บท 61: Catching Up I
POV Julián Kingscrown
Three days have passed since the encounter with Cylrit and Seris.
The conclusion I reached is that I can no longer stay in Hearth, so I rested and the next day I left for Xyrus.
The encounter with the retainer and the scythe reminded me that I didn't have time to worry about Silvia.
I had to move quickly and execute what I had in mind, to prepare for what was going to happen in a few months.
Now I was in front of the academy, I circled the facilities and went to the back door following Avier's instructions to meet Cynthia.
"Are you ready?" Avier spoke on my shoulder.
"For what?" I asked, frowning.
The Wyvern just gave me an amused smile and then flew towards Cynthia's office.
That bird is hiding something and for some strange reason I have a bad feeling about this, my instinct is telling me that running now is a good option.
But if I prolong things without knowing the reason for the bad feeling, it could end worse, so I kept walking towards Cynthia's office.
When I was a few steps away, a voice carried by wind magic was heard, "You finally decided to show your face, Julián," the tone was full of annoyance and the intention it emitted was cold.
What the hell happened in my absence? I thought as cold sweat ran down my back, although I was probably more powerful than Cynthia and wasn't too affected by Cylrit's intention.
For some reason, Cynthia's cold voice generated a kind of reaction in me, damn that amplification of emotions, I complained mentally as I opened the door.
Inside was Cynthia and in front of her, also looking at me, was Gideon, "Shouldn't you be teaching classes, mad scientist?" I asked mockingly.
"Tch, you're here and you look completely fine," Gideon responded in an annoyed tone.
I ignored his reaction and addressed the mage on the other side of the desk, "Director Cynthia, long time no see," I greeted with a small bow.
"We have a lot to catch up on," she said, giving me a meaningful look.
"Why is the treatment so different?" Gideon complained.
"Don't think I haven't heard reports of you blowing up part of the workshop in your crazy experiments," I spoke reproachfully.
"They are necessary," he responded proudly.
"Tell that to your missing eyebrows," I replied.
"Tch," I heard Gideon hiss.
"Excuse me," I said, moving one of the chairs around the desk, I sat down with them to start catching up.
"Shall we begin then?" Cynthia spoke.
With a nod from Gideon and me, the talks began.
"First, I must inform you that Virion came to see me shortly before classes started at the academy, I suppose you know what I mean," she asked, looking at me intently.
"Yes, Virion, through inference and deduction, managed to discover a lot about the current situation, so I thought it best to reveal what we know to him so he can cooperate with us without raising suspicion," I replied.
Cynthia nodded as she spoke, "We certainly reached an agreement on that part, although there were things I kept hidden, like my origin and the technology Gideon is developing."
"Speaking of technology, do the spears have the artifacts we developed?" I asked the artificer sitting next to me.
"As we had decided, after the formation of the council and with Cynthia's help, we managed to deliver the bracelets with the Aurora system in case of emergency, along with the teleportation pendants and the communication ring," Gideon replied.
"What does the council think about the artifacts?" I questioned Cynthia.
"They were delighted to the point that they asked for several for themselves, the problem arose with the Greysonders who wanted the studies and bases of the technology," the director replied.
"Due to your explicit reasons saying there were traitors, we flatly refused to give them anything, although the council was upset and very close to invading my workshop, thanks to Cynthia and Virion things didn't escalate; tell me, boy, do you think they can copy our technology if the spears betray us?" Gideon asked.
"You didn't install a security system in case they tried to disassemble them," I responded, rolling my eyes.
"Certainly, so it will be difficult for them to use it against us; moreover, since they don't know that, if someone tries to disassemble it and damages it, they will have to ask us for the artifacts again, that way we can start to distinguish who are possible traitors in the council," Cynthia spoke.
"Killing two birds with one stone, it's quite a functional idea that you came up with more than a year and a half ago when the artifacts were finished," I responded in a tone of understanding.
"Well, let's continue with the next part that I think is very important to mention, Cynthia and I were testing the mana imprints to discover new uses or things we might not have seen before. In my case, as a non-mage, there was nothing we hadn't already seen, and in the director's case, there were no advances either, but do you remember Emily?" Gideon asked.
