Chapter 115 : Chapter 115
With Cosette’s careful help, Ryan changed out of his home shirt and into a crisp dark-blue academy coat. The silver-thread embroidery along it gave off a faint sheen in the steadily dimming light.
Cosette rose onto her toes to straighten his collar and smooth the line of his shoulders, her movements gentle and practiced.
“I’m heading out,” Ryan said to the little maid seeing him off at the door.
“Please take care, Master.” Cosette folded her hands before her and watched that tall figure step into the corridor, where the evening light stretched long bands of shadow across the floor.
The buildings of Saint Roland Magic Academy took on a different outline in the dusk than they did by day.
Ryan walked across the stone path soaked in sunset glow, passed through the courtyard that was gradually falling quiet, and headed toward the Lower Division Administration Building.
His shadow trailed long behind him, his steps steady. As for the upcoming meeting and the temporary team that might be formed, his heart remained almost entirely undisturbed.
Minister Morris’s office was at the end of the corridor. The heavy oak door stood half open, spilling out warm lamplight and the faint murmur of voices.
Ryan raised a hand and knocked twice with his knuckles.
“Come in,” came Minister Morris’s familiar voice from inside.
Ryan pushed the door open and entered.
Behind the wide desk, Minister Morris sat in his high-backed chair, both hands folded on the tabletop. And standing in the open space at the center of the office were four people already waiting there.
Ryan’s gaze swept over them swiftly.
Two familiar faces entered his eyes first.
Lillian, with her platinum-blond hair, was standing there with her chin slightly raised, though the complicated emotions in her eyes could not quite be hidden.
And beside her stood Rex, tall and broad, his gray eyes shining with undisguised delight and an honest, foolish grin plastered across his face.
Ryan was not surprised to see them here.
The runes he had thrown them in that backpack had been enough to make them the team with the richest haul in that section of the forest.
The other two were unfamiliar.
One was a tall boy with neatly cropped short golden hair. His features were handsome, and his uniform was cut to fit him well. Fine embroidery of a family crest decorated his cuffs.
The other was slightly shorter, a brown-haired boy wearing thin-rimmed glasses. He had something of a scholarly air to him, and his eyes were full of curiosity and scrutiny.
When Ryan entered, each of the four reacted differently.
The moment Lillian saw him, her ice-blue pupils contracted ever so slightly. She instinctively shrank back a little, then covered it up with a sharper turn of the head and a light huff. But the flickering of her gaze still betrayed how unsettled she truly was.
Rex was much more straightforward. His eyes lit up, and he almost raised a hand to greet him, only remembering the setting at the last moment. In the end, he could only grin widely and blink hard at Ryan, silently conveying a message along the lines of, Brother, that was incredibly righteous of you.
The blond noble boy let his gaze settle on Ryan like something tangible, then gave a slight nod as a form of greeting. His expression revealed little.
As for the brown-haired boy with glasses, he pushed them up his nose and looked Ryan over from face to hands, his curiosity plain to see.
“All right, everyone is here.” Minister Morris’s deep voice broke the subtle silence.
He leaned forward slightly, both hands braced on the desk, and slowly swept his gaze over the five boys and girls before him. A smile that was both satisfied and serious appeared on his face.
“First of all, congratulations to all five of you. In this Whispering Forest survival and exploration assessment, by virtue of your own… methods and abilities,” his gaze paused deliberately on Ryan, Lillian, and Rex, “you distinguished yourselves and achieved places among the top five in the overall evaluation. That means you have earned the qualification to represent the academy’s Lower Division in an important activity that is to follow.”
The office fell silent. Even Lillian temporarily set aside her usual awkward stiffness and pricked up her ears.
“Some of you may already have heard rumors, or perhaps assumed that this assessment was merely an ordinary internal selection in a somewhat different format.” Morris’s eyes grew distant. “That is not the case. Every element in this assessment—survival, exploration, information gathering, resource management, confrontation and cooperation, and even your ability to avoid potential threats—was part of a carefully designed evaluation standard.”
He stood, walked around the desk, and came to stand before the five of them, his voice low and powerful.
“The reason the academy went to such lengths is because what you are about to face is not the sort of ordinary opponent prepared for the Imperial Tournament in past years. The place you are about to go is one that was only recently confirmed, a place containing ancient secrets and unknown dangers—the Starfall Ruins.”
“Roughly three months ago, an expedition team operating at the edge of the Empire’s northern frontier discovered an anomalous spatial fluctuation.” Morris began to explain, and the cadence of his voice resembled the opening of some legendary tale from a bard. “Subsequent joint investigation confirmed that it was the entrance to an ancient ruin that had lain dormant for an unknown number of years. After difficult deciphering and research by multiple Archmages and Ancient Rune Experts, several points can now be confirmed. First, the interior of the ruins is relatively well preserved, but it is protected by a powerful spatial restriction. Only lifeforms under the age of eighteen, whose Mana fluctuations fall within a specific range, are allowed to enter.”
“Second,” his gaze moved across the group, “the architectural style within the ruins and the remaining rune systems bear a high degree of correlation with the Elven civilization already known to us. You should understand what that means.”
Elves.
At that single word, all four aside from Ryan sucked in a breath.
An Elven legacy—even if it were only a fragment of broken tile or a scrap of manuscript—was of immeasurable value. Not to mention the possibility of complete magical knowledge, lost arts, or powerful ancient magical items.
This was not merely wealth.
It was a source of power enough to change the fate of an individual, or even an entire family.
“The Empire’s upper ranks place enormous importance on this matter.” Morris’s tone steadied again. “Naturally, the great families and all major factions have fixed their eyes on it as well. Everyone hopes to claim a share, or even seize the lion’s portion. But the restriction on the entrance to the ruins has already determined that the only ones who can enter are young people like yourselves.”
He returned to his seat, folding his hands together once more.
“Therefore, the Empire has ultimately decided that several top academies and the great families will jointly recommend qualified young elites to form a Joint Exploration Team to enter the ruins. And our Saint Roland Magic Academy, as one of the foremost institutions on the continent, has been granted five precious recommendation slots—which are you.”
“You no longer represent only yourselves, but the honor and legacy of the academy.” Morris’s gaze became solemn. “The academy’s demand of you is very simple: return safely, and do everything within your power to explore, to learn, and to grow. If you obtain anything in the ruins, whether knowledge, techniques, or physical items, then in principle, all of it belongs to you personally. The academy will not forcibly claim any of it.”
“The core of the academy is to cultivate talent and pass down knowledge. Whatever you gain within the ruins is itself proof of your ability and your fortune. If you become stronger, that alone is proof that the academy’s education has succeeded. Of course,” he shifted his tone, gentle but firm, “the academy also hopes that when your names are spoken because of what you discover in the ruins, those names will be preceded by Saint Roland Magic Academy. That is the honor the academy seeks.”