and talked to his son about possible materials and what they could do with it. He grew more and more interested as the explanation went on. By the end of it, he was positively giddy.

“How many days can I expect them to be finished?”

“Give me four, no, three days!!” the old man excitedly took the materials with him. “Come on, Hugh! We’ve got work to do!”

“Father, we haven’t - !” the son saw the old man vanished outside with the materials in tow. “He even forgot to take the bones,” he exhaled and said to the two. “I will take the required materials from the Demon as needed, Lady Steelheart.”

“I’ll leave it to you then.”

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After that brief exchange at the Hunter’s Guild, the two proceeded towards their next destination. Both of them were not familiar with the road leading to there, but one could hardly lose their way. Not when they could see the huge, towering building of the Three Rivers Academy of Magic from the main road.

“Ooh, this is a different kind of impressive,” Connie remarked. Which Illumca agreed to with a nod.

A lone stone bridge connecting the Business District with the Academy was the only way in.

There were four men wearing the Calendian Knight assemblage standing guard. The Knights stopped them on the way in. But when Illumca showed them the silver token, one of them quickly crossed the bridge, armor clanging as he ran.

Not long after, a young girl came running with a pair of spindly legs across the bridge towards them, one hand awkwardly hanging onto her conical hat.

“L-lady Steelheart! Lady Illumca!!”

The young Mage was positively beaming as she looked at the currently most controversial figures in the country.

“Oh,” Connie scrunched her eyebrows slightly as she searched for a name. “Eleanora…isn’t it?”

“Your Master said we can come visit,” the Dark Elf said bluntly.

“Yes! O – oh,” there was a look of shock on her face before she did an awkward bop of with her skirt. “G-good afternoon, Lady Steelheart and Miss Illumca.”

“Haha! No need to be so stiff,” Connie laughed. “I’m just accompanying her today.”

“Yes,” Illumca added curtly.

When Illumca took a step over the stone bridge, she felt a disturbance in her psyche. The cacophony of peddlers and the sound of wooden wheels across the stones outside vanished. All she could hear was the murmur of the river below.

“That’s…strange,” Connie spoke. “I cannot hear anything from the Business District.”

“There is magic cast on the Academy,” Illumca said. “A barrier of sorts.”

“You can feel it, Miss Illumca?” the young Mage started. “That’s amazing. I can only sense it after concentrating hard. Yes, there is a barrier here that protects the Academy. Let us continue onward before my Master take his afternoon nap.”

She led them over the bridge and through a massive half-opened double-doors made of iron and wood; into a hall with a pair of grand staitxase going up to the second floor. The pair of stairs surrounded a statue before meeting halfway up.

The statue was that of a Mage wielding a staff and a book. Seeing it from up close, one could see the age and experience etched into its eyes. On its pedestal was the plaque, “Archmage Grendel Vorsange, Founder of the Three Rivers Academy of Magic.”

“This is the Wiseman Grendel Vorsange, he was the First King’s Advisor before founding the Academy,” Eleanora explained when she saw Illumca gazing at the statue.

“He looks…familiar…” Illumca murmured. She then put the statue out of her mind. “Lead on.”

They did not go up to the second floor. Instead, they went through an ancient wooden door that led to an open courtyard.

Where they saw many young children wearing dark-colored robes were flinging magic at a target, watched on by an old lady with a crooked conical hat. One of them released a piece of ice the size of an arm at the target, only for it to misfire, and went through an innocent window. It was followed by a distinct cry and then a loud curse.

“Mr. Rotts!” the old Mage scolded with a shrill voice. “The goal of this practice is to fire your magic at the target, and not at an unsuspecting window!! Do it again!! Concentrate!!”

The old woman noticed the three of them passing by and threw them a look before returning her attention to the scared children. “If you have time to be distracted, children, then you have time to look at the targets. Extra lessons for everyone!!”

There was a collective “aaaaw” from the children. But was quickly quashed by the lady’s glare.

“What are they doing?” Illumca asked.

“That’s Madame Gerta. She is training the new students,” the Young Mage replied. “Today is a regular day so everyone’s having class.”

“Oh, are we disturbing yours?” Connie asked with concern.

The girl smiled awkwardly. “I – um – I…don’t have one. I am a direct student of Master Edward, so I am exempted from regular classes. J-just this way, please.”

They walked across the courtyard and turned right upon reaching another building. The color of the wall here was lighter. The style of the windows different compared the ones they saw on the way; being smaller and simpler.

Illumca noticed that some parts of this building had burn marks. One of them was even vaguely human-shaped.

While looking around, Illumca almost stumbled over a raised tile. Thankfully, she was agile enough to keep herself from falling.

“Careful of the floors. This building is old,” Eleanora did a little hop over a raised floor, then tapped a differently colored stone tile with her staff. “When different magics collide, things explode. And when they did, we have to fix them. Sometimes they are not fixed properly.”

“I thought Mages are rich,” Illumca stated with a grunt.

“Outwardly yes, but research materials are expensive,” she said. “Come, we just need to walk up these stairs.”

She pointed at a wooden flight of stairs that went up and up. Their eyes followed the stairs until they found the end. They were so focused on what was in front of their eyes that they did not notice what was above them.

When they looked up, they could see straight up to the ceiling seven stories above them; making them feel like a man looking up a chimney. It was very disorienting.

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“Master Edward led the Third Tower, focusing on experimental magic,” she explained as she walked up the stairs. “The first floor is the...lobby, the second and third floor are the...classrooms.”

“The fourth and fifth floor is the research rooms, where the students....hah...do their research,” the young girl stopped at the fifth floor to catch her breath. While she was resting, they saw a young man came running out of one of the rooms across them with a fierce-looking wolf behind him.

The wolf caught him by the edge of his robe and dragged him back. He screamed for dear life before two Mages came running in. One fired a Fireball Spell, which sent the monster flying; the other one followed with an Earth Wall Magic which slammed it against the ceiling.

“Did it die?!” the first Mage called out.

“No! I just stunned it. Help me tie it up and we’ll try the Contract again!”

The whole scene seemed to be quite a frequent occurrence, judging from the fact that was no one coming out to see what was happening outside.

Illumca looked at Connie with a concerned look. Connie’s answer was a shrug.

“…the sixth floor is the Third Tower’s Teachers’ office,” Eleanora forced herself to continue walking up the stairs, unfazed by the scene.

“Here we are, the seventh floor. Master Edward’s...Office.”