"Yes, did something happen with her?" I responded.
"Yes, well, you see, due to my negligence, I allowed her to enter the area where the finished artifacts were, and she found the plans and conclusions of the research. Let's say she couldn't overcome her curiosity and used it," Gideon responded without looking me in the eyes.
Which irritated me, I clenched my fist and in a matter of seconds, I was behind him and hit him, "Idiot."
"What the hell were you thinking giving her access to that place?" I spoke in an annoyed tone.
"It was becoming annoying to have to look for the things I had to teach her myself, so I thought it was a good idea for her to get what she needed by herself and one thing led to another. Wait, don't hit me again!" he said as he received another punch from me on his head.
After leaving a bump on Gideon's head, with which I was satisfied, we resumed the conversation.
"Let's continue where we left off, what else happened with Emily?" I asked.
"Emily's case is a very special one, after obtaining her second core, something happened that we didn't think was possible..." the director spoke until I interrupted her.
"Wait, Emily was a mage?" I asked, frowning.
"Yes, didn't you realize the first time you saw her?" Gideon asked.
No, damn it, I didn't even need to check because in the novel she never did anything relevant in terms of magic.
"No, to begin with, I didn't even check or feel it," I responded.
"Well, her abilities as a mage are somewhat limited, or at least they were," Cynthia responded in a complicated tone.
"I see, I suppose it was partly my mistake. Let's continue, what exactly happened with her when she obtained the mana imprint?" I spoke, leaving the topic of Emily being a mage for later.
"When I found her, I don't know if due to the pain or the shock of placing the mana imprint, but she was unconscious; after checking the surroundings to find out what had happened, I discovered she had used the artifact, so I took her to a guest room in the workshop while asking Himes to call Cynthia urgently," Gideon responded.
"When I arrived, Gideon told me what had happened, we decided to evaluate Emily's health, then we checked the mana imprint, so far everything was normal, the mark was the one Gideon and I possessed, so we assumed it was an unfortunate incident," Cynthia spoke.
"But that wasn't all that happened, I suppose," I responded.
"Yes, a few moments after waking up, her mark transformed," Gideon said, taking out a drawing from the documents on Cynthia's desk.
"It's a pretty design, if I guess correctly, is it Emily's mark?" I asked, observing the drawing.
"Yes, but the shape is the least of the surprises," Cynthia spoke.
"Don't you know exactly what it does?" I asked, returning her gaze.
"More or less, it gave her a new perspective on the runes you created," Gideon said in a confused tone.
"What? What do you mean?" I replied, completely perplexed, not exactly understanding what he meant.
"We don't know how to explain it correctly either, we only know that Emily acquired the ability to see the runes in a different way than we know. We believe that you are probably the only one capable of establishing exactly what is happening with her eyes, as every time she activates the mana imprint, her vision changes," Cynthia responded.
Was there any kind of setup like this in the novel about Emily? I questioned myself while reviewing the memories I had of the novel, but there was nothing remotely similar.
"Haaah, well, I don't know what it could be, but it shouldn't be something bad if her health hasn't been affected. I'll start studying with her when I join the academy classes. Do you have anything else to say about this?" I asked.
"To give you an idea, Emily sees how the runes work and has the ability to combine them; she has started to improve Tobi with that knowledge; but we believe she needs you to know her true capabilities," Cynthia responded.
"I'll keep that in mind. As for my mark, it also transformed," I said as I stood up and exposed my back.
"It's quite a liberal design," Gideon spoke.
After a few seconds, I covered my back again and waited for their questions.
"What exactly does your mana imprint do?" Cynthia asked.
"It enhances my mana abilities in a certain way, but above all, it gives me the ability to fly in my high silver state," I responded.
I wasn't lying, I just didn't reveal that with it I had managed to sustain a third phase of Asura's will.
