Chapter 446 – Friends In High Places.

All seemed well as Roland spotted his sister nestled in a corner with her friends, indulging in some overpriced delicacies. Ernas on the other hand was a level above, sitting in something that resembled a private booth. It was hard to see from Roland’s current vintage point, but the man indulged in some fun with unknown women. Presumably, it was to fill the void left by Ulfine’s departure. While relief washed over him seeing everyone safe and sound, Roland couldn’t shake the feeling that the ordeal was far from over.

‘Are they the Baskerville knights, or an entirely different faction?’

One individual within the group caught Roland’s attention, their level was notably higher than his own. While he was not a tier 4 class holder, he surpassed the trio he had faced earlier. To make things worse, he was not alone. There were multiple other tier 3 class holders of lesser levels, which together would pose a threat even to someone like him. His armor had been damaged and restored which lessened its quality already, if another fight broke out, he wasn’t sure of the outcome.

‘I should probably relax, even if they are bought out by the Baskervilles, they will probably not attack a Professor from the Institute.’

With this thought in mind, Roland took a moment to compose himself before approaching not his sister’s table, but the one where Ernas was. While the man would probably not help him, he had an item that could allow him to get out of this predicament without a fight breaking out. His current goal was to quickly return to the institute as staying in this city for another week was not the best idea.

After making his way up the stairs, he was hit in the nose by a sweet scent. It permeated the upper area of this restaurant and laughter echoed through it. The moment he arrived here, he knew that this place was nothing a child should be in. That Ernas decided to come here with his students was questionable, to say the least. There were even red curtains dividing the booths up here, with alluring noises coming from many.

‘I shouldn’t be surprised, they let me go into a dungeon when I was just ten…’

As Roland approached Ernas’s booth, he noticed the man engrossed in conversation with the women accompanying him. They were laughing and chatting, seemingly oblivious to the world around them. Roland hesitated for a moment, unsure of how to proceed. He wasn’t particularly fond of Ernas, but he needed his help. After clearing his throat, Roland spoke up, trying to catch Ernas’s attention amidst the loud chatter.

“Professor Ernas, may I have a word with you?”

Ernas turned towards Roland, a look of mild surprise but also annoyance crossed his features. He was together with two human women, both quite charming but more than likely, escorts.

“Ah, Assistant Professor… What brings you here? Have you already resolved that anomaly? If so, would you mind taking the students back to the Inn? It’s probably already too late to continue the advancement classes for today.”
The ladies laughed as Ernas continued to smile at them and rest his hands on their hips. It was clear that this person didn’t want to continue his conversation with Roland, instead opting to continue his day of entertainment. Which would probably turn into a nightly encounter if he was left to his own devices.

He was wearing his helmet so his expression of disdain was hidden. Ernas’ dismissive attitude was quite maddening and he wished to do nothing less than to smack that grin off his face. However, he knew he had to maintain his composure as his next plan wouldn’t truly work without this man’s help.

“I’m afraid there’s been a somewhat unfortunate incident within the dungeon, Professor.”

“An unfortunate incident? Can’t you take care of it yourself?”

“That will be hard, we will need to cancel the advancement classes and we need to contact the Institute immediately.”

“You want us to do what? Preposterous!”

The response was what he expected, Roland was just a new assistant professor with no real power. This man also belonged to Delauder’s department which he had a feud with. Roland took a deep breath, trying to maintain his patience despite Ernas’s dismissive attitude

“Professor Ernas, I understand your reluctance, but the situation in the dungeon is more serious than I initially thought. There’s a possibility of danger not only to our students but also to the city itself. We need to act quickly and inform the Institute about what transpired…”

Ernas scoffed, waving his hand dismissively as if brushing off Roland’s concerns like pesky flies.

“Nonsense! You’re overreacting, Assistant Professor. What do you exactly want me to do? Call the Headmistress? First off…”

Before Ernas could berate him and prod for information concerning this incident, Roland interjected.

“Yes, that exactly, let us inform the Headmistress, she probably already knows what has happened!”

