Chapter 26: Conspiracy

[Quest: Achieve Overwhelming Victory in the Academy War. Complete.]

[Round Two Prize: High-Grade Spell Tome.]

[Round Three Prize: High-Grade Weapon Mold x 3.]

Sen’s eyes shot open. That was…incredible. He’d never used weapons in the past, but after seeing Flamesaber in action, he was reconsidering. Alari still hadn’t learned to bring its full potential out, but when she did, she’d have a weapon with the equivalent power of Tri-Infernal Hellscape on her hands. A weapon that could unleash destruction on a battlefield in a moment’s notice. Weapons and artifacts had progressed with the System alongside magic. In this new world where foes such as that demon existed, he needed every advantage he could get. He was already thinking of what he might forge for himself. But that was a problem for another time. The spell tome would teach him a new spell in the same way the stone tablets of the academy did. He realized that his level upgrade had upgraded both of his prizes for this quest. He’d been promised two mid-grade prizes. By leveling up and receiving a quest reward upgrade, he’d been fortunate enough to receive two extremely powerful rewards at once.

He’d analyze the molds and his new spell after rejoining the others. He didn’t want to keep them waiting, and the academies needed to know what he and Ano had learned. Ano settled on his pillow and looked around. “Camps that way. I think.”

Sen nodded. Encapsulation covered him, and he started towards camp before he noticed something written in blood. One of the men killed during the summoning had written it.

A single name.

Harpis.

It was chaos when they arrived. Faculty members and town guards hurried about. Some went inside the dungeon to verify the students’ stories and to collect the bodies. A rescue team composed of the strongest faculty members present had left as soon as the first students had returned with news of the demon. The students were under strict supervision. Apparently many of them had tried to go back in after Sen and Ano hadn’t returned. The faculty, however, was in full damage control mode, so clearly they hadn’t allowed that. The mayor was a nervous husk, flitting around the camp and barking orders.

So when Ano floated up on a pillow and Sen ran beside him, many eyes turned. They’d been expected to come out of the dungeon or teleport into camp. Not arrive from a totally unexpected direction. Professor Calabari, Dean Withershade, Ano’s teacher, and the Mayor were upon them in an instant.

They relayed what they’d learned about the cult’s involvement, and the tone changed. The mayor went from a look of rage to one of great distress. The dean looked uncomfortable, and Professor Calabari fell silent. Laurette dragged Ano off by an ear. His floating pillow trailed behind her as she yelled at him. Sen almost felt bad for the guy.

Sen handed one of the uniforms to the Dean, and he’d stashed another in his temporal world to ask Head Librarian Orttha about later. One run-in with a mysterious faction was one thing. But two in just as many months? This was a pattern. Students were being targeted, and the academies needed to find out why.

“Thank you for this information, Sen. We’ll need time to discuss next steps, but for now, your friends were very worried about you. It wasn’t easy to keep them from going back in to help. You should go and see them,” Dean Withershade said.

Sen had already planned to see the others, and as soon as he left the meeting with the faculty, he headed straight for the tent where the other Brightsail students were waiting. The symbol of Brightsail was inscribed on either side of the door. A sailboat with glowing lights emanating from it. The image shimmered as if made of fine gemstones, and Sen brushed the flaps of the tent aside as he strode in.

Susanna rose first. “Sen!”

Girch smiled. “Knew he’d make it.”

Joseia gripped a fist.

The three of them were sitting in an open living area of the fancy tent. It was segmented into two rooms: the living area and a space for sleeping. The living area had tables, chairs, and a variety of cooking equipment meant to be powered by magic. Girch was keeping a careful eye on a pot filled with something warm that smelled delicious. If Sen had to guess, it was some kind of broth. Susanna had been talking with the others, and Joseia appeared as if he’d finally relaxed after stressing for a while.

“Is Milim okay?” Sen asked.

Joseia perked up. “Yeah! She’s just sleeping. They said she’ll need to rest for a while. The teleportation process starting before there is a proper destination can make your mind funny for a couple of hours. But Dean Withershade checked her out himself and said she’d be fine. She’ll make a full recovery!”

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Sen felt himself relax as well. He’d been worried about precisely that, but if the Dean said she’d be fine, that was likely true. “And Snake? Is he resting too?” he asked.

Susanna sighed. “He should be. He went out into the woods. I don’t think he’s very happy with the fact that he got killed during the fight, demon or not.”

That tracked. “Sounds like Snake,” Sen said.

Girch looked at him. “So, what happened?” he asked.

“I killed it with Ano’s help. It suffered.”

“Hah! That means we won!” Girch rose to his feet.

Susanna frowned. “I’m not so sure. We won the first round, but Alari’s team technically made it through the second round before we did. She’d also been fighting the demon for a while when we showed up. Sen got us credit for the kill, but we don’t know how they’ll divide the points yet. At the end of the day, we won’t know officially until the ceremony tonight.”

Girch huffed. “We deserve the trophy.”

Susanna was right. All three schools had made contributions in the fight against the demon. The points for the second and third rounds would be allocated by the faculty, who would certainly take extenuating circumstances into mind. He had a good feeling, but if he was being honest, she was right. The Academy War hadn’t officially been decided yet.

Joseia slumped in his chair. “I wish we could just rest for today. Why’s the ceremony have to happen tonight?”

“It’s not like they expected everything to go wrong,” Susanna said. “Besides, once it’s over, we will have a long weekend. There’ll be plenty of time to rest,” she pointed out.