"Interesting, but nothing special; let's talk about the next point. As you requested, with Cynthia's help, we formed a training space within the academy with the specifications you mentioned, and it's ready. But are you sure you want to train children there instead of the spears?" Gideon asked.
"If I could have brought the spears, I would have done it. The problem is that they are too conspicuous, and especially with how weak we are at the moment, it's bad to attract the attention of the deities with our technology," I responded in a complicated tone.
"Well, it's your decision. Your final plan is to form a small group of spears, correct?" Gideon asked.
"My idea is for them to go beyond the current spears," I replied.
"Can you do it?" Cynthia asked in a worried tone.
"I have a plan, and I hope it works," I responded.
They looked at me for a few seconds and then moved on to the next topic.
"Well, I also brought the people you recommended. It was a bit complicated, and some exceeded the age limit, but due to your request, I did it," Cynthia spoke in a tired tone.
"Samantha Tempest, Diane Whitehall, Caria Rede, and Darvus Clarell; the others you asked me to check are already students or had been accepted a long time ago," the director responded.
"Oh, speaking of that, I found that boy named Stannard Berwick," Gideon said as if he had just remembered something.
"What did you think?" I asked.
"Interesting. I've been thinking about making improved triggers with the runes and maybe enhancing the cores he modifies. I've even been trying to replicate what he does to create a non-mage body at a distance, but it's still in the testing phase," Gideon responded happily.
He looks like a kid in a candy store, I thought as I watched him. "Is there anything else I should know?" I asked.
"Yes, the king of Sapin is looking for you, or rather, he's looking for the scoundrel who tricked his daughter," Cynthia responded.
It took me a few seconds to understand what she had said to the point that I thought I had heard wrong, and with that intention, I asked while cleaning my ear canals, "Excuse me, Director Cynthia, could you repeat that? I think I didn't hear correctly."
"The king of Sapin is looking for the scoundrel who deceived his beloved genius daughter," Gideon responded in a mocking tone while holding back laughter.
"Deceived? When did I do that? Besides, that sounds like a problem I don't want to face. Does he know who I am?" I replied with a shiver down my spine.
"Fortunately, no. Queen Priscilla doesn't seem to have told him anything. The only thing he managed to find out is that you're a student at my academy, so he has an eye on us," Cynthia spoke in a tired tone.
"That idiot king," I said, holding my forehead. "By the way, why do they call Kathyln a genius?" I asked.
"After you left more than five months ago, she returned to the castle to train with Lance Varay. First, her core reached the Solid Yellow rank at just 12 years old, which is a great achievement at that age. Besides that, her process to become a beast tamer was extremely fast. Do you have anything to do with it? Because of that, Blayne seems like a madman bragging about his daughter," Cynthia spoke while rolling her eyes.
"Does anyone know about Kathyln's bond?" I asked in a worried tone.
"It was left as a Wyvern that you had given her," the director responded.
"You saved me there," I replied in a calm tone.
"Avier told me approximately what they were, but how did you get them?" Cynthia questioned.
"Maybe in the future, I can answer you," I spoke in a complicated tone. After all, my other mana natures and Ether abilities are like a trump card that at most Mordain, Sylvie, and Chul will know.
"By the way, shouldn't Tessia be at the same level as Kathyln? So why hasn't she been mentioned?" I asked.
"The kings of Elenoir are much more reserved," Cynthia responded.
"Blayne should learn from that," I complained out loud.
"By the way, I already have the bow you asked for, but who is it for? It's literally a masterpiece if I say so myself," Gideon asked.
"It's a gift that will help me avoid a storm," I replied, remembering Ellie and the shadow of Arthur on her back, ready to hit me.
I should consider bothering him, but I'm really afraid he'll beat me to death, I thought to myself.
"Is there anything else that has happened?" I asked again, ready to leave.
"Yes, there's just one small matter left," Cynthia responded in an annoyed tone.
"What happened now?" I asked nervously.
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Haruto1028383
Haruto1028383 I don’t know if some of you have already seen the other fics I published, but I’ll make it clear again: they are secondary works that will have a longer update ratio, as the main focus remains on this work
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