“She knows? What happened, exactly?”

The moment the Headmistress was mentioned, Ernas started to straighten up.

“That doesn’t matter, you need to contact the Institute and for that, we need the transmission tool that you have.”

This was the crux of the problem. Ernas owned a special communication device that could even contact the Headmistress’s office directly. It was given to the leader of this academic expedition. If something out of the ordinary happened, he was given the right to call up forces from the Institute that could aid them if something bad happened. Usually, it was used to contact someone in a higher position to ask for instructions whenever something unique transpired.

In this case, Roland wanted to contact the Headmistress who would be able to order them to return. During the incident with the Spiritualist, he didn’t have an opportunity to talk things through and it didn’t seem that she had reached out to Ernas. The man would probably contact someone else like Delauder or the Vice-Headmaster, who could turn down his plea to postpone things here.

“Hey, what do you think you are doing?”

“Hm? Was that downstairs?”

Before this conversation could be concluded, the people from outside the restaurant finally decided to show themselves. A commotion broke out a level below, one of the other faculty members was shouting at someone. Roland could see that the dots that had been standing outside, had moved inside, at least the tier 3 class holders. The rest encircled the whole establishment as if they were trying to apprehend a criminal.

As Roland peered down from the upper level of the restaurant, he could not see any familiar faces. These men were not part of the Baskerville knights, nor did they seem as part of any particular force, they were clearly adventurers. Their strongest member was a large man with unkempt hair and a bushy beard. It wasn’t hard to identify who he was as he wore the symbol of the adventurers guild on his clothes.

‘That’s probably the Guild Master of this city, he seems to be around the same level as Aurdhan…’

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There was a reason why they were here and it was him. He could only assume that either one of the knights that escaped ratted him out or that they were on the Castellane payroll.
However, Roland couldn’t afford the risk of falling into the hands of these individuals. The consequences of capture were too unpredictable as he couldn’t predict what they might do to him and his sister in his absence.

“Professor Ernas, we need that…”

“It can wait, what is all of this shouting, someone give me an explanation.”

Before he could wrestle that device out of Ernas, the man charged out of his booth. It was clear that he had identified the voice of the person and he was part of his department. Roland could only give out a sigh and walk after him hoping that this whole thing wouldn’t escalate any further.

As Roland followed Ernas downstairs, he found chaos unfolding. The faculty member who had been shouting was now in a heated argument with the adventurers who had entered the restaurant. The Guild Master stood at the forefront, his imposing presence commanding attention.

“What’s going on here?”

The man who seemed to be the adventurer guild master moved forward. Around him were other armed men who were probably all Platinum Adventurers. They had their hands near their weaponry and were quite ready to attack. Roland hoped that this wouldn’t escalate into anything as there were many underaged students around them. With powerful magic involved, it was very dangerous for the children that were low leveled.

“We received reports of a disturbance in the dungeon nearby. Witnesses claim to have seen a mage emerging from the dungeon.”

It was clear that they were here for Roland and all of them were gazing in his direction. Ernas followed their gaze and instantly identified their target which was Roland. However, to his surprise, the words that left his mouth were not what he expected.

“A disturbance? Surely there must be some mistake. My students and I were merely enjoying a meal. I assure you, no one from the Institute has been involved in any such incident, and even if they were, what of it?”

The Guild Master narrowed his eyes, clearly unsatisfied by the answer he had received. Roland expected Ernas to rat him out instantly but it seemed that this man was similar to nobles. Even if they had issues with each other, they would band against common threats. In this case, it was mages from a prestigious school going against adventurers who were nothing more than ruffians in their eyes.

“I don’t buy it, ‘Professor’ “

Replied the adventurer leader in a mocking tone.

“We have credible witnesses who saw him leaving the dungeon. Some people have gone missing, we just want to… ask him some questions, don’t make this more difficult than it has to be.”

Ernas was not pleased and quickly retorted while trying to keep an authoritative air around him. Roland wasn’t sure why he was so adamant about this but at least he wasn’t budging.